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Editor's
Notes:
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The 18th
Annual Conference of the Pennsylvania Lake Management Society
(PALMS), Practical Approaches for Lake Management, will be held on October
10-11 in State College, PA.
Are you fascinated by
algae? A new algae blog
by former F. X. Browne, Inc. scientist Michael Martin, CLM offers a discussion of
algae, phytoplankton, and photomicrography, and the on-line Phytoplankton
Image Library.
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Topic
of the Month:
PADEP Approves Innovative Stormwater Management
Technique for Village at Valley Forge
PADEP recently approved a
stormwater management permit under which the developer may use an
innovative stormwater best management practice: discharging treated
stormwater to groundwater via an underground karst piping system. More...
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Statistics developed by
Association of State Dam Safety Officials (ASDSO) show that an
alarming number of dams in the United States pose a threat to human
life and many of them are structurally unsafe.
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There are more than 87,000
dams currently under state regulation
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10,127 have been
classified as high hazard, meaning they pose a serious threat to human
life if they should fail
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Of those high hazard dams,
1,333 have been identified as structurally deficient or unsafe
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The average dam inspector
in the US is responsible for more than 400 dams. The ASDSO recommends
that each inspector is responsible for fewer than 50 dams.
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American Rivers Press
Release, Sept. 6, 2007
For more information on dam removal and dam renovations, contact info@fxbrowne.com.
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News Clips:
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Extensive Storm Damage Prompts Counties to
Update Stormwater Management Plans
In the last decade, Northeastern Pennsylvania has suffered almost
$700 million in property damage from floods. Despite this, eight of the
11 counties covered by the DEP's northeastern office have failed to update their stormwater
management plans as required by law. More...
NALMS launches Blue Green Algae Initiative
The North American Lake Management
Society (NALMS) has launched a new Blue Green Algae Initiative to
address the issue of cyanobacteria
(blue-green algae) toxicity. More...
Seattle Cascade Stormwater Projects
Manage Steep Slopes
Seattle, Washington is gaining national recognition for its
application of low impact development innovations. In one of their newest
projects, a "Cascade" natural drainage design prototype is
being used to treat stormwater from steep residential streets. More...
Transplants: The New Face of Wetland
Mitigation
Wetland compensation has been occurring
for years, but now scientists from Sweet Briar College
are trying to save a vernal pool by performing a wetland transplant to
an area away from a planned new development. More...
Frog Deformities Linked to Farm
Pollution
Fertilizer runoff from farm fields could be causing an increase in frog deformities
in North American lakes, according to a new study. More...
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Policy
Update:
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The PA Environmental Quality
Board published
proposed rules to amend the state’s Safe Drinking Water
regulations. The proposed rulemaking would strengthen the public notice
requirements for imminent threat violations and situations (Tier 1).
Public comments are being accepted until November 21. |
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EPA and the Corps of
Engineers have jointly issued a legal
memorandum that interprets the June 19, 2006 Supreme Court decision
in the consolidated cases Rapanos v. U.S. and Carabell v. U.S. (known as
the "Rapanos" decision). The guidance is being released to
Corps of Engineers and EPA field offices to ensure nationwide
predictability, reliability, and consistency in identifying wetlands,
streams and rivers subject to the Clean Water Act (CWA). |
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A study
featured in the June 1, 2007 issue Environmental Science &
Technology, indicates that fireworks, often held over lakes and other
bodies of water to minimize the risk of fire, can deposit significant
amounts of perchlorate into the water.
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US EPA recently issued a new technical
document that provides an overview on the use of
duration curves for developing Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs).
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The Federal Geographic Data
Committee Wetland Workgoup is working to develop the National
Wetland Mapping Standard, and is accepting public
comments at Heber.Maragaret@epa.gov.
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The U.S. Forest Service and
the U.S. EPA have signed a Memorandum
of Agreement that enables both agencies to increase coordinated
efforts to manage, protect, and restore the health of the Nation's water
resources by improving water quality on National Forests and
Grasslands.
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Halloween Travel Destinations
Are you interested in
real-life ghost stories? then check out these haunted happenings:
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“Nightmare: Ghost Stories,”
inspired by actual
paranormal experiences, is a terrifying 23 room haunted house in New
York City, complete with labyrinth.
Salem,
Massachusetts, home to the Salem Witch Trials, has both
family-friendly and highly frightening spooky happenings planned.
New
Orleans has long been known as a city of voodoo and strange
happenings.
There may or may not be any
actual spirits floating around the Stanley Hotel
in Estes Park, Colorado, but it did serve as Stephen King's main inspiration for the Overlook Hotel
from "The
Shining."
When you check in to the Bates
Motel in Glens Mills, PA,
be prepared for the creepiest haunted hayride, haunted corn maze, and
haunted house tour you'll ever take.
Eastern State
Penitentiary in Philadelphia, PA., a
176-year-old former prison, is creepy enough on its own, but some brilliant
minds have infused it with horror by creating, "Terror Behind the
Walls," for Halloween scares.
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New Chesapeake Bay Report Results –
Bad Water
This Summer
A new Chesapeake Bay Foundation report,
Bad
Waters: Dead Zones, Algal Blooms, and Fish Kills, documents the poor
water quality in the Chesapeake
Bay Region in 2007. The report finds the resiliency of aquatic systems
stressed throughout the region.
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This summer, millions of fish were sick or
killed, from the Susquehanna River in the north, to Baltimore’s Inner
Harbor, and to the Potomac, James, and Shenandoah river systems in the
south. Harmful algal blooms sucked the oxygen out of the water from
Baltimore to Hampton Roads, lasting for months in the Potomac River, and
in some cases producing toxins that killed fish and other aquatic life.
In late August, the area devoid of oxygen
in the Bay’s
mainstem was the fifth largest since the Chesapeake Bay
Program began keeping records in 1985.
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Link of the Month:
New EPA Wastewater Website for Small Communities
US EPA recently launched a new website to help small communities achieve and
maintain sustainable wastewater services. This new site provides information
about grants, funding resources, technical assistance, and training. A
variety of tools is also available on this website to help small communities
plan, design, build, and maintain their wastewater infrastructure. http://www.epa.gov/owm/mab/smcomm/index.htm.
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Spend Halloween with Dracula
2007 marks the 110th
anniversary of the publishing of Bram Stoker's Dracula. To celebrate,
travelers can spend
Halloween
in Transylvania with Vlad the Impaler. The package includes tours of
legendary Transylvanian castles, a Halloween Party in Sighisoara (Dracula's
birth place), instruction in the correct way to make a vampire-killing
stake, and a visit with Dracula's descendants. Survivor's Certificates are
handed out at the farewell dinner that concludes the tour.
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New Tools and
Publications:
CWP Urban Stormater Retrofit Manual Released
The Center for Watershed Protection's new
Urban Stormwater Retrofit Manual outlines the basics of retrofits, describes the 13 unique
locations where they can be found, and presents rapid methods to find, design
and deliver retrofits to meet a wide range of subwatershed objectives. The
concepts of retrofitting are illustrated in more than 75 figures, 150 photos, 60
tables and nine appendices. The manual contains updated costs for retrofit
practices, updated pollutant removal data for stormwater treatment options, a
design point method to estimate individual retrofit removal rates, and practical
tips to support the design, permitting and construction of retrofit projects. http://www.cwp.org/PublicationStore/USRM.htm
NALMS Fundamentals of Urban Runoff Management Document Now Available
A second edition of the popular publication
Fundamentals of Urban Runoff
Management: Technical and Institutional Issues was recently published by the
North American Lake Management Society (NALMS). This document revises an earlier 1994 edition.
The authors sought to update the
original document because of the tremendous amount of new information available
as well as the significant shift in stormwater program direction from the
historic mitigation-based approach to a more source-based approach. http://www.nalms.org/Resources/FundamentalsOfUrbanRunoffManagement.aspx
Pet Waste Outreach Campaign Guide
Published
The New Hampshire DES recently
released a how-to manual providing a step-by-step guide to designing and
implementing a well researched and sound pet waste outreach campaign. The manual
explains how to work with local partners to motivate dog owners/walkers
to pick up after their dogs and dispose of the waste in an environmentally sound
and safe way. It gives readers background information to help decide if they
want to start a pet waste outreach campaign, shows how to implement and promote
a successful campaign, and provides suggested outreach activities, resources,
and examples to make the campaigns easier. http://www.des.state.nh.us/Coastal/scoopthepoop.htm
Invasive Plant Curriculum Now Online
The Bureau of Land
Management recently developed “Alien Invasions - Plants on the Move,” a weed
curriculum for grades K-12. This curriculum is designed for teachers who want to
integrate the topic of invasive weeds in the classroom, develop weed awareness,
and provide students with an understanding of the wide-ranging potential impacts
of invasive weeds. http://www.weedinvasion.org/weeds/weed_home.php
Sediment Assessment Methodology Tools Available
EPA
recently finalized the WARSSS (Watershed Assessment of River Stability and Sediment Supply)
Sediment Assessment Method website,
designed to help watershed managers assess and restore waters with
suspended or bedded sediment problems. The centerpiece of the WARSSS
website is a
step-by-step, three-phase assessment methodology developed by Dr. David
L. Rosgen for detecting sediment problems and source areas, estimating
excessive sediment loads, and planning
to restore normal sediment dynamics in streams and rivers (including development of
TMDLs). Besides the
WARSSS methodology, the site also contains the entire sediment model
WRENSS, a stream classification tutorial, and a large collection of
links to clean sediment information and tools. http://www.epa.gov/warsss
Dr. Rosgen recently released a
book on the same topic, titled Watershed Assessment of River Stability
and Sediment Supply (WARSSS).
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graphic
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Newsletter
Editor/ Design and Layout:
Rebecca
Buerkett
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