I don't know whether this has been discussed much, but how can USMS support "going green," promoting and/or being supportive of being environmentally responsible for clean water to swim in as well as to drink?
Open Water swims, of course, are the perfect venues to remind us all to keep our waters clean for swimming. The Boston swim focuses on this; do other Open Water swims promote cleaner water? What do they do?
Can pool Masters swimmers, clubs, LMSCs promote being "greener"? Encouraging people to take shorter showers is one way. What are other ways?
I think it is a fine idea and good opportunity for USMS to promote this particular aspect of the environment. By the way, all the Great Lakes are down several inches, except for Lake Superior (where, at the moment, we don't have Open Water swims...but who knows, in the future???).
Jennifer Parks, Michigan Masters
If we're going to make a big deal out of Open Water Swims...meaning we're (USMS) going really try to market them more, I believe we must promote cleaner water!
Jennifer, et al,
Or water conservation? Pasted here is a note I received from Debra Shore (right after the forum note containing your note), one of the members of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago:
You Asked for Them - We Got Them!
Rain Barrels for Sale.
Rain Barrels
I am happy to report that the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District has a new program to sell rain barrels to Cook County residents for the bargain price of $40. (Limit is 2). These 50-gallon barrels in fetching shades of sky blue or black have screens to prevent mosquitoes from breeding yet can easily capture rainwater from your gutters or downspout.
Ask yourselves this: Why do we use drinking water that has been filtered, treated and piped to our faucet to irrigate our gardens and flowerbeds when we could be using perfectly good water delivered free by Nature instead? For a variety of reasons, a simple rain barrel connected to your downspout to capture rainwater off your roof makes a lot of sense.
Rain barrels are becoming increasingly popular among homeowners throughout the Chicago metropolitan area. Harvesting rainwater saves money and it's good for the environment. If you use rainwater collected in rain barrels to water your garden or even to wash your car, you are not using - or paying for - filtered, treated drinking water. And the captured rain, when used to water your garden during a dry spell, then helps to recharge our underground aquifers rather than flowing into the sewers as it would during a storm.
A 90-gallon rain barrel can hold 0.24 inch of rainfall from a 600 square foot roof. In a study conducted by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, if two 90-gallon rain barrels were installed at 40,000 homes, the amount of rain captured every year would be 243 million gallons. That's 243 million gallons of liquid assets that Nature delivers direct to your yard, that you don't have to pay for, and that won't require treatment at a sewage treatment plant - wow!
Details and an online order form are at mwrd.org/mo/barrel/barrel.aspx
.
Barrels are available for pickup at three District locations during October:
Stickney Water Reclamation Plant, 6001 West Pershing Rd., Cicero (pickup: 10/23/2007 and 10/27/2007)
Calumet Water Reclamation Plant, 400 East 130th St., Chicago (pickup: 10/16/2007 and 10/20/2007)
North Side Water Reclamation Plant, 3500 West Howard St., Skokie (pickup: 10/30/2007 and 11/3/2007)
Rain barrels will also be available at a household hazardous waste collection day in Oak Forest at 159th and Lorel Avenue on October 27. Drop off your expired medicines, old solvents, fluorescent bulbs, batteries, oil-based paints and pick up a rain barrel to take home! See mwrd.org/.../HHHW1007.pdf
.
Why not start making deposits in your own water bank? It's one investment that makes total sense.
Skip
If we're going to make a big deal out of Open Water Swims...meaning we're (USMS) going really try to market them more, I believe we must promote cleaner water!
Jennifer, et al,
Or water conservation? Pasted here is a note I received from Debra Shore (right after the forum note containing your note), one of the members of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago:
You Asked for Them - We Got Them!
Rain Barrels for Sale.
Rain Barrels
I am happy to report that the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District has a new program to sell rain barrels to Cook County residents for the bargain price of $40. (Limit is 2). These 50-gallon barrels in fetching shades of sky blue or black have screens to prevent mosquitoes from breeding yet can easily capture rainwater from your gutters or downspout.
Ask yourselves this: Why do we use drinking water that has been filtered, treated and piped to our faucet to irrigate our gardens and flowerbeds when we could be using perfectly good water delivered free by Nature instead? For a variety of reasons, a simple rain barrel connected to your downspout to capture rainwater off your roof makes a lot of sense.
Rain barrels are becoming increasingly popular among homeowners throughout the Chicago metropolitan area. Harvesting rainwater saves money and it's good for the environment. If you use rainwater collected in rain barrels to water your garden or even to wash your car, you are not using - or paying for - filtered, treated drinking water. And the captured rain, when used to water your garden during a dry spell, then helps to recharge our underground aquifers rather than flowing into the sewers as it would during a storm.
A 90-gallon rain barrel can hold 0.24 inch of rainfall from a 600 square foot roof. In a study conducted by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, if two 90-gallon rain barrels were installed at 40,000 homes, the amount of rain captured every year would be 243 million gallons. That's 243 million gallons of liquid assets that Nature delivers direct to your yard, that you don't have to pay for, and that won't require treatment at a sewage treatment plant - wow!
Details and an online order form are at mwrd.org/mo/barrel/barrel.aspx
.
Barrels are available for pickup at three District locations during October:
Stickney Water Reclamation Plant, 6001 West Pershing Rd., Cicero (pickup: 10/23/2007 and 10/27/2007)
Calumet Water Reclamation Plant, 400 East 130th St., Chicago (pickup: 10/16/2007 and 10/20/2007)
North Side Water Reclamation Plant, 3500 West Howard St., Skokie (pickup: 10/30/2007 and 11/3/2007)
Rain barrels will also be available at a household hazardous waste collection day in Oak Forest at 159th and Lorel Avenue on October 27. Drop off your expired medicines, old solvents, fluorescent bulbs, batteries, oil-based paints and pick up a rain barrel to take home! See mwrd.org/.../HHHW1007.pdf
.
Why not start making deposits in your own water bank? It's one investment that makes total sense.
Skip
