I was reading the latest edition of "The Water Line", the newsletter from the Lakes of Missouri Volunteer Program when an article caught my eye and I thought I would share parts of it with you.

Over the years, I have received concerned phone calls about potential pollution in Table Rock Lake due to foam on the shoreline and in the water. The first call was from a local marina. They said there was foam on the shoreline and wanted me to come down and take a look. They thought there was a failing septic system or wastewater treatment plant polluting the lake.

Another caller said they had just moved to Table Rock Lake and in the evening there would be a trail of foam in the water. The caller felt certain if we followed that trail to its source, we would find pollution flowing into the lake again from some sort of failing wastewater treatment system. He called me 3 or 4 times and even called the Department of Natural Resources!

Here's the nitty-gritty on foam formation. Water molecules want to cling to each other. At the surface, however, there are fewer water molecules to cling to since there is air above (thus, no water molecules). This results in a stronger bond between those molecules that actually do come in contact with one another, and a "film" of strongly bonded water (see diagram below). This surface film (held together by surface tension) creates a considerable barrier between the atmosphere and the water. In fact, other than mercury, water has the greatest surface tension of any liquid. If the surface tension is reduced, bubbles are more likely to be formed due to the water's reduced ability to "regroup" after agitation. The greater the surface tension, the easier it is for water to pull itself together and force out trapped air.

The surface tension of water varies depending upon the dissolved materials in the water and the temperature. Organic compounds from decomposing plant or animal matter or from actively photosynthesizing plants can reduce the surface tension of lake or stream water. Both detergent and heat reduce water's surface tension, allowing the water to enter smaller pores and fissures. That process is great for forcing dirt out of your clothes. Hard water increases surface tension. Water softeners reverse this effect, reduce the surface tension and ultimately give cleaner clothes and sudsier baths.

In the ocean, much greater quantities of foam can form!

On lakes, in bathtubs and in mugs of beer, the cause for foam is the same. Agitation at the surface causes air to get under the surface film of the water. Weakened surface tension is unable to force the air out, but rather keeps water wrapped around a volume of air, creating a bubble. If this happens for long enough, foam is created. On lakes, the agitation is usually due to wind, and the resulting foam will collect on the downwind side of the lake. Foam trails can be formed by boat wakes. In streams you will see the foam in eddies or floating downstream, and it is created by the flow of the water disturbing the surface film.

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Quote of the Week

"There is no rushing a river. When you go there, you go at the pace of the water and that pace ties you into a flow that is older than life on this planet. Acceptance of that pace, even for a day, changes us, reminds us of other rhythms beyond the sound of our own heartbeats."

~ Jeff Rennicke, River Days: Travels on Western Rivers

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Bill Gates' Plan to Help the Developing World Profit From Its Sewage

Wired

January 6, 2015

Bill Gates walks up to the water tap, but before he can drink, his entourage pulls him to one side. One woman takes off his glasses and rearranges his hair. Another dabs on a little makeup. And, at one point, someone hands him a Mason jar.

Once it's filled with water from the tap, he takes a sip from the jar, and a Gates Foundation photographer captures the moment. Then there's another water-sipping photo-op with Peter Janicki, the man who offered him this drink on the outskirts in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, about 70 miles north of Seattle. "It's water!" Gates says, with mock surprise.

Bill feigns surprise because five minutes ago, the water was human waste pumped in from a local sewage facility. It was transformed into clean water by what's called the OmniProcessor, a new kind of low-cost waste treatment plant funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and designed by Janicki's company, Janicki Bioenergy. On this November day, Gates is taking his first tour of Janicki's contraption, which he believes can transform global sanitation. Using an innovative blend of steam power and water filtration, according to Gates and his foundation, this plant can convert up to 14 tons of sewage into potable water and electricity each day.

To read more, Click: HERE.

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Clean water at stake: Tale of two rivers

NWAonline

January 4, 2015

I suspect the legal and ideological debates between agriculture and regulators over animal waste seeping into designated scenic rivers in Northwest Arkansas will continue for decades. Whether it's potential contamination from the hog factory our state so wrongheadedly permitted in 2012 to operate in the Buffalo National River watershed, or the long-running legal fights over phosphorus pollution in the scenic Illinois that feeds into Lake Tenkiller in eastern Oklahoma, there's much at stake for ensuring the purity of both precious streams.

Ed Brocksmith of Talequah, Okla., a founder and officer of Save the Illinois River, is keeping me abreast of two crucial watershed studies under way with that stream. Each will have significant impacts on future development in Northwest Arkansas and quality of life for all of us who live here. One of those analyses is by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Its title sounds to me like it originated in a Maytag factory: The Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study is required under the U.S. Clean Water Act. "Arkansas and Oklahoma were to have completed a TMDL for the Illinois River decades ago but they failed to," said Brocksmith, who's among the wiser heads in the decades-long dispute over cleaning up the Oklahoma scenic river that happens to wind through the westernmost part of Washington County, Ark. "Scientists are reviewing the results of that study now," he added.

The second watershed examination is the bi-state study by a Baylor University team. "Arkansas requested and financed that study in an attempt to prove that Oklahoma's scenic river phosphorus limit of 0.037 (mg/L) is not a viable limit," said Brocksmith. "These two studies ... will pinpoint the problem that excess nutrients like phosphorus have on water quality and safety and very likely force changes in the way people in the watershed do business," he said. "Cities may have to increase the level of sewage treatment," he said. "The poultry industry and production agriculture will be on the hot seat for their contribution of algae-producing phosphorus. The cost of water, now priced too cheaply, will increase. New regulations will add to the cost of home construction, roads and more."

To read more, Click: HERE.

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Northwest Arkansans Plan To Maintain Forests

NWAonline

December 28, 2014

The estimated 750,000 people living in Northwest Arkansas by 2040 will need more roads and buildings, and that development will affect the area's forests and water quality, planning and environmental experts say. "It's simply a matter of choices," said Michele Halsell, managing director of the Applied Sustainability Center at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas. "We're at a decision point here in this region and in Northwest Arkansas about the kind of place we want to be in the future."

Expansion and development, such as the widening of U.S. 412, is already planned, Halsell said. Development is likely to fill the land where Interstate 49 and U.S. 412 intersect with more building spilling over a few miles on the other side of the highway, she said. Without a regional plan on development and conservation, urban sprawl will take over in Northwest Arkansas, she said. "There is nothing about urban sprawl that is healthy," Halsell said. "It's just a waste."

Planning commission maps illustrate the effect of massive growth on Benton and Washington counties in the past few decades. Highlighted in red, the four major cities, plus Siloam Springs, eat away at surrounding green spaces. The pace of development quickened between 2001 and 2011, records show. The two counties need to "balance between protecting our best open, natural spaces while still being able to grow our region's population and economy," said Rob Smith, spokesman for the Northwest Arkansas Council. The council estimates about 24 people are moving daily to Northwest Arkansas.

To read more, Click: HERE.

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