Water

Mayor addresses Argo Dam issue with Ann Arbor rowing community

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(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

Echo

Waukesha unveils its request for water

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(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

Water

Waukesha wastewater would not degrade Underwood Creek

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(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

Water

New laboratory will study effects of consumer chemicals on aquatic life

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(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

Water

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

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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.

Water

Dirty Jobs does Michigan

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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.

Water

Robot week: Exploring below the Great Lakes’ surface

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By Sarah Coefield and Kimberly Hirai
Jan. 26, 2010

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of stories on how new technology is giving researchers a glimpse of the critical nearshore area of the Great Lakes. Little is known about the currents, fish or bottom of the nearshore area of the Great Lakes. Now, technology is providing researchers a window into what is one of the most productive yet least studied areas of the Lakes. The nearshore stretches from the beach into about 30 feet of water.

Water

IDEM OKs discharge permit for U.S. Steel

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(IN) The Post Tribune – The Indiana Department of Environmental Management has issued the wastewater permit for U.S. Steel Gary Works, the agency announced Friday. The issuance marks the end of a nearly seven-year process, during which IDEM has released three drafts. More

Water

Judge gives parties in Fox River PCB cleanup dispute 10 days

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(WI) Green Bay Post-Gazette – The federal judge overseeing the Fox River PCB cleanup dispute has given the parties 10 days to develop a strategy for resolving remaining issues in the complex case. U.S. District Judge William Griesbach stated in a written ruling he would consider postponing final judgment only if secondary issues can be resolved “within the vicinity of a half year’s time or less.” More