The Huge Effect On Lake Michigan

In this blog we are going to be talking about the "Huge Effect On Lake Michigan". To us the the huge problem with Lake Michigan is all the pollution in the water and the invasive species that are in it. The pollution is eating our water up you can see more trash in the water than you can see water. We have to do something about this issue go to your local beach volunteer and try to pick up as much trash. As you can there is nothing wrong with helping out the earth. You know what you have to do to help Lake Michigan.
Now with the Invasive Species our fish population is decreasing because of theses creatures. Especially because of the biggest specie of them all the Asian Carp. They are eating away our fish! We need your help to try to stop them. We need to help build this medal fence under water so we can block them from our fish. Now dont you see what kind of effects that Invasive Species have on one our Great Lakes. Please help us rescue Lake Michigan. Thank You for your time.
By:Briana, Ariel, Raeven, and Jasmaine

What Do We Use Water For?

Water is used all around the world. Without it there would be no world. Some of the things we use water for are drinking, preparing food, bathing, washing clothes and dishes, brushing your teeth, using the bathroom, watering the yard, and tons of other everyday tasks we use large amounts of water everyday whether we realize it or not. Water serves many different purposes, water is in the air, water is everywhere!


Water is not only used for domestic purposes, humans also use water in the industries and in agriculture. In agriculture water is mainly used to water crops, but in the industries it serves many different purposes. It can serve as an ingredient of a product we produce, but it can also be a part of the whole production process. Water can be used to cool substances in the production process, for transportation and conditioning of raw materials, for boiling or cooking, for flushing, as a cleaning agent and for product transport by shipping.


Read more: //"http://www.lenntech.com/
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/eduo.htm

Save our Lake by all means

Chicago was built in this very location because of its access to water. Lake Michigan and the other Great lakes hold one-fifth of the Earth's fresh water. One might ask, with so much water nearby why worry about wasting it? As caretakers of this resource it is our duty to take care of it for future generations. That means do what ever you can to help our lake. some of the smallest things may hurt. just like the Asian carp, the Asian carp may not seem so bad because its a fish and fish like water right? but this small problem is eating all Lake Michigan's native fish. This problem is not so small any more is it.
So if i were you i would think about what could possibly happen if you were to throw a bottle into the lake or if you were to poor chemicals down a storm drain. These small things could make a big impact so next time you see someone (or yourself) about to throw something in the lake stop them and tell them what do you think could happen if you did that.
These are very important things to think about because think about it if we have all this water but the water is to polluted to drink even after being filtered. That is why you should save as much water as possible and do not pollute the water you cant save.
If you or someone else in your community feel that a business or someone is polluting water tell your parent or an older adult so that we can save our lakes by all means.

Safe Drinking Water

Water is something a human can't live without. It is amazing how the water from the Lake gets to our sinks. Chicago has one of the best purification systems in the world. The water from the lake and off streets is taken into a intake crib and sent to a pumping station. Chemicals are then added to purify the water. The water is then sent to mixing basin. The slow movement if the water through the system allows 90% of the sediments to sink to the bottom. The water enters filtering process, passing downward through 48 dual filters of carefully graded layers of sand and gravel. These filters are capable of processing more than 800 millions gallons of water a day. It is a slow process but it is worth it because our water is clean and pure. It is amazing when you turn on your sink to think about what it took to get it there.

Ways to Waste Water By Accident!

• (1) Dishwasher- Dishwashers is one of the ways we can waste water on accident if you run it when it is not full. A way to prevent this is by not using the dishwasher and hand wash the dishes. If you do need to use a dishwasher, make sure it is completely full before you turn it on.



• (2) Brushing Teeth / Washing Dishes WITH the Water Running- DO NOT keep water running while brushing your teeth/ doing the dishes. When you brush your teeth, wet the toothbrush first and turn the water off immediately. Only use the water to rinse. Same for dish washing. Scrub the dishes without the water on, and then turn the water on to rinse off the soap.



• (3) Car Wash-If you have a lawn, Wash your car on it! Only turn on the hose for the final rinse. Your car will be clean, your lawn will be fed, and by doing this you know you did a lot to help the environment.



• (4) Leaky Toilets / Leaky Faucets-If you notice a leaky pipe, faucet, or toilet, get it fixed immediately. A leaky toilet, for example, can waste up to 200 gallons of water a DAY. So please try to fix your water problems instead of waiting later.



• (5) Bathtime-Bathtime is no longer Fun-time. It wastes an unnecessary amount of water. An average shower uses 1/5 the amount of water that is needed for a bath! Teach kids to take showers early on. It all really adds up. So please, take a shower not a bath.

-Helpful link: http://greenscream.wordpress.com/

Glossary

Confused about any of the terms on our website? Here are some vocabulary words you might find helpful.

• adaptation: a characteristic of a species that makes it more fit for survival in its habitat
• endangered species: a species that is in danger of becoming extinct
  
• extinct: when a species has died off and has no offspring alive
• habitat: a place where certain species live and adapt in order to survive
  
• invasive species: a species that invades an ecosystem and unbalances it
• native species: species that are originally found in a habitat
• parasite: species that latch onto animals and eat off of them or eat their food
  
• population: the number of animals or plants of a species living in one habitat
• species: a group of organisms with the same traits
  

Our Drinking Water, How Does it Become Safe.

Our drinking water becomes safe when it goes through the process at the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago. The district is divided into seven service areas, each with a reclamation plant. The plant mimics the purification process that occurs naturally in rivers, condensing what would take one or two weeks to just under 8 hours!

First sewers from 125 municipalities including offices, homes, factories and businesses, empty into seven wastewater treatment plants in Cook County. Second, Screens remove large objects such as trash, wood, etc. that could damage pumps. Third, they use air bubbles to keep lighter materials suspended while grit, sand and gravel sink to the bottom, once the large material is on the bottom, a conveyor scrapes it into a drain. What is collected is taken to a landfill. Fourth, the waste is taken to Primary Settling Tanks, here solids settle to the bottom, fats and oils float to the top. A revolving conveyor with slats skim off the floating fats and oils and send them to a drain on to the landfill. Fifth, air is pumped into a carefully maintained population of micro-organisms. These micro-organisms break down the remaining suspended solids and help them settle in the final setting tank. A portion of the settled solids containing the micro-organisms is returned to the aeration tank to continue working. There are many steps to take to make sure our water is clean enough to drink. http://www.epa.gov/safewater/kids/flash/flash_filtration.htmlHere is a website that shows the process to get our clean water!

What are ways we can prevent invasive species from invading Lake Michigan?

Some ways we can stop invasive species from invading Lake Michigan are:

1. Capturing the invasive species and find out how they got here and where did they come from.

2. Don't bring any pets or clothing to the lake and live it there .

3 . Poison only the invasive species for example like : Asian Crap , Sea Lampreys & etc..

Ways to improve the invasive species from coming here are :

1. If you go on vacation don't bring back any water , sand or wild animals .

2. If you are a fishermen clean and check your boat for any unknown species .

3. Help make the water cleaner and fresher so we can see all sea animals that wash up on shore.

By doing this we can improve Lake Michigan's invasive species problem all you have to do is follow the steps.

Great lake, red alert!!!

We learned that invasive species are very dangerous to the ecosystem in the great lakes because the food will become scarce and it will become a competition. If it becomes a competition the native will die because lack of food would get to them. The lake invaders will breed and multiply quickly and will consume the natural food source that the native fish consume. This could then spread yo other great lakes. This could also harm or destroy the ecosystems. We need to stop this from happening.http://www.lakeinvaders.com/Lake_Invaders.html is a website helping this cause.
Here are some things that will help us from getting invasive species in our lakes. Don't dump live bait in the lake. Clean off your boat thoroughly. If you find an invasive specices alert someone. If you happen to catch an invasive specices dispose of it and don't throw it back. We need to help the lake and keep our native great lake specices alive. Following these instructions will help towards this cause and lead to a safer ecosystem. KEEP OUR NATIVE SPECICES ALIVE!

THE LAKE INVADERS INVADE!

The lake invaders are called the Asian carp. They were first discovered by scholars near the Illinois lake. The Asian carp has 2 of its kind. A big head carp, and a silver carp. These animals are extremely ugly and can grow to be huge and to be 100 pounds. These Asian carps are also eating and killing off most of the native fish to the lake Michigan. Little things like waste in our water is the cause of the Asian carp entering lake Michigan. That is why the government has spent 9 million dollars on a electric barrier to stop the Asian carp from entering lake Michigan.




Why, most of you are saying right now, "why is more fish such a problem". Well, because these kind of fish are killing off most of or fish that was native to the lake. It also is important to multi billion fishing corporations. This company makes money off catching the native fish, now since Asian carp have taken over and have reduced the population of our native fish, The company will lose a little of its money. The fish you eat at dinner, will not be there long if you don't do anything to keep Asian carp.



What you can do to help is simple:

1. Don't continue to put waste and garbage into the lake


2. If you fish, Don't use real live bait, the Asian carp will think its dinner.

http://www.asiancarp.org/ <-This is our website that we got our information.