At the event, Mayor Nutter, Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson praised the plan. We were especially thrilled to hear Mayor Nutter mention our creek!

For more about yesterday’s event and the Green City, Clean Waters plan, check out this article from The Inquirer. From the article:

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson joined Mayor Nutter and other officials at the Fairmount Water Works to sign the agreement for a 25-year plan that has been described as one of the most innovative and ambitious in the nation.

It will transform not only how the city handles storm water – treating it as a resource instead of a waste product – but also how the city looks.

Greenery planted to soak up rainwater will also beautify streets, which could increase property values. Shaded homes will be cooler in summer, which could lower electricity bills. Air quality should improve.

“The city has earned a place as a national and global leader on sustainable innovation and clean water protection,” Jackson said at the signing, noting that it was a fitting way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act this year.

Read the rest here!

One option is recycling water from sewers so that it can be reused as tap water. Treated wastewater can be used for irrigation, industrial uses, and as drinking water. This is already happening in places around the world, including San Diego. Other cities such as Miami, Denver, El Paso, Big Spring, TX, and Cloudcroft, NM are also considering this new technology.

Many people are disgusted by the idea of drinking sewer water, but in reality, all water is recycled through the water cycle. These municipalities use several processes to clean the water to high standards. According to Belinda Smith, a Surfrider Foundation volunteer, “It isn’t toilet to tap. It’s toilet to treatment to treatment to treatment to tap.”

Read more at:
New York Times
National Academy of Sciences

It would be illogical for the DRBC to lift its moratorium before the results of the EPA study are known. There should also be a review of the impact in this watershed. The most sensible course for the 15 million people who depend on clean drinking water in the Delaware River watershed is for the DRBC to extend its ban on drilling for now.

Go read the whole thing here! And, if you feel strongly about gas drilling in our area, consider writing your own letter to the editor. You can send it to: inquirer.letters@phillynews.com.

Here is the main reason why you should read it. From the article:

For many Philadelphians, natural-gas drilling and its attendant ills might seem a distant matter. Of the 2,400 new wells, the nearest to Philadelphia is in Columbia County, 90 miles away. Few city dwellers have likely heard of drilling towns like Towanda, Wilcox or Ward. Yet the Delaware Watershed covers the state’s urban southeast as much as its rural northeast, and gas extraction in the latter could ultimately impact both.

From Engadget:

New York City produces about 1.3 billion gallons of wastewater daily, yielding 1,200 tons of biosolids that can be harvested to procure methane — already accounting for 20 percent of the city’s energy — and butanol, a clean gasoline alternative. The plan, which also includes wind and solar projects, aims to use gas, converted by large digesters, to “power wastewater operations, meet on-site heat and electricity needs, and, where feasible, sell excess energy to the market.” As the DEP points out, the plan isn’t far fetched — we’ve seen a couple of solutions for turning human excrement into usable energy, and a project already under way in Greenpoint is estimated to procure enough methane over the next year to heat 2,500 homes.

Way to go, New York City!

***

January 14, 2011

HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 13, 2011 — The people have spoken: the Delaware River is Pennsylvania’s River of the Year for 2011.

Chosen for the first time through a public vote, the Delaware bested five other candidates in an online contest that saw more than 10,000 ballots cast from across the state. The Delaware received 2,520 votes.

“The Delaware River is the longest un-dammed river east of the Mississippi and is steeped in history, diverse in resources, and is vital to protect,” Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary John Quigley said. “Its waters serve the needs of more than 15 million people from four different states, including more than 5 million Pennsylvanians. It boasts the largest freshwater port in the world, as well as threatened and endangered species, and a thriving tourism industry.

“A goal of the River of the Year designation is to raise awareness of the river and its conservation needs. The public voting format used to nominate and select the River of the Year for the first time this year certainly generated local enthusiasm for conservation and recognition of the importance of our waterways,” Quigley said.

The five other finalists were: Clarion River, Conewango Creek, Kiskiminetas River, Pine Creek, and the Stonycreek River.

DCNR and the Pennsylvania Organization for Watersheds and Rivers, or POWR, administer the River of the Year program. Local organizations submit nominations.

“Although we could only have one winner, each of the waterways that were nominated is special and important in its own way,” Quigley said. “Congratulations to all the local groups who nominated their rivers, and rallied support for them not only for this vote, but through all of their activities and advocacy.”

POWR helps train and organize local watershed associations, as well as the groups who lead a dozen sojourns on rivers around the state each year.

“The Delaware River is simply an incredible resource – not just for Pennsylvania, but for the nation as a whole,” said POWR Executive Director Jon Meade. “To honor it with the River of the Year award reflects the importance of preservation to those who live near it and experience it every day.”

There are a number of organizations that work in partnership to support conservation and recreation activities along the Delaware, including: the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC); Delaware Canal State Park; National Canoe Safety Patrol; National Park Service; and Upper Delaware Preservation Coalition.

These groups will organize several events throughout the year, including the 17th annual Sojourn paddling trip, a symposium, photo contest and river legacy fundraiser. The eight-day sojourn will include educational programs, and give paddlers a chance to experience the Delaware River to encourage greater understanding of the river and stewardship needs.

“On behalf of the steering committee and all our partners, I would like to thank everyone who voted for the Delaware. Having the Delaware be Pennsylvania’s 2011 River of the Year is truly an honor, especially since it is the people’s choice and with this the DRBC’s 50th Anniversary year,” said Kate O’Hara, co-coordinator of the Delaware Sojourn Steering Committee. “This designation will not only showcase the Delaware and all it has to offer, but also highlight the numerous organizations, agencies, and individual volunteers who work together to protect and enhance the river for future generations.”

The Delaware also will be celebrated with an annual Rivers Month poster issued in June.

Pennsylvania’s River of the Year has been presented annually since 1983.

For more sojourn event information, visit POWR’s website at www.pawatersheds.org or contact Jon Meade at info@pawatersheds.org.

To learn more about DCNR’s Rivers Program, visit www.dcnr.state.pa.us/brc/rivers.

SOURCE: Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

Nuclear Energy Isn’t Clean or Cheap discusses the possible detrimental effects from nuclear energy production on our water supply. Here are some disturbing facts from the article:

One third of U.S. reactors, are leaking cancer-causing tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen. Tritium is a gas that can cross the placenta when dissolved in water, risking birth defects and cancer. There is no minimum threshold below which there is no risk. . .

In California, the Diablo Canyon and San Onofre reactors draw in over 15 billion gallons of sea water for cooling every day. The water is returned to the sea 20 degrees hotter. This kills tens of thousands of fish and crabs and billions of fish larvae every day, and it warms the sea. . .

Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General in New York, called for an immediate shut down of Entergy’s two reactors at Indian Point because of a history of unsafe operations, as well as its proximity to New York City, 42 miles south. These reactors suck up 2.5 billion gallons of water every day and then pour it back into the Hudson River, hot and untreated.

In the article Park Slope Co-op to Bar Food From “Fracking”Areas the management of the co-op states that they will discontinue buying products from areas where hydrofracking is occurring. Go Park Slope Co-op!

From the article:

Hydrofracking is an underground drilling technique that involves high pressure injection of millions of gallons of chemical laced water into a well to crack rock and release natural gas.

Opponents fear it could not only endanger drinking water, but contaminate the soil above and the plants and animals it is supposed to nourish. . .

“As members of the Pride of New York program we have taken our responsibility to buy New York State produced food very seriously,” [Park Slope General Manager Joe] Holtz wrote. “But no one thinking clearly would think for a minute that hydrofracking will not quickly destroy that commitment.

Click here to download the January issue of the shuttle. Click here to read more TTF coverage of natural gas drilling.

Upon returning home, I found this article waiting for me:

44,000 Barrels of Tainted Water Dumped Into Neshaminy Creek
In 2009 and part of 2010, energy company Cabot Oil & Gas trucked more than 44,000 barrels of well wastewater to a treatment facility in Hatfield Township, a Philadelphia suburb. Those liquids were then discharged through the town sewage plant into the Neshaminy Creek, which winds through Bucks and Montgomery counties on its way to the Delaware River.

Read more about the incident here and here.

Gas drilling feels like it is getting a little too close to home for me. Please contact your legislators and let them know that you are committed to clean waterways in Eastern Pennsylvania and they should be, too! TTF is compiling a database of natural gas drilling resources. We will soon be adding a complete list of government representatives in the TTF watershed. Until then, you can search for Pennsylvania legislators here.

Residents of Roxborough, Manayunk, and East Falls have until Sunday to enter. Rules, photos of the contenders, and online entry forms are available at www.phillywatersheds.org/spokesdog.

A public vote will determine finalists. Judges will select the two winners – Roxborough and Manayunk will share a spokesdog, East Falls will get its own – based on “friendly nature, best canine smile, charm, and natural spokesdog abilities.”

And then, the city says, the spokesdogs will be required to attend at least three community events in 2011, at which information will be distributed on “living the eco-friendly dog life.”

What a cool idea! We hope that the TTF watershed will be the next area to hold a spokesdog contest! We would love our very own doggie ambassador!

From the article:

The analysis allowed us to choose ten cities which are likely to face severe shortages in the relatively near-term future. Some of these are likely to be obvious to the reader. The area around Los Angeles was once too dry to sustain the population of a huge city. But, infrastructure was built that allowed water to be pumped in from east of the region. Las Vegas had similar problems. It was part of a great desert until Lake Meade was created by the Hoover dam built on the Colorado river.

Severe droughts that could affect large cities are first a human problem. The competition for water could make life in some of America’s largest cities nearly unbearable for residents. A number of industries rely on regular access to water. Some people would be out of work if these industries had poor prospects for continued operation. The other important trouble that very low water supplies creates is that cities have sold bonds based on their needs for infrastructure to move, clean, and supply water. Credit ratings agencies may not have taken drought issues into account at the level that they should. Extreme disruptions of the water supply of any city would have severe financial consequences.

To see the cities that are at risk, read the rest of the article here.