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GoGreenNation news

Going With the Flow: Hogtown Creek Floodplain & Green Acre Park

Alec Kissoondyal
News Feed
Monday, September 20, 2021

Green Acre Park is an important stop along the creek’s journey and another example of how a community exists side by side with the natural resources that sustain it. For the residents that live near the park, and for the city of Gainesville as a whole, the protection and preservation of Hogtown Creek is vital to ensuring that future generations will have clean drinking water for years to come.

           Located near the Sugarfoot subdivision in Gainesville, Green Acre Park is a hidden gem of the community and another step in Hogtown Creek's journey to the Floridan Aquifer.

           The official Friends of Nature Parks website states that the park provides a “mix of recreational opportunities. A playground and open field in the center of the park provide for active recreation, while trails pass through the park’s live oak hammock, offering a place for quiet strolls or bike-riding. The park also protects part of the Hogtown Creek floodplain."

           As the description implies, the creek spreads out into a floodplain swamp near the park. This step in the creek's journey is vital, as the floodplain filters out some of the pollutants accumulated by the creek as if flows through the city. Certain features of the park are designed to protect the floodplain from further contamination, and visitors can witness this firsthand as they traverse the main trail.

           The trail passes over an elevated tract of land that separates the floodplain from the neighborhood on its border. This portion of land creates a natural barrier that prevents pollutants from the neighboring houses from seeping into the floodplain. Likewise, it prevents the neighborhood from becoming inundated with water when the floodplain overflows during periods of heavy rainfall.

           The floodplain is not a cure-all, however, and many of the pollutants in the water continue to be deposited into the aquifer as the creek heads toward its destination. Because of this, the Friends of Nature Parks website also emphasizes that visitors should “stay on the established trails and keep pets on a leash at all times. Motorized vehicles, camping, fires and digging are prohibited."

           Green Acre Park is an important stop along the creek’s journey and another example of how a community exists side by side with the natural resources that sustain it. For the residents that live near the park, and for the city of Gainesville as a whole, the protection and preservation of Hogtown Creek is vital to ensuring that future generations will have clean drinking water for years to come.

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Read the full story here.
Photos courtesy of
Alec Kissoondyal
Alec Kissoondyal

Alec Kissoondyal is an intern at Cinema Verde and a student at the University of Florida currently pursuing a degree in English. He is also a writer for Narrow Magazine and an ambassador for the Florida Hemingway Society. His poetry and fiction have been published in Zephyr literary journal. In his spare time, Alec enjoys reading, creative writing, exploring nature parks, and listening to anything released by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.

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NYC Will Eventually Have to Abandon Part of Its Water Supply if It Keeps Getting Saltier

Decades of road salt use is taking a toll on New York City’s water reservoirs

The suburban reservoirs that supply 10% of New York City's vaunted drinking water are getting saltier due to decades of road salt being spread near the system — and they will eventually have to be abandoned if nothing is done to reverse the trend, city officials warn.The plug wouldn't have to be pulled until early next century, according to a new study. But the soaring saltiness could eventually affect the famous taste of the Big Apple’s water, which is sometimes called the champagne of tap water, and poses a challenge to managers of a system that serves more than 9 million people.“The conclusion of this study is that if we don’t change our ways, in 2100 the Croton Water System becomes a nice recreational facility, but it ceases to be a water supply,” Rohit Aggarwala, the city’s environmental protection commissioner, said in an interview with The Associated Press. “And that will directly impact everybody who drinks New York City water.” The Croton system dates back to 1842 — when the first Croton Aqueduct began delivering water to a reservoir in what is now Manhattan’s Central Park — and is now comprised of 12 reservoirs and three controlled lakes north of the city.The report found the concentration of chlorides — an indicator of salinization — tripled from 1987 to 2019 in the system's main reservoir, which is about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of the city line. Concentrations are on track to exceed the state’s maximum contaminant level for chloride by 2108.The report found salinity increases across the sprawling system of city reservoirs in upstate New York. However, the problem is far less of an issue in the Delaware and Catskill watersheds west of the Hudson River, which supply about 90% of the city’s water. That’s likely because there’s far less development in those watersheds.Road salt is considered a main driver of the increase, along with sewage treatment plant discharges and water softeners. Millions of tons of rock salt is spread on U.S. roads each winter as a cheap and effective way to reduce accidents.“It's really a problem across the country in areas with a lot of snow,” said Shannon Roback, science director for the environmental group Riverkeeper. “We’ve seen rising levels of salt in water in the Northeast, in the Midwest and in most places that use road salt.”Roback noted that high salt levels in drinking water pose a host of environmental concerns and can be harmful to people on low-sodium diets. Aggarwala said the city has a few options. Salt can be removed from water supplies through reverse osmosis systems, though the technology is expensive and requires a lot of energy. The city also could mix Croton water with less salty water from its other two watersheds. But the commissioner said that would not be a solution for the more than a dozen municipalities north of New York City that draw water from the Croton system. City officials believe reducing the use of road salt locally is the most sensible option. That could involve persuading state and local road crews to use alternatives to salt, or sensors on plows to gauge road surface temperatures, or shutting off the applicators when plows make U-turns or K turns.State Sen. Pete Harckham, who represents the area, called the new report alarming, but not surprising given a number of community wells taken offline due to high chloride levels. The Democrat is sponsoring bills that would address the road salt issue, including one that would study the issue in the Croton watershed. “State agencies, local governments, everyone needs to come together on this,” he said, “because this is a real challenge.”Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Feb. 2025

Water
Energy
Science

‘I trust my eyes, not the forecast’: Alexandria is sinking. Why don’t local fishers believe it?

The ancient Mediterranean city is at risk as sea levels rise. But most people in the vulnerable fishing village of El Max believe it will always weather the storms of timeOn a sunny January morning in El Max, west of Egypt’s second city, Alexandria, where a canal meets the Mediterranean Sea, Ahmed Gaz is untangling his fishing net on the beach after landing his catch at dawn.Like almost everyone in the neighbourhood, Gaz was born and raised by the water, destined to fish for a living: “My whole life is in the sea. My life, my work and my livelihood.” Continue reading...

On a sunny January morning in El Max, west of Egypt’s second city, Alexandria, where a canal meets the Mediterranean Sea, Ahmed Gaz is untangling his fishing net on the beach after landing his catch at dawn.Like almost everyone in the neighbourhood, Gaz was born and raised by the water, destined to fish for a living: “My whole life is in the sea. My life, my work and my livelihood.”Alexandria is one of the world’s sinking cities, along with Venice, Miami, Lagos, Jakarta and others. An IPCC report predicts that with global sea levels rising at the current rate, and without adequate preventive measures, thousands of kilometres of the Nile delta could be fully submerged by 2100.Like the rest of Egypt’s Mediterranean coast around the delta, El Max also faces several other environmental risks, including land subsidence, soil erosion, earthquakes and water pollution from nearby petrochemical plants, which all add to the increasing vulnerability of the area.A fishing boat returns to El Max. Photograph: Alexander Durie/The GuardianThe people of El Max will, at some point, have to move to survive. However, a Mixed Migration Centre study that interviewed 100 residents of the town found that 90% of them had no plans to leave the area and only a handful believed that the rising water was even a threat.“I trust my eyes, not the weather forecast,” Gaz says.Mohamed Abdrabo, director of Alexandria University’s Research Centre for Adaptation to Climate Change, says: “Part of the problem is that when people talk about the impact of rising sea levels in Egypt, and especially in Alexandria, they are talking about what’s going to happen by 2100.“And with the economic situation,” he adds, “people are not interested in the far future.”The fishing community in El Max is witnessing the effects of the climate crisis but often without the awareness of its long-term impacts, Abdrabo says.“This year the sea is moving back behind the island [by the lighthouse of El Max, about 50 metres from shore],” says a young fisherman on El Fanar beach. “We used to swim to reach this island, now you just walk to it.”Another adds: “We used to catch 50kg of fish [a day]; now it’s only 10kg.”Part of the difficulty with trying to get local communities to engage with the problem is that the threat of Alexandria sinking and disappearing is far from a recent phenomenon. The city has suffered many climate-related catastrophes before and survived, says Yasmine Hussein, an Alexandrian climate researcher.Earthquakes and a tsunami destroyed the lighthouse, or Pharos, of Alexandria, a wonder of the ancient world. Illustration: Science History/AlamyEgypt’s second-largest city, founded in 331BC by Alexander the Great, has experienced “seven or eight” tsunamis throughout history. One of the biggest, in 365AD, was caused by an 8.5-magnitude earthquake in Crete that had disastrous effects across the eastern Mediterranean, she says.“It caused water to go inside the soil and destroyed the entire ancient port. Some archaeologists believe that the temples of Alexander the Great and Cleopatra are still underwater, because the royal neighbourhood was completely sunk.”Another tsunami struck in 1303 and caused the Lighthouse, or Pharos, of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, to be submerged.Concrete blocks were added to Alexandria’s corniche as the city faces ever bigger storm surges. Photograph: Alexander Durie/The Guardian“People always say that life in Alexandria is a cycle, just like the cycle of life,” Hussein says. “It is born and becomes a major city, then it falls and slowly disappears completely. And then it is reborn, like a phoenix.”In its present cycle, the city has a different dynamic. A number of Alexandrians say they are worried about how rapidly the coastline is being developed by authorities.Hussein describes how Alexandria has lost more than 40% of its beaches in the past 25 years from a combination of coastal erosion, heavy construction and privatisation of coastal areas. “This is happening at an unprecedented speed in the city,” she says.She adds that while last year Alexandria was recognised by Unesco as Egypt and Africa’s first “tsunami-ready” community – meaning that it met key indicators for mitigating the risks of the devastating waves and other coastal hazards – Hussein and other local researchers feel that the city is not prepared at all.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Global DispatchGet a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development teamPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotion“If there’s an earthquake nearby, what are we going to do?” Hussein asks.They want us to leave here, but I don’t know where to go … This sea is my soul, and I cannot live without itThe local government has installed concrete blocks along Alexandria’s corniche to protect the shore, but several experts say this is an unviable solution in the long term because water goes under the blocks and into the soil.Some of the fishing community have already been moved to high-rise buildings farther inland after their houses were flooded.But for some in El Max, settling away from the coast has been a challenge. “I’m like a fish. If they remove me from the sea, I’ll die,” says As Elsayed Ibrahim, a local fisherman.Umm Amr inside her kiosk on El Fanar beach in El Max, Alexandria. ‘They want us to leave, but I don’t know where to go.’ Photograph: Alexander Durie/The GuardianAbdrabo says: “People in Egypt, generally speaking, are very attached to their land.” It is an attitude that applies across the country, he says, particularly to those who make their living from fishing and farming.He says people’s attachment to their local area ought to be recognised in any long-term plan for the region but ultimately: “Whatever you do in coastal areas will get back to you. You cannot win against nature.”Umm Amr has been running a kiosk on El Fanar beach all of her life. She was initially sceptical about the climate emergency, but after learning about the catastrophic floods along the coast in Derna, Libya, in 2023, she was scared, thinking that if it could happen to “our neighbour”, it could happen to El Max too.“They [authorities] want us to leave here, but I don’t know where to go,” she says. “I grew up on the sand of El Max and lived here among good people who love each other. This sea is my soul, and I cannot live without it.”To leave and abandon this bond with the area is not easy for local people, despite the increasing risks. “It’s better to stay and find ways to adapt,” Hussein says, suggesting that people in sinking cities around the world could collaborate and share strategies on saving their home towns. “All we’re asking for is that we’re given the tools to learn how to adapt.”In a statement, Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said: “The projects in Alexandria are part of the coastal-protection projects the ministry is implementing to counter the negative effects of climate change, provide protection for citizens and facilities, and stabilise residential and industrial areas and low-lying areas from the risk of rising sea levels.”Two women enjoy the sea breeze in Alexandria. ‘I grew up on the sand of El Max and lived here among good people who love each other,’ says Umm Amr. Photograph: Alexander Durie/Guardian

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Thames Water data reveals raw sewage discharges in rivers rose 50% in 2024

Exclusive: Almost 300,000 hours of raw effluent poured into waterways, figures show, up from 196,000 in 2023A record 50% more raw sewage was discharged into rivers in England by Thames Water last year compared with the previous 12 months, data seen by the Guardian reveals.Thames, the largest of the privatised water companies, which is teetering on the verge of collapse with debts of £19bn, was responsible for almost 300,000 hours of raw sewage pouring into waterways in 2024 from its ageing sewage works, according to the data. This compares with 196,414 hours of raw effluent dumped in 2023.The Amersham balancing tanks in Buckinghamshire, which are supposed to safely store excess sewage after heavy rain, discharged 4,842 hours of raw sewage in 2024.Amersham was the scene of the longest unbroken individual discharge, when the equivalent of 154 days of raw sewage spilled into the River Misbourne, a chalk stream, last year.Marlborough sewage treatment works dumped raw sewage for 2,786 hours.At the Chesham sewage treatment works there were 2,681 hours of sewage discharges. Continue reading...

A record 50% more raw sewage was discharged into rivers in England by Thames Water last year compared with the previous 12 months, data seen by the Guardian reveals.Thames, the largest of the privatised water companies, which is teetering on the verge of collapse with debts of £19bn, was responsible for almost 300,000 hours of raw sewage pouring into waterways in 2024 from its ageing sewage works, according to the data. This compares with 196,414 hours of raw effluent dumped in 2023.The data, obtained by the analyst Peter Hammond in answer to an environmental information request to the company, comes after Thames Water won approval from the court of appeal for a £3bn emergency debt bailout to avoid collapse.Environmental campaigners and a small group of Thames’s creditors unsuccessfully challenged the bailout loan on the grounds it was not in the public interest and would continue a “Thames Water debt doom loop”. They argued temporary nationalisation under a special administration regime would be a better option.The raw sewage discharge data from event duration monitors on Thames Water combined sewer overflows, pumping stations and treatment works reveals the scale of the investment challenge ahead to fix its crumbling infrastructure.To pay for the investment Thames Water is seeking to raise household bills by 59% over the next five years in an appeal to the Competiton and Markets Authority, far higher than the 35% that the regulator, Ofwat, has approved.Thames Water’s sewage treatment works were responsible for almost 90% of the 298,081 hours of raw sewage it released into rivers in 2024, the data shows. The works are already subject to a criminal Environment Agency (EA) investigation into illegal sewage dumping and a parallel inquiry by Ofwat, which has ordered the water company to move at pace to put things right.Thames has admitted it has left its sewage treatment works to crumble for decades as a result of underinvestment. Its own business documents say it has “sweated these assets” by failing to invest in their upkeep, and as a result its infrastructure poses a risk to public safety, water supply and to the environment.The data also shows that raw sewage was discharged from its network of combined sewer overflows, which are supposed to be used only in exceptional circumstances, and from sewage pumping stations. According to the spill data: The Amersham balancing tanks in Buckinghamshire, which are supposed to safely store excess sewage after heavy rain, discharged 4,842 hours of raw sewage in 2024. Amersham was the scene of the longest unbroken individual discharge, when the equivalent of 154 days of raw sewage spilled into the River Misbourne, a chalk stream, last year. Marlborough sewage treatment works dumped raw sewage for 2,786 hours. At the Chesham sewage treatment works there were 2,681 hours of sewage discharges. Steve Reed, the environment secretary, has promised to clean up rivers and has set a target for water companies to achieve an average of 10 spills per sewage overflow by 2050. There was an average of 45.2 spills per overflow in 2024, according to the latest Thames data.Ash Smith, of Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, who monitors raw sewage pollution into the River Windrush, said: “Thames Water has become reliant on dumping sewage and paying dividends and bonuses while the billpayer funds everything.“The regulator’s inactivity and inertia plays a vital role in allowing this and to call it a scandal is an understatement.”skip past newsletter promotionThe planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essentialPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionThe analysis suggests discharges are taking place in breach of the permit rules for the treatment works and could be illegal. For example, according to Hammond’s analysis, Marlborough sewage treatment discharged raw sewage for 26 days into the River Kennet, a chalk stream that is a site of special scientific interest. The spills were illegal, Hammond believes, because they took place on dry days in breach of the legal permit to operate.Thames Water said the data had to be verified by the EA and could be subject to change. “In 2024 we experienced one of the wettest years on record. Storm discharges are closely correlated with rainfall and groundwater conditions, and we therefore experienced an increase in the frequency and duration of storm discharge events during 2024,” the water company said.“We know how much people enjoy and appreciate rivers, which is why over the next five years we will deliver a record amount of investment to address our ageing infrastructure. This is an enormous undertaking; we are responsible for the oldest and most complex infrastructure of any company in the sector.”It added: “While all storm discharges are unacceptable, the sewage system was historically designed to prevent sewage backing up into people’s homes. Transparency is at the heart of what we do, and we were the first water company to publish a real time data map on our website, before it became legal requirement to do so.”Hammond, a professor of computational biology at University College London, now retired, is an expert on water company raw sewage discharges. His evidence to MPs on the environmental audit committee in 2021 showed the scale of illegal raw sewage discharges by water companies was 10 times greater than the EA estimated, prompting the biggest criminal investigation by the agency into illegal spills and the parallel Ofwat investigation. Both investigations are ongoing.

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‘It’s a history lesson’: fossil fish up to 16m years old found perfectly preserved in central NSW

Fossils retain microscopic structural features including stomach contents and provide first detailed evidence in Australia for fish called OsmeriformesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastFossil fish so exquisitely preserved that scientists have been able to reconstruct their final days from up to 16m years ago have been discovered in central New South Wales.Several fossils of small freshwater fish, embedded in an iron-rich mineral called goethite at the McGraths Flat fossil site, have retained microscopic structural features including their stomach contents and the outlines of cells that determine colour. Continue reading...

Fossil fish so exquisitely preserved that scientists have been able to reconstruct their final days from up to 16m years ago have been discovered in central New South Wales.Several fossils of small freshwater fish, embedded in an iron-rich mineral called goethite at the McGraths Flat fossil site, have retained microscopic structural features including their stomach contents and the outlines of cells that determine colour.This unusual level of detail – including the slender shape of the fish and position of its bones and fins – has revealed a lot about the species, called Ferruaspis brocksi, said lead author Dr Matthew McCurry, curator of palaeontology at Australian Museum.“In palaeontology there’s often so many gaps. Normally we just find isolated bones of a particular species,” McCurry said. “We can’t often see the whole animal, and we rarely see things like soft tissues preserved.”A fossil of stomach contents of the species called Ferruaspis brocksi shows that it fed predominantly on phantom midge. Photograph: Salty Dingo/Australian MuseumThe find, published in Vertebrate Palaeontology, has provided the first detailed evidence in Australia for a group of fish called the Osmeriformes, which today include graylings and smelts, McCurry said.Unusually, the fossils retained remnants of colour cells, called melanophores, including the tiny melanin-containing granules inside called melanosomes (measuring just over a thousandth of a millimetre).Co-author Assoc Prof Dr Michael Frese, a virologist adept at microscopy and based at the University of Canberra, said this level of detail “pushed the boundaries” of what could be preserved.From these microscopic details, the authors determined the fish were “counter shaded” – darker at the top and lighter at the belly – with two stripes along their sides.Also preserved were the animals’ stomach contents, and in some cases the intestinal tract.Frese said when viewed under a high-powered microscope, the fish bellies were full of the antennae of phantom midge larvae (a type of insect), bits and pieces of half-digested wings, and even a small mussel, or bivalve.These minute details offered a glimpse into the life of the fish in its final days, he said.The fossils were buried at the bottom of a lake like a billabong that was separated from nearby rivers, he said. Yet a second tiny bivalve, attached to a fish fin, suggested the animals came from a nearby river.That river might have flooded or otherwise spilled over into the lake, where the fish probably gorged themselves on phantom midge larvae. “They died with a full stomach,” Frese said.Illustration of species called Ferruaspis brocksi. Photograph: Alex BoersmaThe evolutionary biologist and palaeontologist Dr Alice Clement, who was not involved in the paper, said analysing melanophores to reconstruct colour patterns was a “big advancement in the study of fossil fishes”.Colours and patterns were important in the animal world – used for attracting mates, warning off predators and for camouflage. Yet the study of these characteristics in fossils was still in its infancy, she said.The species is named after Prof Jochen J Brocks, from the Australian National University, who has discovered several fossilised species at the McGraths Flat site.As well as detailed insights into the species itself, the fossils provided an “unprecedented opportunity” to understand Australia’s ancient ecosystems and the evolution of fish during the Miocene, McCurry said.The palaeontologist Prof John Long, an expert in ancient fishes at Flinders University who was not involved in the study, said fish fossils from the Miocene provided a “rare window” into ecosystems at a time of dramatic environmental change, when deserts expanded and forests declined.“It helps us appreciate the diversity of Australia’s unique fauna and how it evolved to cope with changing climatic conditions.”Frese said uncovering fossils at McGraths Flat was like flipping individual pieces of an upside-down mosaic.The fossils provide an ‘unprecedented opportunity’ to understand Australia’s ancient ecosystems, Dr Matt McCurry says. Photograph: Salty Dingo/Australian MuseumThe more you flipped, the more it revealed about the environment around the lake, he said. Over time, an even bigger picture emerged about how species evolved, and how continents and landscapes transformed at a critical point in history.“At the time these fish died and were preserved, that was a transitional period for Australia,” he said. “Basically it’s a history lesson, or a geological lesson, of what happens if the climate changes fundamentally.”

Water
Animals
Forests

Appeal court rules in favour of £3bn bailout for Thames Water

Judges dismiss appeal from campaigners who argued ‘eye-watering’ cost of loan was not in public interest The court of appeal has upheld Thames Water’s £3bn emergency bailout loan, in a decision published on Monday.Appeal court judges dismissed an appeal from environmental campaigners and a small group of Thames creditors after a three-day hearing last week. Continue reading...

The court of appeal has upheld Thames Water’s £3bn emergency bailout loan, in a decision published on Monday.Appeal court judges dismissed an appeal from environmental campaigners and a small group of Thames creditors after a three-day hearing last week.Both groups argued that the “eye-watering” costs of the £3bn emergency loan, at interest rates of 9.75%, were not in the public interest. They said putting the ailing water company, which has debts of £19bn, into temporary nationalisation under a special administration regime would be more cost effective.The decision in Thames’s favour means the company can continue operating long enough to attempt a restructuring of debts and the gathering of new investment.Thames Water, which has 16 million customers and 8,000 employees, has been on the verge of collapse for months.The deal will give the company £1.5bn in cash from creditors, released monthly, plus up to £1.5bn more to see it through an appeal to try to increase bills by more than the 35% allowed by the industry regulator for England and Wales, Ofwat.Thames Water argued in court that it would run out of money on 24 March if the emergency debt deal did not go through. It will still have to raise billions of pounds of additional equity to repair its finances over the longer term. The company last week said it was considering several bids from unnamed parties.Chris Weston, the Thames Water CEO, said: “We are pleased that the court of appeal has today decisively refused the appeals and upheld the strong high court decision to sanction the company plan. We remain focused on putting Thames Water on to a more stable financial foundation as we seek a long-term solution to our financial resilience. Today’s news demonstrates further progress.”Weston added: “The company plan will not affect customer bills but will provide continued investment in our network to fix pipes, upgrade our sewage treatment works, and maintain high-quality drinking water. We remain of the view that a market-led solution is in the best interest of customers, UK taxpayers and the wider economy.”The high court gave Thames Water permission to go ahead with the bailout in February, but Mr Justice Leech said that the costs of the financing were “eye-watering”.Campaigners led by Charlie Maynard, Liberal Democrat MP for Witney, on behalf of a group of environmental charities, appealed last week along with a group of creditors.The court of appeal will publish its reasons at a later date.

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