Great Lakes Echo (https://greatlakesecho.org/tag/water/page/10/)
Chicago Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel refers to the Great Lakes as “our Grand Canyon.”
If he’s serious, he’ll fight carp, sewage and mercury. Water made Chicago and the mayor can improve the city’s relationship with it.
More than a decade ago, Maplewood, Minn., officials began creating rain gardens whenever they rebuilt streets.
The shallow basins collect rainwater that washes pollutants into lakes and streams.
Little Black Creek in Muskegon, Mich., has a long history of abuse. And one of the stream’s biggest threats rushes in every time it rains. Rain is shunted into storm drains that lead straight to the stream.
When the water is too shallow for a boat and too dangerous for a person, it’s time to send in a robot researcher.
At least, that’s what Tom Consi hopes will be the mindset when he launches the remote operated vehicle he’s worked on for the past year.
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.
By Haley Walker, Alice Rossignol and Emma Ogutu
Maintaining a pool to be healthy and safe is not easy. And Kevin Hoard would know. As a certified pool operator at Michigan State University, he’s had 70 hours of official pool maintenance training. “It updates us on the current codes, concerns and disease prevention,” Hoard said. “It makes sure we’re in compliance with the law.”
But not all pool operators are trained like Hoard.
By Haley Walker, Alice Rossignol and Emma Ogutu
Jan. 14, 2010
Three years ago a 6-year-old boy was rushed to intensive care when someone put the wrong amount of chemicals into a Nebraska motel pool. He and 23 other people suffered digestive, eye and respiratory problems when a pool operator used the wrong ratio of chlorine and ammonia. The boy was hospitalized in pediatric intensive care. Drowning is the most common risk people associate with pools.
Cryptosporidium (Crypto)
Crypto is a diarrheal disease caused by a parasite. Infection occurs from ingesting or swimming in contaminated water. Common symptoms include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, fever and stomach cramps. The parasite is protected by an outer shell that allows it to survive for long periods and makes it very resistant to chlorine. Shigella
Shigella is a group of bacteria that cause fever, diarrhea and stomach cramps usually a day or two after exposure. The diarrhea is usually bloody but goes away in five to seven days. Infection occurs from contact with infected water or stool.
Dec. 31, 2009
Here’s Echo’s pick of 2009’s top Great Lakes environmental stories. How’d we do? Click the headline above to see the entire list of stories or to leave a comment. #1 Climate change
Perhaps it’s no surprise to see a global issue top a list of regional environmental stories of the year. It’s Echo’s top choice not for its worldwide breadth but for its particular impact on the Great Lakes region. The stakes are high for a region with nearly 20 percent of world’s fresh surface water.