I admit that in one election campaign, 1984, I printed and posted signs around my district, using ink and paper and some chemically-based silk screen material. The signs read: Re-Elect Pat Ferraro for Clean Water, Accept No Substitutes. Of course, the substitute I really meant was my competition, three challengers in the primary, and then a runoff election with a conservative poly sci teacher at San Jose City College. The Clean Water part was the buzzword hot button for the electorate. Yes I was FOR, not against, Clean Water. Damn it!
To just finish the story of the election, I was re-elected in the fall runoff, with over 70% of the vote. But not getting a majority of the votes in the primary is usually a deadly situation for an incumbent's future as an elected official. And my opponent, being a specialist on political theory, he knew he had me,
But fortunately for me, an historic event occurred at the Democratic National Convention that summer - a woman was selected to be the vice-presidential candidate in the Fall 1984 Presidential Election. And her name was FERRARO, Aunt Geraldine, as I began referring to her, both in jest and joy. For the next 10 weeks until the election, FERRARO was in no-less-than 80 point fonts on the pages of every newspaper everyday. Women would drive by and cheer out the windows as we were nailing up our campaign signs. My modest and common Italian surname (meaning smith) was suddenly on everyone's lips. So Arnold & I won't be the last persons elected because of name recognition.
But How Clean IS Clean?
This answer requires "wiskey's for drinking, water's for fighting over"sort of thinking. The numeric values that define the "SAFE" consumption of any given water pollutant is the remnants of a long and fierce battle between government regulators and the responsible parties that are currently discharging said pollutant.
These battles are fought and fought again if someone proposes to change them. Remember the punt of the arsenic standard from Clinton's to Bush's so-called administration?
When I first began my sanitary engineering career after graduating from San Jose State University in 1970,
we used the simple standard for toxicity of waste(d) water discharges as a per cent survival of some small fish called three-spined stickleback, held in a sample tank for a week. Of course the water was, by then, a week into the receiving water body and not recallable. So the State could fine the discharger instead, often moving local cash back to the state bureaucrats. Everyone loses.
When I became an elected official of a large metropolitan water agency, my focus on the quality of water widened to include every drop of water that passed the lips of the humans living and working in this county. Defining what quality of water is good or bad for human health now involved doctors, with M.D.'s not PhD's in aquatic biology. It also involves all the research scientists feeding the world data and postulations that certain things are indeed good or bad for human health, from their food, their air and their water.
In the mid 1980's, as Silicon Valley companies were cleaning up their terrible and terrifying mess from their leaking chemicals tanks, their friends at the Industrial Protection Agency began peddling a health impact system they called "Acceptable Risk" Using wildly extrapolated lab animal toxicity studies, these federal regulators began to set clean up standards as the number of additional cancers per million people as an acceptable risk and allowed the residual contamination to be present in the drinking water systems using this groundwater for potable uses by the residents of this valley.
When I testified before the State Water Boards that administered the Clean Water Act in California, I would always refer to these new standards as "Acceptable DEATH" which would make them a bit mad, since they were overwhelmed with data and reports claiming this was good science, or good-enough science to get these companies out from the enormous clean up bills that resulted from such gross negligence.
There are about 200 chemicals contaminants that must be tested (out of 80,000 known chemicals, mostly manufactured) in all municipal drinking water systems, all of, once per year, or less frequently if "the concentrations do not change frequently." An annual report is sent to customers once a year. If you rent and don't get a water bill directly, you don't get the report at all.
The Water District and many cities are actively campaigning against the purchase and use of bottled water, claiming in their advertisements that tap water is safe and tastes good(enough) and doesn't cost nearly as much as plastic bottled water, both in dollars and environmental footprint. And they cite the lax regulation of the bottled water purveyors compared with the above scrutiny on testing public water delivery systems.
The taste issue may drive bottled water sales more then health concerns. Tap water almost always has detectable taste issues. Most of that originates in the residual chlorine that's added to the tap water as it leaves the well head or water treatment plant. Even when chlorine has been replaced with on-site generated ozone, chlorine is still added before the water enters the distribution piping to guard against microbial re-growth before it reaches your tap..
I always point out the "We Pollute, We Clean it Up, Business Couldn't be Better" model when I see it.
Knowing that the Chlorox Company owns Brita Water Filter Company has always amused me. But it's the appropriate technology for a household and an inexpensive and efficient way to protect yourself from many possible chemicals plus taste and odor problems that your Less-Than-Clean water may present you.
Never Thirst!
Showing posts with label water pollution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water pollution. Show all posts
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Do You Believe in Magic?
Today we celebrate the replication of life by honoring the human seed carriers we call Fathers.
While replication of life on a genetic level is amazing, we don't call it magic. Science tells us the story of DNA replication with an RNA copy that occurs when each living cell gets environmental signals that trigger the process of cell growth or repair. That's what our endocrine system does for us, and why endocrine disruptor or mimickers in our environment are such a concern, for both human health and all the ecosystems.
My post on Water Quality Protection speaks to behavior rules to protect water quality, but it is far from perfect in eliminating the risks of having pollutants like endocrine disruptors in our water. The source for many of these false messengers is from our own bodies, which excrete artificially high levels of pharmaceuticals, like pain medications and hormone treatments, especially birth control pills. Only a small amount of most pills are metabolized by the body, while most of it passes unchanged through our bodies. THIS IS THE MAIN SOURCE OF WATER POLLUTION, for this kind of chemical, not unused bottles of drugs being dumped into toilets, which is not a good thing to do either.
But back to the subject of this post:
Do You Believe in Magic?
Being an earth loving kind of a guy, my spiritualism naturally brings me to Earth-based rituals to honor the life giving elements of our beautiful planet. We are both humbled and in awe of our home here, orbiting at just the right angle to the only safe nuclear reactor we call the Sun. How all this happened is sometime the stuff of scientists, but more often the stuff of our spiritual practices to ponder and try to explain.
Beyond the elements of earth, air, water and fire, we enjoy life and often tend to focus on spirit, as we communicate with ourselves and each other. The duration of our spirit is what we document in our brains as memories. We'd like this record to go on forever. At the same time we know that we will return our elements to the planet someday, but wish for some magical existence, away from and after our bodies are no longer in the replication mode we call life.
I'm just now finishing the excellent book by Alan Weisman, called "The World Without Us" It is a well-researched look at the transience of human works and how nature would reclaim and undo everything that humanity has wrought on the planet. It also addresses the concept of human transference, where all your individual historical self can be uploaded into cyberspace and live there free of natural constraints, like death.
As human beings continues their foolish lemming-like mass suicidal behavior, many people are already practicing a limited versions of this strange new level of existence. All sorts of people are joining Second Life, where they create a cyber version of a person they want to be and then move that person through a cyber society, doing whatever they chose to become. It's the Sims Gone Wild, and a trip that I have not yet considered joining to date.
But then here's my blog on the Internet, available for anyone to comment and engage me in conversations that could change who I perceive myself to be and possibly changing a reader in some way.
As survivors, we all wish our life would go on forever. What we wish for are also what we call spells. My earth goddess mate, Cari, has produced an edition of an art book called Star Spell, reminding us that even things like wishing on a star is a spell.
Spells and magic are often confused in popular culture. I see magic when I wish for something that has no scientific basis and probability of occurring, but does happen after you, individually, or a group of people wish for something.
This is a very long preface to the following story of the most magical event that ever occurred for me while I have been in my career of water minding here in San Jose and California.
While replication of life on a genetic level is amazing, we don't call it magic. Science tells us the story of DNA replication with an RNA copy that occurs when each living cell gets environmental signals that trigger the process of cell growth or repair. That's what our endocrine system does for us, and why endocrine disruptor or mimickers in our environment are such a concern, for both human health and all the ecosystems.
My post on Water Quality Protection speaks to behavior rules to protect water quality, but it is far from perfect in eliminating the risks of having pollutants like endocrine disruptors in our water. The source for many of these false messengers is from our own bodies, which excrete artificially high levels of pharmaceuticals, like pain medications and hormone treatments, especially birth control pills. Only a small amount of most pills are metabolized by the body, while most of it passes unchanged through our bodies. THIS IS THE MAIN SOURCE OF WATER POLLUTION, for this kind of chemical, not unused bottles of drugs being dumped into toilets, which is not a good thing to do either.
But back to the subject of this post:
Do You Believe in Magic?
Being an earth loving kind of a guy, my spiritualism naturally brings me to Earth-based rituals to honor the life giving elements of our beautiful planet. We are both humbled and in awe of our home here, orbiting at just the right angle to the only safe nuclear reactor we call the Sun. How all this happened is sometime the stuff of scientists, but more often the stuff of our spiritual practices to ponder and try to explain.
Beyond the elements of earth, air, water and fire, we enjoy life and often tend to focus on spirit, as we communicate with ourselves and each other. The duration of our spirit is what we document in our brains as memories. We'd like this record to go on forever. At the same time we know that we will return our elements to the planet someday, but wish for some magical existence, away from and after our bodies are no longer in the replication mode we call life.
I'm just now finishing the excellent book by Alan Weisman, called "The World Without Us" It is a well-researched look at the transience of human works and how nature would reclaim and undo everything that humanity has wrought on the planet. It also addresses the concept of human transference, where all your individual historical self can be uploaded into cyberspace and live there free of natural constraints, like death.
As human beings continues their foolish lemming-like mass suicidal behavior, many people are already practicing a limited versions of this strange new level of existence. All sorts of people are joining Second Life, where they create a cyber version of a person they want to be and then move that person through a cyber society, doing whatever they chose to become. It's the Sims Gone Wild, and a trip that I have not yet considered joining to date.
But then here's my blog on the Internet, available for anyone to comment and engage me in conversations that could change who I perceive myself to be and possibly changing a reader in some way.
As survivors, we all wish our life would go on forever. What we wish for are also what we call spells. My earth goddess mate, Cari, has produced an edition of an art book called Star Spell,
Spells and magic are often confused in popular culture. I see magic when I wish for something that has no scientific basis and probability of occurring, but does happen after you, individually, or a group of people wish for something.
This is a very long preface to the following story of the most magical event that ever occurred for me while I have been in my career of water minding here in San Jose and California.
The Miracle March Rains of 1991
In that year, 1991, Drought is the word heard most throughout the State of California. Below normal dryness has continued for the fifth straight year in a state that had barely enough reservoir capacity to just get us through these four prior years.
In many states where rain falls all year, there is not the California obsession about building dams to catch every drop. In fact many states would not want to impede the flow of their mighty rivers, where quantities of water are too threatening and are barely contained behind miles of levees.
Water supplies in California had finally been reduced to about half the amount of normal demand for both urban needs and to sustain the life of agriculture's trees and vines. Groundwater was being overdrafted in every basin in the state, as surface deliveries from all federal, state and local reservoirs were running out.
Santa Clara County had been subject to mandatory rationing for at least three years, but the staff and Board of the Water District were in the process of justifying and mandating that water use would be reduced to 50% of the 1986 base year, and would include an outright ban for watering all landscaping in the County. The usual contentiousness of the Water District Board was much worse than ever, as business groups to homeowners associations begged special consideration to avert the impact on their individual interests. The Landscape Advisory Committee had been formed and was now advising the Board about the enormous economic impact such an action would cost the people of this county.
Lately, most of my time was spent reading the endless reports generated by the staffs of our local water district as well as the state and federal reports which would justify cutbacks of the two aqueducts which our county relied for normally half of our water.
Even in stressful times, recreational reading is advisable to keep one from overdosing on water politics.
A friend and neighbor had married a novelist named Bruce Hendersen, who, with the famous Vincent Bugliosi, wrote a best selling account of a murder and piracy trail filed in the a Federal District Court in Honolulu, Hawaii. Bugliosi learned from his successful novel and movie rights for Helter Skelter, the gruesome account of the Charlie Manson clan and murders, that more comes with story telling than from straight lawyering fees, even being Los Angeles' chief prosecutor.
In the federal court room in Hawaii, Vincent Bugliosi, now the defense lawyer for the woman being tried for these crimes, was successful in a motion for a change of venue. Enormous local publicity was generated over arrest of the defendants for a double murder on a distant atoll in the South Pacific and the nerve of the perps to show up in Honolulu sailing the victims' boat with a new paint job. So in 1985, the trail was moved to the Federal courthouse in San Francisco, CA.
The trial proceeded with jury selection and then began with opening arguments. But on February 14, 1986, (my daughter's first birthday) what weathermen call a "Pineapple Express" set up across the Pacific Ocean and began a two-week deluge that filled every reservoir in Northern California to the brink. Weeks earlier, water districts like ours were contemplating the severity of the mandatory rationing that would be imposed if rain did not come before the end of the 1985-86 rainy season.
Flooding of many communities began within days of the continuous rainfall, and caused many residents in the Bay area to abandon normal commutes, especially from Marin County, where some of the jurors resided. Frustrated, the Federal Judge, the Honorable Samuel King, issued an order from his near empty courtroom in San Francisco that it stop raining by February 18, 1986.
This was what I read on February 19, 1991,in the novel co-authored by Vincent Bugliosi and Bruce Hendersen, that was about to be released as TV movie at the end of this month. Wanting to finish the book before seeing the movie, I came to this account of the judge's order. My senses about water issues were heightened by the drought response we were facing, so, this account in the novel, being weeks on the non-fiction best sellers list, gave me pause.
I made the decision to write a letter to Judge King and plead with him to rescind his order. I wrote (your order) "seems to have worked too well! That was the last real storm to have visited Northern California in the last five years. There may be a lesson here from the Sorcerer's Apprentice, only this time in reverse. For the welfare of the State of California, may I plead with Your Honor to please rescind your order before the entire region dries up and blows away. (Closing with) Never Thirst! Patrick T. Ferraro, Director, Santa Clara Valley Water District."
I faxed the letter from my computer to the Federal Courthouse in Hawaii. The Judge's clerks kindly forwarded my letter to the Judge who was in Los Angeles at the time for the premier of the movie, in which he was cast to play himself.
In a reply on February 26, 1991, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, the Judge King replied to me on official US District Court/Hawaii stationery as follows:
Dear Brother Ferraro:
Your plea is heard and your wish granted.
I hereby rescind my order of February 18, 1986.
I hereby order that rain shall fall again in California by
February 27, 1991.
Aloha kava,
Samuel P. King
In many states where rain falls all year, there is not the California obsession about building dams to catch every drop. In fact many states would not want to impede the flow of their mighty rivers, where quantities of water are too threatening and are barely contained behind miles of levees.
Water supplies in California had finally been reduced to about half the amount of normal demand for both urban needs and to sustain the life of agriculture's trees and vines. Groundwater was being overdrafted in every basin in the state, as surface deliveries from all federal, state and local reservoirs were running out.
Santa Clara County had been subject to mandatory rationing for at least three years, but the staff and Board of the Water District were in the process of justifying and mandating that water use would be reduced to 50% of the 1986 base year, and would include an outright ban for watering all landscaping in the County. The usual contentiousness of the Water District Board was much worse than ever, as business groups to homeowners associations begged special consideration to avert the impact on their individual interests. The Landscape Advisory Committee had been formed and was now advising the Board about the enormous economic impact such an action would cost the people of this county.
Lately, most of my time was spent reading the endless reports generated by the staffs of our local water district as well as the state and federal reports which would justify cutbacks of the two aqueducts which our county relied for normally half of our water.
Even in stressful times, recreational reading is advisable to keep one from overdosing on water politics.
A friend and neighbor had married a novelist named Bruce Hendersen, who, with the famous Vincent Bugliosi, wrote a best selling account of a murder and piracy trail filed in the a Federal District Court in Honolulu, Hawaii. Bugliosi learned from his successful novel and movie rights for Helter Skelter, the gruesome account of the Charlie Manson clan and murders, that more comes with story telling than from straight lawyering fees, even being Los Angeles' chief prosecutor.
In the federal court room in Hawaii, Vincent Bugliosi, now the defense lawyer for the woman being tried for these crimes, was successful in a motion for a change of venue. Enormous local publicity was generated over arrest of the defendants for a double murder on a distant atoll in the South Pacific and the nerve of the perps to show up in Honolulu sailing the victims' boat with a new paint job. So in 1985, the trail was moved to the Federal courthouse in San Francisco, CA.
The trial proceeded with jury selection and then began with opening arguments. But on February 14, 1986, (my daughter's first birthday) what weathermen call a "Pineapple Express" set up across the Pacific Ocean and began a two-week deluge that filled every reservoir in Northern California to the brink. Weeks earlier, water districts like ours were contemplating the severity of the mandatory rationing that would be imposed if rain did not come before the end of the 1985-86 rainy season.
Flooding of many communities began within days of the continuous rainfall, and caused many residents in the Bay area to abandon normal commutes, especially from Marin County, where some of the jurors resided. Frustrated, the Federal Judge, the Honorable Samuel King, issued an order from his near empty courtroom in San Francisco that it stop raining by February 18, 1986.
This was what I read on February 19, 1991,in the novel co-authored by Vincent Bugliosi and Bruce Hendersen, that was about to be released as TV movie at the end of this month. Wanting to finish the book before seeing the movie, I came to this account of the judge's order. My senses about water issues were heightened by the drought response we were facing, so, this account in the novel, being weeks on the non-fiction best sellers list, gave me pause.
I made the decision to write a letter to Judge King and plead with him to rescind his order. I wrote (your order) "seems to have worked too well! That was the last real storm to have visited Northern California in the last five years. There may be a lesson here from the Sorcerer's Apprentice, only this time in reverse. For the welfare of the State of California, may I plead with Your Honor to please rescind your order before the entire region dries up and blows away. (Closing with) Never Thirst! Patrick T. Ferraro, Director, Santa Clara Valley Water District."
I faxed the letter from my computer to the Federal Courthouse in Hawaii. The Judge's clerks kindly forwarded my letter to the Judge who was in Los Angeles at the time for the premier of the movie, in which he was cast to play himself.
In a reply on February 26, 1991, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, the Judge King replied to me on official US District Court/Hawaii stationery as follows:
Dear Brother Ferraro:
Your plea is heard and your wish granted.
I hereby rescind my order of February 18, 1986.
I hereby order that rain shall fall again in California by
February 27, 1991.
Aloha kava,
Samuel P. King
When the paperback version of this novel was released the following year, an addition to the book was added about my letter to Judge King and his response:
"That very day rains returned as ordered. What the water experts described as a 'large warm storm coming from Hawaii' deluged drought stricken Northern California with the heaviest rainfall in five years -more than eleven inches in six days." Bugliosi also added "In retrospect, there was considerably more risk than I thought in challenging Judge King's authority."
The local media in San Jose had a great deal of fun covering this exchange over the course of the eight days between February 19 and February 28, and then through the storm that saved California from its worst water shortage in decades.
So be careful what you wish for. Sometimes MAGIC HAPPENS!
NEVER THIRST!
"That very day rains returned as ordered. What the water experts described as a 'large warm storm coming from Hawaii' deluged drought stricken Northern California with the heaviest rainfall in five years -more than eleven inches in six days." Bugliosi also added "In retrospect, there was considerably more risk than I thought in challenging Judge King's authority."
The local media in San Jose had a great deal of fun covering this exchange over the course of the eight days between February 19 and February 28, and then through the storm that saved California from its worst water shortage in decades.
So be careful what you wish for. Sometimes MAGIC HAPPENS!
NEVER THIRST!
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