Check out this cool graphic from Project AWARE! And remember, the Tennessee River Rescue happens October 1st, so be sure to help out if you’re in the greater Chattanooga area!
Author Archives: laura
St. Lucia’s New Resident Herpetologist
As sad as we in Chattanooga are to lose Maria to the islands for the next year, how lucky is St. Lucia to pick her up! No more than a day into her time there, and she was already picking up cane toads the size of her head!
Reef Check in Haiti
Check out this video about the coral reefs off Haiti! Maria and Mary Beth participated in Reef Check in the Dominican Republic, and this story is about the same thing in Haiti: volunteer eco-divers checking out the health of the reefs.
Drinkable Danish Water
The latest addition to the list of places with E. coli-infested drinking water is a surprise: try Denmark. The city of Copenhagen just gave the okay to drink tap water without boiling it first. The boil order was on for about a week. What a hassle! And in Europe, even! Just goes to show that we can’t take clean water for granted no matter how wealthy our nation. At the same time, the timing couldn’t be more appropriate, as it coincides almost perfectly with World Water Week and the WaterAid conference being held in Stockholm.
Local E. coli
Yuck! I just read through an August 2010 report on impaired streams in Tennessee, and guess what I found? Escherichia coli, and lots of it in the Lower Tennessee River watershed. In Hamilton county alone, there are tens and tens of miles of creeks and streams with medium to high E. coli counts, some due to septic tank leakage, some due to livestock. Saint Lucia and other developing nations aren’t the only ones with poo in the water! Just keep that in mind if you’re ever out in a creek and thinking of drinking the water straight-up; there could be cows just upstream! And if you’re curious, you can check out the detailed PDF of water-quality-challenged Tennessee waterways here.
Summer Watering Reminders
In the hot drought-oriented summers of the US Southeast, lawns and plants could easily turn brown and die off without extra watering. However, an average of 30% of that water evaporates off without actually making it into the ground, and in desert climates like the Southwest, that loss can jump up to 50%! So if you have to water your plants, make sure you’re getting the most out of it with a few tips.
1. Try to water early in the morning or late in the evening during cooler times of the day when the sun’s not out in full force. You’ll cut your evaporation losses substantially, as well as your water bill!
2. Water the plant’s roots, not the foliage. Not only will water tend to evaporate off the leaves more easily, but it also increases your risks for pests and disease. You can water the roots more deeply with that water you used to waste on the leaves and hence less often!
3. This seems like a no-brainer, but make sure you are actually watering your plants, and not the sidewalk or concrete! Check the range of your automatic sprinkler system, or if you water manually, never leave the hose running unattended where it might end up stuck on the driveway and running water straight into the drain.
