water

I'm not particularly knowledgeable on energy or water but clearly something ain't right here.

The News and Observer reported today, that the U.S. Department of the Navy will pay $1.53 million to conduct a mortality study to prove that toxic waters did play a role in the deaths of Marines and their families. Here are the basics.

The North Carolina Coastal Resource Commission just finished the first study of sea level rise in the United States. The most significant part of the study was what the report said about what the market has decided about sea level rise.

... even if the public and governments drag their feet on reacting to a changing coast, others aren't waiting to adapt. State Farm, for example, announced this week that it will no longer write or renew insurance policies for structures on barrier islands to reduce its exposure in areas prone to catastrophic events like hurricanes.

I've written on the scam of bottled water many times, but this column at Boston.com today, reminded me that it's never too early to write again.

Below is the text of an email I received today from the North Carolina Conservation Network. It's almost impossible to believe anyone would actually consider asking for or allowing this to happen. Almost...simply because the people we elect seem to be capable of anything.

Due to the public health risks, it is currently illegal in North Carolina to inject treated sewage into our groundwater. However, this week the state legislature is likely to begin committee hearings and could vote on a measure to unravel this public health protection.

We had a nice rain today. I have the windows open and the cross breeze gently passing me as I type is really wonderful. Reminds me of home. But I can't keep from wondering why the farm ponds around here still have not recovered.

I pass a good half dozen of them, ponds that is, between my home in downtown Clayton and my work on Aviation Blvd. These are just open field farm ponds. It doesn't look like any of them are spring fed, but still, not one of them is "full."

We must conserve water. If we do not conserve during a drought, we could run out of water, or have cloudy water as the water systems pump from the bottom of the lake.

Does that mean that our monthly water bills will drop?

I'm not a gambling kind of guy, but if I were, I'd bet that the odds of North Carolina running into these kinds of problems are pretty darn good. If such a scenario had a fifty percent likelihood of unfolding in America's 50 year future, or more specifically, in North Carolina's fifty-year future, what actions would be appropriate for government to take? Cross your fingers and hope the free market will "eventually" succeed? Impose regulations that limit high-consumption uses of water? Pray for rain? Institute the North Carolina Water Lottery? I wonder what the Puppets would say?

Shouldn't $1.6 million dollars of your hard earned North Carolina tax money give you the right to know and refuse exposure to hazardous pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals? If Governor Easley can spend $1.6 million tax payer dollars on a pesticide plan to protect farmworkers shouldn't the plan also include protecting the citizens of North Carolina as well. The plan should be comprehensive and not discriminate between industries, companies, workers, and citizens. Tell the Director of the State Office of Rural Health and Community Care, Mr. John Price to implement a plan that protects everyone's right to know when being exposed to hazardous pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals.

North Carolina is the only state in the country where every part of the state is in a designated Drought condition. Even if you’ve been living under a rock and have missed the media attention you can’t have failed to notice the drying earth beneath you.