Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.

PBS segment: Polluted rain runoff

Sunrise light on a grove of tufa towers emerging from the water of Mono Lake with soft green and dusty-red wild grasses in the foreground, Canada geese in the shallow water with reflections of the rocky towers, and desert hills in the distance.

I just caught this spot on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, which I listen to on the radio, but you can see, read, or listen here. It feels unusually dry in Lee Vining right now so we’re all crossing our fingers for snow. In rainy areas it’s certainly time to be thinking of rain, and rainwater runoff. I think this segment does a nice job of talking about both the water conservation and water pollution issues associated with runoff, as well as the challenges of implementing solutions. It also talks about the Clean Water Act, and the current interpretations of its reach. The Clean Water Act says to reduce storm water pollution to the maximum extent possible, and people are grappling with what exactly that means for development, people, and the environment.