Wonderful Minnesota Public Radio news article explains how Mankato is using treated wastewater to prevent drawing down of their aquifer. They used to discharge it into the Mississippi, now they use it for cooling towers at a natural gas plant, sweeping streets, and irrigating parks.They reused 400 mill. gallons of water last year! Three quarters of Minnesotans get their drinking water from wells, so protecting the aquifers is important. Since the aquifers recharge the lakes, it is also important to protecting their many lakes. The major concern in reuse? “there are still too many unknowns with wastewater, namely chemicals washed down the drain in low concentrations. There is evidence these contaminants of emerging concern can build up in the environment, including groundwater.”
We can greatly reduce the contaminants in our water by simply not putting pharmaceuticals down the drain or using synthetic pesticides, fertilizers, and weedkillers on our yards. Easy solution to a big problem as water becomes less abundant, even in states where it has always been plentiful.

See my June 9, 2014 OpEd in the Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Increasing temperatures and drought combined with excess fertilizer are causing toxic algae blooms in 21 states. New York has 50 lakes that are affected. While agriculture is a big component of the fertilizer polluting the water, our homes and gardens contribute a significant amount. Homeowners own most of the land in the US and use more chemicals per acre than farmers do. We don’t need these chemicals to have beautiful yards. Our water will be cleaner, our children healthier, and our gardens more vibrant with wildlife if we choose native plants and emphasize soil cultivation and natural care.

The USF&WS issued a policy statement that they will only permit agricultural practices that contribute to protecting fish, wildlife, and the ecosystems that support them by 2016 on National Wildlife Refuge land. The service’s Biological Integrity, Diversity and Environmental Health policy is based on management that restores or mimics natural ecosystems.
To effect this policy they are phasing out the use of neonicotinoid pesticides that are linked to large scale bee deaths, and also GMO or genetically engineered crops. This is because most of these crops are engineered to be resistant to pesticide and depend on widespread use of herbicides to kill everything but the GMO crops. The everything else being wiped out is the natural habitat that many beneficial insects, including bees and butterflies, need to survive. Seeds treated with neonicotinoids are also prohibited because the pesticide persists in the plant.
A refuge manager can submit a proposal to use a neonicotinoid pesticide in a limited, localized, application if they feel that there is no other recourse, but the Pesticide Use Proposal is subjected to strict review.
Many refuges are currently being managed in this manner, so they believe the other refuges will be able to do this without hardship.
The National Wildlife Refuge system covers 144,000 square miles of land and water.

Hallman et al published a paper today in the journal Nature showing that the most widely used neonicotinoid insecticide, imidacloprid, is killing birds. Birds are exposed to the pesticide by eating insects that have ingested it, and eating seeds coated in it, or crops like corn grown from that seed. But the highest declines in bird population were seen where the water concentration of the pesticide was just 20 nano grams per litre. A nanogram is a billionth of a gram. This was associated with decreases in bird populations of 3 1/2% each year. Also thought to be toxic to baby’s brains and nervous systems, this is not something we should be using on our homes, yards and gardens!

(Image Jessica Lucia_Creative Commons)
If you spray pesticides in your yard you are not only killing pests. You are killing good bugs that keep them in balance and the beautiful insects we think of hand in hand with summer and childhood, like butterflies and fireflies. Fireflies emit light without generating heat when the enzyme luciferase acts on the chemical luciferin in the firefly’s tail. There are fewer and fewer fireflies, likely because of many factors, including light pollution that interferes with mating and decreasing amounts of native shrubs and trees. But one major factor is pesticides, and that is easy for us to change. So this Fourth of July holiday enjoy the evenings in healthy yards lit up by fireflies and the wonder and joy they inspire!

(photo credit 5 gyres)
Microbeads are a vivid depiction that what goes down our drains winds up in our drinking water. Microbeads in face scrubs and body wash are the size of fish eggs and aren’t removed by water treatment. There are lots of them going into the Great Lakes, and they pick up and concentrate PCB’s, DDT, and PAH that is in the water. If we stop using face wash with microbeads we will improve our water quality and save our birds.
Erin Crotty, executive Director of Audubon NY is helping work for passage of legislation to ban microbeads in NYS. The NYS Assembly unanimously passed the legislation May 5th, and it now needs to be approved by the state senate and Governor Cuomo to go into effect. Illinois was the first state in the union to enact a ban, with Governor Quinn signing the bill June 8.

Alecia Eberhardt does an awesome job discussing the key points in my book. She asked many insightful questions including “How long do you think it will take to get us back to a cleaner, more pure water supply?” Thank you, Luna Luna!

If you want your child to be the best athlete they can be, make sure they grow up playing on fields that are not treated with synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. These chemicals can affect neurologic development, cause asthma, and even increase their risk of cancer. New York State’s 2011 Safe Child Playing Field Act prohibits the use of pesticides on school playing fields from prekindergarten through high school. Follow New York’s lead and protect your children!

Honeybees love the tiny flowers on my asparagus ferns. They linger long enough that it is easy to see the bright orange pollen sacs on their back legs.

So excited to be nominated as the June finalist for the Healthy Child Healthy World Mom on a Mission! The Great Healthy Yard Project is one simple thing we can all do to improve our water quality and the health of our family. Healthy Child has many easy, doable, things to improve our families health and well being. They have done all of the work thinking through how to make the biggest impact on our daily environment, making it easy for all of us!