Raining PFAS: Amount of PFAS found is outpacing legacy contaminants

A decades-long monitoring project in the Great Lakes basin has started checking for PFAS in rain. It’s finding the forever chemicals across the basin in large amounts.

Those numbers aren’t published yet, but PFAS are showing up in concentrations higher than legacy contaminants like mercury, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) and pesticides.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/raining-pfas-outpacing-legacy-contaminants/

Andrew Blok

Green Infrastructure: Cities around the Great Lakes plan for a changing future

Rain gardens, bioretention features, adaptable parks and more are popping up all around the region.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/green-infrastructure-great-lakes-climate-future/

Andrew Blok

Lake Levels: Expect higher than average lake levels but no new record

High water and erosion caused the beach stairs in Chikaming Township in southwest Michigan to collapse.

Now, two years later, volunteers have rebuilt those stairs, marking renewed access to some of the township’s most cherished assets – its public beaches – after high water in Lake Michigan rendered them unusable.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/higher-than-average-lake-levels-but-no-new-record/

Andrew Blok

Drownings Increase: Research shows possible connection between COVID-19 restrictions and Great Lakes drownings

As COVID-19 changed the pattern of life around the Great Lakes region in 2020, it also altered the pattern of Great Lakes drownings in unfortunate if predictable ways.

With larger than normal crowds and a fatigue with restrictions, the rise in drownings isn’t a surprise.

“You get no lifeguards, heavier beach crowds, more people who were just escaping their house in the heat, going to the beach, and you’re putting more people into a dangerous situation,” said Chris Houser, a professor in the school of environment at University of Windsor.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/drownings-increase-research-connection-covid-19-restrictions/

Andrew Blok

Early Detection: When it comes to Great Lakes invasives, prevention is the only cure

Of the many possible new invasive threats to the Great Lakes, 144 stand out in particular, according to a study released in 2021.

The study lists 144 fish, plants and invertebrates that could invade the Great Lakes or expand their range within them. The species were listed by the risk of damage they pose to the Great Lakes environment or culture and the likelihood they’d be introduced by one of six pathways.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/great-lakes-invasive-species-early-detection/

Andrew Blok

30 Years Later: Mussel invasion legacy reaches far beyond Great Lakes

The way J. Ellen Marsden remembers it, when she first suggested calling a new Great Lakes invasive species the quagga mussel, her colleague laughed, so the name stuck.

At the same time, it was no laughing matter. The arrival of a second non-native mussel, related to the already established zebra mussel, was a major complication in what was becoming one of the most significant invasive species events in American history.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/invasive-mussels-legacy-beyond-great-lakes/

Andrew Blok

Genetic Engineering: Researchers take first steps toward controlling sea lamprey

Early in October, scientists who pioneered a powerful gene-editing technology won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. That same technology is now being used to explore new ways to control invasive sea lamprey in the Great Lakes.

When researchers suggested earlier this year that it might be possible to eradicate sea lamprey from the Great Lakes, it was with developing gene-editing technology in mind.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/10/genetic-engineering-research-controlling-sea-lamprey/

Andrew Blok

Complete Eradication: Researchers look at removing sea lamprey from the Great Lakes

Sea lamprey control in the Great Lakes has been a success.

Compared to the 1950s, 90% fewer of the toothy, invasive, eel-like parasite are spawning.

Control efforts have been so successful that some researchers now suggest a more permanent solution: complete eradication of the pest from the Great Lakes.

Read Now at Great Lakes Now.

Original Article

Great Lakes Now

Great Lakes Now

https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/09/sea-lamprey-invasive-species-research-eradication-great-lakes/

Andrew Blok

Drops in baseflow can harm stream’s health and the health of the organisms that rely on them. But irrigation can mask climate-driven drops in those flows, said Sue Borchardt, a doctoral student in the department of geography at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Original Article

Great Lakes Echo

Great Lakes Echo

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreatLakesEcho/~3/jVxP9XVgoqM/

Andrew Blok