Sometimes hard work is really worth it....

 

 

Jennie Day-Burget

Public Information Officer

Water Bureau employee Darcy Cronin reports that her son, Kieran, shared the following information with her last night while drinking a glass of tap water:

 

"Our water is yummy!"

 

Right on Kieran! Bull Run IS quite yummy if I do say so myself!

 

Kieran, pictured on the right proudly displaying his "I Only Drink Tap Water" tattoo on his hand, is evidently one of our biggest little fans!

 

For more information on Portland's yummy water, check this KATU transcript out.

 

Jennie Day-Burget

Public Information Officer

In honor of Martin Luther King's dedication to service, Americans are encouraged to spend the holiday (Monday) volunteering or providing service to their communities.

 

There are lots of service opportunities available this weekend around Portland, but the Water Bureau has a special one; we will be planting 15 trees at our beloved Gilbert HydroPark and need some help.

 

We'll need volunteers at two more plantings in February, but this weekend promises sunny skies and hopefully a great community turnout to celebrate this service holiday.

 

These tree plantings are a goal of our Sustainability Action Plan. The bureau is working toward a goal of planting 200 trees in the next two years on our properties, in a partnership with Friends of Trees.

 

Gilbert HydroPark Tree Planting (15 Trees)

Saturday, January 17th, 8:45 am - 1:00 pm

Meet at Zenger Farm, 11741 SE Foster Road

 

Sabin HydroPark Tree Planting (2 Trees)

Saturday, February 14th, 8:45 am - 1:00 pm

Meet at Friends of Trees' office, 3117 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd

 

Hazelwood HydroPark Tree Planting (31 trees and 17 fruit trees)

February 28, 2009, 8:45 am - 1:00 pm

Meet at East Minster Presbyterian Church, 12505 NE Halsey Street

 

Advance registration is not required, but if you have more questions check the Web site www.friendsoftrees.org or call 503-282-8846.

 

Hope to see you there.

 

Darcy Cronin

Facilities Services Specialist

 

The states of Florida and Alabama gained a major victory this week in a three year battle with Georgia over water rights to Lake Sidney Lanier, metro Atlanta's primary water source.

 

In short, Georgia wants its own legal rights to withdraw drinking water from the Lake Lanier. The state currently negotiates a water-sharing plan with Florida and Alabama, something it will be forced to continue to do, denied its request. Alabama and Florida argue that Georgia's withdrawals would dry up river flows into their states. This argument has been successful since 1990, when battles of this nature began.

 

On January 12, the US Supreme Court denied Georgia's request to review a US Court of Appeals decision that threw out a 2003 agreement Georgia had previously reached with the US Army Corps of Engineers for water rights to the lake. The lower court's decision overturned an earlier ruling that said Georgia could receive about a quarter of Lake Lanier's capacity over the coming decades as a drinking water source.

 

The appeals court found that the 2003 agreement constituted a major operational change at Lake Lanier which would require congressional approval -- something that Georgia doesn't have.

 

Jennie Day-Burget

Public Information Officer

 

 

Maude Barlow's Blue Covenant: U.S. Book Tour is coming to Portland to discuss her book,

Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis and the Coming Battle for the Right to Water.

 

When:     April 15 - Portland, OR
Venue:    First Unitarian Church, time TBC
Address:  1011 SW 12th Avenue

"Imagine a world in twenty years, in which no substantive progress has been made to provide basic wastewater service in the Third World, or to force industry and industrial agriculture production to stop polluting water systems, or to curb the mass movement of water by pipeline, tanker and other diversion, which will have created huge new swaths of desert."

"Desalination plants will ring the world's oceans, many of them run by nuclear power; corporate nanotechnology will clean up sewage water and sell it to private utilities who will sell it back to us at a huge profit; the rich will drink only bottled water found in the few remote parts of the world left or sucked from the clouds by machines, while the poor die in increasing numbers. This is not science fiction. This is where the world is headed unless we change course."
                                                                             - Maude Barlow

 

Jennie Day-Burget

Public Information Officer

Speaking of water-themed accessories, my husband, who I have successfully converted in to a full-time tap water only drinker (insert evil laugh: MWHAHAHAH!!), preaches his tap water policy around his office.

 

Well, apparently he's been preaching loud because today he came in to find the cutest desk accessory EVER on his desk as a little gift from a thoughtful co-worker. (See photo on right!)

 

I am SO jealous that I WORK at the WATER BUREAU but he gets all the water glory!!!! And he works with SHOES! SHOES!!!!

 

Jennie Day-Burget

Public Information Officer

Motorola Inc. recently revealed what they call the world's first carbon neutral phone, a cell phone made from recycled water bottles, at a Las Vegas convention last week. The W233 Renew eco-friendly phone will be sold by T-Mobile in US markets. The price has not yet been revealed.

 

The company also pledged to offset the carbon dioxide used in manufacturing, distribution and operation of the phone through investments in renewable energy sources and reforestation.

 

Jennie Day-Burget

Public Information Officer

I read about these new water powered clocks over the weekend and they sound quite amazing to me. I think I might even want one! After all, I'm quite the water girl and I can't imagine my collection of water-themed accessories being complete without this little gadget.

 

Word on the street has it that celebrities Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet and Mickey Rourke were given these as gifts at the Golden Globes, so no doubt they will be hot commodities soon enough. Leo and Kate were pretty enthused but Rourke was disturbingly not impressed...he immediately passed the gift off to someone else. Hm.

 

How do they work, these clocks of water? Will it FOR SURE wake me up in the morning? What if my cat drinks all the water during the nighttime? Am I out of luck?

 

Apparently, "The internal converter simply extracts electrons from water (or other liquid) molecules and provides a steady stream of electrical current acting as a fuel cell to generate power to the clock."

 

Umm... yeah. Got it. I think???

 

At about $20 I, personally, think it's a cool idea and might even order one, but what do you think? Check one out by clicking here or simply type "water powered clock" into a Google search and see what you get. There are a couple different versions out there and lots of speculation from the blogosphere.

 

Anyway you look at it, just goes to show you what a commodity water is becoming -- from quenching our thirst to keeping time.

 

 

 

Jennie Day Burget

Public Information Officer

Early results from a study being performed by researchers at the University of Notthingham (Portsmouth England) suggest that the hardness or softness of one's water could influence the severity of the skin condition eczema.

 

A study participant who just completed one research trial said that less than two weeks after a water softener unit was installed in her home, there was a "dramatic improvement" in the condition of her son's eczema.

 

Study participants will have water softening devices fitted to soften all the water in the home except for tap water from a kitchen faucet. The study period is 16 weeks.

 

For reference, Portland's tap water is extremely soft.

 

Jennie Day-Burget

Public Information Officer

On Monday, January 12, 2009, LWET (Lead in Water Education and Testing Program) will begin sending out a mailer with a simple message about lead in water. The mailer will go to households which meet ALL of the following criteria:

• Have a child 5 years of age or under
• Live in a home built between 1970 and 1985
• The home is located in the service area of Portland Water Bureau
• Are Portland Water Bureau customers or customers of a participating wholesale group

This annual mailer will be available in four languages: English, Spanish, Russian, and Vietnamese. It includes a business reply card that customers can send in to request a lead in water test. 

 

For more information on this topic, call the LeadLine at 503-988-4000.

 

Kathy Casson

Environmental Speacialist

I received an e-mail this afternoon from a University of California at Berkeley student who spotted the Water Bureau's "I Only Drink Tap Water" stickers on her campus! She, of course, had no idea how to get one since they came from Portland, but somehow found my e-mail address to request one.

 

Well, we like to promote the drinking of tap water around here, so I was happy to oblige her! I'm still puzzled as to how she had seen our stickers all the way down there, but I won't question it!

 

And for our bike enthusiast friends, did you know we now have a free bike-sized "I Only Drink Tap Water" sticker? If you'd like one, send me an e-mail jennifer.day@ci.portland.or.us. I will send them out until my stock runs dry. No pun intended, of course!

 

Jennie Day-Burget

Public Information Officer

Many of you are aware that the state of Oregon recently amended its Bottle Bill so that effective January 1, 2009, the purchase of bottled water began requiring a 5-cent deposit per bottle. Including this new addition, Oregon's Bottle Bill now covers beer, other malt beverages, carbonated mineral waters and carbonated soft drinks. It does not cover juice, teas, wine, liquor, dairy, or other non-carbonated drinks or beverages. Some carbonated sports drinks and juices are considered "soft drinks" and may be covered.

 

Here's how the system works:

• Manufacturers, importers or distributors who sell covered beverages in Oregon must label them so that the 5-cent refund value is clearly visible.
• Stores must pay a 5-cent refund for each covered empty container returned, with some exceptions: Beverage containers that visibly contain or are contaminated by a substance other than water, residue of the original contents or ordinary dust may be refused. Containers that are so damaged that the brand or refund label cannot be identified may also be refused.
• Stores may refuse to accept more than 144 containers from one person per day. (The 2007 legislation created a 50-container limit for stores with less than 5,000 square feet of space).
• Distributors must pay stores the 5-cent refund value for each covered container returned to the distributor for recycling.
• Deposits on containers not returned for refund (unredeemed deposits) are kept by the distributors.

Jennie Day Burget

Public Information Officer

World-renowned fiber artist Robin Love recently covered a 10,000 gallon New York City rooftop water tank with a giant crocheted "cozy."

 

The cozy is 16 feet tall with a 41 foot circumference and is meant to resemble a giant pencil tip. The artwork was used as part of a marketing campaign for London based charity D&AD's annual PENCIL exhibition. PENCIL is an exhibition of outstanding creative work in design and advertising, specially chosen by the D&AD Presidents.

 

The cozy took seven people 3 weeks and just over 32 miles of wool to complete.  

 

That just goes to show you that water and its related parts serve many roles in our society!

 

Click here to see a video about the unique piece.

 

Jennie Day Burget

Public Information Officer

One of my favorite guest bloggers, Karie Meketa, sent in a funny blog today - random water facts. I am hoping that she'll keep this up monthly, because these facts may be trivial but they sure put water in perspective! Here's what she sent:

 

Spin the wheel of random water facts:

 

· In order to fill a standard queen size waterbed it takes approximately 187 gallons of water. If you filled the waterbed with cherry jello instead and ate it all, you would be consuming approximately 480,000 calories.

 

· On average, 10" of snow = 1" of rain. Therefore, to fill a 5 gallon bucket with snow melt from your 5' square patio, you would need 3.2" of snow fall.

 

· The total amount of water on the earth is about 326 million trillion gallons (326,000,000,000,000,000,000). That would fill 410 trillion Olympic sized swimming pools.

 

· Kangaroo rats don't need to drink water, ever. This is due to a combination of ultra efficient kidneys, lack of sweat glands and being super cute (ok, maybe not the last one). What little moisture the rodent needs to survive, it gets from eating roots and desert plants.

 

Karie Meketa

Engineer

 

 

 

 

Oaxaca Mexico Water Project

Join a group from PCC to build a water project in a remote mountain village in the Oaxaca area of Southern Mexico. Participants work alongside villagers to build a water system as a way to promote health and quality of life, and become part of a community - a true cultural experience! No medical experience necessary - just a strong back and spirit of service and adventure!

 

Free Info Session:

17449 Central Portland - CPWTC / CPWTC / 301

7:30 PM-8:30 PM

Tu 24-Feb-2009
Instructor: Cecelia C Barry
Tuition: $0.00 Fees: $0.00

 

Jennie Day Burget

Public Information Officer