CT Green Scene

A New Twist on Water Waste

by Eileen Weber

You know, you just can’t make this stuff up. A water purifier that turns any liquid, including your own urine, into potable drinking water has been gaining attention. Headlines like the one on treehugger.com, “Pee Filter Runs on Poo”, have been hamming it up.

But to Dean Kamen, inventor of not only this contraption but the Segway Personal Transporter in 2001, this is serious business. And, he has been talking about it to anyone who will listen. From a comic foray on The Colbert Report to a more sober audience at the Aspen Ideas Festival earlier this year, Kamen has been working hard to promote his water purifier. Dubbed the “Slingshot”, it distills and condenses liquid waste into pure drinking water.

Originally unveiled in 1993 by his company, DEKA Research & Development Corporation, it has been slowly gaining momentum. He said many people die every year in poverty-stricken countries from not having a clean water source, many of them children. “Chronic human disease,” he said, “often results from bad water.”

Plans to Build Natural Gas Plant Off Connecticut Coast are Rejected

by Hashim Rahman

Plans to build a natural gas plant in the Long Island Sound came to a halt on April 10, 2008, when New York State announced its decision to block the project. Despite approval by the Federal Regulatory Commission, New York exercised its authority to reject the project under the Coastal Zone Management Act which allows states to make their own ruling on whether such endeavors are consistent with the uses and values of the coastal area at issue.
    Governor David A. Patterson stated that allowing the plant, referred to as Broadwater LNG, would "establish a dangerous precedent of industrializing a waterway that generations of people have spent millions of dollars [in] trying to preserve." 
    Connecticut Governor, M. Jodi Rell, a persistent opponent of the project, hailed the decision as a victory for the environment, and stated that "New York's Department of State has recognized peril that the Broadwater project represents." 

Bottled Water Debate Is Nothing New, but Drugs in our Tap Water?

There's no two ways about it: bottled water is B-A-D for the environment and E Magazine (below), for one, agrees. But what to do when reports like the one that was released last week by AP show that our tap water is ladened with, "A vast array of pharmaceuticals — including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones — have been found in the drinking water supplies of at least 41 million Americans, an Associated Press investigation shows?"

So let me get this straight. We have drugs, pesticides, herbicides, petroleum, storm water run off and other pollutants tainting the water that flows from the tap, yet bottled water wreaks havoc on Mother Earth and leeches plastic from the bottles. It's no wonder, as Lester Brown pointed out last year, we've fallen subject to one of the greatest con jobs of all time: believing that bottled water is safe.

Organic Vodka, straight up, anyone?

 

Cost Effective and Earth-friendly Landscaping

EARTH TALK
From the Editors of E/The Environmental Magazine

Dear EarthTalk: Is it possible to landscape my property in a green-friendly way? I would like to create a more natural and wildlife-friendly backyard, but I don’t want to break the bank doing it. Are there any tax incentives for completing such projects?     -- Michal Avraham, Olive Branch, MS

One common misperception about adopting green practices around the home is that doing so will cost more money. But this may be true only in the short run. There are certainly some up-front outlays to converting a conventional backyard into a more environmentally friendly space (like any landscaping job), but homeowners should be able to make their money back within a few years through savings on their water and yard service bills alone.

Landscapes designed with the principles of nature and wildlife habitat in mind are often referred to as
“ naturescapes” (or “xeriscapes” when they also require little water to maintain). They usually replace most lawn grass and instead populate space with native plants that are attractive to wildlife for food or shelter.

According to the nonprofit PlantNative, maintaining a green backyard can cost up to 90 percent less than keeping up a traditional lawn-based landscape. “Since naturescapes effectively take care of themselves, there is little or no maintenance and hence little or no maintenance cost,” says the group. The average American lawn costs about $700 yearly to maintain, says PlantNative, which also points out that the average household lawnmower is used upwards of 40 hours a year, the equivalent of a full work week.

The Seas Are A'Rising--Advcacy Group to Assist Flooded Residents

Spurred to action by 3 unprecedented floods within 7 months, flooded Darien residents met several times at the Darien Library to voice concerns and develop strategies.  Vanessa Wood and Laura Giobi, instrumental in organizing residents, announce that they have joined an established Darien environmental group, Save Darien's Wetlands, shifting the group to focus on flooding.

Save Darien's Wetlands, Inc. was formed in 2001 by the late Lee Fingar of Darien as a neighborhood advocacy group to address water concerns.   Mr. Fingar's death in July 2007 left the fate of the group uncertain. Flood residents met several times this year for public meetings demanding action and worked find flooding answers through their blog http://darienflooding.wordpress.com "We hope to expand the work that Lee began," stated Mrs. Wood.  "Our vision is to go forward as an advocacy group for the water concerns that are plaguing several neighborhoods in Darien. Town government has come under heavy scrutiny this year. Examination is healthy. Under the watchful eye of its citizens we expect Darien will meet the challenge of dealing with water issues to create a new standard as a modern town."

The restructured group announced their goals:
Increase public awareness of options to decrease water danger and damage.
Advocate flood control solutions that will protect homes, businesses, and the environment.
Inform residents and businesses on government activity that affects Darien's Wetlands.

For more information, visit our website www.SaveDariensWetlands.org.

Chemical Clean Up in Milford

(Boston, Mass. – September 24, 2007) – A recent agreement cleared the way for cleanup work to begin at a contaminated drainage swale at 80 Wampus Lane in Milford, Conn. The work is being conducted jointly by EPA and FCI USA Inc. to remove contaminants from the site, including metals (beryllium and lead), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and oils.

The current cleanup, estimated to cost approximately $360,000, will address contaminated surface soils in a 210 foot-long, man-made earthen drainage swale on the property. The swale reportedly received treated plating wastewater, which still contained harmful liquids, between 1965 and 1991.

The 24 acre site likely was contaminated from years of industrial activity on the property, where the manufacturing of electrical components and accessories took place from 1956 to 1999. Operations at the facility included rubber and plastic molding, screw machining, de-greasing and plating as well as waste water treatment. The Conn. Dept. of Environmental Protection (CT DEP) has previously overseen the remediation of two contaminated waste lagoons and a landfill on site. Read the full story here.

Green-E Profile of a CT Riverman

What is the name of your organization and what is its mission? The Farmington River Watershed Association was established as a 501©3 non-profit conservation organization in 1953 with a mission of protecting the Farmington River and its watershed forever through implementing research, education, and advocacy programs.

What is your day-to-day role in the organization? Every day I am involved with directing programs, making public presentations, responding to questions about the watershed, developing ideas for new programs on emerging environmental issues, serving as a liaison with our Board of Directors, working with other local and statewide groups trying to make a difference, and raising funds to support our activities.

What prompted you to become eco-conscious? I grew up in Pittsfield, MA near the Housatonic River.  As a kid, I went to the Pleasant Valley (Audubon) Wildlife Sanctuary day camp in Lenox and learned about pond, river, and meadow ecology.  In High School, I started hearing and learning about PCB’s and other environmental contaminants that were added to the River by a local business, and my AP Biology teacher inspired me to think about a career in science.  After graduating from the University of Michigan with a History degree, I went to work for Congressman Silvio O. Conte in Washington, DC serving as his legislative aide handling elderly, environmental, health, and women’s issues.  With Conte, environmental issues quickly became my favorite and I worked with a team of people to write legislation that created the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge along the Connecticut River.  When Conte passed away in 1991, I went to work for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, then got a Master’s degree in environmental science at U.C. Berkeley, and I haven’t looked back since.  I have been FRWA’s Executive Director since January, 2003.

What do you see as the most pressing environmental issue in Connecticut? Why?

Many environmental issues are connected but I would say that one of the prime drivers of environmental problems is sprawl (a.k.a. unwise land use).  This leads to a bevy of problems:  an increase in impervious/paved surfaces which leads to more stormwater run-off pollution and flooding as well as less groundwater/aquifer recharge; an increase in commute times which are connected to increased consumption of fossil fuels and a worsening of global warming and air pollution; and the loss of key habitats and species due to fragmentation by roads and poorly planned developments.

Lester Brown Coins Bottled Water a "Con Job"

The Director of Earth Policy Institute, Lester Brown, said on Treehugger.com, "the industry has done a real con job on the American public. I mean, designer water? Water that we pay more for than we pay for gasoline or for milk? We can easily provide the people of the planet with clean water."

So why do we continue to fall for it? In the name of convenience, expert branding, and a unfounded fear that tap water isn't as clean or as nourishing as beautifully packaged bottled water. The thing is, it just may be our false fear of unclean tap water that becomes our self-fulfilling prophecy.

The plastic manufacturing process, along with the fact that we throw away more than 30 billion plastic water bottles a year, (nearly all of which end up in landfills) doesn't bode well for a clean water supply a few decades from now. Especially since the bottled water we drink travels an average 2,500-5,000+ miles to our local store, emitting particulates into the air that fills with moisture and falls to the ground as raindrops into our water table.

All of those billions of tons of carbon emissions that are pumped into the atmosphere and the toxic landfill chemicals that filter back into the water supply as materials such as plastic break down (which takes thousands of years), can all be avoided by drinking from the tap! Go figure.

Coastal Cleanup

The Ocean Conservancy’s 22^nd annual International Coastal Cleanup will involve hundreds of thousands of volunteers around the globe on Saturday, September 15, 2007.
Locally, volunteers of the Norwalk River Watershed Association [NRWA], Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, other groups, and members of the public are encouraged to participate in “pollution prevention” by teaming up to remove trash from our region of the Long Island Sound’s shoreline.  Trash removed from the shore saves marine animals’ lives and can improve water quality, and so Ed Holowinko of NRWA will be at Norwalk’s Veteran’s Park at 9 AM to organize local volunteers who want to take part in this global effort.  Please call Ed at 203.852.7187 to register your interest.  Volunteers working for three hours will satisfy the hands-on component required to earn the Norwalk River Watershed Patch.  Visit www.norwalkriver.org for details.

For people who wish to work in other geographic locations, online registration may be done at the Ocean Conservancy’s website; visit www.oceanconservancy.org, and click on the International Coastal Cleanup “Register Now” box. Boaters who can clean up coastal islands and boat ramp areas are especially appreciated!

Farmington River Clean-Up 9/29

This year marks our 20th anniversary Clean-up--a community event that gets people  of all ages working together to clean up litter along the banks of the Farmington River and its tributaries. In 2006, clean up sites were in Avon, Barkhamsted, Bloomfield, Bristol, Burlington, Farmington, Granby, and Simsbury. Over 350 volunteers participated in collecting nearly 4 tons of trash in 2006. Let's beat that number this year! For more information, visit the Farmington Watershed Association website.