Young writers recognized by wheat growers

During the Adams County Conservation District Wheat Growers meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 31, nine students received awards for their soil essays. The sixth grade students from Lind, Ritzville and Washtucna all entered essays into the competition.

The students wrote essays about non-point source pollution, the dangers and how it can be prevented. The top three essays from each school won awards, and then three essays won the over-all competition awards.

Laurel Hayes won first place for the Lind sixth grade class. Her classmates, Jack Anderson and Emily Rosen, won second and third place for the class.

For the Ritzville sixth grade class, Emma Aldrich won first place, Peyton Curtis won second place and Tessa O’Brien rounded out the winners with third place.

Amy Ramos received first place for the Washtucna sixth grade class. Nia Calaway won second place and Jazzmyn Gordan finished third place.

The Washtucna trio swept the over-all competition, with Ramos winning first place, Calaway receiving a second place finish and Gordan winning the third place. The three girls then presented their essays to the audience.

Non-Point Source Pollution: What is it and how can we help reduce its affects?

By Jazzmyn Gordon, Washtucna, third place overall

In Adams County, we struggle with non-point source pollution; defined as both water and air pollution from unknown locations instead of one specific source. Water use, garbage, dumps, landfills, chemicals, and car exhaust are examples of non-point source pollution.

There are several ways water can be wasted without you the user knowing, but there are ways to prevent this waste. You can save water by taking shorter showers and only washing clothes and dishes when you have full loads. Throwing any kind of garbage into any water source is pollution. Not only does it pollute the water but that polluted water can become nonuse able and even cause animal death. So be sure to throw away garbage to the proper receptacles. Other options to prevent water pollution is to turn the water off while brushing your teeth, sweep your drive way instead of hosing it down, use non-toxic cleaning products, and don’t clean paint brushes in a sink not only because of paint getting into the water but because of paint fumes. These simple tips can help prevent non-point source pollution.

When people pollute the 3% of Earth’s available drinking water, it compromises everyone’s water in the world. In Adams County there is only 2.2% drinkable water. It would only take a small amount to contaminate our aquifers.

Agricultural practices can also contribute to non-point source pollution. Ag producers use pesticides and chemicals that can seep into the soil and eventually gets into our groundwater and food supply if not used appropriately. Some producers do this regularly, so it becomes a non-point source pollutant as it leaches from field to field area. If you are a farmer or homeowner and use pesticides and insect sprays make sure you read the directions and follow the directions carefully.

Every single day millions of chemicals and harmful pollutants are released into our environment. There is evidence that’s Parkinson’s disease can be linked to non-point source pollution. Parkinson’s disease is generated through lead and mercury. It damages a developing brain. Soon to be mothers and young children have to stay away from lead and mercury that can get into the nervous system and cause damage. So be careful of what chemicals you use, water use, and littering. Horrible things can happen when you litter.

Adams County may have some non-point source pollution occurring but ag producers who are mindful of their air, soil, and water sources work hard to prevent any leaching of pollution into their environment. With everyone working to protect our natural resources such as water, air, and soil, non-point source pollution can be reduced and possibly eliminated.

By Nia Calaway, Washtucna, second place overall

Non-Point Source pollution results from a wide variety of human activities originating on land. Each of us can contribute to the problem without even realizing it.

I believe pollution is bad for the Earth in many ways. One pollutant that may harm the environment is chemicals. Chemicals can kill ecosystems, and the ground you used that chemical upon. People fertilize the grass if they use too much it could off into the water table. When people bug bomb their house, the chemicals kill the insects you wanted to kill but it might have killed the insects that are helpful. All of the poison from the bug bomb goes into the air that we breathe.

The chemicals used daily are pesticides or herbicides. All chemicals can pollute the Earth if not used properly. To prevent Non-Point Source pollution while dealing with chemicals, read the directions. Herbicides are known as weed killers. Some of the sprays act by interfering with the growth of the weed and are often synthetic “imitation” plant hormones. These hormones can cause excessive growth which destroys the plant. Herbicides are used to clear waste lands. They are non selective and kill all plant material with which they come into contact. I think if people use too much herbicide, it could kill not just weeds but other plants that are important for wildlife habitats. Herbicides that are misused can cause non-point source pollution because too much can carry into other farmer’s fields and destroy their vegetation as well.

Another possibility for non-point source pollution is contamination into water. Millions of gallons of water are wasted everyday and there’s no reason for it other than carelessness. Water pollution is the contamination of water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans, and ground waters. Non-point source water pollution occurs when pollutants are discharged indirectly into water bodies without adequate treatment to remove harmful compounds. Non-point source water pollution is very common and can be caused by what people do everyday. Just little things daily could help the Earth so much. For example, while brushing your teeth you waste 2-5 gallons of water, if you let the water run, taking a shower or bath is around 17-24 gallons of water down the drain. To prevent non-point source water pollution people could turn off the sink water while brushing your teeth and reduce 30minute showers to 5minute showers.

I think non-point source pollution is wasteful and harmful. People should be more conservation minded and concerned about the sources of pollutants. What you do may not affect you right now, but it may affect your neighbors, your community and even future generations.

By Amy Ramos, Washtucna, first place overall

Non-point source pollution is described as water and air pollution from a variety of locations instead of coming from one single source. It may come from 100 miles away, because the wind could blow it to other cities or towns along their path. An example of wind pollution is that sometimes a farmer plows and the wind blows, then the wind picks up the soil particles that contain fertilizer chemicals. As the wind continues to blow, the chemicals spread. They may land on people’s yards and on their roofs. We can also breathe those chemical particles from the fertilizer and become sick. It is unhealthy. We can help reduce wind erosion by encouraging farmers to leave straw on top of their fields so which keep the soil in place. They can also irrigate the soil which presents it from blowing and eroding. People can go indoors when the wind blows. Non-point source air pollution can happen when you burn substances such as fuel or outdoor burning.

Water pollution can happen when chemicals get into drinking water or underground water. If it rains, the runoff continues to flow. It can pick up fertilizer and other chemicals on the ground. When the runoff makes it to the lake or river, it carries all the chemicals into that water system. This is detrimental because animals that depend on the river for food and water can get sick and possibly die. The ecosystem can become unbalanced if some animals die such as fish or insects, Even frogs can compromise the food chain. This is non-point source pollution because no one can find where the water pollution may have started. It could have started from 30 miles, 50 miles or even 100 miles away. Maybe even more!

Sometimes runoff can be normal such as a spring thaw and sometimes harmful when filled with litter and pollution. People can drop a bag of trash in water such as a lake or river. That bag of trash could float away ending up in a lake/ pond or in the ocean. When the bag of trash ends up down stream, the animals could eat the garbage and possible choke to death. Some factories could throw toxic waste into the river and the toxic waste could flow into underground rivers and end up in a lake a long way from the factory. This again is an example of non-point source pollution.

To help reduce water non-point source pollution always, put your trash in the right place. Clean and wash your car on the lawn instead of the road. Wash oil off sidewalks but don’t rinse it into the street water drain. Put rain gutters where there is only lawn so when it rains if there are chemicals they can fall into the soil; buy a toilet that wastes less water. Make sure your oil or gas tanks don’t leak.

Water pollution happens when a chemical or trash ends up in underground rivers, lakes, ponds, ocean, and streams. Then the chemical or trash will hurt the ecosystem by killing animals and plants that are needed to balance the ecosystem. Sometimes chemicals end up in wells and drinking water because they rush into our gutters or water drains. Waste from washing and cleaning could also end up in a gutter. Cars could leak oil and leave it in a road. The entire sources of these pollutants are always very mysterious because you don’t know where they originated. It could have come from many miles away so it’s important to be careful what we do.

By Laurel Hayes, Lind, first place in class

The term Nonpoint Source Pollution is an odd subject most people rarely hear about. Coincidently, this leads to unhealthy habits which are harmful towards the water we drink and bodies of water as well. The first step in proceeding to help this prevention would obviously lead to understanding the full definition of what NPS pollution is and what causes it.

According to the Environmental Protection agency, “nonpoint source water pollution affects a water body from sources such as polluted runoff from agricultural areas draining a into a river, or wind-borne debris blowing out to sea” (EPA 2). NPS pollution is caused by snowmelt or rainfall maneuvering throughout the soil. As the overflow travels, it gathers and carries away the natural and human-made pollutants, finalizing the deposits into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and even our underground bases of drinking water. These are only a few of the harmful examples that NPS pollution.

The prevention of NPS pollution is as easy as purchasing household cleaners and detergents low in phosphorous and specifically designed to help reduce the amount of nutrients discharged into coastal waters, streams, and lakes. A great way to help prevent NPS pollution is as simple as maintaining certain hygienic instructions that the United States EPA have carefully researched. Such as, applying lawn and garden chemicals according to instructions, and keeping leaves and debris out of gutters and storm drains. Sanitary tasks such as, cleaning up spilled brake fluid, oil, grease, and antifreeze correctly are other helpful ways to prevent pollution; paying close attention not to hose them into the street where they consequently reach local streams and lakes.

Nonpoint source pollution can be reduced and prevented in the future by taking that first step and researching the facts that cause it. Each individual can step-up and play an important role to help. Practicing proper conservation of harmful materials, changing those unhelpful everyday habits and maintaining necessary sanitary responsibilities.

By Emma Aldrich, Ritzville, first place in class

Non-point source pollution is defined as pollutants that cannon be traced to a specific spot of origin. Non-point source pollution is everywhere: cars’ exhaust fumes that thicken the atmosphere; people over fertilizing landscapes and crops, poisoning our groundwater; even antifreeze or oil spilling down the storm drains. A major problem of non-point source pollution is agriculture. Agriculture has many negative effects on the environment, and because there are so many crops throughout the nation, pollutants like nitrogen, phosphorus, soil particles, metals, and pathogens have become exceedingly dangerous. If human kind does not make an effort to reverse or resolve non-point source pollution’s negative effects, the results could be catastrophic.

Non-point source pollution is the number on cause of poor water quality in the United States, and it is no surprise. When people over fertilize their lawns or crops, the excess nutrients don’t really go away, nor do they get absorbed by the soil. Instead, they are deposited into groundwater, rivers, streams or lakes. This is a problem because nutrients and fertilizer over stimulates the growth of algae and aquatic weeds. In a domino effect, this makes less oxygen and room available for underwater life. Non-point source air pollution also causes many problems for humans, including diseases like tuberculosis, bronchitis, and asthma, while damaging to the Earth’s atmosphere.

Considering how dangerous non-point source pollution is, it’s critical that humans fulfill our role as the intelligent force on Earth and protect our planet from its negative effects of non-point source pollution. To do this, we can monitor the amount of fertilizer we use on our landscapes. Fertilizer causes several problems, it is important that users understand how much is too much. Also, we can limit the amount of time that we use our cars and use alternate modes of transportation instead. This prevents carbon dioxide from being released in the exhaust and thickening our atmosphere. No exceptions, no exclusions or excuses, we can all do our part to help.

To conclude, non-point source pollution is a very serious and dangerous problem that human kind urgently needs to find the solution to. Together, we can resolve non-point source pollution’s negative effects, before our actions catch up with us. Pollution is a domino effect that never stops, and never goes away. Saving our planet from disaster is worth your time. So let’s mend what we have broken, and stop non-point source pollution.