Community News – Nebraska H20

Waterwise Wednesday: Homemade Windshield De-Icer

Our dry winter weather typically only requires a simple scraping while blasting the defrost to clear car windows. But if you need a quick windshield de-icer this week here’s some recipes to try:

1. Isopropyl alcohol and water: Mix two parts 70% isopropyl alcohol and one part water in a spray bottle.

2. Saltwater: Mix water and a teaspoon or two of salt. Road salt for best effectiveness.

3. Buy a commercial de-icing spray.

Use any of the above sparingly, just enough to get the ice melting. Then lightly chip away the ice and brush it away. Excessive amounts of the spray can cause damage to your car windshield, paint, or surfaces where the ice and melt land (e.g., dormant plants) from the salt or chemicals.

Waterwise Wednesday: 100% Infiltration

“The thing that truly surprised me the most was that every salp, regardless of year collected, species, life stage, or part of the ocean collected, had plastic in its stomach,” says biological oceanographer Jennifer Brandon.

Salps are small transparent sea creatures that feed constantly on nanophyto- or microzooplankton while swimming in all of the worlds seas and oceans. The microplastics they ingest are as small as 10 micrometers, smaller than the width of a human hair. The 100% ingestion rate is alarming since salp digest their food in two to seven hours.

Brandon warns, mini-microplastics in the salp could make their way into the human body through the seafood we enjoy that eat salp. More than one-third of mini-microplastics found were synthetic fabric fibers from polyester or nylon. Car tires were the second-leading source, which release plastic particles as they erode.

Good to know…

Waterwise Wednesday: Change Your Life Challenge 2020

Looking for ways to save water, energy, money and waste less?

Take a peek at the Change Your Life Challenge 2020 (CYCL 2020) based here in the Nebraska Panhandle.

It’s a year long facebook-based community group exploring a different theme each month with weekly challenges to help transform living habits to be more sustainable, environmentally friendly, energy efficient, or a combination thereof. Several local businesses and entities have partnered in an effort to connect residents with helpful resources and information to become more efficient stewards of resources.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/489003041692075/

Waterwise Wednesday: Merry Christmas

Robert Tiso playing on crystal goblets with water for your Christmas enjoyment. To listen click:Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy (2008)

Want to try it yourself? Here’s a brief tutorial:
https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/food-facts/question603.htm

Merry Christmas!

Waterwise Wednesday: Wasted Energy Equals Wasted Water

The average US person’s water footprint for power production in the US averages to 39 gallons per person per day on according to WaterFootprint.org. And nearly 25% of all residential power consumed stems from idle appliances and devices.

Save water and energy:

– Unplug phone chargers, laptop charges, and game consoles when not in use.

– Shut down computers at the end of the day

– Flip off power strips when done with the devices

– Use power strips or smart strips to cluster multiple devices onto one switch. (e.g., computer, printer, and router or TV and video game console)

– Unplug the coffee maker, washer, dryer, or microwave if not using. Digital displays require a constant draw of power.

Nebraska H2O Cooperative

Waterwise Wednesday: Caring for Snow

Urban snowmelt runoff carries diverse pollutants, like gas combustion products, snowmelting agents, and automotive exhaust, which threaten the quality of the receiving waters, like the North Platte River.

Pollutants can affect water quality faster two ways in winter. First, snow collects contaminants and releases them in concentrated form during melts. Second, the partially frozen state of rivers lessen the ability for self-purification.

Keeping walks and driveways clear, using snowmelt “sparingly and caringly”, and driving only when necessary are good winter water quality measures.

As much as 75 percent of water supplies in some western states are derived from snowmelt, according to the United States Geological Service (USGS). The Nebraska Panhandle relies heavily on snowmelt for our water supply – so taking care of our snow means taking care of our water.