Daniel Salzler No. 1156
EnviroInsight.org Five Items July 1, 2022
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2. Arizona Cities Forced To Cancel 4th of July Fireworks Display
ALL ABOUT ARIZONA NEWS JUNE 27, 2022
With 4th of July less than one week away, residents are learning that many of the annual Independence Day celebrations have been cancelled.
Some Arizona cities have announced the event cancellations and are citing fire concerns, pandemic-related supply and or staffing problems.
The city of Phoenix announced the cancellation of three annual major 4th of July fireworks displays because they could not obtain the necessary fireworks due to supply chain problems. However shows in many other Phoenix metro cities are still scheduled.
The city Flagstaff is still planning for their annual Independence Day parade through the city’s historic downtown. However in place the pyrotechnic display, the city will be debuting a new laser light show due to the potential to spark wildfires.
Fire officials in many cities across Arizona are of course worried that the cancelations of their annual events that draw large crowds to enjoy, could cause people to increase their use of consumer fireworks in residential areas.
Officials want to remind everyone that fireworks can be dangerous, causing serious burns and eye injuries. It is recommended to follow these safety tips when using fireworks:
- Never allow young children to play with or ignite fireworks.
- Make sure fireworks are legal in your area before buying or using them.
- Avoid buying fireworks that are packaged in brown paper because this is often a sign that the fireworks were made for professional displays and that they could pose a danger to consumers.
- Always have an adult supervise fireworks activities. Parents don’t realize that young children suffer injuries from sparklers. Sparklers burn at temperatures of about 2,000 degrees – hot enough to melt some metals.
- Never place any part of your body directly over a fireworks device when lighting the fuse. Back up to a safe distance immediately after lighting fireworks.
- Never try to re-light or pick up fireworks that have not ignited fully.
- Never point or throw fireworks at another person.
- Keep a bucket of water or a garden hose handy in case of fire or other mishap.
- Light fireworks one at a time, then move back quickly.
- Never carry fireworks in a pocket or shoot them off in metal or glass containers.
- After fireworks complete their burning, douse the spent device with plenty of water from a bucket or hose before discarding it to prevent a trash fire.
- All fireworks must not leave the physical property boundary of those who light them.
3. Western Lakes Shrink From Drought, and Boat Businesses Struggle. On Lake Mead, five of six launch ramps have closed, causing hours-hour-longlong waits to launch.
By Jim CarltonFollow Photographs by Mikayla Whitmore for The Wall Street Journal
June 19, 2022 5:30 am
BOULDER CITY, Nev.—At the lone remaining boat launch ramp here on Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the Western U.S., officials recently put up a new sign: “Estimated Wait Time 4 Hours.”
Amid a drought that scientists say is now the worst in the region in more than 1,000 years, Lake Mead is 28% full. The lake has lost 169 feet from its surface elevation of 1,214 in 2000. For every foot it goes down, about 20 feet of shoreline are exposed, according to officials with the National Park Service.
Federal officials have had to close five ramps because they don’t extend far enough to reach what’s left of the reservoir’s water, creating unprecedented waits for people who have long used it for aquatic recreation.
“If the water keeps going down the way it is, it seems like they will cut off recreational boating, which would be awful for us,” said Cory Smith, a 42-year-old real-estate investor from nearby Las Vegas, after he and his family of seven spent a sunny Tuesday afternoon on the lake in their 23-foot MB Tomcat.
Hemeawy Harbor, the lone remaining boat launch at Lake Mead, is far more congested this year as a a drought affects much of the west.
Already, businesses in the area are suffering as the shrinking reservoir’s appeal for visitors has declined.
Lake Mead Mohave Adventures has seen a 30% drop in its houseboat revenues so far this year compared with 2021, in large part because of cancellations, said Chad Taylor, director ofvmarketing and guest services.
“There is a perception the lake is empty, and it’s not,” Mr. Taylor said.
The total economic output of tourism around Lake Mead was $428 million in 2020 from some eight million visitors, according to the National Park Service. There aren’t recent estimates of the impact of any declines in visitation.
The challenges Lake Mead is facing from the drought, which scientists attribute largely to climate change, are occurring at many other bodies of water in the West as well.
In central Oregon, Prineville Reservoir is 29% full, its lowest level in more than 20 years. That puts the water below all three developed ramps, leaving only two dirt ones that don’t get much use because of the risk of getting a vehicle stuck, said Chris Gerdes, manager of the state park there.
Last year, falling levels at Lake Powell, currently 28% full, prompted federal officials to close boat launch ramps, resulting in cancellations of hundreds of houseboat reservations.
Gregg Martinez, economic development coordinator for nearby Page, Ariz., said publicity around water deterred many tourists.
“A lot of people have decided to take their business elsewhere,” he said.
With no end to the drought in sight, officials are taking increasingly extreme steps to maintain access for water recreation. On a driving tour this past week, Justin Pattison, acting deputy superintendent of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, showed where his agency kept trying to extend a ramp at Boulder Harbor before retreating waters forced its closure last year. Dust swirled as a once sunken motorboat baked in the sun. A few miles away, a metal barrel containing remains of a decades-old shooting victim emerged from the muck last month.
Park officials have managed to keep one ramp open after spending $2.5 million last year to extend it with concrete by several hundred feet. More recently, crews have laid down metal mats to continue road access to the ramp, after the decision to hold back water at Lake Powell led to a drop of about 10 more feet at Lake Mead.
Marina operators have spent more to stay in operation, too. Mr. Taylor said the Callville Bay Resort & Marina his company operates has had to move almost daily, for a total of 900 feet so far this year, to keep its fleet of houseboats and moored private vessels afloat. The moves are made with crews of eight divers, who attach steel cables to 170 concrete anchors weighing 12,000 pounds each.
He said that despite the cost, maintaining access for customers with boats already moored is important to offset other declines in his business.
“What else are we going to do, call it a day?” he said. “People want to recreate and our job is to make sure we keep that access.”
Source: Wall Street Journal June 21, 2022
4. Climas – Southwest Climate For May.
Monthly/Seasonal Precipitation and Temperature:
May precipitation was between record dry and below average in most of Arizona.
May temperatures are above average for much of Arizona
Drought: The Jun 7 U.S. Drought Monitor (USDM) shows increases in categorical severity of drought characterizations in Arizona, but drought conditions are found across the entire southwestern United States.
Long term accumulated precipitation deficits are a factor in these designations, but the relatively dry conditions over the water year to date are also playing their part in the drought. Rumors of an early start to the monsoon are hopeful but are not likely to reverse long term conditions.
Precipitation Forecasts: . The CPC outlook for Jul-Sept calls for increased chances of above average precipitation in most of Arizona with mostly equal chances of above or below average precipitation in most of the rest of the Southwest.
Reservoir Capacity Levels.
5. Knowing Maximum Contamination Levels (MCL’s) To Control Per-And-Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, also known as PFAS’s. While several states have adopted MCL’s and the industry is-preparing for Federal EPA standards for drinking Waterford these “forever chemicals”. The new standards are expected to be expressed in parts per million (PPM), parts per billion (PPB) and parts per trillion (PPT).
Getting your brain around PP……
If you consider the amount time in one-trillion seconds. A billion seconds ago, it was 1990. When you have lived 31 years, 8 months, you have been alive for about a billion seconds. A trillion seconds ago, , it was 29,700 B.C. To live a trillion seconds you would have to have been alive for 31,709 years.
Mathematical Representation of Parts Per……
One part per million = 1 ppm = 0.0000001 = 1x 10-6
One part per billion = 1 ppb = 0.0000000001 = 1 microgram per liter = 1µg/L
One part per trillion = 1 ppt = 0.0000000000001 = 1 nanogram per liter =1ng/L
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