World Water Day

We need to work harder to protect our nation’s water!

Water is life It is so important for healthy living. Every day each of us must do what we can to protect our planet’s precious water.

It is shameful the poor job we do to take care of our fresh water. Our fresh waterways are teaming with microplastics, nitrates and forever chemicals. None of these are safe for human exposure.

Today I am focusing on two crucial pollutatnts to our water. PFAS chemicals and nitrates. In 2023 the Minnesota legislature passed a strict law restricting PFAS (fovever chemicals) Unfortunately, many companies with PFAS in their products are trying to weaken Minnesota’s PFAS legislation. Read more about it below:

First, here is information on efforts to weaken Minnesota’s new PFAS(forever chemical law)

At least 70 million Americans get their water from a system where toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” were found at levels that require reporting to the Environmental Protection Agency. That’s according to new data the EPA released in its ongoing 5-year review of water systems across the nation. The number will almost certainly grow as new reports are released every three months. USA Today, March 21.2024

I’m 22, with a new job focused on clean water. Here’s why I’m doing it.

Amara’s Law is being implemented well, and Minnesota is better for it. We are incredibly grateful for our allies, whose hard work and determination helped pass such monumental legislation. But now, Amara’s Law is at risk once again. Bills HF 1627 and HF 81, authored by Rep. Josh Heintzeman, R-Nisswa, plan to irresponsibly gut the law, continuing to put polluters before people.

Finding safer PFAS alternatives has the potential to be profitable for businesses of all sizes. Capitalism is meant to push society forward, driving change and fostering new ideas. It was not built to just accept the first product that completes a goal, especially when it poisons people and the environment. We have met innovators and entrepreneurs who are creating effective alternatives to PFAS — they just need support. But they don’t get a chance because large corporations come and try to pick apart critical legislation. Minnesota continues to be poisoned, people continue to get sick, children like Amara continue to die.

Second, we have been unable to control farm run off. This pollutes our ground water our streams and people’s wells. It is dangerous for people, fish and animals. There is no excuse for letting this go unchecked! Nitrate pollution in water is caused by excess nitrogen from agricultural sources. Nitrates and organic nitrogen compounds from fertilizer and manure enter groundwater through leaching and reach surface water through runoff from agricultural fields. Nitrate contamination occurs in surface water and groundwater, leaching into the soil and from there into the water supply from various sources. A high level of nitrate makes water unsuitable as drinking water. 

73 percent of Minnesota nitrate pollution comes from cropland, primarily through agricultural drainage systems below cropped fields and by nitrate pollution leaching into groundwater, and then moving underground until it reaches streams. 78% of nitrate pollution to the Mississippi River in our state is fr…See more on fmr.org

Way: Something smells with the feedlot trend, and it’s more than just the manure

Clean water is important to our survival.

Water for Peace, Water for Life

Water is Life, we must do a better job of protecting our waters.

World Water Day March 22, 2024 is the United Nations observance day dedicated to highlighting the importance of freshwater. It serves as a reminder of the critical role water plays in our lives and ecosystems. 

 “Water for Peace” is this year’s theme. fostering peace, prosperity, and conflict prevention in the role water plays in the world.

It is shameful the poor job we do to take care of our fresh water. Our fresh waterways are teaming with microplastics, nitrates and forever chemicals. None of these safe for human exposure. In some places invasiive speciaes have been introduced that also change the entire ecosystem of our water ways.

73 percent of Minnesota nitrate pollution comes from cropland, primarily through agricultural drainage systems below cropped fields and by nitrate pollution leaching into groundwater, and then moving underground until it reaches streams. 78% of nitrate pollution to the Mississippi River in our state is fr…See more on fmr.org

At least 70 million Americans get their water from a system where toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” were found at levels that require reporting to the Environmental Protection Agency. That’s according to new data the EPA released in its ongoing 5-year review of water systems across the nation. The number will almost certainly grow as new reports are released every three months. USA Today, March 21.2024

Careless humans have transported invasive plants and animals with their boats and equipment. Invasive species disrupt aquatic ecosystems, endanger native species, and have far-reaching consequences that harm the eco-system of waterways.

Things are out of balance as we have allowed industry and farmers and all of us the right to pollute our waterways. We can all do better!

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.14387

https://extension.psu.edu/nitrates-in-drinking-water

https://fmr.org/minnesota-nitrate-study-highlights-farm-runoff-pollution

https://www.npr.org/2022/06/22/1106863211/the-dangers-of-forever-chemicals

What are a few things you can do to protect our waterways?

1. Always clean your boats and equipment before entering lakes.

2. Pick up litter

3. Keep the storm drains near your home free of leaf debris and plastic waste.

4. Reduce the plastic you use, and always make sure your plastic waste is in the correct place, either recycling, landfill waste or hopefully to be reused again.

5. Plant deep rooted plants that absorb water runoff, like native grasses and native plants.

6. Create rain gardens or adjust your drain spouts to drain onto your lawn or gardens.

7. Never use artificial turf for landscaping!

Forever Chemicals are Everywhere

PFAS (forever chemicals) have been polluting our air, water and bodies for too long! They are made by 3M and Dupont

It is so sad that a company like 3M has been allowed to pollute our land, water and bodies for so long. People have died and suffered because of their negligence.

Last week the Minnesota Reformer released a yearlong investigation on 3Ms PFAS chemicals, and concluded 3M couldn’t survive as a company with all the litigation taking place against them.

3M must of come to the same conclusion that they needed to stop making PFAS or they wouldn’t survive. 3M Says It Will Stop Making and Using Forever Chemicals by End of 2025

There must be something in the water – Minnesota Reformer  

Toxic: 3M knew its chemicals were harmful decades ago, but didn’t tell the public, government – Minnesota Reformer   

3M contines to argue their chemicals are not harmful. The evidence shows a different story.  

3M — the Scotch tape company — is a huge producer of PFAS, which it began manufacturing in Minnesota in the 1950s. By the 1960s, that work was generating 4 million gallons of wet chemical waste each year. 3M disposed of that waste by dumping it in unlined pits in the ground, even after officials allegedly knew it was polluting the groundwater. 

Internal 3M documents show that company officials were warned repeatedly that the chemicals were toxic, and that they were accumulating in the environment and in blood samples from both humans and animals. Those conversations, which began in the 1950s and continued for nearly 50 years, included details about two internal studies — one on fish, another on monkeys — that had to be abandoned because the subjects kept dying after being exposed to the (purportedly nontoxic) chemicals. By 1983, 3M’s own scientists had concluded that concerns about its chemicals “give rise to legitimate questions about the persistence, accumulation potential, and ecotoxicity of fluorochemicals in the environment.” 

The story does not end here. these chemicals exist everywhere. Who is responsible for cleaning them up? Who is responsible for the medical bills of the people and children with health issues from these chemicals? Clean-up of chemicals