Saving Water

HOW How To Help Our Water by Conserving It

This is the fourth in our HOW Helping Our Water series, published in several local media that expands upon items from Sid's list (first published in my book Twinkle Toes and the Riddle of the Lake).This one is posted with a nod to arid southern California where the author is now visiting. Item number 7 from Sid's list is Save Water and the photo shows what southern California looks like without input from the Colorado River.

So why should we who live near a freshwater sea worry about saving water? Unlike San Diego with annual rain falls of 8 inches a year, don't we have lots? Yes, but when we use it, it gets DIRTY. Since the dawn of time dilution has been the solution to pollution. But Earth now supports 7 billion people, and that “solution” just isn't working too good anymore.

Somehow, I have long found the logic of drinking water and then crapping in the same water supply a bit offensive, if not downright deluded. Increasingly, others agree. This was made clear at the 2010 Annual World Toilet Summit, the biggest yet, held in Philadelphia last fall.

As several participants at this year's trade fair and technology showcase for plumbers noted, the U.S. with its regionally abundant water supplies lags far behind China, Europe and even the so called Third World when it comes to adopting more efficient toilet technology. We're still stuck with our mindset of disposing of human crap by treating it with chemicals to kill pathogens and then dumping it in our drinking water. However, groups like PHLUSH (Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human) and the WTO ( That's World Toilet Organization, now active in 58 countries, NOT the global money men) are trying hard to make friends and influence people on behalf of the waterless toilet.

These toilets have improved dramatically since the 1970's. I personally know three people with composting toilets who are quite satisfied with them and can testify there was no more smell associated with their use than with a conventional set up. And they're simple to install too, no pricey septic system required! You can even get them for marine and RV use.

If you can't swallow the price tag for one aboard the boat or stomach the idea of a waterless toilet in your house, then at least spring for a low flush model if you haven't already got one or put a brick in the toilet tank of your old dinosaur.

While the the toilet and flushing same is one of the biggest household users of water, a lot also goes down the tub and shower drain. The Minnesota extension service website estimates 75% of the typical 260 gallons a day used by a household of 4 goes down bathroom drains or toilet thanks to lavish and frequent baths and showers. Admittedly, a leisurely long soak in the tub is a great stress reducer, but there are good reasons to NOT bathe every day.

Too much bathing can dry the skin causing itching and discomfort. And recent research shows it also totally messes up the intricate balance of our skin's 'ecosystem' of bacteria. The 'good' bacteria present on our skin help us stay healthy so it's very much in our interest to not wash them all down the drain every day. Dr. Richard Gallo of San Diego's UCSD studies healing and wound repair. He has found our skin makes natural antibiotics that reduce skin infection, and that some of our skin bacteria actually fight pathogenic bacteria like the infamous Staph aureus of hospital fame.

Less frequent hot water baths save energy, too. Less electricity use directly impacts Lake Ontario, home to a whole fleet of power plants- all of which use water to cool their turbines, cooking a whole lot of plankton and adding still more chemicals to the lake in the process. Low flow shower heads and shallower baths in the tub help, too.

Along with numerous daily showers and toilet flushes, the other big area for household water savings is irrigation. As written about previously in the lawn care column, good soil with lots of organic content and appropriate grass plantings can help your lawn withstand dry spells. Mulch the flowers and vegetables, too. If you do water the lawn and garden, follow practices like morning irrigation and water deeply to encourage root growth. Sometimes, you can water those special dry areas of the lawn by hand. And by all means, start up an old fashioned rain barrel.

There are many good websites on water conservation.

check out eartheasy.com for water saving tips in house and yard

composting toilets- http://www.comparethebrands.com/compare/134

Ice water and antibiotics

This is a follow up to the recent post about manure and other affairs on the lake shore. The edge walker mushed through the snow for a check on ice development at the edge Jan 8. The ice forms and melts and reforms with astonishing speed this time of year. The photos taken round 0900 are interesting if you check the radar image. In the distance in the photo on the left you can see the cloud bank that clearly shows in the radar from that same time.

A couple hours later the light south wind had shifted north and the cloud bank moved south and by 1400 hours we had a short but heavy snow fall. It looked like classic fluffy lake effect, though the band formation perpendicular not parallel to the surface wind was very different from the usual lake snow band.

The ice formations suspended from the anchor ice in the top photo had disappeared completely three hours later, merged into a solid wall.

Below is a link to legislation we will be tracking and writing more about in the future.

http://atwork.avma.org/2010/12/10/bill-of-the-week-newyork-sb80-sb85/

This week, New York pre-filed SB 80, which would provide that no person shall engage in the non-therapeutic use of antimicrobial agents in cattle, poultry, sheep, swine, or any animal raised for the purpose of providing food for human consumption, including animals that provide non-meat food products such as eggs and milk. In addition, it would provide that no person shall sell, expose for sale, or transport for sale within New York, regardless of place of origin, any food product derived from an animal that has been subject to non-therapeutic use of antimicrobial agents.

The quote below is from a food industry website that states the benefits of antibiotic use in dairies outweigh the dangers. Apparently the bacteria inside the COW aren't developing resistance which means the industry will want to keep using the antibiotics in question. But meantime outside bacteria are developing resistance! Not all observers including me agree with this website's conclusion of no danger to humans.

“On the basis of this review, we conclude that scientific evidence does not support widespread, emerging resistance among pathogens isolated from dairy cows to antibacterial drugs even though many of these antibiotics have been used in the dairy industry for treatment and prevention of disease for several decades. However, it is clear that use of antibiotics in adult dairy cows and other food-producing animals does contribute to increased antimicrobial resistance.”

The italics are mine. Other scientific studies in peer reviewed journals that are not funded by the food business clearly show increased “gene swapping” occurs in water and soil below CAFO farms. This can lead to antibiotic resistance moving between different bacteria. The Union of Concerned Scientists website states that perhaps 70 % of pharmaceuticals used in agriculture are fed to “healthy” farm animals to promote growth. Beef cows in crowded feed lots, pigs, chickens and dairy cows kept indoors in large buildings are subject to unnatural behaviors and stresses. The antibiotics are fed to boost their immune systems and keep them from getting sick. Dairies use lesser amounts of antibiotics than some types of CAFOs but do use them both on adult cows and on calves. The following comes from www.sustainabletable.org. They quote an annual 18,000 deaths and 4 billion dollar a year as costs from antibiotic resistance which they say is almost certainly an underestimate that doesn't include all the lost days at work etc.

“Although everyone is at risk when antibiotics stop working, the threat is greatest for young children, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems, including cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, organ transplant patients and, in general, people whose health is compromised in some way”

More soon on this topic. My guess is the well entrenched dairy biz in NY will lobby for an exemption. Do we really want that!?

more dead birds and manure?

Awhile back I wrote about manure's impact on excess water and aquatic plant growth.Excess weeds and algae that grew and then rotted and promoted botulism outbreaks that in turn killed thousands of birds on Lake Ontario a few years ago. Last summer a bad blue green algae bloom on Sodus Bay got the attention of the homeowners there. Certainly manure spread on fields upstream could be contributing to the problem of too much fertilizer in the bay. Several members of the Cafo Awareness Network are planning to sample water next spring in an effort to determine if indeed manure on fields in Rose might be finding its way into the waters of Sodus or East Bay. Then I heard abut the new pit.

I took a drive over to Savannah- Spring Lake last weekend. As a card carrying member of Cafo Awarenness Network I felt obligated to check it out. I found a hill overlooking a forty or fifty acre wetland complete with two eagles perched in shoreline trees surrounded by more forested hills and farmland. The view was of some of the prettiest landscape in the county though I suspect it's hard to keep bare soil on these hillsides in a rain. Atop the hill sat tons of manure in piles. Across the street a couple acres of mud and a collection of parked heavy equipment suggested the rumored manure pit in the making was well under way.

So why worry? Who cares? This farm is following “best management practices” isn't it? Well for one thing, best management practices are quite simply not the best, even when scrupulously followed. In other areas of New York state wells have been ruined and streams and bays have been clogged with algae and weed growth because of too much manure spread on too little land. A solid inch of manure laid down on top of snow on a hillside with a creek at the bottom (see photo) will not stay in place when the snow melts.

What if a little too much fertilizer goes into a swamp? What if there is a little tiny fish kill? It's just carp and suckers and bullheads. Who cares if the birds in Montezuma have to deal with rotting algae and polluted water next summer? Who cares if the folks on Sodus bay can't get their boats through the weeds at their docks?

Well for one thing, it's not just fertilizer. All CAFOs (yes, dairies too) use at least some antibiotics. Peer reviewed studies have documented increased 'gene swapping' that transfers antibiotic resistance between different types of bacteria downstream from CAFO operations. Some of these bacteria can sicken humans.

Too much fertilizer in drinking water has been linked to bladder cancer in humans.

In other parts of the US rural homeowners have successfully sued and appealed to reduce their property taxes because of stench and pollution associated with CAFO agriculture. If their taxes go down, other town residents must take up at least some of the slack or suffer the consequences of budget cuts. Do you want to pay more for milk at the grocery or more at tax time?

A 3000 cow dairy produces four times as much sewage as Syracuse. Where will the farm go next? Will it expand again into your neighborhood?

There is another reason to care. Get ready for a Big Word folks. Too much fertilizer in water chokes out native plants and kills off native animals. Tough hardy “weeds” take their places. This survival of the fittest in a polluted world reduces Biodiversity. Take my word for it. Lost biodiversity is a bad thing. It's bad for economic, physical, and to some people maybe most important of all, for moral and spiritual reasons It's stupid too.

Read more about the problem and what we can do about it here.


http://newyork.sierraclub.org/conservation/agriculture/Wasting_NYS_Report.pdf

please note there are also a couple of pig feeding operations in the area of the photos. I am not claiming any particular origin for the manure spread in photograph. I am saying however, it is poor practice whether it's cow shit or pig shit wherever it's from.

A New Review for Twink

I was poking around the Internet with no particular objective in mind and was surprised to find this book review of Riddle of the Lake. It ran in the magazine last winter. I was pleased to see the reviewer considered the cats' antics amusing. Others have told me the books message of environmental change was NOT unduly depressing but I was happy to see this reviewer apparently agreed. Having said that change continues and not all of it is for the best. More soon.

Book review from Life in the Finger Lakes Magazine by Laurel C. Wemett
Twinkle Toes and The Riddle of the Lake
By Susan Peterson Gateley
Ariel Associates/Whiskey Hill Press
www.silverwaters.com

Paperback: $15.95

The notion of three landlubber cats sailing one of the Great Lakes is the perfect plot twist for author Susan Peterson Gateley’s latest book. The action unfolds through the perspective of a cranky but determined cat named Twinkle Toes. She and her mother, Dusty, and her cousin, Miss Piggy, reluctantly accompany “Skipper Sue” across Lake Ontario to Canada in the yacht Ariel. Along the way, the feline protagonist regularly “converses” with Harry, a seagull, among other lake dwellers.

The book will appeal to youthful readers and adults alike. A strong underlying ecological theme steers the reader to learn about some of the disappearing species on the lake.

Gateley’s narrative captures cat attitudes perfectly, and Pat Cooper’s illustrations add appeal. The journey through fair weather and foul naturally tests the cats’ endurance. From seasickness to repeatedly sneaking ashore, the trio’s amusing escapades help illuminate the serious changes in the lake’s environment.

Part two of the book is called “Skipper Sue’s Notebook.” It offers a lengthy appendix filled with fascinating historical data and essays on assorted ecological topics.

A New Year a New Blog

When I initiated this experiment I stated I'd be writing about Lake Ontario, beach combing and other topics. After a four year hiatus, the blog is steering a new course. You never know what will turn up when you go for a stroll on the neighborhood beach. Likewise, this writer never knows what the next story will be as I amble through life itself. But I do know this. Tom Wolfe was right when he said there are stories all around you.

I sometimes finds unexpected topics that cry for coverage. Like shale gas. A friend of mine down in Pennsylvania who I met through sailing on Lake Ontario is watching a well that's going in behind her house. And last winter the 'thumper trucks' were all over the next town south of here doing seismic tests for gas. So I wrote two articles on shale gas fraking and the concern about its impact on local water for a regional magazine. I've also sent out magazine stories on circumzenithal arcs, sailing an old schooner without a motor, an all female tall ship training program and lake based wind turbines.
Last fall I posted to a personal blog about beach combing ( and other activity) in Denmark. We fly all the way over there as tourists for ten days and what do we do? Fill our pockets with Danish beach pebbles for keepsakes!

A few months ago I was amazed to learn that Oswego County was being considered for an 80,000 cow feedlot operation, the biggest concentration of bovines east of the Mississippi in connection with the new ethanol plant in Fulton. (I guess they feed the cows left over crap from the ethanol plant. ) What has this got to do with Lake Ontario? Well, the ethanol plant grain is coming in by barge through the port of Oswego. And the manure from 80,000 cows has lots of potential to be of interest to lake watchers.

So hang on to your hat. Anything goes this time around. More soon if I can remember my password!

the (intermittant) shifty shore series begins

Winter weather makes walking the shore more difficult. While we're indoors I'm going to start a series on our shifty shoreline and its social and natural history. This will be an occasional series as time and research dictates.

(the two photos are of Scotts bluff an actively eroding pile of glacial till near my home-the pinacle in the left photo shows in left side of photo above)

Ecology is about connections. In late December my good friend Roland launched a Civil Disobedience action at a Scotts Bluff home building site. He did so because he wanted people to understand the connection between luxury resort home construction on the lake shore and the relentless fraying of the tapestry of life that continues to thin as threads are broken and lost.

How do you make people see that there are connections between their personal lifestyle choices and the general well being of our planetary life support system? I'm going to give it a shot though I'm not optimistic about any impacts or understanding that may result.

The shore of a great lake, like that of an ocean, is a shifty restless piece of real estate. It's dynamic and inherent instability makes it an interesting place. That's part of its appeal as a home site. But no homeowner wants to see his house be washed away by that shiftiness. So inevitably human ingenuity comes to the rescue and the beach is “armored”, locked away and entombed beneath a pile of large rocks. Now you have a view but no more beach. Problem is, your neighbors or public shoreline lands nearby also don't have a beach if enough homeowners go the “hardening” route in order to protect their own little piece of paradise.

On Lake Ontario, as elsewhere, material eroded from the shore becomes the beach. It then is moved along on the south side of the lake as “drift” carried generally west to east. Seawalls that stop erosion also shut down the beach formation process. Any unarmored land, once it loses its beach, will erode even faster since the waves strike directly upon the foot of the shore. So the more you “harden” the worse erosion gets for unprotected land. No one, shoreline owners and the general public alike, gets to enjoy a beach either.

For the rich guy with his “trophy house” who doesn't care about anything but a view, this may be acceptable. But for those of us who cherish walking along the water's edge, the world is a poorer place for no longer having beaches. And as we shall see, the vanished beach literally makes us poorer, too, as it usually ends up costing the taxpayers (many of whom don't own waterfront property) a great deal of money.

In posts to come we'll look at how some other communities are trying to deal with and “manage” beach erosion. There have been some truly spectacular foul ups in this endeavor. Guess who is paying for them?

seasonal variations in beach trash

The trash found along this short stretch of shoreline is a snapshot of the wider world. It's a sampling that reflects human and natural activity in two nations. These days during the season of winter northwester winds, a surprisingly common component of beach trash is customs seals from containers. One suspects Toronto and or possibly the Hamilton area are the sources. Like the zebra mussels and the round gobies the little plastic strips reflect globalized economic activity on and around the lake.

The one to the left says prologix- a global logistics company that presumeably does business in Toronto harbor.

Another common component and year around of the beach trash “community” are the ubiquitous tampon applicators ( known as New Jersey sea shells to some beach combers.)They seem to pass through the sewage treatment plants with little difficulty. One wonders what else unseen goes into our lake from the waste pipes? Pharmaceuticals?various household toxins?gold fish and dead mice? Strange and new bacterial spores or radioactive cat litter? Maybe we don't want to know.

Large pieces of drift wood often with saw cuts, are everywhere along the terminal berm reflecting I suppose the rains of late summer and fall and subsequent floods and heavy outflows of tributary rivers. Not long ago a male body washed up on Port Bay's beach about 2 miles west of where I walk. He had hiking boots on. Had he fallen into a river? Surprisingly frequent on this walk were pieces of rusty steel. Did heavy currents move them out into the lake? Or did they reflect more houses being eaten up by lake shore erosion and heavy fall storms?The metal frame and springs of an upholstered chair seem explainable by river flooding. But a cinder block? Already rounded by wave action one suspects this has to be a recent immigrant to the beach trash community.

Perhaps the most common trash item consistently present on the beach at all seasons is a juice or water bottle. Also quite common lately are throw away lighters. Odd to think that perhaps the most enduring artifacts of our current society are items of trash. They say a plastic spoon is good for at least a couple hundred years. Pampers take a couple generations to decompose in landfills. And the contents of the steel casks of rad waste now parked by the lake will remain toxic for at least a hundred thousand years-a span approaching geological time.

Only ten more shopping days until Christmas.