Coyote Gulch

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Scrap tires to filter water?

Science Blog: "Every year, the United State produces millions of scrap tires that clog landfills and become breeding areas for pests. Finding adequate uses for castoff tires is a continuing challenge and illegal dumping has become a serious problem throughout the nation. Dr. Yuefeng Xie, associate professor of environmental engineering at Penn State Harrisburg, has developed a method that uses crumb rubber to filter wastewater, which can help ease the tire problem and clean up the environment at the same time. 'My research has found that crumb rubber, derived from waste tires, can be used as a filter media,' Xie explains. 'The crumb rubber could be used for treating wastewater, ship ballast water, and storm water.'

"Crumb rubber is produced by chopping up and grinding up waste tires to a desired size, cleaning the rubber and removing any metal particles. It is currently being used in highway pavement, athletic track surfaces, playgrounds, landfill liners, compost bulking agents, various manufactured products, energy recovery and even as artificial reefs for aquatic life. For traditional wastewater filtration, gravity downflow granular filters using sand or anthracite as a medium are commonly used. One major problem with these filters is that upon backwashing the particles, the larger ones settle at a greater rate than the smaller. The Penn State researcher explains that this causes the top of the filter bed to hold the smallest medium particles and the bottom to hold the largest with the small medium particles or top layer of the filter tending to become clogged quickly. In his research, he has proved that crumb rubber is not a rigid material; instead it can be easily bent or compressed. Through the crumb rubber method, the larger solids are removed at the top layer of the filter and the smaller solids at a lower level, greatly minimizing the clogging problem. Several studies conducted by Xie show that the crumb rubber filter is much more cost effective than conventional sand or anthracite filters. Because of substantially higher water filtration rates and lighter weight in comparison to sand or anthracite, crumb rubber filters may also be used in a mobile treatment unit for disaster relief operations, he adds. Because the crumb rubber is compressible, the porosity of the particles is decreased which resembling an ideal filter medium configuration. It can then be used at higher filter rates while performing similarly to other media now in use. The crumb rubber media provide better effluent qualities and larger media allow longer filter runs at higher flow rates."
"colorado water"
9:30:12 AM

Immigration
ZDNet: "The Dept. of Homeland Security inspector general says that the high-tech 'virtual fence' on the Mexican border is likely to cost not $2 billion but as much as $30 billion, The Washington Post reports. The problem with the plan to deploy sensors, cameras and drones is likely to suffer runaway costs because the project doesn't have defined objectives and contracting staff is overstretched."
"2008 pres"
9:21:00 AM

Who's running for office in May?
Colorado Pols: "I thought maybe I would start a thread where we can talk about the various municipal offices being voted on in Denver in May. Denver puts their entire city up for re-election at the same time in non-partisan elections. Below are the 17 offices we vote on and news I have so far about who is running for them. I know there are a few more announced candidates out there, but I don't know their names yet. Please feel free to add anyone you know is running for something..."

More Coyote Gulch coverage of the May election here.
"denver 2007"
9:10:12 AM

? for U.S. Senate
Elevated Voices: "Now that the 2006 election is over (unless you're still counting votes in Denver), it's time to take a look at what to expect for 2008. It may seem ridiculously early to think about 2008, but running for a major political office is really a two year endeavor; former Republican gubernatorial candidates Marc Holtzman and Mike Coffman, for example, were already raising money for their respective campaigns at this time in 2004. For most ambitious politicians, the next election starts the day after the current election ends...

"The big race in 2008 will be for the U.S. Senate, a seat which is currently held by two-term incumbent Republican Wayne Allard. The direction this race takes in the next 12 months will have a domino effect on many other levels, but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet.

"The big question here is whether Allard will run for re-election. When he first ran for the senate, in 1996, Allard pledged to serve only two terms; if he keeps that pledge, he'll retire rather than run for re-election. But the election results from two weeks ago mean that Republicans can't afford to let their incumbent candidates walk away in 2008, so it's a good bet that Allard will give in to Republican pressure and run again.

"If Allard does not run for re-election, there will be a free-for-all in the Republican Party over who tries to succeed him. Expect Rep. Tom Tancredo (CD-6, Littleton) and former Rep. Scott McInnis (CD-3, Western Slope) to take a shot if Allard doesn't run (and Tancredo may even do it if Allard does run). Other names to watch include Attorney General John Suthers, incoming Secretary of State Mike Coffman, Gov. Bill Owens and former candidate Bob Schaffer. Suthers and Coffman would like to run, but the GOP can't afford to let them; if either won the U.S. Senate seat, incoming Gov. Bill Ritter would get to appoint a Democrat as their replacement.

"On the Democratic side, Rep. Mark Udall (CD-2, Boulder) has said that he will run in 2008, and the field is frozen until he says otherwise (Udall hasn't made a formal announcement about his candidacy, but he is expected to be the Democratic candidate). If Udall does not run, it's hard to list a potential field of Democratic candidates at this point; since everyone expects Udall to be the guy, there haven't been any rumored plans otherwise."
"denver 2008"
9:00:36 AM

Global orgasm: December 22nd
Many bloggers have pointed to GlobalOrgasm.org and their plans to change the energy field of the earth. They write, "The intent is that the participants concentrate any thoughts during and after orgasm on peace. The combination of high-energy orgasmic energy combined with mindful intention may have a much greater effect than previous mass meditations and prayers." Coyote Gulch thinks that it can't hurt.
"2008 pres"
8:37:08 AM

Chimney Hollow reservoir?

Western slope officials are balking at the size of a newly proposed Chimney Hollow reservoir, according to the Longmont Times-Call. From the article, "Plans that would help the city store up more water for use in dry years are being challenged by a West Slope organization that says the project is far larger than what it agreed to. Longmont is one of the players - along with the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District and a handful of cities that includes Erie and Loveland - behind plans to build a $220 million reservoir near Carter Lake to store Windy Gap water rights diverted from the Colorado River. Some of that water now runs downstream in wet years because there's nowhere to store it. The proposed Chimney Hollow reservoir between Loveland and Longmont is an integral part of plans to ensure the northern Front Range has sufficient water for all the development public officials are permitting, officials say. However, the Colorado River Water Conservation District has asked the state engineer to rule that the proposed 90,000-acre-foot reservoir is too different from the original 11,000-acre-foot reservoir. Chris Treese, Colorado River Water Conservation District spokesman, said the larger reservoir was not part of the original agreements made between the districts in 1980 and 1985...

"Although the Glenwood Springs-based water district does not plan to sue the Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District over the matter, Treese said his district believes the change requires a new Water Court decree. Officials with the NCWCD say they have met all the terms of the agreement, including several measures that benefit the Western Slope. 'It's not going to adversely impact the West Slope,' NCWCD manager Eric Wilkinson said. 'Our participants and board are somewhat disappointed and puzzled that the river district doesn't want to honor the agreements in place.' State engineer Hal Simpson said he is reviewing the issue and expects to reach a decision by mid-December. The federal Bureau of Reclamation asked Simpson to review the project."
"colorado water"
8:20:03 AM

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