Each second I type, I am convinced I will lose power once again as yet another storm rages on outside the windows. It is complete white-out out there right now. We've lost power once, for about 25 hours, and I'm sure we're set to lose it again.
In the meantime, I'm catching up on emails and work-related reading, and I came across this really dramatic photo, posted on the Bay Daily blog by Tom Pelton. Pelton's articles are always worth reading, and this entry is no exception. On February 2 he posted a dramatic picture of the pollution which has entered the bay recently.
As we struggle over six foot high snow drifts to reach the grocery store in the storm emergency here in DC this week, its easy to to forget that the excess of rain and snow we get each winter causes excessive run-off to the creeks. Life has become one long string of days where we decide which section of the sidewalk to shovel next, and complain about the lack of plowing on Montgomery County's streets. All our conversations with neighbors seem to focus on things like battery supplies, shoveling techniques, and wood piles. With Metro down, no one is headed to work.
(I think about stormwater pollution a lot, though, as I see what strange stuff people are putting out to keep the sidewalks passable. More about that a bit later in another posting, here, provided the power stays on.)
Meanwhile, as Pelton says, that aint chocolate, Wonka fans. "This is mud, fertilizers, and chemicals flushed by last week's heavy rains off of farm fields, construction sites, parking lots, and roads."
What a picture. Ugh.
Pelton makes reference to some important stormwater legislation which is currently under attack right now in Maryland. If my power holds, I'll try to post something about that, too!
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