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F. X. Browne, Inc.'s
Sustainable
Environments
November
2008
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And now good-morrow
to our waking souls,
Which watch not one another out of fear;
For love, all love of other sights controls,
And makes one little room, an every where.
Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone,
Let maps to other, worlds on worlds have shown,
Let us possess one world, each hath one, and is one.
~ from The
Good Morrow by John
Donne
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Editor's
Notes:
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On November 20 Pike, Monroe and
Wayne counties in Pennsylvania will hold a Stormwater/Flood Summit to
help elected officials and the public better understand stormwater and
flooding issues and solutions in these northeast counties.
The York
and Adams
County Conservation Districts are offering their residents 55, 60 or 80
gallon rain
barrel kits to help protect watersheds by reducing the amount of
stormwater getting into local streams. Contact the Conservation
Districts for more information.
Happy Birthday, Wild and Scenic Rivers Act!
Forty years ago, Congress recognized
the importance of protecting America’s last remaining free-flowing
rivers by passing the National Wild and Scenic Rivers
Act. Over the past four decades, more than 165 rivers in 39 states and
Puerto Rico have been permanently protected under the Act.
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Topic
of the Month:
Change
of Season, Change of Website
We
felt the time was right to make some changes and updates to the F. X.
Browne, Inc. Website. So what is new? More...
News Clips:
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New Device Detects Cyanotoxins in
Drinking Water
A Drexel University professor is developing
a device
to quickly detect cyanotoxins in lakes, rivers and streams. More...
A Green Roof and a Green Building
One Pittsburgh office building gets a
green roof while a Philadelphia college building also goes green. More...
Some Marshes Pass Too Much Gas
Marshes pass a lot of gas, which adds to the
global warming problem. One solution: Let them flood, a new study
suggests. More...
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Policy
Update:
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EPA
released its 2008 Report on the Environment: Highlights of
National Trends, a new report that summarizes highlights of
the "EPA's 2008 Report on the Environment" which was
released in May, and provides more scientific and technical
information. |
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EPA is
issuing a new Stormwater Multi-Sector General Permit (MSGP) for an
estimated 4,100 industrial facilities in 29 different sectors to
implement site-specific stormwater pollution prevention plans to
protect water quality. The new MSGP applies to facilities in states and
territories not authorized to implement EPA's National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System program (NPDES).
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The
New York State DEC recently finalized the Catskill Park State Land Master Plan,
designed to guide future
management of the state's 292,000 acres in the Catskill Forest
Preserve. |
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New
York DEC recently announced the finalization of
changes to freshwater fishing regulations for the 2008-2010 seasons.
These new regulations take effect October 1, 2008, and enhance fishing
opportunities for anglers across New York. |
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EPA
has finalized a rule
helping to protect the nation's water quality by requiring
concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) to submit nutrient
management plans with their applications. |
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New
York State DEC has signed
a five-year contract with the Adirondack
Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP), an award-winning program
focused on detecting and eradicating invasive species such as garlic
mustard, Japanese knotweed and purple loosestrife in the Adirondack
Park. |
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The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) annually assesses and
reports on the condition of streams that cross and sometimes re-cross
the New York–Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania–Maryland state lines. SRBC monitors more than 50 locations along the interstate streams.
The most recent findings are available in an interactive web-based
report on SRBC’s Web site. Viewers
can click on any point on the maps to get water quality, biological and
habitat results for each monitoring location.
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Water Efficiency Resource Library Launched
The Alliance for Water Efficiency
has announced
the formal launch of a comprehensive web-based Water Efficiency Resource
Library, in cooperation with the U.S. EPA. Library sections cover residential plumbing and
appliances, toilet testing, landscape and irrigation, commercial and industrial
water conservation, water rates and rate structures, water loss control, codes
and standards, drought planning, and numerous other topics. Research reports,
published documents, and case studies are included, providing a comprehensive
picture of what water efficiency measures prove to be the most successful, and
how water utilities and consumers can best achieve water efficient use. Upcoming
features being added to the site are state-by-state summaries and an on-line
discussion forum. http://www.allianceforwaterefficiency.org
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Tropical
wetlands store 80 percent more carbon than temperate wetlands, reports a
new study that compared ecosystems in Costa Rica and Ohio. William Mitsch
of Ohio State University and colleagues found that the tropical wetland in
Costa Rica accumulated around 1 ton of carbon per acre [2.63 t/ha] per
year, while the temperate wetland in Ohio accumulated 0.6 tons of carbon
per acre [1.4 t/ha] per year.
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New Tools and
Publications:
National Research Council
Releases Report on Urban Stormwater
The National Research Council, Water Sciences and Technology Board has just
released the report "Urban Stormwater Management in the United
States." The study was commissioned by EPA in
2006 to evaluate the NPDES stormwater program and make recommendations
for improvement of the program. The report provides a description of
the history of stormwater management in the United States; an overview of
stormwater regulations and the federal regulatory program; and information on a
number of relevant scientific and technological issues such as hydrology,
geomorphology, biology, monitoring and modeling. The study report is available at: www.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater
The NRC press release is at: http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=12465
New Report Helps Citizens Fight Stormwater Pollution in Their Communities
American Rivers and Midwest Environmental Advocates released a new report,
“Local Water Policy Innovation: A Road Map for Community Based Stormwater
Solutions” to help citizens ensure clean
water in their communities. This report explains how to improve stormwater
policies in local communities and capture the attention of policy makers. http://www.americanrivers.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=11961&news_iv_ctrl=1282
EPA Issues Guide to Help Reduce Wastewater Nutrients
The EPA Office of Water has released a new guide that will help
readers plan cost-effective nutrient removal projects for
municipal wastewater treatment facilities. The Municipal Nutrient Removal Technologies Reference Document presents
detailed technical and cost information about existing nutrient removal
technologies and information on emerging technologies. This document includes
detailed process descriptions, performance and reliability data, and operating
factors for processes that can remove nitrogen, phosphorus, or both from
municipal wastewater. It also includes nine in-depth facility case studies from
around the country and one in Canada. http://www.epa.gov/owm/mtb/index.htm
Government Report Links Factory Farms to Harmful Air Emissions, Water
Pollution
A Government Accountability Office (GAO) study
recently released says that large factory farms, or Concentrated
Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), can emit dangerous levels of airborne
and waterborne pollutants. The report concludes that these operations
can potentially degrade air quality because large amounts of manure may
emit unsafe quantities of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, and particulate
matter, and they can potentially degrade water quality because
pollutants in manure could enter nearby water bodies. http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_110/110_EHM_CAFOGAO.pdf
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Newsletter
Editor/ Design and Layout:
Rebecca
Buerkett
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of F. X. Browne, Inc.'s Sustainable Environments is now available. To be added to our mailing list, please visit
http://www.fxbrowne.com/subscribe.
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F. X.
Browne, Inc. – Environmental Consulting
Engineers – Planners – Scientists
31 Years of Excellence & Innovation
Corporate
Office: Lansdale, PA
Pocono Office: Marshalls Creek, PA
New York Office: Saranac Lake, NY
For more information, call us at (215) 362-3878 or visit:
http://www.fxbrowne.com
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friendly version of the newsletter, click here.
F. X. Browne, Inc. Sustainable Environments by F. X. Browne, Inc. is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Unless otherwise cited, all photos
in this newsletter © Rebecca Buerkett. Photos may not be used or reproduced without
permission.
Clipart from Microsoft
Office Online.
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