From Virginia Conservation Network announcement:
You may be aware that over 10,000 miles of Virginia’s rivers and streams are considered unhealthy. Virginia is required to ensure its streams and rivers are clean, and develop a clean-up plan for waters that don’t meet those standards. Recently Virginia has developed one of these plans and will host a meeting to get your input on Wednesday, May 23rd from 2 to 4 pm in Richmond
(ed. at VCU!)
A faithful reader pointed me to the Rivanna Regional Stormwater Education Partnership website and specifically asked me to post information about cigarette butts.
From the site:
Many smokers discard their cigarette butts by the roadside or on the ground when they are driving or walking around out doors. Perhaps the prevailing view is that cigarette litter is too small to have a significant effect on water quality. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Cigarette litter is often carried into storm drains when it rains, where it is deposited in local streams and rivers. Nationwide, smokers litter about 4.5 trillion cigarette butts annually. About 95% of cigarette filters are composed of cellulose acetate, a plastic that persists in the environment for years and even decades. Cigarette filters concentrate a number of very toxic substances, which are released into our waterways when they are washed off roads and sidewalks into storm drains.
I hope everyone has had a nice World Water Day.
While there are a lot of international water issues, its as good as time as any to bring up water as a local issue.
So, a couple of things:
Despite all the earlier attempts to bring attention to the City of Richmond’s water rates, as far as I can tell this city still has the highest minimum residential water rate in the country.
Richmond continues its regressive water rates, offering a discount to those using vast amounts of water while maintaining the highest minimum water/sewer service charge in the country. Meanwhile, Henrico County’s minimum service charge is a third of Richmond’s while promoting conservation by offering a one-third discount in water/sewer volume charge for those using 6 ccf (hundred cubic feet) or less.