Today, Mostly Water reached 50 subscribers. A short post today to thank all of you who are kind enough to read what I write here. Back in November last year, a writer friend moved her work to Substack. I came over to check it out and wound up moving my old blog posts here. Recently, I added in an occasional email newsletter for friends. Substack added a feature called Notes which allow you to post quick thoughts and respond to others’ notes. Soon I had fifty followers in seven countries and seven US states. If you’re interested in starting your … Continue reading A small milestone for Mostly Water

As the Safe Drinking Water Act and Clean Water Act celebrate their 50th anniversaries, they are failing rural Americans. I started typing and Google was ready with suggestions. Why is this such a common question in America in 2023? The Safe Drinking Water Act excludes private wells On the Safe Drinking Water Act website The EPA states that “Over 92 percent of the population supplied by community water systems receives drinking water that meets all health-based standards all of the time.” SDWA does not regulate private wells which serve fewer than twenty five individuals. These wells serve thirteen percent of … Continue reading Can I buy bottled water with food stamps?

EPA calls out greenwashing in recycling claims. This newsletter is Mostly Water, but it’s not All Water All the Time. For a change of pace, here’s something that’s mostly plastics. In an action memo to the Federal Trade Commission, the Environmental Protection Agency has recommended a major review of plastics recycling practices. The EPA writes: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) appreciates the opportunity to provide comments on the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims (“Green Guides” or “Guides”) with respect to preventing greenwashing in advertising, supporting reliable sustainability claims, and increasing the effectiveness … Continue reading ♻️It may be time to recycle the recycle logo

Continue reading He Told the Truth About Iowa’s Polluted Water and Then He Lost His Job

How industry-backed environmental disinformation campaigns keep us feeling shamed and powerless, and what we can do about it. I’ve been working on a few post ideas, but this week, a couple of news stories pushed one idea to the top of the list. It happens to touch everything I’m working on. The intent of this campaign was to shift responsibility and guilt for carbon emissions from the companies causing them onto us. The first news item was this story in Bloomberg Green: A Canadian Businessman Spent $1 Million to Offset His Carbon Footprint – Bloomberg. Let’s talk about carbon footprint. … Continue reading Disinformation

A new place to connect I just published my first note on Substack Notes, and would love for you to join me there! Some of my followers are already there. Come on in and join the fun! Notes is a new space on Substack for us to share links, short posts, quotes, photos, and more. I plan to use it for things that don’t fit in the newsletter, like work-in-progress or quick questions. How to join Head to substack.com/notes or find the “Notes” tab in the Substack app. As a subscriber to Mostly Water, you’ll automatically see my notes. Feel … Continue reading Join me on Notes

The companies selling us filters to remove “forever chemicals” from our drinking water are the ones who put them there. We recently installed an under sink reverse osmosis system1, mostly to improve the taste of our drinking water and to limit scaling in tea kettles and coffee machines. Our water comes from a community well. The water has tested below State detection limits for PFAS (per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, commonly known as “Forever Chemicals”), and is chlorinated and treated for arsenic, iron, and manganese. It remains hard water that scales tea kettles, smells of chlorine, and still contains a … Continue reading They have us coming and going