Terry Gibb - WKTV Journal

By Terry Gibb, Michigan State University Extension

Water makes up 75 percent of the Earth’s surface; the human body is 60 percent water. We use water every day. And then we discard it down the drain to . . . WHERE?

According to the Michigan 21^st Infrastructure report, 70 percent of Michigan homes and businesses are connected to a municipal sewer system that collects the dirty water in huge underground pipes, takes it to a treatment plant where it is cleaned, filtered and sanitized before being sent back into local water bodies for reuse.

That leaves 30 percent of homes and businesses that use another system for waste water treatment. For these, onsite wastewater (septic) systems are the only option because a municipal sewer system is too costly to connect to or not available.

What do you know about your waste water treatment?

Are you on a septic or municipal system?
Where is your septic tank and drain field located?
When was the last time you had your septic system inspected?
Do you have a drinking water well?
Is your well near your septic system?
What are some easy actions to protect your septic system from failure and your wellhead from contamination?

Many home and business owners don’t realize there is a problem with their septic system or well until it becomes a major one. A failed system can cost the owner thousands of dollars to repair, if it is even possible, or replace.

Michigan State University Extension is hosting a live webinar, “Septic (Onsite Wastewater) System Maintenance and Wellhead Protection” on Thursday, Sept. 20 from 3 to 4 p.m. This program will cover what a septic system is, how it works, best management practices to protect the system, how to identify trouble in the system, steps to take if a problem occurs and alternative system options. It also will include basic information about drinking water wellhead protection. The presentations will be followed by a live question and answer session via the chat box.

To join this FREE webinar, you must pre-register.

You will receive a confirmation email with login instructions upon registration. Registration is available right up until the webinar begins but please allow additional time to connect to the webinar.

For more information on managing waste, special considerations for planting over a septic system drainfield, the safety of flushable wipes on a septic system, managing systems in sensitive shoreline areas, and alternatives to conventional septic systems, a number of MSU Extension news articles are available concerning these topics or visit the MSUE Septic System Education webpage.

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension. For more information, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu. To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu/newsletters. To contact an expert in your area, visit http://expert.msue.msu.edu, or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

By Terry Gibb, Michigan State University Extension

Two major energy producers in Michigan would accelerate plans to increase their renewable portfolios. This action was in exchange for the dropping of a ballot initiative to increase the state’s renewable energy increase mandate. The 2018 ballot initiative, if adopted by voters in November, would incrementally increase state standards from 18 percent by 2022 to 30 percent by 2030. The current 2016 state law outlines a goal of 15 percent renewable energy generation by 2021.

DTE and Consumers Energy have agreed to work toward a 50 percent clean energy goal by 2030. This will be accomplished through a combination of 25 percent renewable energy and 25 percent in energy efficiency.

This agreement will be included to each company’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) that must be filed with the state’s Public Service Commission (PSC) which oversees these companies. An IRP is a long-term plan outlining a utility’s resource needs to meet future energy demand. Currently, 33 states require utilities to file IRPs with their state PSC.

Renewable energy generated from natural processes, such as wind, sunlight and water, will be used to obtain the 25 percent in the agreement. These sources will never be depleted unlike coal, oil or gas which are finite resources. Besides being unlimited, renewable energy sources also are clean sources because they don’t release carbon pollution in the atmosphere when burned to create energy. The primary alternative energy sources typically considered are:

Solar energy, available for many years, uses solar panels to change the sun’s energy into electricity or heat that can be used for energy.
Wind energy, formed by the earth’s rotation, captures air currents and turns it into electricity through wind turbines.
Geothermal energy, while not as common as solar or wind, has significant potential as an energy source. Geothermal (“Geo” means earth and “thermal” means heat) heat energy is generated from the Earth’s constant underground temperature using water reservoirs.
Hydropower is created either by moving water (water current in a river) or water’s change in elevation or fall from one level to another (waterfalls).

While this agreement will decrease pollution in our air and water, there are tradeoffs. It takes significantly more of a renewable energy to generate the same amount of power compared to the non-renewable sources of gas, oil or coal. There are still some environmental impacts from renewable energy and, in some cases, the lifespan of the renewable system can be shorter so requires replacement sooner than convention energy generation sources. Some areas have issued moratoriums on additional renewable sources, such as wind, due to issues of sound, flickering, land use and viewscapes.

For more information about renewable energy sources and how they work, see Renewable energy initiative update – Part 2.