Casey slips ‘fracking’ rules into energy bill
http://citizensvoice.com/news/casey-slips-fracking-rules-into-energy-bill-1.908306
Casey slips ‘fracking’ rules into energy bill
BY BORYS KRAWCZENIUK (STAFF WRITER)
Published: July 29, 2010
A provision to require disclosure of all chemicals used in fracturing Marcellus Shale to extract natural gas could wind up as part of the scaled-down national energy bill the U.S. Senate might consider soon.
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey said he convinced Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to fold disclosure provisions of his Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act into the energy bill.
“It’s a great breakthrough,” he said. “It’s a substantial step forward. It gives people information they wouldn’t have otherwise about what’s happening underneath their property.”
Senate leaders are hoping to pass the bill before the summer recess Aug. 6 after realizing they did not have the votes to pass a more comprehensive energy bill. Even if the smaller energy bill gets through the Senate, the House would have to pass it before President Barack Obama can sign it. Neither is assured.
Industry groups said the fracturing chemicals are already well-known to the public and state regulators and further disclosure would harm the development of natural gas.
“We fundamentally believe that regulation of hydraulic fracturing is best addressed at the state level, and we have been unable to reach a consensus with congressional advocates on how this program would be overseen by the federal government,” America’s Natural Gas Alliance said in a statement.
Congress and the federal Environmental Protection Agency are studying whether the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing of shale contaminate drinking water.
Energy In Depth, an industry group, argues regulation should be left to states, which “have effectively regulated hydraulic fracturing for over 40 years with no confirmed incidents of groundwater contamination associated with (fracturing) activities.”
At public meetings on gas drilling, local residents regularly dispute the claim.
Though the industry argues the chemicals it uses are well known, a Times-Shamrock newspapers investigation determined that DEP scientists who analyzed spilled fracturing chemicals at a Susquehanna County well site in September found 10 compounds never disclosed on the drilling contractor’s material safety data sheet.
None of the 10 was included in a state Department of Environmental Protection list of chemicals used in fracturing, a list developed by the industry. When DEP posted a new list earlier this month, none of the 10 was on it.
Casey dismissed the industry criticism.
“That’s why I called it a substantial step forward if they’re attacking it,” he said. “If they’re feeling that this is giving information to people that they are reluctant to disclose, that’s why I think it’s an important change, and it’s progress on an issue that some would have thought would have taken years to get done.”
Casey’s legislation would amend the federal Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, which requires employers to disclose what hazardous chemicals they use.
The amendments would require:
> Well-drilling operators to disclose to state regulators and the public a list of chemicals used in fracturing, commonly known as fracking. The requirement would cover chemical constituents but not chemical formulas whose manufacturers are allowed by law to keep the formulas secret, according to Casey’s office.
> Disclosure to be specific to each well.
> Disclosure of secret formulas or chemical constituents to doctors or nurses treating a contamination victim in an emergency.
> An end to thresholds for reporting chemicals normally required by law so all amounts of chemicals are reported.
In an analysis of the legislation, Energy In Depth said it would “chill” investment in innovations in fracturing and place “unrealistic burdens” on natural gas producers by requiring them to disclose secret chemical compounds whose composition they legally can know nothing about.
In an interview, DEP Secretary John Hanger said he welcomed the federal legislation, argued Pennsylvania already requires more disclosure than his bill and believes companies should disclose the volume and mix of chemicals they use in fracking.
bkrawczeniuk@timesshamrock.com
Wastewater tracking bill introduced
http://citizensvoice.com/news/wastewater-tracking-bill-introduced-1.908232
Wastewater tracking bill introduced
BY ELIZABETH SKRAPITS (STAFF WRITER)
Published: July 29, 2010
State Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Kingston, said Wednesday she is introducing legislation that would create a system for tracking and reporting the disposal of the polluted water that is a byproduct of natural gas drilling.
“My legislation would allow the public to track wastewater produced by this quickly growing industry from cradle to grave,” Mundy said in a prepared statement. “It would help promote public confidence that natural gas well operators are following the law on the treatment and disposal of wastewater, which can contain brine and chemicals.”
Companies with natural gas wells in the Marcellus Shale already have to make semi-annual production reports to the state Department of Environmental Protection. Mundy’s proposed legislation would expand that to include the wastewater from hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells, and DEP would make the information available on its website.
Hydraulic fracturing, also called “fracking,” involves blasting millions of gallons of chemical-treated water thousands of feet underground to break up the shale and release natural gas.
Mundy explained the bill, which she worked on with Penn Future, is to ensure the chemical and salt-laden wastewater isn’t dumped where it’s not supposed to be.
“I think that’s a concern people have: where’s the water coming from, and where are they disposing of it?” she said. “Because it’s toxic and it’s polluting. We want to know where it’s going.”
Mundy previously introduced House Resolution 864, which urges Congress to pass U.S. Sen. Bob Casey’s Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals Act.
The FRAC Act is intended to close the “Halliburton Loophole” in the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, which exempts oil and gas companies from restrictions on hydraulic fracturing near drinking water sources. The FRAC Act would also require oil and gas companies to disclose all the chemicals in their hydraulic fracturing solutions.
Casey announced Wednesday provisions from the FRAC Act have been included in the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Company Accountability Act, which will be considered ion the Senate floor.
“This is great. The more activity the better,” Mundy said when told about the new development. However, she noted, “There’s many a slip between introducing the legislation and getting it passed into law, at any level.”
If the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Company Accountability Act doesn’t pass by the time the state legislature reconvenes in September, Mundy said she will urge leaders to bring her resolution up for vote, to show support for Casey’s efforts.
Mundy also sponsored two other pieces of natural gas drilling-related legislation. One is House Bill 2609, which would establish a one-year moratorium on issuing of new natural gas well drilling permits to give state officials more time to put appropriate regulations in place.
The other is House Bill 2608, which would prohibit natural gas companies from drilling horizontal wells or doing hydraulic fracturing within 2,500 feet of a drinking water source, instead of the current restriction of 100 feet.
eskrapits@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2072
Complete coverage of natural gas drilling in Northeast Pennsylvania
http://republicanherald.com/news/gas-drilling
Gas Drilling Headlines
Let tax help responders
A fire last week at a natural gas drilling site in Susquehanna County was handled quickly and correctly by driller Chesapeake Energy and local volunteer firefighters, according to state regulators. No one was injured, there was no detectable contamination.
• Opinions differ on fiscal bill provision
• State rule targets chloride levels
• Rights drown in forced pool
• State puts natural gas drillers on notice
• DEP gas drilling violations database
• Natural gas companies aim to acquire all of Wyoming County’s mineral rights
• DEP shale chemical lists at odds over inclusion of above ground substances
Natural gas, unnatural risk: Hydrofracking endangers our water
http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/07/25/2010-07-25_natural_gas_unnatural_risk.html
Sunday, July 25th 2010
Natural gas, unnatural risk: Hydrofracking endangers our water
There is no higher priority for New York’s state and federal legislators than to put the brakes on the idea of opening areas upstate to the controversial form of natural gas drilling called hydraulic fracturing – “fracking,” for short.
While the technique has been around for 60 years, critics say the modern version of fracking is unsound, leaving broad swaths of land poisoned and polluted.
“Gasland,” an award-winning documentary that airs tonight on HBO (gaslandthemovie.com), shows communities in Pennsylvania, Colorado and elsewhere rife with sick people, animals that have lost their fur, and water so polluted that it actually ignites when a match is held near a kitchen tap.
The problem is a byproduct of modern fracking, which involves shooting millions of gallons of water and a cocktail of extraction chemicals deep underground – on average, 8,000 feet below the surface. The pressurized water and chemicals shake loose natural gas that is then captured and piped away.
Remnants of the chemicals and half of the millions of gallons of water, however, stay behind and begin rising. The tainted water can end up polluting fresh drinking water, which tends to be only 1,000 feet below the surface.
Worst of all, a mysterious process called methane migration can leak combustible gas into the water table as well. That gives some residents in fracking areas tap water that explodes on contact with an open flame.
“It’s really quite shocking and strange and, and weirdly kind of thrilling when you see it,” the director of “Gasland,” Josh Fox, told me when describing the polluted water that turns to fire. “And then all of a sudden it hits: It’s really a huge problem.”
The film shows people assembling complicated 500-gallon bottled water systems, bemoaning lost property values and complaining of brain lesions, exhaustion and other health issues.
Fox blames the problem on the so-called Halliburton loophole of 2005, provisions in that year’s Energy Policy Act that exempted gas drilling companies from the Safe Water Drinking Act of 1974 and allowed them to not disclose the 500-plus chemicals that get shot underground during fracking.
Passage of the law set off a wave of fracking that has reached 34 states. Fox himself became aware of the trend when a gas company offered him $4,000 per acre to let them frack on land he owns near Delaware – an offer that would have brought him $100,000. After studying the process and its effects around the country, Fox rejected the money outright.
His land, like all of upstate New York, sits atop a vast underground deposit of natural gas, the Marcellus Shale, that stretches from New York to West Virginia and could be a veritable Saudi Arabia of natural gas.
Hopes of exploiting these and other major gas reserves are the reason energy magnate T. Boone Pickens made TV ads advocating more extraction of “clean, natural gas” to wean America off of foreign oil. Pickens was persuasive, patriotic and profit-driven. I just hope he plans more commercials to explain the potential of frack-induced pollution.
A growing number of people are already saying: Not so fast. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection has warned that fracking near the upstate watershed could pollute the drinking water for the 16 million people who live in or near our city.
Environmental groups are calling for a moratorium on leasing any land in New York for fracking, and Albany is considering a law imposing a one-year moratorium on fracking. A federal bill would give the federal Environmental Protection Agency the power to regulate fracking.
These are all good starts at what must be a top priority for elected officials: saving New York from environmental horrors that have already shown much of America the false promise of fracking.
elouis@nydailynews.com
Grand opening held for visitor-education building at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center
http://www.tnonline.com/node/118679
Grand opening held for visitor-education building at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center
Reported on Friday, July 23, 2010
By ELSA KERSCHNER ekerschner@tnonline.com
A reception was held with tables of food and beverages outside on the porch of the Lehigh Gap Nature Center on July 16 for the grand opening of its visitor-education building. Chairs were filled in the “great room.” The walls were lined with people and the hallway was crowded.
Bob Hoopes, as master of ceremonies and a board member, gave an overview of the center. Members of the board were recognized: Michal Kubik, Ronald Kline, Kathy Romano, George Beam, Fritz Brock, Anita Collins, Jeff Frantz, Geryl Gritz, Diane Husic, Bill Mineo, Grant White and director Dan Kunkle.
“Without the teamwork and vision this building would not be here and we could not have saved the 750 acres as the Lehigh Gap Wildlife Refuge. How we got here began in 2001,” he said. Three goals were set secure the land, revegetate it and open the refuge for public access and passive recreation. A master site plan was drawn up.
The mission became “to preserve wildlife and habitat through conservation, education, and research for the benefit of the earth and its inhabitants.” He said they believe in the power of the citizen activist and wisdom of the citizen scientist.
The master site plan is being revised to incorporate the possibilities opened by the new building. It has an expanded research library, a laboratory to train young minds and office space.
The new building is green by design with geothermal heating and cooling, compact fluorescent and LED lights that turn off automatically when a room is not in use, paints and finishes with few volatile compounds, insulated concrete forms on the lower level, cement-board siding, Trex decking, and carpeting with a high percentage of recycled fiber.
Local materials used were slate from Penn Big Bed quarry, native stone and plants in the gardens and compost from Lehigh County.
The main use will be supporting our current and future education programs, said Hoopes.
Michael Jonn was the architect and Alvin Butz the construction manager. Lee Butz said he wanted it to succeed even if his company did not get the manager’s bid.
PPL was the first major corporate contributor. Financial help was received from the Trexler Trust which supported the center over the years to a total of $239,000.
Malcolm Gross from the Trust said they had truly resurrected the environment. They told Director Dan Kunkle to “go for it,” because they liked his honesty and common sense.
Secretary John Quigley of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources said the DCNR donated a half-million dollars and got the equivalent of a small state park. He said they were heavily involved with the restoration work, but the ability to provide grants hangs in the balance of the new state budget.
Quigley said he drove the Gap “quite a bit and recalls what it was like.” Kunkle was a delight to work with, and the building is a statement of values he took a Superfund site and made it into a nature center. It shows a belief in our children’s future, said Quigley.
“What a celebration. We hear a lot of good ideas and Kunkle started casting his vision,” said Dennis DeMara of the DCNR. “We look for conservation values of the land and asked, ‘Where’re the trees?’” but there were none. Kunkle was the driver of the project.
Christine Sutjak from Alvin Butz Inc. said the building turned out wonderfully and the community can enjoy nature.
Hoopes said the Delaware & Lehigh Trail group were wonderful partners. Bill Mineo, trail manager at the time, listened to the plan and said it was a great concept. The D&L would help us and it still does.
Elissa Thorne represented the D&L at the grand opening. “We nurture partnerships. We’re there when someone has a vision.” The D&L trail runs along the river outside the center.
Rep. Charlie Dent and Judy Borger accepted a national award in Washington DC on behalf of the center. Dent helped with federal funding.
“I’m glad to be here today,” Dent said. When Kunkle first approached him, the site looked like a moonscape. “I’m glad to be a partner. People for years to come will enjoy what the center has to offer.
Representative Julie Harhart and Keith McCall met in her office and the result was a Department of Community and Economic Development grant.
McCall went to Kunkle and asked, “Are you kidding? You want to revitalize this?” He not only wanted to, but did.
Harhart said she was glad to be a part of the big success story and thanked all the volunteers who helped make it possible.
Scott and Amy Weidensaul of the Pa. Audubon Society live in the shadow of Hawk Mountain. Amy said they are both good friends of the center. “What a morning.”
John James Audubon traveled this area studying birds. Kunkle has urged collaboration along the Kittatinny Ridge. She said she and Kunkle have been working on some funding ideas.
Scott asked people to imagine Lenape canoes coming down the river. He said he was a child of the coal region. “We face so many challenges. See what a small group can do.”
The cheers and applause that met the final speaker, Kunkle, embarrassed him.
“Wow, what a day, this is awesome,” and he set about giving credit where credit is due beginning with Michael Jonn, architect, and Ed Newcomb, fundraiser. Jonn said he was pleased with the way it came out and Newcomb said behind every successful man there is a woman. “Hi, Cheryl,” he said to Kunkle’s wife. “We have a flock of eagles led by Kunkle. We all have an investment in this.”
Kunkle said he was asked about a beam in the great room and said it was for expansion “and we’ll need it.” He said his parents taught him about life and most important is Cheryl. For 35 years they worked together in a partnership that was better than either could do alone, he said. He could not have quit his job at Freedom High School if it had not been for Cheryl.
The board of directors is the best, said Kunkle. They speak their minds but when there is a vote there is always a consensus. Corey Husic of the Naturalist’s Club is working for the center. Marian Tranguch served three internships.
Peter and Carol Kern helped with the library supported by the Hommer Foundation. “Go and see it,” said Kunkle.
There was government support from many places. Cindy Dunn of the DCNR said she enjoys the nature center newsletter, “The Activist.”
Sherry Acevedo of the D&L marched probation kids up the mountain carrying grass seed to plant and see if it would take root.
Washington Township came and fixed the potholes in the road. Supervisor Roy Dengler mowed the grass. Jan Creedon of Lehigh County has been “wonderfully supportive.”
PPL asked what was needed. “We didn’t have to ask.” First Niagara Bank offered help. Linny Fowler was the biggest individual supporter.
The Appalachian and Philadelphia trail groups were ready to help where they could.
Sue Tansit of Edge of the Woods and Green Man Enviroscaping provided native plants and helpful information.
A teacher workshop scheduled for Wednesday was canceled as the teachers offered to help get ready for company.
Kunkle was told, “You know what this building means. It means you are here to stay.”
Nuclear plants pose threat to groundwater
http://www.pottsmerc.com/articles/2010/07/24/opinion/srv0000008904317.prt
The Pottstown Mercury (pottsmerc.com), Serving Pottstown, PA
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Opinion
Nuclear plants pose threat to groundwater
A radioactive groundwater disaster could be unfolding around U.S. nuclear plants, according to a shocking documented report released in 2010, titled “Leak First, Fix Later” that can be found at www.beyondnuclear.org.
102 of 104 U.S. nuclear reactors leaked radiation into groundwater from aging and deteriorating buried pipes under the reactors.
There are two to 20 miles of buried pipeline under each nuclear plant which obviously go largely uninspected and unmaintained.
Limerick Nuclear Plant’s 25 year old underground pipes may have already leaked. It’s virtually impossible to detect all leaks in miles of pipes tangled beneath the plant. Monitoring can easily fail to detect leaks.
This is a fractured bedrock aquifer where radioactive contamination can travel in any direction, at any depth, and fail to ever be detected. Reliable monitoring would be prohibitively costly.
Radioactive leaks from Limerick could impact any of the region’s residents, now or in the future. There’s cause for concern, precaution, and prevention now, before Exelon is permitted to operate Limerick Nuclear Plant for a total of 60 years. None of the 102 nukes that leaked operated more than 41 years.
Limerick operated since 1985 (25 years). Buried pipes carrying radioactive water are vulnerable to leaks.
A 20-year license extension to operate until 2049 would allow 35 years more years of radioactive water transport (60 years total). Think what happens to pipes in older homes.
We can’t trust Exelon to immediately detect or disclose leaks. NRC’s oversight and enforcement are extremely lax.
Prevention is the only cure. What happens if groundwater becomes radioactive? There’s no way to clean it up from the ground. Filtering is cost prohibitive for many, if not impossible. Over 100 to 200 radionuclides are associated with Limerick Nuclear plant.
Before NRC rubberstamps approval for a license extension until 2049, Exelon should be required to replace all pipes buried under Limerick which carry radioactive water.
Exelon, the company with a vested interest in the outcome, claimed there’s no problem at Limerick, based solely on their own monitoring and reporting. Evidence below at other Exelon nukes shows why we can’t believe or trust Exelon.
Radioactive water contamination at Exelon’s Braidwood Nuclear Plant in Illinois was called by some “Exelon’s Radioactive Watergate.” Exelon failed to disclose 22 recurring uncontrolled radioactive spills in buried pipelines from 1996 to 2005. Since then, numerous leaks over a 10-year span were revealed at two other Exelon nuclear plants in Illinois. Leaks were significant. Just two Braidwood releases totaled six million gallons of radioactive water. Exelon supplied bottled water to 600 people for more than four years, but groundwater was contaminated for 14 years. It still is. March 2010, a legal settlement was reached. Exelon will be supplying a water system. But groundwater and soil remain radioactive. The mother of a teen battling cancer said, “If the cancer is in the air we breathe or the water we drank, I don’t think there’s enough money to go around. I know they admitted to mistakes but how do you put a price tag on the environment?” Another resident said, “It’s scary to live here, but who in their right minds would buy homes here?”
At Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant in New Jersey Exelon failed to report radioactive water leaking from buried pipes until 2009, just seven days after NRC issued its license renewal for another 20 years. This radioactive water reached a major New Jersey aquifer that supplies drinking water to much of southern New Jersey (Reported 5/10). New Jersey DEP said the leaked radiation (50 times higher than levels allowed by law) has reached southern New Jersey’s main source of drinking water. Julia LaMense, Eastern Environmental Law Clinic, condemned NRC “for letting it come to this.” She said, “It’s a sad day when the ‘wait and see’ approach taken in response to yet another ‘trust us’ from Exelon results in contamination of one of the most significant aquifers in the region.”
The Mercury story March 28 by Evan Brandt showed the region’s residents are already subjected to too much carcinogenic groundwater contamination. It revealed that toxic plumes from two other industrial sites were contaminating groundwater in Limerick. Toxic, carcinogenic groundwater contamination will continue tor decades, if not forever, at Pottstown Landfill and the Oxy Superfund site.
It’s long past time for precaution and prevention. Exelon will apply for their 20-year Limerick Nuclear Plant license renewal soon. People who care about safe water for their families should get informed and get involved now. Call ACE at 610- 326-2387 and leave your name, phone, e-mail.
DR. LEWIS CUTHBERT
ACE President
Shale drilling, what is it?
http://www.tnonline.com/node/118669
Shale drilling, what is it?
Reported on Friday, July 23, 2010
By MICHAEL NEWTON TN Correspondent tneditor@tnonline.com
A lack of knowledge among citizens of Carbon County about the issue of shale drilling is seen as a major problem by the Kidder Township Environmental Advisory Committee. < http://www.americantowns.com/pa/lakeharmony/events/environmental-advisory-council >
“People have no idea,” said committee member Bob Dobosh at the EAC’s meeting this week.
This lack of knowledge is seen as a problem because choices made about shale drilling will have an immense impact on the future of both the state and the nation. Debate has raged between proponents, who view it as a vital part of the nation’s energy plan, and detractors who fear that the environmental impacts are not properly understood.
Shale drilling is a complex process and the technological advances that have made it possible have outpaced research into its consequences.
“Nobody is asking the question of what happens 10 years from now when we’re out of water,” said EAC member Hank George.
It is currently believed that there is more than 363 trillion cubic feet of harvestable gas in the Marcellus shale bloom. That is enough to supply all of the nation’s energy needs for 15 years. A typical well located on an 80-acre space, is expected to produce around 2.5 billion cubic feet of gas over the course of its operations. The gas is found in small cracks and fissures running through the porous rock.
The process of extracting the gas is complicated and relies primarily on two techniques hydrofracing and horizontal drilling. Hydrofracing is a process where a ‘mud’ made out of water and chemicals, is shot down into the well in order to break up the shale and allow the gases in between cracks in the rock to flow to the surface. Horizontal drilling is a process whereby the well is slowly turned at a 90 degree angle. Using horizontal drilling, a typical well can extract gas in a radius of over a mile.
According to a report issued by the United States Geological Society, shale drilling presents three main areas of concern over water quality. The first is the massive amount of water needed to perform hydrofracing. Each round of hydrofracing can use up to 3 million gallons of water. Thus, concerns have risen among local municipal water authorities as to where all that water will come from. If too much is used from local water sources, they can be damaged or depleted, leading to unnatural drought conditions.
The shipment of water and materials in extremely heavy trucks over small mountain roads may lead to erosion, which could further damage water tables. In addition, there is no way to know exactly how much material and chemicals will leak out of the trucks over time.
Once the hydrofracing solutions have been used they must be properly disposed. A typical 3-million gallon hydrofracing job can be expected to produce at least 15,000 gallons of contaminated water. Not only is the solution full of chemicals, many of which are guarded company secrets, but being in contact with rock formations means that when the solution comes to the surface, it brings along large amounts of silt and possibly harmful minerals. This presents difficulties because water treatment plants are not able to adequately remove these contaminants. Several alternative solutions have been proposed, such as reinjecting the hydrofracing solutions into shallow pits, but there is no clear consensus or across the board standard.
Knowledge about the process of shale drilling and the issues that go along with it can help citizens make informed decisions about the future of the state. Toward that end, the Kidder EAC is going to prepare informational newsletters and distribute them to the various homeowners’ associations in the websites.
Grassland Hike at the Gap
Dear Lehigh Gap Nature Center members and friends,
On Saturday, July 24 we will have a grassland hike at the Gap from 9:00 to noon. We will check out the Prairie area and the plants we planted last year inside and outside deer exclosures as well as looking for other wildflowers and butterflies along the way. Meet at the Osprey House at 9:00.
Bring water — it may be very hot.
Hope to see you at the Gap on Saturday.
Dan
Dan Kunkle
Lehigh Gap Nature Center
P.O. Box 198
Slatington, PA 18080
ph/fax 610-760-8889
http://lgnc.org
Polycythemia vera (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
Polycythemia vera is a blood disorder in which the bone marrow makes too many red blood cells. Polycythemia vera may also result in the overproduction of white blood cells and platelets. Most of the health concerns associated with polycythemia vera are caused by a blood-thickening effect that results from an overproduction of red blood cells.
Contents
1 Epidemiology
2 Symptoms
3 Diagnosis
4 Treatment
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
Stay hydrated without draining your wallet
http://www.tnonline.com/node/115874
Stay hydrated without draining your wallet
Reported on Wednesday, July 14, 2010
By STACEY SOLT stacey.solt@gmail.com
Unless you’re reading this in Alaska, you know that our area suffered through a brutal heat wave this month. It’s important to stay hydrated during the heat but buying bottled water and fancy drinks can get expensive. Read on for tips to keep cool and save money on beverages this summer.
Water
Don’t pay for bottled water. Period.
Yes, there will be times when you’re away from home and a source of free tap water. I’m talking about the cases of bottled water that you buy to bring to work, or to sip around the house. Why would you spend your hard-earned dollars on bottled water when you’re going to drink it standing next to the kitchen sink?
Water bottles are also bad for the environment. You can recycle plastic bottles, but each bottle must be cleaned and melted down before it can become a “new” bottle, wasting energy and water. Why not buy a reusable, BPA-free water bottle for work and play, and save the store-bottled stuff for special trips?
I know that some homes have “bad” water. Our home’s water has sulfur during droughts so we’re changing our carbon filter pretty frequently right now. Purchasing a filter system has been an inexpensive way to improve our water quality, and it’s saved us hundreds of dollars each summer by making our tap water more palatable.
Caffeine and energy drinks
I love iced coffee, and I could drink it by the gallon during the summer! Fortunately, we brew our own coffee and chill it, which means that my favorite drink doesn’t cost too much money. But keep in mind that caffeinated drinks such as coffee and tea can actually dehydrate some people. Don’t rely too heavily on these beverages during the summer.
Sports drinks are also popular during the summer, and they can be a great source of sodium and potassium (the minerals that we “sweat out”) on a hot day. Manufacturers have done a great job advertising these drinks as a cure-all for hot days and athletes.
Of course, be honest with yourself are you really active enough to need a sports drink, or does it just taste good? Don’t waste your money on high-performance drinks when the most activity you’ll do is swinging on the front porch. If you can’t stand the taste of water and drink a lot of sports drinks during the summer, try diluting these sugary drinks with water. You won’t miss the sweetness, and you’ll save a bit of money.
Other water sources
While it’s important to drink fluids regularly, foods can also be a great source of water! There’s a reason that ripe, juicy watermelon is so popular during the summer.
Adding seasonal fruits and vegetables can be a good way to keep yourself hydrated without spending extra money. You have to eat, right? Choose thirst-quenching foods over dryer foods to keep dehydration at bay add an apple to your lunch, or eat a small bowl of peaches or pears for dessert. These foods are great for staying hydrated, and they’re much healthier than eating a bag of chips. Many water-filled foods are also low in calories!