Source Water Protection

[dhelmke]

Source Water Protection is another area in which Kansas Rural Water Association is proud to provide assistance.

Please ask questions, provide suggestions or even brag a little about what your water system has done to protect your water from unintended degradation.

Doug Helmke - KRWA

[dhelmke]

Attention Northeast and Eastcentral Kansas Water Systems:

I've heard that Frito-Lay in Topeka is going to make their potato and corn chips in a more environmentally-friendly way, and probably market the chips that way as well.

See this from dated January 23, 2009:
http://www1.eere.energy.gov/industry/fuelflexibility/news_detail.html?news_id=12203

Research, Development, and Demonstration of Biomass
Boiler Applications for the Food Processing Industry
Estimated Funding: $12,673,172 total ($1,999,963 DOE)
Partners and Project Description: Burns & McDonnell Engineering Company, in collaboration with Frito-Lay, Inc., Oak Ridge National Laboratory, CPL Systems, Inc., Alpha Boilers, and Kansas State University will demonstrate use of a biomass boiler in the food processing industry.  The 60,000 lb/hr innovative biomass boiler system utilizing a combination of wood waste and tire-derived fuel (TDF) waste will offset all natural gas consumption at Frito-Lay’s Topeka, Kansas, processing facility.

While Newton's Third Law of Motion doesn't really apply to anything but motion, we can use it to think of the "opposite reactions" of using wood waste to heat a boiler.  While burning wood waste will release carbon that was recently part of the atmosphere (assumed to be a good thing) and not dinosaur-age natural gas carbon, I wonder about the source of the wood waste.

We don't have a lot of sawmills in the immediate area, although there are some cabinet shops that probably make some sawdust for burning.  There are some pallet recyclers that probably have some scrap too.  But is there enough waste wood and wood products for this to be successful?  Will this be an opportunity for landowners with stands of locust, cottonwood and hedge trees to make a quick buck?  Do we know if logging - Kansas style - is a threat to our streams and reservoirs?  I'm sure it can be done if everybody understands the threats and follows best management practices.

Keep watching and listening for this and other potential threats to your water supply.

[dhelmke]

Update:

A contractor for the City of Topeka and Frito-Lay is taking over operation of the City's Forestry Disposal Site, a place for residents to dispose of lawn waste for composting and firewood cutting.  With the new operation, FL will get most of the tree limbs, etc. for their new boiler, and firewood cutting by the public will end.

[dhelmke]

KRWA 2010 Conference & Exhibition

Thank you to everyone that came to the pre-conference session on Source Water Protection.  Some of you that were there inquired about ordering a copy of Liquid Assets:  The Story of our Water Infrastructure.  Parts of the DVD might be good training for employees, boards and councils.

Go to http://liquidassets.psu.edu/ for more information.

[dhelmke]

DWR reports this on their website at:  http://www.ksda.gov/dwr/content/314/cid/1690#4

KCC Denies Permit for Waste Disposal in Ozark Aquifer
"The Kansas Corporation Commission recently issued orders upholding a decision by its staff denying a permit for an injection well to dispose of saltwater produced from oil and gas wells into the Arbuckle formation, a deep water-bearing zone, at a location within Bourbon County.  The basis for the denial is the presence of usable groundwater within the aquifer, which is groundwater having less than 10,000 parts per million of total dissolved solids and yields adequate for public water supplies, as well as risks of contaminant migration from the proposed injection site."

More explanation of this decision to protect POTENTIAL supplies of drinking water and a link to the KCC website are provided.