Clean Water Blog

The St. Cloud Arts Commission and the St. Cloud Park and Recreation Department  will be hosting the screening of “The River Is Life” at Wilson Park on Wednesday, August 18 at 8:30 pm, as part of The River is Life Tour.

The River is Life Tour, a first in independent filmmaking history, will be movie makers Ryan Jeanes’ and Phillip Hullquist’s second trip down the entire length of the Mississippi River. The creative pair is showing their documentary The River is Life, which depicts their real-life adventures down the Mighty Mississippi - to audiences north and south along America’s Great River.

Jeanes and Hullquist departed in two inflatable Sea Eagle kayaks from Lake Itasca, Minnesota (the source of the Mississippi) in June of 2009 and filmed their exploits - staying in people’s homes, camping along the riverbanks, and contending with windswollen lakes, barge traffic, and massive boat wakes.

Jeanes and Hullquist plan to bring the same sense of fun and adventure they relished on the river to their 42-stop movie tour, where they will present their film in many of the same cities and towns they stayed in almost a year ago. ”The shows will also be outdoors!” Jeanes explains. “This is a first for independent movies. We want to give people a real-life Mississippi experience, so we’ve arranged to show the movie in parks all along the banks of the Mississippi! It’s going to be a festival like atmosphere where, if we do our jobs right, the whole family will have the time of their lives!”

The movie will debut in Minnesota where the duo started their journey. Over the course of three months they will make their way to New Orleans entreating audiences to “share in the adventure” and enjoy a heart-warming film not only about the majesty and wonder America’s most recognizable waterway but also the people that make this nation and this river so great. ”It’s a family piece,” Hullquist says, “it really is. Without the people we met along the way, who shared their lives with us, this film would never have been possible. It promises to be an immensely enjoyable,immensely inspiring film.”

Their ninety-minute film will be presented outdoors, free of charge, at Wilson Park along the Mississippi River. For more information about this event, please visit their website at www.facebook.com/theriverislife or call 320.650.3052.

Backyard composting of certain food scraps and yard trimmings can significantly reduce the amount of waste that needs to be managed by your local government or put in a landfill. When properly composted, these wastes can be turned into natural soil additives for use on lawns and gardens, and used as potting soil for house plants. Finished compost can improve soil texture, increase the ability of the soil to absorb air and water, suppress weed growth, decrease erosion, and reduce the need to apply commercial soil additives.

1. Learn how to compost food scraps and yard trimmings http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/wycd/catbook/compost.htm 
2. Participate in local or regional programs that collect compostable materials. If no program is in place, contact public officials and community leaders about setting one up.
3.  If there’s no room for a compost pile, offer compostable materials to community composting programs or garden projects near you.
4. If you have a yard, allow mown grass clippings to remain on the lawn to decompose and return nutrients back to the soil, rather than bagging and disposing of them.

http://www.iisd.org/publications/pub.aspx?pno=1225  
 
The interesting December 2009 report Peak Phosphorus: Opportunity in the Making was published by the Manitoba-based nonprofit International Institute for Sustainable Development (www.iisd.org). It is subtitled “Why the phosphorus challenge presents a new paradigm for food security and water quality in the Lake Winnipeg Basin.” The 18-page report is available for free downloading from the web site above or directly from http://www.iisd.org/pdf/2010/peak_phosphorus.pdf
 
Peak phosphurus is defined by the authors as “a moment in time when demand for rock phosphate will exceed supply.” The report notes that peak phosphate production was reached in the US in the late 1980s, and that it is possible that peak world extraction could be reached as early as 2030. It also states
that, in recent decades, data show that more phosphate is being extracted than is being discovered.
 
According to the report:
 
“The long-term security of our global food and water supplies may be impacted by the mismanagement of our phosphorus nutrient resources. Essential to plant growth and all life, phosphorus is mined from rock phosphate deposits and synthesized into mineral fertilizers destined for agricultural fields. Easily mined rock phosphate reserves are dwindling, and the contraints this could place on fertilizer production pose risks to our long-term ability to feed the planet.”
 
The authors consider how impending peak phosphorus can actually provide an opportunity for using new approaches to address current environmental problems in Lake Winnipeg’s watershed (the second-largest drainage basin in North America, which includes significant portions of North and Northwest Minnesota as well as portions of three other states and four Canadian provinces). 
 
The report notes how runoff of excess phosphorus from agricultural fields (as well as from urban areas and other sources) is causing serious pollution problems for waters and aquatic ecosystems - because too much phosphorus can lead to rapid algal growth and eutrophication (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eutrophication for general information about eutrophication). Lake Winnipeg, the world’s tenth-largest freshwater lake, is actually the most eutrophic large lake in the world according to the report and is experiencing massive algal blooms.
 
The authors argue that limited supply and a higher price for phosphorus may have a positive side, possibly stimulating more efficient agricultural and other practices that will limit runoff and improve plant uptake of this critical nutrient, as well as leading to greater phosphorus recovery from manure and human and food wastes through advances in wastewater treatment and waste management.  Several options for phosphorus reduction and recovery are noted, which include using struvite to precipitate phosphorus in wastewater, using composting toilets, separating and collecting urine through waterless urinals for use in fertilization, reducing food waste, treating sewage sludge for phosphorus recovery, adopting site-specific nutrient management in agriculture, recovering phosphorus from livestock waste, and other actions. 
 
For those interested in learning more about the broader topic of “peak phosphorus”, see also a recent collection of a range of articles on the topic posted at http://www.energybulletin.net/node/52550  (The comprehensive and frequently-updated Energy Bulletin web site www.energybulletin.net is an excellent source for tracking this issue, as well as others related to resource depletion.) 

MDH has established a new initiative called the Drinking Water Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CEC) program (made possible by the Clean Water Fund from the Clean Water, Land, and Legacy Amendment). The CEC program protects drinking water by identifying contaminants of emerging concern that have the potential to occur in Minnesota drinking water sources. The CEC program also investigates the potential for human exposure to these contaminants and develops guidance values, as applicable. 

Contaminants evaluated under the CEC effort may include industrial chemicals, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and other contaminants that have been released or detected in Minnesota waters (surface water and groundwater) or that have the potential to migrate to or be detected in Minnesota waters. The CEC program seeks to provide health-based guidance for ten contaminants during the current biennium and has identified three contaminants—metribuzin degradates, 1,2,3-trichloropropane and triclosan for evaluation during the current fiscal year.

MDH staff are coordinating outreach efforts regarding the CEC program and have conducted meetings with partners from various state and federal agencies and the University of Minnesota. Additional meetings with various non-profit organizations and industry and stakeholder groups will also be conducted. Those wishing to provide input on the contaminant selection criteria and to participate in upcoming meetings may contact Michele Ross at 651-201-4927 or via e-mail at michele.ross@state.mn.us.