Remembering a fierce Great Lakes storm

In the fall of 1905, a powerful storm struck the Great Lakes, causing one of the most dramatic shipping disasters in the nation's history. Minnesota reporter Curt Brown tells the story in his new book, So Terrible a Storm: A Tale of Fury on Lake Superior. Click here to listen to Brown talk to Morning Edition host Cathy Wurzer on Minnesota Public Radio.

Pavement sealcoat linked to urban lake contamination

From the USGS: Dust collected from coal-tar sealcoated parking lots in Central and Eastern U.S. cities contains concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that are about 1,000 times greater than levels found in Western cities where coal-tar sealcoat is less commonly used, according to a U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study published this week in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.

The new study also shows that coal-tar sealcoat - the shiny black material applied to many parking lots and driveways - is contributing to PAH contamination in many of the nation's urban lakes. PAHs are an environmental concern because they are toxic to aquatic life and several are suspected carcinogens.

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Aerial photographs of the Great Lakes

Don Coles, Detroit-based photographer and pilot, has a website with many aerial shots of all the Great Lakes. The beautiful photographs are under copyright, so please do not show or use for personal use without permission from Mr. Coles. Otherwise, it is always free to look. Besides the lakes, Coles takes photos of ships, lighthouses, memorials and much more.

Check out photos from Don Coles....

Web resource: advice helps private well owners fix water problems

MADISON – The drinking water doctor is in. Wisconsin’s private well owners who want to check on their drinking water can now go online to get advice if they notice that their water smells, tastes or looks bad, or strains their laundry or bathroom fixtures. A “Healthy Water Checkup” button on the Department of Natural Resources Web site will take people to a new “What’s Wrong with My Water?” Web page. The information is intended to help people who draw water from Wisconsin’s one million private wells diagnose the likely cause of their water problems and whether they need to fix it, says Dorie Turpin, the DNR private water engineer who developed the diagnostic information.

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Fifth and final Water Matters lecture 11/18

Water Matters Lecture series was organized by the UW Aquatic Sciences Center and the Department of Art History. The final lecture in the series is scheduled for this Tuesday evening:

Anders W. Andren, director of the UW-Madison Aquatic Sciences Center will be speaking on "Wisconsin Groundwater Resources"
and
John J. Magnuson, director emeritus of the UW-Madison Center for Limnology will be speaking on "Global Warming and Its Implications for Wisconsin/Great Lakes Waters"

Tuesday, November 18, at 6 pm, Room L150 in Chazen Museum of Art. Event is free and open to the public.

UW student offers tap water challenge

In an effort to raise awareness of the environmental impact of bottled water, University of Wisconsin-Madison junior Leah Loehndorf recently organized a mass order of more than 130 reusable and eco-friendly "Klean Kanteen" bottles to share with her "Zoology 360 - Extinction of Species" class. She has also organized a "Tap Water Challenge" that will be held from 6-9 p.m. tonight (Nov. 13) at the Memorial Union, in the first floor hallway near the Rathskeller.

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Fourth Water Matters Lecture 11/11

"Water and the Law: Two Wisconsin Ojibwe Cases"
Larry Nesper, associate professor of anthropology, UW-Madison.

Organized by the UW Aquatic Sciences Center and the Department of Art History to enhance public awareness and understanding of water resources in a changing climate. Tuesday, November 11, 6pm, rm L150 in Chazen Museum of Art. Free and open to public.

Web Resource - A Day in the Life of a Drop

Resource for students and families from the US Environmental Protection Agency: A Day in the Life of a Drop is a set of activities designed to help students in grades 3–5 understand the connections between the source of the water they use and the ways their water use habits affect the environment and human health. Students also learn how to reduce their impacts and engage family members.

Event: Third Water Matters lecture 11/6

"The Past, Present and Future of Great Lakes Fisheries" by Jim Kitchell, director, UW-Madison Center for Limnology AND "History of Wild Rice and its Restoration" by Anthony Kern, associate professor of biology, Northland College

Organized by the UW Aquatic Sciences Center and the Department of Art History to enhance public awareness and understanding of water resources in a changing climate. Thursday, November 6, 6pm, rm L150 in Chazen Museum of Art. Free and open to public.

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Web Resources: National Assessment of Water Availability and Use

At the request of Congress, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is assessing the availability and use of the Nation’s water resources to gain a clearer understanding of the status of our water resources and the land-use, water-use, and natural climatic trends that affect them. The goal of the National Assessment of Water Availability and Use Program is to improve our ability to forecast water availability for future economic and environmental uses. Simply put, the assessment will help characterize how much water we have now, how water availability is changing, and how much water we can expect to have in the future.

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Event: Wisconsin Waters Exhibit

Wisconsin Waters is the new juried competition to be offered during PhotoMidwest. Scheduled to be shown at the Pyle Center, the debut event is exhibiting 55 images. The themed exhibit emphasizes the many aspects of water in the state, from lakes and rivers, to rain, mist, fog, etc.

The Pyle Center is at 702 Langdon Street and is open Monday through Friday, 7:45 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Call the Pyle Center at (608) 262-1122 for additional building hours, including weekends, which vary weekly.

Download a guide to the Wisconsin Waters exhibit here.