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Nov. 9, 2005

Quote of the Week
"Laziness is nothing more than the habit of resting
before you get tired."
Jules Renard

Born Today
Claude Rains, Hedy Lamarr, Dorothy Dandridge, Carl Sagan
Mary Travers, Tom Fogerty, Lou Ferrigno, Nick Lachey.

On this day in 1965:
The Great Northeast Blackout occurs. The biggest power failure in U.S.
history occurs as all of New York state, portions of seven neighboring states, and parts of eastern Canada are plunged into darkness.

SNOW REPORT

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Photo of the Week

Hood Canal

One of the world's great jewels is under pressure from pollution. Hood Canal's oxygen levels this past spring were the lowest measured in five decades, according to the Washington State Ecology Department. (PHOTO COMPLIMENTS OF DOUGLAS WALCH)

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WASHINGTON LINKS

State of Washington

Counties
Benton
Chelan
Clallam
Clark
Cowlitz
Grant
Grays Harbor
Island
King
Kitsap
Lewis
Mason
Pierce
Skagit
Snohomish
Spokane
Thurston
Walla Walla
Whatcom
Yakima

Cities
Aberdeen
Auburn
Bellevue
Bellingham
Everett
Federal Way
Kennewick
Kent
Kirkland
Lakewood
Olympia
Redmond
Renton
Richland
Seattle
Shoreline
Spokane
Tacoma
Vancouver
Yakima

Dept. of Health, Division of Environmental Health: Office of Drinking Water

Dept. Of Ecology Water Quality Program

Dept. of Fish and Wildlife

Dept. of Natural Resources

Puget Sound Water Quality Action Team

Water Resources of Washington

Washington

— Water Supply

A few wet days is no reason for drought planning to dry up
(Yakima Herald Republic, 11/6) "What drought, you say? This past summer, we were bemoaning a drought so bad that it led to one of the worst episodes of irrigation water rationing on record."
Proposed Jefferson County water use limits on tap
(Port Townsend Leader, 11/5) "Local residents worried about the state Department of Ecology's proposal to reduce the amount of water used by residents of the Quilcene-Snow watershed will have a chance to air their concerns before legislators Nov. 10."
Bacteria found in Olalla water system
(Bremerton Sun, 11/2) "About 1,000 water customers of the Horizon West waster system south of Long Lake have been advised to boil their water after bacteria were discovered in the system."
Another fight over fluoride
(Seattle Times, 11/2) "The state's most bitterly contested political campaign isn't about war or abortion or taxes. It isn't pitting Democrats against Republicans."
Fluoride backers file ad complaint
(Bellingham Herald, 11/2) "An advertising insert calling fluoride 'toxic waste' violates several state election laws, a complaint from a political action committee trying to add fluoride to Bellingham's drinking water claims."

— Water Resources

Silverdale pollution investigation begins
(Kitsap Sun, 11/7) "Kitsap County Health District, which has been investigating pollution sources for years, is about to take on one of its biggest challenges yet — Silverdale's complex stormwater system."
Yakima: Project WET suits teachers just fine
(Yakima Herald Republic, 11/5) "The curriculum gives teachers basic lesson plans — most of which include hands-on activities — to explain how water works, where it comes from and where it goes."
Tacoma: Grease handler fined in 2003 spill
(Tacoma News Tribune, 11/4) "A Portland company hired to clean out the grease traps at 14 Tacoma schools is to blame for spilling 4,000 gallons of the smelly goop into a city storm drain in 2003, state officials said this week."
Experts prepare for big flooding
(Bellingham Herald, 11/3) "After the past two years of late-November flooding along the Nooksack River, Whatcom County's River and Flood Division manager is planning an early Thanksgiving dinner. ' I missed it last year,' Paula Cooper said."
Yakima city, county sign on with regional stormwater plan
(Yakima Herald Republic, 11/2) "Yakima County commissioners and the Yakima City Council approved agreements Tuesday that will see them cooperate with three Valley cities on plans to meet federal stormwater control mandates."

— Wastewater

Rates will rise to keep sewer system afloat
(Bremerton Sun, 11/5) "After years of not collecting enough money, Mason County will increase rates for users of the North Bay Case Inlet Sewer System."

— Hazardous/Toxic Waste

$1 million fine for dumping toxic waste
(Seattle Times, 11/5) "A man who created one of the state's worst toxic waste sites by dumping gasoline, oil and other hazardous material into the ground or down storm drains at an illegal auto-wrecking yard has been fined $1 million and sentenced to nearly three years behind bars."

OREGON LINKS

State of Oregon

Counties
Benton
Clackamas
Deschutes
Douglas
Jackson
Josephine
Klamath
Lane
Linn
Marion
Multnomah
Polk
Umatilla
Washington
Yamhill

Cities
Albany
Beaverton
Bend
Corvallis
Eugene
Grants Pass
Gresham
Hillsboro
Keizer
Lake Oswego
McMinnville
Medford
Oregon City
Portland
Salem
Springfield
Tigard
West Linn
Woodburn

City of Portland: Environmental Services

City of Portland: Water Bureau

Columbia River Gorge Commission

Dept.of Agriculture

Dept. of Energy

Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ)

Dept. of State Lands

Fish And Wildlife Department

Forestry Department

Geology And Mineral Industries

Land Conservation/ Development Dept.

Marine Board

Northwest Electric Power and Conservation Planning Council

Oregon Water Resources Dept.

Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission

Parks And Recreation Dept.

USGS Water Resources of Oregon

Water Resources Dept.

Pacific Northwest Hydrological Observatory

Watershed Enhancement Board

Clean Water Services

Oregon

— Water Supply

Bend's water is safe
(Bend News, 11/2) "The City of Bend's Public Works Department has received numerous calls this morning from citizens in Bend concerned over a news report of an E.Coli outbreak in the water system and on instructions to boil their water."
Bandon residents warned to boil water
(Coos Bay World, 11/7) "The city of Bandon issued a boil-water alert early Sunday morning after heavy rains Saturday and mechanical problems caused a malfunction at the water plant."
Appeals Court tosses plan to settle Oregon water dispute
(Fox News, 11/6) "The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this week threw out the Bush administration's 10-year plan to settle a water dispute between Oregon farmers and environmentalists."
Water board gets earful on Klamath pumping
(Salem Capital Press, 11/4) "Farmers and federal officials can’t expect pumping well water to be a long-term solution for the surface water crunch in the Klamath Basin, Oregon water officials said at a workshop here last week."
Work begins on new reservoir in Ukiah
(East Oregonian, 11/2) "Contractor Michael A. Becker of La Grande moved heavy equipment Tuesday into the work site for a new reservoir and work should begin by the end of the week."

— Water Resources

Invasive snail found in parts of Deschutes River
(Oregonian, 11/6) "A tiny New Zealand mud snail capable of taking nutrients needed by fish has turned up in one of Oregon's more famous trout rivers."
More tests for Mill Creek
(Curry Coastal Pilot, 11/5) "Scientists aren't sure just why Mill Beach is sometimes contaminated with higher than recommended levels of fecal bacteria, but they're going to try to find out."
Western Oregon: Wading through high water
(Oregon Daily Emerald, 11/4) "Unusually heavy rainfall poured on Oregon for days in February 1996. Rising waters in numerous rivers and streams battered areas throughout Western Oregon."
PacifiCorp funding study of reservoir algae
(Oregonian, 11/4) "As a condition of its sale to MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co., PacifiCorp has agreed to spend $450,000 to fund a three-year study of toxic algae found in the reservoirs behind two of its hydroelectric dams on the Klamath River in Northern California."

— Wastewater

DEQ fines Simplot after 80 million gallon wastewater spill
(East Oregonian, 11/4) "The J.R. Simplot Co. has paid a $9,600 penalty to the state Department of Environmental Quality for an 80 million gallon spill of wastewater last April from its storage lagoon just east of Highway 207 near Interstate 84."
Comment period is extended for G-P permit
(Newport News-Times, 11/4) "The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality has extended the period for providing comments on the NPDES (National Pollution Discharge Elimination System) water quality permit for the Georgia-Pacific pulp and paper mill in Toledo."
DEQ seeks input on spill sites monitoring
(Roseburg News-Review, 11/2) "The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is looking to close the files on two cleanups that followed separate diesel and gasoline spills near Riddle and Scottsburg."
Clackamas County too far out on sewer consolidation
(Oregonian, 11/2) "Three ringleaders — Eugene Schoenheit, Jim Knapp and John Hilley — have filed a petition for a referendum that would allow ratepayers in Clackamas County Service District No.1 to vote on whether to join the county's push to close down the Milwaukie wastewater plant and consolidate treatment in Oregon City."

— Everything Else

Watershed moment in fish studies
(Oregonian, 11/7) "The fish couldn't care less about the hullabaloo overhead. The television cameras, the governor, hopeful biologists, children — none of it mattered as much as nature's call."

IDAHO LINKS

State of Idaho

Counties
Ada
Bannock
Bingham
Blaine
Bonner
Bonneville
Canyon
Cassia
Elmore
Kootenai
Latah
Madison
Nez Perce
Payette
Twin Falls

Cities
Blackfoot
Boise
Caldwell
Coeur d' Alene
Eagle
Garden City
Idaho Falls
Jerome
Lewiston
Mackay
Meridian
Moscow
Mountain Home
Nampa
Pocatello
Post Falls
Rexburg
Twin Falls

Falls Water Co.

Idaho Conservation League

Idaho Dept. of Environmental Quality

Idaho Dept. of Water Resources

Idaho Fish and Game

Idaho Ground Water Association

Idaho Operator Certification and Training

Idaho Public Utilities Commission

Idaho Rivers United

Idaho Rural Water Association

Idaho Soil Conservation Commission

Idaho Water Resources Research Institute

United Water Idaho

University of Idaho Water Quality

USGS Water Resources of Idaho

Idaho

— Water Supply

Studies reveal high mercury levels at reservoir
(Twin Falls Times-News, 11/7) "There's something in the water here. And, in the air. You might expect to find high levels of mercury in water bodies near mining operations — not at a remote reservoir southwest of Twin Falls near the Nevada border."
Tribes end objections to water settlement
(Salem Capital Press, 11/4) "The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes are ending their legal objections to a massive water rights settlement between the state of Idaho and the Nez Perce Tribe."
Rains help, but drought isn’t over
(Salem Capital Press, 11/4) "Idaho’s very wet spring definitely helped water supplies, mainly because most growers were able to postpone the start of irrigation season, but the proverbial fat lady isn’t singing yet."
IWUA supports legislation authorizing water supply studies
(IWUA, 11/3) "Idaho's most powerful water user organization has given it's strong backing to legislation that would authorize vitally needed feasibility studies to address water shortages and other water supply challenges within the Snake, Boise, Payette River basins in Idaho."
Developer joins Hauser water group after protest
(Coeur d'Alene Press, 11/2) "Brent Lockhart has decided that if he can't please 'em, join 'em. Lockhart, whose application last summer to withdraw water from Hauser Lake for his proposed 49-lot subdivision was protested by a watershed coalition, has joined that group in an effort to ease concerns."

— Water Resources

Snake River drawdown to aid repairs
(KTVB Boise, 11/7) "Idaho Power Company officials plan to allow more water than usual to be drawn down from the Snake River behind the Milner Dam."
Watershed council keeps Pack River under control
(Salem Capital Press, 11/4) "Pioneers established homesteads close to water for convenience when drinking water had to be hand-carried to the house, one bucket at a time."

— Wastewater

Bellevue to vote on $6 million sewer bond request
(Idaho Mountain Express, 11/4) "Bellevue city officials this week said a proposed $6 million sewer bond is needed to meet higher federal environmental standards and make up for a lack of funds required to replace its outdated wastewater treatment plant. Moreover, they said, the bond would not place any new financial burdens on citizens."
Coeur d'Alene fairgrounds hope for sewer connection
(Coeur d'Alene Press, 11/2) "For the fairgrounds to be connected to the city's sewer system without annexation, City Council put 13 ideas on the table for Kootenai County Commissioners and the fair board to consider Monday."

— Everything Else

Idaho Board of Environmental Quality to meet
(DEQ, 11/4) "The Idaho Board of Environmental Quality will meet at 8:30 a.m., Wednesday and Thursday, November 16 and 17, at the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, State Office Conference Center, 1410 N. Hilton, Boise."

International and National News

— Water Supply

China to build biggest inter-valley water market on earth
(Water World, 11/8) "China will construct the world's biggest inter-valley water market based on its gigantic south-to-north water diversion project."
CWSRF rescission sought to offset hurricane costs
(AWWA, 11/7) "Congressional appropriators are considering a White House plan to rescind $166 million in approved Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) resources to offset some of the federal costs being incurred to help Gulf States recover from this summer's devastating hurricanes."
Using ocean waves to power desalination
(Los Angeles Times, 11/7) "Two Australian companies are claiming they can turn ocean waves into drinking water at very little cost, thanks to a combination of their technologies."
California waterworks pumping water underground
(Los Angeles Daily News, 11/7) "Millions of gallons of California Aqueduct water is being pumped down wells in an effort to store water for drought years and to replenish the Antelope Valley's declining underground aquifer."
Permanent rules for Western drought plan urged
(Rocky Mountain News, 11/3) "Any new drought plan for the Colorado River should include permanent rules on water use, rather than temporary guidelines, as some have proposed, an environmentalist told federal water managers Wednesday evening."

— Water Quality

Drinking water, nitrate and health
(Foodconsumer.org, 11/6) "Human alteration of the nitrogen cycle has resulted in steadily accumulating nitrate in our water resources. The U.S. maximum contaminant level and World Health Organization guidelines for nitrate in drinking water were promulgated to protect infants from developing methemoglobinemia, an acute condition."
China tightens drinking water regulations
(Washington Post, 11/6) "A study says it will cost billions of dollars for cities in China to upgrade their water treatment systems to meet tougher new standards. China's new drinking water standards, launched in June, increase the number of forbidden water pollutants from 35 to 101."
Water Advocates: Make safe water priority
(Water Tech Online, 11/4) "Water Advocates, a U.S.-based nonprofit group, issued a statement urging leaders attending the Global Health Summit to include drinking water and sanitation as a focal point in their effort to address global health needs."
Tool aids defense against microbes in tap water
(Water World, 11/2) "Researchers at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering yesterday announced they've developed a new way to measure microbes' exposure to ultraviolet light."

— Water Resources

New Orleans seeks levees to withstand Category 5 storms
(ENS, 11/7) "Mayor Ray Nagin was in Washington last week seeking federal funds to rebuild the city's levees strong enough to protect against storms with even higher winds and a greater storm surge than Katrina brought."
Problems in Great Lakes are clear
(Boston Globe, 11/6) "From the algae blooms in Lake Erie to the invading zebra mussels in Lake Michigan, threats to the Great Lakes ecology stretch from A to Z. That would include B for bacteria, M for mercury, and T for toxic spills."
Katrina, Rita took huge chunk of Louisiana's coastal marshes
(ENN, 11/4) "Hurricanes Katrina and Rita tore up about 100 square miles of environmentally significant marsh in southeastern Louisiana, federal geologists said Wednesday."
Malfeasance probed in levee failures
(Buffalo News, 11/3) "Investigators Wednesday added a possible new explanation for some of the flooding that devastated New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina: deliberate misconduct by contractors who may have skimped on construction materials in building the city's floodwalls and levees."

— Ocean News

Researchers' findings on ocean bacterial published in Nature
(Gold Hill News, 11/7) "Scientists at Oregon State University have successfully cultured in a laboratory a microorganism with a gene for an alternate form of photochemistry — an advance that may ultimately help shed light on the ecology of the world's oceans."
Ocean path: How the flow of debris goes
(Winston-Salem Journal, 11/6) "Sailors and scientists have long studied the way objects travel across the ocean. In the 1830s, the British and American navies dropped hundreds of thousands of messages in bottles, hoping to map ocean currents, said Curtis Ebbesmeyer, a Seattle oceanographer who edits the nonprofit journal Beachcombers' Alert."

Caribbean reefs bleached by warm water
(Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 11/2) "Unusually warm waters are bleaching coral reefs throughout the Caribbean, raising fears of a die-off of the important organisms, scientists and environmentalists said Wednesday."

— Wastewater

Disposal of drugs poses a dilemma
(Portland Press Herald, 11/6) "It's a regular ritual at nursing homes and a common practice at home: Unused medications are dumped down the drain or flushed down the toilet where they can't be misused and do any harm. Or so we thought."
Are our fish on drugs?
(Water World, 11/5) "'Feeling inferior to its 'largemouth' kin, the depressed smallmouth bass turns to Prozac. Fearing it must remain alert to fend other fish off its turf, the white sucker stays edgy with a steady dose of caffeine. And was that passing musky swimming under the influence of alcohol.'"

— Toxic Waste

Thousands take part in C8 health screenings
(Marietta Times, 11/7) "Ted Johnson worked 35 years at DuPont Co.’s Washington Works plant. Johnson and his wife, Barbara, are among more than 43,000 Mid-Ohio Valley residents who have signed up for tests that could determine if a chemical used to make Teflon has affected their health."
EPA might relax toxic report rules
(Tampa Tribune, 11/3) "For the past 18 years, any citizen with access to a computer could discover what kind of toxic chemicals were being released in his or her community."

— Meetings

Profiting in the Water Industry Conference
(Wall Street Transcript, 11/2) DEC. 1: "Discover the investment opportunities that exist in the water industry. In the U.S. alone, the water industry is expected to grow 7% a year to $150 billion. One factor driving this growth is that America's water systems — some of which were built during the Lincoln administration — are crumbling."

— Everything Else

Scientists: Plan for climate change in Pacific Northwest
(Salem Capital Press, 11/4) "Pacific Northwest farmers and ranchers can plan — and need to plan — for the ways that climate change will affect agriculture. That was the advice offered by scientists, ag researchers, and farmers during a recent conference on global warming."
RWE abandons $17 billion water plan
(Bloomberg, 11/4) "RWE AG, Europe's third-largest utility, plans to sell its U.K. and U.S. water businesses, abandoning a five-year, $17 billion expansion that drained investment away from growing energy markets."

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Mike Milne
Brown and Caldwell
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