Water Film Fest II - January 29

Films can take us to places, share ideas, and open our connection to something.   Please join us and attend Water Film Fest II.  The date and place are being confirmed still.   Jan 29 (Thursday) from 6-8 p.m. in Room 1012 Swenson Hall at UWS is the place and time.  A dozen short films will be shown - all relate to water.   Several are local productions.
Thanks to UWS Lake Superior Research Institute for arranging the place.  It's easy to get to for students and the public.  Two screens.  Every seat is a good seat.
Free.  Bring a friend.  Bring a date :-)

Share the announcement with others who may want to attend: 

Here is the poster :

 

Where's the Concern?

Great Lakes Echo asks its readers to identify an Area of Concern highlighted by a video each week.  Check out this week's Area of Concern below...I think it will look pretty familiar.



Area of Concerns (AOCs) are spots in the Great Lakes basin that have environmental degradation.  The St. Louis River AOC has several beneficial use impairments (BUIs), including:

Restrictions on fish and wildlife consumption

Excessive Loading of Sediment and Nutrients

Degradation of fish and wildlife populations

Beach closings

Fish tumors or other deformities

Degradation of aesthetics

Degradation of benthos

Restriction on dredging activities

Loss of fish and wildlife habitat (US EPA)

For more information about the St. Louis AOC, visit the following sites:

US EPA
Great Lakes Commission
Wisconsin DNR
Lake Superior Binational Forum

-Written by Jillian Schubert Edwards

WhadayaKnow? How can we improve water quality in the Great Lakes?

Great Lakes Echo is a great website for news about the Great Lakes basin.  They also put together a lot of great informational videos.  Their "WhadayaKnow" series is especially interesting because they ask random people on the street questions about the Great Lakes.  The video below shows people's responses to the question "How can we improve water quality in the Great Lakes?".  Everyone they spoke to had good ideas to improve water quality, many of which are implemented in one way or another.  However, I didn't hear any of the people they stopped mention stormwater pollution.  This is surprising, since stormwater is the largest contributor of water quality pollution to urban waterways in the United States.  Many people probably don't realize that most stormwater drains go straight to waterways without being treated.  Our goal on the Superior Stormwater blog is to make more people aware of this and give you more information on reducing stormwater pollution and water pollution in general.  We hope that after reading our blog, you have a lot of ideas for how to improve water quality by reducing stormwater pollution.  Thanks for reading!



-Written by Jillian Schubert Edwards

Plastic Pollution

I saw this video last week on plastic pollution in Lake Erie.  It's interesting because most people would probably not realize that some common products can be so harmful.  We all know that plastic water bottles are a big problem in the environmental world, but facewash?  Even though this is in Lake Erie, not Superior, it's good information that is applicable universally.  Check it out below:
Lake Erie Plastic Pollution Study - WICU12/WSEE Erie, PA News, Sports, Weather and Events

-Written by Jillian Schubert Edwards