WaterWorld Weekly: April 28, 2011

The following is a transcript of the April 28, 2011, edition of the WaterWorld Weekly newscast.

• Florida nutrient rule gets green light
• Water emergency in Galveston
• Water authority says 'no' to drilling wastewater
• Gulf oil spill lawsuits filed
• Seattle school attempts net zero water

[story1]
US District Judge Alan Gold issued his final word this week in the ongoing battle between EPA and critics of the agency's rules regarding nutrient limits in Florida waters.

The agency, he said, has the right to impose its Florida nutrient rule issued last fall.

The judge went on to say that the state of Florida failed to protect the Everglades and that the EPA has to step in to enforce protection of the state's threatened waterways.

The agency and others involved in the case have until July 1st to demonstrate the steps being taken to comply with the ruling.

[story2]
Crews in Galveston have been working feverishly this past week to repair a ruptured 42-inch water line that supplies water to Galveston Island. The damaged pipe, discovered last Friday, was leaking about 10,000 gallons a minute, prompting city officials to issue a Stage 5 Emergency Water Shortage.

Residents have been prohibited from non-essential water use and are being asked to conserve as much as possible. Until the line is repaired, additional water supplies are being sent by Houston and League City. Water has also been drawn from wells in Santa Fe.

Officials are not sure what caused the initial leak.

[story3]
A water authority in Pennsylvania has said that as of May 19 it will no longer accept drilling wastewater for treatment at the plant.

The Kiski Valley Water Pollution Control Authority, which serves about 11,000 customers in Armstrong and Westmoreland counties in Pennsylvania, receives drilling wastewater from McCutcheon Enterprises, a centralized waste treatment facility in Allegheny Township.

Pennsylvania DEP recently sent a request to gas drillers in the Marcellus shale region to stop sending wastewater to 16 sewage treatment facilities not equipped to process it.

Kiski was one of those sixteen but voluntarily issued the new no-drilling-wastewater policy ahead of DEP's deadline to drillers -- also May 19.

DEP issued the request after discovering elevated levels of bromide in Western Pennsylvania rivers.

[story4]
One the one-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon tragedy last week, BP filed a lawsuit against Transocean for $40 billion dollars in damages from the devastating oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

In a separate lawsuit, BP also filed against Cameron International, the maker of the rig's blowout preventer.

BP believes the two companies should help pay for the billions of dollars in liabilities resulting from the spill -- including clean up and compensation costs.

BP also wants official declaration that Cameron contributed to the disaster.

April 20th, the first anniversary of the disaster, was the deadline for companies involved in the incident to file claims against one another.

[story5]
The Bertschi elementary school in downtown Seattle is attempting to unplug from the municipal water and sewer system. The school's new science building, designed and built by the Restorative Design Collective, features a number of energy- and water-saving features that will eventually -- hopefully -- get them to net zero water status and certified as a living building.

Among the features:
• A green roof to filter and slow stormwater
• A rainwater collection system
• Gray water treatment to drinking water standards -- although they're not doing that just yet
• And a classroom toilet that composts and treats waste on site

Proponents of the project say it recognizes water as a precious resource. And, seeing different green building strategies in action helps people become more comfortable with the concept.

For WaterWorld magazine, I'm Angela Godwin. Thanks for watching.

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