Presidential Executive Order: New Strategy for Water Quality

On October 5, 2010, President Obama by Executive Order created the Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force. The first two paragraphs of the Task Force's purpose are copied below:

Section 1. Purpose. The Gulf Coast is a national treasure. Its natural resources are an important economic engine for the entire United States; its waters sustain a diverse and vibrant ecosystem; and the Gulf's culture, natural beauty, and historic significance are unique. Each year, millions of tourists visit the Gulf to vacation, swim, boat, fish, hunt, and bird-watch; and, together, the Gulf's tourism and commercial and recreational fishing industries make a significant contribution to the United States economy. More than 90 percent of the Nation's offshore oil and gas is produced in the Gulf, and it is where nearly one-third of seafood production in the continental United States is harvested.

Gulf Coast

The United States needs a vibrant Gulf Coast, and the Federal Government is committed to helping Gulf Coast residents conserve and restore resilient and healthy ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico and surrounding regions that support the diverse economies, communities, and cultures of the region. To effectively address the damage caused by the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, address the longstanding ecological decline, and begin moving toward a more resilient Gulf Coast ecosystem, ecosystem restoration is needed. Ecosystem restoration will support economic vitality, enhance human health and safety, protect infrastructure, enable communities to better withstand impact from storms and climate change, sustain safe seafood and clean water, provide recreational and cultural opportunities, protect and preserve sites that are of historical and cultural significance, and contribute to the overall resilience of our coastal communities and Nation. (Read entire Executive Order HERE.)

December 5, 2011 the Task Force released a 128 page report entitled: Gulf of Mexico Regional Ecosystem Restoration Strategy

You can read the whole report by visiting the EPA's web site using the above link. The Task Force's goals for the Gulf Coast restoration effort are the following:

Restore and conserve habitat
Restore water quality
Replenish and protect living coastal and marine resources
Enhance community resilience

Gulf Coast Strategy Gulf Coast Task Force Logo

Of course, the "restore water quality" goal caught my eye. The strategy calls for working in the Gulf and upstream in the Mississippi watershed to reduce the flow of nutrients into the Gulf by supporting state nutrient reduction frameworks, new nutrient reduction approaches, and targeted watershed work to reduce agricultural and urban sources of nutrients. The strategy recommends addressing the complex issues surrounding the transport of nutrients in excess to our Gulf coast by broadly supporting action-oriented innovations from all sectors that address both the environmental as well as the economics of effective nutrient management.

The Gulf of Mexico water shed covers 56 percent of the continental United States. The Mississippi River Basin alone drains and estimated 40 percent of the continental United States. Excess nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and pollutants flowing into the Gulf from upstream basins degrades water quality in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Upper White River Basin along with all of Missouri and Arkansas are included in this new Gulf nutrient reduction strategy. At this point, there are many unknowns. As we all know there are already a Gulf Hypoxia Task Force and a Gulf Coast Alliance working on environmental issues. How this new Task Force's water quality strategy will fit in with the existing efforts already underway is still a question mark. And when the Task Force was announced in 2010, it was indicated that Congress would be asked to divert a least a portion of the BP Clean Water Act fines from the Oil Spill Trust Fund to this new Task Force. As far as I can tell, that funding change has not yet happened. Also, will this new strategy have an impact on the nutrient reduction efforts already underway in Missouri and Arkansas? The new strategy seems to address all sources of nutrient pollution including urban and agricultural sources and also will address the economics of the nutrient management strategy. At this point, I just wanted to call everyone's attention to this new wrinkle in the nutrient water quality picture and encourage everyone to stay tuned as we all see what develops. Hopefully we have just added a new nutrient reduction tool to our toolbox and have not just created a new level of government.

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Quote of the Week

We labor long and earnestly for peace, because war threatens the survival of man. It is time we labored with equal passion to defend our environment. A polluted stream can be as lethal as a bullet. - (Senator Alan Bible from Nevada)

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Current News Articles

County Closer To Joining Water Group

by Tony Hermandez - NWA On-Line - Posted December 7th

FAYETTEVILLE

- Some Washington County Quorum Court members hope a $40,000 investment will help scientists verify the amount of pollutants that cross the Oklahoma border through the Illinois River. On Tuesday, the Finance Committee approved spending $40,000 to join and help fund five Northwest Arkansas cities known as the Intergovernmental Working Group on Water and Wastewater Issues. The group formed last year and looks to continue a regional effort in verifying the need and financial viability to achieve a phosphorus standard set by Oklahoma, said Rob Smith of the Northwest Arkansas Council. The cities include Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, Bentonville and Siloam Springs. Benton County also considered joining the group but has not decided, Smith said.

About 10 years ago, Oklahoma set a phosphorus standard of 0.037 milligrams-per-liter and could renew the same standard for the next 10 years, Smith said. Phosphorus at high levels causes algae bloom, depletes oxygen in water and can kill aquatic life. Northwest Arkansas cities have worked through the decade to reduce levels to less than 1 milligram per liter released by wastewater plants, Smith said. The cities have invested millions to reach that goal, he said. "It seems to me that somebody needs to hold Oklahoma accountable for what they are contributing to the Illinois River in Oklahoma," said Justice of the Peace Tom Lundstrum. Lundstrum hopes the group would research the phosphorus levels entering the river through other tributaries within Oklahoma's borders, he said. "The cities in Northwest Arkansas, part of this intergovernmental working group, know they have to meet 0.037," Smith said. "That's the bar. They feel like they have to achieve that and I don't think they want to concern themselves greatly with what's on down the river." (more)

County attorney George Butler said the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Oklahoma has the right to set the level because it sits downstream to flow of the river. Smith told Quorum Court members the group could consider three separate studies, some hopefully by local university professionals. One would examine the true conditions of several locations along the Illinois River. Oklahoma could be relying on phosphorus standards supported by research that looks at other rivers, including rivers in Canada, he said. "Let's forget about studies in Canada and other parts of the United States," Smith said. "Let's look at this river and let's see exactly its condition and study how the aquatic life is responding in it." Justice of the Peace Eva Madison said she understood Lundstrum's view in holding Oklahomans accountable for the same phosphorus levels given to Arkansans. However from a legal standpoint, the state and local governing entities must comply with the current standard and work to protect the governments, businesses and individuals affected by Oklahoma's standard.

Justice of the Peace Candy Clark, committee chairwoman, supported joining the group, at least for a year. The $40,000 gives Washington County officials representation into the group. "I think that once we find out what is possible and what is going on within the river itself, then we can certainly look at our neighbors across the border and have legitimate questions based on scientific groundwork," Clark said. The full Quorum Court meets Thursday night and will vote on joining the group.

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Sewage Treatment Plants May Contribute to Antibiotic Resistance Problem

Science Daily - Dec. 7, 2011

Water discharged into lakes and rivers from municipal sewage treatment plants may contain significant concentrations of the genes that make bacteria antibiotic-resistant. That's the conclusion of a new study on a sewage treatment plant on Lake Superior in the Duluth, Minn., harbor that appears in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Timothy M. LaPara and colleagues explain that antibiotic-resistant bacteria -- a major problem in medicine today -- are abundant in the sewage that enters municipal wastewater treatment plants. Treatment is intended to kill the bacteria, and it removes many of the bacterial genes that cause antibiotic resistance. However, genes or bacteria may be released in effluent from the plant. In an effort to determine the importance of municipal sewage treatment plants as sources of antibiotic resistance genes, the scientists studied releases of those genes at the Duluth facility.

Although the Duluth facility uses some of the most advanced technology for cleaning wastewater -- so-called tertiary treatment -- the study identified it as an important source of antibiotic resistance genes. Sampling of water at 13 locations detected three genes, for instance, that make bacteria resistant to the tetracycline group of antibiotics, which are used to treat conditions ranging from acne to sexually transmitted diseases to anthrax and bubonic plague. LaPara's team says their research demonstrates that even the most high-tech sewage treatment plants may be significant sources of antibiotic resistance genes in waterways. (more)

For more information, and to read more, Click HERE

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Some Water Wells in Wyoming Fracking Community Contaminated, EPA Says

Water Contamination From Shale - Wyoming

Benzene and methane gas have been found in water wells located near hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, operations in Pavillion, Wyoming. According to CNN, federal officials have warned owners of the wells not to drink water from them.

As we've reported previously, the Canadian drilling company EnCana began ramping up gas development in the Pavillion/Muddy Ridge field earlier this decade. Last year, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began sampling in the Pavillion area in response to multiple landowners concerns about changes in water quality and quantity following EnCana's increased drilling. In August of last year, the EPA announced that its initial investigations found 11 of 39 tested drinking water wells were contaminated.

Among the contaminants found then were toxics used in oil and gas production. At that time, the EPA confirmed the presence of 2-butoxyethanol (2-BE), a known constituent in hydraulic fracturing fluids, in three wells. The agency also found methane, as well as adamantanes (a form of hydrocarbon) and six other chemical compounds of concern in Pavillion wells. This, after the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality (WDEQ) and EnCana had continually assured Pavillion residents that there was no evidence of hydrocarbons or toxic chemicals in their drinking water wells.

For more information, click HERE.

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Documents: The Debate Over the Hydrofracking Study's Scope

The New Your Times

In 2010, Congress urged the Environmental Protection Agency to study the environmental impacts of hydrofracking. The study's findings may lead to changes to federal regulation of the industry.

To link to related articles, Click: HERE

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