Beautifying their Dundas property led husband and wife Steve Albers and Cathy Larson to install a raingarden in the fall of 2007.
The Rice Soil and Water Conservation District continually advocates for raingardens in the area. Raingardens, such as the one shown here, help minimize the amount of run-off rainwater with chemicals in it entering public waters. (Submitted photo)While the garden displays a variety of flowers and plants that attracts butterflies and hummingbirds, it also serves a practical purpose.
A raingarden is a shallow depression in the ground that collects rainwater, said Danielle Waldschmidt, stormwater technician with the Rice Soil and Water Conservation District.
Raingardens act as a filter to remove harmful chemicals and pollutants. Water that enters a raingarden is either used by the plants or percolates through the soil, refreshing the ground water supply, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Dick Huston, a representative of the SWCD’s board of supervisors, said raingardens play a key role in keeping Minnesota water sources as clean as possible.
He said for every homeowner who uses chemicals in their yards to get the greenest grass, those chemicals often wash away to the gutters, sewers and eventually, water.
“Stopping that and putting it in the soil ... the soil will help bleach that out and prevent that going into our lakes and rivers,” he said.
But it’s not only raingardens that can help mitigate issues with the quality of water.
Steve Pahs, district manager of SWCD, said rain barrels, a specially-constructed barrel aimed at collecting rainwater that pours out roof gutters, can help as well.
What’s best about rain barrels, Pahs said, is what’s good for the environment is also good for the pocketbooks of those who use the rain barrels.
“They help reduce the amount of water that runs off buildings and contribute to flash flooding on streams and lake levels,” he said. “They also, for the home owner, save them money because they don’t have to pay for that water.”
For those who do a great deal of watering around the house, whether the yard, plants or garden, the water collected by the rain barrels can help save on the water bill.
Beyond that, when water restrictions are put in place and residents are limited to the amount of water they can use, a rain barrel can come in handy for yellow grass.
The water is typically better for the plants, too, Pahs said, because the water isn’t as hard as the water being pumped from the ground.
According to the DNR, rainwater is naturally “soft,” because it doesn’t have chlorine, lime or calcium in it like municipal water does.
An update to the state’s impaired water list shows there are 3,049 impairments on 388 rivers and 647 lakes, according to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
Impaired water is defined as water not meeting state water quality standards based on various criteria, including clarity and algae growth.
According to the most recent data provided by the MPCA, Rice County has 29 impairments.
Huston says the more raingardens and rain barrels spread throughout the area, the better the chance the waters have to improve.
“They’re really important,” he said.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Saving, conserving water help remove pollutants
Monday, March 22, 2010
World Water Day March 22 -2010
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Thursday, March 18, 2010
Canadian water conservation efforts in decline
TORONTO — According to the Canadian Water Attitudes Study, water conservation efforts in Canada are declining, The Vancouver Sun reported.
Conducted by the Royal Bank and Unilever, the study showed that almost 80 percent of Canadians make a concerted effort to conserve water, but 50 percent of the country leaves the tap running while washing dishes and 20 percent hose down their driveways, according to the story.
“Canadians say they are much more concerned about the availability and quantity of fresh water than any other natural resource, yet their efforts to conserve water are actually decreasing,” said Bob Sandford, the chairman of Canadian Partnership Initiative of the UN Water for Life Decade.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Conserve Water - Fix that Leak!
Now is as good a time as any to fix that leaky faucet -- it's "Fix a Leak Week"!
In recognition of Governor Schwarzenegger's request that Californian's step up their water conservation efforts -- the City of Fresno is reminding residents to cap those leaks.
On average -- more than 10-thousand gallons of water is wasted per household every year due to leaky faucets and toilets.
Simple ways to save water include:
* Replacing old toilets with low flow toilets and/or adjust toilet floats.
* Watering landscapes only when necessary and avoid over-watering.
* Using automatic shut off nozzles on all garden hoses.
* Teaching children to turn off the water when brushing their teeth.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Water shortages may hit northern Rockies
Much of the nation may be snow-weary, but farmers and ranchers who rely on winter snowpack in the northern Rockies for irrigation during the dry months of the growing season could face water shortages this summer unless more snow arrives soon.Wet spring and summer conditions in 2008 and 2009 helped pull the region out of a decade-long drought, but now hydrologists are once again reporting below-average mountain snowpack throughout much of the northern Rockies.
As of early March, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, snowpack was at or near record low levels in many locations from northeastern Utah northward along and near the Idaho border with Montana and Wyoming.
In Spokane, Wash., the winter of 2009-10 has been the least snowy on record, with a mere 13.7 inches of snowfall recorded so far, according to the National Weather Service. The city usually averages more than 46 inches of snow each winter. Experts are concerned that it could be a long summer for irrigators unless the region experiences the kinds of snowfalls that have buried other parts of the country in recent weeks.
MID-WINTER: Sierra snowpack below averageLAST SPRING: Colorado's snowpack slides despite storms"There's not much time to make it up," said hydrologist Phil Morrisey of the Natural Resource Conservation Service in Idaho. "Even an abundant snowfall in March would be unlikely to make much of a difference this late in the season."
Some river basins in eastern Washington, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana are below 50% of their average seasonal snowpack for this time of year, according to Conservation Service snow monitoring data
In the lower Yakima River basin in south-central Washington, snowpack is at about 80% of normal. Conservation Service hydrologist Scott Pattee said four of five reservoirs there will not fill to capacity this spring, which could mean trouble for farmers.
"It's going to mean water rationing for junior water-rights holders," Pattee said. Junior water rights are those issued most recently, he explained. Senior water-rights holders have first rights to irrigation waters. According to hydrologists across the region, most Rocky Mountain river basins typically accumulate 80% to 85% of their seasonal snow by March 1. They said April 1 is when most states in the region reach the peak snowpack.
Long-term forecasts suggest that warm and dry conditions will persist in the final month of the snowy season, meaning many areas have already reached their peak for the season, Pattee said.
The same El Niño climate pattern that brought loads of much-needed moisture to drought-stricken areas through the Southwest, including the typically dry deserts of Southern California and eastern Arizona, is to blame for the drier than usual winter in the northern tier, Pattee said.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
City Brights: Water scofflaws: Go soak your heads (under a low-flow showerhead)
Water scofflaws: Go soak your heads (under a low-flow showerhead)
After years of inaction, blatant and willful violations of federal law, and lack of enforcement by previous administrations, the U.S. Department of Energy has just announced that they intend to pursue enforcement actions against the manufacturers of water-using appliances that violate national water and energy savings laws that have been on the books for nearly 20 years.
A number of very simple, but important, water-using fixtures can be designed to work beautifully and yet save enormous amounts of water. That was the idea behind the water-efficiency standards that passed with the National Energy Policy Act of 1992 (yes, 1992!). That law put in place rules for manufacturers of toilets, showerheads, and faucets. And since those rules went into effect, a huge amount of water, and energy, and money has been saved.
But like all rules and regulations, they are only as good as society's willingness to follow them and government's willingness to enforce them. Almost all of the major manufacturers have done a great job in producing high-quality fixtures that meet the standards. But a few manufacturers have flouted the law by either failing to ensure that their water fixtures met the national standards, or by failing to prove it to federal regulators. And until recently, federal regulators looked the other way, or didn't look at all. (Of course, this isn't the only instance of the complete failure of the federal government to enforce rules already in place to protect the environment, nor is it the most egregious). Five years ago, the Plumbing Manufacturers Institute, California Urban Water Conservation Council, East Bay Municipal Utilities District, and the City of Seattle notified federal and state agencies of independent test results for some commercial showerheads showing blatant violations of the National Energy Policy Act. Yet no action was taken at the time.
That is changing. A couple of weeks ago, the US Department of Energy's Office of the General Counsel issued "Notices of Proposed Civil Penalties" to four manufacturers of showerheads for failing to certify that their products meet the standard flow rate of 2.5 gallons per minute. Unless the manufacturers satisfy the DoE within thirty days, the Department will file action either in District Court or with an Administrative Law Judge.
Water Number: $3,475,120. This is the total of the proposed civil penalties the Department of Energy will impose on these four manufacturers if they fail to certify that their products meet the conservation standards of the law. The cost to society in lost water, higher energy use, unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions, and money out of pocket for homeowners is far, far higher.
Why is this such a big deal, beyond the fact that the law is the law? Water-efficient fixtures save water, energy, wastewater treatment costs, water purification costs, and money for homeowners. When water utility demand is reduced by improvements in efficiency, new costly investment in water supply can be delayed or even prevented. And the numbers add up:
A ten-minute shower using a showerhead that uses 5 gallons per minute, as opposed to one that meets the standard of 2.5 gallons per minute, will use an extra 25 gallons of water. If you take a shower every other day, this could save as much as 4500 gallons of water per year. 4500 gallons would cost me around $30, including my water and wastewater and local sewer costs. But it would also cost me another $14 in natural gas costs just to heat that extra water. That's around $44 a year in savings from an efficient showerhead, which typically costs just a few tens of dollars to buy and install. And these savings come year after year after year. And some of the showerheads found to be violating the standards used 12 or 13 gallons per minute, not just 5. [Another problem is plumbers and architects who are starting to install shower "systems" with multiple showerheads. Each single showerhead might meet the federal standard, but this loophole is certainly a violation of the spirit of the law.]
Source: Peter Gleick
This showerhead is highly efficient (under 2 gallons per minute) and gives a great shower.
Multiply that waste over the population of California, or the United States, and the water and energy savings are massive. In the Pacific Institute's 2003 report on the potential for urban water efficiency improvements, we estimated that if all remaining inefficient California showerheads were swapped out for water-efficient models, they would save 40 billion gallons a year now being used wastefully for showers. And some of the newest, well-designed showerheads flow at 1.5 gallons per minute -- another massive improvement even over the federal standard of 2.5 gpm.
Some studies suggest that shower length can go up when low-flow showerheads are installed, though others actually have found a drop in shower duration. And no doubt some readers will complain about how crummy their showers feel. But well-designed showerheads, even low-flow showerheads, feel great. If you don't like your low-flow showerhead because of the feel, get a good one and maintain it -- the expense is small.
