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US EPA HEADLINES

Soil Fumigant Pesticides Subject to New Safety Measures
(Washington, D.C. - July 10, 2008) New safety measures for soil fumigant pesticides will increase protections for agricultural workers and bystanders - people who live, work, or otherwise spend time near fields that are fumigated. For the soil fumigants methyl bromide, chloropicrin, dazomet, metam sodium, and metam potassium, EPA will require a suite of new mitigation measures that will work together to protect human health.

U.S. EPA, University of Vermont’s Gund Institute Team Up to Develop New Ways to Understand Ecosystem Services
(Washington, DC – July 8, 2008) A new partnership between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD) and the Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont will help decision makers more accurately weigh the costs and benefits of actions that alter ecosystem services -- the goods and services of nature such as clean air and water, erosion and flood control, soil enrichment, and food and fiber. Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from ecosystems.

EPA Releases New Tools to Improve Drinking Water Monitoring and Reporting
Small water systems, particularly those that serve very small populations or tribal communities, can be challenged in understanding the regulatory requirements that apply to them. EPA is releasing a new set of placards that summarize day to day monitoring requirements for small drinking water systems. Having monitoring requirements readily available in an easy to read format should improve monitoring and reporting compliance at small systems. These placards provide step by step instructions for conducting monitoring under the Total Coliform Rule, Surface Water Treatment Rules and Nitrate regulations. The placards are formatted to be printed 11x17 to hang on the wall for quick reference by drinking water operators. The placards and other tools for small systems are available at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/smallsys/ssinfo.htm . They are also available on a page dedicated to tribal water systems at http://www.epa.gov/safewater/tribal.html.

New Technology Report: Wastewater Treatment and In-Plant Wet Weather Management
EPA is releasing the third in a series of reports on municipal wastewater collection and treatment technologies. Emerging Technologies for Wastewater Treatment and In-Plant Wet Weather Management provides municipal wastewater treatment system owners and operators with the latest information on emerging wastewater treatment and in-plant wet weather management technology options. It identifies cost effective, innovative and embryonic technologies as well as established technologies with innovative applications. Technical and cost data for more than 60 innovative technologies and more than 25 embryonic technologies are provided. The technologies featured in the report can provide more efficient or advanced wastewater treatment or better management of wet weather flows at the treatment plant. The new report is available at http://www.epa.gov/owm/mtb/index.htm . The previous two reports, Emerging Technologies for Biosolids Management, and Emerging Technologies for Conveyance Systems: New Installations and Rehabilitation Methods, are also available on the website.

New EPA Guidebook to Help Water Utilities Improve Energy Management
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its water and wastewater partners are learning more and doing more to confront serious challenges related to rising energy costs. A new guidance, Ensuring a Sustainable Future: An Energy Management Guidebook for Wastewater and Water Utilities, will help utilities systematically assess their current energy costs and practices, set measurable performance improvement goals and monitor and measure their progress over time.
For and electronic copy of the handbook:
 epa.gov/waterinfrastructure/bettermanagement_energy.html
 

MICHIGAN DEQ

Great Michigan Stove Changeout PDF
The Great Michigan Stove Changeout aims to educate Michigan residents about the economic, health, safety, and environmental benefits of swapping out old, inefficient wood stoves with a new EPA certified stove that will improve air quality as a result lowering wood smoke emissions. As a major incentive to consumers, the Campaign is offering up to $500 in rebates and discounts toward the purchase and installation of a new stove.

Permit for New CAFO Denied
July 1, 2008   The Department of Environmental Quality announced today its decision to deny the application for a permit for a Vreba-Hoff Dairy Development Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO), Bustorf Dairy, proposed for Leonidas Township in St. Joseph County. The department's decision follows a period of extensive review by the DEQ of public comments and supporting information to determine whether the proposed 2,260 dairy cow facility met the standards contained within federal and state regulations.

Three Arrested in Lapeer County for Racketeering and Money Laundering
On June 24, 2008, the Department of Environmental Quality's Office of Criminal Investigations and the Huron County Sheriff's Department concluded a 5-year investigation into World Waste Services of Almont and Cove Landfill of Bad Axe with the arrest of three individuals
 

OTHER

Price to treat drinking water rises with fuel prices, city officials report
Friday, July 11, 2008   John A. DeKam, superintendent of Bay City's Water Treatment Plant, says a strange thing happens when the price of fuel goes up: So does the cost of providing clean water.

Township seeks water system improvements
July 10, 2008   The Van Buren Township Department of Public Works is developing plans for improvements to the drinking water distribution system. These improvements are all mentioned in the 2004 Van Buren Township Water Distribution System Master Plan. The plans include installing or replacing almost five miles of water mains in various areas of the township. These water main improvements will improve water pressures throughout the system, will give customers certain redundancies in the system which increases reliability, and will help to improve water quality by looping some major dead end water mains.

Groundwater program offers free water testing
July 08, 2008   The Michigan Groundwater Stewardship Program is again able to offer free water screening to everyone with a drinking water well. Testing will be done for nitrates, nitrites and triazine pesticides.

Author says Great Lakes water supply at risk
GRAND HAVEN -- Nearly four decades after the first Earth Day launched efforts to cleanse polluted lakes and streams, a new type of water war is spreading across the Great Lakes region and around the world.