Tag: rain

Faster Test for Beach Closings

An Indiana University scientist has developed a computer model that can predict E. coli levels near public beaches. The system could help public health officials who’ve been relying on test results that come too late to be of much help. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:

Transcript

An Indiana University scientist has developed a computer model that can predict E. coli levels near public beaches. The system could help public health officials who’ve been relying on test results that come too late to be of much help. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tracy Samilton reports:


E. coli is a bacteria that can reach dangerous levels in the water, usually when big rainstorms flush untreated water into nearby lakes and streams. But traditional tests for E. coli take 24 to 48 hours. Indiana University hydrologist Greg Oliphant says the delay is a serious problem for keeping people safe when they go to the beach.


“Regulators were saying go ahead and go in the water, and E. coli was above safe level, and stay out when water turned out to be perfectly safe for full body contact.”


Olyphant has developed a computer model that uses wind, rain, and temperature readings to predict when E. coli levels will be high. The system has been tested in Chicago and Milwaukee and they found it to be about 80% effective. For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Tracy Samilton.

Winter’s Effect on Lake Levels Debated

There seems to be some confusion over how the mild winter will affect lake levels. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Amy Cavalier has the story:

Monitoring System on Hand for Bioterrorism

Scientists who monitor pollutants in rain and snow in the U.S. are offering their monitoring network to be used in the event of a wide scale bioterrorist attack. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s David Sommerstein has more:

Transcript

Scientists who monitor pollutants in rain and snow in the U.S. and Great Lakes are offering their monitoring network to be used in the event of a wide scale bioterrorist attack. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s David Sommerstein has more.


The National Atmospheric Deposition Program is best known for its early detection of acid rain in the 1970s. It has a network of over 200 sites that measure chemicals like sulfur dioxides and mercury in precipitation. But coordinator Van Bowersox says the network could also be used in the case of an environmental emergency to trace things like anthrax spore.


“To help track perhaps the source of the material or perhaps just how wide dispersed the material may be. So this would be, for example, for a widespread release of a bioterrorism agent over a broad area.”


Bowersox says the samples of such agents would be sent to a special laboratory for analysis.


The idea wouldn’t be an unprecedented use for the network. The NADP surveyed the nation’s atmosphere for nucleotides following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. It also measured the amount of particles in the air after the eruption of Mount St. Helens.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m David Sommerstein.

Farm Belt Braces for Impending Drought

  • Ponds and lakes in some areas of the Midwest are the lowest they've been in more than 35 years. Some cities are implementing water use restrictions. Some farmers are concerned there's not enough subsoil moisture for crops to use during the hot summer months.

The farm belt is short on rain. Since last summer, much of the
Midwest has been getting below normal rainfall. Lakes and rivers are
low. Long-range weather projections are not promising. Farmers and
communities that rely on reservoirs are concerned. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

FARM BELT BRACES FOR IMPENDING DROUGHT (Shorter Version)

  • Ponds and lakes in some areas of the Midwest are the lowest they've been in more than 35 years. Some cities are implementing water use restrictions. Some farmers are concerned there's not enough subsoil moisture for crops to use during the hot summer months.

The beginnings of a drought are hitting a large part of the nation’s
mid-section. Already some communities are facing water shortages. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Lake Levels Scrape Bottom

Much of the industry in the nation’s mid-section relies on
shipments of raw materials on the Great Lakes. Great Lakes ports in the
U-S and Canada handle more than 200-million tons of material annually.
The Lakes are also a source of water and recreation for nearly a third
of
the nation’s population. But, during the last two years, water levels
have
been falling at a record breaking pace. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:

Regulating Power Plants

For years, Northeastern states have criticized their Midwestern
neighbors for the high levels of nitrous-oxide and sulfur emissions from
that region’s power plants. The pollution is believed to drift
northward,
causing smog and acid rain. This winter, attorneys for the states and
the
Environmental Protection Agency will meet in Federal court, to decide
whether the EPA has authority to regulate the power plants. As the
Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Brian Mann reports, now that a last-minute
compromise has fallen through, all sides are gearing up for a legal
battle
that could take years: