Ohio’s Chippewa Lake Celebrates Two Years Sans Algal Blooms

Ohio’s largest inland natural lake, Chippewa Lake, is commending its method of algal bloom treatment by celebrating the second anniversary of complete remediation. BlueGreen Water Technologies issued a press release explaining how their treatment halted five years of sky-high toxicity levels in the lake. The treatment product, called Lake Guard® Blue, removed the toxic algae in only 24 hours and marked the first full-scale United States implementation.

Dr. Moshe Harel, BlueGreen CSO, said, “The success of BlueGreen’s treatment in Chippewa Lake was achieved through a change of phytoplankton composition: the Lake Guard® Blue effectively removed the toxic cyanobacterial species to boost the “immune system” of the lake. By increasing the diversity of beneficial phytoplankton species and restoring the lake to a healthy ecosystem, we have prevented the resurgence of the harmful cyanobacteria.”

Professor Aaron Kaplan, Chair of BlueGreen’s Scientific Board, said, “This event is a milestone along BlueGreen’s road of achievements. The fact that Chippewa Lake remains clean while all other lakes in the region are under harmful algal bloom alert speaks for itself.”

BlueGreen was named the Global Water Awards’ “2021 Breakthrough Technology Company of the Year” by Global Water Intelligence (GWI) and operates on a global scale to identify and remedy toxic blue-green algae blooms.

Dr. Waleed Nasser, Director of Operations of BlueGreen US, said, “The significance of this milestone cannot be overstated, as recurring toxic blooms can be so devastating to communities like Chippewa Lake.”

Do you want to ensure your water is clean, pure, and refreshing? Contact the water treatment experts today at Reynolds Water Conditioning.

Reynolds Water Conditioning was established in 1931 and is Michigan’s oldest water conditioning treatment company. Still owned and operated by the Reynolds family, we take pride in providing the highest quality products at a cost-effective price. If your tap water lacks the quality you deserve, contact us today at www.reynoldswater.com or call 800-572-9575.

Written by the digital marketing staff at Creative Programs & Systems: www.cpsmi.com.

Lasting Drought Forces Reservoirs into Record Lows

According to the United States Geological Survey, some of America’s largest reservoirs – Lake Powell, Lake Mead, and Utah’s Great Salt Lake – have reached record lows, with more decline expected in the coming months.

Lake Powell’s water level has plummeted to the lowest level since the United States Government began filling the reservoir in the 1960s. The Western drought is responsible for creating severe conditions. Lake Powell stretches from Utah to Arizona and is currently experiencing a “megadrought.”  

A 24-month study was recently released by the Federal Bureau of Reclamation, which showed that the amount of water flowing into Lake Powell had plummeted considerably in the previous six months. With water restrictions already in place, they could become more strict as the Bureau of Reclamation outlined a 79 percent chance that the lake will fall below 3,525 feet next year.

Wayne Pullan, the Upper Colorado Basin regional director for the Bureau of Reclamation, said, “This is a serious situation.”

Lake Mead is also suffering from historically low levels of water. Both Lake Mead and Lake Powell are connected through a river system that delivers water to over 40 million people. The two reservoirs are among the largest in the United States.

A dam on Lake Mead provides hydropower for many Western states; electric production from the Hoover Dam has plunged by roughly 25 percent as a direct result of the drought.

Utah’s Great Salt Lake has reached a new low due to higher temperatures and a lack of rainfall.

Ineffective water management combined with the effects of climate change has led to the droughts, which could potentially worsen soon. 

Reynolds Water Conditioning was established in 1931 and is Michigan’s oldest water conditioning treatment company. Still owned and operated by the Reynolds family, we take pride in providing the highest quality products at a cost-effective price. If your tap water lacks the quality you deserve, contact us today at www.reynoldswater.com or call 800-572-9575.

Written by the digital marketing staff at Creative Programs & Systems: www.cpsmi.com.

Inaugural PFAS Conference Held by EWG

The first annual PFAS conference was sponsored and organized by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in healthier environments. The event was free and shed light on PFAS: the toxic “Forever Chemicals” that run rampant through our world.

PFAS stands for man-made per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances used in industrial settings to create thousands of products worldwide. Dubbed “Forever Chemicals,” these chemicals do not break down over time and are extremely persistent in the environment. Found in the blood of 99.9 percent of human beings across the globe, it’s impossible to reverse exposure to PFAS.

Present in common household items, food, drinking water, living organisms, workplace facilities, and much more, PFAS are found in carpet, Teflon products (cookware, Scotchguard, etc.), leather, apparel, rubber plastics, paper, packaging, and so much more. The list is seemingly endless.

PFAS is an emerging issue because it has been found to create a host of health issues in living beings, including humans. Adverse health effects include problems with the reproductive system, developmental and fetal complications, immune system impediments, autoimmune disease spikes, thyroid hormone disruption, and cancer.

Conference attendees watched as policymakers, scientists, and other experts shared the latest PFAS developments. They also highlighted work being done to address the harmful health impacts of these chemicals on human health and our environment.

A recent study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters highlighted that the current approach for regulating and managing PFAS has failed to protect public health. In response, researchers recommended a new approach, which outlaws all PFAS non-essential use.

David Q. Andrews, Ph.D., co-author of the study and senior scientist at EWG, said, “The regulation of toxic PFAS chemicals using a one-chemical-at-a-time approach has completely failed to protect our public health. Decades after knowing about the harms caused by PFAS such as DuPont’s Teflon and 3M’s Scotchgard, our government has not set laws banning use, establishing drinking water limits or even classifying these chemicals as hazardous substances and requiring cleanup.”

During the conference, Dr. Elsie Sunderland, a professor of Environmental Science and Engineering in the Department of Environmental Health at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, shared that we are only measuring a small subsection of PFAS compounds, which means we are probably miscalculating human exposure by a considerable amount.

Do you want to limit your exposure to PFAS? Contact Reynolds Water Conditioning to schedule a filter installation at your home or business today.

Reynolds Water Conditioning was established in 1931 and is Michigan’s oldest water conditioning treatment company. Still owned and operated by the Reynolds family, we take pride in providing the highest quality products at a cost-effective price. If your tap water lacks the quality you deserve, contact us today at www.reynoldswater.com or call 800-572-9575.

Written by the digital marketing staff at Creative Programs & Systems: www.cpsmi.com.

America’s Water Towers Are Contaminated

A recent article published by USA TODAY investigates the issues with water towers across America. This in-depth analysis is imperative, as most Americans take clean water for granted. Water towers generally serve as the most visible – and vulnerable – point in public water supplies. Openings as tiny as a few millimeters could be a factor in the difference between consuming clean or contaminated water.

Investigators are known to find dead snakes, mice, and raccoons floating in water storage tanks, along with pigeon feces and other animal excrements. Experts estimate that contaminated tap water causes tens of millions of illnesses yearly, leading to nearly 1,000 deaths throughout America; however, the number of deaths caused by water tower contamination is unknown, as this is not tracked.

USA TODAY and Indiana University’s Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism started a joint investigation that found disparities in water tank management. As a result, the public is at risk for multiple risks, especially in the absence of federal regulations. Each state has the authority to determine how to handle inspection frequency, cleaning, and more. Surprisingly, some states appear to have no rules whatsoever. Some are only checked every three to five years due to federal law.

Enforcement of the rules can be lax; a city investigation stemmed from customer complaints found a 50-year maintenance gap in Delray Beach, Florida. According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, water storage tanks must be inspected and cleaned every five years. The water storage tank of Delray Beach, Florida, had not been cleaned since it was built in 1972.

“Nobody could remember a time when those [water] tanks were cleaned,” said George Gretsas, Delray’s city manager at the time, after inquiring with staff members. “It’s widespread corruption within the utilities department. They regularly cover themselves up,” he added.

Some examples of water tank maintenance across the United States:

  • In 1993, 650 people were sick – seven died – from a salmonella outbreak in Gideon, Missouri. Apparently, bird droppings entered the water tank through a vent.
  • Roughly 1,300 people were sick, and one died, after a salmonella outbreak in 2008, stemming from the water storage tank in Alamosa, Colorado.
  • Two five-year-old boys died in 2002 after bathing in tap water contaminated by Naegleria fowleri, a microscopic organism that infects the brain. In an investigation, a chlorinated water storage tank in Peoria, Arizona, was found to be the culprit.

There are countless stories regarding contaminated water tanks and millions of cases of gastrointestinal or respiratory illnesses that people inadvertently got from their drinking water.

Read the full report from USA TODAY to learn more. To purify your drinking water and protect yourself and your family from contaminants, contact the experts at Reynolds today.

Reynolds Water Conditioning was established in 1931 and is Michigan’s oldest water conditioning treatment company. Still owned and operated by the Reynolds family, we take pride in providing the highest quality products at a cost-effective price. If your tap water lacks the quality you deserve, contact us today at www.reynoldswater.com or call 800-572-9575.

Written by the digital marketing staff at Creative Programs & Systems: www.cpsmi.com.

Millions of Drinking Wells Worldwide Could Run Dry

Over-pumping, drought, and climate change are all factors depleting global groundwater resources. Up to 20 percent of the world’s drinking wells might be encountering impending doom. Without clean, fresh drinking wells, billions of people could be in a water crisis.

According to research published in the journal Science, construction records from 39 million wells scattered across 40 countries were analyzed. The depths were examined and compared to groundwater levels, supported by data from previous studies.

Debra Perrone, a water resources expert at the University of California, Santa Barbara, co-authored the study and said, “We found that this undesirable result is happening across the world, from the western United States to India.”

The researchers found that millions of wells reached less than 16 feet below the water table, putting them susceptible to running dry. At least six to 20 percent of the wells evaluated appear to be in peril. Especially in places already afflicted by drought, the remaining wells can dry up quickly, perhaps up to a meter or more a year. 

To help address the problem, digging deeper wells is a temporary solution, but these wells are much more expensive to build and maintain. 

The study said, “As groundwater levels decline around the world, only the relatively wealthy will be able to afford the cost of drilling deeper wells and paying for the additional power required to pump groundwater from greater depths. Lower-income families, poorer communities, and small businesses, including smaller farms, will experience progressively more limited access in the many regions around the world where groundwater levels are in decline. The consequences of millions of wells running dry, and perhaps millions more in the decades to come, would be severe and unparalleled at such a scale in human history.”

Reynolds Water Conditioning was established in 1931 and is Michigan’s oldest water conditioning treatment company. Still owned and operated by the Reynolds family, we take pride in providing the highest quality products at a cost-effective price. If your tap water lacks the quality you deserve, contact us today at www.reynoldswater.com or call 800-572-9575.

Written by the digital marketing staff at Creative Programs & Systems: www.cpsmi.com.

Michiganders Advised to Avoid Foam on Lakes and Rivers

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) has issued a press release warning residents to stay clear of foam on Michigan lakes, rivers, and streams. The foam is typically associated with bacteria or chemicals, specifically per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which resembles shaving cream and is bright white. The foam can blow onto beaches and pile up on shorelines. In contrast, naturally-occurring foam is typically seen in bays, eddies, or river barriers. It’s also off-white or brown and smells somewhat earthy or fishy.

Rinse or wash off foam as soon as contact is made, especially if PFAS contamination is suspected.

PFAS is an emerging toxic chemical and can be found in:

  • Food: packaged, processed, or grown in PFAS-contaminated areas
  • Household products: stain and water repellent fabrics, nonstick products (Teflon), waxes, paints, cleaning products, and fire-fighting foams (a significant source of groundwater contamination at airports and military bases)
  • Workplaces: production facilities or industrial buildings using chrome plating, electronics manufacturing, or oil recovery
  • Drinking water: near manufacturing plants, landfills, wastewater treatment plants, firefighter training facilities
  • Living organisms: fish, animals, humans, etc., where PFAS can build and persist over time.

PFAS can cause a multitude of health issues and are dubbed as “Forever Chemicals” because they never break down once they are released into the environment. PFAS are found in 99.9% of all Americans’ blood. They build up in our blood and organs, increasing the risk of cancer, harms fetuses, changes liver enzymes, increases cholesterol levels, while decreasing vaccine response in children, and more.

Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, chief medical executive and chief deputy for health at MDHHS said, “Although current science shows that the risk of PFAS getting into your system from contact with skin is low, you can minimize exposure to PFAS by rinsing or showering after you are done with your recreational activities. In general, washing hands and rinsing off after swimming will help to protect people from chemicals and bacteria that may be in waterbodies.”

MDHHS recommends people of all ages steer clear of foamy water, including young children. PFAS foam typically has a much higher concentration of chemicals than what is generally seen in everyday environments. Dogs and other pets should also not come in contact with – or swallow – the foam.

To remove PFAS from your drinking water, contact the water purification experts at Reynolds Water today.

Reynolds Water Conditioning was established in 1931 and is Michigan’s oldest water conditioning treatment company. Still owned and operated by the Reynolds family, we take pride in providing the highest quality products at a cost-effective price. If your tap water lacks the quality you deserve, contact us today at www.reynoldswater.com or call 800-572-9575.

Written by the digital marketing staff at Creative Programs & Systems: www.cpsmi.com.

Survey Shows Water Use Surge During Pandemic

According to a study conducted by J.D. Power, customer satisfaction with water services remained steady through the pandemic despite skyrocketing usage. The U.S. Water Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study is now in its sixth year and rates contentment among suburban consumers of 90 water utilities that supply water to no less than 400,000 customers. The survey was conducted in four waves between June 2020 and March 2021.

Major regional service interruptions, increased water consumption, and elevated utility bills have resulted in no change in customer satisfaction, according to the J.D. Power 2021 U.S. Water Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Survey. Usage has increased roughly six percent nationwide, and customer satisfaction is at a high 737 out of 1,000 points.

Andrew Heath, senior director of utilities intelligence at J.D. Power said, “Between the massive weather event in Texas and the overall heightened sense of anxiety among consumers who have been spending more time at home and consuming more water, the past year has put local water utilities to the test. Despite recent efforts to improve communications and ramp up digital customer service channels, water utilities still have a long way to go when it comes to delivering valuable, proactive communications to help their customers through challenging situations. For example, the widespread service interruptions in Texas really put a spotlight on just how vulnerable utilities can be to adverse weather events.”

The study is reported in four geographic regions and two size categories: Midwest Large, Midwest Midsize, Northeast Large, Northeast Midsize, South Large, South Midsize, West Large, and West Midsize. Six factors and 33 attributes are used to measure overall satisfaction including: quality and reliability, price, conservation, billing and payment, communications, and customer service.

Are you unhappy with your water quality? Contact the water experts at Reynolds Water today to get pure, clean water.

Reynolds Water Conditioning was established in 1931 and is Michigan’s oldest water conditioning treatment company. Still owned and operated by the Reynolds family, we take pride in providing the highest quality products at a cost-effective price. If your tap water lacks the quality you deserve, contact us today at www.reynoldswater.com or call 800-572-9575.

Written by the digital marketing staff at Creative Programs & Systems: www.cpsmi.com.

$35 Billion Water Bill Passed in Senate

A $35-billion measure to purify the United States’ water systems passed overwhelmingly in the Senate. The 89-to-2 vote is evidence that lawmakers in both parties support infrastructure initiatives. Now that the bill has passed in the senate, it will go to the House of Representatives.

“We’re trying to work in a bipartisan way whenever we can – and this bill is a classic example,” said Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer of New York. “It doesn’t mean that we’ll be able to do the whole thing bipartisan, but we’ll do as much as we can.”

The newly approved legislation would authorize funding to repair and support the water supply throughout the United States. Those that have long been neglected, such as people who reside in rural and tribal communities, also suffer from poor sanitation and unclean drinking water. Lead pipes would be removed from schools, and infrastructure would be updated to be more resilient to the impacts of severe weather and global warming.

“I don’t want to overplay it, but I think it’s definitely a major positive,” said Senator Shelley Moore Capito, Republican from West Virginia.

According to policy experts, environmentalists, and urban planners, the subsidies toward America’s deteriorating water systems is way past due. A 2018 study examined 30 years of data and found that as many as 10 percent of communities have poor water systems (health-based violations), which affect roughly 45 million people yearly. Moreover, over two million United States residents do not have access to drinking water or sanitation services, according to a 2019 report compiled by the United States Water Alliance.

The Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act were both accepted in the 1970s, but federal investment has drastically declined. In 1977, capital spending in the water sector was at 63 percent versus nine percent in 2017.

Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois introduced the new Drinking Water and Wastewater Infrastructure Act. She said, “Access to clean water is a human right. Every American deserves access to clean water no matter the color of their skin of the size of their income.”

Reynolds Water Conditioning was established in 1931 and is Michigan’s oldest water conditioning treatment company. Still owned and operated by the Reynolds family, we take pride in providing the highest quality products at a cost-effective price. If your tap water lacks the quality you deserve, contact us today at www.reynoldswater.com or call 800-572-9575.

Written by the digital marketing staff at Creative Programs & Systems: www.cpsmi.com.

Your City’s Water Supply Could Be Targeted by Hackers

The following is an excerpt taken from the Wall Street Journal by Dave Weinstein on Feb 26, 2021.

“I first saw the inside of a water-treatment plant in 2015. I was conducting a site visit at a municipal facility in New Jersey, where I was the state’s director of cybersecurity. It wasn’t an inspection; the plant manager had asked me to visit.

Analog machinery had given way to digital systems, and critical water-treatment processes were now automated. The plant required little human intervention in day-to-day operations. Thanks to remote-access technologies, more maintenance and monitoring activities were being performed off-site by a third party.

All of this was great for efficiently, especially for the resource-limited operation, but what about the risk? Optimizing for cost and speed meant connecting more digital and networked technologies to the plant floor. Security was no longer simply a matter of gates, guards, and guns. It had become a matter of bits and bytes.

In early February, someone tried to poison the water supply in the Gulf Coast city of Oldsmar, Fla. According to the Pinellas County Sheriff, a hacker gained remote access to Oldsmar’s water-treatment-plant network and briefly increased the amount of sodium hydroxide in the water by 100 times – enough to cause death or serious injury to anyone who drank or touched it. Thankfully a technician noticed the anomaly and booted the hacker off the network before any damage was done.  

What happened in Oldsmar fell just short of the nightmare scenario. The average person is unaware how dependent the country’s critical infrastructure has become on digital technology. At power plants, waterworks and all manner of public utilities, special-purpose computers known as human-machine interfaces connect to ruggedized-process controllers that regulate actuators to spin turbines, rotate robotic arms, or, in this case, open valves to release sodium hydroxide.

Oldsmar wasn’t the first cyberattack against water infrastructure. In April 2020 Israel’s National Cyber Directorate urged all water-treatment companies to change their passwords on critical systems. In 2016, according to a report by Verizon’s security unit, hackers with ties to Syria gained access to a water utility in an unknown country and managed to ‘handicap water treatment and production capabilities.’

Redundant controls and a bit of good luck shouldn’t diminish the severity of this cyber threat to public health. The plant operator was tipped off by a mouse arrow moving across a screen and making changes to critical water-treatment processes. But what if the operator didn’t have the benefit of a visual aide to observe the hacker in real-time? What if the human-machine interface was manipulated by malware to report ‘all clear’ as the hackers increased concentration of sodium hydroxide to lethal levels? Would the breach have been detected before someone drank or bathed with the corrosive adulterated water?

The answer and the problem are inextricably linked. Detecting toxic water en route to consumers requires sensors in the distribution network. Those sensors must be connected so they can communicate and transmit data for either humans or machines to take preventative actions. Anything that is connected can be manipulated. Should we rip the sensors out lest they be hacked? Of course not. Instead, we must reduce vulnerability by extending security to all parts of the network, even those that seem beyond the reach of malicious actors.

‘I just don’t trust those computers,’ the New Jersey plant manager told me in 2015. We should all be untrusting when it comes to technology, but not at the expense of its embrace. The zero-trust mindset made all the difference for the city of Oldsmar.”

To read more, check out the original opinion article from the Wall Street Journal. To protect yourself and your family from chemical-laden water, contact the water purification experts at Reynolds today.

Reynolds Water Conditioning was established in 1931 and is Michigan’s oldest water conditioning treatment company. Still owned and operated by the Reynolds family, we take pride in providing the highest quality products at a cost-effective price. If your tap water lacks the quality you deserve, contact us today at www.reynoldswater.com or call 800-572-9575.

Written by the digital marketing staff at Creative Programs & Systems: www.cpsmi.com.

Toxic Hexavalent Chromium Released into Tap Water Through Pipes

The 2000 film “Erin Brockovich,” based on a true story, launched the carcinogen hexavalent chromium into the spotlight. Water supplies in California were tainted with the chemical, which caused a plethora of residents in Hinkley to succumb to cancer and all sorts of other deadly diseases.

A new study is bringing this chemical back to light by analyzing the process in which it infiltrates the drinking water supply, specifically when commonly used chlorine disinfectants corrode cast iron water distribution pipes.

Chromium occurs naturally and is often added to countless products. Its toxicity varies depending on its state. More than 200 million people in the United States drink tap water with chromium concentrations above .02 ppb, according to the Environmental Working Group. The state of California has set this part-per-billion level to ensure that fewer than one out of a million exposed people will get cancer in their lifetimes. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not regulate chromium levels in drinking water.

In the past, scientists hypothesized that chromium found in drinking water came from outside the distribution system, emerging from natural sources such as groundwater, surface water, or industrial pollution. However, environmental engineer Haizhou Liu and his team at the University of California, Riverside, noticed that reactions within water pipes might raise chromium levels at the tap.

Sections of cast iron pipes from two drinking water systems were obtained for the study. Cast iron is the most common type of pipe, and it contains significant amounts of added chromium, which acts as an anti-corrosive.

The scientists discovered that scales of flakes from within the pipes produced chromium. “The oxidation of chromium in the scales by chlorine disinfectant accounts for most of the formation of hexavalent chromium released into the solution,” Liu said.

“Now that we know that cast iron pipes are a potential source of hexavalent chromium, utilities need to think proactively to use less reactive disinfectants and limit the amount of chromium allowed in new drinking water pipes,” said Lynn Katz, an environmental engineer at the University of Texas.

To learn more about hexavalent chromium, visit Erin Brockovich’s website. To install a water filter in your home, contact the experts at Reynolds Water Conditioning today.

Reynolds Water Conditioning was established in 1931 and is Michigan’s oldest water conditioning treatment company. Still owned and operated by the Reynolds family, we take pride in providing the highest quality products at a cost-effective price. If your tap water lacks the quality you deserve, contact us today at www.reynoldswater.com or call 800-572-9575.

Written by the digital marketing staff at Creative Programs & Systems: www.cpsmi.com.