Nutrient trading proposal
lacks method to measure
The Fayetteville City Council is to be commended for putting the brakes on the nutrient-trading idea that could have gone into effect for the entire state.
The reporter explained nutrient trading with the analogy that if your trash can is full, maybe your neighbor, for a small fee, will let you put some trash in his not-so-full can. A neighborly idea, sure. But the analogy does not quite work.
Let's say that trash is actually the nutrient phosphorus, which can do great harm to lakes and rivers and is likely the culprit for recent toxic algal blooms in Fayetteville. Of course, the trash can in this analogy is our lakes and rivers. Let's say the Fayetteville wastewater treatment plant removes more phosphorus than required, by law (in fact, they actually do). So perhaps they sell their credit to a factory that wants to dump high phosphorus wastewater into a stream. A win-win for everyone, yes? But here's the hitch: Arkansas doesn't have a standard for how much phosphorus is allowed in our lakes and streams.
We need to set numerical limits on phosphorus and other harmful nutrients in Arkansas waterways. Our friends in Oklahoma have set a limit in the Illinois River when it crosses the state line, which is .037 mg/l. Arkansas exceeds that goal about 90 percent of the time. Clearly, we have a problem.
But let's go on, and say that Fayetteville sells their credit to a factory somewhere upstream of Lake Winona. Fayetteville gets some money, the factory saves some money and everyone is happy. Happy, that is, until the phosphorus that really should have been removed from the factory's effluent causes an algal bloom in Lake Winona, Little Rock's water supply. It just happens to be an algae species that makes a toxin called microcystin -- which irritates the skin and is toxic to the liver.
This isn't a far-fetched scenario. Fayetteville has detected microcystin in Lake Fayetteville this year and also in the pond out by the Bryce Davis dog park. The toxin is a known dog killer. Could microcystin shut down a water supply? Yes. In 2014, in Toledo, Ohio, the water supply was deemed unsafe to drink and to shower in for three days because of this toxin. In 2017, 169 microcystin-producing algal blooms were reported around the country. (http://ewg.org/toxicalgalblooms).
Could nutrient trading work? Maybe. But the trading needs to be within a limited watershed, and the results need to be carefully monitored. Monitoring is expensive, but what is more important than clean water? Fayetteville council members also wanted to see a long-term commitment to reduce the level of nitrogen and phosphorus in watersheds. The City Council recognized the status quo is not enough. Our "natural" state needs to get back to the level of water quality that we once enjoyed. This is not impossible, but it will take commitment and the clear and expressed will of the people.
Margaret Mead Britain
Fayetteville
Expert testimony shines
light on GOP narratives
So here we are, having looked at impeachment hearings over the last two weeks, wondering what it all means. For me, the testimony of Dr. Fiona Hill was the most persuasive.
She told the Republicans that, by repeating the notion that it was Ukraine that meddled with our election in 2016, they are doing exactly what Putin wants them to do. She also told the Democrats that to put faith in the Steele dossier was equally promoting an irrelevant narrative.
She is recognized as the person in our government that is most knowledgeable about Russia. She understands better than most how our national security is endangered by Russia's moves in Ukraine. Many in this country seem to be willing to accept that Trump was wrong to condition U. S. support for Ukraine in exchange for something that would benefit him politically. But they don't think he should be removed from office for that.
I would bet that most people would take a different view of their mayor in a crime-ridden city if he were to tell his chief of police to get me some dirt on his political opponent or he'd cut the chief's budget. Yet, that is exactly what President Trump did.
Stan Fure
Bella Vista
Editorial on 11/29/2019