Tell the EPA: Don’t Delay to Protect Clean Water!

Show your support for the EPA’s efforts to better manage polluted runoff, a major source of pollution to our rivers and streams across the country! Ask your representatives to tell the EPA not to delay in issuing a rule to update its stormwater programs to better protect clean water.

Show Your Support for Updating Stormwater Programs to Protect Clean Water

A recent report released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows that approximately 55% of our rivers and streams are in poor biological condition. Polluted runoff is identified as one of the major sources of pollution to our rivers and streams.

What is the EPA Doing?

In 2009, the EPA announced its intention to update and modernize its existing programs to better manage urban runoff and protect clean water.  The Agency is considering requiring that developers use techniques to control runoff before it flows off-site. This simple step may drive the use of green infrastructure practices such as green roofs and rain gardens. Additionally, they are considering requiring existing sources of urban runoff and sources in critical watersheds to reduce their impact.

Unfortunately, the EPA continues to delay in issuing a new rule, so untreated pollution continues to run into our rivers.

What Can You Do to Help?

The EPA needs to act.  We need you to show your support for the EPA’s efforts to strengthen its stormwater programs and better protect our rivers and streams. Send a letter to your Member of Congress expressing concern over EPA’s delays and ask them to put pressure on the EPA to move forward on these critical updates to protect clean water and public health.

Sample Letter

Dear Representative:

As a supporter of Waterkeeper Alliance and clean water, I am writing to express my concern over the Environmental Protection Agency’s delay in proposing a national rule to update its stormwater programs to better protect clean water. This marks the sixth time that the Agency has passed a deadline to propose critical updates to our nation’s stormwater runoff programs.

Polluted runoff is one of the major sources of pollution to our rivers, streams, lakes, and bays. When rainwater hits hard surfaces such as roads and rooftops, it can’t soak into the ground. Instead, it flows along the surface and picks up pollutants like heavy metals and chemicals before eventually flowing into local waters. As our communities continue to grow, our ability to manage the resulting polluted runoff has not kept pace.

We can do better. Updating federal standards to capture and treat rainwater where it falls will keep pollution out of lakes, rivers, and streams and reduce localized flooding in a proven, cost-effective way. The EPA has the opportunity to protect clean water across the country from the Chesapeake Bay to the Puget Sound by updating its programs to capture and filter rainfall, minimize pollution from new or redevelopment, and address runoff from existing sources.

I’m very concerned about the problem of polluted runoff and its impact on clean water and the health and safety of my community. A fair and effective nationwide rule will help mitigate the economic, health, and environmental costs imposed on taxpayers and businesses by unregulated runoff. In fact, FEMA estimates that up to 25 percent of economic losses occur as a result of flooding exacerbated by urban runoff. 

Please urge the EPA to move forward on these critical updates to protect clean water.

ALERT – Senate Floor Debate on:

Senate Substitute for HB 2118 to repeal the Threatened and Endangered Species Act  in Kansas law, will be heard today or Wednesday on the Senate floor.

Information about Kansas Threatened and Endangered Species Act

Senate Substitute for HB 2014, repealing the Renewable Energy Standards or Renewable Portofolio Standards will also likely be heard on the Senate floor today.

Also watch for Senate Bill 323, this bill would destroy conservation easements by prohibiting perpetual easements and requiring that easements terminate when the landowner dies.

Contact your legislators if you have concerns about these bills!

House Directory

Senate Directory

To identify your legistators

Nurturing Our Planet ….     Mind, Body, Spirit

Join the Kansas City Yoga Community and meditation teacher and passionate environmentalist Sami Aaron for one of these special 2-hour donation-based workshops celebrating Earth Day 2014!

While Friends of the Kaw is not one of the chosen beneficiaries – many studios did choose a cause that benefits water!

Upcoming Activities

FOK Program for Keenagers
Monday, April 7 at noon
Asbury Methodist, 5400 W 75th St, Prairie Village, KS

FOK Program for Susanna Wesley Methodist Church
Tuesday, April 8 at noon
7433 Sw 29th St, Topeka, KS 66614

Reading and book signing: Along the Kaw by author Craig Thompson
Thursday, April 10 at 7pm
Raven Book Store
8 E 7th St, Lawrence, KS 66044

Eat Local and Organic Expo
Saturday, April 12, 2014 from 9:30 to 2:30
Penn Valley Community College Gym
3201 SW Trafficway, KC MO

Time to start planning your Kaw River Float Trip!

Friends of the Kaw sponsors both private and public educational float trips from April through October. We are focusing our efforts on scheduling private groups of 16 to 24 people. The advantage of organizing a group trip is that you pick the date, time and river segment you wish to float and we bring the boats and host an educational “sand bar” seminar followed by a hot dog & marshmallow roast. There are now over 20 access ramps on the Kaw so there are many opportunities for float trips between 5 and 14 miles. If you have questions or would like to inquire about a private float visit our “contact us”  page.

Once we schedule a group float trip, we open registration to the general public  two weeks before the scheduled date.  You need to check with the Kansas Riverkeeper to see if there are available canoes or kayaks for that trip, and to register. Friends of the Kaw estimates it takes about 1 hour to paddle 3 miles.  Novice paddlers should not attempt to paddle more that 10 miles in one day.

If you are not interested in organizing a group float trip, check out these options to get out on the Kaw:

Kaw Valley Canoe Rental – new in Topeka!

Up a Creek – in Lawrence

Mud Kat Kayaking – in Manhattan

For other business that rent canoes and/or kayaks check out the bottom of FOK Float Trips page.

Kansas River Water Trail in the News:

• Check out page 26 of the Kansas Outdoors 2014 Official Guide.
• The Kansas Magazine also did a 3 page article on the Kansas River Water Trail.  You can subscribe to this magazine or pick it up locally.
• Check out the Kansas River Water Trail at TravelKS.com!

Upcoming Activities

Healthy Yards Expo
Saturday, March 29 from 9 to 2
Shawnee Civic Centre
13817 Johnson Drive, Shawnee, KS

Come to a hearing on Senate Bill 300 (to raise the fees companies pay for sand dredged out of the Kaw) – January 30, 8:30am in Room 159-S at the state capitol.

Since our inception in the early 1990’s, Friends of the Kaw has advocated that in-river sand and gravel operations move out of the river and on to appropriate land sites (pit mines) due to (a) irreparable harm done to the river’s channel, banks and ecosystem; (b) degradation of our drinking water quality; and (c) degradation to infrastructure such as public water intake supply systems and bridge structures.  This year we worked with Senator Marci Francisco to introduce a legislative bill to raise the fees that in-river dredging companies pay the state of Kansas from .15/ton to .30/ton.  Raising the fees for in-river dredging companies will be another incentive for these companies to move their operations from the river to pit mines in the Kansas River valley (see Lawrence Journal World article.) The hearing will be held for the Senate’s Natural Resource Committee on Thursday, January 30 at 8:30am in room 159-S at the state capitol in Topeka.

Pit mines are more expensive to locate because companies have to buy or lease the land that the pits are located on and these companies also have to go through a sometimes contentious local process to permit the pit mine operation. We consider the in-river dredging fees as a lease payment to the state of Kansas as the riverbed is public property. The current rate of .15/ton a is bargain for the in-river dredging companies.  Friends of the Kaw has been told that if in-river companies paid at a minimum a fee of .50/ton for sand dredged out of the Kansas River that it would be comparable to the cost of leasing or purchasing land for pit mines.  Doubling the fee to .30/ton, while not totally equalizing the difference in cost, would be an incentive for companies to move to pit mines and halt damage to the river’s bed, banks, habitat, and infrastructure. The Kansas River supplies drinking water to over 800,000 people and it is in the state’s best interest to protect the river from further degradation caused by in-river dredging.  The state of Kansas should not be subsidizing companies that harm the river when better alternatives (pit mines) exist.

The Kansas River has been commercially mined (dredged) for sand and gravel since the early 1900’s.  Past dredging activities are documented to have caused significant damage to riverbed, habitat, infrastructure and water quality.  The river through Topeka and between Lawrence and Kansas City have been dredged for many years and show significant impacts when compared to sections of the river that have never been dredged.  Weirs costing millions of dollars have been constructed to protect public drinking water intakes for both Topeka and WaterOne of Johnson County due to degradation of the river bed.  The Kaw power plant owned by Kansas City Board of Public Utilities has been put in cold storage because water intakes can only be used in high water events.

Message from the Kansas Riverkeeper

Dear  Friends,

In May of 2013, the Corps of Engineers (COE) closed four dredging permits between Lawrence and Eudora because of unacceptable erosion to the bed of the Kaw. Also, the COE has still not made a decision on the two-year-old proposal to approve or deny thirteen in-river sand dredging permits most with higher tonnage limits and lengthened stretches.  We’ll let you know when comments need to be submitted on a new Environmental Assessment (EA) on Kansas River Commercial Sand and Gravel Dredging.  Commercial sand and gravel dredging have seriously degraded the Kansas River and all operations should move to appropriately sited pit mines in the Kansas River valley.

On a more positive note, the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism with the assistance of the National Park Service and Friends of the Kaw have continued to improve the Kansas River Water Trail, the second river designated into the National Water Trail System.  Look for the new Kansas River Trail Map at Kansas Visitor Centers (or we’ll be happy to send you one) and notice the new highway signs to many of the access ramps.

On September 26, 2013 over 100 people attended the Governor Brownback’s float from Wamego to Belvue.  The Belvue access ramp was dedicated after the float.  A new access ramp at the Maple Hill Bridge will hopefully be built in 2014.

Please send your tax-deductible gift today either by mail (FOK, P.O. Box 1612, Lawrence, KS 66044) or PayPal (link on right) to help us get these dredging operations out of the river. Over 800,000 Kansans depend on the Kaw for their drinking water, and the river is home to many native animals and plants.

Thank you for your continued support of Friends of the Kaw. Together we are protecting the Kaw for this and future generations.

Warm regards!

Laura Calwell, Kansas Riverkeeper

P.S. Your gift to Friends of the Kaw helps us keep dredging out of the river, report and follow up on pollution violations, advocate for reduction of stormwater pollution from both urban and rural areas, and demand enforcement of the Clean Water Act. Thank you!

2013 FOK ACCOMPLISHMENTS

POLICY & ENFORCEMENT
Friends of the Kaw’s first priority is to physically monitor the river, report suspected pollution and mediate a solution.
Dredging

• Documentation and monitoring of sand dredging operations by visually monitoring dredge sites and communicating with the Corps of Engineers (COE) on two year old proposal to approve or deny 13 in-river dredging permits.

Pollution & Policy

• Responded to twelve pollution reports including concrete dumping, sewage & oil spills in KCK; trash & medical waste dumping in Topeka; questionable irrigation practices; fish kill in Wamego and foam and algae in Lawrence.
• Publicized sewage spill and problem with Combined Sewage Overflows (CSOs) in KCK & KCMO in May of 2013.
• Worked with the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation and the Middle Kansas WRAPS to promote agricultural Best Management Practices (BMPs) on Soldier Creek.  Stakeholder groups of area farmers, ranchers and governmental agencies worked to set objectives and plan, promote and deliver workshops on BMPs including cover crops, tillage practices, and cedar tree revetments to stabilize banks from erosion
• Kansas Riverkeeper is a member of the Governor’s River Recreation Committee charged with promoting the Kansas River National Water Trail and the Kansas Lower Republican Basin Advisory Committee representing recreation.

RIVER ACCESS AND OUTREACH
Our goal is to increase awareness of the Kaw as a drinking water source for 800,000 Kansans and access to the river.

• Organized and led fifteen educational float trips introducing over 400 people to the beauty of the Kaw.
• Constructed signage to highlight wetlands, and ways to curb stormwater pollution at RiverFest Park in De Soto.
• Worked with the Kansas Department of Parks, Wildlife and Tourism and the National Park Service on promotion of the Kansas River Water Trail, to organize Governor’s Float from Wamego to Belvue on September 26, 2013, publish a Kansas River Trail Map and locate directional signs installed on highways to Kansas River Access Ramps.
• Presented at over thirty educational outreach events at schools, outdoors shops, churches and community gatherings in the Kansas River valley, reaching over 7,500 people in the community.
• Completed the access ramp and riverfront park in Belvue, KS and finalized plans for the Rossville access ramp at the Maple Hill Bridge – this will be the 21st ramp built on the Kaw. Friends of the Kaw is very close to achieving one of our main objectives: to facilitate and access ramp every 10 miles on the Kansas River.
• Sponsored and participated in Concert for the Climate at Kaw Point featuring keynote speaker, Robert Kennedy, Jr.
• Fundraising Events: River City Cook Off, Shawnee and Lawrence Catfish Fries, Wild & Scenic Film Festival, and the Annual Dinner and Silent Auction.
• Redesigned KansasRiver.org and our stormwater page to be mobile compatible

Need a Holiday Gift Idea?

Consider “Along the Kaw”, a fabulous pictoral account of the Kaw from Junction City to Kansas City

“Along the Kaw” by Craig Thompson is a beautiful book that pairs photos of the Kaw with quotes from folks who paddle, camp and enjoy this prairie river. The book starts with georgeous pictures of the Kaw through the Flint Hills and continues with photos taken down the river to Kaw Point where the Kaw joins the Missouri River.  For more information, how to order and also contact the author click here!

 

This picture was taken by FOK member, Rich Ambler on a float between Eudora and De Soto on November 2, 2013.  Fall is a wonderful time to float the Kaw and witness the vivid colors of the leaves!

Friends of the Kaw would also like to thank all those that have attended and supported our fall fundraising events:

The Catfish Fry at Abe and Jakes on Friday, September 27 with a special thank you to Mike Logan, manager of Abe and Jakes, for organizing and promoting the event.  Also a big thank you to the corporate sponsors:  Bowersock Hydopower, Cromwell Solar, Westar Energy and O’Malley Beverage.

The Wild and Scenic Film Festival on Friday, October
12 at Liberty Hall with a special thank you to Mike Rawitch for organizing and promoting the event.
Thanks also to our sponsors: Stroke Technique for the Triathlete, Westar Energy – Green Team, Lawrence Hits Com, Kansas Sierra Club, Kansas Wildlife Federation, Ozark Wilderness Waterways Club, Kansas Canoe & Kayak Association, Coeman – the Outdoor Company and the Kansas City Paddler.

FOK’s Annual Dinner and Silent Auction on Tuesday, November 5 at Tortas Jalisco’s Restaurant in Lawrence.  A great taco buffett was enjoyed by all and we appreciate every one that donated auction items and also those that purchased the items.  Kristen Riott of Bridging the Gap gave a very interesting program on the state of water!