login
That wet stuff we swim in
-
No new posts
 2004-12-10 12:05 PM |
Expert  948    Mount Vernon, Iowa |  Subject: That wet stuff we swim inHi there folks, Long time no tri! I've been rowing during the fall season, but it's always fun to check in here and see who's doing amazing things. This time I have a little challenge of my own for whoever's interested. In my real life I happen to be an environmental lawyer working on, among other things, water quality. I hope most of you are swimming in pristine waters in the lakes, rivers and oceans of the world, but in my home state of Iowa things are not so nice. At the Iowa State Games tri this summer there was some reluctance to put our faces in the wet stuff that passed for water. Our state water quality standards are not in compliance with the federal Clean Water Act and our regulators and enforcement officers have been dragging their feet for years about improving things. So here's my question: who would be interested in a little triathlete activism for better water quality? The regulators are constantly asking who actually uses the water - seriously - and as a genuine primary contact user group we'd have a lot of clout. This might involve things like writing a letter, making a phone call, or if you're really fired up maybe testifying to your state legislature. If we want clean water to swim in, it's up to us to demand it! Anybody up for this? Write me a note! Thanks, Carrie |
| 2004-12-10 3:16 PM in reply to: #91200 |
Member 21 | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in Count me in. I would love to help any way I can. |
| 2004-12-10 3:19 PM in reply to: #91200 |
Elite 2458 Livingston, MT | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in I'm just curious, why is the water so dirteh? |
| 2004-12-10 3:33 PM in reply to: #91200 |
Expert 736 Longview, TX | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in Hey Carrie, I'm interested. I am an environmental engineer where my main projects deal with water and wastewater issues; so I deal with water quality on a daily basis. It's funny because as a kid, I would just jump in a lake without a second thought, now I'm wondering, just what exactly is in this stuff. |
| 2004-12-10 3:43 PM in reply to: #91302 |
Resident Curmudgeon 25290 The Road Back Gold member | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in Triathletes peeing in the pool? |
| 2004-12-10 3:53 PM in reply to: #91302 |
Expert 948 Mount Vernon, Iowa | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in The main reasons given for not cleaning up and getting the regs in compliance are economic. They say: municipalities and businesses can't afford the water treatment to stop polluting. Or energy prices will go higher if we force plants to curb emissions. These are just excuses, really. In the 70s and 80s we spent the necessary money to get secondary water treatment in place across the country. If it's genuinely too expensive for a single company, for example, to clean up its emissions, then the public needs to decide whether it's worth it to us to keep that business going at the expense of our water quality. We need to have this discussion in public, with everyone participating. Right now we're not. |
| 2004-12-10 3:55 PM in reply to: #91200 |
| Veteran 120 Ankeny, Iowa | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in I live just north of Des Moines near Saylorville Lake and it seemed like during the entire summer there were signs posts recommending that you not get in the water, because of unsafe levels of pollutants. There was even talk early on about early on dropping the swim portion of the Big Creek Triathlon because of the problem. I would be very interested in contacting our legislators. |
| 2004-12-10 4:38 PM in reply to: #91336 |
Expert 948 Mount Vernon, Iowa | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in You - and everyone else who did the Big Creek, for example - are just the person the legislature needs to hear from. We're working on improving the water quality standards through the administrative process, but I'm so frustrated at the huge voice industrial dischargers have and the almost non-existent voice water users have. I've been shopping around the idea of a bill that would protect all Iowa waters for recreational use and aquatic life. Over 80% of Iowa waters currently do *not* have this level of protection. People who've worked on this for a long time say it's because of a lack of political will, and to get some backbone Des Moines needs to hear from us. |
| 2004-12-10 4:46 PM in reply to: #91200 |
| Elite 2458 Livingston, MT | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in Does the public have to foot the bill for water treatment plants? How do you enforce the regulations without using public funds? How do you isolate the biggest polluters? |
| 2004-12-10 4:47 PM in reply to: #91200 |
Master 2233 Mechanicsburg, PA | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in |
| 2004-12-10 5:19 PM in reply to: #91362 |
Expert 948 Mount Vernon, Iowa | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in Hi Chucky. The public generally pays for water treatment plants, because they're usually owned by municipalities. The feds also kicked in a lot of money over the last few decades to get everyone up to a basic level that's reasonably protective of human health, i.e. nobody dies of cholera in the U.S. these days. You enforce the regs using public funds too - US EPA or your state protection agency or dept of natural resources, whoever is responsible for water standards. And you isolate the big polluters through the permitting system and by water testing, again done at public expense. The only thing polluters pay for directly is decreasing their discharges to legal levels by installing treatment mechanisms in their plants. They howl LOUDLY when required to do this and put a lot of pressure on regulators and legislators to keep standards low. This generally works. |
| 2004-12-11 7:19 AM in reply to: #91200 |
Extreme Veteran 444 Thunder Bay, Ontario | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in I commend you for getting something started re: water quality. With the talks that are going on now about the US trying to 'buy' Canadian water, I'd hate to see the Great Lakes messed up. Our city is on the nw shore of Lake Superior and levels are drastically lower because of diversion further down the line. Not acceptable. Big corps bottom line needs to change to have humans in their equation. |
| 2004-12-11 7:58 AM in reply to: #91200 |
Member 37 | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in I am a lawyer in NH and I spend a fair amount of my time with our state legislature- but mostly on criminal justice issues. If you want someone to bounce ideas off of as to lobbying and other legislative efforts I'd be happy to help. Mike |
| 2004-12-11 8:54 AM in reply to: #91200 |
Expert 1180 Iowa | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in Welcome back Carrie. You're wasting no time making a big "splash" with your return. As a triathlete, I just loved racing in freshwater lakes or roadside ponds that were cloudy with ... with what exactly? Goose droppings, farmyard runoff, chemical runoff from the surrounding cornfields? Who knows? You were at Cornman with us in July in the heart of pastoral Iowa - and as you know the swim was almost called for bacteria levels, mostly goose droppings, but no doubt farm runoff also contributes. (As long as people keep eating we'll have this problem, I guess.) If I read you correctly, this isn't just about Iowa. As triathletes from every state in the nation, we should be heard far and wide, writing letters to the legislators of our own state. If one more voice in the sea will help, count me in. It has to start somewhere. Thanks for casting off the bowline on this one. (Sorry, I'll stop that now). |
| 2004-12-11 11:17 AM in reply to: #91200 |
Coach 10487 Boston, MA | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in Count me in. I am actually developing a project to promote the Tri sport back in my country and at the same time use it as a venue to educate people to develop a better environmental consciousness. Anyway I can help-support and learn to apply that in the future would be fantastic. |
| 2004-12-11 11:21 AM in reply to: #91200 |
Veteran 250 Florida! | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in i am also interested.... |
| 2004-12-12 4:59 PM in reply to: #91200 |
Elite 2796 Texas | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in Hey Carrie, The swim for one of my 2005 races takes place in a lake that has a fish consumption ban due to unacceptable levels of Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), Chlordane, and DDE. :-O What do you think? Should I skip this one? I don't know anything about this at all, but it doesn't sound so good. Thanks! P.S. Count me in on the clean water advocacy as well if you're making a list :-) |
| 2004-12-12 10:44 PM in reply to: #91730 |
Expert 948 Mount Vernon, Iowa | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in All of you are fantastic! I never expected to get so many responses. Here are a few things I'm planning to do: 1) Introduce water quality legislation in Iowa requiring all Iowa waters to be safe for full-contact recreation and aquatic life. The Clean Water Act promises this, but Iowa has never delivered. 2) Get in touch with USA Triathlon and see what sort of clean water organizing they might be willing to get involved in or at least be associated with. 3) Set up a listserve to notify triathletes about actions they can take to promote cleaner water. One day I might be like Ron and set up an amazing website, but my day job is pretty demanding just now. 4) Talk to organizations that work on water quality and find out where triathletes could have the most powerful voice as a citizen group. Other ideas? People I should talk to? I'll post updates here. Here is my dream: to have booths set up at triathlons across the country, signing up triathletes and the cool people who hang out with us to a citizen lobby group that will make a LOT of noise whenever water quality issues come before state legislatures and Congress. There are already great people working on these problems, but if they could make one phone call and activate a grassroots network, their work would be a lot easier. |
| 2004-12-12 11:05 PM in reply to: #91200 |
Master 2033 | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in This was a great thread... I'd love to help.. |
| 2004-12-13 12:23 PM in reply to: #91200 |
Pro 5153 Helena, MT | Subject: RE: That wet stuff we swim in I'm a hydrologist, so heck yes I'm interested! And if there's any technical stuff that needs doing, I could be useful (my expertise is mostly in Physical Hydrology, but I'm knowledgable in WQ, too). |
|
|
|
View profile
Add to friends
Go to training log
Go to race log
Send a message
View album
CONNECT WITH FACEBOOK