It’s almost time to pull out the lawn chairs, open the sparklers, and put on your red, white and blue.  Whether your plans for the Fourth of July are to head to the beach, attend a parade, or simply relax with friends and family, chances are food and drink will be involved.  Here are some suggestions on which products to pick and which to avoid in order to have a safe and healthy holiday.

Let’s start with the meat. According to the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the USDA, summer is the prime time for foodborne illnesses.  But with proper precaution, you can keep your guests from getting sick. Always make sure to cook meats thoroughly (160° on the inside, even steak – see table below and previous entry) and double-check the expiration date on the package. Paying careful attention to the expiration date is especially important because some processors use carbon monoxide gas to keep meat looking red and fresh even if it is several days past its prime. Another thing to look out for is meat marked with the irradiation symbol . Some stores – like Wegmans – promote irradiation as a solution to prevent contamination. But in truth, irradiation does not miraculously purge the product of any and all harmful elements, transforming that steak or patty to sushi-grade meat. In fact, irradiation destroys many vital nutrients and vitamins, and consuming irradiated food may cause immune system failures, tumors and a host of other problems. In addition, the process of irradiation often creates a nasty texture, smell, and taste.

For those of you who plan to serve up seafood, there are a number of things for you to consider as well. Much of the seafood available in the United States is imported from foreign, industrial aquaculture farms.  Bacteria, viruses and parasites thrive in the unsanitary conditions that often characterize these farms, such that some imported fish have been described as “filthy” by inspectors, with Salmonella and other contaminants not uncommon.  Where chemicals and antibiotics (many of which have been outlawed in the United States) are applied in an attempt to eliminate the disease-causing agents, harmful residues can accumulate in the flesh. To protect yourself and your guests, ask your grocers where the product is from and how it was produced. Generally, the best bet is to opt for domestic, wild fish.  A particularly healthy and sustainable option is U.S. troll-caught Mahi Mahi.  If you are set on having salmon, choose U.S. wild Pacific salmon over Atlantic/farmed salmon.  Domestic halibut, whiting, and tilapia are also good choices.  If shellfish is on your menu, again stick to products from the United States.

Now undoubtedly you will need something to drink. But pass up the bottled water and instead treat your guests to tap water (if you will not be near a tap, fill up a cooler before you leave and take it with you).  Bottled water is not safer than tap water; in fact, tap water is better regulated and tested more frequently.  True, there may be impurities and the mineral content may not be to your liking, but these issues can be easily fixed with a simple filter.  Bottled water creates unnecessary garbage and pollution, plus it is expensive (it costs more per unit volume than gas).  So save your money or spend it instead on that fancy cake you’ve been eying.

So remember, when it comes to food, the bottom line is to cook meats and eggs to appropriate temperatures and choose local, sustainably-produced products.  Not only will you be supporting local producers, you will also be protecting your safety and the environment.  For resources and more information, consult the Eat Well Guide. And check out our water filtration guide to learn how to serve the best water in town, straight from your tap.
Have a good Fourth!

What if I told you that your soap might harm you?  And so might your cosmetics, cutting board, carpet, clothes, and many other products.  The culprit is a pesticide called Triclosan. On account of its antibacterial properties, manufacturers have put it into many of the things we interact with everyday. Marketed under the trade names Microban and BioFresh and an unlabeled ingredient in countless products advertising their antimicrobial properties, it can be detected in the blood, urine, and breast milk of people worldwide.  The problem is that research suggests that this chemical may have negative health and environmental effects.  It is thought to interfere with endocrine and cellular processes, contribute to antibiotic resistance, and break down into toxic chemicals such as dioxin and chloroform.  In addition to its effects on humans, it is also toxic to algae, phytoplankton, and other critical aquatic organisms. And it has been accumulating in water, generating concern that it will destroy fragile ecosystems.

So why is it used if it is so bad?  Good question. It is actually not any more effective at killing germs than warm water and a little soap, so its widespread application is unnecessary, little more than a marketing gimmick.  The Environmental Protection Agency is currently reviewing the product to determine if it is safe.  But they have registered it in the past, and their assessment so far has ignored evidence of its risks.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the idea that the things that fill my bathroom, kitchen, and closet could impair my health.  If you feel the same way, tell the EPA to ban non-medical use of Triclosan!

- Darcy White
email

There, amidst California’s coastal redwoods, you shall find Felton, a community of water warriors celebrating victory over the corporate forces that controlled their water.

The 3,000 adult residents of the Felton Water District organized for six years against California American Water, a subsidiary of American Water Works, which itself is part of German energy giant RWE.

Feltonites offered to buy the water system, but got rebuffed big time: RWE leadership stated, flatly, that the system was not for sale at any price and expressed its determination to oppose all public acquisition efforts so that Felton did not start a domino effect of citizens taking control of their water resources.

This was despite the fact that RWE was losing money on its U.S. water investments and wanted out. Even its attempt to unload American Water has been a big flop.

Finally, less than a week to go before a jury was to decide how much Felton needed to pay the company to take the system through eminent domain, Cal-AM and RWE negotiated a sale. San Lorenzo Valley Water District will buy the water system for $10.5 million and manage it for the Felton community.

 Jim Mosher, one of the lawyers representing Felton FLOW – Friends of Locally Owned Water – told Food & Water Watch: “We fought off every one of Cal-Am’s tactics to derail the process. But in the end, our position was completely vindicated.”

Much more about this at “The Fight for Public Water in Felton, California.

Send a high-five to the Felton activists.

Robert Schubert
email • bio

Corporate attempts to label their products as “green” for the sake of turning a fast buck are nothing new. Corporations exist, after all, in order to make money, and capitalizing on whatever is capturing the public’s collective imagination is often the best way of doing so. But Fiji Artisanal Water’s entree into the green movement strikes us as particularly suspect.

The company has recently launched fijigreen.com, a website outlining the ways in which their water is “good for the environment.”

If you’re anything like us, you are probably wondering how this claim could be true.

It can’t. 

While Fiji’s Artisanal Water’s commitment to reducing their packaging, investing in rainforest renewal and reducing their carbon emissions may be applauded by some, these measures are not enough to make them a green company. By definition, bottled water is simply not an environmentally friendly product.

When companies package and sell water, they take a natural resource that falls freely from the sky from communities that need it, stick it in plastic bottles (made from oil, of course), and ship it across the globe to sell it for hundreds, sometimes thousands of times its actual value.  And while Fiji and its cohorts can encourage consumers to recycle, the fact of the matter is that 86% of empty plastic water bottles in the United States end up in the trash, instead of being recycled.

With citizens and governments around the world abuzz with worries of oil shortages, how can companies continue to manufacture a needless product that directly contributes to this impending crisis, let alone have the audacity to proclaim it “green?”

The most sustainable water option isn’t actually green at all (if it were, that would be a bit scary). It’s actually quite clear: tap water.  It’s convenient, delivered through energy-efficient means, and in most cases, is just as healthy and pure as its froufy bottled counterparts--sometimes cleaner.  Even better, it requires spending very little green in order to do something green.

For more on why tap water is a better alternative to bottled, check out our resources at www.takebackthetap.org. Then tell us how you feel about Fiji Artisanal Water’s not-so-green marketing machine.

 

If you were running out of ideas about how to get free money, maybe this will help. We recently read in an article that a Canadian man was awarded $340,000 for finding a fly in his bottled water. Kind of like finding the golden ticket, right?  Except that apparently the lucky guy, Waddah Mustapha, feels that seeing the fly has pretty much ruined his life. Oops.

According to one article, Mustapha and his pregnant wife vomited upon seeing the fly. Mustapha went on to develop severe depression and a phobia of water.  He can’t shower anymore, he can’t drink water. He even lost his sense of humor. (It couldn’t have been that robust to begin with.)

(And while it is certainly unacceptable and unappetizing to have dead animals of any kind in our beverages, it’s worth realizing that all water, even the purest mountain spring water bottled at the source, came out of the ground. And the dirt. And, well, the bugs.)

While the case was later overturned, the decision was made to award Mustapha the money because “the nature of bottled water is to assure ‘purity and cleanliness’ and thus psychiatric injury from finding a bug floating in it was foreseeable.”

What they must not have brought to the trial was any actual information about bottled water. What Mr. Mustapha might be surprised (and nauseated, and depressed) to hear is that bottled water is no cleaner or safer than tap water—in many cases, less so. While the EPA, which regulates tap water, requires testing hundreds of times each month, the FDA literally has one eye watching over bottled water—less than one full-time employee is responsible for its testing, which happens once a week. When tests do happen, bottled water has not passed with flying colors. A study conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council to test 103 different bottled water brands found bacterial or chemical contamination at levels violating “enforceable state standards or warning levels” in about 25% of the brands, and nearly a fifth of tested brands “exceeded state bottled water microbial guidelines in at least some samples.” Some of the chemicals bottled water is likely to contain include DEHP, a type of phthalate that can leach into water from—you guessed it—plastic; and bromate, a possible human carcinogen that can be created in the purification process.

In all honesty, though, Mr. Mustapha’s fears, bogus or not, are not totally off-base. With an aging public water infrastructure and an ever-increasing list of contaminants and pharmaceuticals in our drinking supply, we should take a second to think about what we are drinking. So the impulse to look to bottled water for purity is an understandable one. What consumers need to know, though, is that bottled water is not really a solution to the problems. Since up to 40% of bottled water is tap water anyway, and, as noted above, we have no real guarantee of its cleanliness, the health argument is out. In addition, bottled water companies often create problems for communities by depleting their water supplies. And that’s only the beginning of the long list of environmental reasons to forgo those convenient little bottles. Take, for instance, the 17 million barrels of oil used each year just to produce plastic bottles for water. And though they are recyclable, that doesn’t mean they are recycled; 86% end up in landfills. And even if you aren’t concerned about the environment, most all of us are concerned about our own wallets, which, when we buy bottled, are shelling out hundreds or even thousands of times what we’d pay for tap water. You can read more in our report, Take Back the Tap.

So what is the solution, then?  Food & Water Watch recommends that we urge members of Congress to support a clean water trust fund—a permanent source of funding for maintaining the water systems of our communities. When tap water has problems, we shouldn’t simply put our heads in the sand, trusting that this water is much cleaner just because someone poured it in a bottle and slapped on a picture of mountains. We need to begin funding our public water infrastructure, so that clean water is available to all. Then no one has to be afraid of taking a shower.

-Erica Schuetz
email • bio

This year, the hopeful month of April brings one more reason to be optimistic. New out on the shelves as of the first of this month is the updated version of the classic 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth. And among suggestions for cutting back on energy use, buying organic, and voting “green” is nestled a two-page spread about what you can do to help ensure clean water for all Americans.

Among the suggestions for action are forgoing bottled water, as part of Food & Water Watch’s “Take Back the Tap” campaign, and contacting your legislators to urge support for a Clean Water Trust Fund to ensure a working water system for all Americans.

The book features Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter telling it straight: “If we don’t get control of our crumbling infrastructure, we’re going to time-travel back 200 years when people got dysentery and cholera from their water.” But it doesn’t stop at pointing out the problem; author John Javna offers several tips—and yes, they are simple—for starting a change right now.  This book’s readers can jump right into some of Food & Water Watch’s crucial campaigns—helping to make sure that they’ll be able to jump into their local body of water, too.

-Erica Schuetz
email • bio

Instead of propping up their feet and soaking in the sun for spring break, some dedicated college students braved the chilly Washington, DC weather to do some good for world water.

The next generation of water activists visited the capital last weekend for the World Water Day Summit –– a three–day event drawing over a hundred college students to learn about world water issues and advocate for solutions in the United States. Food & Water Watch helped sponsor the event and hosted a Clean Water Lobbying Day and Grassroots Advocacy Day where students learned about lobbying and grassroots organizing.

World Water Day grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development to draw attention to the critical lack of clean and affordable water worldwide. Students participating in the World Water Day events saw this as an opportunity to urge their Members of Congress to keep water a public resource and human right by investing in the nation’s water infrastructure and creating a clean water trust fund.

Paul Kostuck (pictured), a student from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, visited the office of Congresswoman Moore to ask her for her support of a trust fund that would provide funding for needed water infrastructure projects in Milwaukee and across the country.

“Water security is a very broad issue that affects everyone. I got involved when I took a class on international water issues at Marquette, and learned about some of the water conflicts worldwide. Water should be safe, clean, and affordable for everyone, and I think that change can begin here.”

– Paul Kostuck

If you’re interested in getting students on your campus involved in our water campaign, check out Take Back the Tap.

- Erin Greenfield
email • bio

It was two in the morning when the hospice nurse knocked at our door. My father had died a little over an hour earlier but she was coming, as required by law, to dispose of the painkillers that had been prescribed to him. She gathered all the drugs and poured the morphine down the drain.  

It's some years later and AP has released its own report sounding the alarm about the safety of our drinking water. Our water supply is substituting as a toxic waste dump for pharmaceuticals. AP estimates that at least 41 million Americans may be getting water that includes tiny concentrations of antibiotics, anti–convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones. Currently, there are no federal laws regulating the presence of these drugs and, according to AP's report, the EPA knows of no sewage treatment systems designed to remove them. In addition, the chlorine we add to our water can increase the toxicity of these pharmaceuticals.

It's a wake-up call –– just in time. With bottled water being no safer AND less tested, we have to protect our precious water supply from the disposal of medications. Pharmaceutical companies must be accountable for safely disposing of unused prescriptions.  And we need to take action to support our water infrastructure.  

To the consumer, our advice is the same. Avoid bottled water, drink the water from your public utility and get informed about how to protect it. Find more incentives to take back the tap in our report Take Back the Tap: Why Choosing Tap Water Over Bottled Water is Better for Your Health, Your Pocketbook, and the Environment.

Our water is a public responsibility and that's why Food & Water Watch is working to get a steady and reliable source of funding to keep our water clean and make it safe for our communities. Find out how your state would benefit from the establishment of a clean water trust fund in Clear Waters: Why America Needs a Clean Water Trust Fund.

Finally, help protect our water, sign the petition for a trust fund today.

Another one bites the dust! On March 1st, the city of Stockton, California regained control of its water and sewer utilities after five years of protests and legal battles. The $600 million, 20–year contract with OMI–Thames Water was one of the largest –– and most notorious –– water contracts in the United States. Soon after the company took over the water utility in 2003, numerous problems started occurring such as rate increases higher than promised, increased sewer overflows (major YUCK factor), and poor maintenance of infrastructure. No wonder a group of Stockton citizens got together to fight off this behemoth!

And Stockton isn’t the only city rejecting private control of their water. Recently, a number of cities have started to break ties with their private water provider and instead opt for public ownership of their water services. Places like Cave Creek and Scottsdale, Arizona, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Orcas Island communities in Washington have all found that privatization is not the solution to improving their water woes. Instead, many of them have experienced poor service and increased water rates –– something that is unfortunately common in private takeovers.

However, more and more communities are starting to take action against this consumer rip–off, and are aiming to join the ranks with the 86 percent of Americans who receive their water from public utilities. After all, we have an essential right to safe, affordable water –– a right that should never be subject to interference by private corporations.

- Erin Greenfield
email • bio

Ever wonder how much of California's water is being bottled and sold by water corporations? Assembly Bill 2275, recently introduced in the California legislature, would require companies to disclose how much water they are taking for private profit and label where the water is coming from. If you are a California resident, you can help us pass the bill by contacting your assembly member.

In an era of climate change and increasing scarcity of clean water, Food & Water Watch is working to protect our water as a public trust. Shouldn't we be able to know from where and how much of it is being bottled by Nestle, Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and others for the benefit of their shareholders?

Have you got love for tap water? We’re challenging college students from around the US to declare their love for tap water –– and get it on film. Breaking the bottled water habit means not only recognizing the health, environmental and economic costs of bottled water but also building renewed confidence in tap water that is safe and affordable.

Show your love for tap water by participating in the I Heart Tap Water Video Contest!

Simply produce a 30 second to 3 minute video that includes the following three elements:

1. A declaration of your love for tap water
2. Some discussion about bottled water consumption
3. Make the case for why your school or any campus should give up bottled water

In case you’re not quite feeling motivated enough ponder this. The winner gets fifteen hundred smakeroonies!! So be creative, have fun, and show us your love for tap water. Oh, and be sure to submit your video to us by April 14. To get started, watch this promo video:

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching, and we’re sure that you plan on buying flowers for your sweetie. Did you every stop to think about where those flowers came from?

Turns out that industrial flower farms abound, particularly in the Lake Naivasha region of Kenya, the largest supplier of flowers to the European market. I know you’ve seen the recent news about the violent outbreaks in this region, and yet so many seem more concerned about the fate of the flower farms instead of the people. Go figure.

In any event, it turns out that the plethora of flower farms in the Lake Naivasha region pose a number of serious ecological problems for Kenya’s rivers and for the lake, including loss of water, an unsustainable increase in the population because of the laborers they have attracted, and the overuse of pesticides and fertilizers.

The people who made it possible for you to have those pretty flowers were more than likely low–wage workers who were exposed to pesticides in the production processes. These flower workers suffer from work–related health problems, many of which result from pesticide exposure.

The pesticides applied on the flower farms eventually end up in Lake Naivasha and in the groundwater, endangering the area’s people and wildlife, including hippos, fish, and birds. Take, for instance, the fact that numerous bird and fish species are disappearing from the area. (Lake Naivasha used to be “one of the world’s top ten sites for birds, with more than 350 recorded species.) Plant life has vanished, and the local hippopotamus population has decreased from 1,500 in 2004 to 1,100 in 2006.

We Americans may be thinking to ourselves that we’re really not affected by all of this. However, we have our own flower farm issues, like the demise of the Indiana cut flower industry, to contend with. This sad reality is brought to you by USAID, when they began promoting flower cultivation in Colombia as a substitute for coca production in 1965. Although these imported flowers are less expensive for American consumers, they come at a steep price to both Colombian workers and American growers.

But how do you responsibly express your love? Start with purchasing cut flowers that are both domestically and responsibly grown. Go one better by purchasing flowers cultivated by growers in your region. If you can’t locate a verifiable source for domestically grown cut flowers, consider giving potted plants, instead of bouquets, as gifts. Visit the United Farm Workers of America’s website to find nurseries that have been endorsed for fair treatment of workers.

. . . while sipping an rBGH free latte?

It's just a week into 2008 and already we've seen reason to celebrate—thanks to the work of Food & Water Watch activists and the work of many of our allies, on January 1, Starbucks Coffee Co. officially went rBGH-free! This means that when you order a latte or any drink with milk in it, you can rest assured that none of the cows that produced that milk were treated with the artificial hormone r-BGH. Now that's a reason to raise your glass!

We're also happy to share with you today a brand new website called H2O Conserve that shows us how to do something about our 1,000-plus gallon-a-day habit. We've worked with our friends at Johns Hopkins University, GRACE, and the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility to create this one-of-a-kind online tool to calculate your "water footprint." Be sure to try out this useful new tool!

Here's some more of what you can expect from Food & Water Watch in 2008:

• We'll press for more labeling of foods so that we know where our food is coming from and how it's produced, in order to make better choices about what we feed our families;

• We'll campaign around the country to upgrade and improve our nation's public water systems so everyone has access to clean, affordable water;

• We'll work to stop the Bush administration from parceling out our shared oceans to wealthy corporate interests;

• We'll continue to expose the myth of bottled water purity and work with college campuses and restaurants to choose healthy public tap water instead of the corporate-controlled bottled water.

You can stay up to date on all our campaign by signing up here.

At least that seems like the current situation in the Southeast, where states are facing one of the most severe droughts in history. Many government officials are declaring a state of emergency, and are encouraging residents to limit their water consumption - from taking shorter showers (Governor Sonny Perdue of Georgia has even declared October “Take a Shorter Shower Month”) to not watering their lawns.

Some mayors have even considered raising water rates to further reduce water usage. According to an Atlanta Business Chronicle article, Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin is currently deciding whether to raise rates on irrigation meters (meters that measure outdoor water use on homes) by as much as 100 percent. And some officials are talking about one option that would be would be economically and environmentally damaging: desalination.

Desalination is a process that converts seawater into distilled, drinkable water.  After all, water covers about 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, so we would never run out of water….right?

Although this may seem like a good solution, desalination comes at a high cost that outweighs its potential benefits––literally. It’s the most expensive form of “fresh” water––it costs anywhere from three to ten times more than freshwater sources due to the high price of construction and maintenance of the plants.

Desalination also harms marine ecosystems, promotes unsound coastal zone management, wastes energy, and impacts human health (check out Food & Water Watch’s “Top 10” list of why desalination is so bad).  For example, a number of proposed desalination plants are to be built in estuaries, which are sensitive breeding grounds for aquatic life and the nurseries for young fish. In addition, toxic discharges of highly concentrated brine (water highly concentrated with salt) into the ocean can destroy sensitive marine habitat.

Desalination is just a way to put a thumb in the dike with the growing water supply problem. Instead, officials should focus on better water management practices, such as water conservation and recycling, which get to the root of the problem.

If it’s yellow….well, you know the rest.

        - Erin Greenfield
email • bio

Water News Wednesday
This week has been a very good week for water. Yesterday the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution that recognizes clean water as a national priority, and today Governor Schwarzenegger signed legislation that requires water bottlers to provide essential water quality information to consumers. Considering that the 35th anniversary of the Clean Water Act is tomorrow, October 18th, it looks like we’re heading on the right path for clean and safe water for all.

The resolution passed last night celebrates the progress made since the passage of the Clean Water Act, yet acknowledges the funding crisis our clean water infrastructure is currently facing. We’re glad that Congress stepped up to the plate on this important issue, but as we highlighted in our recent report on clean water infrastructure, what Congress really needs to do is move funding for water out of the contentious appropriations cycle and ensure stable funding for future generations through a clean water trust fund. A clean water trust fund would provide a steady, reliable, and equitable source of funding for needed infrastructure investment across the country. (Find out if your Representative is a clean water leader and say thanks to those who are here!)

On the state level, it looks like California is cracking down on the bottled water industry. As mentioned in an article by Susan Wheeler at WaterTechOnline, Governor Schwarzenegger signed a state senate bill that requires the name and contact information for the bottler or brand owner, in addition to the source of the water, be printed on the bottle label. This will give consumers the opportunity to make informed decisions when purchasing bottled water (considering 40% of bottled water is really just tap water!) The bill will also increase the annual license fee for a water-vending machine from $10.25 to $40.

Although the bill won’t take effect until January 1, 2009, the timing couldn’t have been better. This month we should acknowledge the important steps taken since 1972, and focus on what our government officials need to do to ensure America has clean and safe water for the next thirty-five years and beyond.

- Erin Greenfield
email • bio

Today is the day! The National Call-in Day for Clean Water. If you've already called your Member of Congress, thank you. If you haven't had a chance yet, please take one minute right now to help us flood Congress with calls demanding clean water for all. (No worries if you are reading this after the 11th; call anyway.)

Special interests have targeted water, our most precious resource, as a new profit center—the oil of the 21st century.  On the 35th anniversary of the historic Clean Water Act, it's time to stand up and make sure everyone has access to clean, safe and affordable water.

As early as next week, Congress will vote on whether to support clean, affordable water for future generations, and they need to hear from you.

Today, Food & Water Watch released our latest report in honor of the 35th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. A dozen adorable kids and their parents joined Representative Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter, Peter Raabe of American Rivers, and Ken Kirk of the National Association of Clean Water Agencies, on Capitol Hill today to release the new report. The children donned shirts that read, “I Wanna Be a Clean Water Trust Fund Baby!”

Clear Waters: Why America Needs a Clean Water Trust Fund, is one way we are raising the profile of our nation’s clean water infrastructure needs. The report documents the need for a federal trust fund in order to protect America’s water resources. You can download a free copy of the report, including a fact sheet on the state you live in.

Wastewater infrastructure is essential to keeping our communities livable, lifestyles possible, and industries viable. However, some of our sewer systems are more than 100 years old, and the pipes under our homes and streets are deteriorating at a rapid rate. States and communities rely on funding from the federal government to keep their systems working, but federal spending on clean water has shrunk by two-thirds since 1991.

Now facing substantial project backlogs, states and communities must struggle to make due as old pipes fail, releasing more than one trillion gallons of untreated sewage every year, polluting our environment, and closing record numbers of beaches. The report details this and other consequences of funding shortfalls for each state in the nation.

In order to meet the standards of the Clean Water Act and ensure the future of clean water in the United States, we need a clean water trust fund that safeguards federal funding for water infrastructure from the politicized appropriations process. A clean water trust fund would provide a steady, reliable, and equitable source of funding for needed projects across the country.

Read about this and more in the latest issue of Currents. And be sure to check out more photos from the event on flickr.

But we're not heading for gross preschool potty humor here. This is a serious issue, and Ewww.

Next week, Food & Water Watch is releasing a new report about how lack of funding for aging sewer pipes and treatment plants in states around the country could mean we are heading for a public health crisis.  Most of us don't think that much about the sewer lines, unless a main breaks.  But, but in many communities, sewers carry rain water as well as the nasty stuff and overflows from heavy storms spill 1.28 trillion gallons of waste, bacteria, and toxic chemicals into our waterways every year.

Not only is the problem serious, the problem is invisible.  How would you know if a sewer was overflowing into your river?  It seems that, unless your state or county has a law about it, no one is required to tell you.  Are we depending on our sense of smell?  That obviously doesn't work because EPA estimates between 1.8 million and 3.5 million people get sick from swimming, fishing, or boating in sewage-contaminated water.

Last week, Senator Lautenburg (NJ) introduced a bill in the Senate (S. 2080) to match one introduced this spring by Representatives Bishop (NY) and Lobiondo (NJ) in the House of Representatives (H.R. 2452) to make sure you get notified. It's called the Raw Sewage Overflow Right-to-Know Act.  You can read a nice summary by OMBWatch here.

Creative Commons Licensed Flickr Photo
Originally uploaded by Howdy, I'm H. Michael Karshis.

Texas billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens is one step closer to depleting the Ogallala aquifer. For five years his company, Mesa Water, has been trying to siphon water from the aquifer - located in the Panhandle – to growing cities such as El Paso, Lubbock, San Antonio and Dallas-Fort Worth. Last week Pickens was able to secure a November 6th election for the creation of a fresh water supply district in Roberts County, which would give Pickens free reign over all water use and distribution. Why will he get all the power? It turns out that there are only five people eligible to vote – and all either work for Pickens, support him and live within the proposed district’s boundaries.

Ogallala is already severely depleted, and Pickens plans to pump and sell as much as 200,000 acre-feet/year (AFY). Just to give you an idea of how devastating this would be, the aquifer has a minimal recharge rate of less than one AFY. West Texas farmers rely heavily on the aquifer for water, and if Pickens acquires water rights to 50 more acres to the already 150 acres he owns, he could pump as much as 65 billion gallons of water a year.

A fresh water supply district would also allow Pickens to charge cities exorbitant prices for water – an estimated $1,400 per acre-foot for El Paso, $800 for Dallas, and more than $1,000 for San Antonio. No doubt these prices will trickle down to the citizens of these cities.
 

- Erin Greenfield
email • bio