I'm concerned about the land fill(s) surrounding Cayuga Lake, and their effects on our water quality. We have one of NY's largest right here in Seneca County. You can't miss it on your way up to the NY Thruway; it's a giant mountain. It's euphemistically called "Seneca Meadows," but us locals refer to it as "Mount Trashmore." Seneca Falls gets big bucks for importing tons of garbage daily from PA, NJ, MA and NYC. Seeing all these huge trucks on Rte 89 every day, I got concerned about all this unfiltered garbage coming into our region. It's enough of a challenge to deal with our own garbage! I am especially concerned because we pump water directly from the lake, and use it to water our big organic veggie garden. When I read last Spring that they're expanding Mt. Trashmore, I contacted the Cayuga Lake Watershed Network (CLWN) to see if Sharon Anderson (Steward of CLWN) knew anything about its effect on Cayuga Lake. She wrote back that it's being monitored by the EPA. This doesn't satisfy me, though, because we all know that the Bush Admin. appointed the foxes to watch the hen houses. Does anyone know about any info or citizen action on this issue?
I also asked Sharon about the issue of WATER RIGHTS -- i.e., the probability that private companies like CocaCola will try to purify and sell bottled water en masse from the lake, as companies are already doing in Lake Michigan and in thousands of towns in America. She said the CLWN doesn't get involved with that aspect of water. I think there's some action on the State level -- some proposed legislation to pre-empt private ownership of our watershed, which, in my mind, belongs to us all as "the commons." I'm part of "Back To Democracy" (based in Trumansburg) and we'd like to convene a public meeting about water rights, as well as the effects of the land fill and all this imported garbage on the lake, so if anyone has info on local people who are working on these problems, it would be great connect with them. One issue for citizens who surround the lake is: Why should Seneca Falls benefit financially while our bodies pay the price? I saw a recent article in the Ithaca Times about a group of citizens (including Robert Barton) who are mobilizing to address their concerns about the spreading of tons of sludge on our region's farmlands. I am grateful to be part of a concerned community and to be able to communicate through this list serve. It's a wonderful means by which we can exercise our right to assemble in order to promote sustainability! - Jan ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joel and Sarah Gagnon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Sustainable Tompkins County listserv" <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 12:46 PM Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] why save water? > The city water source issue is more complicated than implied. Six Mile > Creek water is often turbid. The chemicals used to clear the water have an > associated environmental impact from their production and then disposal. > That needs to be weighed against the energy cost of pumping lake water > uphill to storage. Either way, conservation reduces environmental impact. > > Joel _______________________________________________ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
