Happy New Year . . . Water New Year that is!
October is an important month for CoCoRaHS as well as for climatologists and hydrologists across the Western states (and other parts of the country as well) as it begins the 2010 Water Year!
What is the water year?
The water year is the best approximation of the consecutive 12 months that span the “water storage/water usage” hydrological cycle. The water year cycle is particularly obvious in the Rocky Mountains and western U.S. where snow begins to accumulate at high elevations in October and doesnt melt until the next spring and summer.
Another way to think of the Water Year is the resting/replenishing season followed by the growing, harvesting and water-consuming season. As October begins, the summer growing season comes to an end. With the coming of colder weather, evapotranspiration shuts down. In the mountains and the northern states, snows begin to fall. For much of the country and especially the northern states, the months of October through March are months where precipitation from the sky exceeds evaporation from the ground. This means that soil moisture and ground water can recharge. Runoff that reaches the rivers and streams may increase (except in cold areas where the water remains frozen). Then, when next spring comes the temperatures rise again, plants come back to life, snow melts, rivers surge. As evapotranspiration increases as plants begin to grow. By the summer months, evapotranspiration will once again exceed precipitation for most of the country. This means that soils dry out, river flow may decrease, and little or no water recharges aquifers. Drought becomes especially problematic when precipitation falls short of expectations during the spring and summer months. By next September, crops will be harvested, temperatures will again cool, and yet another water year will come to an end.
Hazleton firm offering free disposal of oil
http://www.tnonline.com/node/483300
September 11, 2009
Hazleton firm offering free disposal of oil
The Hazleton Oil & Environmental Inc., will be celebrating Oil Recycling Day during the week of Sept. 28 to Oct. 2.
Persons may bring their waste oil, antifreeze, oil filters and vehicle batteries and the items will be collected with no charge to the participants. However, people are reminded not to bring any hazardous waste such as paint or gasoline, it will not be accpeted.
The first 200 participants will receive a free gift at the time of the drop off.
The drop off site is located along SR309 between Hazleton and McAdoo. The collection process will run from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information call (570) 458-3496.
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Safe Drinking Water Seminar at the Monroe County Cooperative Extension office
http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090905/FEATURES/909050317/-1/NEWSMAP
Penn State Cooperative Extension in Monroe will be conducting a Safe Drinking Water Seminar on Saturday, Sept. 26, from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Monroe County Cooperative Extension office, 724 Phillips St., Suite 201, Stroudsburg.
In addition, Penn State Cooperative Extension is offering water testing for a fee through Prosser Labs on Sept. 28 and Sept. 30. In order to participate in the water testing, you must attend the Safe Drinking Water program to receive your test bottles.
To register for this workshop, send $7 to the Monroe County Cooperative Extension office. Checks are payable to PSCE Program Account. For more information contact Peter Wulfhorst at the Pike County Cooperative Extension office in at 570) 296-3400.
Free electronics recycling event slated for all Carbon County residents slated
http://www.tnonline.com/node/481232
September 4, 2009
Free electronics recycling event slated for all Carbon County residents slated
The Carbon County Department of Solid Waste and Lehighton Borough will be hosting a two-day electronics recycling event on Monday, Sept. 28 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.; and Tuesday, Sept. 29 from noon to 6 p.m. at the Lehighton Borough Public Works garage, located on East Penn Street.
During the event, numerous items will be accepted, including VCRs, stereos, computer monitors and towers, printers, keyboards, scanners, fax machines, telephones, DVD and CD players, typewriters, copiers, radios, telecom equipment, laptops, hard drives, and circuit boards of any kind. The items will be recycled by AAA Computer and Electronics Recycling. There will also be a collection box for ink jets and cell phone recycling. Please note that no household appliances will be accepted during this event.
AAA Computer and Electronics Recycling will assist with the electronics recycling event and will also be accepting televisions for a $10 charge. All other recycling is free.
For more information or directions, call (610) 852-5111.
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Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling near Hickory, Pa
Blog and photos of Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling near Hickory PA
Excellent source of information on the consequences of gas drilling and fracking.
Wastewater Used to Map Illegal Drug Use
Environment News Service
CORVALLIS, Oregon, July 15, 2009 (ENS) – For the first time, patterns of illegal drug use across a state have been mapped using a method of sampling municipal wastewater before it is treated.
Applying analytical methods developed at Oregon State University, researchers from OSU, the University of Washington, and McGill University collected single-day samples from 96 municipalities across Oregon, representing 65 percent of the state’s population.
They tested the samples for evidence of methamphetamine, cocaine, and MDMA, commonly called ecstasy.
Municipal water treatment facilities across Oregon volunteered for the study to help further the development of this methodology as a proactive tool for health officials.
Their findings provide a snapshot of drug excretion that can be used to better understand patterns of drug use in multiple municipalities over time.
The study, published this week in the journal “Addiction,” reports a demonstration of this method conducted by UW drug epidemiologist Caleb Banta-Green, OSU chemist Jennifer Field, OSU toxicologist Daniel Sudakin, McGill spatial epidemiologist Luc de Montigny and others.
“This work is the first to demonstrate the use of wastewater samples for spatial analyses, a relatively simple and cost-effective approach to measuring community drug use,” said lead author Banta-Green.
Meth user (Photo courtesy Eyes of the World Media Group)
“Current measures of the true prevalence of drug use are severely limited both by cost and methodological issues,” he said. “We believe these data have great utility as a population measure of drug use and provide further evidence of the validity of this methodology.”
“Municipalities across the state generously volunteered to help us test our methods by collecting samples more or less simultaneously, providing us with 24-hour composite influent samples from one day – March 4, 2008,” said Field, who led the laboratory analyses of the samples.
Lab tests of the samples showed that the index loads of a cocaine metabolite were significantly higher in urban areas and below the level of detection in some rural areas.
Methamphetamine was present in all municipalities, rural and urban.
Ecstacy was at quantifiable levels in less than half of the communities, with a significant trend toward higher index loads in more urban areas.
The researchers said their study validates wastewater drug testing methodology that could serve as a tool for public health officials to identify patterns of drug abuse across multiple municipalities over time.
“We believe this methodology can dramatically improve measurement of the true level and distribution of a range of illicit drugs,” said Banta-Green. “By measuring a community’s drug index load, public health officials will have information applicable to a much larger proportion of the total population than existing measures can provide.”
The research team recognized that the data used for this study are inadequate as a complete measure of drug excretion for a community or entire state. The team looked at a single day, mid-week sample, for instance. Results might be altered depending on the day or time of year the sample was gathered.
Currently, Field and Banta-Green are working on a project funded by the National Institutes of Health to determine the best method for collecting data in order to get a reliable annual estimate of drug excretion for a community.
NKeystone Clean Water Team Available – Hazards in Community and Drug Labs.
Testing of well water depends on location
http://www.usatoday.com
Testing of well water depends on location
By Steve Orr and Matthew Daneman, USA TODAY
Douglas Wagner bought a home in the Rochester, N.Y., suburb of Webster last year, contingent on the well water being judged safe.
Standard testing showed the water was fine and the Wagner family moved in. Then, he learned that nearby wells had arsenic problems.
Wagner’s well hadn’t been checked for the toxic metal because state and local regulations do not dictate how private wells should be tested. After testing for and finding levels of arsenic above the 10-parts-per-billion federal and state regulation, Wagner faces the expense of hooking up to the public water supply at a cost of more than $1,800, said Edward Marianetti, executive director of the Monroe County (N.Y.) Water Authority.
“Everybody should be assured that if a well is tested before the sale of a home, it’s fully tested,” Wagner said.
Marcellus Shale Web Resources Highlight Facts About Hydraulic Fracturing
http://news.prnewswire.com
WEXFORD, Pa., July 13 /PRNewswire/ — The Marcellus Shale Committee today announced a new feature on its Web site, www.pamarcellus.com, which provides factual information on all aspects of hydraulic fracturing, including a step-by-step summary of each phase of the process, third-party reports and letters from several state regulators regarding the safety of what is often called “fracing” a natural gas well. Read more
Penn State webinar addresses Marcellus Shale water-policy issues
Penn State webinar addresses Marcellus Shale water-policy issues
Water is a necessary part of the process of extracting natural gas from the Marcellus Shale Formation, and Pennsylvania residents should concern themselves with the creation of public policies for managing and protecting water resources, according to a water-policy expert in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. Charles Abdalla, professor of agricultural and environmental economics, will address these water quantity and quality issues during a free Penn State Cooperative Extension online seminar at 1 p.m. on July 23.
Read the full story on Live: http://live.psu.edu/story/40494/nw69
NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR)
NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards (NWR) is a nationwide network of radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information directly from the nearest National Weather Service office. NWR broadcasts official Weather Service warnings, watches, forecasts and other hazard information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Click on the following link to find out more about where to listen to NOAA Weather Radio in your area: link text