May Newsletter 2007

Welcome to Clean Calgary's E-Newsletter.  You are receiving this because you indicated interest in receiving up to date environmental information and tips concerning Calgary and urban environmental issues. 


In this issue:

CMEX is a finalist in the Alberta Emerald Award

Clean Calgary Association – Calgary Materials Exchange program is a finalist in the Alberta Emerald Awards in the Not-For-Profit Association category. The Emerald Awards recognize and reward the excellent environmental initiatives undertaken each year. The awards ceremony will take place June 6th at the Epcor Centre for Performing Arts in Calgary.

To date the Calgary Materials Exchange (CMEX) program has 355 companies participating in reuse or recycling initiatives. These companies have diverted over 8,000 tonnes of waste from Calgary landfills and mitigated CO2 equivalent to removing 2600 mid-sized sedans from the road. CMEX has three staff that provides excellent one-on-one support to the participating companies.


 

West Dalhousie School joins to Make a Difference!
 
On Earth Day, West Dalhousie Elementary School launched two important waste reduction programs for the school, the community, the city, and the Earth: paper recycling and composting. With Clean Calgary Association’s support, the composting program will be fed with lunch scraps from students and teachers, and the result will be used on their Nature’sPlace Garden. The garden will have many uses from a place to enjoy nature to outdoor education and workshops using the natural amphitheatre in the garden.

By composting the students will learn first hand how kitchen and yard waste can be recycled to make a healthy soil amendment for the school garden.  

The School Compost and recycling program was launched with a heartfelt presentation from Master Composter Alan Rauk.  Alan graduated from Clean Calgary’s Master Composter Program in 2006 and is using his volunteer time to help the students and teachers learn how to be successful at composting, and how to use the finished compost.

Alan is a father and a former student at West Dalhousie Elementary School and being able to give back to the school that holds family history and good memories is a bonus.

The Waste Wise Community Outreach Program is a Dalhousie’s pilot project during 2007, with the objective to reduce 30% of household waste sent to landfill through composting. If you want to join this important and innovative program, please contact Karen at 998 - 8846 or sent her an email to karen@cleancalgary.org

Ask Ashley - Home Water Purification Systems

Q:

Ashley,

It was suggested we contact you about home water drinking system options. We have used a NSA filtration system for years and it has to be replaced. We are just starting to look at water systems options. There are only two of us and we don't go through that much water.

We're wondering if perhaps reverse osmosis unnecessarily removes too many minerals and uses too much water in the process. Mountain Fresh (a Calgary company) has filtration systems that seem OK, but we don't understand the science behind water, nor how our choices may affect the environment. It was mentioned today that disposing of filters is an environmental consideration. Also, a friend mentioned the issue of pharmaceuticals in water. Is this a concern for Calgary? Fluoride? Other bacteria? Cysts?

Can you give us some advice about wise ways to provide good drinking water in our home in Calgary and/or contacts where we could learn more?

Regards,

Shelly

A:

Hello Shelly,

There are a tonne of resources out there and unfortunately the answers aren't always clear.  Chlorine removal is a good place to start and we've know for a long time that chlorine is not great for our health.  It should be noted that chlorination is a cost effective way to remove such waterborne diseases as cholera, typhoid and dysentery, making it the overwhelming choice for municipal water treatment.  Luckily, chlorine is effectively removed by carbon and multimedia filters such as your NSA filter or the one sold by Mountain Fresh.  Chlorine is not, however, removed by reverse osmosis.

Reverse osmosis uses a semi-permeable membrane that removes larger molecular structures like salt but those things like pesticides and chlorine that are molecularly smaller than water are free to pass through the membrane. They are great at removing salt, fluoride and other minerals, as well as pathogens.  That said it also removes things like iron and manganese, both of which are essential to natural body processes. It should be noted that reverse osmosis systems use more water and energy than the simpler filtration systems.  I have read that the reverse osmosis systems can use 2-3 litres of water for every one they purify. 

Carbon or multimedia filters are able to rid water of larger compound materials, like salt, while removing much of the smaller dangerous chemicals like chlorine and pesticides.  These systems also leave trace minerals that are beneficial to our health.  They also tend to be the most efficient and cost effective systems for creating healthy drinking water.  From what I could find they do not remove all of the fluoride from the water but it seems that in addition to its base system, Mountain Fresh does offers a filter that will address the fluoride issue.

And yes, fluoride is a reality in Calgary.  Not only do we have natural (background) levels of fluoride in our water from our surrounding geology, but the City of Calgary adds Fluorosilicic Acid to boost the concentration from the natural level of 0.1 - 0.4 mg/L (ppm) to 0.7 mg/L.  There is still a lot of debate around the addition of fluoride to drinking water but when the question of the city adding fluoride to our water went to a plebiscite in 1998, the public voted 55% in favor of supplemental fluoride.  I guess it is a decision we must live with for the time being.

In terms of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), the jury is still out.  This field of study is still in its infancy but we can feel some relief from the fact that we do not live downstream of a major centre and the water we do receive is of relatively high quality.  We should be more concerned for the people living downstream of Calgary though. A recent pilot study (http://ec.europa.eu/research/infocentre/export/success/article_705_en.html) in Germany found that ozonation was rather effective in reducing PPCPs. This does bring some hope in addressing this very important issue and I hope that we hear more about it in the near future.

Finally, in terms of filter disposal I would talk to your supplier of filters to see how they deal with them. It seems that these filters would concentrate toxins, minerals, chlorine, etc and that they should be carefully disposed of. Given the long life of the filters I would assume that this would have a lesser environmental impact than say a Brita filter which is to be replaced every 3 or so months. I contacted Mountain Fresh and they said that the filters are landfilled at the end of their life, as they cannot be cleaned and reused.

I hope this clears a few things up. Looking at the larger picture it would seem that a carbon or multimedia filter would be the most effective and efficient water purification systems out there.  Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. If you want more information I found that http://www.historyofwaterfilters.com/ was a pretty good resource.

Purely,

Ashley

Ashley Lubyk, BSC in Environmental Science, is a Calgary Materials Exchange Program Assistant at Clean Calgary Association.

Please send your question concerning Water, Waste, or Recycling to Ashley Lubyk

Ecco Chips - a recycled wood mulch product
 

Wood pallets and untreated lumber are rescued from being tipped into a Calgary Landfill and made into a mulch. Mulch is used to insulate your plants in warm and cold conditions, it helps to retain the moisture in the soil so you can reduce watering, it helps to prevent soil erosion from wind and water, mulch helps to deter weeds, and adds natural beauty to your landscapes. Wood mulch is preferable to using rocks and stones because it will decompose naturally and help improve soil conditions, and it supports root growth since it absorbs less heat than rock. ECCO Chips come in Natural, or are dyed with a non-toxic vegetable dye and come in Chestnut and Redbrick. In the EcoStore they are sold in a 85.5l or 3 cubic foot bag. One 3 cu.ft. bag will cover:

18 sq.feet if 2” deep

12 sq.feet if 3” deep

9 sq.feet if 4” deep

Price:

1-5 bags = $10.00 each

6-49 bags = $9.50 each

50+ bags = $9.00 each

EcoStore – 809 4th Ave SW – 230.1443 ext. 222.

We are open Wed, Fri and Sat 10am – 4pm and Thu 10am – 7pm.



6th Annual Rain Barrel Sale was sold out in less than an hour!

Clean Calgary Association’s Annual Rain Barrel Sale was an immense success and we sold out in less than an hour at our three locations: Brentwood and Anderson LRT station and the Calgary Co-op at Richmond Road SW!

Rain barrels are 45 gallon food grade plastic barrels that are being reused as rain barrels instead of being dumped into the landfill, they are fitted with a tap and have a hole for a downspout.  If you did not have time to come to the annual Rain Barrel Sale, you still can purchase your rain barrel at the EcoStore – 809 4th Ave SW – 230.1443 ext. 222. We are open Wed, Fri and Sat 10am – 4pm and Thu 10am – 7pm.

Clean Calgary Association is a non-profit organization and all proceeds from rain barrel sales support our environmental education programs.

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