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Great Lakes Scientist says, “If We Lose The EPA, We Lose Lake Erie”

Great Lakes Scientist says, “If We Lose The EPA, We Lose Lake Erie”

At the 8th Binational Meeting of the Lake Erie Millennium Network, 125 scientists gathered at the University of Windsor in Ontario to hear experts weigh-in on the health of the southernmost, warmest and shallowest of the Great Lakes.

They presented research on everything from climate change, water quality, phosphorous, agricultural run-off, cyanobacteria (blue-green algae), hypoxia (deficiency in oxygen), cladophora (green algae) to ice, invasive species, sediment concentrations, and much, much … [more…]

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What is an ‘impaired’ waterway and why are so many in Pennsylvania?

What is an ‘impaired’ waterway and why are there so many of them in Pennsylvania?

Photo: Pennsylvania’s “Category 5” streams include the Juniata and Susquehanna rivers and many creeks, such as the Yellow Breeches in Cumberland County.

More than a third of Pennsylvania’s lakes and a fifth of its streams are impaired, meaning that pollution has (or should have, anyway) hindered their use for drinking water supplies, fishing, recreation or the aquatic life that call the waterways home.

Perhaps the best illustration of the scale … [more…]

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Fracking linked to increased hospitalizations for skin, genital and urinary issues in Pennsylvania

photo: more fracking related to more hospitalizations

Rashes, urinary tract infections, and kidney stones requiring hospital stays are more common in areas with more drilling, according to a new study

Fracking may put Pennsylvania communities at greater risk for skin, genital, and urinary diseases, according to new research.

The study, which will be published in the March issue of the journal Public Health, looked at hospital records in Pennsylvania’s 67 counties from 2003–2014.

Researchers found that … [more…]

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Pittsburgh water agency to spend $50M to replace lead pipes

photo: Pittsburgh water agency

The Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority’s water treatment plant in Aspinwall. (Photo by Ryan Loew/PublicSource)

Pittsburgh’s beleaguered water authority will spend $50 million to replace lead service lines, give filters to low-income residents and take other steps to address the city’s lead crisis under a settlement approved Thursday by state utility regulators. It comes a week after the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office filed criminal charges against the Pittsburgh Water and … [more…]

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First blood tests in Bucks, Montco show above-average contamination after tainted water

Residents in Bucks and Montgomery Counties who participated in a blood-testing program because their drinking water was contaminated by chemicals on nearby military bases have a dramatically higher presence of some chemicals in their blood than the general U.S. population — in the case of one chemical, five times more than the typical American.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health mailed the averaged results to the 235 residents in Horsham, Warminster, … [more…]