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Friday, May 4th, 2012 #1295 |
 | Storms never last
Mark Renz photo art
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Sanibel Fallout - Last Weekend
Every birder dreams of fallout. Today dreams came true at Sanibel Lighthouse park where neotropical migrant birds were pouring in, in historic numbers. A big weather front came through the Gulf of Mexico, migrants came behind it, then got slammed with the strong NW winds which grounded them. The fallout went on all day and will likely continue tomorrow as there are still strong winds.
Here are some of the photos I took, giving a small taste of the amazing and colorful parade of birds. You could see many species just in one tree. Summer Tanagers, like this male, were everywhere. Lillian Stokes |
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Collier tap water crowned Florida's tastiest
Miss America of H2O:
By JESSICA LIPSCOMB
In a state almost completely surrounded by water, a gallon-sized sample of Collier County's tap water was crowned this week the best tasting in Florida.
At the Florida Water Resources Conference in Orlando, judges advanced Collier's water to the second round of competition, including it with three other finalists from 12 regions. In the second round, three judges unanimously agreed that Collier County water was the most delicious in Florida.
"It's a pretty rigorous thing to get there," said Paul Mattaush, Collier County water department director. "We're the Miss America of waters, I guess."
To qualify for the competition, all participating water utilities from the 12 regions submitted a gallon of water taken from their distribution systems no more than 24 hours before judging. All water was kept room temperature to help judges more easily pick up on distinctive odors and tastes.
In Collier, the water is a half-and-half mix of fresh water and water produced with reverse osmosis, Mattaush said.
"It does make a very high-quality product," he said.
At Sea Salt restaurant on Third Street South in Naples, diners sometimes ask if they can taste the tap water before they upgrade to bottled water, manager Liset Celya said.
"We always offer our guests bottled water, but some of them have commented that the tap water tastes better," she said.
Daniel Lockie, a cook and server at Fred's Food, Fun & Spirits on Immokalee Road, said he prefers the taste of local tap water to those of other places he has lived.
"It tastes a lot different than in California and Maryland. Better," he said. "It's all about the ecosystem and the minerals."
Collier County's water sample will next advance to a national competition in Dallas as part of an annual conference hosted by the American Water Works Association in June.
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Take action: Help protect funding for conservation of America's oceans.
U.S. coastal resources add up to a lot:
- $138 billion in annual economic activity.
- 2.3 million jobs.
- 180 million recreational trips to the shore.
On May 8, however, the House of Representatives is expected to consider an amendment that would block funding for the Obama administration's National Ocean Policy. Such an amendment would seriously hamper conservation and management of marine resources and wildlife. The National Ocean Policy is a comprehensive, common-sense way to handle the growing demands on our coasts. It stimulates job creation and economic growth while protecting the health of ecosystems. Additionally, it coordinates more than 140 federal laws and dozens of federal agencies to improve management of our fisheries, prevent water pollution, and protect and restore coastal habitat.
The National Ocean Policy is the country's framework for coping with the competing and growing demands on our oceans and coasts. Urge your representative to oppose any amendment that would block this sensible approach.
Sincerely,
Christopher Mann
Director, Campaign for Healthy Oceans
Pew Environment Group |
http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/oceans/policy
National Ocean Policy
President Obama recognizes that America's stewardship of the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes is intimately linked to national prosperity, environmental sustainability, human health and well-being, adaptation to climate and other environmental change, social justice, foreign policy, and national and homeland security. The Executive Order adopts a National Policy that includes a set of overarching guiding principles for management decisions and actions toward achieving the vision of "an America whose stewardship ensures that the ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes are healthy and resilient, safe and productive, and understood and treasured so as to promote the well-being, prosperity, and security of present and future generations."
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Izaak Walton: Inland Waterways Bill a Bad Deal for Taxpayers and the Environment
As the nation focuses on controlling federal spending and reducing our debt over the long term, the WAVE4 Act (HR 4342) would shift the burden for funding costly inland waterway infrastructure expenses onto taxpayers - possibly leaving taxpayers on the hook for more than $10 billion over the next 20 years. The WAVE4 Act will not fund necessary work to maintain existing locks and dams; instead, it will increase the backlog of needed infrastructure projects.
http://www.congressweb.com/cweb2/index.cfm/siteid/IWLA
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Tri-colored heroness
Mark Renz photo art
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National Briefing on the EPA's Carbon Pollution Standard
Please join the Union of Concerned Scientists, Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator of the Office of Air and Radiation for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and a senior White House official for a briefing on Thursday, May 10, to learn more about the EPA's newly released draft standard that will limit carbon pollution from new power plants.
As you know, we're pumping too much carbon into the atmosphere and it's having a dangerous effect on our climate. This science-based standard is a historic step down the road toward a cleaner, healthier, and more modern energy future for America.
Date: May 10, 2012
Time: 7:00-8:00 p.m. (EDT)
Featured speakers include:
* Gina McCarthy, assistant administrator of the Office of Air and Radiation, Environmental Protection Agency
* Kathleen Rest, executive director, Union of Concerned Scientists
* Angela Anderson, director of the Climate & Energy Program, Union of Concerned Scientists
* And a senior White House official
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This week's Caloosahatchee Condition Report
Seven days of flow, from rainfall and five days of pulse release provided an average 1,216 cfs through S79 to the Caloosahatchee estuary to flush algae out of the Franklin pool that formed following 26 days of no flow. Current conditions show algae accumulations persist and are heaviest on the east side of S79 indicating that additional flow is needed to flush the system.
Flows did moderate surface salinities and reduced chlorides at the Olga Water Treatment plant from 260 - 144 mg/L. Since the release ended on 4/27 salinity in the estuary downstream of S79 has begun increasing.
Surface salinity at Ft. Myers decreased over the past week from 20.1 to 15.5 psu. Salinity at Beautiful Island decreased from 17.7 to 15.6 psu and at the SR 31 Bridge salinities decreased from 12.4 to 7.2 psu. No flow through S79 the past three days has caused salinity to increase downstream of the structure from 6.5 to 10.6 psu. The salinity range in the lower estuary continues to exceed the upper limit of the preferred salinity range for oysters.
Past reports and background information on Caloosahatchee conditions are available online at: http://www.sccf.org/content/201/Caloosahatchee-Condition-Reports.aspx
Rae Ann Wessel
Natural Resource Policy Director
Sanibel Captiva Conservation Foundation
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Watery Foundation has posted a new item |
In Blue Revolution, award-winning journalist Cynthia Barnett reports on the many ways one of the most water-rich nations on the planet has squandered its way to scarcity, and argues the best solution is also the simplest and least expensive: a water ethic for America. ... The first book to call for a national water ethic, Blue Revolution is also a powerful meditation on water and community in America. |
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Price hike expected for flood insurance
South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com
Price hike expected for flood insurance
By William E. Gibson, Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - The National Flood Insurance Program, the only source of coverage for 2.1 million Florida households, will raise its rates by an average of 5 percent in October and maybe as much as 20 percent in high-risk areas over the next few years.
Federal officials also have told Florida insurance agents they can no longer provide discounts of up to 15 percent for their customers.
The looming increases are another jolt to home ownership in the state, especially in coastal areas or along inland waterways near sea level, where lenders cannot finance a mortgage without flood insurance. Some of the riskiest areas may even be excluded from coverage, making further development untenable in those parts of the state.
Higher rates are inevitable as Congress lumbers toward revamping the insurance program, which is mired in more than $18 billion of debt.
"People who receive the most subsidies in risky areas will see big premium increases, probably phased in," predicted Eli Lehrer, national director of the Center on Finance, Insurance and Real Estate at The Heartland Institute in Washington. "Rates have to go up. The real question is: Will the program be sustainable? It cannot continue at the rates it has now."
The impact is especially significant in Florida, home to 2.1 million of the nation's 5.6 million flood-insurance policies. The most vulnerable areas to flooding are on the southern tip of the peninsula below Lake Okeechobee and along the Atlantic coast east of Orlando.
A bill already passed by the House would set premiums more in line with actual risks, which would raise rates in some places and lower them in others. The Senate is considering its own version. Both bills would modernize maps used to designate flood zones and determine rates.
Congress must agree on reforms -- or pass another extension of the current program - by May 31 to prevent it from expiring. The program has lapsed several times in recent years while Congress remained deadlocked, wreaking havoc with Florida real-estate deals because many cannot be closed until flood insurance is secured.
"There could be a short-term blip if closings are delayed," said Mike Larson, a real estate analyst at Weiss Research in Jupiter. "It can change what you owe for closing costs. There are some hitches that could come up if you cannot write flood insurance policies."
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, meanwhile, has informed Florida insurance companies that as of Oct. 1 they will no longer be able to provide "rebates," or discounts that have sliced premiums for some customers by as much as 15 percent.
A Vero Beach company, Statewide Condominium Insurance, has launched a petition drive, rounding up signatures from Florida residents to pressure FEMA to save the rebates. The goal is 100,000 signatures by Aug. 1.
The company says it has rebated more than $2 million a year to its clients, and some other companies are making similar offers.
Homeowners can purchase flood insurance directly from FEMA. But most buy coverage through insurance agents, who typically deal through an intermediary known as "Write Your Own" companies, which acquire policies from FEMA.
The government gets the full premium and shoulders the risk. But some agents in Florida, making use of state law, rebate some of their sales commissions to attract customers.
A FEMA spokesman said the agency decided to quash rebates because the program is "better served by a system of uniform national pricing that will ensure policyholders pay the same price for the same risk."
He noted that 48 other states consider rebates "an illegal inducement to purchase insurance," and that rebates have sparked complaints from competing agents and companies.
FEMA decided that rebates emphasize price over protection and lead to "policy churning," prompting consumers to buy new or replacement policies year after year that drive up operating costs for the program. And rebates can lead to discrimination among policyholders, FEMA concluded.
But ending rebates means that many Floridians will pay more, said Jerry Wahl, president of Statewide Condominium Insurance. "Times are tough," he said, "and we believe all businesses should be permitted to conduct operations in accordance with Florida statutes."
Florida holds 37 percent of policies nationwide.
Of all the cities and counties in the state, unincorporated Miami-Dade Countyhas the most policies by far, with 194,982. Unincorporated Palm Beach County has 72,568, Miami has 48,945, Miami Beach 47,523, Fort Lauderdale 43,299 and unincorporated Broward County 34,809.
Inland Florida generally has less coverage, but some parts are still prone to flooding. Orlando has 3,962 policies, and unincorporated Orange County has 11,744. The risk of flooding gets worse along the Atlantic coast, where unincorporated Brevard County has 27,143 policies.
Wgibson@Tribune.com, 202-824-8256
Copyright © 2012, South Florida Sun-Sentinel |
 | Caloosahatchee undercover
Mark Renz photo art
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Trouble reading this email? Click here.
2011 National Wildlife Federation
11100 Wildlife Center Drive, Reston VA 20190 |
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http://conference.ifas.ufl.edu/INTECOL/
Wetlands are sources, sinks, and transformers of materials and habitats for diverse life forms. They are a source of food, fiber, and clean water for humans, a carbon sink and source, may reduce flood damage, be a site for groundwater reservoirs, be a sink for pollutants, an agent of chemical transformation, a buffer for climate change, and a corridor for migrating animals. Wetlands are complex ecosystems because they are driven by many physical, chemical, and biological processes. This complexity means that understanding wetland ecosystems requires an interdisciplinary approach that engages many specializations, including biology, chemistry, biogeochemistry, ecology, hydrology, pedology, to mention a few.
While many management practices are compatible, not all are adequate to protect wetland resources and sustain wetland values and functions. Climate change, in particular, is one of the major threats to the sustainability and integrity of many ecosystems, including wetlands. Some questions of immediate concern are: (1) how will wetland ecosystem services be affected by changing climatic condition, and (2) are the current adaptive management practices used compatible or adequate to sustain, protect and preserve wetlands and its functions and values? |
It's the phosphorous
Although 30,000 tons of the phosphorus that plagues Lake Okeechobee is located in sediments at the Lake's bottom, it may not be economically, practically, or ecologically feasible to remove these sediments by dredging. Not only would the cost of that effort be astronomical ($3 billion according to a 2003 study commissioned for the SFWMD), but the effort could take an impractically long time given the volume of sediments to be removed.
The SFWMD has estimated that 200 million cubic meters of sediment would need to be dredged to remove all internally loaded sediments from Lake Okeechobee. That is enough to fill 250,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, and "ten times the amount of material removed from any lake in the world." If dredging techniques from another shallow Florida lake (Banana Lake) were used, such dredging this could take as long as 270 years!
In addition, the process could pose unacceptable risks for the Lake's fish and wildlife: dredging would stir up more sediments and expose Lake life to increased turbidity and nutrient levels. The feasibility of dredging was recently studied by SFWMD and its partners as a part of the Lake Okeechobee Sediment Management Feasibility Study. This study concluded that "the no-action" alternative, i.e. no in-lake dredging or chemical treatment, is the preferred alternative.
Instead, the study recommends concentrating control activities in the watershed versus the lake.
(For more information on this study, see Blasland, Bouck & Lee, Inc., Evaluation of Alternatives for the Lake Okeechobee Sediment Management Feasibility Study C-11650: A report prepared for the South Florida Water Management District, April, 2003, . ftp://ftp.sfwmd.gov/pub/slostal/EvaluationofAlternatives.pdf
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 | Embrace change
Mark Renz photo art
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Sincerely,
Eco-Voice Moderator
Eco-Voice, Inc.
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