1.
Notice of Re-Issuance
Arizona Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
Permits for Industrial Stormwater Discharges
ADEQ has re-issued the AZPDES general permits associated with industrial stormwater discharges:
- AZG2019-001 – Stormwater Permit Associated with Industrial Activities
- AZG2019-002 – Stormwater Permit Associated with Mining Activities
View Documents on MSGP Page >
The 2019 MSGPs replace ADEQ’s 2010 Non-Mining and Mining MSGPs in accordance with the following schedule:
- 2019 MSGPs issued May 15, 2019
- 2019 MSGPs become effective on January 1, 2020
- Existing permittees (those who have coverage under the 2010 permit(s)) have between January 1, 2020 and February 28, 2020 to submit a Notice of Intent using ADEQ’s online permitting program (myDEQ).
- A Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) must be developed by the time the NOI is submitted. Existing permittees may update their current SWPPP to comply with the 2019 MSGP requirements rather than developing a new SWPPP.
- Prior to January 1, 2020, the following process applies:
- Existing permittees must continue to comply with their coverage under 2010 MSGP (e.g., monitoring, reporting, inspections, etc.)
- New and unpermitted facilities that are subject to industrial stormwater permitting must apply under 2010 MSGP for stormwater discharges, as required by the Clean Water Act, and federal and state law.
2019 Industrial Stormwater MSGP
- Permit
- Fact Sheet
2019 Mining MSGP
- Permit
- Fact Sheet
2019 Administrative Record and Response to Comments
2. Help Map San Pedro River Flow. On Saturday, June 15, The Nature Conservancy will host its annual San Pedro River Wet-Dry Mapping. Citizen scientists will take to the river on what is typically the driest day of the year to document where surface water is present in the San Pedro River and add to a 20-year long dataset. On the same day, volunteers
will map all the way from the river’s headwaters in Sonora, Mexico, to its confluence with the Gila River in Pinal County, AZ, as well as many major tributaries. These are used by water managers and scientists to gauge the health of the river and compare year-to-year changes. To participate you must take part in a mandatory training event held on Friday, June 14.
Contact Brooke Bushman with any questions or for additional details at bbushman@tnc.org.
3. How Many Species Worldwide Are Endangered or Facing Extinction?
A. 1,000
B. 100,000
C. 1,000,000
The World is ‘on notice’ as major UN report shows one million species face extinction.
Speaking in Paris at the launch of the Global Assessment study – the first such report since 2005 – UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said that its findings put the world “on notice”.
On Monday 6 May, the key findings of the @IPBES #GlobalAssessment – the definitive global synthesis of the state of #biodiversity, ecosystems and #nature‘s contributions to people – was launched via live webcast
“Following the adoption of this historic report, no one will be able to claim that they did not know,” the head of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization said. “We can no longer continue to destroy the diversity of life. This is our responsibility towards future generations.”
Highlighting the universal importance of biodiversity – the diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems – Ms. Azoulay said that protecting it “is as vital as fighting climate change”
Presented to more than 130 government delegations for their approval at UNESCO headquarters, the report features the work of 400 experts from at least 50 countries, coordinated by the Bonn-based Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES).
In addition to providing exhaustive insights on the state of nature, ecosystems and how such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The report also examines five main drivers of “unprecedented” biodiversity and ecosystem change over the past 50 years, identifying them as: changes in land and sea use; direct exploitation of organisms; climate change, pollution, and invasion of alien species.
One in four species at risk of extinction
On at-risk fauna and flora, the study asserts that human activities “threaten more species now than ever before” – a finding based on the fact that around 25 per cent of species in plant and animal groups are vulnerable.
This suggests that around one million species “already face extinction, many within decades, unless action is taken to reduce the intensity of drivers of biodiversity loss”.
Without such measures there will be a “further acceleration” in the global rate of species extinction, which is already “at least tens to hundreds of times higher, than it has averaged over the past 10 million years”, the report states.
It notes that despite many local efforts, including by indigenous peoples and local communities, by 2016, 559 of the 6,190 domesticated breeds of mammals used for food and agriculture were extinct – around nine per cent of the total – and at least 1,000 more are threatened.
Crop security threatened long-term
In addition, many crop wild relatives that are needed for long-term food security “lack effective protection”, the report insists, while the status of wild relatives of domesticated mammals and birds “is worsening”.
At the same time, reductions in the diversity of cultivated crops, crop wild relatives and domesticated breeds mean that farming will likely be less resilient against future climate change, pests and pathogens.
“While more food, energy and materials than ever before are now being supplied to people in most places, this is increasingly at the expense of nature’s ability to provide such contributions in the future,” the report states, before adding that “the biosphere, upon which humanity as a whole depends…is declining faster than at any time in human history”.
Marine pollution ‘has increased tenfold since 1980’
On the issue of pollution, although global trends are mixed, air, water and soil pollution have continued to increase in some areas, the report insists. “Marine plastic pollution in particular has increased tenfold since 1980, affecting at least 267 species”, it says, including 86 per cent of marine turtles, 44 per cent of seabirds and 43 per cent of marine mammals.
The 2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services is also the first of its kind to examine and include indigenous and local knowledge, issues and priorities, IPBES said in a statement, noting that its mission is to strengthen policymaking for the sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development..
“The loss of species, ecosystems and genetic diversity is already a global and
generational threat to human well-being,” insisted Sir Robert Watson, IPBES Chair. “Protecting the invaluable contributions of nature to people will be the defining challenge of decades to come. Policies, efforts and actions – at every level – will only succeed, however, when based on the best knowledge and evidence.”
4. “Earth-observing” satellites to help analyze impacts of climate change on the Colorado River
CAP partners with ASU on NASA grant for Colorado River Study 5/15/2019
The Colorado River is one of the most engineered watersheds in the world with three major tributaries and ten major regulating reservoirs.
The ASU/CAP team will use data collected from “MODIS” onboard NASA’s Aqua Earth-observing satellite mission. Credit: NASA/GSFC
In the U.S. and Mexico, the river supplies more than 40 million people with renewable water in nine states, 22 Native American nations, and 22 national parks and refuges. It is also used to irrigate 5.5 million acres of agriculture and to produce 4,180 MWh of hydroelectric power.
Thanks to a $1 million grant from NASA’s Earth Science Division, an interdisciplinary team of ASU researchers will work with Central Arizona Project on a comprehensive evaluation of climate and land use changes and how these impact the Colorado River Basin. Data collection for the study will involve Earth-observing satellites as well as ground data from the US Geological Survey, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other entities.
This project builds on work previously performed for CAP by Enrique Vivoni and his ASU team, exploring the response of the Colorado River Basin to future climate changes. The end goal of the project is to incorporate new modeling products, tools and enhancements into the existing modeling and analysis framework used by the CAP Colorado River Programs department. This data will be shared with other Colorado River Basin stakeholders to inform decision making regarding the future of the Colorado River as a major water supply to the West. The data may also be used as CAP continues to work on its Climate Adaptation Plan.
For more information, go online to https://www.cap-az.com/public/blog/1012-earth-observingsatellites-to-help-analyze-impacts-of-climate-change-on-the-colorado-river
5. Rare Frog Fossil Sheds Light On A Gap In Arizona’s Geological Record
Posted May 13, 2019, 3:21 pm.
Adam Marsh and Michelle Stocker had been out all day in the Petrified Forest trying to beat the heat as they, broke rocks and sifted through the pieces, when they made a major discovery last May.
“What we saw under the magnifying glass was something that looked a lot like a fossil frog pelvis,” said Marsh, the lead paleontologist at Petrified Forest National Park in northern Arizona where the discovery was made.
The tiny pelvic bone is no larger than a pinky nail. Fossilized fragments also were found at a nearby ranch and a stone quarry near St. Johns. Researchers don’t know whether the frogs underwent metamorphosis like modern frogs, Marsh said. Because so few fragments were discovered, it’s hard to say what the frogs actually looked like – or whether they hopped.
Marsh said the fossils reveal an important fact: They had found a frog that proved frogs survived a mass extinction in the Triassic period.
Stocker, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech, said their discovery fills in a gap in the timeline for the Triassic. Paleontologist only had records from the early Triassic that are about 250 million years old. Source “Tucson Sentinel”
6. Are You A Plogger? “Plogging” (no, there isn’t a typo) is the exercise of picking up strewn garbage while jogging.
What began as an environmentally conscious marathon-training method has become an international trend and a US movement among urban and suburban runners. Plogging—not to be confused with “trashercize,” the concept of picking up trash while walking.
Perhaps you csan walk with a bag and pick up after your neighbors
Copyright: EnviroInsight 2019
