John Cronin

Clean Water Act: The President, through the Secretary of State, Shall Take Action . . .

Copyright 2009, John Cronin

Photo by Sara Holz, Peace Corps

Section 101 of the Clean Water Act contains the statute's far-reaching, but failed, goals, including the elimination of the discharge of pollutants domestically, and America's foreign policy on water.  A text version of the section follows:

Of Lunar and Human Impacts

If we can crash a machine on the moon . . .

Copyright 2009, John Cronin

Occasionally, the juxtaposition of two disparate events renders both in high relief.  Such is the case with today's announcement by NASA that it set off explosions on the moon's surface in search of water, and the story of drought and human devastation coming out of Africa.

Relief agencies estimate that up to 23 million people in the Horn of Africa now face a mortal threat from thirst and starvation.

This morning, NASA  intentionally crash-landed its LCROSS Centaur rocket and Sheperding Spacecraft on the lunar surface, sending up six-mile dust clouds that are being analyzed for the presence of water.  NASA describes LCROSS as a "fast-track, low-cost" mission of $79 million.  

Let's stipulate that an unflattering numerical comparison is not the real point here.  But what of human imagination?  What of great endeavors? 

On any given day, 1.2 billion people on the planet are without drinking water, due to drought, pollution, pestilence, water diversions, crumbling infrastucture, and inequitable privatization.  Is solving this crisis not as great a human endeavor as a moonshot?  A super-collider? 

The Water It Takes . . .

 

Image: IBM Smarter Planet

What Is A Smarter City?

Copyright 2009, John Cronin

At its Smarter Cities Forum, held today and tomorrow here in New York City, IBM is presenting a 21st century, real-time vision of the nation's, and the planet's, urban centers. 

This afternoon, IBM CEO Sam Palmisano hosted conversations with  Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg, and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg before a standing room audience at the Rose Theater at Lincoln Center.  They described a future where everything, moving and immovable, will be instrumented.  Sensors will deliver information in real-time about the operations of urban systems, behavior of the local environment, where people and traffic are located, and where energy is needed.

Electronic health records will provide up-to-the-minute information available to the patient anywhere, and in any medical office, anytime she or he wants them. 

Education programs will emphasize STEM skills (science, technology, engineering, math) and develop an urban workforce to innovate the next generation of smarter cities.

Cities themselves will be living laboratories of instrumentation, increasing efficiency and providing information about every aspect and condition of their services, radically improving  the management, and reducing the costs, of the urban infrastructure. 

To get the ball rolling in NYC, IBM's Palmisano announced a new urban analytics center in Manhattan that will be home to 550 IBM experts.  IBM's most recent Smarter City Forum took place in Berlin last June.  Its next will be in Shanghai in 2010.

During his remarks, Mayor Bloomberg announced an iPhone app for the city's 311 online information system.

New York Times Takes On "Clean Water"

Poor Enforcement, Declining Water Quality

Toxic Waters, an excellent piece of investigative journalism by The New York Times, presents the paper's report on the condition of the nation's waters.   The findings were disturbing but not surprising: lax enforcement,  a decline in water quality, toxic threats, and an outmoded law -- though the Times stopped short of detailing the latter.

The failed status of the Clean Water Act itself is under-reported.  The law has not achieved one of its major policy goals, and has failed to spur the era of innovation, and research and development, its authors anticipated and upon which the law's success depends.  The failure to innovate has perpetuated outmoded and primitive treatment technologies that are costly to operate and maintain -- no small enticement for some dischargers to risk violating the law. 

The map above is a link to the New York Times map of states and their un-enforced Clean Water Act violations.  That map page also links to the Times' series, including interactive media that allow you to learn more about dischargers  in your area.  

Also, see my other posts about the Clean Water Act that immediately precede this one. 

Imagine No Pollution

The Future, and the Failed Clean Water Act

Copyright 2009, John Cronin

The Clean Water Act has failed.  It is time for a new law.

There is a mistaken, popular belief that the central purpose of the 1972 Clean Water Act is to bring to justice the bad guys who are polluting the nation’s waters.

The Clean Water Act was written to create a global market place based on American innovation that would end pollution in our lifetime, and “restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the nation’s waters.” 

But a list of the Clean Water Act's failed policies reads like an indictment of the law itself.

The first policy goal on the first page of the Clean Water Act is the elimination of the discharge of pollutants by 1985.

The law also sets a goal of making the nation’s waters fit for sports and recreation, and for fish and wildlife by July 1983.

It calls for management plans to end pollution from runoff, protect watersheds, and enhance water resources, in keeping with the 1983 and 1985 goals.

It requires the cessation of toxic discharges in toxic amounts.

It establishes a sweeping domestic and foreign policy on water designed to protect life and health here and abroad.

Indeed, the enormity of the Clean Water Act’s failure can be measured in lives.  The law directs the Secretary of State to assist other nations in eradicating their water problems to “at least the same extent as the United States does under its laws.”  But since the Clean Water Act was enacted, an estimated 70 - 100 million people, mostly children in the developing world, have died from diseases related to water pollution.  The Pacific Institute estimates that between 36 million and 70 million will die by 2020.

Cry Out for Kenya

Drought, Politics, Climate Change and Corruption Decimate the Horn of Africa

As Rivers Dry Up, Children, Livestock & Crops Die

The number of Kenyans in urgent need of food aid has jumped by more than 50 per cent to nearly 4 million, according to official figures, as the country is hit by mass hunger as well as shortages of power and water. The immediate cause of the three-fold crisis is a prolonged drought, but critics of Kenya's dysfunctional coalition government blame it for failing to mitigate the drought's effects, in spite of clear warning signs.   Kenya Coalition under Fire as Drought Leaves 4m Starving -- Financial Times

What Do PCBs Look Like?

A Dredging Photo Album

Copyright 2009, John Cronin

Many people have asked what General Electric's PCB dredging operation looks like.  Click the image below to link to an album of photos I took on June 15, a rainy Hudson River day punctuated by roving thunder and lightning.  The river around Fort Edward has been transformed into a mini-Mississippi of barges, workboats, tugs, laborers and engineers.  Local eateries stay open for the night crews, and there is the makings of a dredging tourism business.  It is fascinating to observe the activity and the breadth of the full operation.  And it is a beautiful part of New York State.  I recommend the trip.  While you're there, patronize local business.

For updates on the progress of the cleanup, visit EPA's Hudson River superfund website or visit GE's special dredging website.

Taking Questions on PCBs - Pt. 3

From June 17 - 19  I was the guest blogger on The New York Times' "Taking Questions" feature of its City Room blog.  The topic was "General Electric's project to remove PCBs from the Hudson River."   The Times asked that I respond to 5 reader-submitted questions daily.   Part 3 of the selected questions and my answers follows,  just as it appeared on the The New York Times site:

Because so many inquiries about swimming have been posted, I feel obligated to clarify and expand on the quick summary I presented in a previous post:

— John Cronin

Kristen Skopeck, the Hudson River community involvement coordinator for the Environmental Protection Agency, tells me that swimming also tops the list of questions she receives at her Hudson River field office at 421 Lower Main Street in Hudson Falls, N.Y. This is a measure of the public attention accorded the dredging project, as well as the widespread eagerness to enjoy the river.

The New York State Department of Health, lead agency for swimming and health issues, expects that during the dredging, PCB levels in the Hudson River will remain below the E.P.A.’s drinking water standard of 500 parts per trillion. It has issued no dredging-related health warnings for the river.

Taking Questions on PCBs - Pt. 2

From June 17 - 19  I was the guest blogger on The New York Times' "Taking Questions" feature of its City Room blog.  The topic was "General Electric's project to remove PCBs from the Hudson River."   The Times asked that I respond to 5 reader-submitted questions daily.   Part 2 of the selected questions and my answers follows,  just as it appeared on the The New York Times site:

Where will the dredge material be disposed once it is removed from the river?

— Posted by Dan

A number of posts have asked about the amount and destination of dredged material from the Hudson. Dan’s is the simplest (and he asked first). But I will try to cover all the questions here, so pardon the lengthy answer.

First, the full operation of coordinating, staging and executing the dredging and material processing is impressive. G.E. is mobilizing 17 tugboats, 35 barges and 12 dredges working 24 hours per day, six days a week to remove and process the 400,000 tons of sediment that Environmental Protection Agency is focusing on for Phase 1, which ends in November when weather closes the Champlain Canal.

Despite the world-class collection of heavy equipment, one of the most striking aspects of the operation is its relative quiet. Attention to details, such as “hospital-grade generators,” was an essential part of the project design agreed to by the E.P.A. and G.E. If you visit the dredging project, and I recommend it, don’t expect a cacophonous construction site. (Carpool, and visit Jim’s Broadway Café, or one of the many local establishments.)