"DIDYMO" BROWN "Snot" Taking Over World's Rivers

"DIDYMO"- BROWN "Snot" Taking Over World's Rivers

It began with a few small strange patches of slime, clinging to the rocks of the Heber River in Canada. Within a year, the patches had become thick, blooming mats. Within a few years the mats had grown into a giant brownish-yellow snot. And within a few decades this snot had spread around the world, clogging up rivers as far away as South America, Europe and Australasia.  This snot, which is still flourishing today, is caused by a microscopic alga, a diatom that goes by its scientific name Didymosphenia geminata. It has become so notorious it has its own moniker, Didymo.  But underlying the snots’ strange appearance is an even stranger story. About Didymo itself, about what it is, and how it behaves. 

http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20140922-green-snot-takes-over-worlds-rivers

"Brown SNOT Taking Over World's Rivers" (L. O'Hanlong - BBC)  11/20/14

HEARTLAND WATER CRISIS - NBC Series ...

An Eye-opening series ..... 

The scope of this mounting crisis is difficult to overstate: The High Plains of Texas are swiftly running out of groundwater supplied by one of the world’s largest aquifers – the Ogallala. 

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/last-drop-americas-breadbasket-faces-dire-water-crisis-n146836

Heartland Water Crisis: Why the Planet Depends on These Kansas Farmers

BY BRIAN BROWN

This story is one in a series on a crisis in America's Breadbasket—the depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer and its effects on a region that helps feed the world. Read the previous installment here.

MANHATTAN, Kansas—In America’s Breadbasket, a battle of ideas is underway on the most fundamental topics of all: food, water, and the future of the planet.

Last August, in a still-echoing blockbuster study, Dave Steward, Ph.D., and his colleagues at Kansas State University, informed the $15 billion Kansas agricultural economy that it was on a fast track to oblivion. The reason: The precipitous, calamitous withdrawal rates of the Ogallala Aquifer.

The Ogallala is little known outside this part of the world, but it’s the primary source of irrigation not just for all of western Kansas, but the entire Great Plains. This gigantic, soaked subterranean sponge – fossil water created 10 million years ago – touches eight states, stretching from Texas all the way up to South Dakota, across 111.8 million acres and 175,000 square miles......

As the Ogallala is being drained, attention in the High Plains is turning to corn, the crop that’s highest in demand, fetches the highest price and is increasingly controversial......Corn is a thirsty crop, and some question the inherent morality of using so much land and water to raise it, especially because so little of the corn grown in the U.S. is served as food. It’s either fed to cattle, or made into ethanol. Since 1980, it is estimated the U.S. government has spent $45 billion to subsidize ethanol production.

Laboratory Analysis Demystified

Every drinking water and wastewater treatment operator out there knows how important it is to take samples correctly. But what happens after the sample is taken, the chain of custody is all filled out, and everything is safely packed away and ready for pickup or shipment to the lab? For many people, the laboratory is a mysterious place filled with serious people in white lab coats running large complicated instruments that somehow sniff out whatever is in our water. The author makes the whole process a less mysterious by walking through what happens to your samples after they leave your hands. http://www.wateronline.com/doc/laboratory-analysis-demystified-0001

Instrumentation: Dos And Don'ts For The Water Industry

Instrumentation, automation, and control are key to the modern wastewater industry. This concise/informative - WATERONLINE article highlights points to consider in the the selection, installation, operation, and maintenance of these systems. Clear/straight forward/concise.

http://www.wateronline.com/doc/instrumentation-dos-and-don-ts-for-the-water-industry-0001

Clarkson researchers study water quality impact on property values

In late December, researchers from Clarkson University announced they are gearing up to study the effect water pollution has on property values across 26 counties in upstate New York. They will study water quality data and correlate that with property sales over the past 10 years. The study may balance out industry claims that the regulations have only harmful economic impact. When you’re then trying to make the argument that these regulations are in the best public interest, it’s helpful to have, to be able to put the benefits of these environmental regulations in dollar terms. Clarkson University is active in environmental engineering issues and studies. Link at: http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/23416/20131218/clarkson-researchers-wonder-how-water-quality-affects-property-values

5 STEPS to WATER UTILITIES Should Take NOW to Prepare for DISASTER

5 Steps Every Utility Should Take Now To Prepare For Disaster
By Laura Martin
@LauraOnWater

Highly recommend this valuable article featured in WATERONLINE...good, practical information; concise and helpful supporting links clearly outlining important steps that should be taken NOW by Water Utilities! Informative links...practical suggestions.... hit "PRINT" on this one. See this article at: http://www.wateronline.com/doc/steps-every-water-utility-should-take-now-to-prepare-for-disaster-0001

"SUPERBUG" slipping past wastewater treatment plants - CHINA

Researchers say an antibiotic-resistant "superbug" appears to be slipping past wastewater treatment plants in Northern China. The lead researcher on a study about the problem in China, called the results "scary." The so-called "superbugs" carry New Delhi Metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM-1"a multidrug-resistant gene first identified in India in 2010." “There’s no antibiotic that can kill [the bug.] We only realized they exist just a little while ago when a man got infected in India,. The researchers saw it as significant news for the water industry. Tthe findings "underscore the need to better understand and mitigate their proliferation and propagation from wastewater treatment plants." . "We often think about sewage treatment plants as a way to protect us, to get rid of all of these disease-causing constituents in wastewater. But it turns out these microbes are growing. They're eating sewage, so they proliferate. See full article at.. http://www.wateronline.com/doc/superbug-found-in-china-s-wastewater-0001

"Biological" Filtration - The FUTURE ?

This is an idea for the VERY NEAR future..."Biological" filtration...a water treatment system that uses naturally occurring bacteria instead of chemicals to remove contaminants from water, and then treats the water a second time by reverse osmosis (RO). Advantages of biological drinking water treatmenthas been growing in acceptance and popularity over the last five to ten years. Compared to other drinking water treatment technologies that sequester contaminants and then remove them, biological treatment destroys contaminants entirety and is able to remove multiple contaminants at the same time. This cuts down on sludge production and bacterial regrowth. Biological treatment can be used to remove natural organic matter, color, chloroform, perchlorate, nitrate, nitrite, bromate, iron, manganese, selenate, chromate, arsenate, and a variety of other contaminants. It eliminates the need for chemical oxidation prior to filtration or settling, eliminates the need for chemical reduction methods, and produces innocuous end-products, thus reducing the risk of a contaminated concentrate stream.

Check out the full article at WATERONLINE...http://www.wateronline.com/doc/biological-filtration-the-future-of-drinking-water-treatment-0001?sectionCode=Spotlight&templateCode=SponsorHeader&user=20&source=nl:38905

W VA Chemical Spill - DISASTER - Just In

UPDATE - Interesting Link to more detailed info on the spill and information on the chemical spilled, methylcyclohexane methanol...http://www.reddit.com/r/chemistry/comments/1uunyw/4methylcyclohexane_methanol/.......

This just came in....one of the most frightening incidents...will this FINALLY be a wake up call???? FROM NBC News..LINK BELOW.... A chemical spill into a West Virginia river has led to a tap water ban for up to 300,000 people, shut down bars and restaurants and led to a run on bottled water in some stores as people looked to stock up. The federal government joined West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin in declaring a disaster as the West Virginia National Guard arranged to dispense bottled drinking water to emergency services agencies in the counties hit by the chemical spill into the Elk River. West Virginia American Water did not provide a timeline for the clean-up process, but the company's external affairs manager Laura Jordan told Reuters that the spill originated with Freedom Industries, a Charleston company. It occurred right above the intake of the Kanawha Valley water treatment plant in Charleston — the largest in West Virginia — and affects 100,000 homes and businesses, or 250,000 to 300,000 people, she said. NBC affiliate WSAZ said the leaked product is 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, which is used in the froth flotation process of coal washing and preparation.
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/10/22245996-west-virginia-chemical-spill-cuts-water-to-up-to-300000-state-of-emergency-declared?lite

REFERENCE SOURCE: new U.S. Geological Survey fact sheet provides one-stop information on USGS water sources

Is the river near you flooding? Is the water temperature of your favorite fishing stream right for a good catch? Are groundwater levels in your county going up or down?

A State-by-State Water Resouce Tool
REFERENCE LINK: For more information, visit http://www.usgs.gov/water/

A new U.S. Geological Survey fact sheet provides one-stop information on USGS sources of stream, groundwater and water-quality data for locations across the United States.

Critical USGS online water-resources tools include

WaterQualityWatch provides near-real-time water-quality data, such as temperature and pH, and dissolved oxygen readings from over 1,700 surface-water sites in the U.S.

WaterNow sends on-demand water data such as gage height and stream flow directly to your mobile phone or email.

WaterWatch provides flood and drought information.

Groundwater Watch gives updates on groundwater levels and statistical characteristics of groundwater levels at wells in the network.

For more information, visit http://www.usgs.gov/water/

SOURCE: USGS

FRACK THAT! Hormone Disrupting Chemicals Study

FRACK THAT!!...HORMONE DISRUPTING CHEMICALS .....A new study adds fodder to the debate over whether fracking contaminates ground and surface water. "Water samples collected at Colorado sites where hydraulic fracturing was used to extract natural gas show the presence of chemicals that have been linked to infertility, birth defects and cancer," the Los Angeles Times reported....."The majority of water samples collected from sites in a drilling-dense region of Colorado exhibited more estrogenic, anti-estrogenic, or anti-androgenic activities than reference sites with limited nearby drilling operations. Our data suggest that natural gas drilling operations may result in elevated Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals (EDC) activity in surface and ground water," the study said.http://www.wateronline.com/doc/does-fracking-seep-hormone-disrupting-chemicals-into-water-0001

RURAL COMMUNITY ASSISTANCE PARTNERSHIP - Valuable Reference Resource

Happy New Year...going to start out the New Year with some information and links to some INFORMATIVE water related websites that are great reference sources ...to start the year, here is a TERRIFICE INFORMATIONAL SOURCE, complete with concise, informative VIDEOS....check out:

* Rural Community Assistance Partnership: RCAP’s assistance enables communities to provide a reliable, safe and clean supply of drinking water and a sanitary wastewater disposal system.

RCAP works in small, rural communities across the United States, its territories, and in tribal areas.

Most of the communities where RCAP works are low-income and have a population under 2,500.

RCAP provides customized, in-person technical assistance and training services, financial assistance, and information and publications to help communities operate efficient water and wastewater systems that are in compliance with regulations.

The health of residents is protected, the environment is cared for, and the economies of whole communities are supported by this critical infrastructure.

Watch this short video to learn more about RCAP:

http://www.rcap.org/