The Company I partner with has helped NonProfits reach their goals......If you are looking for ways to fund your project I have a way to do that.....

I clicked over to realneo shortly after reading through the H2O venture plan and offering my first 2 cents and got a whole new perspective on the water idea. It seems our librarian, Laura "Sherlock" McShane posted another perspective.So when I reread the opening text just now, it seemed to me we might need to rearrange the text this way:

"Water intelligence: Understanding stakeholder needs, leveraging practical knowledge of real-world conditions and user needs (especially in "areas of concern") to healthy populations."

You might notice that while I believe there is a business aspect involved, it seems that this news may present a reason to address a more clear and present danger:

Great Lakes Danger Zones
Source: The Center for Public Integrity

"For more than seven months, the nation’s top public health agency has blocked the publication of an exhaustive federal study of environmental hazards in the eight Great Lakes states, reportedly because it contains such potentially “alarming information” as evidence of elevated infant mortality and cancer rates.

The 400-plus-page study, Public Health Implications of Hazardous Substances in the Twenty-Six U.S. Great Lakes Areas of Concern, was undertaken by a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at the request of the International Joint Commission, an independent bilateral organization that advises the U.S. and Canadian governments on the use and quality of boundary waters between the two countries. The study was originally scheduled for release in July 2007 by the IJC and the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).

The Center for Public Integrity has obtained the study, which warns that more than nine million people who live in the more than two dozen “areas of concern”—including such major metropolitan areas as Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee—may face elevated health risks from being exposed to dioxin, PCBs, pesticides, lead, mercury, or six other hazardous pollutants."

If you click on Great Lakes Danger Zones and through to download excepts of the report, You can find Cuyahoga and Summit County's reports beginning on page 78 of chapter 3. Looks like we may need to begin to get serious about improving our water, soil and air quality yesterday considering the Great Lakes from the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth. Whatever we do to improve our water in the Great Lakes will affect the rest of the world.

"Changing the vicious cycle of water consumption and pollution will require disruptive change." I am thrilled to see that work in this area has been quietly underway. Now that it is out in the light of day and open for commentary, I offer my initial thoughts. The quote above struck me most in the study and I connect this idea to our region and its governmental policies, ordinances and practices. Soon Cleveland residents and businesses will see the change in some simple ordinances regarding roof water -- downspout disconnects. I spoke with Andrew Watterson last night who confirmed that the changes in the ordinances will pass in the next few weeks. Hallelujah! This is the tip of the iceberg. Changing building codes and fast tracking individual LEED projects and LEED ND efforts will improve water quality sooner. Basically there is plenty of "intelligence" out there that Cleveland and Northeast Ohio has failed to implement and before we can begin to preach to the world about water, we need to model the behavior.

James Carville, campaign strategist for Bill Clinton coined the phrase, "It's the economy stupid!". Here's my comeback. It's the infrastruture stupid!" We're gonna have to get with the green infrastructure ASAP. We're already well aware that tomorrow is too late. No?

Cuyahoga County could move, the numerous municipalities in NEO could move to implement existing technologies and practices that involve the citizenry in the process via education and strategic doing. I believe that everyone here wants to see the region rebound, and learning that water conservation is not just for the arid Southwest, but also can help here, that it's not just in sophisticated cities that one might visit a no flush toilet or waterless urinal, that porous asphalt/cement or pavers are a viable and smart alternative for driveways, sidewalks, roads... ah we could move ahead so much faster.

Yesterday I cleaned out the storm drains in a parking lot near my home to allow small ponds to enter the storm drains. What was holding up the drainage? Leaves and TRASH. We all have to become better stewards of our water resources and recognize our rivers, streams, brooks and lake as the most important asset we have in the region.

Now as relates to outside our backyard: last night I listened to a woman from Meigs County Ohio speak about the impact of the new AMP coal fired power plant that Cleveland Public Power will likely buy into. What does this have to do with water? A farmer, there after drilling happened for mining/sequestration activities near his farm, saw his well run dry instantly. Now he has to carry water in a truck to give his cows a drink. That’s no small inconvenience. So this is a “right now” way that our power needs can affect the water resources of a community far away; not to mention the air quality issues residents of Meigs County face. And I thought of all the particulates falling into the Ohio River and flowing along into the Mississippi River and down to the Gulf of Mexico and I thought about a renewable energy portfolio and how it is hung up in discussion.

I realize that these issues are not simple, but I also feel that Ohio lags behind in clean up and smart environmental issues. For the place that launched the Clean Water Act, coined the term brownfield, we should be miles ahead of where we are today. How can we "get busy"? What elected officials are on board with a clean fresh version of our region and which are not?

"Changing the vicious cycle of water consumption and pollution will require disruptive change." We’re gonna have to be ready to be disruptive. "Polite conservationists leave no mark save the scars upon the Earth that could have been prevented had they stood their ground." David Brower

On another lighter and relatively easy to launch note – recreation: we do need to begin to get out on the water more. Not everyone can have a boat. And let’s face it, the lake and the rivers here are not very inviting for wading in barefooted from the shoreline. What happened to the “ferry to Canada”? Who is already making money offering sailing charters from downtown? How can people in the region begin to more regularly appreciate this vast land to our north called Lake Erie? Recognizing the beauty of the region has much to do with being on the water. The calm that ensues from looking at the city from a quiet rocking boat on the lake under moonlight or starlight can mend many a deep-seated frustration, can reinvigorate us to return to the grind of making headway on the task of making Cleveland a green city on a blue lake. To become the water problem solver for the world, we will also have to use that old adage, “start where you are.” So let’s start clearing the desk of projects long overdue – start with restoring the long argued, forever languishing Doan Brook.