Gulf Oil Spill: What Can We Learn From It?

Information about the Gulf oil spill has inundated the news for weeks now. Efforts to stop the massive amounts of oil from polluting our oceans, coastlines and wetlands have been met with more challenges than solutions. Pictures of oil soaked pelicans, ravaged beaches, negative impacts to sea turtles, dolphins, and other mammals, in addition to economic impacts of fishing being halted, slowed tourism, and the impending costs of clean up are just some of the copious issues that are a direct outcome of this catastrophe.

There is a lot of time, work, and money that will be needed to clean up this current environmental crisis. But for me, the bigger question is “How do we prevent this from happening again?” There can be no doubt in anyone’s mind that prevention of such events as this would have been much cheaper than the costs we have seen to life, to the environment, and to the economy.

This is just one of the many potential environmental challenges that we may face in the years to come. What will happen if an oil pipeline across a major aquifer leaks? What about all the chemicals that we use every day? Will they end up in our water supply, kill species of animals, alter the circle of life?

We need to address these issues now before they become catastrophic accidents that leave us scrambling for answers. We are all in a position to make a difference, just by altering our own lifestyles and habits. In addition, we can pay attention to the potential risks in our communities and areas, become involved in the local decisions being made concerning our world, and most of all speak up and act upon behalf of our environment and our water resources. It’s been said before but bears repeating – We only have one Earth, one planet on which we can survive – we must be a part of protecting it for the future.

Share your thoughts on what needs to happen to prevent these types of environmental catastrophes in the future.

Traveling the state for Green Site program

During the month of May, I chartered a course to visit as many green sites as possible across the state to encourage them to become involved in our Groundwater Guardian Green Sites program. In my mind, a green site is a site that has highly-managed green space. I know that term can be open to interpretation but that gets the discussion going. We have green sites in the program that are golf courses, college campuses, city and state parks and the list goes on.


My trips started with a visit to the southeastern corner including Humboldt and then to a recent addition to the program, the Friend Country Club (bottom photo). It then led me up to northeast Nebraska including Norfolk, Madison, Columbus and moving over a bit to the middle including Atkinson, Ord and St. Paul. The big trip took me to the western part of the state last week including going through Kearney, Gothenburg and Bridgeport before visiting with people in Scottsbluff and then making my way back through Sidney and Overton.

Many of the visits I had were with people at the golf courses and it was great to hear many of the current practices that they have in place and the many things that are looking to do in the future in regards to both water and fertilizer usage.

Be sure to learn more about our Green Site program and how your green site can become involved in the program as well by clicking on this link: http://www.groundwater.org/gg/greensites.html

We recently added video testimonials from a couple of the top courses in the state, Wild Horse (top photo) and Bayside (second photo), who are both currently a part of the program. Click on this link to hear from them and others: http://www.groundwater.org/gg/greensites_testimonials.html

--Brian Reetz

Celebrating 25 years!

The Groundwater Foundation is celebrating their 25th anniversary this year, and will have special events throughout 2010 to mark the years of groundwater education and protection. On Monday, May 17, staff members, board members, and friends of the Foundation will gather for a celebratory dinner to honor the anniversary. A web page is currently in development which will recount milestones from the past 25 years, and the summer issue of The Aquifer will feature a “look back” at the evolution of the organization.



We hope you will join us in celebrating 25 years of educating people and inspiring action to ensure sustainable, clean groundwater for future generations. You can help ensure the Foundation goes on for another 25 years by becoming a member, involving your community in the Groundwater Guardian program, getting sites involved in the Groundwater Guardian Green Site program, and much more. Visit our website at http://www.groundwater.org/ for ideas and ways you can be a part of the next 25 years!

Water for Food

This weekend the 2nd annual Water for Food International conference opened. The challenge is a huge one, but luckily for all of us there are people who are motivated by the challenge and there are forward-thinking philanthropists who recognize the importance and the scope of this issue.

The conference will surely have a very positive feel to it – as it should. It opens just days after the 2nd largest gift to the University of Nebraska has been announced. The Daugherty Foundation has pledged $50 million towards the Water for Food Institute.

These ingredients, plus the extensive work that the state, the University, governmental and non-governmental agencies have done towards understanding and protecting our water resources in order to meet the needs of today and tomorrow, are bound to make for an exciting conference.

The challenges are great, but are they any greater than some of the difficulties that have been overcome in the past?

Let’s see what all the people gathering from different corners of the globe believe.

Share your thoughts – and look back for updates as the conference progresses.