Invasive zebra mussels have been found in Copake Lake, NY, during the most recent survey of the lake last month. Read the full story by Columbia-Greene Media.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211020-invasive-mussels
Citing “unsettling” revelations about the state of Michigan’s handling of Benton Harbor’s lead-in-water crisis, the leader of Senate Oversight Committee has asked Michigan environmental regulators to turn over a lengthy list of documents detailing their response. Read the full story by Bridge Michigan.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211020-lead
Mark Benjamin has been coming up and creating mazes since he was young, making it a lifelong passion.
The post 21 years later, Best Maze still stumps visitors first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2021/10/20/21-years-later-best-maze-still-stumps-visitors/
Children’s health advocates are pushing to install drinking water filters in Michigan schools and child care centers to protect them from lead poisoning.
The post Drinking water filters eyed as better option to testing in Michigan schools and day care centers first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2021/10/20/drinking-water-filters-eyed-as-better-option-to-testing-in-michigan-schools-and-day-care-centers/
U.S. Senate Funding Bills Boost Clean Water, Great Lakes Investments
Federal interior and environment bill contains $350 million for Great Lakes restoration, $3.3 billion for water infrastructure.
ANN ARBOR, MICH. (October 19, 2021)—The U.S. Senate released its nine remaining funding bills yesterday that boost federal investments to restore the Great Lakes, remove toxic lead from drinking water, confront sewage overflows, and reduce farm and city runoff pollution. The interior and environment spending bill contains $350 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and more than $3.3 billion to upgrade drinking water and sewage infrastructure. The boost in clean water priorities is more than was allocated in last year’s federal budget, although less than bills backed by the U.S. House.
“We are glad to see the U.S. Senate boost funding for essential clean water programs that people depend on for their drinking water, health, and quality of life,” said Laura Rubin, director of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition. “Federal investments are producing results in local communities, although we know serious threats remain. We encourage House and Senate leaders, as well as the Biden Administration, to use all of the tools at their disposal to fully fund restoration efforts and to ensure every person in this country has access to clean, safe, and affordable water. This includes robust federal investments to protect the health of people and communities, as well as policy solutions that prevent pollution and further harm. Further, as climate change continues to exacerbate many threats – from sewage overflows to toxic algal blooms to flooding in neighborhoods – we encourage elected officials to act with urgency, purpose, and ambition so that we meet this moment with solutions that are commensurate to the threats at hand. Delay will make the problems worse and more expensive to solve.”
The release of the Senate funding bills comes as members of Congress discuss the fate of a $1 trillion infrastructure investment package and additional legislation to fund federal safety net and climate change programs. The Senate bills released yesterday will fund the U.S. government for fiscal year 2022, which goes from October 1, 2021 through September 30, 2022. The next step of the process is for House and Senate negotiators to reach consensus on a final federal budget before a temporary budget deal expires in December.
The Senate proposal to fund the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative at $350 million is $10 million above the Biden Administration’s budget request, but $25 million below the authorized levels of the program supported by the House. The Senate spending bill includes the following key programs:
Since 2004, the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition has been harnessing the collective power of more than 170 groups representing millions of people, whose common goal is to restore and protect the Great Lakes. Learn more at HealthyLakes.org or follow us on Twitter @HealthyLakes.
The post U.S. Senate Funding Bills Boost Clean Water, Great Lakes Investments appeared first on Healing Our Waters Coalition.
Healing Our Waters Coalition
https://healthylakes.org/u-s-senate-funding-bills-boost-clean-water-great-lakes-investments/
Keep up with energy-related developments in the Great Lakes area with Great Lakes Now’s biweekly headline roundup.
Click on the headline to read the full story:
Indiana:
CenterPoint Energy recently proposed to construct two natural gas combustion turbines in place of its former coal-based plant.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/10/energy-illinois-clean-energy-bill-michigan-heating/
NCEI News Feed
http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/introducing-nceis-regional-climate-services-directors
Climate change and more fuel for fire are the culprits.
The post Great Lakes wildfires could double first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2021/10/19/great-lakes-wildfires-could-double/
This article is part of a collaboration between The Alpena News and Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television to bring audiences stories about the Great Lakes, especially Lake Huron and its watershed.
LUDINGTON (AP) — The SS Badger backed into its dock Oct.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/10/ss-badger-makes-final-lake-michigan-crossing-of-season/
I Speak for the Fish is a new monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor Kathy Johnson, coming out the third Monday of each month. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/10/i-speak-for-the-fish-setting-sturgeon-free/
A reported $35-million agricultural maritime export facility broke ground Friday, Oct. 15, on Jones Island in Milwaukee in what is the largest one-time investment in Port Milwaukee history since the 1950’s. Read the full story by WDJT – Milwaukee, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211018-milwaukee
More than 40 organizations throughout the Great Lakes region are getting some much-needed money to help with restoration projects across several states, including Michigan. Read the full story by WDIV-TV – Detroit, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211018-green-infrastructure
Jutting into Lake Erie since the end of the last ice age, the Presque Isle peninsula is an important resting and nesting place for migratory birds. More than 339 species have been identified on the 3,200-acre spit of sand, trees and marshes in Presque Isle State Park, Erie County. Read the full story by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211018-plovers
The SS Badger backed into its dock Oct. 10 for the last time this season, letting about 300 passengers off into Ludington and ending nearly five months of daily round trips across Lake Michigan. Read the full story by the Wisconsin State Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211018-badger
The Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast, a stretch along the Lake Michigan shoreline, was recently designated a national marine sanctuary. Read the full story by Spectrum News 1.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211018-shipwreck
An energetic group of Sandy Creek Central School student volunteers recently spent a fall Saturday helping experts replant beach grass in an effort to stabilize the fragile sand dune system along the shore of Lake Ontario. Read the full story by Oswego County Today.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211018-dunes
The Lake Huron Centre for Coastal Conservation wants to focus the conversation about climate change on Lake Huron. Read the full story by Blackburn News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211018-huron
The Lake Erie shoreline will soon benefit from a new program that engages citizen scientists in monitoring the changing conditions along the waterfront and submitting photos, observations, and measurements to provide accurate and near real-time information. Read the full story by The Voice.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211018-lake-erie
A contractor for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has just finished nearly $5 million in repairs on the Buffalo North Breakwater. Read and hear the full story by WBFO – Buffalo, NY.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211018-buffalo-repairs
The International Lake Ontario- St. Lawrence River Board has increased outflows from Lake Ontario through the Moses- Saunders Dam. This began on October 16 and will continue for approximately eight weeks, through mid-December to return water levels in Lake Ontario to the level they would be if outflow deviations had not been required this past season. Read the full story by Rochester First.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211018-ontario
In Ontario, the double-crested cormorant, perhaps more than any other animal species, is under siege due to the political whim of the current government, using shoddy science to justify the mass hunting of these birds. Read the full story by The Pointer.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211018-cormorants
By Matthew Daly, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is launching a broad strategy to regulate toxic industrial compounds associated with serious health conditions that are used in products ranging from cookware to carpets and firefighting foams.
Michael Regan, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, said it is taking a series of actions to limit pollution from a cluster of long-lasting chemicals known as PFAS that are increasingly turning up in public drinking water systems, private wells and even food.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/10/ap-epa-strategy-regulate-pfas/
“A Backyard Prairie. The Hidden Beauty of Tallgrass and Wildflowers” is available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble for $24.50.
The post New book celebrates ‘hidden beauty’ of native prairie through Illinois couple’s journey to turn back time in their own backyard first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2021/10/18/new-book-celebrates-hidden-beauty-of-native-prairie-through-illinois-couples-journey-to-turn-back-time-in-their-own-backyard/
THIS WEEK: Learn About Federal Funding for Infrastructure: October 20 and November 17 + Benton Harbor, MI Draws National Media Attention for Lead Contamination + John Oliver Show Features Impacts of PFAS + Detroit Residents Please Consider Completing This Survey!
Learn About Federal Funding for Infrastructure: October 20 and November 17Join us next Wednesday, October 20 for the first session of the 2021 All About Water convenings. Don’t miss out on these interactive events, register today. Please share with others that may be interested in these events.
After three years, the city of Benton Harbor remains out of compliance with state and federal Lead and Copper Rules (LCR). Since high lead levels were found in 2018, the Benton Harbor Community Water Council has been instrumental in collecting compliance samples required of the City, distributing bottled water and filters to residents, and providing education and advocacy for the community about the lead issue. A petition to the EPA asking for intervention to address the problem is receiving national media attention. The Director of the Michigan’s Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy department stated that there have been improvements in corrosion control and “in general improvement overall.” Freshwater Future will be reaching out to review the data. Governor Whitmer announced additional support this week for Benton Harbor residents to access bottled water, filters, and prepared baby formula.
Last week, the HBO late night show “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” featured the toxic chemicals called PFAS. The 19-minute segment provides a humorous but insightful summary of the complexity of the issue, including the need to regulate PFAS as a family of chemicals, instead of one by one, which has been the current approach of states.
Warning: Offensive language is used in the HBO segment of Late Night with John Oliver. For adults only.
The Center for Water Security and Cooperation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to ensuring law and practice guarantee equitable access to water and sanitation, is conducting a survey to better understand the challenges households face in maintaining access to water. The results from this survey will be used to advance more equitable access to water in Detroit and other communities. This data is critical to raising awareness of the experience low-income households face in maintaining access to water, and this will be highlighted prominently in the report. To help provide information, you can take the survey here. If you’d prefer to speak with someone directly, click here to provide your name and contact information.
Blog – Freshwater Future
https://freshwaterfuture.org/freshwater-weekly/freshwater-future-weekly-october-15-2021/
After several years of erosion caused by high water, including some record Lake Erie levels that cut into beaches, officials in Pennsylvania are pleased with conditions on Presque Isle’s shores. Read the full story by the Erie Times-News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211015-beach
The North Country Cooperative Invasive Species Management Area has been awarded a grant of $50,000 in Great Lakes Restoration Initiative funding to access and utilize Michigan Natural Features Inventory data to focus plant surveys where endangered plants coincide with likely avenues of spread of invasive plants. Read the full story by Ludington Daily News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211015-survey
While supply chain issues ravage various industries and aspects of life as the world tries to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, leaders at the Port of Green Bay say they have not seen the same issues due to the type of traffic the westernmost port of Lake Michigan receives. Read the full story by WLWK-TV- Green Bay, WI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211015-port
All lead service lines in Benton Harbor, Michigan, would be dug up and replaced by April 2023 under a goal announced by Governor Gretchen Whitmer amid an escalating response to toxic lead in the city’s water supply. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211015-lead
Researchers at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University recently received $5.4 million from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to continue their study of climate change. Read the full story by MLive.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211015-climate
Great Lakes steel production fell by 11,000 tons last week, while U.S. steel mills dipped under 85% capacity utilization, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute. Read the full story by The Times of Northwest Indiana.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211015-steel
Since the first reported algal bloom in Lake Superior in 2012, no serious levels of toxins had been confirmed. That changed last month with a bloom near Superior, Wisconsin, where toxins in the water at a nearby beach were just beyond the level set for safe swimming. Read the full story by the Chicago Tribune.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211015-algae
President Joe Biden has chosen a new administrator to oversee Region 5 of the Environmental Protection Agency, covering Indiana and other Great Lakes states. Read the full story by WBAA- West Lafayette, IN.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211015-epa
Construction of the Great Lakes Tunnel in the Mackinac Straits of Lake Michigan is officially delayed until at least 2022. Read the full story by Interlochen Public Radio.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211015-tunnel
As we see the southwestern US suffer through wildfires, partially caused by the continuing drought conditions, there are again pressures to move waters from east to west. Fortunately for the residents of the Great Lakes region, the lakes are currently protected from the call for water from the west by the Great Lakes Agreement and Compact. Read the full story by Buffalo Rising.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211015-west
Even when the topic is cars and climate change, in Michigan it still comes back to the Great Lakes.
“To me, really, the take home is always, always, always water,” said Liesl Clark, director of the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy. She appeared at an event in Detroit that previewed COP26.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/10/un-climate-conference-michigan-role/
The Executive Assistant (EA) provides support to the President/CEO and COO to maximize the strategic use of their time, and assists the Operations team in the seamless integration of essential administrative work into the Alliance’s mission-driven culture and workplace. This position reports to the President/CEO and works closely with the Finance & Operations Director, COO and Office Manager on meeting logistics and scheduling, document creation and management, Board of Directors administrative support, as well as human resources, financial and office management matters. The Executive Assistant performs a wide variety of functions independently, exercising confidential discretion and sound judgment in the performance of these duties. Administrative services may be provided to other department staff as required. Additionally, this person will assist with special projects as assigned by the President and CEO.
A typical day might begin with sharing an overview of the day’s upcoming meetings, to-dos, and any supporting materials. Later, the EA may follow up with staff that still owe a response or deliverable to the COO and ensure a few contracts are fully executed by CEO or Director of Finance and Operations and saved appropriately. The CEO might ask the EA to prepare a PowerPoint to brief the board of directors on strategic plan progress, which would include the EA meeting with relevant staff to gather information. The Development team may need some extra help entering data into Salesforce during the busy year end giving season, and asks the EA to help for a couple hours this week. The EA wraps up the day with a brief recap email to the CEO and COO on pending items completed, upcoming deadlines, and who is waiting for follow up.
The Executive Assistant contributes to the successful execution of the Alliance’s strategic plan, both by supporting top leadership in their responsibilities across the organization and in directly contributing to the Operations team’s defined outcomes around administrative and board support.
Executive Assistance
Please e-mail a cover letter, resume, references and writing sample to: hr@greatlakes.org. Include job title in the subject line.
Applications will be accepted until the position is filled – we are looking to fill immediately. Materials should be compatible with Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat. Applicants will receive confirmation of receipt of their materials and further guidance and updates about the hiring process by e-mail, with interviews provided for finalists. No phone inquiries, please.
The Alliance for the Great Lakes is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The search process will reinforce the Alliance’s belief that achieving diversity requires an enduring commitment to inclusion that must find full expression in our organizational culture, values, norms, and behaviors.
Our mission is to protect, conserve and restore the Great Lakes ensuring healthy water in the lakes and in our communities for all generations of people and wildlife. We advance our mission as advocates for policies that support the lakes and communities, by building the research, analysis and partnerships that motivate action, and by educating and uniting people as a voice for the Great Lakes. Learn more about the Alliance at www.greatlakes.org.
The Alliance envisions a thriving Great Lakes and healthy water that all life can rely on, today and far into the future. We aspire to be a voice for the lakes, and to support the voices of the communities that depend on the lakes and their waters.
The post Executive Assistant appeared first on Alliance for the Great Lakes.
News – Alliance for the Great Lakes
News – Alliance for the Great Lakes
https://greatlakes.org/2021/10/executive-assistant/
Why do Isle Royale's red foxes feel comfortable close to humans?
The post Scientists tackle mystery of Isle Royale’s red foxes first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2021/10/15/scientists-tackle-mystery-of-isle-royales-red-foxes/
Here, a Solid Phase Adsorption Toxin Tracking tool is deployed in Curecanti National Recreation Area, Colorado, to track toxin presence. (Credit: Nicki Gibney, NPS)
HABs are a global concern that threaten human and aquatic ecosystem health and can cause severe economic damages. Algal toxins are produced by certain species of algae and microscopic water plants called phytoplankton and can cause acute and chronic illnesses in humans and wildlife. Economic damages related to HABs include loss of recreational and fisheries revenues, decreased property values and increased drinking-water treatment costs.
The researchers involved in the project, “Rapid Response Strategy for Potential Toxin Exposures from HABs in Coastal and Shoreline Areas of National Parks,” aim to address critical management needs related to HAB monitoring and response in national parks.
Professional and trained citizen scientists are using innovative techniques to sample and monitor HABs in freshwater and marine environments across 18 U.S. national parks. The new suite of simple, low-cost sampling methods can analyze up to 32 freshwater and 25 marine algal toxins.
“We are very excited about this multi-agency collaborative effort,” said Jennifer Graham, USGS project co-lead. “The end goal is to provide the information necessary for the National Park Service to develop comprehensive guidance on HAB monitoring, toxin testing and rapid response protocols."
“We’re finding HABs in new areas,” said Jamie Kilgo, project co-lead and marine ecologist at the NPS. “We need to monitor areas where they are a known issue and anticipate where we might find them in the future so we can protect visitors, pets, park staff, volunteers and wildlife.”
Scientists selected six marine and 12 freshwater parks with recurring HABs and potential human or wildlife health issues for the program.
Over the summer, the agencies trained NPS technicians and 11 citizen scientists to safely monitor and collect water samples for further analysis so the USGS and partners can efficiently identify the presence of potential HABs.
These groups are using a variety of sampling and monitoring techniques to test their efficacy. These techniques range from citizen scientists viewing phytoplankton species under a microscope to colorful, donut-shaped Solid Phase Adsorption Toxin Tracking tools, which track toxin presence over time. Scientists will sample for more than 30 different toxins, some of which are rarely tested but may be present at harmful concentrations.
“It’s important that we cover this wide range for both the toxins and sites in order to fully understand the extent of harmful algal blooms,” said Victoria Christensen, USGS project co-lead. “Therefore, we are also sampling a diverse range of waterbodies, such as rivers, lakes, coastal shorelines and backwater areas, that may harbor different types of blooms and different toxins.”
Collaborators, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Cyanobacteria Monitoring Collaborative, the University of Wisconsin and NOAA’s Phytoplankton Monitoring Network, will supply equipment and protocols for low-cost HAB monitoring and toxin sampling needed for analyses in selected pilot parks.
Participating parks include: Acadia National Park (Maine), Canaveral National Seashore (Fla.), Fire Island National Seashore (N.Y.), Olympic National Park (Wash.), Padre Island National Shoreline (Texas), Sitka National Historic Park (Alaska), Apostle Islands National Lakeshore (Wis.), Cape Cod National Seashore (Mass.), Curecanti National Recreation Area (Colo.), Isle Royale National Park (Mich.), Lake Mead National Recreation Area (Nev.), National Mall and Memorial Parks (District of Columbia), Perry’s Victory & International Peace Memorial (Ohio), Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore (Mich.), Voyageurs National Park (Minn.), Buffalo National River (Ark.), St. Croix National Scenic Waterway (Wis.) and Zion National Park (Utah).
USGS News: Upper Midwest Water Science Center
USGS News: Upper Midwest Water Science Center
https://www.usgs.gov/news/project-underway-identify-algal-toxins-us-national-park-waterways
Ann Arbor, Mich. –The Great Lakes Commission (GLC) passed resolutions expressing its priorities on climate resiliency, infrastructure investment, mercury contamination, and nutrient-driven algal blooms at its 2021 Annual Meeting, held online this week.
At the meeting, the GLC also elected a new chair and vice chair and signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to advance mutual goals for Great Lakes conservation, protection, sustainable use and development. The MOU recognizes the GLC’s unique ability to ensure that scientific information is brought to policymakers and managers in a timely and effective manner, as well as engage its state and provincial membership to identify priority areas of scientific inquiry.
“The Great Lakes Commission is committed to bringing its binational membership together to work on real solutions for the biggest issues facing the lakes, in collaboration with our partners at the federal, tribal, state, provincial and local level,” said outgoing GLC Chair Sharon M. Jackson, Deputy General Counsel to Indiana Governor Eric J. Holcomb. “The resolutions passed today speak to the enthusiasm of our party states and provinces for this difficult but rewarding work. I am grateful to our commissioners, observers, and friends for their partnership with the GLC and contributions to our meeting.”
Commissioners elected Todd L. Ambs, deputy secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, as its chair and Mary Mertz, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, as its vice chair.
“I am excited to serve as chair after rejoining the Wisconsin delegation to the Great Lakes Commission two years ago,” said Ambs. “As a longtime advocate for the lakes, I know that the GLC is a terrific forum for collaboration. I am particularly looking forward to working with our commissioners and partners as we draft our strategic plan for 2022 – 2027.”
During the meeting, the GLC assembled expert panels on nearshore nutrient reductions, mercury contamination in the Great Lakes ecosystem, and building resilient communities in the basin. Commissioners and guests also heard from the U.S. EPA’s Office of Water on water infrastructure and other priorities and USGS on its recently released Great Lakes Science Forum report, which assessed data gaps and science needs across the Great Lakes ecosystem. Commissioners also recognized Thomas Crane, the GLC’s long-serving deputy director, with an honorary resolution of recognition and appreciation for 35 years of service.
Video of meeting sessions will be available online in the near future. In March, the GLC will host annual Great Lakes Day events in Washington, D.C., and it will next convene in June for its semiannual meeting in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The Great Lakes Commission, led by chair Todd L. Ambs, deputy secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, is a binational government agency established in 1955 to protect the Great Lakes and the economies and ecosystems they support. Its membership includes leaders from the eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces in the Great Lakes basin. The GLC recommends policies and practices to balance the use, development, and conservation of the water resources of the Great Lakes and brings the region together to work on issues that no single community, state, province, or nation can tackle alone. Learn more at www.glc.org.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/news/am-101421
BEAVER BAY, Minn. (AP) — A Lake Superior lighthouse plans to welcome visitors back for an annual memorial honoring the sailors who died when the Edmund Fitzgerald sank.
Every Nov. 10, the day the ship sank in a gale in 1975, the Split Rock Lighthouse just south of Beaver Bay holds a beacon lighting.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/10/ap-lighthouse-allow-visitors-fitzgerald-memorial/
From lead pipes to PFAS, drinking water contamination is a major issue plaguing cities and towns all around the Great Lakes. Cleaning up contaminants and providing safe water to everyone is an ongoing public health struggle.
Keep up with drinking water-related developments in the Great Lakes area.
Click on the headline to read the full-story:
Indiana:
U.S.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/10/drinking-water-steel-spill-water-purification-pennsylvania/
Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and National Park Service partnered on a first-of-its-kind, nationwide harmful algal bloom, or HAB, field study that began this summer and will continue over the next two years.
Upper Midwest Water Science Center
Upper Midwest Water Science Center
http://www.usgs.gov/news/national-news-release/project-underway-identify-algal-toxins-us-national-park-waterways
NCEI News Feed
http://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/global-climate-202109
Wisconsin Sea Grant’s emerging contaminants scientist, Gavin Dehnert, earned his Ph.D. by studying the effects of commercial 2,4-D herbicide exposure on the development and behavior of freshwater fish at different life stages. Now, he’s taking his research out of the lab and into the natural environment, where 2,4-D herbicides are used to treat lakes for the invasive plant, Eurasian watermilfoil.
During his doctoral studies, Dehnert found that exposure to concentrations of 2,4-D similar to those allowed during application to lakes significantly decreased survival in fathead minnow larvae and also other young fish species such as walleye, yellow perch, largemouth bass, northern pike, white crappies and white suckers.
“We saw an increase in about 20 to 35% mortality of the young fish when exposed to 2,4-D,” Dehnert said. “But we kept getting this big question: We know what happens in the laboratory, but what happens in the real world?”
With funding from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Dehnert designed two sets of experiments this summer in lakes that were undergoing 2,4-D treatments. For the first,
One of two lakewater systems Dehnert uses. In this one, water is taken directly from a lake that had 2,4-D applied, then distributed to tanks where the fish are held. Image credit: Gavin Dehnert, Wisconsin Sea Grant
The second employed an in-lake exposure system. Young fish were put in the lake in two-liter buckets with holes in them covered in mesh, which allowed water and food to pass through, but not the fish.
Dehnert explained, “This allowed us to see what goes on during an actual herbicide treatment. It’s applied to the entire lake and we look at what goes on with the fish.”
He anticipates a possible higher mortality in the lake setting because there are more variables at play. “I would expect more like a 35 to 45% decrease in survivorship because there are more stressors on the fish – temperature changes, storms, nutrient runoff, etcetera. That’s why it’s important to do this experiment in a natural lake setting, so we can get those real-world scenarios,” Dehnert said.
Dehnert is just beginning to process the data from his lake experiments and expects to finish up next year (2022).
Wisconsin lake associations are interested in Dehnert’s work because they want to eradicate Eurasian watermilfoil. Besides the use of an herbicide, the invasive plant can be controlled by manually removing the plants or by introducing beetles that eat it.
“All of these lake associations want to make sure they’re causing the least amount of impact to the other organisms in the lake,” Dehnert said. “So, it’s really exciting to work with them to determine the risks of the different control methods. How do we get rid of this invasive species but keep intact what we already have in the lake?
“Let’s understand what could happen, so we can make an educated decision on whether the benefits outweigh the cons,” he said.
The post Treating lakes for Eurasian watermilfoil with herbicides can harm young fish first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant
News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant
https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/treating-lakes-for-eurasian-watermilfoil-with-herbicides-can-harm-young-fish/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=treating-lakes-for-eurasian-watermilfoil-with-herbicides-can-harm-young-fish
The fossil fuel industry has long been blamed for environmental degradation. But what about the financial institutions accused of making environmentally destructive projects possible?
The post Big bank funding of energy projects impacts Great Lakes region first appeared on Great Lakes Echo.Great Lakes Echo
http://greatlakesecho.org/2021/10/14/big-bank-funding-of-energy-projects-impacts-great-lakes-region/
By John Flesher, Associated Press
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday appointed Debra Shore, a wastewater treatment official in Chicago, to direct the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Midwestern office.
Shore will oversee EPA’s Region 5, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, along with 35 indigenous tribes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/10/ap-biden-debra-shore-epa-midwestern-office/
You take a seat at the table for a meal in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and may have a glass of water to accompany the entrée.
If you are University of Wisconsin-Madison Civil and Environmental Engineering Professor Matt Ginder-Vogel and graduate student Amy Plechacek, each with your tumbler full of water, you are turning to a different kind of table than a dinner table. You are at the periodic table of elements. You want to understand what’s in your glass; how the interactions between water and rock in Fond du Lac County might result in naturally occurring contamination of public drinking water wells and nearby private wells.
As part of a currently funded project through the University of Wisconsin Water Resources Institute, the pair has looked at municipal and well drinking water pumped from the Cambrian-Ordovician Aquifer System underlying parts of the Midwest, including this region of Wisconsin. In some locations it contains elevated Ra and Sr and can be affected by salinity, due to high concentrations of ions such as Ca, CI and SO42-.
For those us of who just want to tuck into that dinner in Fond du Lac and not strain to recall what’s on the periodic table, those initials stand for radium (Ra) and strontium (Sr). The Ca is calcium, CI is chloride and SO42- is sulfate.
Radium is regulated in drinking water by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) because long-term ingestion is associated with development of bone cancer. Strontium is on the U.S. EPA Contaminant Candidate List 3 and may be regulated in the future. Known health effects of elevated strontium consumption include tooth mottling and “strontium rickets,” a musculoskeletal disease.
Why Fond du Lac? Ginder-Vogel explained, “They have really interestinggeology in their aquifer. The very bottom surface of the aquifer is really uneven and parts of it are very deep where people get water, while other parts are much more shallow where they get water, so there’s just a lot of interesting natural variability.”
He continued, “It’s kind of perfect. It’s like someone set up an experiment for us already. We have all these variations in where the water comes from out of the aquifer and the environments where the water is coming from. So it lets us start to get a handle on all the factors that control naturally occurring contaminants in the water.”
Ginder-Vogel said he’s conducted radium-groundwater research for six years and has come to the realization that there’s often a small amount of radium in most of the Cambrian-Ordovician Aquifer System. “There’s a general background concentration of radium, then, depending on specific and unique factors at individual sites, you can end up above the maximum contaminant level for radium,” he said. “When we, Madeline Gotkowitz (formerly with the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey) and I, got started on this we expected there to be an answer for Wisconsin at least. But really, what we’re discovering, is that it’s an incredibly variable system and really dependent on both well construction and also local structures in the aquifer systems.”
So, understanding one system—Fond du Lac’s—could inform other managers about water conditions and recommendations for where to drill in their own parts of the Badger State based on that comparison and contrast with this county near Lake Winnebago.
When Plechacek joined the effort to understand how the radium and strontium levels change with the geology in Fond du Lac, she also brought another critically important thing—a skill at engaging community members.
Plechacek composed a water-sampling request letter and distributed it to 40 or so well-owners, eliciting a positive response from about half of the people. Those who agreed were private homeowners or folks managing places like parks, gas stations or hotels.
She termed it an “awesome” experience that enabled her “look at some shallower wells as of a contrasting type of groundwater to these deep municipal wells.” The municipal well samples were collected through collaboration with the Ripon and Fond du Lac water utilities.
Plus, local enthusiasm for the project continued to run high. Even after she had completed her sampling rounds, Plechacek kept hearing from those with the shallower wells who wanted to volunteer to help.
Through an analysis of the samples—pioneered by Sean Scott, assistant scientist at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene and a person who Ginder-Vogel described as “incredibly critical” to the project—the team could get quite precise results from the different locations. Scott’s method uses smaller-quantity water samples, allowing for less variability in results, providing a clearer picture of groundwater flow and geochemical conditions at the site.
The team ended up characterizing, Plechacek said, “Three distinct water chemistries. That’s one of the things that water utilities have to consider, the pros and cons of using shallow versus deep groundwater. There’s some contaminants that are likelier to be in shallower water, like nitrate is a big issue. But then with the deeper waters you tend to have more problems with things like radium. There’s a lot of tradeoffs. But I think the study was exciting because it identified the zones of water chemistry in that area.”
Water managers and private owners now have plenty of food for thought. The research will help determine how best to site wells to put the best possible glass of water on Fond du Lac tables, and will offer insights on how to minimize these contaminants in drinking water throughout the state.
The post Radium and strontium researchers take a seat at the table first appeared on WRI.
News Release | WRI
https://www.wri.wisc.edu/news/radium-and-strontium-researchers-take-a-seat-at-the-table/
President Joe Biden on Tuesday appointed Debra Shore, a wastewater treatment official in Chicago, to direct the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Midwestern office. Read the full story by ABC News.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211013-epa
Several Michigan community members who have been impacted by the toxic chemical PFAS met virtually Tuesday afternoon to introduce policy recommendations to lawmakers. Read the full story by WXMI-TV – Grand Rapids, MI.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211013-pfas
A baby lake trout discovered in Lake Erie waters near the Pennsylvania-New York border confirmed that the species, thought to be extinct for 60 years, is now reproducing on its own. While this is positive sign for fisheries management and water quality of the lake, there is still a need for strong focus on the health of the Great Lakes for the future. Read the full story by the Ohio Capital Journal.
Great Lakes Commission
https://www.glc.org/dailynews/20211013-trout
