Little Action After Lots of Green TalkIn Search of Quiet PlacesUnderground Diner Supports Local FarmersEmotions Run High Over Dam Removal QuestionsInvasive Species and Toxic ChemicalsSelling Asian Carp to ChinaOil Spill Creates Manufacturing BoomGrizzly Threat & Septic Seepage
Host: Lester Graham
Show date: 05/15/2009
Summary:
Climate change chain reaction. Mark
Brush looks at one sequence of events
that ends with grizzly bears being
killed. And... you never know what's lurking underground. Julie Grant went out with one inspector who examines septic systems. Old tanks can mean big
problems - for pollution and pocketbooks.
More…
It’s not polar bears…. global warming threatens another kind of bear…
This is the Environment Report, I’m Lester Graham.
The changing climate is making things tough on Yellowstone’s Grizzly bears. Mark Brush has been looking into this – so Mark what’s up with the grizzlies?
Researchers are saying warmer temperatures in the last ten to fifteen years have been messing with the ecology in Yellowstone National Park. The grizzly bears in and around the park eat pine cone nuts that fall from white bark pine trees high up in the mountains. In the fall, these pine cones give the bears a lot of nutrition before they curl up for their winter nap. But those trees are dying.
So what’s killing them?
Mountain pine beetles. These beetles are part of the ecosystem – but they’re usually killed off by cold temperatures each winter. It hasn’t been getting as cold in the mountains. So, there are more beetles killing trees at higher elevations. Doug Peacock who has written several books on grizzlies.
“The white bark pine trees, this is the most important grizzly food of all in Yellowstone, they are gone. And we will not see them come back in our lifetime.”
And when the trees are gone, the bears get hungry – they come down out of the mountains looking for food – and they run into people – and you know what happens then, Lester.
Well, yeah. Now that the grizzly is off the endangered species list… – people shoot them .
Yep, a record number of grizzlies killed last year – 48 bears out of a population of around 600 in the region.
Peacock and others want the government to put the bear back on the endangered species list – so people will be less likely to shoot them as Yellowstone bears go looking for food.
((((STING)))
This is The Environment Report.
There is an underground threat to water that’s making it harder to clean up for drinking. Julie Grant reports – it all depends on where you live and whether the people who live nearby are maintaining their septic systems.
1:57 “…for drinking and other uses.”
__
More than one of every four homes uses its own septic system. That means it’s not hooked up to a city sewer line. When a toilet is flushed, the water doesn’t go to a central treatment plant. Instead, it drains into a septic system buried in the yard. It’s supposed to decompose using a natural process to clean it up before going back to the environment.
The problem is - those septics don’t get enough attention.
When they fail – as about one-in-five does –
that untreated toilet water winds up in rivers, lakes and wells. In a lot of places, that untreated sewage drains into our sources of drinking water.
MCCONOUGHEY: WELL OBVIOUSLY, THERE’S POTENTIAL HEALTH RISKS, THAT’S THE NUMBER ONE. [:05]
KEEP
Nate McConoughey is the sewage program manager with the Board of Health in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. He spends a lot of his time inspecting home septics to see if they’re working.
MCCONOUGHEY: WE DON’T WANT THESE PATHOGENS GETTING OUT INTO THE ENVIRONMENT AND GETTING INTO THE CREEKS AND STREAMS AND RIVERS THAT PEOPLE COME IN CONTACT WITH. [:08]
Or get their drinking water from.
Even though he’s trying to protect water quality,
McConoughey is not a popular guy with homeowners.
MCCONOUGHEY: NOBODY REALLY WANTS TO SEE YOU COME OUT AND TAKE A LOOK AT THEIR SYSTEM. BECAUSE MOST PEOPLE WITH 40-PLUS YEAR OLD SYSTEMS REALIZE THAT THEY’RE PROBABLY NOT WORKING AS GOOD AS THEY SHOULD. [:13]
It’s McConoughey’s job – and the other inspectors he works with - to tell people when their system is leaking sewage – and when it’s time to put in a new system.
MCCONOUGHEY: WE’VE ALL SEEN PEOPLE WITH DIFFERENT REACTIONS. WHETHER IT BE CRYING OR VERY IRATE. [:08]
USE.
People get so upset because replacing a septic system costs big bucks. Just ask Dan Jacin. Last summer he had to dig up his front lawn and put in a new set of sewage treatment tanks.
JACIN: OH YEAH, IT TEARS UP YOUR YARD FOR A YEAR AND HITS YOUR WALLET PRETTY HARD. [:08]
But Jacin says he didn’t have a choice. His 43-year old system was backing up atrocious-smelling sewage into his basement.
JACIN: I WANTED RELIEF FROM SEWAGE COMING INTO MY HOUSE, BECAUSE THAT’S JUST NOT A FUN DEAL AT ALL. [:07]
Jacin also had sewage burping up in his yard.
If a septic is working right, sewage drains from the house into a tank. And it’s slowly sent from the tank into an underground absorption area – where it filters through the soil.
But Jacin’s septic wasn’t working anymore. The sewage was draining off his property into a nearby stream.
[SOUND: STREAM.]
This stream runs into the Cuyahoga River – which runs into Lake Erie – a major source of drinking water. Jacin felt badly about causing that pollution.
But he felt even worse about paying for his new septic system. It cost more than 20-thousand dollars!
JACIN: AND JUST FORTUNATELY I HAD ENOUGH MONEY TO REPLACE IT AT THE TIME. I DON’T WHAT I WOULD HAVE DONE IF I DIDN’T HAVE THE MONEY. WHO’S GOING TO GIVE YOU A LOAN TO REPLACE YOUR SEPTIC TANK? [:13]
Now Jacin’s lawn has grown back, he’s landscaped to hide the treatment tanks. And he’s glad he’s no longer polluting the waterways. But he still isn’t happy about spending all that money. Inspector Nate McConoughey understands. But he says there are low-interest loans available for new septics – and they’ve got to be maintained – so the water is clean for drinking and other uses.
That’s The Environment Report. I’m Lester Graham.
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This is the Environment Report, I’m Lester Graham.
The changing climate is making things tough on Yellowstone’s Grizzly bears. Mark Brush has been looking into this – so Mark what’s up with the grizzlies?
Researchers are saying warmer temperatures in the last ten to fifteen years have been messing with the ecology in Yellowstone National Park. The grizzly bears in and around the park eat pine cone nuts that fall from white bark pine trees high up in the mountains. In the fall, these pine cones give the bears a lot of nutrition before they curl up for their winter nap. But those trees are dying.
So what’s killing them?
Mountain pine beetles. These beetles are part of the ecosystem – but they’re usually killed off by cold temperatures each winter. It hasn’t been getting as cold in the mountains. So, there are more beetles killing trees at higher elevations. Doug Peacock who has written several books on grizzlies.
“The white bark pine trees, this is the most important grizzly food of all in Yellowstone, they are gone. And we will not see them come back in our lifetime.”
And when the trees are gone, the bears get hungry – they come down out of the mountains looking for food – and they run into people – and you know what happens then, Lester.
Well, yeah. Now that the grizzly is off the endangered species list… – people shoot them .
Yep, a record number of grizzlies killed last year – 48 bears out of a population of around 600 in the region.
Peacock and others want the government to put the bear back on the endangered species list – so people will be less likely to shoot them as Yellowstone bears go looking for food.
((((STING)))
This is The Environment Report.
There is an underground threat to water that’s making it harder to clean up for drinking. Julie Grant reports – it all depends on where you live and whether the people who live nearby are maintaining their septic systems.
1:57 “…for drinking and other uses.”
__
More than one of every four homes uses its own septic system. That means it’s not hooked up to a city sewer line. When a toilet is flushed, the water doesn’t go to a central treatment plant. Instead, it drains into a septic system buried in the yard. It’s supposed to decompose using a natural process to clean it up before going back to the environment.
The problem is - those septics don’t get enough attention.
When they fail – as about one-in-five does –
that untreated toilet water winds up in rivers, lakes and wells. In a lot of places, that untreated sewage drains into our sources of drinking water.
MCCONOUGHEY: WELL OBVIOUSLY, THERE’S POTENTIAL HEALTH RISKS, THAT’S THE NUMBER ONE. [:05]
KEEP
Nate McConoughey is the sewage program manager with the Board of Health in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. He spends a lot of his time inspecting home septics to see if they’re working.
MCCONOUGHEY: WE DON’T WANT THESE PATHOGENS GETTING OUT INTO THE ENVIRONMENT AND GETTING INTO THE CREEKS AND STREAMS AND RIVERS THAT PEOPLE COME IN CONTACT WITH. [:08]
Or get their drinking water from.
Even though he’s trying to protect water quality,
McConoughey is not a popular guy with homeowners.
MCCONOUGHEY: NOBODY REALLY WANTS TO SEE YOU COME OUT AND TAKE A LOOK AT THEIR SYSTEM. BECAUSE MOST PEOPLE WITH 40-PLUS YEAR OLD SYSTEMS REALIZE THAT THEY’RE PROBABLY NOT WORKING AS GOOD AS THEY SHOULD. [:13]
It’s McConoughey’s job – and the other inspectors he works with - to tell people when their system is leaking sewage – and when it’s time to put in a new system.
MCCONOUGHEY: WE’VE ALL SEEN PEOPLE WITH DIFFERENT REACTIONS. WHETHER IT BE CRYING OR VERY IRATE. [:08]
USE.
People get so upset because replacing a septic system costs big bucks. Just ask Dan Jacin. Last summer he had to dig up his front lawn and put in a new set of sewage treatment tanks.
JACIN: OH YEAH, IT TEARS UP YOUR YARD FOR A YEAR AND HITS YOUR WALLET PRETTY HARD. [:08]
But Jacin says he didn’t have a choice. His 43-year old system was backing up atrocious-smelling sewage into his basement.
JACIN: I WANTED RELIEF FROM SEWAGE COMING INTO MY HOUSE, BECAUSE THAT’S JUST NOT A FUN DEAL AT ALL. [:07]
Jacin also had sewage burping up in his yard.
If a septic is working right, sewage drains from the house into a tank. And it’s slowly sent from the tank into an underground absorption area – where it filters through the soil.
But Jacin’s septic wasn’t working anymore. The sewage was draining off his property into a nearby stream.
[SOUND: STREAM.]
This stream runs into the Cuyahoga River – which runs into Lake Erie – a major source of drinking water. Jacin felt badly about causing that pollution.
But he felt even worse about paying for his new septic system. It cost more than 20-thousand dollars!
JACIN: AND JUST FORTUNATELY I HAD ENOUGH MONEY TO REPLACE IT AT THE TIME. I DON’T WHAT I WOULD HAVE DONE IF I DIDN’T HAVE THE MONEY. WHO’S GOING TO GIVE YOU A LOAN TO REPLACE YOUR SEPTIC TANK? [:13]
Now Jacin’s lawn has grown back, he’s landscaped to hide the treatment tanks. And he’s glad he’s no longer polluting the waterways. But he still isn’t happy about spending all that money. Inspector Nate McConoughey understands. But he says there are low-interest loans available for new septics – and they’ve got to be maintained – so the water is clean for drinking and other uses.
That’s The Environment Report. I’m Lester Graham.