I recently participated in a preparedness exercise at a hospital, involving a hurricane scenario that included surgery, pharmacy, food service, safety, maintenance and environmental health services. The facilitator informed the exercise participants that a storm had interrupted water services. He then turned to each group and asked how they would respond. I was concerned to hear that many groups were planning to continue patient care, meal service and instrument sterilization; and none of their plans included a backup water supply. After some time, I asked if they knew who their water utility provider was and if there was a backup water supply to support their plans – the answer was a resounding no.

My experience in this exercise mirrored many others I’ve had; many stakeholder groups outside of the water utility community are ill-prepared to continue essential services during an interruption in water services. The reality is that there are over 600 water main breaks a day in this country causing water service interruptions, not to mention impacts from floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and other severe weather events. In addition, service interruptions can be caused by human error, malfunctioning equipment, and vandalism or other crimes. Being prepared for interruptions in drinking water and wastewater service begins with knowing your local water utility. Do you know who your provider is for both drinking water and wastewater services? If you participate in emergency preparedness training in your community, have you ever considered including drinking water and wastewater service providers so you can learn more about their emergency operations and restoration process? Even if your role in the community or organization does not include exercise participation, this information is valuable and will assist in building your resiliency to water service interruptions.

The Community-Based Water Resiliency initiative assists communities in understanding the importance of including water utilities in emergency preparedness efforts. The Community-Based Water Resiliency (CBWR) electronic tool features a self-assessment for community members to assess their current preparedness and learn more about free tools and resources for improvement. You can help enhance water resiliency in your community by using the tool, which includes access to over 400 free resources on water preparedness. You can also help spread the word about these great, free resources by posting the new CBWR widget on your organization or personal website or blog, as well as by sharing through electronic newsletters, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media outlets.

About the author: Nushat Thomas joined EPA’s Office of Groundwater and Drinking Water in 2009, as an Environmental Protection Specialist in the Water Security Division. She is the project lead for Community-Based Water Resiliency, an initiative to increase awareness of water interdependencies, and enhance water resiliency, at the community level. She is also an Environmental Science Engineering Officer in the DC Army National Guard and worked closely with the water utilities at Fort Bragg to reduce potential impacts of water loss while on active duty.

Clagett Farm, in Upper Marlboro, MD was donated nearly 30 years ago by a family to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. What once was a tobacco farm is now home to an organic farm whose purpose is multidimensional. Its main purpose, though, is education. I recently spent the day with my daughter Gabby as part of a field trip with her middle school. The day consisted of moving grass-fed, free-range cattle and chickens; planting onions and flowers; learning about composting; and how what we do on land directly impacts the quality of the bay’s waters.

Gabby planting sunflower seeds

Gabby

What an amazing way to learn about the environment and how I affect it. I didn’t realize how much my own actions could affect the Chesapeake Bay, but this place called Clagget Farm showed me.

Some of my classmates and I went to Clagett Farm on a field trip. When we arrived, we met Phillip and Melissa, our educators for the day. We played a trivia game in a barn using maps of the Chesapeake and the surrounding area. We learned about how when you plant trees, it keeps the dirt from going into the bay.

Melissa Simmons demonstrates how fertilizer runoff finds its way into the waters of the Chesapeake Bay

I really liked how we learned about how the different surfaces affect the water going into the bay. The suburban lawn with fertilizer on it had dye in it to make it show bright yellow-green so we could see the fertilizer in the water. We also saw how the forest area made the water clean.

I got to plant sunflower seeds and eat bok choy right from the ground. It kind of tasted like lettuce but very fresh.

Herding cows was fun but stepping in cow pies was not. We got to move them from one field to another so they could get fresh grass. The old manure would make the grass grow back so they would be able to move back to the previous area.

What an amazing day! I learned so much about how what I do is connected to the water and the animals both in it and surrounding it.

Danny

The experiment using surface types consisted of a hillside that was prepared with surfaces including urban sprawl, suburban lawn, cover crops, tilled fields and forest. For visual effect, dye was added to the water to illustrate how much fertilizer is washed away versus being absorbed. I liked seeing how Gabby reacted to the bright green color of the water.

Runoff experiment at Clagett Farm

The message being that fertilizer isn’t necessarily bad on lawns in correct amounts; the issue is when too much is applied, it runs eventually into the Chesapeake. But the larger message of the experiment is that paved surfaces, groomed lawns and traditionally tilled fields can negatively affect the Chesapeake Bay, whereas limiting fertilizers, planting cover crops and forested areas positively affect the health of the bay.

About the authors: Danny Hart has been with EPA since 2006. He’s the Associate Director of Web Communications. Gabby Hart is in the 7th Grade, loves dance and wants to be a doctor.

I know phrases like “we need to save the Great Lakes for the next generation” are so often uttered that it can risk becoming a biological bromide (as opposed to a chemical one)…it can become as worn as an old pair of shoes.

In the waning days of Earth Month, I had the chance to help the great staff of the National Park Service coach kids from kindergarten through 8th grade as part of the Great Lakes Junior Park Ranger Program at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Supported by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, with leadership from pros like NPS’s Carmen Chapin, Marcus Key, Phyllis Ellin and Wendy Smith, the program teaches future leaders the importance of native ecosystems using Adopt-a-Beach® and other initiatives. After completing the program, participants get a shiny new Great Lakes Junior Badge. Said one up-and-comer: he loved the Junior Park Ranger Program and helping to save Lake Michigan “because we need to drink water.” Kind of hard to argue with that.

If the Great Lakes Junior Ranger program was any indication, yes, we need to save the Great Lakes for them. But, from what I saw, they’re starting to save the Lakes for themselves. Maybe we need to just get out of their way.

About the author: Cameron Davis is Senior Advisor to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. He provides counsel on Great Lakes matters, including the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

I never really gave much thought about medicine until now. Now I need medicine. Now I am a mother and my kids take medicine. Now I study how medicine is disposed of as part of my job as an environmental scientist. And now, I know just how serious a problem unintentional poisoning can be. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an estimated 142,000 children were seen in emergency rooms in 2004 and 2005 because of medication poisonings, and more than 80 percent of those poisonings were because an unsupervised child found and consumed medications.

I used to keep my medicine in the bathroom under the sink or in the medicine cabinet. I now know that is not a good idea. Besides being subject to steam and heat, the medicine can be reached by my kids if I store it in the bathroom cabinet. Being the little explorers that they are, my kids see cabinets as perfect treasure boxes – all of this little stuff to play with and potentially ingest.

Additionally, pharmaceutical compounds have been detected at low concentrations in our nation’s rivers, lakes, streams and drinking water, leading to concerns that these compounds may affect aquatic life. For these reasons, EPA initiated a study of unused pharmaceutical disposal practices at health care facilities with the goals of understanding one way in which pharmaceuticals enter our waterways and also understanding what factors contribute to pharmaceuticals entering through water. While EPA understands that there are many factors influencing the handling and disposal of pharmaceuticals by the health care industry, the focus of EPA’s study is on disposal into water. EPA decided to study medical facilities because the Agency believes that these facilities dispose of a large quantity of unused pharmaceuticals.

If you have not already done so, take a thorough look at your medicine cabinet. Find a new location to store your medicine that is not in the bathroom and is up high and out of reach of kids. Properly dispose of the medicine that you no longer use. Don’t dump it in the toilet or down the drain – if possible, take it to a prescription drug take-back event this weekend. Chances are there’s a drop-off location in your neighborhood. To find a drug take-back drop-off point, visit the Drug Enforcement Administration’s web page.

About the author: Meghan Hessenauer is an environmental scientist in EPA’s Office of Water. She is writing guidelines for the health care industry on how to manage their unused pharmaceuticals.

Last week, I visited the San Juan Bay National Estuary Program office in Puerto Rico and took a tour of the estuary with the program’s director, Dr. Javier Laureano. San Juan Bay was the first tropical island estuary to become part of the National Estuary Program and, it contains coral communities, seagrass beds and mangrove forests – all habitats designated critical areas. The San Juan Bay program also faces some significant environmental challenges, but Dr. Laureano and his team are making tremendous progress through their partnerships with commonwealth and municipal officials, the local water and wastewater utilities, and dedicated community groups.
We started the day with a boat tour of the waterways that connect to San Juan Bay. It’s an oasis in the Puerto Rico’s largest urban center with almost no development and lots of wildlife, but with significant contamination issues from sewage and stormwater. The National Estuary Program has requested $1.2 million from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund to track all of the sources of untreated sewage into the waterway. We also saw a number of new eco-tourism businesses that the National Estuary Program has helped get off the ground.

A hallmark of this program is its focus on developing economic opportunities for many of the communities located within the National Estuary Program study area because of the poverty they face. In this case, many of the local neighborhoods lack sewage treatment and have clogged stormwater drains as well, so the storms flood the streets, homes and even schools with sewage-laden water.

The trash in the Martin Pena Channel that flows into San Juan Bay and is so deep that you can walk across the former stream at many points. It is a health hazard that EPA is working in partnership with many, including effective community leaders, to address, but it’s a big job and presents a significant financial challenge for this impoverished community.

I also joined EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck and Assistant Administrator Craig Hooks for a meeting and walking tour with representatives of community groups, a visit to a community garden where university students tutor children in the neighborhood and a trip to eroded coastal areas where the National Estuary Program is planting mangrove trees to stabilize and protect the coastline. These projects are a few examples of the great work underway to restore and protect one of the country’s most unique ecosystems in the United States.

About the author: Nancy Stoner is the Acting Assistant Administrator for the EPA’s Office of Water

Before coming to work at the EPA, I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Mozambique, along the southeastern coast of Africa. I didn’t have running water, but at first the school I taught at had a well about 100 yards from my house so getting water was not a problem. It only took a little time out of my day, and I got a little exercise at the same time! After 9 months the pump broke, and they weren’t able to fix it. For the next year, the closest public well was over a kilometer away. Walking 2 kilometers for every 20 liters of water was a big drain on my time.

I was still lucky: I had enough money to hire someone to carry water for me, and as a teacher I was respected enough in the community that people would loan me wheelbarrows or even give me water if they had extra. But many people are not so lucky: UNICEF estimates that women and girls in developing countries walk an average of 6 kilometers a day for water. Even then the water they drink is often not safe. 2.2 million deaths of children are preventable through improvements in the provision of safe drinking water, basic sanitation and hygiene practices.

It’s easy to forget sometimes how fortunate we are to be able to turn a tap and have safe drinking water come out. Here at the EPA, I’m proud of the work I do analyzing drinking water data to help ensure that in the US. To promote the need for access to safe water worldwide, we’re also teaming up with the US Agency for International Development to organize an Earth Day 6K Walk for Water – to reflect the average distance a woman in a third world country must walk daily for water. If you’ll be here in Washington, DC on April 27th, please join us by registering here. No matter where you are, you can do your part for safe drinking water by conserving water in your home.

About the Author: Elinor Keith analyzes drinking water data for the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. Before joining the EPA, she taught high school chemistry in Mozambique for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer.

Looking for ways to demonstrate your commitment to protecting the environment this Earth Day? There are plenty of ways you can help save energy, reduce the pollution in our air, and protect our climate for decades to come. Here are some of my favorite tips that my EPA colleagues recommend for making a difference at home, school, or work.

• Change a Light! The average home has approximately 30 light fixtures. By replacing your home’s five most frequently used light fixtures or the bulbs in them with models that have earned the ENERGY STAR, you can save $70 each year. If every American home did this, we would save $8 billion each year in energy costs and prevent greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from about 10 million cars!
• Reduce your carbon footprint! Leaving your car at home twice a week can cut greenhouse gas emissions by 1,600 pounds per year. Save up errands and shopping trips so you need to drive fewer times. If you commute to work, ask if you can work from home at least some days, and you’ll reduce air pollution and traffic congestion – and save money.
• It’s electric! You can check how much of your electricity comes from clean, renewable sources, such as wind or solar. Green power produces less carbon emissions, reduces air pollution, and helps protect against future costs or scarcity of fossil fuels. If green power is a consumer option, check price differences from suppliers before you buy.
• Breathe easy! On unhealthy air pollution “action alert” days, wait to mow your lawn until it’s cooler in the evening or early the next morning. You help reduce air pollution for everyone near you if you run gas-powered equipment, like lawn mowers, when it’s cooler. You also protect your health by avoiding ground-level ozone during the warmest part of the day. Check your air quality now.

You can find more suggestions at Environmental Tips, but don’t limit yourself to these suggestions. If you have a unique way to celebrate Earth Day, share your tip with us!

About the author: Shanshan Lin is an intern for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation communications team. She is also a graduate student at George Washington University.

Dead zone. It sounds like something out of a zombie movie, and I wish it was. But dead zones, areas of a water body where aquatic life cannot survive because of low oxygen levels, are very real. Dead zones are generally caused by significant nutrient pollution, and are primarily a problem for bays, lakes and coastal waters since they receive excess nutrients, usually nitrogen and phosphorous, from upstream sources. The largest dead zone in the United States – about 6,500 square miles, or roughly the size of Massachusetts – is in the Gulf of Mexico and occurs every summer because of nutrient pollution from the Mississippi River Basin.

Because the dead zone in the Gulf is such a complex problem, addressing it requires a comprehensive strategy on the part of five federal agencies, the states that comprise the Mississippi River basin, farmers, university scientists and many others. Last week, the group charged with giving new life to the Gulf of Mexico dead zone – the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force – met in Memphis, Tennessee.

This meeting wasn’t your ordinary government get together. Jane Hardisty, who works on agricultural issues for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Indiana, gave a great demonstration – think back to high school earth science classes — about the benefits of leaving soil untilled. Davis Minton, who’s been farming his family’s land in Missouri since he was a boy, talked about how wetlands mitigation can help restore the environment and increase profits. And Suzy Friedman from Environmental Defense Fund discussed how evaluating and adapting land management practices can reduce nutrient pollution.

But my favorite part of the meeting was a trip to Stovall Farms in Clarksdale, Mississippi to see a host of nutrient pollution reduction strategies in action. Stovall Farms, which is also the birthplace of the blues musician Muddy Waters, is a roughly 6,000-acre farm that produces corn, cotton, soybeans and wheat. A number of innovative, cost-effective projects across Stovall Farms, which were partially-funded through EPA’s Section 319 Nonpoint Source Program, are designed to more efficiently use water and prevent nutrient-laden soil from leaving the farm.

Addressing nutrient pollution in the Mississippi River Basin is a tremendous task, but I was heartened by all the hard work that I heard about and saw last week. I’m hopeful that all this great work will someday mean that you’ll only hear the term “dead zone” in zombie movies.

About the author: John Senn is the deputy communications director in EPA’s Office of Water in Washington, D.C. Previously, John was a press officer in EPA’s New York City regional office handling issues related to water and Superfund cleanups. He has also worked in EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation and is a member of the Agency’s emergency response team.

Environmental protection takes hard work. Doing the right thing for your environment and your health involves tough choices. Whether you want to save water, save energy, protect natural resources, reduce toxic chemicals, all these actions involve making a choice between a greener option or a less environmentally friendly option. Let me explain.

The greenest option is not always the easiest. For example, you want to save water? You can’t let the water faucet run without end. You can’t take a shower mindlessly. Want some suggestions for water conservation?  Turn off the tap while shaving or brushing your teeth. Take showers instead of baths and the shorter the better.

Over the years, many of us have gotten used to recycling used bottles and cans. However, reducing waste from the outset involves a greater effort. What can you save today? For example, instead of using disposable plastic bags for saving food, save leftovers in reusable durable containers. Look for products that have less packaging. These are some suggestions on how to make greener choices for the environment.

Want additional suggestions on how you can help protect natural resources like water, air, land, and energy? Please visit our Website.  The choices may seem simple, but there is no doubt that they require a conscious decision if you want to incorporate these actions into your daily lifestyle. Doing so will go a long way to having a healthier environment. What have you done for the environment lately? We would love to hear from you.

About the author: Lina Younes is the Multilingual Outreach and Communications Liaison for EPA. Among her duties, she’s responsible for outreach to Hispanic organizations and media. She spearheaded the team that recently launched EPA’s new Spanish website, www.epa.gov/espanol . She manages EPA’s social media efforts in Spanish. She’s currently the editor of EPA’s new Spanish blog, Conversando acerca de nuestro medio ambiente. Prior to joining the agency, she was the Washington bureau chief for two Puerto Rican newspapers and an international radio broadcaster. She has held other positions in and out of the Federal Government.

Ever since my children were young, I tried to instill in them a love for math and science. So, when I saw the news of a new exhibit in the Washington area entitled “MathAlive,” it definitely became part of my “must see” list. Of course, I didn’t mention the title right off the bat. In fact, I told my youngest: “Let’s go see this new exhibit that has interactive snowboarding and you can also invite a friend.” She eagerly said yes to my suggestion. Although, the description pointed out that the exhibit had been designed mostly for middle-schoolers, I decided to take my chances. There were many activities for children of all ages.

The exhibit with interactive displays in English and Spanish included various hands-on-activities that clearly showed how math is an integral part of our daily life. From cooking, to music, sports, construction, transportation, built environments and nature, math is literally everywhere. As part of the exhibit, children were able to conduct some virtual “water testing” using math to determine if water bodies where safe to swim in.  Using math, children saw the direct correlation between contaminants and water conditions. There were similar experiments regarding air quality and other environmental issues. There were other areas focusing on robotics and space exploration.

While children may not have grasped all the math concepts in one visit, I think the exhibit definitely showed how learning about math can be a positive and entertaining experience. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing the exhibit again. MathAlive will also be traveling to other cities in the United States throughout the year. Hope you have the opportunity to see it, too. Hope you’ll share your experiences with us.

About the author: Lina Younes is the Multilingual Outreach and Communications Liaison for EPA. Among her duties, she’s responsible for outreach to Hispanic organizations and media. She spearheaded the team that recently launched EPA’s new Spanish website, www.epa.gov/espanol . She manages EPA’s social media efforts in Spanish. She’s currently the editor of EPA’s new Spanish blog, Conversando acerca de nuestro medio ambiente. Prior to joining the agency, she was the Washington bureau chief for two Puerto Rican newspapers and an international radio broadcaster. She has held other positions in and out of the Federal Government.