MISSSION: BEAUTIFICATION … CONSERVATION … EDUCATION

PLANTING INFO …

Environmental Edition, Mary Lovings, EditorHorticulture Edition, Gail Berthe, Editor

Landscape Design Issue, Jackie Fulmer, Editor

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE: Volume III, Number 22, February, 2019

GCG POSITION PAPERS, continued: this issue focuses on the eighth of the eight statements of what GCG would like to have happen for and to protect the environment. The complete set of Position Papers is located on the GCG website. GCG and its members making magic happen for the environment involves cooperation, funding, as well as legislation and laws on all levels, supported by active citizens and voting GCG members as well as on independent study.

Additionally, these quarterly newsletters are intended to support the NGC sponsored study courses of-fered in areas of Gardening, Landscape and Environment Studies. [YOU CAN CHECK THEM OUT ON THE NATIONAL GARDEN CLUBS website.] And, of course, all the above are sheltered by the GCG Mission umbrella of Beautification ... Conservation ... Education. (Please note that the three components of the Mission are in alphabetical order, making them easier to remember.

This is the final environmental issue of Planting … for the current GCG administration of Presi-dent Jane Hersey who accepted and has been strongly supportive of using GCG Position Papers as theme and jumping off spot for the conservation issues of this series that constantly has won NGC awards. Posi-tion Papers flesh out details of what GCG sets as standards for putting its Beautification … Conservation … Education Mission Statement into action. The eight Position Papers function much as a map for con-tinuing to get ourselves, and our state, and our country from where we are today to where we would like them to be. Much is accomplished - or not - through the achievement of protective legislation, regula-tions, and enforcement thereof on all governmental levels, everywhere.

HOW TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN: STAY IN TOUCH WITH YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS ON ALL LEVELS. CHECK YOUR VOTER REGISTRATION CARD FOR ITEMS INCLUDING THE NUM-BERS OF DISTRICTS WHERE YOU LIVE. GEORGIA. GOV WILL HELP YOU FIND THEIR CON-TACT INFORMATION. BECAUSE COPIES OF EMAILS STAY ON BOTH COMPUTER HARD

DRIVES OF RECIPIENT AND SENDER, OFFERING PROOF THAT THE CONTACT WAS MADE, EMAILS ARE ESPECIALLY EFFECTIVE METHOD OF COMMUNICATION.

As the last of this series Protection of Water as a Natural Resource, is the applicable Position Paper. Water protection is an enormous topic, only part of which can be covered in this issue. Especially with the effects of 2018 hurricane flooding and unusually prolific, continuing and flooding 2019 winter rains , water quality has become, is, and will continue to be a major concern. [There’s been so much rain that moss is now developing on outs the of protecting Georgia’s waters will be covered in this issue.]

Position Paper 2003:GCG Commits to the Protection of Water as a Public ResourceReviewed 2016The Garden Club of Georgia, Inc. supports independent, scholarly, peer-reviewed scientific research as the basis for the formulation of responsible public policy and legislation, and appropriate funding in order to ensure qualified results.

The Garden Club of Georgia, Inc. maintains that the surface and ground waters of [the State of] Georgia should continue to be a public resource, subject to reasonable use by others, but protected for the common good; and should be managed in a sustainable manner by the state in order to protect the natural ecosys-tems and to meet both human and economic needs.

GCG recognizes that all life is dependent upon clean water, and we support the original objective of the 1972 Clean Water Act to "restore and maintain the chemical, physical and biological integrity of the na-tion's waters." We maintain that a "watershed-based" approach is the best way to achieve this goal.Despite outstanding progress since 1972, many waters in Georgia do not meet the minimum standards for drinking, fishing, and swimming. Contamination from industry, agriculture, municipalities and house-holds grows faster than our ability to set and enforce standards. The proliferation of excess nutrients and toxic substances pollutes our rivers, lakes and coastal waters. The loss of critical wetlands as well as non -point source pollution from stormwater runoff, have increased the pollution and sediment load in our wa-ters. Fresh water resources are also a problem in Georgia. Water quantity is endangered by droughts, sub-sidies, diversion of water for agricultural use, and rapid commercial and residential development.In order to protect our water resources, to promote water conservation and reuse, and to prevent pollution, the Garden Club of Georgia, Inc. supports the following goals:

1. Reduction of water pollution by:Reauthorization of a strengthened Clean Water ActReduction of point source pollution from industry and sewage treatment plantsReduction of nonpoint source pollution from stormwater runoffReduction of airborne pollutants which degrade water qualityEnforcement of strict water quality standards and pollution permitsIncreased funding for public education and clean water programs

2. The protection of our ecosystems by:Restoration and preservation of our watershedsProtection of ground and surface watersRestoration and preservation of our wetlandsPublic education about natural resources protectionIncentives for greenspace acquisition, to encourage riparian restoration and preservation

Development of statewide policy to increase protection of coastal waters and our oceans

3. Ensure the statewide availability of safe drinking water and public education concerning its content.

© 2019 by the Garden Club of Georgia, Inc. Send feedback to Web Site Manager.

An absolute major threat to waters anywhere is COAL ASH.What is coal ash? It is simply the residue from coal that remains after the coal is burned. Burning coal to produce electric power to run much of what consumers consider necessities like heat and air conditioning, lights, most large and small appliances, including televisions and some vehicles, as well as cell phones and laptop computers that use power to charge their batteries is the way coal ash begins. Of course, indus-try is a major consumer of electricity.

Coal ash is formed to become part of the massive amounts of water for needed to convert coal to energy, and it poisons waters with major health dangers including arsenic, lead, and mercury, items classed as heavy metals. Coal ash is related to cancer development among other potentially fatal conditions, hazards, and illnesses. It is simply not a good thing at all for people or for wildlife.

Where is it found? Coal ash as a byproduct of generated electricity is found in retention ponds located close to coal powered electric power producing plants. Driving past an electric power plant will usually present clues. Coal burning plants are sited and within sight of a nearby stream or larger body of moving water. Producing electricity involves use of huge amounts of water. Additionally, the plants themselves have a pond of good size, often in front or or beside the plant itself. Inside such ponds requited by law to keep pollutants out of rivers may also even be a decorative fountain spewing water. Beyond being attractive, such water features have another purpose for those waters containing coal ash. The water, as it spews gracefully up -wards, evaporates and resultantly makes some coal ash part of the air as it evaporates. Observation of the ponds, called retention ponds even when large enough to support such activity, should not/will not in-clude any boaters or swimmers or people fishing for the simple reason that water contaminated by coal ash that makes such waters dangerous for the three qualities of good water as swimmable, drinkable, fish-able.

As polluting coal plants are being closed in favor of other sources for electricity including solar, gas, and nuclear, heavy metals in coal ash tend to sink to the bottoms of the ponds. The ponds can be drained and the residue dried, moved to other sites perhaps in other states for storage or left in place. There is major concern that coal ash will leach into the soil, and then into groundwater to be pumped up and consumed. In some such cases, wells are drilled, adjacent to the ponds to allow for regular testing of the groudwater.

Another solution is to line the retention ponds with a manufactured polyethylene product. There is in such cases concern about both the lifetime and the effectiveness of such products. Another concern is how eas-ily the lining can be or is likely to be damaged. Still yet another major concern is what happens when with heavy rains, the retention ponds overflow into streams and rivers, just as retention ponds for hog and other livestock wastes and fertilizer become part of waterways and pollute water. A major energy pro-ducer in an adjacent state is struggling with remediation of downstream waters resulting from retention pond overflow. Sometimes coal ash is moved to other places within a state. Sometimes it is shipped to an-other location in another state.

Related to coal ash is fly ash, the dry form of coal ash that literally flies out of exhaust towers at electric plants into the air, travels with wind, and with rains, falls on farms, timberlands, cities and towns that eventually ends up in soil and through runoff, into bodies of water. Such towers are equipped with scrub-bers to remove particulate matter from the exhaust. What is the answer? In truth, there are several an-

swers. One is the closing of coal fired plants. Scrubbers on cooling towers can reduce the amount of ash in the air. Another solution is the use of other sources for electricity. Nuclear energy in and of itself in-cludes risks and dangers as well as being expensive and with usually slow to construct plants. Some nu -clear plants in several states have simply been abandoned during the construction process because of their risks and cost overruns.

Alternatives to coal fired energy can reduce coal ash, but may produce other problems. Solar energy can be part of the power needs is an answer for many reasons, likely the most important of which is that it is a free natural resource. Panels for collecting sun rays are not inexpensive and many manufacturers of them are outside this country, adding resulting shipping costs and tariffs that consumers end up paying. Siting of solar panels is essential because trees and buildings can interfere with sun energy reaching the panels. One thought is that farmlands with open fields can easily become solar farms. on relatively flat land. Businesses, educational buildings, and homes also can support solar panels. A consideration with solar panels in addition to sufficient sunlight is laws and regulations about what such entities can do with solar power they don’t need. In places where existing power companies will buy excess power from individu-als, solar panels can be considered both a source of electricity as well as an investment.

One of my favorite places in Georgia is the Len Foote Hike Inn within Amicalacola Falls State Park. A mountain trail provides access to the rustic inn, a model of conservation practices with twenty bunkrooms. Among its conservation efforts, the nonprofit Hike Inn has also used solar roof panels to heat sink and shower water for close to a decade and has recently added additional ground panels to provide electricity.

For profit power companies with transmission lines over vast areas called the grid function under permits, regulations, and laws on local, state, and national levels and, naturally, seek in-come after expenses for their sharehold-ers. Electricity can be transmitted over vast areas of the country along power lines. Some such companies will buy electricity from solar collection systems that produce more than they need. Weather is of course a factor in anything involving power from the sun; geography also plays a part.

Wind power when harnessed by turbines as seen to the right is another source of electricity. Drawbacks are that the tur-bines - highly developed windmills - are tall and visible from a distance. Addi-tionally, they are noisy and can be a danger to birds. To be most effective, they need to be located where frequent and steady wind is common. A drawback is that they are very noisy. Draft from them can throw a small person off balance.

Wind farms vary in size based on numbers of turbines. In some areas, zoning restricts size of areas.

Nuclear power is a highly efficient form of energy, but it is of course potentially dangerous. Construction of such plants tends to be both very slow and extremely expensive. In fact, in two adjacent states, partially built nuclear plants have been abandoned because of cost overruns and delays. Such energy production takes great amounts of water. A decade or so ago, at a workshop about water and its uses and conserva-tion, a fairly simple question was asked of a university professor speaker about the amount of water needed to operate a nuclear plant. The answer was an astounding, “How much water is there?” Such re-sponse resulted in a very quiet group of workshop participants.

Note that solar panels need to beangled carefully to absorb as much sun as possible at their geographic lo-cation. Only at or very close to the equator can they be placed flat on the ground or on a building or roof for as many hours of sun a day is vital. Con-sequentally, solar panels are placed at the most ideal angle for maximum ef-fectiveness. ling power lines

In a nuclear power plant, like the one under construction in the photo to the left, the source of heat required to produce electricity is a nuclear reactor. The heat generated by the reactor in the form of steam in turn drives steam turbine engines that are connected to a generator that in turn produces the electricity.

Improved technology and efficiency of many appliances and much machinery make a large difference in water consumption for power use. A familiar and simple example is the LED light bulb that in fact uses little power and that can last for a decade. Shorter showers, careful xeriscaping of planting areas, low flow toilets, and less lawn to water can also help conserve water as a natural resource. Everyone can make a difference. Everyone is part of the solution.

For more information, check the websites and join organizations such as the Georgia Water Coalition of which GCG is a member and which, with no dues expense, any garden club can join. The Georgia Con-servancy, Sierra Club, Georgia River Network, and local Riverkeeper are among many organizations with outstanding websites, activities for members, and sources of sound and effective conservation.

Of interest to many members is that the Special Master appointed by the Supreme Court to encourage Georgia and Florida to resolve their water wars has died and as of this writing has not been replaced.

All best wishes to all who do their fair part to conserve use of Georgia’s waters and keep them swimmable, drinkable, and fishable.