Safety | Rosemere Neighborhood Association

Lead Pipe Replacement in England & Wales – Part 2

September 16, 2009 Author: admin
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Ancient Lead Pipe, Bath, England

The solution to the lead issue in drinking water would optimally be replacement of all lead piping.

However, there are certain issues:
1. The ownernership of the lead piping is between the supplier and the property owner, leading to possible legal aspects.
2. The replacement costs are very high. Approximately 8-10 billion sterling pounds to replace all lead piping in the UK
3. The density of properties with lead piping can be up to 75% in many cities. The replacment program would create much disruption to road users and property owners
4. When the lead in water is not visible, tasted, odorless, it is not perceived as a problem. Property owners are then reluctant to take expensive actions.
Corrective Treatment

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Comments wanted on Camp Bonneville Cleanup Plans

May 29, 2009 Author: admin
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WA Department of Ecology News Release – May 28, 2009

OLYMPIA – The Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) seeks comments on draft documents related to cleaning up part of the Camp Bonneville military reservation in Clark County.

This phase of the ongoing cleanup focuses on the Central Impact Target Area. The former artillery target area covers roughly 465 acres. [Read More...]
Raw Sewage Discharged to Burnt Bridge Creek for Years – April 11, 2009

April 13, 2009 Author: admin
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ADDED 5/11/09: This story makes headlines across the country! High Country News reports it here: “Heard around the West: Deja Poo”

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On April 8, City inspections of a local stormdrain system that borders Rosemere found a dangerous cross connection with sewage lines. The problem was identified using specialized remote cameras in the stormdrain system. Unfortunately, the cross connection occurs at the Southwest Regional Office of the Washington State Department of Ecology. This means that raw sewage from a large and heavily staffed state office dedicated to environmental protection has literally been discharging to Burnt Bridge Creek for at least a dozen years.

[Read More...]
EPA Places ‘High Priority’ On Completing Munitions Cleanup Guidance – February 18, 2009

April 6, 2009 Author: admin
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United States Army Howitzers in World War II

(Daily News from InsideEPA.com – February 18, 2009) EPA’s waste office is placing a high priority on finalizing a controversial munitions cleanup policy following months of waiting for the White House Office of Management & Budget (OMB) to address objections raised by the Defense Department over it. The renewed attention to the pending policy for former ranges may signal stepped-up scrutiny from EPA over munitions contamination matters — considered a major cleanup liability for DOD. [Read More...]
RNA Receives letter of support for Camp Bonneville Superfund Petition – February 9, 2009

April 6, 2009 Author: admin
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The Rosemere Neighborhood Association has received a letter of support for our Camp Bonneville Superfund Petition from Citizens for Safe Water Around Badger (Wisconsin). CSWAB was organized in 1990 when rural families near Wisconsin’s 7,400-acre Badger Army Ammunition Plant learned that private drinking water wells were polluted with high levels of cancer-causing chemicals.

Read entire CSWAB letter of support here (adobe pdf format)
Preliminary Superfund Petition for Camp Bonneville – February 3, 2009

April 6, 2009 Author: admin
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This location marks the pits where fireworks were discovered. The city and county buried confiscated fireworks in these pits. The fireworks were supposedly destroyed by open burning them first, but contractors found fireworks that had not been burned.

The Rosemere Neighborhood Association has requested that the Environmental Protection Agency conduct a preliminary assessment of the known and suspected release of hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants at Camp Bonneville, the former US Military installation in Clark County, Washington (just outside Vancouver).

Read entire Preliminary Camp Bonneville Superfund Petition here (adobe pdf format.)
“Greening” the Foods We Eat or, Current Applications of Benjamin Franklin’s “Green Economics” – January 6, 2009

April 6, 2009 Author: admin
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DID YOU KNOW?
Food safety experts have identified the five most common food-borne pathogens. The “Big 5,” easily transmitted through food and the cause of severe illness are: Enterohemorrhagic E.coli or Shiga-toxin producing E. coli, Hepatitis A virus, Norovirus, and Salmonella Shigella. Salmonella is one of the most common pathogens and it has many different strains. Salmonella Shigella is only one strain. Since 1971 there have been at least 20 outbreaks of food-related poisoning. [Read More...]

Clams and Crayfish Used to Study Waterborne Contaminants – January 6, 2009

April 6, 2009 Author: admin

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Asian clams collected at Frenchman's Bar, Vancouver

Recent water quality monitoring efforts in the Columbia River have relied upon the analysis of clam tissue to determine the levels of dangerous toxins that have been absorbed by aquatic organisms. In Vancouver, high levels of PCBs, a cancer-causing agent, have been identified in clam tissues taken from samples in front of Alcoa at the Port of Vancouver, and downstream toward the mouth of the flushing channel to Vancouver Lake. [Read More...]

Bursting the Bubble on Household Cleaning Products – January 5, 2009

April 5, 2009 Author: admin

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Soap bubbles with cute smiling faces, sliding joyfully around a tub and shower, who wouldn’t want to buy what these animated little darlings want to sell you? But no matter how endearing, the only reality of the never ending need to clean our shower and tub is, as our parents used to say, “elbow grease.” A good scrubbing with a green scrubber and a non toxic product is the only way to clean a bathroom. [Read More...]

Danger Still Lurks at Camp Bonneville – April 20, 2006

April 4, 2009 Author: admin

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Despite repeated concerns from many knowledgeable community members at various public meetings, Clark County is on a fast track to receive Camp Bonneville in a “dirty transfer” from the US Army, meaning the County and its working partners will receive the property while it is still contaminated and covered with unexploded ordnance and munitions/explosives of concern. County officials are hoping to have all agreements signed with the Army, the state and clean-up contractors by July 1, 2006 in order to initiate a devised clean-up plan of the property that may take several years. The County’s goal is to transform one third of this contaminated 3800 acre property into a free range public park, while explosive devices will remain hidden on the remainder of the property, the two sections separated by a mere three foot barbed wire fence that could easily be straddled by anyone of average height. [Read More...]