P2

I don't know why, but there seems to be a movement toward abbreviation.  Last week was P2 Week, better known as pollution prevention week.  Throughout the world, water is something all life requires.  To determine if life may have been on Mars, astronomers look for water.  Water on Mars does not help us here on earth.  Like the land, all the water we have is all the water there will ever be on earth.  Prevention of pollution is critical to preserve water.  In southern Wisconsin, heavy rains this summer have flooded varied locations and the flood waters washed more contaminants than normal into lakes, streams, and wetlands.  What happens to water is crucial to the survival of plants, animals and humans, but yet water is often treated as an expendable resource.  We need water for drinking, washing, and cleaning.

Waste from outside the district being dumped for treatment at the NSTP
operated by Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District
Most waste that comes in by truck is from the pumping of septic tanks.

To help improve water quality, for about 30 years storm water regulations have required detention basins.  Detention basins are mainly a volume control measure to limit downstream flooding.  For about 20 years, there came a requirement for wet ponds, or retention ponds, which hold and keep water on the idea to allow sediments, and their pollutant loaded particles to settle in the ponds. Retention ponds may also function as detention ponds, so major storms may overflow the pond.  In Dane County, most communities require water to be detained to that equal to a 100 year storm event.  A 100 year storm has a 1% chance of occurring every year and in our climate is equal to 6" of rain over 24 hours, or 3" of rain in an hour.  When over-topped the large flush is loaded with pollutants.  More recently, there is a requirement for recharge, or infiltration, which leads to bio-basins, or rain gardens.  These assist in maintaining the aquifer, and to help with pollutants, and flood control. These structures also have an overflow.

Pipe and secondary treatment tank

 If you are in a rural location the used water, better known as sewage, is placed in a septic system and, usually, reenters the earth and the water table.  The idea is that the water is filtered by natural processes.  If you are urban, the water is treated at a sewage treatment plant, and reintroduced into the environment after treatment into streams or other water bodies.  As part of pollution prevention week, last Friday my wife and I took a tour of the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD) Nine Springs Treatment Plant (NSTP) .  I have toured the plant a number of times, but each time I seem to learn something new.  It was the first tour for my wife.  The plant is a paradox, the treatment method is at once both simple and complex.  Simple in that there is three main parts, and that natural aerobic and anaerobic organisms, known as bugs, do much of the work.  More and more regulations are being placed on point sources of pollution as they are politically easier to attack.  But, yet the so called low-hanging fruit methods for removal of some pollutants, that is those that are cost effective, have been used, and reduction in permit limits to remove even more come at a much higher cost to remove much less.

Phosphorus is a good example. The NSTP can remove phosphorus well below its current permit limit of 1.5 milligrams per liter (mg/L), with it normally removing down to about .33 mg/L, as was the case for August 2018.  However, an anticipated new phosphorus limit of .075 mg/L will be much more difficult to obtain, and potentially much more costly.  It has long been recognized that much of the phosphorus in our lakes and streams, and phosphorous is a main component that helps lead to algae growth (think blue-green algae) is from aspects well beyond the control of MMSD--agricultural fields, construction sites and urban runoff.  Leaves contain a high amount of phosphorus and when allowed to collect in the gutter and storm sewers with rainfall they produce a phosphorus laden tea.

One of the final clarifiers being cleaned and painted

Realizing that phosphorus is not simply a treatment plant issue and involves activities in the whole watershed outside of MMSD control, and in anticipation of the new phosphorus limit,  MMSD took the lead on an innovative management solution referred to as Adaptive Management.  Involving varied parties from MMSD, to local municipalities, to farmers the project aims to help reduce phosphorus from non-point pollution sources in addition to that able to be accomplished at the treatment plant. A pilot project a few years ago in the northern part of the watershed has now expanded.  You can watch a video on Adaptive Management here.  Farmers receive assistance with manure handling (use of digesters), aerial seeding of annual rye to help hold soil in place, and the hope is that buffer strips will become more common in the rural area.  Urban areas have had buffer strips, known as environmental corridors, for over 35 years for lakes, streams, creeks, and wetlands.  These corridors can be more than 75 feet. However, rural runoff, particularly agricultural runoff, also contains pollutants, hence the need for vegetated buffer strips in rural areas.

Belt thickener.  Do you know what the black stuff is?

Common to both rural and urban areas is construction activity.  Since phosphorus is bound to the soil, it makes its way to the streams, lakes and wetlands, through sediment.  Lack of construction site erosion control can be damaging to the lakes, streams and wetlands.  A number of complaints, with photos, that I passed off to the Village of McFarland, came back that the building inspector is on it, but little or no change in practice has occurred.  Erosion control, as much as the building inspector and other McFarland officials may think, is more than silt fence.  There is tracking, pumping, and improper silt fence and pond maintenance.

Silt laden rain storm water entering an overflow structure of a storm pond,
at McFarland Elementary School
The black is not my finger.  Due to the hard rain the camera lens cover failed to fully open

After one of my complaints about the school projects in McFarland, the Public Works Director emailed back that most of the sediment goes to basins or wetlands.  An incredulous lack of knowledge on which I challenged him on two accounts.  First, he assumes the basin works, and second, phosphorous affects wetlands too, and I offered to have Cal DeWitt, professor emeritus at the UW, speak to him on the pollutant issues facing wetlands.  What it unfortunately comes down to is that people need to care, and that is not present with contractors, and some enforcement officials.

Sediment laden water, mainly from the above, a few hundred feet downstream 

Perhaps they think their little bit will not affect the lake, stream or wetland.  We all need water, and the algae in the lakes is counterproductive to o the public, health and safety.  And it certainly does not help recreational users of the lakes.  We can all do our part.  Conserve water.  Here at home in the growing season we save the water used in the kitchen until we get warm water to wash the dishes for watering plants.  We save the water used to rinse our greens for watering outside flowers.  We had low-flow toilets installed over three years ago.  I use a mulching mower and keep cut grass out of the street.  I complained a number of times, unfortunately to no discernible affect, to the village about poor erosion control methods at the school construction projects.  We all can play apart in reducing pollutants.  As noted by an MMSD staff member, it is much more cost effective to not have the pollution than to try and remove the pollution later.

Pumping of silt laden water from a proposed rain garden

MMSD is doing its part.   It produces a good amount of its energy from methane, which gas is byproduct of its incoming untreated effluent.  It uses treated effluent to flush the toilets in its new maintenance facility.  The administrative component of that facility is heated and cooled by heat pumps transferring energy from the treated effluent.  The vehicle storage area is heated by a radiant system that uses the energy output from the generators (which use the methane to produce electricity)  to heat the floor.  Energy put to wise use.  Its Adaptive Management project is gaining national attention.  It harvest phosphorous out of the waste stream for use in fertilizer.  The phosphorus in the fertilizer, Crystal Green, is manufactured to only release phosphorous to the plant roots.

Pumped water entering storm sewer

MMSD realizes the importance of one water.  My niece who lives in New Orleans, has drinking water that comes from the Gulf of Mexico.  Most of MMSD's treated effluent goes to Badfish Creek, which goes to the Rock River, which goes to the Mississippi River, which empties in the Gulf of Mexico.  Think about it.  My niece may be drinking water that originated here in part of Dane County, perhaps even McFarland, but more likely from Madison.  In that sense, clean water becomes personal.  In many cases the solution to pollution is dilution, an odd way to obtain cleanliness, but measurements are often in parts per something;  think phosphorus in milligrams per liter.

Treated effluent from MMSD

To get an idea of the one water concept, before our tour both my wife and I had a taste of root beer produced with treated effluent.  Yes, it was made with treated effluent.  Before you gag, the water used to make the root beer was treated with three additional processes before making the root beer.  Last year they produced beer, which they called Nine Springs Pale Ale.  The processing of the water used was so good that they had to add back in some naturally occurring elements into the water, such as salt.

Overview of part of the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District  NSTP

The treatment plant process is, as noted, both simple and at the same time complex.  The process gets more complex near the end when removal of phosphorus, as one example, takes over.  Part of it being the sludge thickeners and the removal of struvite (phosphorous and ammonia and other elements) in to small pellets sold to make Crystal Green fertilizer.   Prior to this process, struvite would clog district pipes, and it was hard and difficult to remove.  My wife liked the tour and came up with some outreach suggestions.  How many people know that there is no such thing as a flushable wipe?  Or the siloxanes that are part of personal care products are found in our water.  Drugs need to be properly disposed and not dumped into the waste water stream.  Our human activity is increasing the complexity, and cost of treatment.  We need to all do our part, and on behalf of the district, and the maintenance staff, other than toilet paper, there is no such thing as a flushable wipe.  We need to preserve and take care of our water.  All the water we have is all the water we have had and will have.  To learn more, take a tour of MMSD.  You may be surprised as to what is involved.

Outfall of pumped silt which entered storm sewer

One Pollution Prevention Week Nine Springs Wastewater Treatment Plant tour participant

Devour

Last week Saturday, my wife and I had just gathered a significant amount of produce from our garden, some of it the last of the growing season, including a great deal of the gardener's bane--zucchini.  The question arose as to what to do with all of it.  An evening or two before, we had zoodles, noodles made out of zucchini, with pesto and chicken.  I suggested that a recipe be found that would use both eggplant and zucchini, which we had in abundance.  I am not sure if the comment had been brewing in the mind of my spouse or if it was a simple reaction to my comment, she verbalized the following:  "Maybe you should do more than devour the food."   Wow, devour?  Is taht what I do when I eat?   The meaning of the word was only outdone by the zeal and demonstrative nature with which it was verbalized.  I think what she meant was that I should do more of the cooking.

My wife likes to cook and bake.  She does such a good job at it that who I am to take over the kitchen?  Just last Saturday, for example, she needed to find something to do so she made not just one, but two types of zucchini bread.  I noted that I would cook dinner that Saturday, and that would require finding a suitable recipe using zucchini and eggplant.  She suggested using Pinterest to find a recipe, but Pinterest is not on my radar, so I said I would simply use a search engine and enter in zucchini and eggplant meals.  A number of dishes came up and after looking at two, I chose the second and transcribed the recipe to a piece of paper.   Most of the preparation involved cutting the vegetables into hunks.  Besides zucchini and eggplant, the recipe called for tomatoes and onions.  I also added peppers and mushrooms to the dish.  Most of the vegetables used in the dinner were grown in our garden.  It was a good way to use some of our garden produce, including some zucchini which seems to multiply overnight.

We enjoyed a large vegetarian meal and have sufficient leftovers for another day.  I did not devour all of the dish.  Devour is a pretty strong term; Merriam Webster defines it as "to eat up greedily or ravenously.  Now, I will admit, from what people have told me, that have a decent appetite.  I also know I tend to eat rather fast.  But devour?  It was not like she said, "you eat your fair share", or "you eat most of the food".  The online version of the Merriam Webster dictionary lists related words for devour and they all tend to have negative connotations.  The list is long, but a few related words are descriptive:  deplete, exhaust, annihilate, decimate, wipe out.

We had not yet decimated the garden produce.  After doing a great deal of canning of tomatoes in August and giving away a good amount of tomatoes, for example probably near 40 pounds to a former coworker who saw her tomatoes rot on the vine, the tomatoes have pretty well had it.  Over the summer, in addition to tomatoes, we gave away patty-pan squash, some cucumbers, eggplant, and of course zucchini.  It got to the point if you were going to get some tomatoes, eggplant, or patty-pan squash, you should be required to take a zucchini.  As the garden sees shorter days, I have tried once again a second planting of some cold weather crops to see how they may produce in the days of longer nights. I have yet to pick the butternut squash, but two on-going crops remain in abundance in the garden: arugula and Swiss chard.  The two varied plantings of kale were, well, devoured, by the furry small mammals that are present in the yard.

In addition to rabbits, the weather makes gardening unpredictable.  Unfortunately the heavy rains did a number to some of the pepper plants as they became up rooted due to the saturated ground.  Also, a ground hog got to our brussel sprouts and I see few if any good sized sprouts remaining on the plants.  Japanese beetles eat the raspberry plant leaves and move into to suck on the raspberries themselves.  What has made, and continues to make, tending the garden difficult this year are the number of mosquitoes.  Even bug spray cannot keep them all at bay. As the garden produce is now at a trickle, that means purchasing more greens and vegetables from the store.  Of course, this food will see the same fate as that from the garden--it is destined to be devoured.

Jeers and Cheers

Last week looking at the weather forecast for Armstrong Creek, where we like to camp, was, other than cold weather Sunday night to Monday morning showed rather pleasant weather.  This is in contrast to the weather for the prior three weeks (or up until last week Wednesday), where rain was predicted much like here, 12 of every 14 days.  The weather would get warmer as this week went on, but an early Thursday meeting beckoned our return on Wednesday, Sept. 12.  If I did not have to return for that meeting, we likely would have left Monday morning, and returned on the weekend.  Given that we tent camp, and I lack a battery operated radio, I did not watch or listen to the season opening Packer game.  However, all but two other of the fourteen campers at the campground were in campers, and from what I could gather many of them listened to or watched the game.

View from our campsite

Watching the game uses electricity, and the sites at this campground are generally considered primitive--that is pit toilets, and no electric hookups.  Campers can run on batteries which are charged by generators, their vehicle, or solar power  The campground made a big move up for this year when it installed a solar powered water pump, rather than having a hand pump.  I guess the powers at the National Forest recognized the aging population using campgrounds.  

Campfire

We were not totally in the dark as we could hear the jeers and cheers from the campers.  Given the way the game went, I think I heard mostly jeers before starting to fall asleep.  My wife, who is obviously either more of a Packer fan, or has more difficulty falling asleep, told me she had heard some cheers meaning she was awake for the second half, probably the fourth quarter.  We went to bed about 8:30 pm.  It may seem early, but it was a way to get warm given how cold it was and how much colder it would get.  The temperature at 8:30 Monday morning was 41 degrees.  Our 30 degree mummy bags did not seem to work for 40 degrees.  to get more information on the game, and who actually won, I was able to strike up a conversation with a camper on Monday and another on Tuesday. The camper I talked on Tuesday decided it was an easy choice to watch the game at home and head to the campground Monday morning.

Sun setting over Gordon Lake

But, one purpose of camping is to disconnect yourself from all of the devices we now find at our fingertips.  My wife wanted to check a forecast or something on her cell phone and had difficulty finding service.  While we may have been in the middle of anywhere, her cell service is not US Cellular.  As an aside, one of the things that irks me about the US Cellular service is their claim of service in the middle of nowhere or anywhere.  While I can understand the benefits of cell service, particularly in an emergency, does the whole nation need to be covered by cell towers?  Needing a line of site, generally in Wisconsin a cell tower service area can  be up to a 6 mile radius.  Some digital cell technologies require only a 2.5 mile service radius.  Also, technology is now advancing such that cell towers, particularly in urban areas, are being interconnected with fiber optic cable to send signals to varied towers depending upon the sender and recipient locations, and to take advantage of a tower that may be experiencing lower usage.  My wife commented on the benefit of camping is that one is not totally connected. 

Lone Maple Tree turning color on north shore of Gordon Lake
The trees, we notice on our drive home along Hwy 8, seem more colorful Wednesday than they did the prior Sunday

But, while one may not be connected by wireless or other means electronic while camping, you are connected to nature.  Literature is abundant relative to the need for humans to experience nature.  We all need a walk in the woods.  An earlier blog post this year was about why we camp.  One can experience wildlife while among woods and lakes in ways you would never see in an aquarium, or a zoo.  For example, watching a group of otters gather on a log that has fallen in the water eat, with one staying back intent on completing its meal.  Watching two young loons making numerous attempts to fly, but neither meeting with any success.  Watching three eagles sore overhead as they look for fish in a lake.  Or swimming and having an egret (at least I think it was an egret) fly above your head.  Or, even the idea of the course of nature, hearing the sound of an animal meeting its end and becoming food for animal higher on the food chain, as I heard Tuesday night as I was entering our tent to go to bed.  Or, the sound of different owls at night, some so strong that you would awaken. But, getting out of the tent at 12:30 am, after being awoken by the owls, to see if you can spot the northern lights (no, I unfortunately did not), but yet being able to marvel at the pure amount of stars in the clear, cool virgin night sky which can be its own form of night light.  The stars gradually begin to appear as the dark settled over Laura Lake.  But, for the stars, since I could not see the young crescent of a moon starting its new exposure, the lake would be almost pitch black at night. 

Loon on Gordon Lake

During the night, the animals seem to actually be more active, if one can judge from the sounds around the tent.  Or, it may be that the human noise has diminished leaving our ears attuned to what is outside our tent, but cannot see.  Human sounds are in the early morning hours on a cool early fall evening (or late summer by the calendar) now very low, if non-existent.  This will be broken at dawn  by the sound of chain saws plying their craft in the north woods of Wisconsin.  The sun, this time of year, takes it time in getting over the horizon, and even more so to even top the trees this time of year. Sitting in the tent you begin to wonder if the sun is out, or if it is cloudy.  The darkness in the tent during early dawn masks the true power of the sun.   It is almost that once it gets to the top of the trees it starts heading back down making its way to dusk and night which will once again bring its own form of sounds, just as day brings different experiences with animals.  At the beach the temperature difference between sun and shadow was rather significant.  My redheaded wife, being partial to the negative effects of the sun, would sit in the shade in long sleeve shirt, long pants, and heavy sweatshirt, while I would be nearby in the sun in a swimsuit. 

Otters on Laura Lake right along the water of our campsite
Tuesday morning

While my wife was not highly connected she, the ever-able Packer fan, did receive a couple text messages from our oldest son informing us that during part of the first half the Packers were down 17-0 and that Aaron Rogers had a knee injury early in the game. Besides wondering if we would go to a local watering hole to watch the game, he was concerned for the safety of the Packer back-up quarterback not from the rush of the Bears, but from the disdain of Packer fans.  Aaron Rogers would return to throw three TD passes to win the game. Interestingly, this camp trip, the only time we left the National Forest in the car was to find firewood. Being totally disconnected from all things internet does have its limitations, particularly when the Packers are playing.  I just wonder if she will now be jeering and cheering when the Packers meet their next division rival, a team selected by many to win the Super Bowl this season--the Minnesota Vikings.  I wonder if I will have to ask her to calm down. 

Twelve of Fourteen

A week or two after we completed our last camping excursion, I began looking at the long-range forecast to plan our next outing.  Given other events, and garden tending, we knew we needed to wait to after the 20th of that month, or perhaps even the following week.  For over three weeks I have looked at the forecast for McFarland, and areas of northern Wisconsin.  What I had noticed every time I checked prior to today, was that rain or thunderstorms were predicted for twelve of the next fourteen days.  

Source:  Channel3000.com Chris Reece article

Looking at the Madison, WI area, streets in the isthmus of Madison have been closed, schools in some counties northwest of Madison (Reedsburg, as an example) have yet to open, all due to flooding. (Reedsburg has now been closed for two days, and we have not even had any snow. While the Madison area had a great deal of rain in June, July and the first part of August were relatively dry, with July being dryer than normal, although not near dry enough to not need to mow the lawn.  On August 17, a large storm dumped about 6" of rain from Waunakee to Watertown, and some lesser amounts elsewhere, I think my rain gauge had about 3.2" for that rain event. To show that Mother Nature holds no favorites, the northwest side of Madison, particularly the city of Middleton and west to Cross Plains received almost 11" of rain in a ten hour period a few days later on August 20; what has been termed a 1,000 year storm.  During that event, most of Madison received 4".  The total for August for the Madison area, as recorded at the Dane County Airport, was 10.4" with a normal rainfall for August being 4.27".  As of 5:00 pm yesterday, September 4, 2018, the annual precipitation received is 38.14" compared to a normal of 25.28" for the year to date.  

Source:  Channel3000.com Chris Reece article
Notice the counter clockwise orange arrow rotation

Looking at the weather radar for the August 17 and August 20 storms one thing struck me:  they were a rotating system moving in a counter clockwise motion, very slowly moving easterly.  The rotation caused the storms to move slowly and to essentially dump a large amount of moisture in a certain, smaller, geographic area.  This rotation reminded me of the mid to late April snow storm which dumped over 30" of snow in parts of central Wisconsin, such as Waupaca to Green Bay.

Source:  Channel3000.com, Chris Reece article
An upper atmospheric river

Last week an article in the paper noted the large Madison event, and promised it would explain the reason for the heavy rainfalls next week.  That article noted the system rotation and said the lack of lightening was telling, but it never really explained why.  For an explanation, my spouse pointed out an article on Channel 3000 (on-line), which you can see here.  

Our Backyard, Wednesday Sept 5, 2018, about 12:45 pm.

The article, by Chris Reece, noted that the answer "lies in the upper atmospheric setup."  He goes on to note that during most of the summer a high pressure system over the southeast part of the United States has "kept a constant stream of tropical moisture flowing directly into the Upper Midwest.  This also caused the summer to be very humid.  The moisture remained undisturbed and  was sitting in the upper atmosphere over the state of Wisconsin.  As August took hold, the jet stream became more active and produced what Reece calls "several waves of low pressure that have tracked directly through the area over the past few weeks."  He noted that each of the systems took existing moisture and intensified the "pool of water vapor over the area, deepening the amount of moisture in our skies, and ultimately raining it out in the seemingly unending rounds of thunderstorms the area has received." So, if what he says is true some of this moisture, from the Gulf, dated back to June.

Rain gauge in our yard, Sept 5, 2018
Rain accumulation mainly since about 8:30 am to  about 12:45 pm

A news report today has flood damage in Dane County for the past few weeks being $154 million.  this is only $20 million more than what Aaron Rogers will make over four years (a four year extension to his current contract that has two years remaining).  Lake levels are at historic highs.  The streets in Madison, and other locales are flooded either by high streams or lakes, or surcharging of the storm water system.  A storm water pipe surcharges when the water at its outfall is equal to or higher than the inlet.   Another problem is that construction sites are now discharging more sediment laden water into the lakes, streams, and wetlands of the state.  For example, the school construction project behind me has been sending sediment laden storm water downstream since the project began last August.  Complaints to the Village, have been met with, well, they have let the contractor know.  (A lot of good this does.)  The Public Works Director seemed unconcerned since most of the water goes to storm ponds, or (get this) wetlands.  Oh my gosh!  I could not believe it.  First, the storm ponds need to be functioning at the school which they, as the following photo shows, are not. Second, wetlands are not to be depositories of sediment.  With that thinking why even have erosion control.

McFarland Primary School detention pond, overflow pipe
Sediment laden water entering the inlet to transfer to drainage ditches and then to wetlands and lake.
As part of the construction, they are reworking this pond.
Rain on the lens caused my lens cover to not sufficiently open.
Photo by author Sunday, Sept 2, 2018 about 5:15 pm.

Four days into September, Madison has already received 2.11" or 2/3 of the normal expected 3.13" for the whole month.  By the end of today this will likely be broken.  By 12:45 pm today my rain gauge recorded, albeit this is an unofficial amount, of just over 1.5".  More rain is yet expected through most of the day.  But for a brief sprinkle early in the morning, the rain started about 8:30 am.  These large storms reminds me of August of 2007 when large storms produced substantial flooding rainfall, but not as bad as this year.  What followed that winter was over 100" of snow in Madison, and the following June the large storms that broke the Lake Delton Dam and closed I-90/94 near the Dells and flooded many other streets.  

Drainage channel at the end of our block where the school storm water discharges to the open ditch.
Notice the color of the water from the sediment.
Author photo, Sunday, Sept. 2, 2018 about 5:20 pm

Will the Madison area lakes and streams be able to sufficiently handle this additional rainfall?  On Monday of this week, the Weather Channel app had rain predicted for the Madison area for a predictable 12 of the next 14 days. The past number of weeks, the forecast has been rather accurate. Today, that has changed.  One could expect the other two days to be of rain, but it is now actually predicting many fewer days of rain, in fact none in its long-range forecast after today.  The newspaper report is less optimistic, in its next four days (Thursday to Sunday), rain is expected Saturday.  The weekend rain, I thought, may be related to the Tropical Storm affecting the south; perhaps that will not take a route to bring the moisture to Wisconsin as earlier expected.   If the forecast is altered, we may get a camping trip in, but will it be dry?   Experience shows that even when a forecast is for 10% chance of rain, that rain chance will find us.