SPOKANE, Washington, September 8, 2008 (ENS) – This week, scientists from the Washington state Department of Ecology will begin using a fluorescent dye to study flows in Hangman Creek, also known as Latah Creek. The information is being gathered in an effort to understand how to improve water quality in the creek.

The Hangman Creek watershed drains approximately 431,000 acres and spans across the Washington-Idaho border, draining parts of four counties.

“We want residents along the creek to know that they needn’t worry if they see a slight reddish, fluorescent tint in the stream during the week of September 8th,” said Joe Joy, an environmental scientist for the state agency.

“Using dye for this type of study is very common,” Joy said. “And research has long shown that the dye does not affect human health or aquatic life in any way at the very low concentrations we use.”

Researchers will track the plume of the dye with a fluorometer, an instrument that is able to detect the small amount of dye in the river.

Data collected from the flow test will reveal how long it takes water to move through a given stretch of the creek. The information will be used in computer models to help scientists understand the creek’s water quality problems.

“This flow study is part of Ecology’s efforts to develop a plan that will address low dissolved oxygen and pH impairments in the stream,” said Elaine Snouwaert, who is coordinating the agency’s water quality improvement plans for the Hangman Creek watershed.

Parts of Hangman Creek and several of its tributaries violate dissolved oxygen and pH water quality standards, endangering fish and other aquatic life.

The flow study will help determine the cause of these impairments. Common causes of dissolved oxygen and pH impairments are excess nutrients or sunlight entering the stream. Low stream flow makes these problems worse.

Hangman Creek and its tributaries also fail water quality standards for bacteria, temperature and turbidity. The Department of Ecology is currently working on a plan to address these problems.

The Spokane County Conservation District, too, is working with local residents, interest groups, and government organizations to address water quality issues in the Hangman Creek watershed.

The impacts of population growth, agricultural production, fisheries, and water pollution will be addressed as the project team members work together to develop recommendations for managing water resource and water quantity in the basin.

Upstream influences, land use changes, as well as stream channel and flood plain alterations, over the last 100 years contribute to what district scientists call “flashy” flow conditions and unstable stream banks.

Flows in Hangman Creek range from summer flows as low as 10 cubic feet per second to peak flows in excess of 20,000 cfs. Maximum discharge in Hangman Creek occurs from December through April, resulting from warm Chinook winds that induce rain on snow events. These events produce high turbid flows that can last a few hours to several weeks and occur many times within a season.

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

CHICAGO, Illinois, May 8, 2008 (ENS) – Mercury released from products such as thermometers and dental amalgam is much lower now than it was in 1990, but such releases continue to be a dangerous source of environmental contamination, according to new research conducted by an environmental scientist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA.

Releases to air and land caused by products that contain mercury decreased an estimated 88 percent from 1990 to 2005, and estimated releases to water decreased 83 percent, the new study shows.

Mercury released from products contributes nearly one-third of total mercury emissions to the air in the United States. The study shows that in 2000, mercury-containing products accounted for an estimated 32 percent of mercury releases to air, two percent of mercury releases to land, and four percent of mercury releases to water.

Mercury is also released by coal-burning power plants and factories, from transport and storage of waste because of broken mercury equipment, from cremations because of the mercury contained in dental amalgam used for tooth fillings, and from burn barrels used for trash disposal in rural areas.

“Mercury-containing products such as thermometers, switches and dental products release mercury throughout the product life-cycle, including during production, use and disposal,” says Alexis Cain, lead author of the study and an environmental scientist with the EPA Region 5 based in Chicago.

A broken thermometer spills beads
of mercury. (Photo courtesy
Michigan Dept. Community Health)

Mercury, at high levels, may damage the brain, kidneys, and developing fetus, according to the federal Agency for Toxic Substances.

When mercury falls on water or land, contact with bacteria results in the formation of methylmercury. This form of mercury accumulates in fish populations, jeopardizing the health of children and women of childbearing age who eat the fish.

Mercury’s harmful effects that may be passed from the mother to the fetus include brain damage, mental retardation, incoordination, blindness, seizures, and inability to speak. Children poisoned by mercury may develop problems of their nervous and digestive systems, and kidney damage.

A number of highly-used products release mercury throughout their lifecycles, often in ways that are difficult to measure directly, says Cain. As a result, there has been uncertainty about the magnitude of mercury release into the environment that is associated with these products.

Cain’s study, published in “Journal of Industrial Ecology,” uses a method called substance flow analysis to develop improved estimates of the environmental releases caused by mercury-containing products.

“Substance flow analysis can be used to estimate the mercury releases to air, land and water at different stages of a product lifecycle,” Cain says. “It can also help identify actions that would be effective in minimizing mercury releases.”

The model can be used as a predictive tool to evaluate the potential impact of measures to reduce the use of mercury, to improve the management of mercury wastes or to reduce mercury releases through the installation of mercury control technologies.

Cain says, “Reductions in the mercury content of some products, along with mercury emissions limitations imposed on municipal and medical incinerators, have resulted in significant reductions in mercury releases.”

Campaigns are underway to eliminate mercury in thermometers and dental amalgam, and to discontinue mercury use in energy-saving compact fluorescent light bulbs.

In August 2006, the U.S. EPA announced a national program to remove mercury-containing light switches from scrap vehicles before the vehicles are flattened, shredded, and melted to make new steel.

Together with existing state mercury switch recovery efforts, the National Vehicle Mercury Switch Recovery Program is intended to reduce mercury air emissions from the fourth leading source in the United States – the furnaces used in steel making.

View This Story On Eco–mmunity Map.

Caring about the environment and being in a rock band aren’t two things that are usually readily associated with one another, but the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Take Minnesota band Cloud Cult [www.cloudcult.com] for example; founder, singer and songwriter for the band Craig Minowa is busily leading the band (and the music industry, for that matter) in a greener direction, and he knows his stuff: when not writing, recording or touring with the band, he’s an environmental scientist working for the Organic Consumer’s Association [www.organicconsumers.org]. Though TreeHugger has known about the band for a while now [www.treehugger.com], they’re starting to get noticed for all the right reasons.

Craig established Clout Cult as a not-for-profit, music-centered environmental and philosophical movement. In tandem with the band’s self-created record label, Earthology Records [www.earthology.net], Minowa is doing some pretty exceptional things. Cloud Cult donates all profits, after expenses, to environmental charity work. Instead of creating new plastic, Cloud Cult’s CD is packaged in cleaned reused jewel cases that the band painstakingly hand-cleans for each CD release. The thousands of used jewel cases are donated by the box-load to Earthology from all over the country. Earthology, along with the band’s studio (and Minowa’s home) is located on a small organic farm in Northern Minnesota, is powered by geothermal power and wind energy, and the recording studio is built from recycled and salvaged materials. Cloud Cult CD inserts and print materials are on 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper and printed with non-toxic soy inks by a local, family-owned print shop. Cloud Cult’s CD shrink-wrap is not the industry standard toxic PVC; instead, they are packaging all of their materials in a 100% earth-friendly shrink-wrap, made of non-toxic biodegradable corn cellulose. On tour, the band offsets all of its energy use through renewable energy credits, its van runs on biodiesel and even boasts solar panels on the roof, and also plants trees to offset the shipping and other resource depletion incurred when producing their albums.

All of this green goodness would be easier to dismiss if the band’s music wasn’t very good, but Cloud Cult is gaining recognition as much for its unique sound as for its passionate environmentalism. Featured recently in the New York Times [www.nytimes.com] and by MTV [www.mtv.com], the band’s good work combining eco-friendly alternatives with catchy beats and poetic lyrics also hasn’t gone unnoticed in the environmental community, with features by Grist [www.grist.org] and the Sustainable Style Foundation [www.sustainablestyle.org] highlighting Cloud Cult’s unique, green approach to making music. Their success is a true testament to the power of pop culture used for good, and as long as they’re making music, the industry (and the world) will be a better place for us all. Learn more (and be inspired) at the band’s website [www.cloudcult.com].