Great Lakes Echo (http://greatlakesecho.org/author/emma-ogutu/page/2/)
Waterfront property owners are increasingly recognized as having unique opportunities to protect and enhance shorelines.
Now a collaboration of conservation agencies and professionals called the Michigan Natural Shoreline Partnership is giving them help. The group recently released a handbook titled, “Natural Shoreline Landscapes on Michigan’s Inland Lakes: Guidebook for Property Owners.”
Legislation has passed and enforcement tightened. Yet leaking septic tanks continue to threaten human and environmental health.
The lack of funds to fix them remain a hurdle.
Perhaps waterfowl feeders derive a sense of well-being and excitement. Or perhaps it’s just a ploy to bring the birds closer. But feeding geese and ducks is a selfish pursuit that is devastating to the birds, according to Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Wildlife Division. The popcorn, bread and shelled corn handouts lack any nutritional benefit and are a poor substitute to the birds’ natural diet, the wildlife officials say. In fact, it’s like feeding junk to a child. Worse still, as Emily Finnegan of WSILTV.COM reports, fecal waste from geese and ducks is the main cause of elevated e-coli levels in Southern Illinois lakes — nine out of every ten contamination incidences.
In a growing number of areas, homeowners cannot sell their homes without a clean bill of health for the septic tanks that drain and dispose their human waste.
Environmental agencies and organizations are enlisting the public’s help to protect native species and get rid of invasive ones.
The upkeep to keep septic tanks from failing and polluting water is expensive, especially with the growing restrictions on how to dump their contents.
U.S. Army officials propose building a public water supply as an alternative to using private wells threatened by contamination from an old weapons complex near Madison.
The fruits of a national drive to promote healthy eating habits in children will soon be enjoyed by more Great Lakes schools.
Starting with the 2011-2012 school year, cafeterias will serve more fresh fruits and produce as part of a federal program.
Two years after implementing an online tool to reduce the impacts of excessive water withdrawal from the Great Lakes, funding that supports the Michigan project has dropped by more than 90 percent.
After more than a year of federal requests that state regulators improve the Chicago River, the Obama administration has decided to aggressively intervene by ordering an ambitious sewage treatment program. That’s what Michael Hawthorne reports today in the Chicago Tribune. Part of the plan is a complete overhaul of Chicago’s two largest sewage treatment plants that churn industrial and domestic waste water into the river, Hawthorne reports. The move is the result of what federal officials believe to be massive inaction by Illinois regulators to keep the urban waterway fit for recreation.