The Water Cooler

EPA Encourages Water Conservation

2008-09-11T12:29:00.000-04:00

Water usage has gained national attention with current flooding and drought conditions in over half of the United States.

PHILADELPHIA (September 10, 2008)
Contact: David Sternberg, 215-814-5548 sternberg.david@epa.gov

Water is a precious resource that is taken for granted until its availability becomes limited, and the growing demand for water and increasing population can create water shortages.

Across the country a typical family of four spends about $850 on water and sewer costs per year, so reducing water use can also save money. A typical family of four can save $210 per year by changing over to water-efficient appliances and fixtures, and by adopting other water saving practices.

"The average American uses a whopping 100 gallons of water per day, so making these few day-to-day sacrifices should not be a problem," said Donald S. Welsh, EPA regional administrator.

EPA offers these water conservation tips:

Avoid using the garbage disposal or water softener which requires lots of water. Garbage disposals use approximately 11.5 gallons of water. Try composting organic wastes instead.

Take short showers. Soap up and turn on the shower only to rinse off. A 10-minute continuous shower uses about 45 gallons of water.

Use dishwashers and clothes washers only when fully loaded. A clothes washer uses about 50 gallons of water per load.

Turn off faucets while brushing teeth and shaving. An open conventional faucet allows five gallons of water flow every two minutes. Instead of running water, clean razors in a small pool of water or a glass of water.

Refrigerate a pitcher of water for drinking, instead of running the water until it gets cold.

Repair leaky faucets, toilets and pumps. A silent leak in a toilet can waste 500 gallons of water a day and cost $1000 a year. A toilet built before 1982 is a candidate for replacement, saving upwards of 25,000 gallons per year for a family of four.

Now is a good time to install low-flow faucets, showers, and toilets, if you don’t already have them. Conventional toilets use 3.5 to 5 gallons of water per flush, compared to low-flow toilets that use 1.6 gallons or less. Low-flow toilets save enough water to pay for themselves in about five years. Replacing an older washing machine with a new Energy Star machine will use 35-50 percent less water and 50 percent less energy per load.

Replace a 4.5-gallon-per-minute showerhead with a 2.5-gallon-per-minute head. This can save a family of four 20,000 gallons of water a year. A three-member household can save a total of 54,000 gallons of water per year with low-flow plumbing, and save $60 per year on water bills.

Use a toilet displacement device, such as a brick or plastic jug (with the top cut off) filled with pebbles. Place it in the toilet tank to reduce the amount of water used per flush. Make sure it does not interfere with the flushing mechanisms or the water flow. More than a gallon of water can be saved per flush.

Don’t use toilets as a waste basket.

Install covers on pools and spas and check for leaks around pumps.

When cleaning a fish tank, use the drained water on plants. The water is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus, a healthy treat for plants.
 For further information: http://www.epa.gov/owm/water-efficiency/index.htm
http://www.energystar.gov/products. For a virtual tour: http://www.h2ouse.org.  

Carbon plans recycling event

2008-09-05T08:49:00.000-04:00

Carbon County is hosting a Special Recycling Event at the Lower Towamensing Township Municipal Building on Hahn’s Dairy Road, Palmerton, from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. Sept. 29 and from noon to 6 p.m. Sept. 30.

Anything electronic will be accepted at no charge to the county or residents. Televisions have been added this year, however, there is a charge of $5 each.

Acceptable materials that will be received at no charge include: VCRs, DVD players, radios, stereo equipment, computers, mainframe and telecom equipment, application equipment, test equipment, circuit boards of any kind, fax machines, and also new this year the Carbon County Department of Solid Waste will collect air conditioners and humidfiers.

Also new this year, vegetable oil will be collected and textiles will be collected.

Old clothing and cloth items such as curtains, bedding, towels and other fabrics will be accepted in cooperation with Floyd’s Used Clothing.

White goods, such as appliances are still not acceptable.

Contact the Department of Solid Waste at 610-852-5111, with questions.

DEP TO GATHER PUBLIC COMMENTS ON DRAFT STATE WATER PLAN

2008-09-04T15:12:00.000-04:00

Department to Host 6 Regional Meetings This Month

HARRISBURG – Pennsylvanians will have a chance to provide input on how the commonwealth manages its vast water resources during a series of public meetings to be held across the state this month. The Department of Environmental Protection, along with members of six regional water resources committees, will accept testimony on the draft state water plan that is being developed in accordance with the Water Resources Planning Act.

“This document will serve as a blueprint that guides sustainable water use throughout the commonwealth for the next 30 years,” said DEP Deputy Secretary for Water Management Cathy Curran Myers. “Our water resources are important to our economy and our quality of life, so it’s essential that we have a plan in place that ensures that we are good stewards of these precious assets. Once finalized, this plan will serve as a tool for everyone—for the public, for municipalities, and for businesses interested in creating jobs here.”

The Waters Resources Act requires DEP to develop a new state water plan that includes inventories of water availability, an assessment of current and future water demands, an evaluation of resource management alternatives, and proposed methods of implementing recommended actions. Developing the plan is the first step in analyzing problems and needs associated with specific water-related activities, such as navigation, stormwater management and flood control.

Each public meeting will be preceded by an open house from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. to give people a chance to review displays and maps of the respective regions. From 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., DEP staff and members of the respective regional committees will give presentations on the draft plan and conduct an informal discussion period. The department will begin accepting formal comments on the draft plan beginning at 7:30 p.m.

Anyone planning to testify should register in advance by contacting Karen Price at 717-783-9499 or by e-mailing kprice@state.pa.us. A written copy of the testimony should be provided to department staff at the hearings. Written testimony also will be accepted through Sept. 30 and may be sent to Leslie Sarvis, DEP Water Planning Office, P.O. Box 2063, Harrisburg, PA 17105-2063. Each regional water resources committee will conduct a regular business meeting from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. on the same date and location as the public meeting. The business meetings are open to the public.

The draft state water plan and agendas for each meeting are available through the Public Participation link at www.depweb.state.pa.us, keyword: Participate. ###

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a list of meeting dates and locations: • Sept. 8 – Ohio Regional Water Resources Committee meeting, Seven Fields Community Center, 380 Castle Creek Dr., Seven Fields, Butler County. For information, contact Lori Mohr, DEP Water Planning Office, 717-787-4628 or laumohr@state.pa.us.

• Sept 9 – Great Lakes Regional Water Resources Committee meeting, Erie County Conservation district, 1927 Wager Rd., Erie. For information, contact Lori Mohr, DEP Water Planning Office, 717-787-4628 or laumohr@state.pa.us.

• Sept. 11 – Delaware Regional Water Resources Committee meeting, Room 605 Fowler Family Southside Centre, Northampton Community College, 511 E. Third St., Bethlehem. For information, contact Leslie Sarvis, DEP Water Planning Office, 717-772-5634 or lsarvis@state.pa.us.

• Sept. 15 – Lower Susquehanna Regional Water Resources Committee meeting, Radisson Penn Harris Hotel & Convention Center, 1150 Camp Hill Bypass, Camp Hill, Cumberland County. For information, contact Leslie Sarvis, DEP Water Planning Office, 717-772-5634 or lsarvis@state.pa.us.

• Sept. 17 – Upper/Middle Susquehanna Region Water Resources meeting, Holiday Inn, 100 Pine St., Williamsport. For information, contact Lori Mohr, DEP Water Planning Office, 717-787-4628 or laumohr@state.pa.us.

• Sept. 18 – Potomac Regional Water Resources Committee meeting, Multi-Purpose Center, Penn State Mont Alto Campus, One Campus Dr., Mont Alto, Franklin County. For information, contact Leslie Sarvis, DEP Water Planning Office, 717-772-5634 or lsarvis@state.pa.us.

Science that Weathers the Storm…..

2008-08-29T13:35:00.000-04:00

Track Flooding During Tropical Storm Gustav in Real-Time

News Release

U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey

For release: August 29, 2008
Contact: Eastern States (FL, AL, GA, MS), AB Wade, 703-648-4483, abwade@usgs.gov
Central States (LA, TX), Heidi Koontz, 303-202-4763, hkoontz@usgs.gov
Headquarters, Jennifer LaVista, 703-648-4432, jlavista@usgs.gov

Reporters: Want to accompany a USGS crew as they install mobile gages or storm surge sensors? Contact Brian McCallum at 404-375-2505 or bemccall@usgs.gov.

Real-time flooding and storm surge information is available as Tropical Storm Gustav approaches the Gulf Coast by visiting the interactive US Geological Survey (USGS) Water Hazards Map.

The map provides flooding and storm surge data from Gulf Coast streamgages, which is imperative to local, State and Federal officials in order to forecast floods and coordinate flood-response activities in the affected area.

“We could not accurately forecast river flows and water-levels without the data and support we receive from the USGS,” said Dave Reed, Hydrologist-In-Charge of the National Weather Service Lower Mississippi River Forecast Center in Slidell, LA. “When river and tide data are not available, our job of forecasting is much more difficult and typically results in diminished accuracy of those forecasts.”

The USGS, in collaboration with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, has just installed five new strengthened, or “hardened,” tidal gages along the Louisiana Gulf Coast and Mississippi Sound. These gages were designed to withstand a category 4 hurricane storm surge. Real-time data from hardened gages, as well as and storm-surge sensors and rapidly-deployable mobile gages will also be accessible on the USGS Hazards Map on a Google Map interface by visiting http://water.usgs.gov/waterwatch/gustav.

Access other USGS Tropical Storm Gustav efforts by visiting http://www.usgs.gov/gustav.

USGS scientists will install rapidly-deployable mobile gages and storm-surge sensors starting tomorrow. Real-time data from these devices will also be visible on the hazards map. These temporary gages provide additional real-time monitoring data in critical areas needed for effective forecasting and emergency response.

Rapidly deployed mobile stations provide special, short-term data in critical areas lacking long-term streamgages. These mobile real-time stations will help emergency needs and improve coastal flood forecasts. They provide up-to-the-minute data that is critical to the National Weather Service and other partners involved in issuing flood warnings and the evacuation of communities.

USGS also has a network of rugged, inexpensive water-level and barometric-pressure sensors, called
storm-surge sensors, which are ready to be installed right before Gustav hits land. These sensors provide information about storm surge duration, times of surge arrival and retreat, and maximum depths, which is useful in forecasting and modeling future events. Tropical Storms Katrina and Rita vividly demonstrated that coastal storm surge can be as dangerous as inland flooding caused by rain.

For more than 125 years, the USGS has monitored flow in selected streams and rivers across the United States and does so in cooperation with over 850 federal, state and local agencies.

State Contacts:

If you would like to know more specific information about USGS Tropical Storm Gustav response activities in your area, please contact the appropriate person listed below.

Alabama: Athena Clark, 334-395-4141, athclark@usgs.gov
Florida: Barry Rosen, 407-803-5508, brosen@usgs.gov
Georgia: Ed Martin, 770-903-9166, ehmartin@usgs.gov
Louisiana: Charles Demas, 225-298-5481 Ext. 3117, crdemas@usgs.gov
Mississippi: Michael Plunkett, 601-933-2940, plunkett@usgs.gov
Texas: Robert Joseph, 512-927-3500, rljoseph@usgs.gov

USGS provides science for a changing world. For more information, visit www.usgs.gov.

Subscribe to USGS News Releases via our electronic mailing list or RSS feed.

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Federal Agency to Discuss Polycythemia Vera Investigation Findings at Public Meeting on August 25

2008-08-19T10:23:00.001-04:00

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)
Protecting America’s Health from Toxic Exposure

Media inquiries: 770-488-0700 or atsdrmediainquiries@cdc.gov
ATSDR Web site: www.atsdr.cdc.gov

Note to correspondents: ATSDR staff will be available for a press availability session to discuss the updates of the investigation from 5:30 until 6:00p.m. on Monday, August 25 at Genetti’s Best Western Hotel, located at 1441 N. Church St. in Hazleton. No appointment is needed.

For Immediate Release: August 18, 2008

ATLANTA – The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) will hold a public meeting to discuss the final findings of an investigation of the polycythemia vera (PV) cases in Schuylkill, Luzerne, and Carbon counties. The federal public health agency will also outline areas for future research.

The meeting will be held on Monday, August 25 from 7:00 until 9:00 p.m. at Genetti’s Best Western Hotel, located at 1441 N. Church St. in Hazleton.

National experts on PV and representatives from the Pennsylvania Departments of Health (PADOH) and Environmental Protection will participate in the community meeting.

PV is a rare illness that causes the body to make too many red blood cells. In August 2006, PADOH asked ATSDR to help determine the number of PV cases in the tri-county area and to look for possible factors in common among them.

ATSDR, a federal public health agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, evaluates the human health effects of exposure to hazardous substances.

###

Members of the press can request an interview with ATSDR staff by calling the NCEH/ATSDR Office of Communication at 770-488-0700. The updates on the investigation will be shared at the press availability session and community meeting on August 25.

Deep-well natural gas drilling a concern for state's water quality

2008-08-18T11:10:00.000-04:00

Penn State Ag Sciences Newswire (08.18.08)
http://live.psu.edu/story/33947/nw69
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Reminiscent of Pennsylvania's halcyon days of oil production and coal mining early in the last century, the current boom in natural-gas well drilling is a concern for the state's streams and groundwater, according to an expert in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences.

"Decades ago, we weren't careful with coal mining. As a result, we are still paying huge sums to clean up acid mine drainage from that period, and we will be for a long time," said Bryan Swistock, water resources specialist with Penn State Cooperative Extension. "We need to be careful and vigilant or we could see lasting damage to our water resources from so many deep gas wells being drilled across Pennsylvania."

This latest wave of gas-well drilling is unlike other previous exploration because the wells are so deep, tapping the Marcellus shale formation, which is a mile or more below the surface of much of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and New York. Scientists have known for years the gas was there, but it wasn't until new drilling technology was developed that it could be extracted. This method uses hydraulic pressure to fracture the shale layer so trapped gas can escape.

"Fracking, as they call it, can require several million gallons of water for each gas well, and some wells may be fracked more than once during their active life, which might span more than a decade," Swistock explained. "Where that water comes from, and what the drillers do with it when it is recovered, is a big issue for our state. The fracking water can have various chemical additives along with natural contaminants from deep underground when it comes back to the surface, so it needs to be collected and treated or recycled properly."

In other states, fracking water has been found to contain numerous hazardous and toxic substances, including formaldehyde, benzene and chromates. Most municipal sewage-treatment plants can't or won't accept gas-well waste fluids. Another potential hazard from gas-well wastewater is the release of radon and other naturally occurring radioactive materials, noted Swistock.

''Radioactive substances are not uncommon in Pennsylvania groundwater to begin with,'' he said, adding that the waste fluids that come with gas production also may contain high levels of salt, various metals such as iron and manganese, and traces of barium, lead and arsenic. "Although highly diluted with water, the proper treatment of all gas-well waste fluids is a big issue that needs to be addressed."

People who live close to gas-drilling operations should have their water tested by a third-party, DEP-approved lab, advised Swistock. "Homeowners who have their own well or spring and are within 1,000 feet of a gas-well site are very likely to be visited by water-lab employees hired by the gas company," he said, adding that homeowners should take advantage of this free testing and make sure to get copies of the results, which they are entitled to by law.

"If homeowners decide to do their own water testing, it's important that they have an unbiased expert from a state-certified lab collect the samples in case the sample results are needed for legal action," he said.

The timing of sampling is also important, according to Swistock. Well owners should have their water tested within a few months before the start of the drilling. Once a company has started drilling, it's too late because there won't be a record of the well water's quality before drilling. If a resident decides to test for any impacts after the drilling has occurred, that needs to be done within six months because drillers are presumed responsible for any damage to water supplies within six months after drilling has begun.

"Although we have occasionally seen effects on water supplies beyond 1,000 feet, the regulation that is written into the gas and oil act states that any water supply within 1,000 feet of a gas well is the driller's responsibility for six months after drilling," he said. "If there is any complaint, the driller is guilty until he is proven innocent; outside the 1,000-feet distance and six-month time frame, the burden of proof shifts to the homeowner."

While contamination from waste fluids is one concern, another is where the companies will get all of the fresh water they need for drilling and fracking. Swistock warned that taking too much water from headwater streams may disrupt sensitive aquatic ecosystems.

"Our mountain streams, many of which harbor wild trout, are precious resources and we cannot allow them to be dewatered to dangerously low levels," he said. "Two drilling operations in Lycoming County recently were shut down by the state Department of Environmental Protection because they were drawing huge volumes of water from small streams in violation of the Clean Streams Law."

Complicating the water-usage issue is differing oversight across the state. Both the Delaware River and Susquehanna River Basin commissions require permits from well drillers who plan to withdraw large amounts of water. The Ohio River basin currently has less oversight.

Growing up in Indiana County, Swistock saw both the benefits and negative effects of gas-well drilling. "The economic impact can be tremendous, and the environmental effects can be minimized if we are careful," he said. "The newer, deeper drilling in the Marcellus shale is different than the gas-well drilling we are accustomed to, and it's happening very quickly.” We need to adapt our regulations and strengthen our regulatory agencies to make sure we are prepared to protect our water resources."

Strategy to Assess the Nation’s Ground-Water Availability

2008-08-14T13:46:00.000-04:00

News Release

U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey

For release: August 14, 2008
Contact: William Alley, 619-225-6125, walley@usgs.gov
Jennifer LaVista, 703-648-4432, jlavista@usgs.gov

Strategy to Assess the Nation’s Ground-Water Availability

Scientists proposed a strategy to study the Nation's ground-water supply as part of the Federal government’s effort to help address the Nation’s increasing competition for water.

Declines in ground-water levels have led to concerns about the future availability of ground water, which provides half the country’s drinking water and is essential to the vitality of agriculture and industry, as well as to the health of rivers, wetlands, and estuaries throughout the country.

The report, “Ground-Water Availability in the United States” examines what is known about the Nation’s ground-water availability and outlines a strategy for future national and regional studies that would provide information to help state and local agencies make informed water-availability decisions. View the report on-line at http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/1323/.

“An assessment of ground-water availability is critical for state and local agencies to make decisions about important issues such as drinking water, industrial and energy production, and agricultural uses,” says William Alley, USGS Office of Ground Water Chief.

The approach outlined in the report is designed to provide useful regional information for State and local agencies who manage ground-water resources, while providing the building blocks for a national assessment. The report places the regional studies by the USGS Ground-Water Resources Program as a long-term effort to understand ground-water availability in major aquifers across the Nation. The report contains information about 30 regional principal aquifers and five case studies to illustrate the diversity of water-availability issues. The report is written for a wide audience interested or involved in the management, protection, and sustainable use of the Nation’s water resources.

Ground water, a hidden resource found below the surface of the Earth, is among the Nation’s most important natural resources. Extensive use of ground-water resources and other effects of pumping has led to concerns about the future availability of ground water to meet domestic, agricultural, industrial, and environmental needs.

Determining ground-water availability is a complex process. Issues affecting ground-water vary from location to location and commonly require analysis in the context of ground-water flow systems to achieve a meaningful perspective. Even if water resources are abundant regionally, heavy water use in centralized areas can create local stresses. As water-related problems evolve in complex ways, an up-to-date and comprehensive evaluation of ground-water resources that builds on the foundation of previous studies is needed to meet society’s ever-changing water demands.

This report is an outgrowth of a pilot study, National Assessment of Water Availability and Use, that began in 2005 at the request of Congress. The report also builds on regional ground-water availability studies recently undertaken as part of the USGS Ground-Water Resources Program. The approach to national ground-water assessment is a key element of the water census of the United States, which has been proposed as part of the proposed Federal science strategy to meet nationwide water challenges by the National Science and Technology Council Subcommittee on Water Availability and Quality.

USGS provides science for a changing world. For more information, visit www.usgs.gov.

Subscribe to USGS News Releases via our electronic mailing list
[ http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/list_server.asp ] or RSS feed [http://www.usgs.gov/rss/newsroom.rss }

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Test your knowledge of water trivia

2008-07-29T09:36:00.000-04:00

What do you know about water? Take this test and see how you do.

1. Water is the only substance found on earth naturally in three forms?

2. Does water regulate the earth's temperature?

3. At what temperature does water freeze?

4. At what temperature does water vaporize?

5. How long can a person live without food? Without water?

6. How much of the human body is water?

7. How much of the earth's surface is water?

8. How much water must a person consume per day to maintain health?

9. Of all the earth's water, how much is ocean and seas?

10. How much of the world's water is frozen and therefore unusable?

11. How much of the earth's water is suitable for drinking?

12. Is it possible to drink water that was part of the dinosaur era?

13. How much water must a dairy cow drink to produce one gallon of milk?

14. How much water does the average residence use during a year?

15. How much water does an individual use daily?

16. What does a person pay for water on a daily basis?

17. How many community public water systems are there in the United States?

18. How much does one gallon of water weigh?

19. How much water does it take to process a quarter pound of hamburger?

20. How many miles of pipelines and aqueducts are in the United States and Canada?

21. How many households use private wells for their water supply?

22. What were the first water pipes made from in the United States?

23. Where was the first municipal water filtration works opened and when?

24. How much water is used to manufacture a new car, including new tires?

25. How much water is used to produce a single day's supply of U.S. newsprint?

Answers: 1. TRUE (solid, liquid, gas). 2. YES. 3. 32 degrees F, 0 degrees C. 4. 212 degrees F, 100 degrees C. 5. More than a month; about one week depending on conditions. 6. 66 percent. 7. 80 percent. 8. 2.5 quarts from all sources. 9. 97 percent. 10. 2 percent. 11. 1 percent. 12. YES. Water is constantly recycled. 13. Four gallons. 14. More than 100,000 gallons. 15. More than 100 gallons. 16. National average is 25 cents. 17. 54,000. 18. 8.34 pounds. 19. About one gallon. 20. About 1 million miles or enough to circle the earth 40 times. 21. More than 13 million. 22. Fire-charred, bored logs. 23. Paisley, Scotland in 1832. 24. 39,090 gallons. 25. 300 million gallons.

More questions are available at: http://www.epa/gov/safewater

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Two 500-Year Floods Within 15 Years: What are the Odds?

2008-07-02T15:53:00.000-04:00

Heavy rainfall across the Midwest has caused major flooding, which has been described as a "500-year flood." So what does that mean? This term is based on the annual likelihood of the degree of flooding. A 500-year flood magnitude has a 0.2 percent chance — or 1 in 500 — of being exceeded in any one year. A 100-year flood magnitude has a 1 percent chance — or 1 in 100 — of being exceeded in the same place, and so on. These statistics are not dependent on what happened last year, 15 years ago or even 100 years ago. Instead, they are calculated by taking annual peak flow values from the network of USGS streamgages and feeding that data into highly developed probability models. Streamgages provide long-term stream flow data that scientists need to better understand floods and define flood-prone areas. For more information about Midwest flooding, visit http://www.usgs.gov/homepage/science_features/flooding_june08.asp. To listen to an interview with USGS scientist Robert Holmes on this topic, visit http://www.usgs.gov/corecast/details.asp?ID=81. For more information, contact Heidi Koontz at 303-202-4763 or hkoontz@usgs.gov.

EEC Hosts Program on Rain Gardens

2008-06-23T07:53:00.000-04:00

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release: June 23, 2008

"EEC Hosts Program on Rain Gardens"

The Carbon County Environmental Education Center will host a program on the use of rain gardens and rainwater collection on Friday, June 27th, at 7:00 pm.

Cindy Kerschner, a member of the Carbon County Groundwater Guardians, will show participants how to use gardening techniques to slow or stop the effects of erosion and runoff on their property. She will also demonstrate how to construct a simple rainwater collection system - a "rain barrel" - for very little money.

The Groundwater Guardians are an all-volunteer group dedicated to public education on groundwater and drinking water issues.

The program is free to CCEEC members, and a small donation is requested from non-members. For more information or to register, call (570) 645-8597.

The EEC is located at the west end of Mauch Chunk Lake Park, just outside Jim Thorpe, along the Lentz Trail Highway.

What do you think about your community?

2008-06-19T14:52:00.002-04:00

We all have opinions about the community where we live. We like and don’t like some things. We probably would like to see some changes and leave the rest alone.

If you live in Luzerne, Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Monroe, Montour, Northumberland, Pike, Schuylkill, and Wayne counties, the Pocono Northeast Resource Conservation & Development Council (PNERCD) wants to know your opinion on what is your community’s biggest need?

PNERCD is a regional, nonprofit organization that has been working since 1980 within northeast Pennsylvania.

There is an online Survey at
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=p0VKf0EMGcuNUe6wMU2rUA_3d_3d
where you can express your feelings about economic development, historic preservation, reclaiming abandoned mine land, watershed management, forest management, land conservation, air quality and alternative energy opportunities.

Your answers will help guide the PNERCD from 2009 through 2014.

The Pocono Northeast Resource Conservation & Development (RC&D) Council is located at the Saint Rose Academy Center in Mayfield, PA (1300 Old Plank Road, Mayfield, Pennsylvania 18433) and on the web at http://www.pnercd.org/.

More consumers turning on the tap

2008-06-19T13:35:00.000-04:00

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that one effect of the credit crunch and ailing economy is that more consumers are forgoing bottled water and turning back to tap water. It may also have something to do with more awareness of the negative environmental impact of plastic bottles.

I'm not sure how that will impact us here in Carbon County as I haven't seen the standard of living change all that much over the past year. Most of us aren't all that comfortable hanging with the high-end bottled water sipping crowd. Even so, as more folks turn back to their tap water in rural areas, more attention will be focused on their private water supply systems.

The first thing they'll probably notice is that it tastes different. We should be ready to answer their questions when they ask if that means there is something wrong with it.

Lightning Safety Awareness Week

2008-06-19T07:48:00.001-04:00

June 22-28, 2008

The Nation will celebrate its seventh annual National Lightning Safety Awareness Week, June 22-28, 2008.

Join NOAA all week long as they examine the following topics:

* Monday: Lightning Overview
* Tuesday: The Science of Lightning
* Wednesday: Lightning Safety Outdoors
* Thursday: Lightning Safety Indoors
* Friday: The Medical Aspects of Lightning

To find out more visit: Lightning Safety Awareness Week

New EPA Guide to Help Businesses Confront Climate Challenge

2008-06-18T07:11:00.000-04:00

Contact: Marilyn Franklin, (202) 564-4355 / franklin.marilyn@epa.gov

EPA is releasing a new resource, A Business Guide to U.S. EPA Climate Partnership Programs, for businesses committed to addressing the risks and opportunities associated with climate change. The guide features profiles on 35 EPA climate-change related partnership programs, as well as a handy table so companies can look up programs most appropriate for their industry and business objectives. Each program profile defines the environmental value delivered by the program and the business case for participating, such as cost savings, operational efficiency, reduced business risk, new or expanded markets, enhanced reputation and brand protection.

The guide also describes the benefits of partnering with EPA, such as environmental performance benchmarking, public recognition, professional training and networking, and preparation for regulatory developments. There are currently more than 13,000 firms and other organizations participating in EPA climate-related partnership programs. Through participation, members are investing in energy efficiency, clean energy supply, and other practices and technologies for mitigating climate risks.

EPA developed the guide in consultation with Businesses for Social Responsibility (BSR), a nonprofit business association. BSR, which provides practical resources for businesses seeking sustainable solutions, is promoting the guide to its 250 members and other Global 1000 enterprises.

For copies of this guide and for more information about EPA Partnership Programs, visit: http://www.epa.gov/partners

For more information about BSR, visit: http://www.bsr.org

Lead Leaching And Faucet Corrosion In PVC Home Plumbing

2008-06-04T08:46:00.000-04:00

ScienceDaily (Jun. 2, 2008) — Scientists in Virginia are reporting that home plumbing systems constructed with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic pipes may be more susceptible to leaching of lead and copper into drinking water than other types of piping -- especially when PVC systems include brass fixtures and pipefittings.

Marc Edwards and colleagues point out that more water purification plants in the United States are using chloramine to treat water. At the same time, builders are plumbing more houses with plastic pipe, rather than copper, to cut costs. Past studies have found that ammonia formed in chloramine-treated water can trigger a series of events that corrode brass faucet components and connectors commonly used in PVC plumbing systems. Corrosion of brass (made with copper, zinc and lead) releases those metals into water pipes and makes faucets prone to failure.

In the new study, researchers sampled water from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), copper, lead, and other pipe material under a range of experimental conditions. They found that corrosive conditions were often worst in plastic pipes, which could be expected to cause higher metal leaching of zinc and lead from brass faucets used in homes and buildings.

ScienceDaily 2 June 2008. 4 June 2008 <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/06/080602091241.htm>.

Journal reference:

Zhang et al. Nitrification in Premise Plumbing: Role of Phosphate, pH and Pipe Corrosion. Environmental Science & Technology, 2008; 0 (0): 0 DOI: 10.1021/es702483d

Adapted from materials provided by American Chemical Society.

NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR)

2008-06-03T07:18:00.000-04:00

NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR) is a nationwide network of radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information directly from the nearest National Weather Service office. NWR broadcasts official Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts and other hazard information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Working with the Federal Communication Commission's (FCC) Emergency Alert System , NWR is an “All Hazards” radio network, making it your single source for comprehensive weather and emergency information. In conjunction with Federal, State, and Local Emergency Managers and other public officials, NWR also broadcasts warning and post-event information for all types of hazards including natural (such as earthquakes or avalanches), environmental (such as chemical releases or oil spills), and public safety (such as AMBER alerts or 911 Telephone outages).

Known as the “Voice of NOAA's National Weather Service,” NWR is provided as a public service by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), part of the Department of Commerce. NWR includes more than 985 transmitters , covering all 50 states, adjacent coastal waters, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the U.S. Pacific Territories. NWR requires a special radio receiver or scanner capable of picking up the signal.

Click on the following link to find out more about where to listen to NOAA Weather Radio in your area:

http://www.nws.noaa.gov/nwr/stations.php?State=PA

Call Sign	Site Name	Site Location	Frequency	Power
WWG51	Warren	Youngsville	162.450	1000
WWG52	Huntingdon	Three Springs	162.525	1000
WWG53	Parker	Parker	162.425	1000
WNG704	Hibernia Park	Chester County	162.425	1000
KZZ32	Meadville	Meadville	162.475	300
WXL39	Allentown	Allentown	162.400	1000
WXM33	Johnstown	Laurel Hill	162.400	250
KZZ42	Punxsutawney	Punxsutawney	162.500	300
WNG705	Honesdale	Wayne CO	162.450	300
WXL40	Harrisburg	Blue Mtn.	162.550	1000
WXL55	Williamsport	Montoursvil	162.400	1000
WNG589	Altoona	Frankstown	162.425	300
WNG591	Coudersport	Coudersport	162.500	600
WXM94	Wellsboro	Dutch Hill	162.475	1000
KIH28	Philadelphia	Philadelphia	162.475	1000
KEC58	Erie	Erie	162.400	330
WXL52	Clearfield	Clearfield	162.550	500
WXL43	Wilkes-Barre	Penobscot Knob	162.550	250
WXM59	State College	Little Flat Mtn.	162.475	100
KIH35	Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh	162.550	1000
WXM95	Towanda	Mt. Pisgah	162.525	1000

GOVERNMENT SCIENTISTS ARE THE LAST TO KNOW

2008-06-01T10:49:00.001-04:00

Reprinted from dante7.com - Posted - June 1, 2008

Fly Ash Dump Within 13-Mile Radius of McAdoo Associates

Superfund Site

Have you ever noticed that government scientists are the last to know when a chemical has been causing health problems in an exposed population?

For example, some reports indicate that as early as World War I, U.S. soldiers referred to cigarettes as "coffin nails" and "cancer sticks." However, it wasn't until 1964 that the U.S. Surgeon General announced medical research showing that smoking was a definite cause of cancers of the lung and larynx (voice box) in men and chronic bronchitis in both men and women. It took government scientists years to confirm what many smokers had known almost 50 years!

The story with dibromochloropropane (DBCP) is similar. DBCP is a chemical used to kill worms that live in soil and plague a variety of crops. For years workers at a chemical facility in California knew that if you worked in the DBCP plant, you didn't have to worry about having children, that is, you became sterile. Finally in 1977, after years of research, government scientists "discovered" that workers in the DBCP plants were sterile. Holy Discovery, Batman!

The situation is no different here. In 2004, the Carbon County Groundwater Guardians uncovered an unusual cluster of people with polycythemia vera living on Ben Titus Road along the Still Creek Reservoir in Rush Township. Polycythemia vera is a rare bone marrow cancer occurring with a frequency of about one in 100,000 people per year in the general population.

The Carbon County Groundwater Guardians initially uncovered three and possibly four patients, including two in one household, among approximately one hundred or so people living in the area. It was obvious to us that there was a significant increase in the incidence of polycythemia vera in this area. We then wanted to know what was the cause of this increase.

There is a hazardous chemical waste dump known as the McAdoo Associates Superfund Site, a waste coal-burning plant and a fly ash dump located about one mile north and uphill of Ben Titus Road. There are five waste coal-burning plants, four Superfund sites and numerous fly ash dumps within a 13-mile radius of the McAdoo Associates Super fund site. The 13-mile radius encompasses parts of three counties: Luzerne, Schuylkill and Carbon.

More than four years and three studies by government scientists later, we are no closer to identifying the cause of the problem. In fact, it took the government scientists more than three years to confirm that there was a significant increase in the incidence of polycythemia vera in the three counties!

To their credit, the government scientists did identify the 13-mile radius area where individuals had a four and a half times greater risk of developing polycythemia vera compared to individuals residing in the three county region. Since the three county region already had an elevated polycythemia vera rate, individuals within the 13-mile radius had an approximate 15 times greater risk of developing polycythemia vera when compared to the national average!

Since government scientists are the last to know when a chemical has been causing health problems in an exposed population, the onus falls on us to prove what is the cause. With this in mind, we suspect that coal-fired plants are the problem or a significant part of the problem. We also suspect that the fly ash dumps and the Superfund sites are also contributing to the problem.

We must now try to prove that toxic emissions from the five coal-fired plants in 13-mile zone significantly contribute to or cause the increase in the incidence of polycythemia vera in this area. If we are able to prove the cause, the government scientists will conduct studies over a period of years and then officially "discover" what we have already proven. They will, of course, take credit for the findings.

Drinking Water Protection Workshop

2008-05-11T08:21:00.000-04:00

The workshop will be held from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, June 4, at the Holiday Inn Conference Center in Fogelsville, Lehigh County.

The workshop will explore how communities can assess the areas surrounding water sources, facilitate better local decision making on land use and open space preservation, and involve the public in contamination prevention efforts. Information on DEP's source water protection technical assistance program will also be presented.

Water suppliers can treat water through technological methods and procedures, but protecting the water sources is essential to ensuring quality drinking water.

The workshop is being sponsored by DEP, the League of Women Voters, the Lehigh County Conservation District, the Pennsylvania Rural Water Association (PRWA), and other organizations.

PRWA will provide 3.5 contact hours for certified operators.

Those interested in attending must pre-register for this free workshop by visiting www.drinkingwaterwise.org or by contacting Julie Kollar of the League of Women Voters' Water Resource Education Network at juliekwren@verizon.net or 267-468-0555.

Composting – The Next Step in Recycling!

2008-05-01T10:15:00.001-04:00

See below for information on composting workshops at Beltzville State Park

Contact: Bonnie Smith 215-814-5543 /smith.bonnie@epa.gov

International Compost Awareness Week is May 4 to May 10, 2008

PHILADELPHIA (May 1, 2008) -- Are you ready for free fertilizer and a soil conditioner that will give your flowers and vegetables a boost? Then break out the compost bin.

For people who recycle regularly and are looking for ways to reduce their household waste even further, composting is the sensible next step. Yard trimmings and food residuals together constitute 24 percent of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream. That's a lot of waste to send to landfills especially when you could put it to good use in your garden.

Tea bags, coffee grounds, fruit and vegetable peels, pet hair, dryer lint, egg shells, leaves, and grass clippings – almost any organic materials -- can be thrown into the compost pile.

You can get started quickly and easily. You don’t need special equipment – just a level, well-drained space outdoors for a compost pile, which shouldn’t be larger than 3 feet by 3 feet. It could take a year or two, but eventually you will get rich, dark humus that will keep your plants healthy.

Many homeowners invest in a compost bin to save space, hasten decomposition, and keep the yard looking neat. These are available in home and garden centers and on the internet.

The most important thing is to keep the compost aerated. Be sure to mix it up whenever you add new materials. That will add oxygen, which will speed up the process. You will also want to keep the compost pile fairly balanced with materials. Too many leaves, for example, will cause the material to break down too slowly.

When your humus is ready, your soil will love it. You will, too, when you notice a reduction in your water bill. Compost improves the soil’s ability to hold water. And with regular use of compost, you’ll greatly reduce the need for chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides, which is not only good for your wallet but will reduce contamination to streams, lakes and other waterbodies.

For more information, go to www.epa.gov/epaoswer/non-hw/composting/basic.htm.

FREE Backyard Compost Bin Workshops!

Choose One! Location: Beltzville State Park’s EIC

*Wednesday, May 14 @ 6:30 pm

*Wednesday, July 16 @ 6:30 pm

*Tuesday, August 12 @ 6:30 pm

*Thursday, August 21@ 6:30 pm DONATIONS ARE WELCOME!

Would you like to have rich soil for your garden or your flowerbeds? FREE! Attend a Compost Workshop! Leave the session with a FREE Compost bin (valued @ $115) (limit one of each item per household) and all the knowledge you need to get started. The Penn State Cooperative Extension – Carbon County Master Gardeners and Beltzville State Park is offering free compost workshops at Beltzville State Park. Biodegradable waste such as vegetable peels, apple cores, leaves, coffee grounds, grass clippings, and even shredded newspaper breaks down into compost which can be spread over gardens, flowerbeds and lawns to add nutrients to the soil. Soil test kits will also be available. This is recycling in its purest form. This program is funded through a DEP grant. This program is very popular! Pre-registration is required. Contact the Beltzville State Park office at 610-377-9150 or 610-377-0045 or email Beltzvillesp@state.pa.us with your name, phone number, email address, # of people attending and date of workshop you wish to attend. Registration is limited.

Free electronics recycling event slated for Friday and Saturday

2008-04-29T08:05:00.000-04:00

From the Times News

The Carbon County Department of Solid Waste will be holding a two-day electronics recycling event on Friday, May 2, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturday, May 3, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The event, which is free and open to all Carbon County residents, will be held at the Lehigh Township Municipal building, 1741 South Lehigh Gorge Drive, Weatherly.

At the collection site, workers will be accepting electronic items such as VCRs, stereos, computer monitors, towers, printers and scanners, mainframe and telecom equipment, circuit boards of any kind, telephones, fax machines, and DVD and CD players. Television sets or household appliances will not be accepted.

For more information, call the Carbon County Department of Solid Waste at (610) 852-5111.

“BE AIR AWARE”

2008-04-28T08:38:00.000-04:00

Air Quality Awareness Week  April 28 thru May 2, 2008

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) National Weather Service urge Americans to “Be Air Aware” during Air Quality Awareness Week, April 28 - May 2, 2008

Join the EPA and NOAA all week long as they examine the following topics:
• Monday: Ozone and particle pollution
• Tuesday: What causes poor air quality?
• Wednesday: Keeping your lungs and heart safe
• Thursday: How to get current air quality information.
• Friday: What can you do to help make the air cleaner?

To find out more visit: Air Quality Awareness Week
http://www.epa.gov/airnow/airaware/airaware.html

WHERE ARE SPECTER, THE ATSDR AND THE PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH?

2008-04-28T07:58:00.000-04:00

From: http://www.dante7.com/ [Posted - April 28, 2008]

As most people in northeastern Pennsylvania know, we have a highly significant polycythemia vera cancer problem in this area. A 2007 investigation by the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) indicated that our rate of polycythemia vera is at least 4.5 times the national average www.washingtonindependent.com...ATSDR.pdf!

On October 6, 2006, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter and representatives from the ATSDR and the Pennsylvania Department of Health (PA DOH) first announced a study of our polycythemia vera epidemic www.tnonline.com.

At the time of the announcement, Senator Specter stated, "This area has been a dumping ground. We understand your concerns and we share your concerns. When I hear about cancer, I'm especially concerned." Senator Specter emphasized, "We'll do everything that can be done."

U.S. Senator Arlen Specter
On October 24, 2007, officials from the ATSDR and the PA DOH reported the results of their preliminary study confirming the elevated rates of the rare cancer in this area. Dr. Steve Dearwent, Chief of the Health Investigation Bureau, Division of Health Studies, represented the ATSDR.

Dr. Steve Dearwent, ATSDR
The Lehighton Times News reported, "Dearwent stressed that ATSDR will continue to follow up by studying spacial distribution of the cancer within the area" www.tnonline.com. In addition, Dr. Michael Huff, Deputy Secretary, PA DOH, stated, "We are committed to doing additional work and study."

Dr. Michael Huff, PA DOH
It has been between six and 18 months since "We'll do everything that can be done," "ATSDR will continue to follow up " and "We are committed to doing additional work and study."

Where are the officials from the ATSDR and the PA DOH? Representatives from these government agencies are nowhere to been seen.

Please contact your elected representatives and demand that they do their jobs by getting officials at the ATSDR and the PA DOH to do their jobs.

The Mythical Daily Water Requirement

2008-04-02T10:47:00.000-04:00

Scientific American - USA
So the Pennsylvania docs scanned the literature. Do we really need to drink eight glasses of water each day? They discovered that drinking water does help the kidneys clear out salt and such. ...

To read the article, click HERE

Get daily EPA tips in April on 'going green'

2008-04-01T19:22:00.000-04:00

Contact: Bonnie Smith, 215-814-5543, smith.bonnie@epa.gov

PHILADELPHIA (April 1, 2008) Everyday there are reports in newspapers, on television, on the radio and the web with suggestions on how to reduce our carbon footprint, make our homes and businesses more energy efficient and create communities that are sustainable. Now, you can now sign up for daily environmental tips sent directly to you by e-mail from EPA throughout April at http://www.epa.gov/earthday/tips.htm. Also available is a green tip "widget" you can download for daily environmental tips. A widget is a small piece of Web programming code that can be added to a blog, wiki, or Web page.

These daily environmental tips are a part of EPA's 2008 Earth Day celebration. April 22 is Earth Day and this year, EPA is launching several initiatives throughout the month of April to help raise environmental awareness.

On April 22, 1970, twenty million people across America celebrated the first Earth Day. Now, Earth Day is celebrated around the world.

National Poison Prevention Week (March 16-22)

2008-03-18T07:41:00.002-04:00

From: "U.S. EPA"
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Play It Safe, Prevent Poisonings, Lock Up Pesticides

Contacts: (Media only) Dale Kemery, (202) 564-4355 / kemery.dale@epa.gov
(All other inquiries) Darlene Dinkins, (703) 305-5214 / dinkins.darlene@epa.gov

(Washington, D.C. - March 17, 2008) Every 13 seconds, a U.S. poison control center receives a call about an unintentional poisoning. The American Association of Poison Control Centers reports that more than 50 percent of the two million poisoning incidents each year involve children younger than six years old. In 2006, poison centers reported more than 77,000 calls made to poison centers with concerns about potential exposure to common household pesticides (potential exposures do not necessarily represent a poisoning).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) observes National Poison Prevention Week each year to increase awareness of the danger to children of unintentional poisonings from pesticides and household products, and to encourage parents and caregivers to lock up products that could potentially harm children.

In observance of National Poison Prevention Week (March 16-22), EPA has launched a poison-prevention segment on Green Scene, EPA's new series of environmental videos. During an interview on Green Scene, Assistant Administrator Jim Gulliford, of the Office of Prevention Pesticides and Toxic Substances, discusses Poison Prevention Week, how to protect your children from toxic substances around the home and how to respond in case of accidental poisoning.

EPA is also conducting extensive outreach targeting the Hispanic communities, including television interviews to be aired on "Cada Dia," Telemundo's national morning program and the Telemundo Washington affiliate in DC. Other interviews include Univision TV and Radio and CNN Radio en Espanol.

Link to Green Scene Podcast: http://www.epa.gov

EPA's Poison Prevention Web site: http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/health/poisonprevention.htm

The National Poison Center hotline is 1-800-222-1222.

View all news releases related to pesticides and toxic chemicals
http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/health/poisonprevention.htm

Sent by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency · 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW · Washington DC 20460 · (202) 564-4355

Carbon protects groundwater resources

2008-03-16T08:45:00.003-04:00

http://www.tnonline.com/node/285313
Times News
March 15, 2008

Carbon County will make groundwater protection and education a priority for another year by participating in Groundwater Guardian, a program of The Groundwater Foundation that encourages citizen involvement in groundwater protection and education activities on the local level.

The Groundwater Foundation, based in Lincoln, Neb., is a non-profit organization that educates and motivates the public to care about and for groundwater. Since its inception in 1985, the foundation has offered various educational programs and opportunities for youth and adults.

As part of its participation in the program, Carbon County has formed a diverse team of representatives from citizenry, business, agriculture, education and local government to work on activities that address local groundwater concerns and needs, such as public awareness, education, conservation, pollution prevention, public policy or best-management practices.

Groundwater Guardian began in 1994 with eight pilot communities. Carbon County has participated since 2000 and was among 140 communities in 34 states and one Canadian province designated as Groundwater Guardians in 2007. New communities can get involved in Groundwater Guardian at any time during the year and there is no cost to participate.

The Groundwater Guardian program is made possible with generous support from the program's national co-sponsor, the United States Geological Survey. Visit www.usgs.gov to learn more. Additional program support is provided by Cargill and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

A complete description of Groundwater Guardian, online entry forms, program benefits and activity ideas are available on The Groundwater Foundation's Web site at www.groundwater.org/gg/gg.html. For additional information, or if you have questions, please contact The Groundwater Foundation at 1 (800) 858-4844 or at guardian@groundwater.org.

Does the United States Have Enough Water?

2008-03-11T08:20:00.000-04:00

The short answer is nobody really knows. The National Ground Water Association has designated the week of March 9-13 as Ground Water Awareness Week. The USGS is gearing up to assess the availability and use of our Nation’s water resources, including groundwater. The USGS is working to determine how much water we have now, how water availability is changing over time, and how much water will be available for America’s future. By better understanding groundwater resources now, we can help to protect the quality and quantity of human and environmental fresh water needs in the future. To learn more about the USGS’s plans for water availability assessment, visit http://water.usgs.gov/wsi/, or contact Jennifer LaVista at (703) 648-4432 or jlavista@usgs.gov.

You Are What You Eat

2008-03-11T08:16:00.000-04:00

Chemicals Found in Earthworms

The saying "you are what you eat" is proving true for earthworms, which eat soil for nourishment. Earthworms studied in agricultural fields have been found to contain chemicals from household products and manure, indicating that such substances are entering the food chain. The chemicals investigated include a range of active ingredients in common household products such as detergents, antibacterial soaps, fragrances and pharmaceuticals. For more information, visit http://toxics.usgs.gov/highlights/earthworms.html, or contact Jennifer LaVista at (703) 648-4432 or jlavista@usgs.gov.

National Ground Water Awareness Week: March 9-15, 2008

2008-03-06T10:01:00.001-05:00

"Time to schedule your annual water well checkup!"

Just as periodic checks of furnaces and smoke detectors are recommended, so is an annual water well checkup. Spring is a good time to have this done before the peak water-use season begins. As part of its annual Ground Water Awareness Week promotion, NGWA stresses the importance of yearly water testing and well maintenance.

Why is it a good idea to have my water well checked annually?

*An annual checkup by a licensed or certified water well contractor is the best way to ensure problem-free service and quality water.

*Preventative maintenance usually is less costly than emergency maintenance.

*Good well maintenance, like good car maintenance, can prolong the life of your well and related equipment.

Ground water is a vital national resource. Get involved!

About half the U.S. population receives its drinking water from wells! And more than 90 percent of the fresh water in the United States and around the world is ground water. Ground Water Awareness Week spotlights ground water as a valuable and renewable resource.

You can obtain more well and consumer information by going to NGWA's Web site for well owners.

Polycythemia vera patient from Hometown area dies

2008-01-27T11:46:00.001-05:00

The following story is by Sue Sturgis and is posted on her Hometown Hazards web site, www.hometownhazards.com:

He survived the D-Day landing at Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge only to spend the last years of his life debilitated by polycythemia vera -- a disease likely caused by his heavily polluted environment.

Lester Barney Kester, a resident of the Ben Titus Road community north of Hometown, passed away at his home three days ago, according to his published obituary. He was 84. Among Kester's survivors is his wife, Betty, who also suffers from the rare blood malignancy.

The fact that two genetically unrelated people in one household were both diagnosed with the disease helped draw attention to what appeared to be the area's unusually high rate of PV -- an appearance that has since been confirmed as fact. Unfortunately, public health officials and political leaders have so far failed to take any action to address the problem, which independent scientists say appears to be environmental in origin. The Kesters live just downhill from the McAdoo Associates Superfund site, a former chemical dumping ground for some of America's biggest corporations; the Northeastern Power Co. waste-coal-burning power plant; and an enormous coal combustion waste dump dubbed "the Big Gorilla."

Mrs. Kester recently told the Philadelphia Inquirer that doctors "flipped out" when her husband was diagnosed with the disease two years after her, so astounded were they to see two cases in one family. She admitted to feeling bitter over having their retirement years ruined by the disease but observed that at least they were up in years when diagnosed:

"I'm thinking of the children," she said. "We're old, we're ready to die. But the children that are coming up -- I'd like something done for them, if possible."

There will be visitation with the Kester family from 6 to 8 p.m. [on January 25, 2008] at the Lamar Christ Funeral Home in Hometown. My thoughts and prayers are with the family, and with all of those whose lives have been touched by the region's environmental crisis.

Making Homes Greener and Safer From Radon

2008-01-16T15:20:00.001-05:00

Contact: Bonnie Smith, 215-814-5543, smith.bonnie@epa.gov

Only smoking causes more lung cancer than radon

PHILADELPHIA (January 16, 2008) For people who are shopping for new homes, EPA has some good news. Radon-resistant construction practices are being used more frequently in new homes built throughout the country.

Radon is a cancer-causing naturally occurring gas that enters homes through foundation cracks, drains, and openings. Although you can't see, smell, or taste radon, it can reach harmful levels if trapped indoors. Radon is the leading cause of lung cancer among nonsmokers and claims 20,000 lives every year.

"It's never too late to reduce your risk of lung cancer. Don't wait another day. Test your home for radon," said EPA Regional Administrator Donald S. Welsh. "And, if you are building a new home, use the radon-resistant construction practices."

Radon-resistant construction techniques help reduce radon infiltration into a home. The techniques include gas permeable layers beneath the home's slab, plastic sheeting, sealing and caulking, a vent pipe to redirect radon, a fan and junction box.

It is more cost-effective to use radon-resistant techniques while building a home, than it is to install in an existing home. For new homes, materials and labor costs are $350 to $500 compared to retrofitting an existing home for $800 to $2,500. Techniques vary slightly for different foundations and site requirements. The techniques may also increase your home's energy efficiency.

Based on the most recent analysis by the National Association Home Builders Research Center of homes built during 2001, 65,000 new homes incorporated radon-resistant features. This is six percent of the 1,124,000 new single-family detached homes built.

Whether your new home is new construction or not, EPA encourages you to test it for radon. A simple home test costs less than $25 and testing is the only way to detect radon levels. If your home is not new, a radon mitigation system can also be installed if your radon test levels are above the recommended levels of 4 pCi/l.

For tips about test kits and finding a qualified professional to fix a radon problem, contact your state's radon program at www.epa.gov/iaq/whereyoulive.html or visit the National Safety Council Web site at www.nsc.org/issues/radon.

For more information about radon, visit EPA's Web site at www.epa.gov/radon or contact the radon program in each state, at www.epa.gov/iaq/whereyoulive.html. You can also call National Safety Council's radon hotlines: 1-800-SOS-RADON (24 hour recording) or 1-800-55-RADON (to speak with a specialist), or 1-866-528-3187 (for Spanish speakers).

Editor's note: Information and an image showing the radon-resistant construction techniques available at http://www.epa.gov/radon/construc.html

--
Frank Waksmunski
CARBON COUNTY GROUNDWATER GUARDIANS: http://www.carbonwaters.org/
PENN STATE MASTER WELL OWNER: http://mwon.cas.psu.edu/

Water is Precious

2008-01-08T08:24:00.000-05:00

Many of us are familiar with the verse “Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink” from the poem: “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”. Most of us, however, probably dont realize how true those words are in terms of the amount of freshwater available to us.

Have you ever wondered where our water is stored? As you probably guessed, most of it is in the oceans. In fact, over 97% of all water on the planet is too salty for us to drink. Of the remaining 3% that is freshwater, about 2% is tied up in ice caps and glaciers and about 0.9% is stored as water in the ground. That leaves less than 0.1% of the worlds total water supply to be split up between rivers, lakes, and the atmosphere (stored as water vapor)!

More information about the water cycle can be found at: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html

Reducing Holiday Waste

2007-12-04T08:12:00.001-05:00

ENVIRO-TIP OF THE MONTH

Schuylkill County’s children health study

2007-12-02T10:51:00.000-05:00

Children from Schuylkill County will participate in the largest national study of how genetics and the environment affect children's health

The $3.2 billion National Children's Study, which will follow 100,000 children in 105 areas across the country from conception -- or before -- to age 21, will begin in Montgomery County in November 2008 and in Schuylkill County in July 2009.

Schuylkill, Montgomery, Westmoreland and Philadelphia counties in Pennsylvania are among the 105 locations that will recruit participants. Each site will have a goal of enrolling at least 250 newborns each year for four or five years.

Physicians in the study will visit mothers during pregnancy, collect specimens and information during delivery and follow-up with visits at 6 and 12 months of age, then every three years after.

"People are born with certain genes, but we don't know what turns them on or off," Schwarz said. "The study will look at what happens before birth and sometimes even before conception, that influences how genes are turned on or off."

It will also examine environmental influences - such as air and water pollution - and other factors, including what children eat, how they are cared for and the safety of their neighborhoods, National Institutes of Health officials say.

NIH has selected "study centers" to lead the recruitment and enrollment efforts. Among them is Pottsville Hospital and Warne Clinic in Schuylkill County.

"We're excited about it. Most definitely," said Mike Peckman, spokesman for Pottsville Hospital, which is the only facility in the county that delivers babies.

This post was abstracted, with permission, from an article written by Chris Parker of the Morning Call.

Babies and Arsenic Exposure

2007-11-25T10:29:00.000-05:00

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have found for the first time that mothers who drink water contaminated with arsenic during pregnancy increase the risk of their children to cancer and other diseases. This prenatal exposure causes gene changes that last a lifetime.

These scientists found the function of up to 450 genes can be changed in babies exposed to arsenic in the womb.

You can read more at this Environmental News Service publication.

Some private water supplies in Carbon County are contaminated with arsenic. I know this for sure because I have arsenic in my well water. What about your well water?

For the sake of your children, please have your water tested.

Not "IF" but "WHEN"

2007-11-17T08:42:00.001-05:00

Atlanta is running out of drinking water. If the water level of Lake Lanier continues to drop, the city goes dry.

Well, Lake Lanier has nothing to do with us, right?

On November 16th, Norwich, Conn. declared a Stage 1 water emergency when its reservoir levels fell below 60 percent of capacity.

Hmm, that getting a little closer to home.

Carbon County was in a drought watch earlier this year.

Well, that's home and some private wells dried up.

Do your part and start now. We don't need a drought to conserve water. If we don't conserve now, a "real" drought may be closer than we think.

Find out more about water conservation at the Carbon County Groundwater Guardian web site.

There's Drought About!

2007-11-06T08:07:00.001-05:00

The National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) just launched a new website to keep us informed about drought -- current conditions, impacts and forecasts.

http://www.drought.gov/portal/server.pt

CoCoRaHS volunteers < http://www.cocorahs.org/ >will play several important roles in NIDIS. Our data are used to help monitor both emerging and improving drought conditions and are especially important in showing how moisture is varying within our individual counties. We will be encouraged to report drought impacts within our counties and communities. Also, we can help share information about drought conditions, preparation and mitigation.

National foundation honors Carbon County

2007-10-20T09:59:00.001-04:00

http://www.tnonline.com/node/230258
Times News
October 20, 2007

National foundation honors Carbon Co. for its groundwater protection efforts

Carbon County has been designated as a Groundwater Guardian Community by The Groundwater Foundation in recognition of its efforts to protect local groundwater supplies.

The county received this designation for the foundation's 2007 program year and is among 139 communities in 34 states and one Canadian province to receive this designation.

Groundwater Guardians is a program of The Groundwater Foundation which encourages citizen involvement in groundwater education and protection at the local level. Groundwater Guardians form diverse teams of citizens, business/agriculture, local government and educators and work together to implement activities that address the groundwater concerns and issues of the community ranging from youth water festivals to household hazardous waste pickups to wellhead protection ordinances. Carbon County has been designated as a Groundwater Guardian since 2000.

Carbon County will be nationally recognized for its work on behalf of groundwater at the National Groundwater Guardian Designation Celebration, held in conjunction with The Groundwater Foundation's National Conference. The 2007 conference, "Groundwater Protection: Bridging the Gap Between What is Known and What is Practiced," will be held Nov. 28 through 30 at the Denver Sheraton West Hotel in Lakewood, Col. This year's celebration will include the official Groundwater Guardian Designation Ceremony, a reception, silent auction and banquet.

The Groundwater Foundation is a nonprofit organization with a mission to educate and motivate the public to care about and for groundwater. Since it began in 9185, the foundation has developed programs, projects and publications that have educated youth and adults about the importance of groundwater and ways they can protect it.

For more information about Carbon County's Groundwater Guardian activities, Groundwater Guardian or The Groundwater Foundation, contact either 1 (800) 858-4844 or at guardian@groundwater.org or visit the foundation's Web site at www.groundwater.org.

Polycythemia vera Cancer report ready

2007-10-17T13:04:00.000-04:00

The region will receive its cancer diagnosis Oct. 24, and some concerned citizens believe the prognosis is poor.

The state Department of Health announced Tuesday a public meeting to release findings on incidence of a rare blood cancer called polycythemia vera from 7 to 9 p.m. at Best Western Genetti Inn & Suites, Hazleton.

The Carbon County Groundwater Guardians uncovered the three initial diagnosed cases of polycythemia vera on Ben Titus Road, Rush Township in 2003 and made their findings public at a press conference in June, 2004.

Representatives from the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry and the state Department of Health, along with a national polycythemia vera expert and local doctors, will attend the meeting.

Read more at republicanherald.com

Elevated blood mercury levels found in those who eat more fish.

2007-09-24T16:36:00.001-04:00

September 19, 2007
Because of copyright issues, I cannot reproduce the article.
http://blogs.consumerreports.org/safety/

How safe is that plastic bottle?

2007-09-24T09:05:00.000-04:00

When pregnant mice are exposed to bisphenol A (BPA), a chemical used in everyday plastics, such as sunglasses, drink bottles, shatterproof baby-bottles, and some dental sealants and fillings, exposure may adversely affect the mother, but also, disturb development in the unborn fetuses. In a recently released report, USGS scientists say even low doses of the chemical may affect the reproductive systems of male and female mice, organizational development of the brain, and metabolic processes. Evidence suggests that when exposed female fetuses reach adulthood, there is a greater potential for abnormal eggs and embryos. Learn more here (PDF) or contact Catherine Richter at (573) 876-1841 or crichter@usgs.gov.

USGS Office of Communications
Health Effects of Endocrine Disruptor Bisphenol A

Californians looking at cows as culprits

2007-09-22T11:06:00.000-04:00

A professor from UC Davis in California will begin a new study there to determine the effects of dairy cows on groundwater. Should be interesting. More here.

ENVIRO-TIP OF THE MONTH

2007-09-06T19:41:00.001-04:00

Reduce your carbon footprint. Use public transportation, carpool, walk, or bike whenever possible to avoid using your car. Learn about greenhouse gas emissions on the road. http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/road.html

CCGG Meeting on September 10, 2007

2007-08-30T10:35:00.000-04:00

The Carbon County Groundwater Guardians hold their regular monthly meetings on the first Monday of each month. Due to the Labor Day holiday, the meeting date has been changed. If you have any questions, please go to CCGG's home page, carbonwaters.org.

Electronics Recycling On Sept. 24 & 25

2007-08-25T09:08:00.000-04:00

The Times News
http://www.tnonline.com/taxonomy/term/1837

Carbon to hold annual electronics recycling event in September

The Carbon County Department of Solid Waste announced that they will be holding their fall electronics recycling collection event two days in September.

In cooperation with Towamensing Township and A-Plus Industries, the could will host the event at the Towamensing Township Municipal Building, located at 120 Stable Road in Lehighton, on Monday, Sept. 24, from noon to 6 p.m. and Tuesday, Sept. 25, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Electronic devices will be accepted at no charge to the county or its residents. Acceptable materials include: VCRs, DVD players, radios, stereo equipment, computers (monitors, towers, printers, scanners, keyboards), main frame and telecom equipment, application (OEM) equipment, circuit boards of any kind, fax machines, typewriters and telephones. TVs and white goods or items that contain freon will not be accepted.

If you have any questions, contact the Solid Waste office at (610) 852-5111.

Training Date Set For Rain/Snow Monitors

2007-08-03T09:08:00.000-04:00

If you have an interest in weather and would like to know how much rain or snow falls in your backyard, this program is for you. Teachers and students, including homeschoolers, can receive suggested exercises to make the students think critically about the data they are collecting.

If you would like to join this network, there will be a training session beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 16, at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center, 151 East White Bear Drive, Summit Hill, which is located at the west end of Mauch Chunk Lake Park, just outside Jim Thorpe.

Penn State University's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences has set up a network of volunteers across Pennsylvania. The program is called FROST and the Pennsylvania State Climatologist administers it.

Paul Knight, who has been the Pennsylvania State Climatologist since 1994, will conduct the training. He is also a senior lecturer of synoptic meteorology at Penn State University.

Paul has been a senior forecaster for The New York Times since 1986. He, along with four other colleagues, produces the weather page for the Times each day. Paul has also been the producer, co-host and on-camera meteorologist for WPSU-TV's Weather World, a fifteen minute, weeknight weather magazine show seen on Pennsylvania PBS stations since 1983 and since 2004 on PCN.

FROST is part of a larger, national network called CoCoRaHS, which is an acronym for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network and is based at the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University.

The data collected is submitted to CoCoRaHS over the Internet, and it is displayed on their website. The National Weather Service is notified immediately of any extraordinary weather events.

Some examples of those who use the data are the National Weather Service, other meteorologists, hydrologists, emergency managers, city utilities (water supply, water conservation, storm water), insurance adjusters, USDA, engineers, mosquito control, ranchers and farmers, outdoor & recreation interests, teachers, students, and neighbors in the community.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a major sponsor of CoCoRaHS.

Everyone is welcome and you do not need to live in Carbon County to join. Youngsters can join too, but need to come with a parent or guardian.

There is no fee for this training session, but registration is necessary due to space limitations. To register, contact the Carbon County Environmental Education Center at (570) 645-8597 or e-mail Frank Waksmunski, Carbon County Coordinator for FROST, at frank@carbonwaters.org.

Links of interest: FROST, CoCoRaHS, Carbonwaters.org

Childhood Growth Stages Determine What Harm Pollution Does

2007-07-29T10:07:00.001-04:00

An increased risk of cancer, heart and lung disease in adults can result from exposures to certain environmental chemicals during childhood, the World Health Organization said today.

Air and water contaminants, pesticides in food, lead in soil, as well many other environmental threats which alter the delicate organism of a growing child may cause or worsen disease and induce developmental problems.

Children have different susceptibilities during different life stages, due to their dynamic growth and developmental processes, the authors said.

Young children may die or develop asthma, neurobehavioral and immune impairment. Adolescents may experience precocious or delayed puberty.

The central focus of the study is on the child from embryo through adolescence and on the need to have a good understanding of the interactions between exposures at each stage of a child’s development.

Click HERE to read more.

PENN STATE LAUNCHES WATER-TESTING PROGRAM FOR PA. RESIDENTS

2007-07-24T13:54:00.000-04:00

Penn State Ag Sciences News 7/24/2007
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- To help ensure an abundant supply of safe
water for people, crops and livestock, Penn State's College of
Agricultural Sciences has launched a water-testing program, which will
be administered by the college's Agricultural Analytical Services
Laboratory.

"About 3.5 million rural Pennsylvanians rely on more than one
million private wells for their drinking water, and about 20,000 new
wells are drilled each year," says Bryan Swistock, water resources
senior extension associate. "We hope by encouraging people to get their
water tested, we can help them to improve their water quality and to
safeguard their health."

Swistock points out that private water supplies in Pennsylvania are
not regulated by the state or federal government, and well owners are
responsible for maintaining the quality of their own water. "However,
about half of the state's wells that have been tested fail to meet at
least one drinking-water standard," he says.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has established primary
and secondary drinking-water standards. Primary standards apply to
contaminants -- such as coliform bacteria, nitrate and lead -- that
cause health problems. Secondary standards address iron, manganese,
chloride and other pollutants that cause aesthetic problems, such as
stains, odors or off-tastes. Penn State's program will provide well
owners with reports detailing how their water-test results compare to
these EPA standards.

Similar testing will be done for water used for livestock
consumption. "When dairy and livestock producers are trying to diagnose
performance problems with their animals, water is one nutrient that
often is overlooked," says Virginia Ishler, nutrient-management
specialist in dairy and animal science.

"It's not uncommon for aesthetic problems, such as odors and
tastes, to cause water intake in cattle to drop, which in turn can
reduce milk production," Ishler says. "Less frequently, bacterial
contamination can adversely affect animal health. Offering this testing
program will give us a chance to help producers diagnose and correct
problems that might be limiting productivity and profitability."

Two testing programs for irrigation water -- for
greenhouses/nurseries and for turf -- will be offered. The
greenhouse/nursery testing protocols will focus primarily on nutrient
content, according to Rob Berghage, associate professor of horticulture.
"Water quality and fertility are critical to greenhouse and nursery
operators," he says. "Managing nutrient content is especially important
for growers using recirculating systems. Too much or too little
nutrients can harm plant health."

Berghage explains that contamination issues also can be a concern,
particularly in "beneficial re-use" systems where water is being
recycled from sewage or industrial plants. In addition, he says, knowing
what's in irrigation water can help growers manage nutrients and
chemicals in run-off, minimizing their environmental impact and helping
to enhance water quality in streams, rivers and the Chesapeake Bay.

To submit a water sample for testing, customers first must obtain a
free water-test kit from Penn State's Ag Analytical Services Lab or from
a participating county office of Penn State Cooperative Extension. The
kit includes shipping materials, instructions on how to take a sample
and a submission form. Residents will choose from a range of testing
options available for each water type (drinking, irrigation or
livestock) and will send the kit, with the appropriate fee, to the lab.
Test results and relevant fact sheets or recommendations typically will
be returned in two to three weeks.

For more information, contact your county Penn State Cooperative
Extension office (find it on the Web at
http://www.extension.psu.edu/extmap.html) or the Ag Analytical Services
Lab (814-863-0841, aaslab@psu.edu), or visit the lab's Web site at
http://www.aasl.psu.edu.

###

EDITORS: Contact Ann Wolf, director of the Ag Analytical Services Lab,
at (814) 863-0841 or by e-mail at amw2@psu.edu; Bryan Swistock at (814)
863-0194 or by e-mail at brs@psu.edu; Virginia Ishler at (814) 863-3912
or by e-mail at vishler@psu.edu; and Rob Berghage at (814) 863-2190 or
by e-mail at rdb4@psu.edu.

Chuck Gill
(814) 863-2713
cdg5@psu.edu

Water, water everywhere but which drop to drink?

2007-07-09T12:04:00.000-04:00

Don’t like the taste of your drinking water? Well, you could buy bottled water at an outrageous price. What, spend all that money for water? Well, grab some plastic gallon milk bottles and head for the nearest roadside spring. They’re all over the place. The water is free and some say it’s the best water you can get.

Mark Carmon, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, had this to say. “A lot of these springs you see by the side of the road are little more than a pipe that somebody stuck into a rock. The trouble is that no one is monitoring these springs, to see if the water is safe to drink or not.” Carmon continues, “You really don’t know where the water comes from. The source could be miles away, and the water could be running through a cemetery, or somebody’s septic system, or a mine pool. I wouldn’t wash my car with it, let alone drink it.”

Dan Miller, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, said people could suffer from serious health problems from springs that contain bacteria or other harmful microorganisms.

Well, that kind of puts a damper on springs so I guess it’s back to bottled water. Or is it?

Marylynn Yates, microbiologist and chair of the Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California, Irvine, said, "In some cases, bottled water is more contaminated than tap water." Yates, who previously worked as a researcher with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) went on to say "An appealing name and fancy label don't guarantee purity."

While municipal tap water is subjected to enforceable standards established by the EPA, bottled water is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which has much less stringent guidelines regarding water purity and monitoring.

In fact, the FDA exempts bottled water packaged and sold within the same state, which accounts for about 60 to 70 percent of bottled industry sales. It also subjects carbonated and seltzer water to more lax "sanitation" guidelines as opposed to contamination regulations.

Well, I see where this is headed. It’s back to tap water. If your tap water is bad, what can you do? Did you ever hear of the Carbon County Groundwater Guardians?

Groundwater Festival Scheduled

2007-06-30T07:25:00.001-04:00

The Carbon County Groundwater Guardians, in association with Carbon County Environmental Education Center (CCEEC), will host a Children's Groundwater Festival on Saturday, July 7th.

Interested children and their families are invited to visit anytime from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. A variety of games and other activities are planned to help youngsters understand and appreciate groundwater resources. The event will take place rain or shine at CCEEC, located just outside Jim Thorpe, along the Lentz Trail highway.

The program is free of charge, and no pre-registration is necessary. For more information or for directions, call CCEEC at (570) 645-8597.

West Nile Virus is Back -- Deal With It

2007-06-21T15:16:00.000-04:00

=====================================
Penn State Ag Sciences News 6.21.2007
=====================================

(EDITORS: A printable info graphic to illustrate this story is available
for downloading at http://aginfo.psu.edu/news/may03/mosquito.pdf.)

WEST NILE VIRUS IS BACK; ALTHOUGH IT HASN'T
BEEN SO BAD, MOSQUITO CONTROL STILL NEEDED

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Although West Nile virus made headlines in
mid-June by showing up in mosquito samples taken in Blair County -- the
earliest it has shown up Pennsylvania in any of the last five summers -
the disease has not been nearly as bad here as health officials feared,
according to an entomologist in Penn State's College of Agricultural
Sciences.

West Nile virus, which can cause a potentially fatal form of
encephalitis -- is an invasive species that found its way to North
America from Africa. The disease, which first showed up in the United
States in 1999 in New York, is carried by birds and spread by
mosquitoes. It now has been found in nearly every county in
Pennsylvania.

The 2002 West Nile virus outbreak in North America was the largest
encephalitic disease epidemic ever documented in the Western Hemisphere,
and it was the largest West Nile virus outbreak ever documented,
according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. But outbreaks since
have not been so severe.

"Although scientists have been surprised at how rapidly it has
disbursed here, the outbreaks have not been nearly as disastrous as some
predicted," says extension entomologist Steve Jacobs. "In Pennsylvania,
the first cases of West Nile encephalitis were detected in 2001 (there
were three cases). In 2003 the number of new human cases had risen to
237, but by 2006 the numbers had dropped to just nine human cases."

It's a good thing that the disease has not been worse in the United
States because there isn't much that can be done to isolate it, Jacobs
laments. "There is very little we can do to stop something like this,"
he says. "All we can do -- once the virus is spread throughout the state
or the country -- is to educate the public to wear insect repellents and
recognize the disease so they can seek treatment. But in terms of
general health risks to the public, West Nile is well down the list. I
think many people believe the risks of dying from West Nile are much
higher than they are."

Ordinarily, mosquitoes are little more than a mild irritant, Jacobs
notes. But because they can transmit diseases to humans and pets -- such
as West Nile encephalitis, eastern equine encephalitis and canine
heartworm -- people should take steps to avoid being bitten and to
eliminate mosquito-breeding areas.

Mosquitoes breed in standing water. Only female mosquitoes bite,
according to Jacobs. "In most cases, the female must have a blood meal
before laying eggs," he says. "The females' persistent search for blood
brings them into houses and yards, where they may become annoying
pests."

Many mosquito problems can be traced to containers of water around
the yard, such as children's toys, pots and cans, tire swings, animal
tracks and clogged rain gutters. Neighborhood breeding areas can include
construction sites, trash dumps and cemetery urns or planters. Most
mosquitoes remain within a half-mile of where they hatch, but some can
fly miles.

During warm weather, mosquitoes can breed in any puddle that stands
for more than four days. "The most effective way to control mosquitoes
is to eliminate standing water," says Jacobs. He advises homeowners to:

--Remove old tires, tin cans, buckets, glass jars, toys and other
water-catching objects.

--Tightly cover rain barrels to prevent egg-laying.

--Change water in bird baths by flushing with a hose at least once
a week.

--Fill tree holes with sand or cement or drill holes to allow
drainage.

--Keep rain gutters clean and free of obstructions.

--Drain excess water from flower pots.

--Keep swimming pools covered when not in use.

--Turn over wading pools and wheelbarrows when not in use.

--Empty accumulated water from boats and cargo trailers.

--Clear aquatic vegetation from around the edges of ponds to allow
fish to feed on mosquito larvae and pupae.

When going outdoors for an extended period of time, insect
repellents can provide protection from mosquito bites. "Repellents can
protect for up to five hours," says Jacobs. "But because people vary in
their attractiveness to mosquitoes, the effectiveness of the repellent
may depend on the individual."

Before using a repellent or insecticide, be sure you thoroughly
read and understand all directions and cautions on the product label,
Jacobs warns.

For a free fact sheet on mosquitoes, contact the nearest county
office of Penn State Cooperative Extension, or visit the Web at
http://www.ento.psu.edu/extension/factsheets/mosquitoes.htm.

###

EDITORS: Contact Steve Jacobs at (814) 863-3963 or by e-mail at
sbj2@psu.edu.

Jeff Mulhollem
Writer/Editor
(814) 863-2719
jjm29@psu.edu

Volunteers needed for rain monitoring network

2007-06-16T10:33:00.000-04:00

THE TIMES NEWS
June 16, 2007

Whether you're on a municipal water system or a private well, all your water comes from precipitation, which can be rain, snow, sleet or hail.

During the summer, with thunderstorms rolling through Carbon County, rainfall amounts vary widely from place to place. It's important to know the rainfall amount differs not only in your backyard, but also at various locations throughout the county.

Carbon County is fortunate to have a network of dedicated volunteers who collect precipitation on a daily basis, but more volunteers are needed for better data.

This is a community project. Everyone can help young, old, and in-between. The only requirements are an enthusiasm for watching and reporting weather conditions and a desire to learn more about how weather can effect and impact our lives.

The information collected allows county, state and federal agencies to make predictions of possible floods or droughts on a state and local level. It also is used by county Emergency Management Agency to determine forest fire danger, by local farmers and anyone who is impacted by precipitation.

There is a network of monitoring stations across Pennsylvania. They supply daily precipitation reports via the Internet to Penn State University's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences. The program is called FROST and it is administered by the Pennsylvania State Climatologist.

FROST is part of a larger, national network called CoCoRaHS, which is an acronym for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network and is based at the Colorado Climate Center at Colorado State University.

CoCoRaHS is used by a wide variety of organizations and individuals. The National Weather Service, other meteorologists, hydrologists, emergency managers, city utilities (water supply, water conservation, storm water), insurance adjusters, USDA, engineers, mosquito control, ranchers and farmers, outdoor and recreation interests, teachers, students, and neighbors in the community are just some examples of those who visit our Web site and use our data.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a major sponsor of CoCoRaHS.

It's fun to know what happens in your own backyard, compare it to your neighbors, and fill in a piece of the weather puzzle that affects many across your area in one way or another.

The Carbon County Groundwater Guardians coordinate the network in Carbon County. However, it is a program in itself and you do not have to be a member of the Groundwater Guardians to participate.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer, contact Frank, who is the Carbon County Coordinator for FROST.

Carbon County urges landowners to preserve land

2007-06-08T09:47:00.000-04:00

Note: I’m publishing the entire article as it appeared in the Times News on June 7, 2007. Land preservation is vital to the future of Carbon County for many, many reasons. Please see Ten Things Wrong With Sprawl
Frank

Tax incentives under a new government law will end in six months

By AMY ZUBEKazubektnonline.com

Carbon County landowners have a new incentive to preserve their land federal income tax deductions.

During an informational workshop Wednesday evening, Attorney Michael Henry of Gross, McGinley, LaBarre and Eaton of Allentown and Diane Matthews-Gehringer, land preservation manager for Wildlands Conservancy, spoke to the county landowners in attendance about tax benefits the government has created for preserving Pennsylvania farm and woodlands. The new law, which went into effect in 2006, will expire at the end of 2007. Members of the Wildlands Conservancy urge landowners to consider utilizing this incentive that will end shortly.

Matthews-Gehringer explained that landowners have a variety of different options when deciding how to preserve their land. These include conservation easements, land donation, bargain sales or a combination of the above options.

If a landowner decides to enter into one of these agreements, a contract is drawn up with specifications that the landowner wants. The plans are flexible.

The property is then appraised twice, once to obtain the unrestricted value, and once to obtain the restricted, or "best other use" value of the property. The donation price is the difference of these two figures. For example, if a property is worth $400,000 unrestricted and $250,000 restricted, the total amount of the donation will be $150,000. This value is the amount landowners can use in the tax deductions.

Once properties are preserved, landowners can continue to work the land but have a few restrictions such as subdividing the property, which would be negotiated at the time of the donation.

Henry, who specializes in local, state and federal taxation, tax and estate planning and real estate law, also explained that under the new law created by the government for 2007 donations only, landowners who choose to participate in this program can deduct 50 percent, (and up to 100 percent for farmer or ranchers who have met the income requirements,) from their adjusted gross income on federal income tax forms. This applies to the year of the donation plus the next 15 years.

For example, he said if a landowner has a "$50,000 income and a donation of easement valued at $200,000," non-farmers can deduct $25,000 a year for eight years. For farmers and ranchers, they can deduct $50,000 a year for four years or until they have met their deductions.

For more information on the Wildlands Conservancy or preserving your land, visit www.wildlandspa.org.

Disposal of unneeded prescription drugs

2007-06-01T10:46:00.000-04:00

The common disposal practices used for unneeded drugs are throwing them into the garbage of flushing them down the drain. These practices can lead to abuse or water pollution.

Unused drugs thrown in the trash can be picked out and abused. Abuse of prescription drugs to get high has become increasingly prevalent among teens and young adults.

Flushing down the drain can pollute water because treatment plants are not designed to remove them.

While EPA continues to research the effects of pharmaceuticals in water sources, one thing is clear: improper drug disposal is a prescription for environmental and societal concern," said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. "Following these new guidelines will protect our Nation's waterways and keep pharmaceuticals out of the hands of potential abusers."

The new Federal prescription drug disposal guidelines urge Americans to:
* Take unused, unneeded, or expired prescription drugs out of their original containers.
* Mix the prescription drugs with an undesirable substance, like used coffee grounds or kitty litter, and put them in impermeable, non-descript containers, such as empty cans or sealable bags, further ensuring that the drugs are not diverted or accidentally ingested by children or pets.
* Throw these containers in the trash.
* Flush prescription drugs down the toilet only if the accompanying patient information specifically instructs it is safe to do so.
* Return unused, unneeded, or expired prescription drugs to pharmaceutical take-back locations that allow the public to bring unused drugs to a central location for safe disposal.

For more information, see Disposal of Prescription Drugs

Swimmers in state parks beware of E. coli

2007-05-29T10:33:00.000-04:00

E.coli, found in the gastrointestinal tract, can come from sewage, animal waste, water run-off after rainfall, and swimmers, said Dan Miller II, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

Parks test three samples from their lakes twice a week and recreational areas will close swimming areas when 235 colonies or higher are found per 1,000 milliliters of water. At that level, swimmers have an increased risk of getting sick, said Miller.

"By the time you get the results, the damage is already done. People have been swimming in the water for awhile," said Jeffrey Butia, chief of the public drinking water and waste management program of the Allegheny County Health Department.

A person can catch a recreational water illness from swallowing the water, breathing it in, or having contact with contaminated water. Problems can include gastrointestinal, skin, ear, respiratory, eye, neurological and wound infections. The most commonly reported sickness is diarrhea.

More than swimmers are affected by contaminated water. Fishermen should practice good personal hygiene and wash their hands before handling or preparing food or after handling fish to prevent illness.

Due to the multiple causes of gastrointestinal illness, many cases of E. coli contamination go undetected, Miller said. Young children are highly sensitive, as well as people who have open cuts, weakened immune systems, the elderly, and people with HIV and organ transplants, said Carl Batt, a professor of food science at Cornell University.

Unlike other states, Pennsylvania only tests for fecal coliform and not for other potentially toxic bacteria.
Read More

Wildlands Conservancy to host tax workshop in Palmerton

2007-05-23T08:42:00.000-04:00

Preserving open land is vital to rural communities that rely on groundwater. Excess development increases the demand for water and, at the same time, prevents recharge of the aquifers because of runoff caused by impervious surfaces.

Wildlands Conservancy will host a Tax Incentive Workshop at Palmerton's Borough Hall, 443 Delaware Avenue, in Carbon County on Wednesday, June 6, 2007 from 7-9 p.m. Interested landowners are welcome to attend and receive the latest information on time-limited incentives available to landowners who preserve their property in 2007.

Speakers: The lead speaker at the workshop is Attorney Michael Henry of Gross, McGinley, and LaBarre and Eaton. Attorney Henry specializes in local, state and federal taxation, tax and estate planning, and real estate law. Diane Matthews-Gehringer, Land Preservation Manager for Wildlands Conservancy, will also speak to attendees about preservation options. The workshop is funded in part by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

In 2006, Congress added tax incentives for landowners choosing to permanently preserve their land. Among these changes are provisions raising the income tax deduction allowed a landowner for donating a conservation easement from 30% of their adjusted gross income in the year of the donation plus 5 more years, to 50% in the year of the donation plus 15 more years. It also allows qualifying farmers, ranchers and forest landowners to deduct up to 100% of their taxable income (e.g., pay no federal income tax) for the year of the donation plus 15 more years. These added incentives are available until the end of 2007.

Registration: To register for the workshop or for more information about the workshops of Wildlands Conservancy, please contact Debra Lermitte at (610) 965-4397, ext. 11.

Read full story HERE

Bald Eagle Recovery Tribute to Rachel Carson

2007-05-15T10:43:00.000-04:00

WASHINGTON, DC, May 14, 2007 (ENS) - There are more breeding bald eagles in the United States right now than at any time since World War II, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced today.

The bald eagle, which is protected as a threatened species under the federal Endangered Species Act, once was on the edge of extinction due to the widespread use of the pesticide DDT that thinned the shells of eagle eggs so they could not hatch.

Rachel Carson, a biologist and writer for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, became aware of the dangers of chemical pesticides including DDT, but was also aware of the controversy within the agricultural community which needed pesticides to support crop production.

Carson made the decision to write her controversial book "Silent Spring" documenting the dangers of DDT after years of research across the United States and Europe.

As a result of her research and the publication of Silent Spring in 1962, the federal government banned the use of DDT in 1972.

May 27, 2007 marks the 100th anniversary of Carson's birth. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says its proposed removal of the bald eagle from the federal list of threatened and endangered species is a fitting tribute.

Read More

Glug and Toss Water Bottles Clog Landfills

2007-05-15T10:42:00.000-04:00

WASHINGTON, DC, May 14, 2007 (ENS) - Bottled water is not only costly at the cash register, it is environmentally costly, according to a new report from the Worldwatch Institute.

Each year, about two million tons of PET bottles end up in landfills in the United States, Worldwatch estimates.

To add to the environmental bad news, excessive withdrawal of natural mineral or spring water to produce bottled water has threatened local streams and groundwater, and the product consumes significant amounts of energy in production and shipping.

Read More

Earth Day 2007: The Pill is Gone!

2007-05-08T10:20:00.000-04:00

MARQUETTE, Michigan, May 7, 2007 (ENS) - In an effort to protect drinking water and the Great Lakes, northern Michigan residents honored Earth Day by turning in tens of thousands of prescribed pills plus narcotics with an estimated street value of $500,000 during the third annual Earth Keeper Clean Sweep.

The EPA and Lindquist said the clean sweep targeted medicines because trace amounts of pharmaceuticals are turning up in America's rivers, lakes, and drinking water. Most treatment plants are not designed to filter out these medications.

When leftover and waste pharmaceuticals get flushed down drains, research is detecting them in lakes and rivers "at levels that could be causing harm to the environment and ecosystem," said Elizabeth LaPlante, senior manager for the EPA Great Lakes National Programs Office in Chicago, Illinois.

"Specifically, reproductive and development problems in aquatic species, hormonal disruption and antibiotic resistance are some concerns associated with pharmaceuticals in our wastewater," LaPlante said.

Lindquist said recent national studies show that over 80 percent of the rivers sampled "tested positive for a range of pharmaceuticals including antibiotics, birth control hormones, antidepressants, veterinary drugs and other medications."

The full article can be found at ens-newswire.com

Pesticides, Fertilizers Linked to U.S. Premature Births

2007-05-08T10:09:00.000-04:00

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, May 7, 2007 (ENS) - The rising premature birth rate in the United States is associated with increased use of pesticides and fertilizers containing nitrates, according to research by a professor of clinical pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Paul Winchester, MD, reports his findings today at the Pediatric Academic Societies' annual meeting in Toronto, Canada, a combined gathering of the American Pediatric Society, the Society for Pediatric Research, the Ambulatory Pediatric Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

In young infants, ingestion of nitrates, components of fertilizers that are often washed into surface water and groundwater, can reduce the blood’s ability to carry oxygen.

The association between nitrate-contaminated well water and inability of the blood to carry oxygen was first described by Hunter Comly, an Iowa City physician during the early 1940s.

In 1974, the Safe Drinking Water Act set a maximum contaminant concentration for nitrates of 10-milligram per liter for public water supplies, but it does not apply to private wells.

In a 1994 survey of 5,500 private water supplies in nine Midwestern states, 13 percent of the wells were found to have nitrate concentrations greater than the standard.

The state of Wisconsin is well aware of the problems nitrates in drinking water can cause for premature babies, especially in rural areas. In 2006, the state Department of Natural Resources, DNR, issued a warning that nitrates that are washed into groundwater from fertilizer can be dangerous to infants, and especially to premature infants.

"All infants less than six months of age are at risk of nitrate toxicity, but premature babies and babies with other health problems are more sensitive than healthy infants," the DNR said.

Well owners are advised that the only way to know if their drinking water contains nitrate is to have a water sample tested by a certified laboratory. Testing is recommended for well water used by pregnant women and is "essential for a well that serves infants under six months of age," the DNR says. The DNR provides a list of certified labs online at: dnr.wi.gov/ org/es/science/lc.

The full article can be found at ens-newswire.com

New EPA Web Site Makes It Easier To Be Good Environmental Stewards

2007-05-03T07:52:00.000-04:00

News for Release: Wednesday, May 2, 2007
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Contact: Dave Ryan, (202) 564-4355 / ryan.dave@epa.gov

(Washington, D.C. - May 2, 2007) The new EPA Web site on stewardship programs, launched today, can help business, government and private citizens make intelligent choices on sustainable environmental benefits. Simple everyday decisions by organizations and individuals on such issues as recycling, reuse or choice of fuel support pollution prevention and environmental stewardship.

The Web site will enable users to find EPA partnership programs, such as the Energy Star energy saving program, which best align with their needs and interests. Businesses can search for EPA programs based on their industrial category, environmental issue of interest, and geographic area. One specific Web site, for example, shows businesses how they can help employees reduce the environmental impacts of commuting.

The Web site also provides information links individuals can use to protect the environment in different settings, such as home, work, school and shopping. One Web site shows citizens how they can use pesticides safely.

For more information see Environmental Stewardship Web Site

Everybody Has Homework on Healthy Schools

2007-05-01T07:54:00.000-04:00

New DVD and Other Resources Available to Help Parents, Communities Make the Grade

Children are considered by most health experts to be among the most vulnerable to environmental threats. National Healthy Schools Day is April 30 and on this day, EPA is reminding communities to get involved with their schools to ensure that their facilities are not putting children at risk.

To help with such efforts, EPA is releasing a new, free DVD, "What Your School or Child Care Facility Should Know About Lead in Drinking Water" and a new document, "Water Quality Funding Sources for Schools – A Resource for K-12 and Child Care Facilities." These materials explain how schools and child care facilities can test for lead in drinking water; report results to parents, students, staff, and other interested parties; and fund actions to address environmental issues in their facilities.

EPA has also developed a wide range of programs and tools, such as the HealthySeat program, dedicated to preventing or resolving environmental issues in schools.

If you need more information on this subject, Contact: Enesta Jones, (202) 564-4355 / jones.enesta@epa.gov

More information on the drinking water resources: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/schools/guidance.html

More information on the Healthy Schools Web Portal: http://www.epa.gov/schools

News Brief
From: "U.S. EPA"
Date: Mon, 30 Apr 2007 12:33:47 -0500 (CDT)

Gallup Poll: Americans Worry More About Water Than Warming

2007-04-29T10:31:00.000-04:00

The American public is most worried about polluted drinking water, although concerns about global warming concerns have grown over the past two years, and are now at their highest level ever, according to the most recent nationwide Gallup poll on attitudes towards the environment.

Results are based on telephone interviews with 1,009 adults, aged 18 and older, conducted March 11-14. Pollsters asked people if they personally worry a great deal, a fair amount, only a little, or not at all about 10 environmental problems.

A majority of those polled say they worry "a great deal" about four different environment problems involving water - 58 percent are concerned about pollution of drinking water; 53 percent worry about pollution of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs; 52 percent are concerned about contamination of soil and water by toxic waste; and 51 percent worry about the maintenance of the nation's supply of fresh water for household needs.

Read More

Celebrating 100th Anniversary of Rachel Carson

2007-04-27T09:13:00.000-04:00

Contest Hopes to Raise Environmental Awareness

EPA and non-profit organizations are teaming up for the third year to sponsor a contest designed to increase environmental stewardship and public awareness of environmental issues. This year, the theme is commemorating the 100th anniversary of environmentalist Rachel Carson's life.

It is an intergenerational photo, essay, and poetry contest that will be judged by the public. The contest's intergenerational approach reflects Carson's efforts through her writings to have adults share with children a sense of wonder about nature and help them discover its joys.

Entries must be joint projects involving a person under age 18 and a person 50 years of age or older and must be received by Friday, June 15. Finalists will be selected by a panel of judges. The public will then be asked to vote for their favorites in each category: photography, essay, and poetry. The winners will be announced in July. More information about the contest and its requirements is available on the Web.

Born on May 27, 1907, Carson is considered the founder of the contemporary environmental movement through her landmark book, Silent Spring. Its publication is credited with causing a reversal in the nation's pesticide policy.

The contest is sponsored by the U.S. EPA Aging Initiative, Generations United and the Rachel Carson Council Inc.

More information about the contest: http://epa.gov/aging/resources/thesenseofwonder/index.htm

Drinking Water Week begins Sunday, May 6

2007-04-26T19:25:00.000-04:00

Checking for Leaks Can Save Water

HARRISBURG (April 26) As a water conservation activity to support this week, PADEP is encouraging all homeowners to test their toilets to determine if they leak. Leaks can waste as much as 300 gallons of water a day without anyone noticing.

To find a leak, homeowners can add 10 drops of food coloring and wait about 30 minutes. If the water in the toilet bowl has even a hint of color, it indicates that the tank is leaking. A bad “flapper”, the circular object that covers the hole in the bottom of the tank, causes most leaks. Flappers are fairly easy to replace, and homeowners can buy one for less than $5 at a hardware store.

Homeowners may want to contact their water utility to see if they offer free audits to detect leaks or free pamphlets that instruct them about how to find and fix their own leaks. Repairing leaking toilets saves money and is a positive action consumers can take to protect this limited resource.

April 21 Earth Day Jam to benefit CCEEC

2007-04-15T10:29:00.000-04:00

Leadership Carbon will be observing Earth Day on April 21 in a most unique way.

It will be raising funds for the Carbon County Environmental Education Center.

The 2007 Class of Leadership Carbon has assembled a concert featuring five bands which will be performing at Flagstaff Mountain Resort, with the concert being held from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.

The bands performing will be Bounty Hunter, Becky and the Beasts, Maury and Friends, Chief Brody, and The Three of Us. All are donating their services as a contribution to Earth Day and Leadership Carbon.

Tickets can be purchased from any member of Leadership Carbon, from the Carbon County Environmental Education Center in Summit Hill, Horizons Shop in Jim Thorpe, and Maury's Music in Coaldale.

They also can be obtained on line by going to www.carboneec.org/earthdayjam.html.

Read full story at tnonline.com

Two Sides to Every Coin

2007-04-14T08:46:00.000-04:00

PA Environmental Council Names Sponsors for Governor's Awards Dinner
The Event Will Honor Winners of the 2007 Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence in Harrisburg

HARRISBURG, Pa., April 13 /PRNewswire-USNewswireThe Pennsylvania Environmental Council today announced that the Dominion Foundation, Constellation Energy, InterPower/AHL Con and PPL will serve as sponsors for a dinner in Harrisburg on April 17 to honor the recipients of the 2007 Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence.

###

Pa. called a culprit in global warming: Only California and Texas produced more greenhouse gases in the U.S., group says.
The Morning Call, Allentown, Pennsylvania (April 13, 2007)

Apr. 13--Pennsylvania created more carbon dioxide emissions than all but two other states in 2004, making it "a big part of the global warming problem," according to an environmental advocacy group.

The Keystone State was behind only Texas and California in giving off fumes considered the primary contributor to climate change, according to PennEnvironment, which issued a report Thursday on nationwide carbon emission trends between 1990 and 2004.

Emissions from coal-burning power plants and automobiles are the main culprits, the group says.

Master Well Owner Network Training Available - May 12th

2007-04-06T09:10:00.000-04:00

Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment is conducting a Master Well Owner Network volunteer training in State College, PA on Saturday, May 12, 2007. Any interested PA resident can apply to the program and attend this workshop. This workshop is free and lunch is included, but travel to State College will not be reimbursed.

The deadline for applications is April 13th. More information and an online application can be found at http://mwon.cas.psu.edu/ or contact Stephanie S. Clemens at mwon@psu.edu or 814-865-2250.

Recycling for electronics announced for April 13-14 in East Penn

2007-04-05T10:12:00.000-04:00

The recycling center for April 13 and 14 will be at the Lehighton public works building. Some of the things that will be accepted are VCRs, stereos, monitors, towers, printers, keyboards, scanners, circuit boards and more.

From the Times News
By ELSA KERSCHNERekerschnertnonline.com
April 4, 2007
http://www.tnonline.com/node/143263

"Filling Holes"... The Springdale Pit

2007-04-02T15:34:00.000-04:00

Sarah Fulton and Matt Lewis of Post Sputnik Film and Video Production (www.postsputnik.com) have produced a documentary entitled "Filling Holes". It's about an abandonded mine pit (Springdale Pit) in the Pennsylvania coal region that is going to be filled with tons of dirt dredged from the bottom of the New York and Philadelphia harbors. The doc deals with the economic and enviornmental aspects of the plan, as well as its impact on the local communities receiving the harbor dredge. It is scheduled to air on WVIA (the PBS station for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton) at 7 p.m. May 21.

Fed agency focuses on rare disease in Schuylkill, Luzerne and Carbon counties

2007-03-10T12:16:00.000-05:00

Fed agency focuses on rare disease

BY SHAWN A. HESSINGER
TAMAQUA BUREAU CHIEF
shessinger@republicanherald.com
03/10/2007

A federal agency has interviewed 51 patients who claim to have contracted a rare blood disorder in the region and say the state Department of Health’s cancer registry lists 97 total diagnosed with the disease since 2001.

Vince Seaman, toxicologist with the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, said his agency still hopes to talk with more people diagnosed with polycythemia vera, a rare disease characterized with production of excess red blood cells.

He said data, including voluntary blood samples, would help determine the agency’s next step.

Hometown resident Joseph Murphy has been among community volunteers supplying data to the investigators and said he hopes the attention will raise awareness of the issue.

Murphy said Seaman, now circulating a toll-free number (1-866-448-0242) for those willing to be interviewed, has already received many calls and will continue interviews at least through the end of March.

“And a lot of them are people who moved out of the area and were diagnosed with it later,” Murphy said.

Seaman said the federal agency, originally created to assess potential health risks near federal Superfund sites, became interested in interviewing residents because of what appears to be an unusually high incidence of the disease locally.

Frequency of polycythemia vera, which became reportable to cancer registries in 2001, is estimated to be 1 in 100,000, Seaman said.

Investigators have examined an area including Schuylkill, Luzerne and Carbon counties.

Because this area’s population is estimated at 500,000, it might be expected to see five cases per year or 25 cases over five years instead of the 97 cases reported from 2001-05, the only period from which data is currently available.

Murphy and other residents have suggested a correlation between polycythemia vera, other local health disorders and past industrial practices that have included illegal toxic dumping.

However, Seaman said no documented cause for the disorder has yet been determined, making it hard to draw such connections between the disease and the environment.

“So the data we’re collecting will be important,” he said.

Caused by a genetic mutation, Seaman said the disease is known not to be inherited but certain factors may predispose an individual.

Seaman said he is hopeful exhaustive investigation into the possible exposures of residents who have contracted the disease may prove valuable when a cause for the affliction is determined.

©The REPUBLICAN & Herald 2007

Ten Things Wrong With Sprawl

2007-03-09T10:04:00.000-05:00

Reprinted with permission.
http://www.emagazine.com/view/?3641

COMMENTARY: Ten Things Wrong With Sprawl

By James M. McElfish, Jr.
E/The Environmental Magazine

In just the next 34 years, the Census Bureau tells us, we 300 million Americans will be joined by another 92 million.(1) Where will all these people—mostly us and our direct descendants—live, work, play, worship, buy, sell, and serve? Where will 40 million additional households be located? What sort of built environment will we produce, and what will be the results for the nation’s and the environment’s well-being?

The prevailing form of land development is popularly known as sprawl or exurban sprawl.(2) Sprawl is characterized by low-density development that rigorously separates residential uses from other land uses, and that relies entirely or almost entirely on automobile transportation to connect the separate uses. There are strong reasons to prefer that the nation’s future development does not reproduce this pattern—reasons that have nothing to do with the price or availability of gasoline.

Urban planning professor Jonathan Barnett, in his book The Fractured Metropolis, charges sprawl with over-consumption of resources, risks to the natural environment, and loss of community resulting from the time demands imposed by the physical separation of commercial, business, residential, and social land uses.(3) Economic critics of sprawl emphasize the high costs of duplicated infrastructure, the cost of time devoted to delays in commuting, and the distortions resulting from the mismatch between initial economic benefits of construction in sprawl areas and the costs of meeting subsequent demands for services (schools, roads, fire and police) by these same areas.(4)

On environmental grounds, opponents of sprawl decry the rising amount of land conversion per each unit of new development (more acres per person), the paving over of some of the nation’s highest quality farmland, and losses of biological diversity and open space.(5) Sprawl enthusiasts counter that people are getting what they want in low density housing and ubiquitous shopping, that a rising population will need more housing on cheap land, and that commute times, while rising, are not that bad for most people. They emphasize the number of construction jobs created and the higher assessed land value of developed lands over agricultural and forest lands.(6) Sprawl enthusiasts downplay the agricultural land issue by suggesting that America still has large areas of land suitable or at least potentially suitable for agriculture (there is no “food shortage”), while further noting that the direct contribution of agriculture to the nation’s gross domestic product is modest in comparison with other economic sectors.(7)

Many of these arguments talk past one another. For example, well-paying construction jobs need not depend upon future construction in sprawl patterns rather than in alternative forms of development. Ninety-two million more people will need somewhere to live and work and go to school, after all. Likewise, the arguments over agricultural lands are not really about whether food will run out, or even whether commercial retail buildings generate more net economic value than crop lands (a hotly disputed topic, by the way), but rather whether the location of agriculture, forests, retail and housing matters.

Arguments about traffic and travel times often gloss over whether alternative development patterns and transportation options can deliver comparable flexibility with fewer side effects. Whatever one thinks of these arguments and their critique of past practices and the current built landscape, at least when considered prospectively, sprawl has 10 undeniably adverse effects that should place it on the public policy agenda:

1. Sprawl development contributes to a loss of support for public facilities and public amenities.
In economic terms, sprawl encourages market failure; residents of sprawl communities have access to public facilities that they do not support with their tax dollars, and residents of older communities subsidize the existence of the these facilities. Sprawl communities typically lack parks, museums, civic spaces, libraries, and the like. This frequently occurs either because some of these amenities are privatized and made available only to a small segment (owners of large lots have less need for public open space), or because sprawl dwellers can be “free riders” on urban facilities supported in substantial part by others. Pittsburgh city officials have noted, for example, that their city’s land base includes substantial tax exempt properties—museums, universities, parks, hospitals, libraries, zoos—far in excess of those in suburban jurisdictions whose citizens can enjoy city facilities while also benefiting from lower suburban tax rates.(8) In many communities, property taxes in the exurbs are lower than those in the cities because of this mismatch.

2. Sprawl undermines effective maintenance of existing infrastructure.
Existing developed areas—cities and older suburbs—have sewers, water systems, city streets, bridges, schools, transit systems and other hard infrastructure to maintain. But exurban development draws population away from areas with existing infrastructure and into new areas where new infrastructure must be constructed or where some infrastructure costs are avoided, at least temporarily, through the use of wells and septic systems, or by reliance on undersized roads that are upgraded at great public expense long after the developments have been constructed. The frequent result is a shift of population regionally, leading to a decline in the urban and older suburban tax base. This decline in turn prompts increases in urban taxes and rates (needed to support the existing infrastructure across a smaller population), and/or to deferral of maintenance activities. Both of these effects further disadvantage the existing systems and encourage further exodus. John Fregonese, the Region 2040 lead planner for Portland’s Metro government makes this point, “When you have sprawl, all your resources are sucked to the edge for new roads, and schools and sewers. Then you have a lack of money for rebuilding...and you get these rotting cores.”(10)

3. Sprawl increases societal costs for transportation.
Costs rise largely because of the need for expensive retrofits. Typical scenarios include the conversion, after sprawl has occurred, of exurban two lane roads to four lanes or six lanes, adding signals, construction of grade separations for intersections, and building county or inter-county connector highways and metropolitan belt roads. This invariably occurs at great expense and disruption—because of increased right-of-way costs, difficulties in maintaining traffic flow during the construction period, and often substantial community opposition. This retrofit dilemma is a spin-off of the problem of traffic. People hate traffic—in fact, part of the reason for sprawl is the elusive promise that commuters and commercial offices can outrun traffic by continually expanding into lower traffic areas. And, at least initially, average commute times are generally lower within sprawl areas than commutes from sprawl areas to the center city. But traffic is, in general, extremely bad in sprawling metropolitan areas—often worse on weekends when travel is more diffuse and timing strategies intended to avoid peak travel times do not work. Catch-up transportation expenditures have to be made.(11) Unfortunately, often they can’t be made. For example, consider the sprawl area north of Chicago. Like many suburban papers, the local newspaper in Lake County, Illinois, has a daily “roads” column. A fairly typical letter printed in the column bemoaned the daily backups at the intersection of a heavily traveled two-lane road with a four-lane highway. The Illinois DOT spokesman contacted by the paper responded that the intersection complained of had been completely upgraded and reengineered only a few years earlier. It had already been overtaken by increased traffic flow. The spokesman commented that there was no remaining engineering or right-of-way expansion solution on this road, so the only thing that IDOT could do would be new re-construction projects on parallel routes. The retrofit problem is a perennial feature of sprawl, as any sprawl dweller can personally attest, and its costs are high.

4. Sprawl consumes more resources than other development patterns.
Because homes, offices, utilities, and other features are farther apart (requiring more asphalt, more lengths of pipe, more conduits, more wires), because each commercial and institutional structure requires its own acres of parking, and because much of the utility infrastructure is duplicative of the “stranded” infrastructure in nearby older communities —society’s overall consumption of metal, concrete, asphalt, and energy is higher.(12)

5. Sprawl separates urban poor people from jobs.
Ownership of an automobile and the resources to maintain it are essential for work in the suburbs, the site of most new jobs in the modern economy. However, the prevailing sprawl model of development drastically separates different price levels of housing from one another, as well as separating job areas from residential areas. These characteristics of sprawl mean that locating new affordable homes near jobs is quite difficult, and sprawl consequently reduces the availability of jobs for those in urban areas that lack reliable automobile transportation.(13) Overcoming sprawl patterns could result in either increasing the number of workplaces in urban areas, or making it easier to construct and maintain the availability of affordable housing near workplaces.

6. Sprawl imposes a tax on time.
Sprawl development requires that we spend more time on the road. Exurbia, including most post-war suburbia, rigorously separates residential housing, food stores, other retail establishments, warehouse and transfer facilities, industry, schools, and office buildings. This has adverse effects on neighborhoods, and leads to more automobile travel. In exurban areas, commercial establishments can be accessed only when people drive to each location. Nonwork automobile trips now comprise more than 80 percent of all daily trips.(14) Residents of sprawl areas do not forego the benefits of mixed uses of land, but they pay a price in time, and they lack choice in their mode of travel. Describing Tyson’s Corner outside Washington, D.C., where offices and commercial buildings are completely separate from any residential housing and all access is via main arterial roads, a Washington Post writer noted that “a six-mile commute home can stretch to 90 minutes.”(15) Sprawl also makes it take much longer for the one-third of Americans who reside in central cities and inner ring suburbs(16) to get to greenfields areas for recreation and enjoyment. Sprawl, in effect, imposes a hidden tax on time by making certain amenities more remote and harder to reach.

7. Sprawl degrades water and air quality.
Sprawl development is hard on streams, wetlands, and runoff quality. It reduces the resilience of streams and other waters by degrading headwaters and impoverishing habitat. For example, in the Chesapeake Bay region, sprawl is the largest threat to water quality. It increases the area of impervious surface, decreases retention time for rainwater and diminishes its infiltration into the soil and water table, and it leads to rapid erosion and structural degradation of streams and rivers, which therefore receive runoff in much greater volumes in a shorter period of time.(17) It also increases the frequency and intensity of flooding, placing further demands on the public treasury for preventive structures and disaster response.(18) In metropolitan areas, air pollution can be worse over a much larger area. Vehicle miles traveled as well as time sitting in traffic rises significantly in these mega-sprawl areas; for example, motorists in the Atlanta area log about 100 million miles per day with 2.5 million registered vehicles.(19) Another effect related to sprawl development patterns is the loss of a constituency that can be served by transit or other means. Residents’ inability to substitute other modes for the automobile, including walking and transit, is an undeniable drag on every area’s ability to meet clean air goals.(20)

8. Sprawl results in the permanent alteration or destruction of habitats.
Sprawl development converts large areas to asphalt, concrete, and structures, altering the landscape hydrology and reducing the biological productivity and habitat value of the land.(21) While any conversion of open lands to developed uses can impair the prior environmental values, sprawl development does so at a high rate of land conversion per unit of development.(22) A related problem is the loss of productive farmland near metropolitan areas. This feature of sprawl development has been documented by the American Farmland Trust through repeated studies under the rubric of Farming on the Edge.(23) Farmland contributes at least incidentally to wildlife habitat and potential for future restoration. Although there is, at least in the near term, no threat to the nation’s total food production given the amount of remaining farmland, as well as farmland currently fallowed under federal conservation, the loss of prime farmland is not desirable in the long term. Conversion of land near urban areas also presents an environmental loss in the sense that dense urbanization places stresses on habitat and aquatic systems that can best be offset by the beneficial effects of retaining larger tracts of nearby vegetated open space in the same watershed and habitat areas. Without this open space (farms, forests), metropolitan areas and their adverse environmental effects are unbuffered.

9. Sprawl creates difficulty in maintaining community.
People do have communities in their suburban neighborhoods, workplaces, and in their organized activities. Modern day exurbs are not the places of alienation described by some “new urbanist” writers, many of whom draw upon affection for the older urban neighborhoods of the early and mid-20th century.(24) But these new sprawl communities require more driving, and more complicated arrangements to maintain social connections. This also means that children are at the mercy of scheduled activities and “play dates” rather than neighborhood interactions, and exercise becomes an isolated activity on the schedule, rather than a natural consequence of walking, biking, or using public park facilities. These demands exact a social toll. Planner William Fulton recently described the effect of sprawl in the greater Los Angeles area as “a constant caravan between the residential cocoon, where citizenship is exercised only in narrow, self-interested ways, and the spending and working cocoons, where citizenship is totally surrendered to the commercial forces that run the place.”(25)

10. Sprawl offers the promise of choice while delivering more of the same.
In America, choice is not only a cherished value, it is also something that our market economy claims as its highest achievement. But, paradoxically, we have lost choice in our system of development. Sprawl constrains our choices. If you want a new house, you can have one on a half acre in the suburbs with no retail around. If you want to locate a store or an office, the arterial strip or highway interchange is for you. If you want transportation, you can use your car. If you are poor you can live in substandard housing in the inner city or manufactured housing on the farthest fringes of the metropolitan area. This lack of choice is why every part of exurban America resembles every other part.

Portions of the building industry sometimes say that our current development patterns perfectly reflect the satisfaction of American social demands. Whatever we have, whatever we are creating, it must be what we want, or the market would provide something else. However, this position requires us to deny the influence of laws, institutions, zoning codes, financing rules, government subsidies and market failures. Much of the sprawl we see is the unintended result of laws and policies that were imperfectly aimed at something else, such as easing transportation delays, encouraging school modernization, providing healthy settings for housing, or stimulating home ownership. We will only be able to address these mismatches of law and policy, and to root out perverse unintended consequences, if we recognize that something is amiss with our current patterns of development. Some things really are wrong with sprawl. “We need to find a better word,” said a builder representative to a program on smart growth in which I participated a few years ago. Well, that’s one approach. But a better approach is recognizing that we have real problems ahead if current development patterns continue to prevail. Only such recognition will enable us to take steps to reform the laws and policies that hold us back—and enable us to find places and provide choices for our 92 million new neighbors.

JAMES M. MCELFISH, JR. is director of the Sustainable Use of Land Program at the Environmental Law Institute, (202)939-3800, www.eli.org. ELI’s Sustainable Use of Land Program and its projects are supported by the Heinz Endowments, the William Penn Foundation, the Keith Campbell Foundation, the Abell Foundation, Douglas Keare, and others. The Institute is solely responsible for the content of this publication. For more than three decades, the Environmental Law Institute has played a pivotal role in shaping the fields of environmental law, management, and policy domestically and abroad. Today, ELI is an internationally recognized, independent research and education center.

Notes:
(1) http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/usinterimproj/ The projection for 2040 is 392 million. Current U.S. population is 300 million.
(2) Exurban means “outside the city.” It is a more accurate term for today’s sprawl areas than “suburban,” as many sprawl areas have little direct economic or social connection to the cities in whose regions they lie. Their job centers are not in downtowns but in other exurbs.
(3) Jonathan Barnett, The Fractured Metropolis (1995), pp. 6-7.
(4) Real Estate Research Corporation, The Costs of Sprawl: Environmental and Economic Costs of Alternative Residential Development Patterns at the Urban Fringe (1974); Sierra Club, Dark Side of the American Dream: The Costs and Consequences of Suburban Sprawl (September 9, 1998); James E. Frank, The Costs of Alternative Development Patterns: A Review of the Literature (Urban Land Institute, 1989); Clint Yuhfill, The Invisible Economics of Real Estate Development, (Pennsylvania Environmental Council 1994); Robert W. Burchell, et al., The Costs of Sprawl-Revisited: Transit Cooperative Research Program Report 39 (Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy Press, 1998).
(5) See e.g., American Farmland Trust, Farming on the Edge (1997)(America is rapidly losing high quality farmland to development); Reid Ewing and John Kostyack, Endangered by Sprawl: How Runaway Development Threatens America’s Wildlife (National Wildlife Federation, Smart Growth America, Nature Serve: Washington, DC: 2005)(sprawl is fragmenting and degrading habitat).
(6) See e.g., Peter Gordon and Harry W. Richardson, “Are Compact Cities a Desirable Planning Goal?” Journal of the American Planning Association, Vol. 63, No. 1, Winter 1997; Peter Gordon and Harry W. Richardson, “Critiquing Sprawl’s Critics,” Policy Analysis (Cato Institute, Jan. 24, 2000); Randall G. Holcombe, “In Defense of Urban Sprawl,” PERC Reports, February, 1999. Roberta Maynard, “The Ripple Effect,” Builder magazine, July 1998 (“Each new home build in America is like a mighty economic engine...”). Of course, developed lands also usually require substantial municipal services, and the net economic outcome from a municipal finance point of view is often negative. See American Farmland Trust, Living on the Edge: Costs and Risks of Scatter Development.
(7) Samuel R. Staley, The Sprawling of America: In Defense of the Dynamic City (Reason Public Policy Institute, Policy Study No. 251, 1999)(“Urban development does not threaten the nation’s food supply”), Gordon and Richardson, supra, n. 6 (“America is not running out of open space.” And “Detailed economic data suggest that the direct contribution of agriculture to the nation’s economy is modest” in contrast with manufacturing and other uses of the land.)
(8) See, e.g., Timothy McNulty, “Tax-exempt properties are killing city financially, controller Flaherty says,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Jan. 13, 2000.
(9) William Fulton, The Reluctant Metropolis: The Politics of Urban Growth in Los Angeles (Solano Press Books: Point Arena, California, 1997).
(10) Dee Hall, “The Choice: High Density or Urban Sprawl - Portland Area Gets Creative to Control Growth, Wisconsin State Journal, July 23, 1995.
(11) D Schrank & T. Lomax, The 2005 Urban Mobility Report (Texas Transportation Institute, 2005) (constructed road capacity must increase faster than increases in travel if increases in congestion delays are to be prevented, but this has not occurred in the 85 metropolitan areas studied; indeed only four had a narrow gap).
(12) Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Liveable Communities, Energy & Smart Growth: It’s About How and Where We Build (2004)
(13) The research confirming this effect is summarized in Margaret Pugh, Barriers to Work: The Spatial Divide Between Jobs and Welfare Recipients in Metropolitan Areas (Brookings Institution, Sept. 1998). See also Robert Cervero et al., “Job Accessibiity as a Performance Indicator: An Analysis of Trends and Their Social Policy Implications in the San Francisco Bay Area,” Institute for Urban Regional Development, Univ. of Cal. at Berkeley (1997). The National Association of Home Builders argues that the job gap is a reason to support sprawl: build where the jobs are. “Sierra Club Report on Growth is Flawed and Biased, NAHB Says”, NAHB Press Release, Sept. 9, 1998.
(14) Surface Transportation Policy Project, High Mileage Moms (1999) (only 18 percent of automobile trips are commuting to work), available at http://www.transact.org/report.asp?id=184. (15) Alice Reid, “Tysons Growth Revs Up Concern About Gridlock,” Washington Post, March 13, 1999.
(16) Robert Puentes and David Warren, One-Fifth of America: A Comprehensive Guide to America’s First Suburbs (Brookings Institution, Feb. 2006), at 6.
(17) See e.g., Paul Nussbaum, “Paving way for environmental harm,” Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 9, 1999 (recounting water quality impacts of development in exurban areas surrounding Philadelphia). Dana Beach, Coastal Sprawl: The Effects of Urban Design on Aquatic Ecosystems in the United States (Pew Oceans Commission, 2002)(summarizing scientific research).
(18) Rutherford Platt, et al., Disasters and Democracy (Island Press, Washington, D.C. 1999).
(19) Robert D. Bullard, Glenn S. Johnson, and Angel O. Torres, “Atlanta Megasprawl,” Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy, vo. 14, no. 3, Fall 1999, p. 17, 19.
(20) Environmental Protection Agency, The Transportation and Environmental Impacts of Infill Versus Greenfield Development: A Comparative Case Study Analysis (Washington, D.C., 1998).
(21) Reid Ewing and John Kostyack, Endangered by Sprawl: How Runaway Development Threatens America’s Wildlife (National Wildlife Federation, Smart Growth America, Nature Serve: Washington, DC: 2005); Bruce Stein, L.S. Kutner, J.S. Adams, Precious Heritage: The Status of Biodiversity in the United States (Oxford U. Press: New York: 2000).
(22) See generally, James M. McElfish, Jr., Nature-Friendly Ordinances (Envtl. L. Inst. 2004). (23) American Farmland Trust, Farming on the Edge (1997).
(24) E.g. James Howard Kunstler, The Geography of Nowhere (1993)(a well-written jeremiad including riffs on the alleged alienation of exurbia).
(25) William Fulton, The Reluctant Metropolis: The Politics of Urban Growth in Los Angeles,” (Point Arena, California: Solano Press Books, 1997), pp. 343-344.

Carbon County Groundwater Guardians to present free seminar

2007-03-09T09:46:00.000-05:00

http://www.tnonline.com/node/134122
Times News
March 8, 2007

Carbon County Groundwater Guardians to present free seminar
Residents learn to protect water supplies during National Groundwater Awareness Week

The Carbon County Groundwater Guardians (CCGG) will be offering a free educational seminar entitled "How Well is Your Well" on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 at 7 p.m. at the Towamensing Township Municipal Building, 120 Stable Road.

The Groundwater Guardians are offering the seminar, which the group normally presents for a $50 honorarium, at no cost in response to residents' requests and in honor of National Groundwater Awareness Week, which runs March 11-17, 2007.

Recently, well water tests throughout the county began showing signs of E-Coli and other bacterial contamination. Municipal authorities, who are not responsible for the quality of the water produced by privately owned wells, reported an increase in calls from concerned residents.

"When people hear that the water may be unsafe, they often call on their local township officials for answers," said Rick Grant, president of the Carbon County Groundwater Guardians. "But when the wells are privately owned, it's up to the homeowner to test the water and to keep it safe. CCGG is here to teach Carbon County residents how to do that."

The Carbon County Groundwater Guardians is a Pennsylvania nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that exists to educate local residents about this important natural resource and answer questions about their wells and septic systems.

"How Well is Your Well" is an educational program developed by CCGG members Brian Oram, Keith Lotier and Cindy Kerschner and covers proper well construction and maintenance as well as septic systems. Lotier is an executive with Duane Moyer Well Drilling, Oram is a Professional Geologist (PG) and Laboratory Director of the Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences Department at Wilkes University and Kerschner is a former Penn State Master Gardener and freelance writer.

According to the National Groundwater Association, Pennsylvania has more private water wells then any other state in the nation. It is estimated there are nearly 1 million private wells in the commonwealth, and they are the sole source of drinking water for most rural populations. Water well tests often reveal contamination after periods of heavy rain, when rising surface water enters poorly constructed or improperly maintained wells. While the state requires owners of municipal water wells to test water regularly, there is no law that requires homeowners to test their water.

The Groundwater Guardians recommend that all homeowners have their water tested annually. To make that easier and more affordable, the group has an agreement with Wilkes University to provide low-cost well water test kits to local residents.

"Testing your well for bacterial contamination is not difficult or expensive," Grant said. "Attendees of this free seminar will learn how wells become contaminated, how to get a well test and what options they have if they find a problem. Brian and Keith are experts in their fields and provide a very informative program."

The Carbon County Groundwater Guardians will make this seminar available to other townships or municipalities that request the information for residential well owners that live in their jurisdictions. For more information, call Frank Waksmunski at (570) 645-8597 or Rick Grant at (570) 325-2818.

The National Ground Water Association (NGWA), the nation's leading authority on the use and protection of ground water, sponsors Ground Water Awareness Week. The Automotive Oil Change Association is a cosponsor and promotional partners include U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and The Groundwater Foundation.

Groundwater Guardian is a community-based program affiliated with The Groundwater Foundation, based in Lincoln, Nebraska. Frank Waksmunski, CCGG cofounder, has served on The Groundwater Foundation Council for the past five years. Waksmunski and Grant are also Penn State Master Well Owners. Through Groundwater Guardian, communities bring business, government, educators, and citizens together to work on the common goal of groundwater protection. Carbon County Groundwater Guardians (CCGG) is dedicated to protecting private well owners from illnesses caused by our drinking water. We advance good groundwater stewardship through efforts to raise awareness of residents on a variety of groundwater issues. The CCGG meets on the first Monday of every month at the Emergency Management Agency Center in Nesquehoning. Meetings start at 6:00 pm and are open to the public. Find out more on the CCGG website at www.carbonwaters.org.

Time is extended for reporting cases of polycythemia vera

2007-03-07T10:33:00.000-05:00

http://www.tnonline.com/node/133061
Times News
March 6, 2007

Rare blood disease study continues
Time is extended for reporting cases of polycythemia vera

By DONALD R. SERFASS dserfasstnonline.com

A federal agency conducting outreach efforts to try and get a handle on the locally-reported cases of a rare blood disease has extended the time frame for reporting cases.

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Atlanta, is coordinating a study regarding the incidence of local cases of polycythemia vera.

The disease is said to cause a thickening of the blood and can occur when bone marrow produces extra blood cells.

Anyone with the disease is asked to call the registry toll-free, 866-448-0242 by the end of Marcy 30 in order to participate in the initiative.

The agency originally planned to wrap up data collection in February but decided to extend the deadline for an additional month.

Results are expected to be announced in April.

Experts say polycythemia vera is associated, in part, with exposure to the chemical benzene. The chemical is one of many that had been dumped at the McAdoo Associates location, an area north, and uphill, of the Still Creek Reservoir and one which was later declared a federal Superfund site.

The Still Creek Reservoir supplies drinking water to the Tamaqua area.

Lora Werner, ATSDR Philadelphia regional representative, cautioned Monday against building up expectations based on data gleaned in the study.

"We hope it'll a piece of the puzzle," she said, noting that information gathered will not necessarily be a "smoking gun" in terms of identifying the cause.

In a related development, the agency will conduct DNA tests on about 45 residents in lower Luzerne and upper Schuylkill counties identified with the disease to help determine whether a genetic indicator is present.

Three of those interviewed for the testing live along Ben Titus Road, downhill from the McAdoo Associates site.

In a letter last year to Dr. Dante Picciano of the Army for a Clean Environment, William Cibulas, Ph.D., Director, Division of Health Assessment and Consultation, said: "The U. S. Environmental Protection Agency's review of the information for the McAdoo site shows no evidence that any contamination from the site is affecting the water quality in the reservoir."

Cibulas said the ATSDR consulted with the PA Department of Health and other agencies to make its determination.

"Past, regulated monitoring of the drinking water supply from the reservoir has not resulted in detections of contaminants at levels of health concern."

At that time, Cibulas promised that his agency would look into reports concerning cases of the disease.

"The primary concern that ATSDR has heard about is the significantly elevated incidence of polycythemia vera compared to other counties in Pennsylvania based on a PA DOH Cancer Incidence Study released to the public in early 2006. ATSDR is collaborating with the PA DOH on possible follow-up activities to further evaluate the findings."

Power Plant Coal Waste Dumps Pose High Cancer Threat

2007-03-06T10:08:00.000-05:00

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 6, 2007

Contact: Lisa Evans, Earthjustice (781) 631-4119
Eric Schaeffer, Environmental Integrity Project (202) 296-8800
Jeff Stant, Clean Air Task Force (317) 359-1306
Dante Picciano, Army for a Clean Environment (570) 386-5744

Power Plant Coal Waste Dumps Pose High Cancer Threat; Environmental Groups Demand Federal Controls

New EPA Risk Assessment finds extraordinary cancer risk; lack of federal regulations endanger U.S. water supplies

Washington, D.C. The risk of getting cancer from coal ash lagoons is 10,000 times greater than government safety standards allow, according to a draft report from the Environmental Protection Agency obtained by an environmental group. Although the EPA acknowledges this risk, it has neglected to adopt regulations that will limit exposure and protect against the health threats of America’s second-largest industrial solid waste stream, coal ash.

While EPA has not yet formally released the revised assessment, environmental groups received a summary of the draft, which indicates that the cancer risk for adults and children drinking groundwater contaminated with arsenic from coal combustion waste dumps can be as high as 1 in 100 – 10,000 times higher than EPA’s regulatory goals for reducing cancer risks

EPA’s failure to limit pollution from coal combustion waste, or coal ash, has poisoned surface and groundwater supplies in at least 23 states, by EPA’s own admission. Coal combustion waste is the solid waste produced by coal-fired power plants, which produce approximately 129 million tons of the waste each year. The waste is contaminated with toxic chemicals such as mercury, arsenic, lead, cadmium, chromium and selenium. There are currently about 600 existing coal ash landfills and surface impoundments in the U.S.

There are currently plans to build over 150 coal-fired power plants in the United States by 2030. Pollution from coal ash impoundments will undoubtedly worsen unless EPA takes the necessary steps to protect neighborhoods and communities from this dangerous pollution source. EPA acknowledges that coal ash landfills and surface impoundments have contaminated water above federal drinking water standards in the following states: Texas, Maryland, New York, Virginia, Wisconsin, Indiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The agency also acknowledges that more cases of drinking water damage occur, but that monitoring systems are not in place to detect contamination at a large percentage of the existing dumps.

A soon to be released study will show similarly contaminated waters from coal ash (fly ash) disposal in Pennsylvania. According to the Earth Justice Network, there are 18 waste-fuel-burning power plants currently operating in the United States. Fourteen are in Pennsylvania and five are in Schuylkill County, which has more than any other county in the nation. Schuylkill County’s Ben Titus Road community – where the Army for a Clean Environment has counted as many as eight cases of polycythemia vera, a rare bone marrow cancer – is adjacent to Northeastern Power Co., which burns anthracite coal waste or “culm” as its primary fuel and diesel or fuel oil as a secondary fuel, according to the Energy Justice Network. The resulting coal ash waste is then used for mine reclamation on adjacent lands as part of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection’s “beneficial use” program.

“We are now asking our elected officials to enact laws for the safe and proper disposal of these industrial wastes, ” stated Dr. Dante Picciano of the Army for a Clean Environment. “It is time for our legislators to stand up and do what is right for the health and safety of the people of Pennsylvania.”

A broad coalition of 27 environmental and public health groups, led by Earthjustice, Clean Air Task Force and the Environmental Integrity Project, recently submitted a proposal to EPA detailing ways to protect against pollution from the millions of tons of coal ash disposed annually by U.S. coal-fired power plants. The groups also requested that EPA take immediate action to investigate and abate pollution at coal ash dump sites.

“It’s very simple,” said Earthjustice attorney Lisa Evans. “Coal combustion waste currently disposed without adequate safeguards poses an imminent and substantial endangerment to health and the environment in dozens of communities throughout the country. EPA has made no effort to protect the public against these pollution sources for over seven years. We believe it is time to act.”

In 2000, EPA committed to establishing regulations for coal ash disposal. Since then, the agency has met repeatedly with industrial polluters and will soon issue a Notice of Data Availability (NODA), which is expected to defer federal waste regulation in favor of a voluntary industry agreement. However, the voluntary industry agreement, announced by a consortium of coal-fired electric utilities last fall, promises no controls on the hundreds of existing waste dumps and gives industry three years to place monitoring wells around dumps within a mile of drinking water sources.

Simple measures such as isolating the waste from groundwater, prohibiting dumping of coal ash in sand and gravel pits, and lining landfills and surface impoundments would have a huge impact on limiting pollution from these facilities.

“The people who are exposed to a greater cancer risk by drinking water poisoned by coal ash landfills and surface impoundments need to be heard,” said Jeff Stant, Director of the Power Plant Waste-Safe Disposal Project for the Clean Air Task Force. “EPA has ignored affected communities for far too long.”

“Many coal ash disposal sites lack the most basic safeguards such as liners, covers, and groundwater monitoring--standards that are routinely required for household trash at sanitary landfills,” states Eric Schaeffer, Director of the Environmental Integrity Project. “In fact, in many cases, the operators are simply dumping the waste straight into groundwater and face no cleanup requirements by states.”

The National Academies of Science (NAS) found in a March 2006 report studying the practice by utilities of dumping coal combustion wastes in coal mines, that high contaminant levels in leachate, or runoff, from coal ash dumps has contaminated drinking water and caused considerable environmental damage, including the local extinction of multiple species. The NAS report cited EPA’s commitment in 2000 to promulgate federal regulations to require adequate safeguards for disposal of toxic ash and called for the development of regulations mandating safeguards for minefilling. The Environmental Protection Agency, nevertheless, has neglected issuing these much-needed safeguards.

Radon In Northeast Pennsylvania

2007-01-31T10:23:00.000-05:00

These are two articles from the Morning Call about radon hazards in our area. Homeowners with carbon filtration devices on their private water supply need to know that radon will be absorbed onto the carbon, making it radioactive. As this radon decays, new radioactive compounds will form, some of which can enter your drinking water.
Radon in your home? Experts say many don't ask
Radon Rundown

Simple Radon Test Can Help Prevent Lung Cancer

2007-01-05T07:52:00.000-05:00

If there is radon in your home, it's most likely in your private well water too.

News for Release: Thursday, Jan. 4, 2007
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) *

Simple Radon Test Can Help Prevent Lung Cancer

*Contact: Roxanne Smith, (202) 564-4355 / smith.roxanne@epa.gov

(Washington, D.C. - Jan. 4, 2007) Each year, nearly 20,000 people die from lung cancer caused by exposure to radon. A common source of exposure to radon that can be avoided is exposure in the home, yet only one in five homeowners has actually tested for radon. January is National Radon Action Month and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is urging people to test their homes.

"Healthy homes make for healthy families," said Bill Wehrum, EPA's acting assistant administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation. "EPA is encouraging people to test for radon ‚Äì a simple step to providing peace of mind."

Radon is an invisible radioactive gas that seeps into your home from underground, and can reach harmful levels if trapped indoors. The only way to know if your home contains high radon levels is to test for it. Nearly 80 percent of American homes have not been tested for radon, even though a simple test costing as little as $25 can help detect a possible radon problem. If radon is found, homeowners should consult with qualified professionals who can reduce radon exposure for a cost similar to many common home improvement repairs. State radon offices can help the public find qualified radon professionals.

"The invisible and odorless nature of radon makes it a real challenge when trying to raise awareness about its public health risk," said acting U.S. Surgeon General Kenneth Moritsugu. "Radon is the second-leading cause of lung cancer in the United States, and it is completely preventable. You can protect your family with a simple first step, and I urge people to take action to prevent radon exposure by testing their homes."

EPA is launching a campaign to inform people about radon and is working with organizations across the country to educate the public on how to protect themselves from radon exposure in their homes. Local government agencies, non-profit organizations, schools, health care providers, radon professionals, and other community groups will work together to host events and activities to increase awareness about radon, promote testing and mitigation, and advance the use of radon-resistant new construction.

More information about Radon Action Month:
http://www.epa.gov/radon/rnactionmonth.html

Get your home tested:
http://www.epa.gov/radon/radontest.html

Environment the winner as court upholds waterway buffers

2006-11-17T16:29:00.000-05:00

The New Jersey Supreme Court recently ended a two-year legal battle over how the state protects our most pristine waters. The court upheld an Appellate Court decision approving new rules designed to curtail storm water runoff, providing a major victory for New Jersey's water systems and the millions who rely on them for drinking water.

One of the new rules expanded to 300 feet the buffers around our cleanest waters — those designated for Category 1 protection, meaning no measurable deterioration in water quality would be allowed. No building is generally allowed inside these buffers, since development destroys the natural function of the land. In addition, it usually adds a lot of pollution as rain water washes oil and other chemicals off parking lots, lawns, roofs and other "artificial" surfaces; all this extra crud, concentrated near a water body, is beyond the natural capacity of the land to filter before the water reaches the stream, lake or ground water table.

Seeing that the buffer rule would take a lot of valuable land off the paving schedule, the New Jersey Builders Association argued the DEP was dabbling in land use decisions that fall outside their jurisdiction. They sued and lost at every step, with the Supreme Court finally refusing to even hear their final appeal.

Read the full news story at the Asbury Park Press.

Wastewater Issues Get Wormy

2006-11-06T14:09:00.000-05:00

Recent research indicates that earthworms may be an important initial step by which organic contaminants could enter the terrestrial food web. Wastewater treatment plants process millions of gallons of mixed solid and liquid human waste daily, returning treated effluent to surface and ground water and disposing of the residual sludge. Roughly half of the many thousands of dry tons of treated sludge (usually referred to as biosolids) generated annually in the U.S. are applied to agricultural soils as a nutrient-rich soil amendment. Recent USGS research has identified a wide variety of organic contaminants (such as disinfectants, pharmaceuticals, synthetic fragrances, and plasticizers) that can be present in biosolids, often in concentrations tens to thousands of times higher than found in treated liquid waste. One concern related to the practice of land application of biosolids is whether any of these organic contaminants find their way into soil-dwelling organisms. To address this concern, USGS and Eastern Washington University scientists collaborated on a study of earthworms collected from agricultural soils in the Midwest and Western United States that had been exposed to land-applied biosolids. The samples were analyzed for a diverse array of pharmaceuticals and other organic contaminants (77 target compounds were measured). Soil and earthworm samples were collected from select agricultural fields early and late in the growing season. Thirty-one compounds including triclosan (household disinfectant), several fragrances, caffeine, and fluoxetine (the antidepressant Prozac) were detected in earthworms from biosolid-applied fields, with tissue concentrations ranging from 100’s to 1000’s of micrograms per kilogram (parts per billion). These results demonstrate that earthworms can accumulate a range of these chemically diverse organic contaminants within their tissues, and may be an important initial step by which these compounds could enter the terrestrial food web. For more information contact Ed Furlong, USGS, at efurlong@usgs.gov or 303-236-3941, and Chad Kinney, Eastern Washington University, at ckinney@mail.ewu.edu or 509-359-7932.

Contaminants Lower Reproductive Health of Gila River Fish

2006-11-06T14:08:00.000-05:00

Downstream of Phoenix, southern Arizona’s Gila River is primarily recharged by irrigation return water, storm water, and wastewater treatment plant effluent, and fish and aquatic invertebrate habitats are degraded. Largemouth bass, common carp and channel catfish from the Gila had elevated levels of organochlorine pesticides, many of which have been associated with estrogen-like effects in fish. Reproductive biomarkers, including gonad size and hormone concentrations, were notably different in fish from the Gila River when compared to fish from the Colorado River, indicating that organochlorine contaminants may be affecting the reproductive health of fish populations in the Gila River downstream of Phoenix. For more information, contact Jo Ellen Hinck at jhink@usgs.gov or 573-876-1808.

Rocky Mountain High -- Mercury in Cold Environments of the Western United States

2006-11-06T14:05:00.000-05:00

Atmospheric deposition of mercury in remote areas in the Western United States is sufficient to pose a risk to human and ecosystem health at sites favorable for methylation, a process in which mercury in the environment is converted into a highly toxic form that accumulates in organisms and is amplified up the food chain. USGS researchers and partners measured mercury in snowpack samples during 2003-2005 as part of the National Park Service Western Airborne Contaminants Assessment Project. Eight high-altitude, high-latitude sites were selected for study in or near national parks in Colorado, Montana, California, Oregon, and Alaska. Mercury levels were lowest in the North Cascades, highest in the Rocky Mountains, and were related to the amount of particulate carbon in the snow, with both found at higher levels in forested sites than in open meadows. Seasonal variations were lowest in Denali National Park and highest in Olympic National Park. Mercury concentrations were higher during the warm season than the snow season. Total annual fluxes of mercury were as high as 10 mg m-2 at some sites in the Rocky Mountains, which receive mercury deposition equal to that in the Upper Midwest or Northeast. Global and regional sources of mercury emissions contribute to its deposition, with regional sources likely contributing more in the Rocky Mountains, where there are more upwind sources of emissions. For more information, contact Don Campbell at Donald.Campbell@usgs.gov or 303-236-4882, ext. 298.

Pharmaceuticals in Long Island’s Groundwater

2006-11-06T14:03:00.000-05:00

Pharmaceuticals can infiltrate groundwater systems in areas susceptible to wastewater contamination. In studies by Stony Brook University and the U.S. Geological Survey of ground-water wells in Suffolk County, Long Island, NY, near permitted wastewater treatment facilities discharging to ground water, scientists detected pharmaceuticals in concentrations generally 1-200 ng/L (parts per trillion).These vanishingly small concentrations are several orders of magnitude below the concentrations where any effects have been observed or predicted for the compounds measured in this study. Acetaminophen, caffeine, carbamazepine (anti-epileptic), cotinine (human metabolite of nicotine), paraxanthine (human metabolite of caffeine), and sulfamethoxazole (antibiotic) were found most often in both studies. However compounds were more frequently detected in the shallower wells. These occurrences, and laboratory studies, suggest that of these compounds, caffeine, carbamazepine, paraxanthine, and sulfamethoxazole are more persistent in groundwater and have the most potential for transport in the subsurface. For more information, contact Mark J. Benotti at mbenotti@usgs.gov or 631-736-0783 x126.

A Happy Medium? Antidepressants in Aquatic Systems

2006-11-06T14:00:00.000-05:00

Wastewater treatment plants do a remarkable job at removing the bulk of chemicals from the waste stream. But recent USGS studies have shown that a wide range of pharmaceuticals and other human-caused waste compounds remain despite wastewater treatment and are discharged to receiving waters across North America. Antidepressants are a commonly used class of pharmaceuticals whose pharmacological effects may extend beyond humans to aquatic organisms present in surface water systems that receive treated wastewater discharge. Yet few methods exist to detect antidepressants in the environment, and their effects on aquatic organisms are only beginning to be understood. Recently, USGS researchers developed a method to study the distribution and fate of antidepressants and their breakdown products in aquatic environments, including municipal wastewater and surface water. Venlafaxine (Effexor) was the predominant antidepressant researchers found in wastewater and river-water samples from Colorado, Iowa, and Minnesota, though other antidepressants were found as well. Typical concentrations of individual antidepressants ranged from a few nanograms per liter to thousands of nanograms per liter (for Venalfaxine) in wastewater. This indicates that wastewater is a point source of antidepressants into the environment, at concentrations that may impact aquatic life. For more information, please contact Edward T. Furlong, USGS, at efurlong@usgs.gov or 303-236-3941; or Melissa Schultz, College of Wooster, Wooster, OH at mschultz@wooster.edu or 330-263-2645.

Pa. townships soon to require septic plumbing

2006-10-30T07:45:00.000-05:00

Every township in Franklin County soon will require residents to pump their septic tanks on a three-year schedule, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).

“Every municipality will have the requirement at some point,” said Sandy Roderick, spokeswoman for the state DEP.

The requirement is part of a state initiative designed to improve local sewage management and protect groundwater.

In 1997, the state amended Act 537 to require regular maintenance of septic systems, Roderick said. The legislation mandates that municipalities require all on-lot septic systems to be pumped every three years.

“Act 537 is the municipality’s responsibility, but some have yet to show progress,” Roderick said.

“We have areas in Pennsylvania that are rural, and only have on-lot systems,” Roderick said. “Some are old, malfunctioning and contaminating drinking water.”

Local septic tank specialists S R Daley Sons of Greencastle, Pa., say that once a system malfunctions, the only remedy is expensive alternative systems.

“When a system goes bad, it is because it is not maintained,” said April Daley of S R Daley Sons. “It costs $139 to pump a tank; a replacement can cost up to $20,000.”

Read full article at Hagerstown Morning Herald

NO DREDGE IN SPRINGDALE PIT!

2006-10-18T11:53:00.000-04:00

http://www.ahs.dep.state.pa.us/newsreleases/default.asp?ID=4275

N E W S R E L E A S E COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA
Dept. of Environmental Protection
Commonwealth News Bureau
Room 308, Main Capitol Building
Harrisburg, PA 17120

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
10/18/2006

CONTACT:
Tom Rathbun
Phone: (717) 787-1323

LC&N TELLS DEP IT NO LONGER INTENDS TO USE DREDGE IN RECLAMATION OF SPRINGDALE PIT
Request Has No Affect on Statewide General Permit Allowing Beneficial Use of Dredged Materials in Mine Reclamation

HARRISBURG -- Coaldale Energy LLC, which assumed responsibilities for Lehigh Coal & Navigation Co. in April, has informed the Department of Environmental Protection that it no longer intends to pursue the use of dredged materials in the reclamation of the Springdale Pit in Tamaqua, Schuylkill County.

In a letter submitted to the department Tuesday, the company stated it is not seeking reauthorization in its pending permit renewal of special conditions that allow the beneficial use of a mixture of dredged sediment, coal ash, cement kiln dust and lime kiln dust.

The company’s decision to forgo the use of dredge has no implication for the general permit that the department issued in March 2004 in association with the use of a mixture of dredge and other materials for mine reclamation in Pennsylvania.

DEP approved amendments to LC&N’s surface mining permit in January 2005 to allow the beneficial use of dredged sediment and other materials in the reclamation project. No dredge material has been placed on site to date.

For more information on mining in Pennsylvania, visit DEP’s Web site, www.depweb.state.pa.us, Keyword: “Active Mining Operations.”

# # #

2006

Lakehurst Acres residents' tests indicate lead in blood

2006-09-22T10:09:00.000-04:00

MANCHESTER -- A majority of the residents at Lakehurst Acres who were tested for lead over the past two weeks showed low traces of the metal in their blood, according to state toxicology tests.

"It irritates me," said Seamus Pike. "But more than that, it's really been stressful."

Three weeks ago, Pike brought home his newborn son, Axel. That same day, he got a notice from C&C Realty Management of Augusta, which manages Lakehurst, saying that lead was discovered in the drinking water, and that residents should be tested.

Axel has had a steady blood-lead level of 9 micrograms per deciliter. Seamus' results originally reached 24, but last week decreased to 22.

The increased levels were detected after the property managers installed a filtration system to help eliminate arsenic -- which flows naturally in the ground water of that area of Pond Road. Lakehurst's drinking water comes from a well.

After the installation of the arsenic control equipment, the water grew more acidic and began to eat away at the water pipes and leach lead.

###

Reader Comments

Frank Waksmunski of Palmerton, PA
Sep 21, 2006 8:23 AM

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) has released the following Public Health Statement for Lead: http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/phs13.html#bookmark04

This is an excerpt:
Children are more sensitive to the health effects of lead than adults. NO SAFE BLOOD LEAD LEVEL IN CHILDREN HAS BEEN DETERMINED. …
Fetuses exposed to lead in the womb, because their mothers had a lot of lead in their bodies, may be born prematurely and have lower weights at birth. Exposure in the womb, in infancy, or in early childhood also may slow mental development and cause lower intelligence later in childhood. There is evidence that these effects may persist beyond childhood.

Frank Waksmunski

Carbon County Groundwater Guardians
http://www.carbonwaters.org/

Penn State Master Well Owner
http://mwon.cas.psu.edu/

Click HERE to read this entire article.

ADHD Cases Linked to Lead, Smoking

2006-09-19T09:04:00.000-04:00

About one-third of attention deficit cases among U.S. children may be linked with tobacco smoke before birth or to lead exposure afterward, according to provocative new research.

Even levels of lead the government considers acceptable appeared to increase a child's risk of having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, the study found.

The study bolsters suspicions that low-level lead exposure previously linked to behavior problems "is in fact associated with ADHD," ...

Based on study estimates, more than 5 million 4-to-15-year-olds nationwide have levels higher than 2 micrograms per deciliter, Lanphear said.

Children with blood lead levels of more than 2 micrograms per deciliter were four times more likely to have ADHD than children with levels below 0.8 microgram per deciliter. The government's "acceptable" blood lead level is 10 micrograms per deciliter, and an estimated 310,000 U.S. children ages 1 to 5 have levels exceeding that.

Read this article by clicking Associated Press

Additional Links:
Environmental Health Perspectives
Government: CDC

Traces of lead found in newborn's blood

2006-09-12T09:00:00.000-04:00

Water treatment to remove arsenic led to toxic levels of lead

Axel had only been out of his mother's womb for six days when he tested positive for lead.

Late last month, residents of Lakehurst Acres were told by C&C Realty officials that they should consider seeing a doctor after water tests indicated that lead levels were more than 100 times higher than federal limits.

Federal limits say lead levels in drinking water should not exceed 15 parts per billion. Water from homes tested in Lakehurst reached into the hundreds and thousands of parts per billion, with one of the highest readings hitting 1,600 parts per billion.

For Lakehurst Acres, the cause of the increased lead levels came after the property managers installed a filtration system to help eliminate arsenic. After the installation of the arsenic control equipment, the water grew more acidic and began to corrode and eat away at the water pipes.

Lead poisoning can effect anyone, but the highest risk is to children under the age of 5, whose developing brains can be ravaged by the toxin. Even in low doses, lead can impair neurological function, and at higher levels it can cause stunted growth.

To read the entire, horrible, continuing saga, click HERE and HERE

Thousands drink from unregulated private wells

2006-09-12T08:35:00.000-04:00

This is a news article about private wells, reported in the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. I think this same story could be written by The Times News about Carbon County.

Clean water is something most people take for granted. Turn the spigot on and like magic, fresh cold water travels from some treatment plant on the far side of town, up through the ground and into the sink.

Regardless, whether the existing wells provide clean, safe water depends almost entirely on the vigilance of owners.

The federal government is currently working on a nationwide survey of drinking water. Until now, there has been no such study.

There are about 1,800 private wells in St. Louis County. In the past three years, officials have performed 266 water quality tests, 40 percent of which failed because of high levels of coliform bacteria.

Madison County, which has about 5,400 private wells, offers free testing to residents once a year, but few get them. Officials have performed 135 water quality tests so far this year, of which about 40 percent failed.

To read the entire article, click HERE

Tamaqua dredge in the news

2006-09-06T10:22:00.000-04:00

News from the Republican & Herald

Tamaqua rescinds dredge agreement

TAMAQUA— The borough council delayed a vote on a controversial biosolids ordinance Tuesday evening after its solicitor failed to advertise it on time.

However, by a narrow margin, council members voted to overturn a controversial agreement with a Pottsville mining company supporters say gave the borough court standing if river dredge material were ever to be imported.

Read more here.

Is it safe to do the right thing?

2006-09-06T09:08:00.000-04:00

News from the Environmental News Service:

Clean Water Act Whistleblowers Murky Legal Protection

WASHINGTON, DC, September 5, 2006 (ENS) - The Bush administration has declared itself immune from whistleblower protections for federal workers under the Clean Water Act, according to legal documents released by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

As a result of an opinion issued by a unit within the Office of the Attorney General, federal workers will have little protection from official retaliation for reporting water pollution enforcement breakdowns, manipulations of science or cleanup failures.

Flood victims have until Oct. 3 to register for federal assistance

2006-08-29T09:16:00.000-04:00

August 28, 2006

Registration deadline extended in Pa. Flood victims have until Oct. 3 to register for federal assistance

HARRISBURG, Pa. - FEMA and the Commonwealth want to be sure all Pennsylvanians affected by June's flooding receive disaster assistance. That's why FEMA has approved the state's request to extend the deadline for Pennsylvania residents and business owners to apply for federal disaster assistance to Oct. 3.

"With dozens of new applications coming in every day, we thought it was important to extend the registration deadline so everyone who was affected has a chance to apply," said Federal Coordinating Officer Tom Davies. "If you or your family suffered losses and you haven't yet contacted FEMA, please do."

Read more at the Times News Online

Flood Victims_Free Test Kits, Oil Tank Cleanup Services Available Until Sept. 8

2006-08-29T07:41:00.000-04:00

Press Release Source: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

Free Test Kits, Oil Tank Cleanup Services Available Until Sept. 8 in Counties Affected by June Floods

Monday August 28, 1:44 pm ET

HARRISBURG, Pa., Aug. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Flood victims who wish to take advantage of free water well testing kits should contact the Department of Environmental Protection's regional offices prior to Sept. 8. The department began providing the free kits after the June floods to homeowners with a private well system to ensure they have access to safe drinking water.

The department also will continue to offer free pumping and removal services for flooded or damaged home heating oil tanks in affected areas. Residents or local officials who call before Sept. 8 can make an appointment for DEP staff and a contractor to come to the home for cleanup.

Proper handling of home heating oil is essential to prevent soil and groundwater contamination that could linger long after flood waters recede.

Pennsylvania has more private water wells then any other state in the nation. It is estimated there are nearly 1 million private wells in the commonwealth, and they are the sole source of drinking water for most rural populations.

Individuals with questions or concerns about the test kits or cleanup should contact the Department of Environmental Protection regional office in the area:

-- Southeast Regional Office, 484-250-5900.
-- Northeast Regional Office, 570-826-2511.
-- Southcentral Regional Office, 717-705-4741.
-- Northcentral Regional Office, 570-327-3636.
-- Southwest Regional Office, 412-442-4000.
-- Northwest Regional Office, 814-332-6945.

For copies of the fact sheet and more flood recovery information on re- entering and cleaning homes and businesses, cleaning up home heating oil, reporting spills and other environmental emergencies, contact the nearest DEP regional office or visit DEP's Web site at http://www.depweb.state.pa.us and click on "Flood Recovery."

CONTACT: Kurt M. Knaus
717-787-1323

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

New Scientist reports water crisis

2006-08-21T09:37:00.000-04:00

Today, New Scientist.com reports that one-third of the world’s population is short of water – a situation we were not predicted to arrive at until 2025. That's the result of a new report on the state of the world’s water supplies.

The report by the International Water Management Institute in Colombo, Sri Lanka, was released on Monday in Stockholm at the start of World Water Week. It paints a bleak picture of global access to fresh water and warns that the world cannot carry on complacently using water as if it will never run out.

The reason for the discrepancy is that earlier predictions were based on a country-by-country analysis. The latest figures stem from a more detailed analysis of natural water basins, according to the article.

Read more here.

Survey for Well Owners

2006-08-16T11:09:00.000-04:00

Pennsylvania is home to over one million private water wells that provide drinking water to over three million rural residents, with an additional 20,000 new water wells drilled each year. Pennsylvania, however, is one of the few states that have no guidelines on how to construct and maintain private water wells, and many fail at least one drinking water standard.

Since all aspects of private well location, construction and management are voluntary, little is known about them and how they perform for homeowners. This makes it difficult to create educational programs to meet the needs of existing and future well owners. The purpose of this research study is to learn about the characteristics and management of private wells in the state along with homeowner opinions.

Penn State University in cooperation with the Pennsylvania Water Resources Research Center is offering you an opportunity to contribute through an online survey regarding your private water well. Your knowledge and opinions are important to us as we develop programs for existing and future well owners. You must be a Pennsylvania resident and at least 18 years old to complete the online survey, which will take less than 10 minutes of your time. Please do not fill out the survey if your water comes from a public (city) water supply or from a spring or cistern. Your knowledge and opinions will help shape Penn State programs in the next five years for existing and future well owners.

Access the survey by surfing to http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=71482275593.

2006 Carbon County Fair is underway

2006-08-10T14:18:00.000-04:00

Join us at the Carbon County Fair through this Sunday. We have a booth in the nonprofit/bunny tent and would love to have you stop by and learn more about what we do.

CCGG Members: If you have time to volunteer to help man the booth, contact me via e-mail and I'll get you an exibitor's pass into the fair.

Rick.

"Wolves" invade CCEEC

2006-07-25T13:16:00.000-04:00

Here's some information about an upcoming program hosted by CCGG's friends at CCEEC.

Carbon County Environmental Education Center Hosts “Wolves”
Thursday, July 27 6 PM

Come and listen to Guest Speaker, Nikki Banfield, and Naturalist/Teacher for Moon Lake County Park speak about her experiences with wild wolves. She became involved with wild wolves at a very young age. She had the opportunity to live for five months with the wolves learning how they communicate and their behavior.

She has joined such organizations as Wolf Education and Research Center in Idaho and has met the wolf she has adopted that resides there at the center. Nikki has also been instrumental in the reintroduction of wolves at Yellowstone National Park.

For more information or to register for this exciting program, please call CCEEC at 570-645-8597.

Judge upholds quarry permit denial

2006-07-25T10:17:00.000-04:00

Judge David W. Addy needed only two sentences to uphold East Penn Township zoners' decision to deny a request by Lehigh Asphalt Paving and Construction Co. to expand its controversial quarry in the township.

He made the ruling yesterday. Read the complete story here.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-b3_1quarryjul25,0,7436691.story

Tamaqua continues water testing

2006-07-25T10:15:00.000-04:00

Got this from Frank today.

Despite another government agency conculding that the water in the Still Creek Reservoir poses no threat, Tamaqua's borough water authority will continue water testing. See the complete story here:

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=16962325&BRD=2626&PAG=461&dept_id=532624&rfi=6

Volunteers needed for rain, snow monitoring network

2006-07-22T10:44:00.000-04:00

It can be fun to monitor the precipitation that falls in your own backyard and then compare it to other places in Carbon County, and even the entire state.

Penn State University's College of Earth and Mineral Sciences has set up a network of volunteers across Pennsylvania who monitor rain and snow amounts. The program is called FROST. It is administered by the Pennsylvania State Climatologist.

Volunteer opportunities are open to all Pennsylvania residents, who will take daily observations (when possible) of rain and snow measurements. These observations will then be reported through a user-friendly Web entry form.

Read more about this network at The Times News