I was listening to an interesting piece on Mercury’s history in the San Francisco Bay this past two weeks, courtesy of our friends over at KQED QUEST.
It’s an excellent 3 part series, focusing on how the problem has evolved and what lies ahead. One of the more interesting pieces is a short conversation with Dr. Jane Hightower, a doctor in San Francisco who specializes in diagnosing mercury poisoning cases. She published a paper in 2003 that garnered a lot of attention. She gathered a group of 89 individuals who had high fish consumption diets and measured their mercury levels over the course of a year. 89% had levels higher than the EPA reference dose (their guidelines) at 0.1 micrograms/kg of body weight. This study raised quite an alarm about mercury in fish, even though it did not yet indicate the symptomatic effects of mercury.
Back to the story at hand, QUEST interviewed her about Mercury poisoning. Listen to the story.
She admits that more study is needed in the area, but there is much difficulty in getting the study done (Hg is so toxic, it’s hard to get a study of humans approved, also Hg symptoms seem to be very different in different people).
After listening the story, I googled Dr. Hightower. I found an interesting site called MercuryFacts.org. The site essentially slams Dr. Hightower’s work (among others). After some digging, I found this site was established by the Center for Consumer Freedom, a nonprofit devoted to “defending the right of adults and parents to choose what they eat, drink, and how they enjoy themselves.” I personally found the site slanderous bordering on malicious. Their Hg calculator uses a toxicity figure 10 times lower than the EPA’s (they don’t use the Reference dose as the EPA does, instead they take away the built in EPA buffer for their calculator). It’s highly misleading. Here’s a short video they ran against PETA “they want us to all be vegetarians”.
I would suggest looking to Real Mercury Facts, a site run by the University of Maryland, for a little less biased view.
On May 8th, the three month discussion on Water in California concludes with a look to the future. With expected water pinches coming from population growth and climate change, the discussion is fairly pertinent. BASF is focused on creating an informed public as key ballot issues on water are pending.
The discussion will focus on the following strategies:
* Increasing surface storage through dam building.
* Desalination of sea water.
* Attempting to match water quality with usage, so that the cost to produce high quality drinking water is only incurred when it is needed.
* Prevention of water pollution, including urban runoff management, to decrease the amount of treatment needed.
The dam issue is key, as the governator is pushing for an 11.6 Billion dollar bond measure to build new dams (exactly where is unknown) and create a canal around the San Joaquin Delta (where there is all that hubbub about a little fish). The push is under great attack by environmentalists for the lack of conservation measures in the bill. And frankly the talk of desalinization as a solution is almost laughable…as discussed in part 1 of this series, the process is so energy intensive, the water produced will be incredibly expensive.
Also, how the heck are we going to pay for 11.6 billion dollar in water upgrades considering the expected $14 billion budget deficit? There are plenty of questions on this topic, I would definitely make this night.
Last month, we talked about the endocrine disruptor atrazine (it induces formation of aromatase…which plays a role in the conversion of testosterone to estrogen).
The timing was perfect, as the AP concluded a 5 month investigation into pharmaceuticals in national water supplies last month as well. They found trace amounts of pharmas in 24 major metropolitan areas, including San Francisco. In SF, the AP found the sex hormone estradiol present in trace quantities in our water. Scary stuff eh? Let’s break it down.
Let’s start at source: You take drugs. Drugs are designed to flood your system. You pee the extra out.
Pee travels down to the wastewater treatment plant. We went on a tour of a waste water plant….remember how they mentioned they don’t clean a number of organics (including cooking oils)? Well, that fun stuff often gets flushed out into the ocean or lakes unperturbed. Maybe some bacteria break it down along the way. It gets diluted through the water cycle…ends up in minute/microscopic quantities back in our water supply.
We don’t know what long term exposure to these low levels of pharmas will do. Probably nothing on their own, but they are part of a greater picture of “stress” on our bodies.
If you’re scared, protect yourself by using a carbon filter…it effectively removes most of these pharmas even at low concentrations. And take the time to properly dispose of your drugs.
But let’s back up for a sec…how come these items go untreated at the wastewater plants? I specifically asked for the effluent data on my last visit to the wastewater treatment plant…got the runaround with no luck. And I think that’s the point…how are we “treating” our waste? Where is the transparency of data (the AP mentions how difficult it was to get this data)?
Well, I for one care about what is getting pushed out into the Pacific from my toilet. And I’m going to write my local water authority to ensure they do as well.
Part one of the Bay Area Science Forum, a collaboration between the Cal Academy, UC Berkeley, & Stanford, launched last Thursday.
In the part one, Peter Gleick of the Pacific Institute & Ellen Hanak of the Public Policy Institute of California spoke on water quantity and quality here in California, focusing on where our water comes from, the rough breakdown of us, and the economics of efficiency/conservation. The podcast should be available online shortly.
I was especially impressed with Peter Gleick (I had been chasing him as a speaker for DtaS). He had an astounding breadth of knowledge of the water industry, which is a gigantic field.
I’m definitely going to part 2 on the Delta, April 3rd @ UC Berkeley. I encourage other to attend as well.
He mentioned a couple reports by Pacific Institute on Water issues…links to the articles can be found below.
I’ll summarize my thoughts on one particle article: The SFPUC’s request to divert an additional 25 MGal/day from the Tuolumne.
Currently, the SFPUC draws 85% of its water from the Tuloumne. 80% of the projected increase will be sold to other agencies (Alameda, Hayward, Milpitas, Santa Clara). The SFPUC project most of that increase comes from commercial and industrial users. The Pac Institutes refutes that growth projection for commercial users, expecting an economic growth of 17 percent.
The Pac Institute also indicates that the PUC underestimates water recycling and reuse (PUC projects 3% of increased demand met with recycling/reuse programs).
Our friends over at the Cal Academy of Sciences have started a new informal science venture: The Bay Area Science Forum. In collaboration with UC Berkeley and Stanford, BASF is an interactive dialogue to facilitate more informed decisions….much like a science cafe without the booze.
After an open vote, Water resources was chosen as a topic for this 3 month, 3 event discussion. The first event is March 13 at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. I will definitely be attending, I encourage everyone else to come out as well.
Monday, July 21st, 2008 7-9 PM Where:Atlas Cafe What:The Toxicology of Everyday Products Who: Dr. Paul Blanc, UCSF The Deets:There are hidden health dangers in many of the seemingly innocent products we encounter every day - a tube of glue in a kitchen drawer, a bottle of bleach in the laundry room, a rayon scarf on a closet shelf, a brass knob on the front door, a wood plank on an outdoor deck. This is not a matter of one exceptional or corrupt industry, but rather of how run-of-the-mill manufacturing processes and consumer marketing expose workers and the general public alike to toxic hazards. More troubling still, even when such hazards are recognized, calls for their control are routinely ignored.
Monday, August 18th, 2008 7-9 PM Where:Atlas Cafe What: Power to the People: Robots and Representational Democracy Who: Dr. Ken Goldberg, UC Berkeley The Deets: Is there decision-making strength in numbers? Professor Goldberg and his students are looking into questions raised by robots and social networks -- and working on a new class of interfaces and games based on networked robots and cameras that quantify a measure of "leadership" to bring about group discovery and decision-making based on the power of crowds.
Ken will report on experiments and questions raised by robots and social networks, ranging from Ouija boards to human "tele-actors,"and tell a true story about how invasions of privacy led him and his students to study how robots can assist in monitoring the natural environment. Ken will describe a robotic system they've deployed to assist the search for the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, a bird of extreme interest to birdwatchers, ornithologists, and conservationists whose last confirmed sighting was in 1944. Ken will also describe the Berkeley Center for New Media, a highly cross-disciplinary center with over 110 affiliated faculty from 30 Cal Departments.
Science in Action Events Science in Action is a series of tours, trips, and hikes intended to put you in the middle of active science in the Bay Area.
If you're interested in attending, send me an email.
The SF Recycling Tour is now full...Please email if you'd like to be added to the wait list
Saturday, July 19th 10 AM - 12 Noon
Details:
During the tour we will spend 45 minutes in the classroom watching a video, talking about recycling and environmental topics and the Artist in Residence Program. Then we will go to the studio to meet the current artist, then visit the Hazardous Waste Facility, the Transfer Station, the Sculpture Garden and finally walk through the Public Disposal Area. This part of the tour takes about one hour.
