Mayor addresses Argo Dam issue with Ann Arbor rowing community

(MI) Ann Arbor.com – Mayor John Hieftje called for a truce tonight as he addressed a crowd of nearly five dozen members of Ann Arbor’s rowing community gathered at Pioneer High School. Acknowledging the tensions between competing ideologies over the fate of Argo Dam, Hieftje urged the rowers – who rely on the dam to enjoy Argo Pond – to set aside their differences with environmentalists who are calling for the dam’s removal, namely the Huron River Watershed Council. More

Waukesha unveils its request for water

(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Calling the city’s search for a radium-free water supply “a critical public health issue,” Mayor Larry Nelson on Thursday said a proposed diversion of Great Lakes water to the city was the only safe, reliable and environmentally sustainable option. Simply switching from deep sandstone wells tainted with radium and salt to shallow wells for all of the city’s needs is not sustainable because the pumping would reduce the volume of groundwater feeding wetlands, streams and lakes and would harm those resources, says a draft application for Lake Michigan water that was released Thursday. More

Waukesha wastewater would not degrade Underwood Creek

(WI) Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Pumping Waukesha’s treated wastewater to Underwood Creek in Wauwatosa would not degrade the stream or spur algae growth, according to a study released Wednesday. With the finding, Waukesha officials say, the city clears a hurdle in its long-running quest to tap Lake Michigan water to replace the city’s radium-tainted groundwater. Using Underwood Creek would allow the city to satisfy a requirement in a Great Lakes protection compact that the city return nearly all diverted water back to the lake. More

Robot week: Remote-controlled Stealth II reveals nearshore landscape

Editor’s note: This is the third in a series of stories on how new technology is  giving researchers a glimpse of the critical nearshore area of the Great Lakes. With researchers hunched over remote controls, operating the Stealth II looks more like playing a video game than doing science. The Environmental Protection Agency purchased the underwater vehicle in May 2009. Using a hand control, agency scientists can operate the Stealth II as it hovers at various depths of the Great Lakes’ nearshore. The Stealth II’s camera allows scientists to map the bottom of nearshore areas and better understand habitat types.

New laboratory will study effects of consumer chemicals on aquatic life

(ON) The Hamilton Spectator –  A new $4.6-million, state-of-the-art research facility at the Canada Centre for Inland Waters will be used to try to better understand the environmental consequences of everyday chemicals and contaminants. Scientists at the Aquatic Life Research Facility, which opened yesterday, will look at the downstream implications of consumer products such as dyes and cosmetics on fish and aquatic life. More

Robot week: Triaxus reveals Great Lakes sunken ships and data treasures

Editor’s note: This is the second in a series of stories on how new technology is giving researchers a glimpse of the critical nearshore area of the Great Lakes

One of the Environmental Protection Agency’s newest members uses side-scan sonar to look at the watery depths of Lake Michigan. Fanning its sound waves down to the lake floor, it searches for the returning signals bouncing off the bottom in search of bounty–it found a shipwreck last year. But the Triaxus Towed Undulator does more than treasure hunts. Beneath the water, it glides behind the Lake Guardian, the agency’s research vessel. With its quick data collection, the agency can do in days what would otherwise take a year, said Glenn Warren, team leader for the agency’s environmental monitoring and indicators group in the Great Lakes National Program Office.

Dirty Jobs does Michigan

Ever wonder what it’s like to work as a Soo Locks technician? Mike Rowe discovers the dirty truth tonight on his hit television show Dirty Jobs. The episode airs on the Discovery Channel at 9 p.m. The Soo Locks are a series of gates and pumps in northern Michigan that allow ships to pass through Lake Superior and Lake Huron.

U.S.S. sets public update on cleanup progress

(IN) The Post-Tribune – U.S. Steel will update the public on its cleanup of several contaminated sites at its Gary Works facility on Thursday. Among the sites are two contaminated lagoons and a hazardous waste landfill on the west side. More