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Single use plastic bags aren’t the environmental disaster that many claim, according to an Environment Agency report. The document, at first leaked to The Independent on Sunday, shows that plastic bags have less environmental effect than many so-called ‘green’ alternatives.
The 96-page document, entitled Life Cycle Assessment of Supermarket Carrier Bags, was finished more than a year ago but has only now been published after being leaked to the press.

The report’s authors, Dr Chris Edwards and Jonna Meyhoff Fry, found that a single plastic bag represents 1.57kg CO2, a figure that falls to 1.4kg if the bag is reused just once, around the same value as a paper alternative when used four times.

Most damning is the finding that multi-use cotton bags have to be reused at least 131 times to have less environmental impact than a so-called single use plastic carrier.

“The results of the leaked report don’t surprise us,” said Philip Law, public and industrial affairs director at the British Plastics Federation (BPF). “It isn’t just Defra which is saying this, it’s a whole host of independent third parties from as far away as Canada, the United States and Australia. Read the rest of this entry »

Why would you need a sump pump battery backup? Isn’t one enough? And, really, why do you need one at all?

If you are like many other families, your house may have a basement. Basements are great for storage, laundry rooms, and even family rooms. There is just one problem-basements, due to their being underground or partially underground, are prone to flooding. Many people have lost valuable items due to flooding and some have even lost their entire homes. There is a solution to this problem.

Sump pumps. Yes, sump pumps can provide an easy solution to a potential flood. Why should you bother with a sump pump? They are almost certainly a set-it-and-forget-it solution for your basement. You set one up and it does the work when it sense water in your basement. One problem with this though-what happens if the power goes out, or the sump pump fails? Then you’ll have a big flood! Unless you have planned ahead and have purchased a sump pump battery backup in addition to your primary.

A battery backup is a really nifty tool that anyone with flooding worries should get. Most will automatically turn on once the power has gone out, but many of them will turn on as soon as your primary has failed, this can be due to anything-a clog, a parts failure, or the power going off.

The best thing about a sump pump battery backup? The ability to sleep soundly at night knowing that you will always wake up to a dry basement. One of the worst horror stories you hear is from people who have gone traveling and come home to a flooded basement. Again, there is no cause to panic, because you will know that your basement is protected.

One other feature that comes on backups commonly is an alarm. This alarm serves several functions. One is that it will automatically go off when your primary pump fails, letting you know that the backup is doing its job. It will also go off when the battery begins to run low, giving you some time to go to the store and purchase a new one before this one dies.

If you own a home with a basement, it is essential you look into buying one of these. It serves your peace of mind and your home more that you would have ever thought possible.You will certainly rest easier!

Flood water is very damaging to your house and its components. Not surprisingly, if your HVAC unit gets flooded, it will probably cease to function. This can lead to very high repair costs that may not be covered under your insurance policy–especially if you don’t have a flood insurance policy. There are a few options to protect a HVAC unit from flood water. The initial cost spent could save you significant costs down the road.

Find information on historical floods in your area. If data is available, see how high water has risen in the past. This is a good benchmark to follow for future planning. You will want to keep all HVAC equipment above this level to keep it out of danger.

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Flood and drying carpet

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Urban and Landscape Sites
The best approach to managing flood stressed trees is to enhance tree vigor by proper tree maintenance and protection from additional stresses. Tree vigor can be enhanced by fertilizing with a low nitrogen fertilizer, aerating the soil, mulching, and watering if soil conditions become excessively dry. Dead or severely cankered branches should be removed. Prune only when bark surfaces are dry or during the dormant season.

Newly transplanted or mature, high value trees may need protection from leafspot diseases such as anthracnose and from insect defoliators and various sucking insects such as aphids or scales. It should be noted that leafspot diseases are not severe every year. Trees need protection during spring seasons that have frequent rainfall at budbreak and during leaf expansion. Refer to the enclosed USDA Forest Service brochure entitled, How To Identify and Control Dogwood Anthracnose, for more information. Although the above mentioned publication deals specifically with dogwood anthracnose, the cultural control recommendations are applicable for leafspot diseases of trees and shrubs in general. A fungicide not mentioned, thiophanate methyl, is labeled for control of anthracnose on shade trees and woody ornamentals. Several tradenames of fungicides that contain thiophante methyl include Cleary 3336, Topsin M, Domain, Fungo and Zyban.1 Fungicides should be used only to supplement a cultural control program. Read fungicide labels carefully to determine registered uses and application rates.

Forest Stands
Any harvest or salvage activities should create a minimum of damage to remaining or regenerating trees or disturbance to the site itself. Soil compaction, rutting, bark removal, and branch breakage can all act as additional stress on other trees in the stand.

Salvage activities such as “sanitation cuts” can be beneficial by removing breeding material of stem boring insects. (See Management Implications section for additional salvage considerations).

Insecticide use is rarely practical or ecologically sound in forested situations.

Hazard Evaluation of Flood Damaged Trees

As noted above, flooding results in some trees being stressed, physically damaged, and/or insect and disease infested. These trees possess defects that decrease their structural integrity, making them more prone to windthrow and structural failure. Defective trees located in high use areas such as yards, parks, or other recreational areas are hazardous and pose safety risks to people and property.

Mature, well-established trees are more tolerant of flooding than over mature trees or seedlings of the same species. If flooding is recurrent or uninterrupted and keeps soils saturated, serious damage to trees may occur.

Flooding during the growing season typically is more harmful to trees than flooding during dormant periods. Flood-stressed trees exhibit a wide range of symptoms including yellowing leaves, defoliation, reduced leaf size and shoot growth, crown dieback and sprouts along the stem or trunk. Symptoms may progress into tree decline and death, reoccur for several years and then eventually disappear, or subside by as early as next year indicating rapid tree recovery.

Flooding reduces the supply of oxygen to the soil and roots and usually results in growth inhibition and injury to flooded trees. Deposits of silt or sand as shallow as three inches can be injurious, especially to newly planted trees. Tree roots also must contend with high concentrations of toxic compounds that accumulate in waterlogged soils. Strong currents and soil particles suspended in flood waters can erode soil from around the base of trees exposing tree roots. Exposed roots are vulnerable to drying and mechanical injury and their occurrences may make trees more vulnerable to windthrow. Flood-stressed trees are prime candidates for attack by secondary organisms. Several opportunistic disease-causing fungi and insects invade trees that are weakened or stressed. Minimizing additional stress or injuries should be a priority on high value trees for one to three years after flooding to reduce the chance of attack by insects.

“The best approach to managing flood-stressed trees is to enhance their vigor by following proper tree-maintenance practices and eliminating additional stresses. Dead or severely cankered branches should be removed as soon as possible. Aerating the soil, mulching and watering during extended dry periods are recommended tree-care practices that can help enhance vigor, but they are not rescue treatments for severely injured trees. Trees developing substantial dieback and decline symptoms or those possessing defects that prone to windthrow and structural failure should be removed from the landscape immediately.
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Homeowners often complain of standing water in the yard, especially those who live at the base of a slope. Water runoff from a hillside can flood your lawn and cause you landscaping problems (not to mention drainage problems for your basement). Consult my articles for ideas on diverting water. Alternatively, learn about plants that can sop up excess moisture.

Many homeowners fear flooding. It can ruin yards and gardens and cause countless problems with staining and mold inside the home. Even those who don’t live in flood zones can have flooding problems during very heavy rains or when snow melts in the spring. A great thing to have is a sump pump in your basement, which will keep your house flood-free in all but the worst of conditions.
However, you can’t install a sump pump in your backyard. It is also fairly difficult to bail out a yard. A siphon is the easiest, fastest way to drain your yard. You can purchase water pumps that have siphons specially designed for yards, but they’re not necessary. You can create a siphon using items in your home.

Connect two or three garden hoses together. If you have a small backyard, this should be enough. For very large yards, use four to six hoses, but connect them in sections of two or three so you can siphon water from either side of the yard to remove it faster. Make sure the connections are good and the hoses have no leaks.

Find a place to direct the water. It should be within reach of your hose and in a place where the excess water will harm no one else. A street drain, nearby creek or pond, or a kids pool will all do fine. Toss one end of the hose into the center of the flood and the other into the receptacle to make sure the hose is long enough. Add another hose if necessary.

Coil the hose loosely together and let one end drop into the flooded area. Lower the rest of the hose into the water and hold it under until bubbles stop forming on the water’s surface. This means the hose is full of water. Place your thumb or palm over the end of the hose closest to you. Make sure the seal is tight so no water escapes.

Drag the end of the hose to the receptacle and get it as close to the receptacle as you can. Direct the end of the hose downward and remove your hand. Water should pour from the end of the hose. This will continue until the flood end of the hose runs out of water.

Watch to make sure the water continues to flow. If it runs out, check on the flood. If there is still water in your yard, repeat Steps 3 and 4 until all of the water is gone.

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Water pollution is a change of state in a pool of water such as lakes, rivers, oceans and groundwater caused by human activities.

Although natural phenomena such as volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, earthquakes is also considerable changes in water quality, this is not an impurity. Water pollution may be caused by many things and have different characteristics. Increase the amount of nutrients can cause eutrophication.

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