Jincy's Musings on Her River's 2009 Future...

Who knows. That's it - no one knows what is going to happen to the river on 09. Maybe people will realize what their doing and try and help or it could just get worse. I am hoping for the first option. Some people think that the river is fine. Well its not fine. If you have looked at the river lately the color of the water has turned from light brown to black. What do you think caused this? How could this have happen? Is it going t get any worse? Who knows. If you care about Jacksonville and you do not want to live around polluted water then help out! If you don't care and you like sweating in December as global warming occurs, then you can at least not through down all your trash on the ground. What I think will happen to the river in 09 WHO KNOWS.

Ruairi's Thoughts about what the New Year holds for His River

Well.... um.... If people keep using so much water in the city of Jacksonville they might think its time to start drawing water out of the river. I think people will start becoming more aware of the river though so I don't think they will start drawing water from the river. You could spread awareness by just talking to a neighbor or something like that. To help the river you could fix an oil leak or make sure that your garbage can has a lid on it. Also well planned landscaping and plants can help with catching pollutants from flowing into the river.

Think of the St. Johns in 2009!

Green Roofs, Rainwater Recycling and Vertical Green helps clean rainwater and runoff, creates wildlife habitat, provides food and more!

Wow! We have so much vertical green in our yard that before the rain gets a chance to end up on the ground it is used, reused, caught and stored and reused again!

By the time it hits the ground it is clean!

We have green roofs on our house that filter the rainwater and reduce the amount.

Then we catch and use the rain in barrels for garden irrigation.

So much vertical green - see the Malabar Spinach vine in the picture - it tastes really great and is easy to grow in Florida's hot summer.

See our Poppy's green roof blog for information on green roofs.

Help keep our river clean, one yard at a time! ;) J&R

Jincy's Speech about her River....

Topic: St. Johns River

Organization Style: Topical

1. Hello today I will be talking about the St. Johns River.
11. The St. Johns River is a very important natural resource to the people of Jacksonville and other areas of Florida. It a very unusual river in that it flows from south to north. Many other streams feed into the St. Johns River. The River is also important to the fishing industry. The St. Johns River is important to me because it is one of the natural beauties of Jacksonville. With out it I would not like living here.
111. The St. Johns River has many threats such as storm water runoff, over use of water, and pollution. The storm water runoff contains many pollutants that undermined the health of the river and the creatures that live in it. Some things that the runoff may contain are oils, gasoline, fertilizer, pesticides, and many other pollutants. Sometimes the river can be so contaminated that people get sick from it. Once a woman went water skiing in the St. Johns River and she got some water on a cut she had. In the next 3 days she became very sick. On the fourth day she died. Other people have gotten very sick from contaminants in the river as well.
IV. Another threat to our river is the over use of water. We are using so much water that we are depleting our aquifer. People are now planning to start taking water from the St. Johns River. This may ruin the ecology of this very important river. Other sources of pollution are a threat to this river as well. There are many polluting factories in Jacksonville that impact the river.
V. All of us need to take action to protect the river. We can use less water and chemicals on our lawns. We can be careful that oil and gasoline do not contaminate the rainwater runoff or the ground water. We can keep all the trash picked up so that it does not end up in the river. Something that my family and I have is called a green roof. Many types of plants grow on a part of our roof. These plants soak up the water and keep some of the water from going in to the rainwater runoff. We also have a rain barrel that we can use to water our garden so that we do not take more water from the aquifer. The St. Johns River is an important natural resource that we all should be caring for.

Stormwater Cleaned by Green Roofs

Put a green roof on your house! The plants absorb much of most rainfall and take out most of the nutrients that can hurt our St. Johns.

Acid rain - made from cars and factories carries nitrogen in it. The plants on the roof need the nitrogen to grow. Our River does not need the nitrogen.

Help clean out River! Put a green roof on your house. A good green roof website is MetroVerde's green roof site.

Fertilizers and Pesticides can pollute Our River through the ground water also!!!

Look at the ground picture. See all the different colors in the dirt. On the bottom its white and on top its black. Well the dirt on top of the one with the organic matter. When it rains all the underground water goes up to about the line where the to different kinds of dirt meet. So its washes away all the organic matter from the white dirt. So if the organic matter is only on the top then all the water that soaks into the ground and is washed away into Pottsburg creek it goes into the river. That means more unorganic stuff is going into the river. Then this happens and that happens then we end up with no water and all die. Sad ending I know that is why we have to take auction. Don't just wait for someone to else lead, lead yourself and others to help save our river! -JINCY.M.S

People use fertilizer and water on their lawns, the rainwater comes and picks up the fertilizer. Then the fertilizer is carried to the river, both across the lawns and vertically down through the groundwater. Since people are watering their lawn so much there is a growing demand for freshwater. To meet the growing demands people are thinking of taking water out of the river. Pollution and water consumption are the two biggest factors against the St. Johns. Help us! Its all of ours - the St. Johns...
~~~ Ruairi.

Keep the Fertilizer off the ground! Clean up the River! Hydroponics - like Green Roofs keep fertilizer off the ground and out of the St. Johns River.

Ok, we all like to garden - at least most of us people! but seriously, saturating the group with fertilizer is not good for the St Johns River! The nitrogen and phosphates feed the algae that robs the river of its oxygen, killing the fish!

So our new backyard gardening adventure is Hydroponics! Here is what we think...

Jincy: Hydroponics is the new and improved way to garden. Most of you know NOT to put fertilizer in your plants, but for most of you that just MUST have it a good way to use it is Hydroponics because if you put fertilizer in you plants that are grown Hydroponically then all fertilizer will not run off into the river when it rains. You can see pictures of the Hydroponic plants in the next post. Of course this only works for plants, most people put fertilizer on their lawns which is REALLY bad. We need to show those people that using all the fertilizer is REALLY bad because the fertilizer from their lawns goes into the river. Now the fertilizer feeds the algae which makes the river even more poisonous for the animals that live there and for use. Open your eyes people we are killing our river.

Ruairi: Please excuse any typos there might be (I'm holding a Wii remote in one hand.) Growing hydroponically can massively reduce the amount of fertilizer that flows into the St. Johns river. The pots that you use to grow hydroponically keep the fertilizer that you out in them from flowing out. With the fertilizer trapped in the pot the plants will grow quicker. Hydroponics are fairly simple and (I think) most people could easily use Hydroponics.