What I particularly like about CONNECTING THE DROPS: A
CITIZENS' GUIDE TO PROTECTING WATER RESOURCES is that on
the first page the author tells us that this book will help
us protect and improve our community's water. In other
words, Karen Schneller-McDonald thinks of us all as
participants in the society which requires clean water and
should ensure its provision.
Around the world, water falls as rain and its course is
managed in different ways. We use a great deal of the
world's freshwater and, sadly, we also pollute it before,
during and after using it. CONNECTING THE DROPS is intended to help
us recognise a water process, understand how and where
water gets contaminated, why it matters to us and to
wildlife, and to uncover the facts in local controversies
or projects. When we can do all that we can choose to
become an advocate for clean water. The style of the book is suitable for
adults or older young adults who already have an interest in nature or urban
planning, though newcomers could use CONNECTING THE DROPS
to educate themselves.
Legislation has been enacted to forbid pollution of water
courses. But Karen tells us that some area legislators
reduce the strength of the Acts, or allow once-off
exploitation permits without environmental impact
assessments, while underfunding departments who are
supposed to catch issues. Pollution is expensive. Someone
has to fund a cleanup after an oil spill or illegal
dumping, polluted water has to be treated before use in
industries or farming, and degraded land loses good soil
into rivers.
One easy way to protect water courses is to protect trees
along the river banks. Tree roots hold the banks together
and the trees help to soak up extra rain. Trees also
provide a habitat for birds and shaded water for fish.
Karen tells us that an invasive non-native aquatic plant
has greatly reduced the value of lakeshore homes in Vermont
and Wisconsin. Native plants keep the system in balance.
With a strong native ecology, diseases are reduced - the
West Nile virus is spread by mosquitoes, but a healthy
wetland has many predators of mosquitoes, including
amphibians and bats. When Essex County, Massachusetts
restored a fifteen-hundred acre wetland, the mosquito
population dropped significantly. Restoring wetlands also
helps to prevent or reduce flooding. In general, the more
different species that live in an area, the healthier the
habitat.
To protect, you need to know what is there. Karen explains
ground water or aquifers, watersheds, surface waters,
wetlands. She points us to the United States Geological
Survey (USGS) website for useful tools such as maps of your
area's watershed and the local area or sub-basin in which
your house is located. Another site she suggests is the
FEMA site where you can see which areas are at risk of
flooding. Karen gives an example of a residential developer
who was agreeable to the concept of retaining a wetland,
but wanted to move the marsh uphill so he could put a car
park where it currently lay. He didn't understand that this
would gain him a flooded car park. A later chapter looks at
mountaintop removal in coal mining. Hydrofracking is also
well covered with a case study of Parachute Creek near
Denver.
Karen suggests that while a concerned citizen group can
carry out many surveys and assessments, at times a paid
expert will come in useful, such as a biological count by
an ecologist or a report on the interconnected water system
of the area by a hydrologist. CONNECTING THE DROPS is an excellent
guide to someone with the appropriate training who wishes
to provide expert witness reports. The average citizen can
feel unimportant compared to experts, but she will know
that the stream floods in winter now there are no trees, or
that road salt has killed the fish. Documenting and
organising files and evidence is stressed as water issues
can take a long time to resolve.
Wastewater, pesticides and septic systems are considered,
as well as garden and household wastes and hard surfacing
which all impact on water with a new development. A study
from Seattle showed that twenty percent of bacteria found
in watersheds came from dog wastes. While Karen agrees that
development is necessary, clearly some areas are more
suitable than others.
Floods are now the number one disaster in the US. Climate
change, weather patterns, land use, deforestation and
spread of habitations all contribute. CONNECTING THE DROPS
and the checklists it contains can help you stop the
increase of floods as well as keeping water pure. I highly
recommend CONNECTING THE DROPS to citizen groups, local government,
local journalists and anyone interested in learning about
the marvelous interconnected water cycle. And teach your
kids these lessons.
The need for improved water resource protection, beginning with grassroots
action, is urgent. The water we use
depends on networks of wetlands, streams, and watersheds. Land-use
activities, however, are changing these natural
systems. Often these changes result in ecological damage, flooding, water
pollution, and reduced water supply. We
need a healthy environment that sustains our personal and community health;
we also need vibrant and sustainable
economic development that does not destroy the benefits we derive from
nature. Our ability to accomplish both
depends on how well we can "connect the drops."
In this book, Karen Schneller-McDonald presents the basics of water resource
protection: ecology and watershed
science; techniques for evaluating environmental impacts; obstacles to
protection and how to overcome them; and
tips for protection strategies that maximize chances for success. Schneller-
McDonald makes clear the important
connections among natural cycles, watersheds, and ecosystems; the benefits
they provide; and how specific
development activities affect water quality and supply.
The methods described in CONNECTING THE DROPS have broad application in
diverse geographic locations. The
environmental details may differ, but the methods are the same. For water
resource managers and concerned citizens
alike, CONNECTING THE DROPS helps readers interpret scientific information
and contextualize news media reports
and industry ads—ultimately offering "how to" guidance for developing
resource protection strategies.
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