Wisconsin-based Kohler Company continued to demonstrate its commitment to water efficiency by winning its second consecutive WaterSense Partner of the Year award as a manufacturer. EPA presented the award in October 2009 at the WaterSmart Innovations Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. EPA cited Kohler Company’s support for regional incentives and initiatives for water efficiency from Atlanta to Denver with its “mobile restrooms,” which are trailers fully equipped with Kohler toilets and faucets that have earned the WaterSense label. In addition to publicizing WaterSense on the road, in the tradeshow circuit, on reality television, and in the restrooms of New York City’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame Annex, Kohler gave WaterSense a national spotlight through its Save Water America Web site, which is dedicated to educating homeowners about water efficiency and supports Habitat for Humanity with a $1 million product donation.
To learn more about these WaterSense partners and the awards program visit: http://epa.gov/watersense/awards.htm.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
New EPA report on fish contamination
In a new report, the Environmental Protection Agency has found a "widespread contamination" of fish in the nation's lakes and reservoirs. The result of a nearly decade-long screening-level survey, called the National Lake Fish Tissue Study, the report provides new baseline data for chemical residue in fish.
A statistical (random) sampling of 500 U.S. lakes and reservoirs, the study analyzed tissue samples of both predator fish species, like bass or trout, and bottom-dwelling species, like carp or catfish. The researchers tested the samples for 268 chemicals, including mercury, arsenic, dioxins and furans, pesticides, and semivolatile organic compounds.
The results are dramatic:
A statistical (random) sampling of 500 U.S. lakes and reservoirs, the study analyzed tissue samples of both predator fish species, like bass or trout, and bottom-dwelling species, like carp or catfish. The researchers tested the samples for 268 chemicals, including mercury, arsenic, dioxins and furans, pesticides, and semivolatile organic compounds.
The results are dramatic:
- 49% of the sampled population of lakes had mercury tissue concentrations that exceeded the 0.3 ppm screening value for mercury, which represents over 36,000 lakes.
- 17% of the sampled population of lakes had PCB tissue concentrations that exceeded the 0.12 ppb screening value for total PCBs, which represents about 13,000 lakes
- 8% of the sampled population of lakes had dioxin and furan tissue concentrations that exceeded the 0.15 ppt screening value for total dioxins and furans, which represents about 6,000 lakes.
Or read the Final Report Executive Summary
http://www.epa.gov/waterscience/fish/study/data/summary.pdf
Monday, November 9, 2009
Sturgeon's reintroduction at White Earth
The Water Library recently attended a keynote address by Winona LaDuke, an Anishinaabe activist from Minnesota's White Earth Ojibwe Reservation. In town for the Nelson Institute's Tales from Planet Earth Environmental Film Festival, her talk often focused on water.
Sturgeon, especially. Even a "Sturgeon General."
The White Earth band, located in northwestern Minnesota, has been restocking its waterways with the ancient fish for nearly a decade. With assistance from the Rainy River First Nations' hatchery in Canada, and their "Sturgeon General," Joe Hunter, the program has become increasingly successful. White Earth and Round Lakes are stocked with thousands of fry every year. Sturgeon are swimming again where they haven't been seen in decades.
And White Earth isn't alone. Efforts at resuscitating lost sturgeon populations are occurring throughout the Upper Midwest.
To learn more about White Earth's sturgeon program, read LaDuke's book Recovering the sacred: The power of naming and claiming. Cambridge, MA: South End Press
Or, check out the Water Libary's related reading lists:
Native Americans and the Environment
More about sturgeon
Sturgeon, especially. Even a "Sturgeon General."
The White Earth band, located in northwestern Minnesota, has been restocking its waterways with the ancient fish for nearly a decade. With assistance from the Rainy River First Nations' hatchery in Canada, and their "Sturgeon General," Joe Hunter, the program has become increasingly successful. White Earth and Round Lakes are stocked with thousands of fry every year. Sturgeon are swimming again where they haven't been seen in decades.
And White Earth isn't alone. Efforts at resuscitating lost sturgeon populations are occurring throughout the Upper Midwest.
To learn more about White Earth's sturgeon program, read LaDuke's book Recovering the sacred: The power of naming and claiming. Cambridge, MA: South End Press
Or, check out the Water Libary's related reading lists:
Native Americans and the Environment
More about sturgeon
Friday, November 6, 2009
Films about water - free this weekend
The Tales from Planet Earth film festival starts tonight, Friday November 6th, in Madison, with an exciting lineup of films. There are several water-related offerings you shouldn't miss. Here are just a few to whet your whistle.. The full schedule of films and descriptions are found on the Web.
Trouble the Water (2008) - The film makes use of footage shot by aspiring rap artist Kimberly Rivers Roberts, as she and her neighbors in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans are trapped by Hurricane Katrina. What follows is an extraordinary portrait of terror, survival, and redemption. The film makes you question all over again the events surrounding the hurricane and how Americans think about and respond to natural disasters.
Sharkwater (2006) - Rob Stewart is a man of single-minded vision – a passionate diver and lover of sharks, he has made it his life's mission to try to stop the annihilation of the world's shark species. Traveling around the world, Sharkwater is his testament both to the importance of sharks to oceanic ecosystems and to the catastrophic devastation of sharks occurring daily due to human fear and greed.
The River (1938) - Legendary director Pare Lorentz's portraits of environmental devastation during the Great Depression remain some of the most brutal and revealing ever captured on film -- monumental landmarks in the history of American non-fiction film. In The River, he documented the effects of deforestation leading to massive soil erosion and flooding in the Mississippi River watershed.
Planning for Floods (1974) - Made for the Environmental Defense Fund in 1974 on the heels of then-record flooding on the Mississippi River, George Stoney's Planning for Floods explores the philosophy of the U.S. Corps of Engineers in controlling floods and reveals how this philosophy creates a false sense of security and mastery of nature - control repeatedly shown to be illusory in natural disaster after natural disaster.
See you at the movies!
Trouble the Water (2008) - The film makes use of footage shot by aspiring rap artist Kimberly Rivers Roberts, as she and her neighbors in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans are trapped by Hurricane Katrina. What follows is an extraordinary portrait of terror, survival, and redemption. The film makes you question all over again the events surrounding the hurricane and how Americans think about and respond to natural disasters.
Sharkwater (2006) - Rob Stewart is a man of single-minded vision – a passionate diver and lover of sharks, he has made it his life's mission to try to stop the annihilation of the world's shark species. Traveling around the world, Sharkwater is his testament both to the importance of sharks to oceanic ecosystems and to the catastrophic devastation of sharks occurring daily due to human fear and greed.
The River (1938) - Legendary director Pare Lorentz's portraits of environmental devastation during the Great Depression remain some of the most brutal and revealing ever captured on film -- monumental landmarks in the history of American non-fiction film. In The River, he documented the effects of deforestation leading to massive soil erosion and flooding in the Mississippi River watershed.
Planning for Floods (1974) - Made for the Environmental Defense Fund in 1974 on the heels of then-record flooding on the Mississippi River, George Stoney's Planning for Floods explores the philosophy of the U.S. Corps of Engineers in controlling floods and reveals how this philosophy creates a false sense of security and mastery of nature - control repeatedly shown to be illusory in natural disaster after natural disaster.
See you at the movies!
Thursday, November 5, 2009
President Obama Signs Great Lakes Restoration Initiative into Law
With Obama's signature on the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, work has quickly begun. One of the guiding documents will be the Wisconsin Great Lakes Strategy from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Read it.
WDNR has a Web page for the GLRI....
Read it.
WDNR has a Web page for the GLRI....
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
From the Water Library: New Books
We've all changed our clocks and raked our leaves - it must be time for winter... And that's a good time to read a book. Try one on climate change, wetland ecosystems, and sturgeon...
Check it out!
Remember, Wisconsin's Water Library will lend to any Wisconsin resident as well as to students, staff and faculty in the UW system. For more information on how to borrow books, just Ask Water.
Check it out!
Remember, Wisconsin's Water Library will lend to any Wisconsin resident as well as to students, staff and faculty in the UW system. For more information on how to borrow books, just Ask Water.
Monday, November 2, 2009
UC Water Resources Center Archives' future is uncertain
It's the right time to have a water library.
With the impacts of climate change, pollution, and an ever-increasing human population, water is among the 21st century's most salient issues. It is the foundation for ecosystems and economies.
Everything rests on water.
It's disconcerting, then, to learn that a sister library is now threatened with closure. Located at the University of California, Berkley, the Water Resources Center Archives is one of very few water libraries in the United States. And it's among the best.
Recently, in order to save money, the University of California System ordered the archive absorbed by another institution. But in midst of California's state budget crisis, none have stepped forward. The Water Resources Center Archives' future is uncertain.
Read the Sacramento Bee article:
http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/2281137.html?mi_rss=Our%20Region
With the impacts of climate change, pollution, and an ever-increasing human population, water is among the 21st century's most salient issues. It is the foundation for ecosystems and economies.
Everything rests on water.
It's disconcerting, then, to learn that a sister library is now threatened with closure. Located at the University of California, Berkley, the Water Resources Center Archives is one of very few water libraries in the United States. And it's among the best.
Recently, in order to save money, the University of California System ordered the archive absorbed by another institution. But in midst of California's state budget crisis, none have stepped forward. The Water Resources Center Archives' future is uncertain.
Read the Sacramento Bee article:
http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/2281137.html?mi_rss=Our%20Region
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