By Sarah Hippensteel Hall, Ph.D., manager of watershed partnerships For many of us, enjoying prairies has been limited to what we saw on (or see in reruns of) TV shows like “Little House on the Prairie.” That’s because by the middle of the 20th century, nearly all of the North American prairie grasslands had been destroyed … Continue reading We need to talk about the birds and the bees
By Mike Ekberg, manager of water resources monitoring and analysis In Part I, we looked at what per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFAS, are and why you should care. In Part II, we looked at their presence in local drinking water. In this final post, we look at the strategies for dealing with PFAS. … Continue reading PFAS Part III — Strategies
By Mike Ekberg, manager of water resource monitoring and analysis You've probably heard about PFAS, but what are they and why are they such a hot topic today? Amazing chemicals PFAS or per- and polyflouroalkyl substances are a group of chemicals developed in the 1940s that can repel water, dirt, and grease; tolerate high temperatures; … Continue reading PFAS Part I — the forever chemicals
MCD has released a new report on Water Stewardship that discusses the region's water challenges and how communities can take action and build resiliency to address those challenges.. Mike Ekberg, MCD manager of water resources monitoring and analysis, and Sarah Hippensteel Hall, manager of watershed partnerships, are currently visiting county commissions and key stakeholders to present … Continue reading Water Stewardship Summary Report 2012-2019
By Mike Ekberg, manager of water monitoring and analysis Drastically reducing nutrient discharges from wastewater treatment plants won’t be enough to further improve water quality in the Great Miami River from Troy to just downstream of Fairfield, Ohio. That’s what a study, funded by 15 regional wastewater treatment plants and cities, showed. Excessive nutrients in water … Continue reading No “silver bullet” to improving Great Miami River water quality
By Mike Ekberg, MCD manager for water resources monitoring and analysis You may have heard me say this before—southwest Ohio is water rich. We have abundant, high-quality, water when compared with other parts of our country and the world. Yet, our region is not without challenges in managing water. Here are five water trends that … Continue reading Top 5 Regional Water Challenges for the 21st Century
By Sarah Hippensteel Hall, water resources manager Guest contributor Although water quality in our rivers and streams has seen great improvements over the past few decades, about 40 percent still fail to meet water quality standards. Excess nutrients – nitrogen and phosphorus -- are a main cause. This failure is triggering additional regulations focused on … Continue reading Using a market-based solution to improve water quality
By Sarah Hippensteel Hall, manager for watershed partnerships Guest contributor Last year, pollution in Lake Erie halted Toledo’s delivery of its drinking water to 400,000 people for several days. It happened when water that Toledo pulls from the lake was found to have dangerously high levels of microcystin, a toxin that is produced by algae. Microcystin … Continue reading Pollution shut down Toledo’s drinking water system – could it happen here?
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