Tag Archives: water

BSU joins forces with USACE, it’s about water!

“This system has lost its channel-forming flows. Without seasonal inundation, we’re seeing a decline in riparian vegetation like black cottonwood forests and an overall loss of biodiversity.”-Marve Griffith, USACE Walla Walla District

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and Boise state University (BSU) are joining forces to tackle the dying Barber Pool Conservation Area (BPCA), which is part of the Boise River system.

The claim is that the BPCA has lost its ‘natural seasonal inundation’ due to the never ending Boise Metro Area construction of buildings and infrastructure upstream. Also, non-regulated human traffic through the BPCA: “Right now, it’s a warren of little trails. If we establish good, maintained pathways, people will use them, and it’ll reduce erosion and protect wildlife.”-Alan Crockett, local taxpayer

The result is that Barber Pool is not recharging, and that plant and animal biodiversity is rapidly disappearing.  The project is not only about restoring the Barber Pool area, but, by expanding the wetland it could also lower the current level of the floodplain.

On 20NOV2024, the USACE and BSU conducted a ‘Public Scoping’ meeting at the Barber Park Education and Events Center, a fancy way a saying they collected comments about the project from concerned taxpaying citizens.

USACE video report by Marcy Sanchez:

The efforts to restore the BPCA are part of the decades old (Cold War era) National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

USACE Barber Pool project.

2024: Idaho wants to shutdown 500-thousand acres of farmland?

2023: Just revealed, Idaho got $26million in federal funding for clean-er water?

U.S. Food Crisis: W-O-T-U-S will take your water? E-P-A & U.S. Army join forces! Blame Idaho?

13 March 2023 (13:27-UTC-07 Tango 06) 22 Esfand 1401/20 Sha’ban 1444/22 Yi-Mao 4721/13 марта 2023 года

“The Biden rule would lead to sweeping changes to the federal government’s authority to regulate what is considered a navigable water, with enormous impacts on small businesses, manufacturers, farmers, home and infrastructure builders, local communities, water districts, and private property owners. Cloaked under the guise of clean water, all this rule does is expand the federal government’s control over states, localities, and private landowners, making it harder to farm, build, and generate economic prosperity. I encourage the Senate to pass this commonsense resolution to push back against onerous rules like this one.”Sam Graves, U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee

What is WOTUS? Waters of the United States (WOTUS) is part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Water Act (CWA), it determines which water, and water conveyances, fall under federal and state control.

WOTUS is also known as the Clean Water Rule (CWR-2015) of 2015.  CWR-2015 is an attempt by both the EPA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to clarify federal regulations regarding water usage by industry, academia and individual citizens.  President Joseph Robinette Biden Junior altered the CWR-2015/WOTUS, the new rule goes into effect on 20MAR2023.  However, on 09MAR2023 the U.S. House of Representatives voted to block (227 to 198) what is now called The Biden WOTUS Rule.

The U.S. Senate is also poised to block The Biden WOTUS Rule, but Biden has vowed he will veto any such blocks upon his version of WOTUS!

The Biden WOTUS Rule is the result of a more than a decade long federal lawsuit brought by an Idaho couple against the EPA and USACE, in 2008.  In October 2022, the federal Supreme Court heard arguments, for a second time, concerning the lawsuit, the Court is supposed to make a decision in early 2023.

Click here to watch the October 2022 Supreme Court hearing; Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency (aka Sackett-2).

Biden’s WOTUS Rule was finalized on 30DEC2022. One controversial rule says that water ‘adjacent’ to ‘protected’ water is subject to the new WOTUS, there was no wording clarifying any amount of distance from such ‘protected’ water. Another rule states that ‘permanent’ flows of water in local ditches, waste water treatment ponds, artificially created lakes or ponds, are now under the control of the EPA! The new WOTUS uses ‘environmental justice’ as an excuse to take control of local water, restricting industries including food production!

Read the complicated U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) Revised WOTUS, January 2023, for yourself.

11MAR2023, Representative Thomas Massie “If A Drop Of Rain Lands On Your Property… The Federal Government Is Going To Show Up!”:

IDAHO, 2023:  The Gem State has joined Texas in its lawsuit against WOTUS!

JUST REVEALED, IDAHO GOT $26MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDING FOR CLEAN-ER WATER?

KENTUCKY, 2023: Judge blocks environmentalists from intervening against the state of Kentucky’s lawsuit against WOTUS!

The Hill: Two dozen states join lawsuit against EPA and USACE!

Progressive Farmer: The EPA is preventing farmers from joining lawsuit against the EPA!

EPA Shenanigans, 2023: WHAT/WHO ARE THEY TRYING TO PROTECT? IT’S OBVIOUSLY NOT THE ENVIRONMENT!

U.S. Food Crisis: OHIO’S C-B-R-N EVENT TO DESTROY FOOD PRODUCTION ACROSS SEVERAL STATES?

Biden’s Borderland: TINY BOATS STEALING FROM THE U.S. FOOD SUPPLY!

Just revealed, Idaho got $26million in federal funding for clean-er water?

“Once again, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is providing a once-in-a-generation funding opportunity that allows EPA and our partners to improve water quality and infrastructure. We’re laying the groundwork today for future decades of clean water for the people of Idaho.”-Casey Sixkiller (great name), Administrator of EPA Region 10

On 26JAN2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it had given Idaho $26-million-730-thousand to protect and improve water quality and infrastructure, back on 28DEC2022!

The money didn’t go directly to the state of Idaho, it is being divided (not evenly) between the federal government (EPA) co-sponsored Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and  Clean Water State Revolving Fund.  On top of that, the money isn’t free, the funding is to be issued out as low-interest loans!

Even though the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law money is going to federally co-sponsored programs, and is to be used as debt financing, the Idaho DEQ was grateful: “The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality appreciates the ongoing support from EPA to protect and improve water quality and infrastructure across our state, and we welcome any assistance that helps make these services more accessible and affordable for our communities.”-Jess Byrne, Director of Idaho DEQ

Idaho DEQ Source/Ground Water Assessment

Hunger Games: IDAHO NURSING HOMES & ECONOMY LEAVES OLD PEOPLE OUT IN THE COLD!

Disaster 2021: IDAHO MILITIA & BOISE FD TRAIN FOR SWIFT WATER RESCUES, WITHOUT WATER!

June 2016: IDAHO WATER STANDARDS NIXED FOR FRACKING?

April 2016: IDAHO, OREGON, WASHINGTON HIT BY CONTAMINATED WATER, COINCIDES WITH OIL INDUSTRY FRACKING!

February 2014: WASHINGTON PROPERTY MANAGER SUED OVER SICKENING WATER SUPPLY IN IDAHO MOBILE HOME PARK!

U.S. Food Crisis: Aged infrastructure cuts off water supply to Arkansas school/city, National Guard deployed!

On 28SEP2022, the Arkansas Army National Guard’s 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team had to deliver 2-thousand gallons of potable (think of it as water clean enough you can put in a pot for cooking and eating, pot-able) water to the Bald Knob School District in White County, Arkansas.

Arkansas Army National Guard photo by Sergeant First Class Jim Heuston, 28SEP2022.

Many reports say only that the water supply line to the school/city was “compromised”.  Classes were canceled on 27SEP2022, and a boil order was also issued for the area south of U.S. Highway 67 and in the Bald Knob North Water Association (boil order ended on 29SEP2022).  The water pipe must be repaired.  The National Guard will continue their water supply operation as long as necessary, and requested by local officials.

Arkansas Army National Guard video by Sergeant First Class Jim Heuston:

According to one local news source, a private sector cable boring crew accidently cut through the main water line, but it was not their fault as they had consulted with local water officials before cutting.   It turns out that the water line is so old it is not listed on any of the water district’s maps!  75% of the city of Bald Knob was affected by the cut line, which is being repaired.  The line also serves people living outside the city limits.

U.S. Food Crisis: KENTUCKY MILITIA DEPLOYED FOR WATER SHORTAGE, “BAD WENT TO WORSE!”

U.S. Food Crisis: Kentucky Militia deployed for Water Shortage, “Bad went to worse!”

11 July 2022  (18:11-UTC-07 Tango 06) 20 Tir 1401/11 Dhu l-Hijja 1443/13 Ding-Wei 4720

Kentucky Army National Guard photo by Sergeant First Class Benjamin Crane, 01JUL2022.

“We can live without electricity, we can live without the Internet. One thing you definitely can’t live without is water. And it becomes something that we sometimes take for granted.”-Adam Ledford, City of Marion

Beginning 24JUN2022, personnel with Kentucky Army National Guard’s 2061st Multi-Role Bridge Company, as well as the 206th Engineer Battalion, 201st Engineer Battalion, and 103rd Chemical Battalion, have been working to bring potable water to the town of Marion.

Kentucky Army National Guard photo by Sergeant First Class Benjamin Crane, 01JUL2022.

Side note: Despite what dictionaries/word-smiths say is the source of the word potable, people should pronounce potable as pot-able (or pot-a-bul), as in the water is able to be used in a pot for cooking/drinking. Non-potable, of course, is water that is not able to be used in a pot for cooking/drinking.

On 22JUN2022, it was reported that administrators in Crittenden County were scrambling to solve a water shortage problem caused by attempts by City of Marion administrators to drain Lake George.

Lake George was the primary water source for Marion, but in April erosion in the lake’s levee suddenly developed into a sink-hole.  An attempt was made to drain the Lake George, to prevent total failure of the levee and a resulting massive flood of the town.  At first the standard way of draining was not making good progress, so they decided to breech the levee on purpose.

Observing Old City Lake. Kentucky Army National Guard photo by Sergeant First Class Benjamin Crane, 01JUL2022.

Marion officials had ordered water collection to be switched to the smaller City Lake (aka Old City Lake, which looks more like a big pond), thinking it held one month’s worth of water, and that surely would be enough, but whoopsie, turns out City Lake held only 18-days worth!  Apparently what was negatively affecting Lake George is also affecting nearby lakes: “Throughout that process, we were able to begin to put together the picture that it looked like what was causing the issue had something to do with our intake system and damage to our intake system that runs underneath the levee and into the bottom of the lake. Bad went to worse, we lost over a week’s water supply just because of new data that was developed on our secondary source, which had now become our primary source. So, in essence, you can argue that we lost not only one water supply, but quite honestly, we lost two-plus water supplies in this process.”-Adam Ledford, City of Marion

There are several options for the City of Marion; rely on other cities and other counties for water, which will greatly jack-up water costs for Marion residents.  Or, have the Governor call in the National Guard and make emergency taxpayer funded water deliveries until a long term solution proves viable.

Kentucky Army National Guard photo by Sergeant First Class Benjamin Crane, 01JUL2022.

Governor Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency and initially deployed approximately 20 Army National Guard Combat Engineers.

WSIL video report, three days of potable water left as of 06JUL2022, multiple new leaks:

On 07JUL2022, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet announced it will attempt to connect Marion with water from the Crittenden-Livingston Water District.  Also, Webster County Water has been suppling water, and, Marion officials approved a plan to build a three miles long system to connect to the Caldwell County Water District in Princeton.  However, all these expensive water connections to other systems will supply only half of the City of Marion’s water needs. Additional efforts are being attempted.

The City of Marion is a rural city with a population of about 3-thousand.

U.S. Food Crisis, 2022: WALMART FEEDS FOR FREEDOM? THE MILITARY CHOWS DOWN ON THE REAL HUNGER GAMES!

U.S. Disaster, 2022: MONTANA MILITIA DEPLOYS AFTER MAJOR FLOODING!

Disaster 2021: IDAHO MILITIA & BOISE FD TRAIN FOR SWIFT WATER RESCUES, WITHOUT WATER!

Pittsburgh asks Army Reserve for water!

“How much purified water can one of your water purification units produce to distribute to the public?”-City of Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety

04 APR 2017 meeting between Pittsburgh admin and U.S. Army Reserve commanders

Just days ago the city of Pittsburgh asked the U.S. Army Reserve 316th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) to provide logistical information about water purification.

Not much info has been made public about the meeting, other than city administrators are concerned about the loss of city water services due to a potential ‘disaster’.

Fracking Food Crisis: Idaho, Oregon, Washington hit by contaminated water, coincides with oil industry Fracking!

10 April 2016 (15:21 UTC-07 Tango 01) 22 Farvardin 1395/02 Rajab 1437/04 Ren-Chen 4714

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency revealed that ever since oil industry Fracking ops have been allowed to take place in the Pacific northwest (about 2004) water quality has suffered.  More than 60 public water sources in Idaho, Oregon and Washington have exceeded federal safe levels of lead contamination in the past three years!

The majority of contaminated water systems are in Oregon with 37, followed by Idaho with 22.  Washington has eight contaminated systems.

The majority of those water sources supply local grade schools.  Some Oregon school administrators admitted they were informed of the lead contamination in 2013, and have been buying bottled water ever since.   In Idaho, several school directors blamed lead contamination on old plumbing and claim that lead levels went down after the plumbing was replaced.  In Washington the first reported case of lead contamination was at the State Patrol Academy, in 2012.  Directors say they’ve been on bottled water since then, but are working to hook up to ‘city’ supplied water.

Most of the contaminated water sources involve systems using well water.  Across the U.S. the EPA found at least 1-thousand 4-hundred public water systems contaminated with lead, affecting 3.6-million people!

I find it interesting that here in Idaho the lead contamination (even though blamed on old plumbing) begins just after ‘test Fracking’ began in 2011.  In 2012 Gem State ‘law makers’ officially allowed Fracking, and also banned city and county governments from banning Fracking!  Isn’t it possible the chemicals (solvents) used in Fracking caused the built up contaminants in the old plumbing to come loose?  Current unconfirmed reports indicate Fracking ops have halted.

In Oregon there are reports that Fracking stopped by 2015.  Fracking for Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) began as early as 2004.  Apparently Fracking for LNG in Washington was supposed to start in 2012, however, recent reports say no Fracking is taking place. It is difficult to find reliable sources of public info on Fracking because the industry, and even state governments, are tight lipped about the controversial operation.

Blind Bat News: Another study proves Fracking destroys your drinking water, main stream news ignores it! 

Blind Bat News: Michigan violence skyrockets, is it the water? Lead poisoning causes violent behavior! 

The Oregonian: Lead-tainted Oregon armories remain open to public despite dangers

Blind Bat News: “Re-fracking” 39-thousand + oil jobs gone, as companies hoard Black Gold! 

Blind Bat News: 2013 Duke University study says Fracking poisons drinking water!

Blind Bat News: Ohio & Arkansas suffering mass earthquakes in 2012, officials blame Fracking.

What Global Warming? Winter like weather shuts off water for residents of Chubbuck, Idaho (has pictures)

The morning of November 5, hundreds of Chubbuckians awoke to no water in the their taps.  This after a small overnight snow storm (a little early for the Pocatello/Chubbuck area).

chubbuck water break, nov 5,2011The water main break happened in front of a residence and the Saint Paul Catholic Church, on West Chubbuck Road.

The water had blasted its way down a full city block, flowing over the sidewalks.

water main break chubbuck nov 5,2011Weekend city crews were working hard to solve the problem.  As of  15:00 hours (3pm Mountain time) they began opening up fire hydrants throughout the affected neighborhoods.

backhoe water break

Good thing we got snow; time to start collecting buckets of snow so we can flush our toilets! (actually water was flowing through the taps again by 16:00 hours/4pm Mountain time)

Japanese Nuclear Holocaust: Cesium levels skyrocketing, one city alone has 89,000 Becquerels of contamination!

Back in May I posted how “mysterious” levels of radiation were showing up all over Japan, in sewage treatment centers, and trash burning centers.  The situation has gotten incredibly worse, and is clear evidence that Fukushima Daiichi is spewing massive amounts of cesium.

All over Japan water treatment centers, and trash burning centers, are reporting that their waste sludge continues to be contaminated with cesium.  Not only that, but the levels are so high that they can not legally dispose of it.

At least 50,000 tons of waste sludge is contaminated with cesium, and 1,500 tons are so contaminated that it can’t be touched.  Those 1,500 tons contain at least 8,000 becquerels per kilogram of cesium.

But that’s not all.  A water treatment center in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture, has 89,697 becquerels per kilogram of cesium in its waste sludge.  Remember the national safe limit for food is 500.

This is proof the damaged nuclear plant is spewing far more radiation that what people are being told.

Pocatello & Chubbuck, Idaho, running out of water

The city of Pocatello is back to the drawing board after voting against buying $6.2 million worth of water rights.  The deal would have been made with Portneuf Marsh Valley Canal Company.  City officials backed out after credible threats of lawsuits from water users “downstream”.

Water is a big issue for Pocatello.  Its main source of water is the Lower Portnuef Valley Aquifer, and it’s running dry.  The Portneuf River flows through Pocatello, but it does not recharge the aquifer, and the city does not take any water from it.

To add to the problem, the city of Pocatello is not the only one using the Aquifer, the city of Chubbuck also gets its water from the same source.

For a long time it was thought that surface water runoff made its way to the ground water (Aquifer), but now its known that most surface water runoff just ends up in rivers heading out to the oceans (although some recharging comes from Mink Creek, and snow).

Geoscientists believe the Lower Portnuef Valley Aquifer was created 17,000 years ago when a natural dam broke, releasing a huge sea into the area (Bonneville Flood).  Part of that sea was trapped in what is now known as Lower Portnuef Valley Aquifer.

Another issue is that while many aquifers are held in small rock formations, even pebbles and sand, the Lower Portnuef Valley Aquifer is trapped by huge boulders, which were part of the natural dam holding back the ancient sea.  You can see huge boulders around the area now.  Every time a housing development goes in they end up spending a lot of time digging out the boulders in order to put in basements.  It has also resulted in lucrative local rock mining businesses.

The water in the Aquifer is almost finite, it does not easily recharge as was once thought.

However, while most rain ends up in rivers, any water from slow melting snow, or used on farms or residential properties can get into the Aquifer.  The problem is that large boulders do not filter the incoming surface water, like sand or pebble aquifers. This means the Lower Portnuef Valley Aquifer is very vulnerable to contamination.

To add to that, the soil is only about 2 to 8 feet thick, before you hit rock.  I can attest to that since I’ve done a lot of landscaping here, and I grow vegetables and fruits.  I can dig the depth of a shovel blade and hit rocks 4 inches in diameter or bigger.  The thin soil means if you dump used motor oil on the ground, or use chemicals on your garden, it’s almost instantly heading for the Aquifer.

There is a three part (boring, basically a college lecture from 2010) video explanation of the Lower Portnuef Valley Aquifer issue, presented by Glenn Thackray of Idaho State University:

 

Thackray explains that the cities, residents, farmers and businesses take out more water from the Lower Portnuef Valley Aquifer, per year, than what flows into the Aquifer.  This has been going on for a long time, and is why we’re running out of water.  Add to that the fact that we’ve had some very dry winters, with less than normal snowfall (a big source of recharge, because it melts into the ground, unlike rain that runs off).  The water level has been dropping since the 1990s.

Pocatello city officials say they are taking this issue seriously, and are being proactive about finding a solution.