CT Green Scene

Wastewater Wetlands: Not an Oxymoron

From hiking trails along railway tracks to nature preserves outside waste water treatments plants, a number of areas across the country are finding value in the land and recycling it in an unexpected way. Alligators glide through slick waters with reckless abandon outside Wakodahatchee Wetlands preserve in Florida. The High Line, a recycled railway on Manhattan's West Side, is rife with wildflowers and functions as a raised park. See the excerpt below from this morning's New York Times:

Emerald Cities
By DIANE ACKERMAN
Published: August 15, 2011

“Wastewater Treatment Plant” may not sound like a scenic destination. But some ecologically minded towns have been designing a new breed of wildlife preserve, one that gives recycling a lively twist. Instead of dumping treated water, they return it to nature as the essence of an ecosystem that offers food and habitat to animals. Migrating and native birds find a niche, entangled communities of plants and insects take up residence and a hodgepodge of wild animals bustles in...

A similar panorama greets visitors behind fashionable waste treatment plants around the country. What an admirable trend. Our planet’s web of life is so fragile that one can’t afford to be a snob about reclaimed land or mind why a business goes green...

Mining the wilderness for new formulae, while leaving it intact, they’ve discovered that a standing forest is more valuable than a leveled one.

To read more, click here.

Images courtesy of the Palm Beach County Water Utilities Department.

Raw Sewage Anyone?

by Eileen Weber

When we think of runoff, we look at the agricultural runoff from farm animals and how it pollutes our waterways with manure and chemicals. But what we often forget is the human waste that ends up polluting our water systems.

In today’s New York Times, it was reported from data collected by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that “9,400 of the nation’s 25,000 sewage systems—including those in major cities—have reported violating the law by dumping untreated or partly treated human waste, chemicals and other hazardous materials into rivers and lakes and elsewhere.” Many of the violators were never fined.

Whenever there is a heavy rain, there is the strong possibility that the wastewater treatment plants will overflow. That kind of spillage brings contamination. Recent studies have shown that when sewers overflow many people become sick after swimming in contaminated water.

Sound plate program raided

For those of you who wanted to preserve Long Island Sound, your money may no longer support such a good cause.

Conservationists: Projects May End Up Underfunded
By Ken Dixon
Staff Writer, Connecticut Post
Updated: 09/12/2009 10:40:18 PM EDT

HARTFORD -- Sixteen years after motorists began paying premiums for special "Preserve the Sound" license plates, lawmakers have disbanded the fund that has invested nearly $5 million in a variety of education and conservation projects.

The Long Island Sound Fund, a dedicated pot of revenue that could not be used for any other reason, will go out of business Oct. 1, the victim of "sweeps" by legislative leaders desperate for money to balance Connecticut's precarious budget.

On that date, money collected by the state Department of Motor Vehicles that had gone into the fund will revert instead to the General Fund.

Twenty special funds within the state Department of Environmental Protection will be closed out, from the Connecticut Lighthouse Preservation account to the pool of money used to clean up oil and hazardous waste spills.

To read more of the article, please click here.

Next Move Is Rell's On Bill To Block Ash Dump

The Hartford Courant
By ALAINE GRIFFIN
June 18, 2009

FRANKLIN--Opponents of a plan to create an ash dump in Franklin are closely watching Gov. M. Jodi Rell's office this week, hoping she will sign legislation that blocks the project.

The Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority says its plan to dump ash from its trash incinerators at the Franklin site is safe. But a group of residents have fought the project, taking their battle to the Capitol. Both the House and the Senate this session passed legislation barring the CRRA from buying land in either Windham or Franklin for an ash dump.

Rell spokesman Adam Liegeot said Wednesday that the governor has until Tuesday to act on the measure.

In a letter to Rell this week, Sen. Edith G. Prague, D-Columbia, said a veto by the governor "would show complete disregard for the well-being of those it would harm the most." An ash dump in Franklin would destroy "pristine" land there and pollute residents' drinking water, the letter states. Also signing the letter were Reps. Kevin Ryan, D- Montville, and Susan Johnson, D-Windham.

The letter follows recent allegations by environmentalists that the CRRA is using "last-minute scare tactics" to push for a veto, telling municipalities the legislation would mean the state would lose its ability to site landfills, forcing towns and cities to pay more to ship ash outside Connecticut.