ihavemyraisins

There was one part of this story that really struck me: " The amount of sediment Conowingo Reservoir holds at dynamic equilibrium could fill about 265,000 rail cars, the USGS estimates. Lined up, those cars would make a train 4,000 miles long (about the distance as the crow flies from the dam to Anchorage, Alaska)." What sort of work does it take when talking about the scale of this problem to get folks to fully understand the sheer amount of pollution you're talking about? Do you think this challenge of communication can lead to apathy about the problem? I see huge numbers like this and often can't fathom them, but thought the analogy of traveling to Anchorage was really enlightening.

In the Lancaster County farm story where you identified that Amish farming practices have left Sweeney's farm with lots of polluted waters, I'm curious, what is the worst-case scenario of environmental effects that can occur from this kind of pollution? I assume that there are lots of things connected in the ecosystem one might not necessarily think about?

So, I hear you and see the reporting on the importance of mitigation before runoff from farms gets into the streams, but what sorts of things can be done once this pollution ends up in the sediments of rivers and streams? Are there effective clean up efforts that farmers or everyday people would be able to take on or is it a zero sum game at that point? Thanks for answering my questions!