Check out Darryl's Article about Waukesha testing out a new method of removing radium from the water.  I noticed that the process removes calcium which in turn contains the radium. We've long been told that a conventional water softener will remove the radium.

When I bought my house it had an old manual water softener. No timer. I had to turn a lever to different positions every so many minutes. Soon I replaced it with a Sears softener. After a while it failed and to make a long story short, I've contended with hard water, not missing the frequent purchase of eighty pound bags of salt pellets and hauling them down the stairs to the softener. It also reduces the sodium in the water. We all know sodium is to be avoided, especially if you are a conservative stuck with a liberal congress! So this process has health benefits to many of us middle aged people who have been ordered to toss the salt shaker.

If this new process takes care of the radium in the water and softens the water, I'm for it. It would cut business for those selling salt pellets and water softeners, but that's progress. Few people remember the Ice Man delivering blocks of ice for the predecessor to the refrigerator, the ice box. So eliminating the water softener business is just another casualty of progress.

Will it increase our taxes if it is successful? Does the sun rise in the east everyday? If it is cost effective, that is, cost competive with replacing the water softener and dozens of bags of salt and perhaps a little bit thrown in for visits to the chiropractor for a sore back, then let's do it!

It'll help to increase the supply of salt for the roads.

News item, Drugs found in drinking water. So it has been found that when drinking water is retrieved from the same source that sewage is discharge into, prescription drug traces are being detected. I don't find that fact too surprising. I also don't find it surprising that Milwaukee water only tests for traces of nicotine. Probably from bubba's cigarette that fell into the treatment containers while he was overseeing the processes.

I'm not going to do an analysis of large bodies of water versus smaller reservoirs and rivers, but I do believe that this report has special meaning to us in Waukesha. It is said that our water has been traveling underground for many years. That's one of the reasons that it picks up radium. I have to question now, if this is actually a good thing? It has been argued that the trace amounts of radium have not translated into any increased cancer cases, though so called experts say otherwise, even though there's no evidence showing that to be the case. This might have to be reexamined based on this new information.

I suspect that our water, due to it source and age, would test free of these traces of drugs. That would be a good thing. It would also be cause to reconsider any influx of water from sources that may have contamination in it. This would be any ground water source, shallow wells or Lake Michigan water.

We citizens need to know this as soon as possible before more money is spent that could result in worsening the quality of our water supply!

News item; Cornfield raises hackles in Wales. 

I'm not going to argue zoning. I'm going to get a bit religious here and say that land was intended by it's maker to grow things more than it was to build and pave over, no matter what a politician may deem.

Too often I'll see a farm field lay dormant and weedy while a sign is raised exclaimed "Utopia Estates" is coming soon. The loss of farmland is usually permanent yet the government is mandating more corn be used for fuel rather than food. So it would seem that any patch of land that a planter and picker can manuever around on should be planted with some useful crop rather than sprouting lumber and cement.

If tilling the land reduces tax income, tough! A field of corn doesn't need much in the way of police and fire protection or water and sewer. Nor does it diminish water from our deep wells.

In the past I've criticized new construction as putting a load on our dwindling water resource. This, even though the business that I'm in is dependent on new construction. Briefly, I don't believe that long time residents of the city or county should be put in the same boat of inconvenience to accommodate development and expansion. Those dwindling the resource should be the ones to carry the load. Water wise, this would be prohibiting watering lawns, gardens and washing cars in new developments except with water gathered from cisterns or other non-aqufier sources. On site water recycling of gray water should be included with conservation efforts.

Preparation for the diminished used of petroleum should be implemented in the the building code too.  Electricity is the energy of the future. We will power anything with a petroleum engine with it and we will heat our homes with it. As an expert in the heating and cooling business, I can see gas furnaces going the way of oil furnaces in the next twenty years. Honda has shown a natural gas powered fuel cell generator to recharge electric cars and provide power for the home's electric furnace and heat pump/air conditioner. For those of you with hot water heat, there have been electric powered boilers so don't feel left out.

GM will be introducing the electric car, the Volt, which will run entirely on electricity, recharge at home if desired, but have gasoline back-up so you don't get stranded. In my needs, the electricity range is adequate for most all of my driving around. So the Volt can replace one of my cars and the other can be the guzzler used to pull the boat and so forth.

The building code should anticipate the plumbing changes and increased electrical service needs of the near future and require that it be install NOW in new construction and remodeling of existing homes and buildings. 

It is probably too late because the science experts called congressmen have already destined tungsten incandescent light bulbs to extinction in a few years.

To set the record straight, I have compact flourescent bulbs in my house.  I counted eleven. I also have several tube type flourescent fixtures.  All long before it became the "green" thing to do.  I did it because I like to save money and Wisconsin Focus on Energy had a big sale on them some years ago. That's market forces at work rather than dictation.

If you have been following the news, you'll know that compact flourescent bulbs have mercury in them. You may also know that there is a movement for dentists to collect the mercury in amalgams (tooth fillings) before they get into the sewage system and then the water systems. I never did understand how these fillings could be healthy.

I know a bit about mercury. Being in the heating business, we have used blobs of mercury in thermostats for decades. They are now obsolete but we collect old thermostats so the mercury can be salvaged. It probably ends up in our light bulbs now!

I also dabble in gold prospecting. Much of the mercury found in streams was from it being used to attach to gold dust and make it easier to "pan out".  This mercury coated gold would then be heated, the mercury turned to a vapor and the gas would go through a condenser coil and out would come clean fresh blobs of mercury. It was the vapor that was the real killer, but the liquid isn't much better.

So you can see, while we have made efforts to contain mercury from thermostats and tooth fillings, we've created a new way to reintroduce it into our landfills and work it's way into our groundwater. While these bulbs last a long time, I've had a couple fail way short of their touted five year life expectancy. We need to come up with a recycling plan for these bulbs now. Something voluntary would be nice, but I believe the best way is to charge a deposit, perhaps $1.00 each, so incentive to recycle them is made rather than disposing into the garbage.

Is this a bright idea or what?

Here's one I bet isn't coming up in the city's water conservation contest. Oh, I have a bunch of them!  When you order that cold soda or ice water when you dine out, you've noticed that the glass or cup has water condensing on the surface. Especially in the summer.  If you dine out a lot, take some napkins and wrap around the cup.  When done with your drink, place the wet napkin in a small baggie to prevent evaporation. Also put the remaining ice in the baggie too! Collect enough that you can squeeze the water out and use the water for your plants or to fill your swimming pool. If you have a small lot you might water your lawn too, but do it on the right days so as not to create a police investigation and explain that you've been smuggling water from Christina's!

Let's not forget the other recyclables being used for this!  The napkin can be hung to dry and reused, thus saving countless trees and extending the life of our landfills. Or, it can offset the cost of purchasing personal cleansing items. The baggie can be reused too. No need to wash it and waste more water than you saved.  Hang it in the sun and the ultraviolet light will sterilize it.

And a suggestion for Mayor Nelson. To stimulate more water conservation consciousness in the public, have the library do a movie festival featuring the movie DUNE.