It's Where I Am with Zandra Polard

Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a KU n b Studio's original program. You are listening to special programming brought to you by it's where I am.com the content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education. You

Zandra Polard 0:44
Good morning Las Vegas. It's a beautiful morning here in Las Vegas. Welcome to the show. It's where I am. I'm Zandra Bullard, thank you for tuning in to 91.5 jazz and more today. We're talking about water, a simple thing, like water, and how serious and how dangerous it can be. I have environmental scientist Amber Smith here today, she's called in. Thank you for calling in.

Amber Smith 1:24
Yeah, my pleasure. Thank you for having me on the show. Absolutely. So

Zandra Polard 1:27
you have been doing research on stormwater

Amber Smith 1:33
for water pollution prevention, to be specific,

Zandra Polard 1:37
okay, for eight years now.

Amber Smith 1:40
Yes, yeah. I've been in the field working with stormwater pollution prevention and hazardous waste materials for about eight years now.

Zandra Polard 1:47
And then you travel, you travel the world doing this, yes,

Amber Smith 1:53
mostly in the United States, as regulations tend to change when you go worldwide.

Zandra Polard 1:58
Okay, so I thought you were dropped because you just came from Thailand. You were in Bali, then you went to Africa, so I thought you were just International,

Amber Smith 2:12
yeah. So some of that is more in in my new line of work, which is product management, but my heart is still with environmental science, and that's my specialty, and what I went to school

Zandra Polard 2:24
for, okay, so explain to us about rainwater. What get some people that, you know, they stick their tongue out trying to catch the raindrops, but then there's such a thing as acid water, right?

Amber Smith 2:39
Yeah, acid rain. Acid rain, yeah, that's essentially from air pollution. So things like our cars and industrial facilities that emit sulfur dioxide and nitrous nitrogen oxide, excuse me, into the atmosphere. Essentially those mix with water and other chemicals in the air, and then what happens is you generate acidic rainwater, essentially. So a lot of a lot of the pollutants that we put out into the air ultimately come back into the rainwater, and then we get acid rain. And then ultimately, that rains down on our forests, aquatic life, etc, and causes really bad situations. Okay,

Zandra Polard 3:28
so first, don't open your mouth when it's raining trying to get some water,

Amber Smith 3:36
especially if you're in a polluted area. Yes,

Zandra Polard 3:38
and this acid rain affects our sea life. So what do we see in terms of, you know, our aquatic friends,

Amber Smith 3:55
yeah, so, I mean, in my specialty, a lot of what we deal with is not just the air pollution and how that impacts the water, but actually the storm water, and how, when it hits the ground, all the pollutants that it picks up, right? So every time it rains, essentially that rain water is going to hit the ground. It's going to hit, you know, industrial facilities, so they might have different metals and exposures of different chemicals outside, even in neighborhoods, right? You might use like Roundup or things like that, pesticides, things like that, or farmers, right? So any kind of rains, all that rainwater is going to go down the storm drains. So what people don't understand is that, when you flush the toilet, right, when you use bathroom, where that wastewater goes? Where does it go? And the difference between, okay, so the so wastewater is going to go to a treatment facility, right? So if you flush the toilet, goes to a treatment facility. It basically goes through this huge process where they take out all the solids, they take out a lot of the chemicals and bacteria, and then once it's cleaned, to a. Certain percentage, they then dump that into either the ocean or a waterway, right? So typically, it's pretty clean for the most part. But the difference between that and rainwater is, when the when the stormwater goes down the drain, it's untreated, so any of those chemicals, it's picking up, the heavy metals, the pesticides, they're literally going straight out into our waterways. So there's no treatment, there's no prevention of keeping that from going into the

Zandra Polard 5:29
and that water, the sea life, and then we then consume

Amber Smith 5:36
that. Yeah, exactly. Okay, exactly. So any of the bacteria, heavy metals. It's essentially all going to go out into the ocean, right? All waterways, unless they're a lake, ultimately go out into the ocean.

Zandra Polard 5:47
We'll keep fish. Can you speak to this? Is it better to eat fish that is farm, raised or wild?

Amber Smith 5:57
That is a big debate. Yeah. A lot of times I'm

Zandra Polard 6:01
thinking like, Oh, I'm getting wild caught. But maybe that's not so great.

Amber Smith 6:06
Yeah, it depends, right? There's different things. So you will find, like, Mercury and heavy metals plastics, right? So when a lot of the plastics and micro plastics, we're hearing a lot getting into the food chain, right? So in wild, in wild oceans, like in the ocean, you're getting wild caught, but you're going to get all those exposures, all the things I was just talking about, going out in storm water, or the air pollution that's raining down, all that's going to be a part of that wild life, right? So farm is much more controlled, but at the same time, you also encounter a lot of like pet.

Zandra Polard 6:50
What do you call them? But I want to know,

Amber Smith 6:57
not like pests, right? So like ring, not ring, intestinal, my God, they get, yeah, disease fish like, they'll get, like, what they call, like, fish lice and fish lice. Yes, that's a thing. It is a thing. I suggest there's actually a documentary on Netflix. I'm trying to remember what it's called, but it's all about farm versus wild raised fish, and they dial in on the differences. So I'm personally vegan. I don't eat any of it,

Zandra Polard 7:38
but that rainwater, that water still affects our fruits and vegetables, right?

Amber Smith 7:44
It can, if it's if you're dealing with like acid rain, right? So that has to do with air pollution, but you can, and that's a little harder to control. Obviously, you can decrease your carbon footprint by carpooling or taking, you know, public transit, things like that. But if you want to try and decrease the pollutants that are going into the storm water, one thing you can do is you can actually buy organic and local, right? So if the farm is using pesticides or herbicides, ultimately that's that rainwater is going to go off into into our waterways right when it rains. So by buying organic, what

Zandra Polard 8:29
you're describing, I think, has something to do with the Salton Sea in California, with like, the date farms they have there and all of those pesticides, it just like ruined the lake out there. It's called the Salton Sea. It killed a bunch of wildlife there. And that's one of those documentaries you can look up to,

Amber Smith 8:56
yeah. I mean, I mean, there's a lot of that that happens frequently. I mean, here about these like mass kiss kill, killings of fish, right? Fish washing up, even, like recently, with the fires that happened down in Malibu, right? A lot of that washed out in the water, and they're starting to see the impacts, the negative impacts in like Santa Monica beaches and things like that, where it's basically killing off different sea life. And it's washing up. They're having whales washing up on shore and things like that. So, you know, anytime you have mass pollution, right, all those buildings burned down, you think about all the different chemicals that were in those buildings. And then, you know, when it rains, it all, basically all washed out into the ocean. So a lot of times, what can happen is it can basically suck out the oxygen, and then it can start killing off

Zandra Polard 9:50
the aquatic life. So what you're explaining is what storm water pollution is and why it's a concern for all of us. Mm. Yeah, yes, yeah, exactly. So what are the most common sources of stormwater pollution, pollution that people might not even realize are harmful?

Amber Smith 10:12
Yeah. So a lot of the facilities that I used to work with were industrial facilities. So manufacturing, waste management is a big one, right? Solar, recycling, trash, landfills, they do have policies. So there's a lot of laws in place to prevent those things, especially when it comes to industrial facilities. But the things that you might not think about are when you're walking your dog and they poop, right? If you don't pick that up, that adds pollutants that essentially can create an overgrowth of

Zandra Polard 10:49
my eyes are wide, like, what? Pick up your poop, please?

Amber Smith 10:54
Yep, and then also pesticides or herbicides, right, trying to kill off those weeds or bugs. Like, I've had people come by my house and say, Can I, you know, we'll pay us and we'll spray pesticides. You won't have any bugs anywhere. Yeah, that's great. The bugs don't bother you, but at the same time, you know, basically polluting the environment. So those are just some kind of like, everyday things that people don't think about, but they're within our power to control. And as I mentioned, like, even with farming, right, choosing your source of who's farming and what they're using on their farms can also impact. Well,

Zandra Polard 11:32
how do you know, like, how do you know what farms are using? Like, which farm to pick?

Amber Smith 11:39
Yeah, so if you go organic, because really,

Zandra Polard 11:42
and I'm sorry to cut you off, because really, when I see organic or I see farmers markets, I'm like, they just got that from the regular farm and brought it to the local community farmers market. Am I wrong

Amber Smith 12:01
when you see so, like, most of the time when you go to local farmers markets, they'll tell you where they're farming. So like, where I am I go to, I have a local farmer market that I go to every Sunday, and I know where the farms are source. I know they're local, right? I know the people typically they they tell you where they are, they tell you what their practices are, whether they're pesticide free, herbicide free, certified organic, and even organic, they're still allowed to use some small percentage of pesticides, right? But, but they're typically not the really bad ones, right? And I know organic tends to be a little more expensive, but it really is better, not just for you and your family, but it's also better for the environment.

Zandra Polard 12:49
Okay, I'm trying to figure out which one comes first, the environment, or me and the kids.

Amber Smith 12:56
I mean, it's, you know, if you can, if you can kill three birds with one stone, why not? Right?

Zandra Polard 13:01
Okay, there you go, just the way you worded. It was like, wait a minute, am I choosing? No.

Amber Smith 13:09
I mean your kids. I digress. But if there's no environment, then your kids won't have anywhere to live, right?

Zandra Polard 13:17
Yeah, this is true. So what types of laws or regulations are currently in place to protect our stormwater systems, and how are they enforced?

Amber Smith 13:33
Yeah, great question. So it actually varies state by state which it makes. It's

Zandra Polard 13:38
a great question because you wrote it.

Amber Smith 13:42
It's it. So they basically have Stormwater Pollution Prevention laws like here in California, they recently updated it within the last five years or so and but it hadn't been updated for like 20 years. So it's basically where they have different regulations, where they have to test their stormwater. So they test their stormwater for things like iron, aluminum, total suspended solids, which is basically dirt, right? But that can cloud waterways and basically, you know, suffocate fish. It's like if we had a bunch of dirt in our air, right? They can't breathe it. So what they have to do is they have to basically put together a plan on how they're going to prevent pollution from getting into their stormwater. So covering things, putting things inside, making sure that, you know, their roofs that are resting and really releasing iron and things like that are painted galvanized, whatever, and then also making sure that they're out their exterior area is clean, right? So when those stormwater hits it, they actually collect samples. They send those off to the lab, and they're required to submit them on you know, if. Four year. So during the rainy season, they essentially have to collect four different samples and then submit those if they're over, then they have repercussions, basically like they have to they have to submit plans on how they're going to adjust that. Then the regulators can come out and basically inspect them. You can find them, etc. So it's mostly going to be on industrial facilities, because they tend to be the primary polluters. But when it comes to neighborhoods, there's not as many regulations, which is why, yes, yes, yep, yep, yep. For people who don't pick up the dog poop, or people who use, you know, pesticides and herbicides, there's not much regulation on that. I mean, there has been regulation over the years, you know, DDT and different types of pesticides that have been found to be really bad, you know, where they're creating, like, two headed frogs and killing forests and things like that, where they've been banned, but, yeah, it's most of the regulations that we see in most of what I work with is industrial facilities. Wow,

Zandra Polard 16:14
this is scary. Like, there's jobs out there. We didn't even know existed. We don't even know how we're being protected, you know? Yeah, yeah, because who thinks about it

and what you do into it, yeah? Well,

I want to know that, but I just want to say it is so important that we educate the community. Because, I mean, this could be a life choice for someone so like you said, you fell into it. How did that happen?

Amber Smith 16:49
Yeah, well, I originally anticipated doing clean water resources, not that storm water pollution prevention isn't but I wanted to do what they call artificial recharge, where they basically take the cleaned water from the wastewater, and then they put it back in the ground. The ground filters it, and then they're able to pump it out and it's clean water. And there's a big initiative in San Diego that was doing that kind of thing. So when I came out of school, I'm like, that's what I'm gonna do. But I got into the job market and I, and I found a company who was writing these stormwater pollution prevention plans, and so it was kind of like a, you know, just a temporary job, and then I ended up really loving it and found a lot of purpose in it. And then I transitioned to another company that was a software company that basically helped companies, these industrial facilities, manage their stormwater pollution prevention and hazardous waste through an application, right? So it's like a compliance application telling them, You know that, getting them to collect their samples, documenting the levels, ensuring the levels were below the limits, etc, etc. So kind of just fell into it based on the job market, but found a lot of purpose in it.

Zandra Polard 18:09
That's wonderful. Now I'm thinking about, and this is out of your scope, but you would know something about bottled water. So you were describing water that's wastewater, and somehow they put it into the ground, right? And then it becomes well water. That becomes well water,

Amber Smith 18:33
right? Well, it becomes groundwater. So the way that it works is like ground and

Zandra Polard 18:38
well are not the same.

Amber Smith 18:40
No, so well, it can be, it can be. So wells are basically tapping into groundwater a lot of the times, and they tap into what's called an aquifer. So an aquifer is basically like, you can think about it as like an underground river where it's tied in by two layers of the ground that are very, like, dense and for the water to filter through there, it basically there's a lot of, like, bacteria and things that eat up the bad stuff in the water, and then all the metals and things filter through the ground, then it gets into this underground river, and then wells tap into that and pull it out. So, yeah, it's similar. But yes, there is, there's, there's, there's well. There's the old school wells, right, which are the ones we like drop the bucket down, and they're just deep enough to get that groundwater. And then there's ones that they actually drill down into the deeper aquifers, which is going to be the cleaner drinking water

Zandra Polard 19:37
well. And then, how does that work? Like if well water. In the olden days of throwing the bucket down and say something died in there. Isn't the water like totally I'm ignorant to water. I know I turn it on, get in the shower, wash my hands, brush my teeth. I'm not thinking where my water. It's coming from, and how important, yeah, this stuff is.

Amber Smith 20:06
So what I've actually like, yeah, you're talking about, like, something dying in it. But I mean, in like, modern days, they actually do have, like, what they call contamination, right? So it could be like, for a long time they had, like, dry cleaners were using really toxic chemicals, and they were basically same thing with, like, gas stations, right? They'd have these underground storage of gasoline tanks, and sometimes you'd get these leaks, or the chemicals would get out from the cleaners, and what would happen is it get into the ground and actually contaminate that groundwater. So they'd have to, like, you basically would have to stop sourcing any water from there, and they'd have to trace to see how far the contamination went, and then try to, like, clean it up, right? So

Zandra Polard 20:51
you're saying it doesn't have to be a dead animal in the whale. The water can still get contaminated somehow. So then what do you do, so that you can still,

Amber Smith 21:04
yeah, so, I mean, it depends on the level of contamination and what's contaminated it so there's, there's the government does some things where they have, like, what they call super fun sites, right, where, essentially the contamination is so bad that they have to, like, shut it down, and they have to try and, like, dig out the ground and dig out anything that's contaminated, and basically remove it and then take it as hazardous waste. And then sometimes, you know, they'll just leave it where they can't build anything on it for some period of time, because it's essentially deemed contaminated. But also, there's been history of like, building low income housing and things on Superfund sites. And you know, people being getting contamination from from those Superfund sites. So yeah, there's definitely some deep history there, but in as of lately, they typically just leave them to so that nobody can can get contaminated from it, or they try to basically take out any of the contamination from the ground and then dispose of it properly.

Zandra Polard 22:19
So well, that answered my question. But I started out talking about drinking water. So purified water doesn't have anything good in it, right?

Amber Smith 22:35
Or what's good typically? Yeah, so typically purified water. The good thing about purified water is you're gonna, it's gonna remove all the heavy metals. And depending on the method they use, like if they use reverse osmosis, it's gonna take, it's gonna get rid of the heavy metals and some of the bacteria and things like that. If it's just like a filter, like a filter in your house, that's typically just gonna remove, like, solids and heavy metals. So the good thing about that is, well, you're not getting anything really bad, right? Taking out the bad stuff. But the bad thing is, it also takes out some of the good minerals, right? So when you see bottled water, and there is, there's spring water, right, and then there's essentially filtered water. So spring water is from an actual source, and it's tested to make sure that there's, you know, no bacteria or heavy metals or any type of contamination in it before they bottle it. But it does give you the benefits of having those minerals in it, right?

Zandra Polard 23:40
Yeah, spring water is good drinking water.

Amber Smith 23:44
Spring water is actually the best drinking water if you're if you're looking at it from a health perspective.

Zandra Polard 23:51
So when I go to the store, can get tested and it says, drinking water, is that spring water, or is that purified water?

Amber Smith 23:59
That's typically purified water. Yeah. Okay, yeah. So then water is going to say spring water on it, and it'll tell you the source.

Zandra Polard 24:07
So from what I'm understanding from you, what's the difference between purified water and distilled water? Then, because I thought you couldn't drink distilled water,

Amber Smith 24:19
yeah. So I think distilled water is so purified water is just cleansed and, like, the bad stuff that's taken out of it. I think distilled water is actually just void of any and everything.

Zandra Polard 24:35
Can you track my understanding?

Amber Smith 24:38
I don't, I don't, actually, I thought it was just like, like, I

Zandra Polard 24:44
thought it was just for, like, when you're ironing, it's not gonna like, kill you, or humidifier or something like that. Yeah,

Amber Smith 24:52
yeah. So like, sometimes you still get, like, even in like tap water, you'll have like hard water that'll have like, calcium or things like that. And, yes, yeah. Distilled water is basically just free of like everything, like they've pulled everything out of it. Purified water just goes through a process to remove impurities, and sometimes the minerals also get removed.

Zandra Polard 25:15
Okay, one more question about drinking water, bottled water, what about the water that says, like, it has like a pH or ions, or, what is that about?

Amber Smith 25:29
Yeah. So I think that's, that's probably the biggest scam that's ever happened, other than selling alkaline water, just in general. Yeah. Is that the alkaline water? That's the alkaline water, yeah. So a lot of times what they do there, they actually add something to it that's going to raise the pH. So, I mean, they there's kind of this whole thing that it's better for you, right? I mean, they say alkaline anything, alkaline diet, alkaline food, alkaline yada yada yada is better for your body to process and deal with. But a lot of these alkaline waters, they're just adding something like baking soda or something that is higher on the pH scale and is going to change the acidity of the water, right? It's gonna make it more alkaline. I'm on the fence on whether that's actually better for you or not. I think there it's disputable, but it's believed to be,

Zandra Polard 26:29
I'll be getting some spring water. Yeah.

Amber Smith 26:32
I mean, if I could advise, I would say that spring water is probably going to be the best it's going to have. It's going to come from the ground, the groundwater, then the ground is going to have purified it. They're all going to get tested, right? I mean, to work at a lab where they test all these different bottled waters and the

Zandra Polard 26:50
minerals, right? Amber. We need them. Yeah?

Amber Smith 26:53
Okay, yeah, it's, it's good for you. You know? It's just like when you eat food, right? And you get minerals and nutrients from food, right? Spring water can similarly give you minerals that you need and

Zandra Polard 27:07
zero calories.

Amber Smith 27:08
Zero calories. Yes,

Zandra Polard 27:12
hey, thank you for coming on the show. You get us so much information while I didn't think storm water would have so much conversation around it. So thank you.

Amber Smith 27:23
Yeah, my pleasure. I hope that somebody out there got a nugget of information that can be helpful, and we all have our place in preventing pollution, so in different ways, spread

Zandra Polard 27:35
that message. All right. Well, you are welcome anytime, if anything's going on, and you'd like to share it with our listeners, we'll be right here.

Amber Smith 27:46
All right. Thank you so much. You have a wonderful day. You do the same.

Zandra Polard 27:48
All right, everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in to it's where I am, right here on 91.5 jazz and more. If you've missed any portion of this broadcast available on Apple, Spotify, Google. You name it, type in it's where I am with Zandra, and I'll be there. Have a great Saturday, y'all. We'll talk next week. Bye. You