Progressive (NYSE:PGR) and Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) are both finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, profitability, valuation, institutional ownership, risk, earnings and analyst recommendations.

Profitability

This table compares Progressive and Hanover Insurance Groups net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

Progressive has a beta of 0.65, indicating that its stock price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Hanover Insurance Group has a beta of 0.55, indicating that its stock price is 45% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Progressive and Hanover Insurance Group, as reported by MarketBeat.

Progressive currently has a consensus target price of $82.36, suggesting a potential upside of 12.75%. Hanover Insurance Group has a consensus target price of $118.71, suggesting a potential downside of 12.67%. Given Progressives higher probable upside, research analysts plainly believe Progressive is more favorable than Hanover Insurance Group.

Dividends

Progressive pays an annual dividend of $0.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 0.5%. Hanover Insurance Group pays an annual dividend of $2.40 per share and has a dividend yield of 1.8%. Progressive pays out 9.0% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Hanover Insurance Group pays out 35.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

78.4% of Progressive shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 84.7% of Hanover Insurance Group shares are held by institutional investors. 0.4% of Progressive shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 1.7% of Hanover Insurance Group shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Progressive and Hanover Insurance Groups revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

Progressive has higher revenue and earnings than Hanover Insurance Group. Progressive is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Hanover Insurance Group, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Summary

Progressive beats Hanover Insurance Group on 9 of the 16 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Progressive

The Progressive Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides personal and commercial auto insurance, residential property insurance, and other specialty property-casualty insurance and related services primarily in the United States. Its Personal Lines segment writes insurance for personal autos, and recreational and other vehicles. This segment's products include personal auto insurance; and special lines products, including insurance for motorcycles, ATVs, RVs, watercrafts, and snowmobiles. The company's Commercial Lines segment provides primary liability, physical damage, and other auto-related insurance for autos, vans, pick-up trucks, and dump trucks used by small businesses; tractors, trailers, and straight trucks primarily used by regional general freight and expeditor-type businesses, and non-fleet long-haul operators; dump trucks, log trucks, and garbage trucks used by dirt, sand and gravel, logging, and coal-type businesses; tow trucks and wreckers used in towing services and gas/service station businesses; and non-fleet taxis, black-car services, and airport taxis. Its Property segment provides residential property insurance for homes, condos, manufactured homes, and renters, as well as offers personal umbrella insurance, and primary and excess flood insurance. The company also offers policy issuance and claims adjusting services; home, condominium, renters, and other insurance; and general liability and business owner's policies, and workers' compensation insurance. In addition, it offers reinsurance services. The Progressive Corporation sells its products and services through independent insurance agencies, as well as directly on Internet, and mobile devices, and over the phone. The company was founded in 1937 and is headquartered in Mayfield Village, Ohio.

About Hanover Insurance Group

The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides various property and casualty insurance products and services in the United States. The company operates in three segments: Commercial Lines, Personal Lines, and Other. The Commercial Lines segment offers commercial multiple peril, commercial automobile, workers' compensation, umbrella, healthcare, mono-line general liability, and miscellaneous commercial property insurance products; and other commercial coverages, including inland marine, specialty program business, management and professional liability, surety, and specialty property. The Personal Lines segment provides personal automobile and homeowner's coverages, as well as other personal coverages, such as personal inland marine, umbrella, fire, personal watercraft, earthquake, and other miscellaneous coverages. The Other segment offers investment management and advisory services to institutions, pension funds, and other organizations. The company markets its products and services through independent agents and brokers. The Hanover Insurance Group, Inc. was founded in 1852 and is headquartered in Worcester, Massachusetts.

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Reviewing Hanover Insurance Group (NYSE:THG) and Progressive (NYSE:PGR) - Slater Sentinel

MIDDLE TOWNSHIP Township ratepayers will see a cost increase under an ordinance introduced Monday, Nov. 18, the first since 2012.

According to Mayor Tim Donohue, residential users will pay about $80 more each year, a move he described as necessary to cover increasing costs for processing at the Cape May County Municipal Utilities Authority.

If you extrapolate that by the month, its not a lot of money but people are on fixed incomes. We understand it will hurt some people but its a necessary step, he said at the meeting.

Township officials have discussed the increasing cost of sewer treatment at the county level, and looked for steps to address it, including improvements to its own sewer system. According to Donohue, the township sewer departments budget has remained level for years, while the county-level costs has skyrocketed.

Part of the reason is because Middle Townships population has increased while other towns have dropped, he said. Rainwater infiltration is also an issue. Cracks in the sewer pipes allow rain and groundwater to enter the system, which means the township ends up paying to treat clean water at the county system.

The last increase to residential sewer rates was in 2012. Since that time our costs from the county MUA have gone up substantially, Donohue said.

Through much of this year, Middle officials have focused on the issue, including meeting with MUA staff. In September, the committee approved a $211,475 contract with the engineering firm Mott MacDonald to evaluate the pumping stations.

Some of the 22 existing stations in the township are more than 30 years old and will need repairs or even replacement. Bringing the older stations up to standard may cost about $200,000 each, and about $50,000 more for the newer stations. He would expect the work would add another 20 years to the useful life of the pump stations, engineers estimate.

The township also plans to use cameras to explore the oldest section of the sewer system in Cape May Court House, which was built in 1937 and includes lengths of terra cotta pipes.

I want to make sure people understand were not just jacking up the sewer rate. Weve taken several pro-active steps of over the last year to analyze our current system, to budget capital funds to inspect and improve all our pumping stations, Donohue said at the meeting.

He said the township department has kept the system together for years with scotch tape and chicken wire.

Its time to address it, and part of that has to be an increase in the rate, Donohue said.

Susan Quinones, Middle Townships chief financial officer, addressed Township Committee at a workshop meeting earlier in the day.

Since the last rate increase, she said, during the sparsely attended work session, the annual cost for sewer treatment has grown from $1.62 million to a projected cost of $2.97 million for 2020, she said.

She said the department used surpluses and sought to control costs to avoid a rate increase for years. Quinones and Donohue said the increase is driven by the increased costs from the county MUA.

Those costs have increased from 40 percent of the township sewer budget to 60 percent of the cost this year.

Not everyone in Middle Township is a sewer customer. Some sections of the township continue to rely on well water and septic systems, and some use well water and also have a sewer connection. The township sewer department charges a flat rate, rather than using meters to determine a cost for each customer.

The current cost is $560 a year, set to increase to $640.

A public hearing and final vote on the ordinance are planned for 6 p.m. Dec. 16 at Township Hall, 33 Mechanic St. in Cape May Court House.

Read the original here:
Middle set to increase sewer rates - Press of Atlantic City

ASHEVILLE- Forget about Black Friday.

Plumbers know the day after Thanksgiving as something else altogether: "Brown Friday," so-named for the increase in service calls.

Plumbing giant Roto-Rooter, which has about 620 locations across the United States, reports a 50% increase in customer calls the day after Thanksgiving over regular Fridays, making it the busiest plumbing day the company faces all year.

Asheville's Blue Planet Plumbing also feels the annual crunch,with plenty of those service calls coming from broken, snarled or backed up garbage disposals.

So how do you avoid becoming part of that unsavory Brown Friday statistic? Make sure you're thinking about what you're dumping down your pipes, even if you have a disposal.

When a disposal is working properly, it macerates your leftover food into pulp, which then mixes with water, passes through tiny holes in the base of the device, then enters the waste stream.

At least that's how Asheville's Blue Planet Plumbing ownerGeorg Efird describes it. "Most of the time, these food particles will evacuate the plumbing system and never be a problem," he said.

But when plumbing lines aren't properly pitched, food, grease and other waste can accumulate, eventually causing a blockage.

It's also worth noting that the food you dump down the drain doesn't just disappear into the ether.

Roger Edwards, director of operations and pretreatment at the Metropolitan Sewerage District of Buncombe County, does not have an official stance on disposals, but he has a personal opinion and it's not a good one.

Never pour fats, oils or grease in your disposal. They congeal and can gum up the works.(Photo: -Oxford-, Getty Images)

"They solve the initial user's problems," he said diplomatically. "They grind food up and send it to the sewer, and we just end up trying to take it back out of the wastewater once it gets here to the plant."

That's right: The food you dump down the disposal just gets skimmed out at the wastewater treatment plant, where it's eventually shipped to the landfill. So basically, you've only made your food waste someone else's problem, and given it a more circuitous route to travel.

The most environmentally sensitive way to handle food waste is to compost what you can, and throw meat products in the trash. Of course, when you have bears in the neighborhood, that does complicate things.

On a septic system? Don't even bother with a garbage disposal. Though you may find some disposals on the market marked"septic safe,"there's really no such thing, Efird said.

More on food waste:

(Story continues below)

A look inside the Metropolitan Sewerage District's Water Reclamation Facility where Asheville's wastewater is processed. Angeli Wright, awright@citizen-times.com

Solids are removed from sewage arriving at the Metropolitan Sewerage District's water reclamation facility beginning the treatment process on Oct. 9, 2018. (Photo: Angeli Wright/awright@citizen-times.com)

Garbage disposals are convenient, but they have their limits. Never try to stuff large quantities of food down the drain. Also, skip anything stringy or particularly hard. As a point of reference, if you'd have a hard time chewing and swallowing something, chances are so will your disposal, according to Efird. These are just some of the food items you shouldn't put in your disposal:

While some of those food items can wrap around and snarl your disposal blades, others can accumulate and effectively narrow the diameter of your piping, eventually causing your plumbing to back up.

"Even worse, a lot of these items can make their way into the city sewer system, causing blockages on main lines, especially coagulated grease and animal fats," Efird said.

Those oily foes, which the folks at the MSD call FOG fats, oils and grease are particularly pernicious.

Roger Edwards, Wastewater Reclamation Facility Operations Manager, shows how clean the water leaving the facility has become after treatment as it is released back into the French Broad River as he gives a tour on Oct. 9, 2018.(Photo: Angeli Wright/awright@citizen-times.com)

FOG may take a while to coagulate, but once it does, it can block pipes anywhere from near the point of entryall the way to the wastewater treatment plant.

"And then it can solidify in our piping and can lead to blockages,"Edwards said.

With the MSD managing morethan 1,000 miles of public sewer pipes andprocessing about 20 million gallons of wastewater per day, there's a lot of room for error, especially with the oily food that tends to dominate Thanksgiving and Christmas.

More: Thanksgiving 2019: Book your reservations early! See Asheville restaurants open for the holiday

"We know there's a lot of cooking going on around the holidays, so we want to remind people not todump any of the drainage from their cooking process down the drain," Edwards said. "It all contains a certain amount of oil and grease."

And, as is always the case, Edwards said people should not use their toilets as trash cans.

"Don't put Q-tips and dental floss and cotton balls, or anything other than body waste and tissue paper in your toilet."

It may sound elemental, but the job of educating the public is never done.

"Always be mindful of what you're putting down your drain and down your toilet," Edwards said. "If you have something to dispose ofjust put it in your trash can, because it's going to end up in the landfill anyway."

The official word from Blue Planet Plumbing: No. Here's more, from the plumbing company's blog:

"The chemicals in many over the counter drain cleaners have high toxicity levels and create fumes that arent healthy to inhale. These cleaners are also damaging to metallic pipes, often completely destroying them underground or under slab."

Toxic fumes can hang around long after cleaners have gone down the drain, and the harsh chemicals can also eat away at the finishes in your tubs and sink.

Even worse, hydrochloric acid, the primary chemical used in many drain cleaners, can corrode underground pipes, leaching toxins into the soil.

The solution? Call a plumber, or don't put weird things down your drain in the first place.

You've been warned.

Read or Share this story: https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2019/11/26/brown-friday-thanksgiving-food-garbage-disposal-broken/4230922002/

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You absolutely should not put these Thanksgiving foods in your garbage disposal - Citizen Times

A new report authored by the International Labour Organization, WaterAid, World Bank and World Health Organization focuses on the well being of sanitation workers; their safety, health and dignity.

The report was launched on World Toilet Day, November 19 with the aim to direct attention to the working conditions of some of the most marginalized, poor and discriminated against members of society. The sanitation jobs include cleaning toilets, emptying pits and septic tanks, cleaning sewers and operating pumping stations and treatment plants.

The report focuses on those workers in the developing world who have no equipment, protection or legal rights and is the most extensive research on the subject to date.

The workers are often in direct contact with human waste and are exposed to a wide variety of health hazards and disease arising from exposure to toxic gases such as ammonia, carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide. While there are no global statistics available, it is estimated that in India alone, three workers die every five days.

The workers plight is not just health related. Pay ranges from non-existent to occasional, often paid in barter arrangements. There are no rights or social protections and often the work carries a social stigma.

The supporters of the project have spoken out claiming that the situation cannot be allowed to continue and that working conditions have to improve in order to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6. Jennifer Sara, Global Director, World Bank Water Global Practice, emphasizedthat this is the first time such a report has been issued and calledfor all sector actors to come together and improve the quality of the lives of sanitation workers.

Originally posted here:
Grim Working Conditions Of Millions Of Developing World Sanitation Workers - OOSKA News

It seems the Bohemian's coverage of the excessive levels of bacteria in the Petaluma River Watershed made some waves.

Over the past few weeks, river recreationists have thanked us for highlighting the issue and local officials have sought to clarify certain points highlighted in our initial reporting.

Still other river users asked us to weigh in on whether it is safe to swim in or eat fish from the Petaluma River Watershed.

This article will cover all of those issues below. First, here is a brief recap of the situation.

In order to determine whether fecal matter has seeped into the water, scientists test water for Fecal Indicator Bacteria (FIB). Though the FIB themselves are not dangerous, scientists use these strains of bacteria to test the level of fecal contamination in a water body, which can potentially be dangerous.

That fecal matter can come from a range of warm-blooded creatures, including humans, cows, horses and dogs. Some level of these bacteria is natural, but state and federal agencies have identified unsafe levels.

The main stem of the Petaluma River was first listed as "impaired" by excessive levels of fecal indicator bacteria in 1975.

Over the past several years, scientists from the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, one of nine regional boards around the state tasked with overseeing water quality, have tested for indicator bacteria in the Petaluma River Watershed.

The conclusion? In short, the levels exceed allowed amounts of indicator bacteria throughout the Petaluma River Watershed.

On Wednesday, Nov. 13, the regional board unanimously approved a plan, known as the Petaluma River Bacteria Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL). The board intends the TMDL to define the level of bacteriain this case, levels of FIBand provide a roadmap for solving the problem.

Weighing In

In separate letters to the Bohemian, the City of Petaluma and Friends of the Petaluma River expressed concern that our previous coverage highlighted the city's sewer treatment plant as a possible source of fecal matter.

The city staffers clarified that the sewage treatment plant itself is not a possible source of contamination, since they treat the sewage there to "exceptionally high standards."

My original article ['Waste Deep,' Nov. 6] included references to possible contamination coming from the city's sewage facility, rather than the sewer collection systemthe pipes that carry the raw sewage to the treatment facility.

As the water board's report notes, "Wastewater discharges from the [City of Petaluma's] Ellis Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant are not likely to contribute to FIB impairment of the river because they are disinfected to levels well below the applicable bacterial water quality objectives."

The Bohemian regrets the error in terminology.

Still, as city staffers acknowledge in their letter, some of the laterals and mains that make up the city's sewer collection system do sometimes overflow, mostly due to aging infrastructure coping with heavy storms.

The city staffers went on to highlight ongoing efforts to clean up the river and the surrounding watershed.

Those efforts include infrastructure upgrade projects, like "a major sewer replacement project in the City's older downtown area"; the city's Sewer Lateral Replacement Grant Program, which offers "financial assistance to property owners for the replacement of their private sewer laterals"; and public education campaigns aimed at curbing pollution from pet waste and stormwater runoff.

In a separate letter, Andy Rodgers, director of the nonprofit Friends of the Petaluma River, encouraged readers to take a broader view of the sources of bacteria, rather than focus on treatment facilities, as I did erroneously.

"Instead of looking at [public sewage treatment] facilities, we need to focus on the non-point sources: homeless encampments, domestic and agricultural animals, failing septic tanks and leach fields, urban runoff and especially elevating the awareness of our citizens and visitors to behave responsibly," Rodgers wrote.

TMDL Concerns

And that brings us to one criticism of the regional water board's current plan.

In a letter to the board in early September, staff members from San Francisco Baykeeper, an environmental nonprofit, contended that the board's proposed plan to clean up the river, known as a TMDL, does not meet the definition laid out in federal regulations.

In short, Baykeeper argues that, although the SF Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board calls its plan a TMDL, the current plan does not meet the requirements needed to use that name.

For instance, Ben Eichenberg, a staff attorney at San Francisco Baykeeper, tells the Bohemian that the current plan does not properly differentiate between the multiple possible sources of fecal matter.

Without that information, it makes it hard to hold any potential sources of bacteria accountable.

"They're just guessing about what's causing the pollution," Eichenberg says. "Based on those guesses they've thrown together some ideas to randomly try to fix the pollution without any plan to measure how well the ideas are working."

Due to that weakness and others in the TMDL, it could "take decades longer to solve the problem," Eichenberg says.

In their responseto Baykeeper's concerns, Regional Water Board staff repeatedly wrote that they "disagree" with the nonprofit's interpretations of the requirements of a TMDL.

"This TMDL includes requirements for all sources of bacteria throughout the watershed," staff wrote in part.

Still, although the regional water board approved the TMDL unanimously on Wednesday, Nov. 13, the current plan isn't necessarily a done deal.

Eichenberg says the California State Water Resources Control Board and then the Environmental Protection Agency will both review the TMDL before it officially goes into effect. Either agency could potentially make changes.

Community Concerns

Several readers have asked whether or not it is safe to swim in or eat the fish from the waters of the Petaluma River Watershed. This reporter asked the Sonoma County's Health Officer, Dr. Celeste Philips, to weigh in. Her answers, edited for length, are below:

Is it safe to swim in the river?

"Swimming is not recommended when e.coli levels surpass the [state] exceedance threshold. We advise people to follow these instructions when coming into contact with water in the river," Dr. Philips says.

Dr. Philips' other advisories include: Do not swallow water; Do not drink river water or use it for cooking; Adults and children should wash hands/shower and towel dry after swimming; Rinse off pets after they come into contact with the water and do not swim when sick.

Is it safe to eat fish from the river?

Dr. Philips notes that the California Office of Environmental Health Assessment does not list the Petaluma River on its California Fish Advisory Map, which offers "current information regarding fish consumption advisories for freshwater bodies throughout the State."

"That said, we advise that for fish caught in the Petaluma River that people throw away the guts and clean fillets with tap water or bottled water before cooking," Dr. Philips adds.

See original here:
River Redux - North Bay Bohemian

Most Americans do not give a second thought to what happens after they turn on a faucet handle or flush a toilet. This is because the result is always the same: Clean, potable water comes out, available to drink, wash hands, cook food, clean clothes, or tidily dispose of waste, whatever the case may be.

Yet in many places throughout the country, running water is a scarce resource, or even an unattainable luxury. A report released earlier this week sheds new light on the scope of this phenomenon, and its conclusions are startling. More than two million people in the world's most prosperous democracy live without running water or modern plumbing. And although socioeconomic status correlates with water and wastewater services access, race is the single strongest predictor: African-American and Latinx households are almost twice as likely as white households to not have full indoor plumbing, while Native American households are about 19 times as likely, the report says. The researchers caution that given the challenges in obtaining accurate data from the groups most affected by the "water access gap," these figures may be undercounts.

The water crisis in Flint, Michigan, is perhaps the most infamous recent example of racial inequities in water access, where local officials' failure to adequately treat tap water exposed the city's nearly 100,000 residents, more than half of whom are black, to dangerous levels of lead and other contaminants. The problem is also acute in more remote or rural areas, including certain majority-black communities in the Deep South, majority-Latinx communities in California's Central Valley, and Native American reservations in the Southwest, among others. Nationwide, 17 percent of people in rural areas have had trouble obtaining potable water, and 12 percent have experienced problems with their sewage systems, according to the report. In some places, conditions are getting worse, not better. "In six states and Puerto Rico, we're going backwardsfewer people will have running water next year than this year," says George McGraw, the founder and CEO of DigDeep, a nonprofit that co-authored the report.

These racial and socioeconomic disparities are not an accident. In an effort to cut down on the dangers posed by waterborne diseases, Congress passed the Safe Water Drinking Act in 1974, a landmark statute that empowers the Environmental Protection Agency to set and enforce national standards for drinking-water-contaminant levels. And throughout most of the previous century, the federal government invested heavily in infrastructure, making water and wastewater services available in some of the nation's previously far-flung corners. Especially in cities and towns with higher population densities, this was a no-brainer investment in public health and economic productivity, and allowed utilities to provide high-quality water to consumers at relatively low prices.

This infrastructure boom, however, was not equal-opportunity. Cities and towns building out their systems would not always do so in majority-minority areas nearby. As the report documents, in the 1950s, the town of Zanesville, Ohio, did not build water lines in its African-American neighborhoods, and the following decade Roanoke, Virginia, did not extend its infrastructure to Hollins, a neighboring majority-black town. Discriminatory local government law practices also played a role: In the Central Valley of California, predominantly Latinx communities were discouraged from formally incorporating, which prevented them from accessing construction financing available to cities and towns. As a result, no one bothered to install a water system in the first place. Even today, there are places in the country where homes lack running water, within walking distance of neighborhoods that enjoy the full spectrum of water and sanitation services, says Zo Roller, senior program manager at the nonprofit U.S. Water Alliance, which also co-authored the report.

The rest is here:
The Hidden Racial Inequities of Water Access in America - GQ

Alex Hackman picks up a shovel and digs in to what used to be a cranberry bog.Down through an inch or two of tough green cranberry vines, down into the sandy soil beneath. Down, down, down.

"It's tough going," says Hackman, stopping to catch his breath. "This is, you know, a century of effort by the prior farmers to have this beautiful dense layer of cranberry vines."

Hackman is a restoration ecologist with the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration. He runs a state program dedicated to turning cranberry bogs back into wetlands.

The state program partners with the UDSA's Wetland Reserve Easement Program, which has been around for decades. But lately there's been an uptick of interest from local farmers, says Brian Wick, executive director of the Cape CodCranberry Growers Association. That's because the cranberry business has been tough in recent years, with prices driven down by competition from Canada and Wisconsin, and the trade war with China. One of the biggest challenges the bog-to-wetland program faces, says Wick, is finding enough money to meet the demand.

"As the price of cranberries has been down, a lot of growers have been turning to that [program]as a possibility," Wick says. "This is a good option for the growers, because short of that its selling off house lots that surround the bogs. So youre left with very limited options of what you can do with that property."

Its a potentialwin-win situation.Farmers get much-needed cash. The state gets a wetland, which can absorb water and prevent flooding an increasing risk with heavier rainstorms and rising sea levels linked to climate change. Wetlands also absorb pollutants, store carbon, and provide homes for fish and wildlife.

But even though many cranberry bogs were built inlow-lying, swampy areas, turning a bog back to a wetland can be harder than you might think. That's because cranberry bogs are surprisinglydry. And that's why Hackman is digging a hole in a retired bog. He says that farmers add a layer of sand to their bogs every few years, which helps cranberries grow. Aftera 100 years, that leaves a lot of sand.

He pries out a block of soil and holds it up. It looks like a layer cake of light sand and darker dirt.He shakes the soil and sand showers out.

"The thing thats different about this soil than the native wetland soil is that this will not hold water well," says Hackman. "This is sand, and water will move through this and go underground. Wetlands need to hold water to be a wetland."

There's another reason the bogs are dry, says Hackman: the "plumbing" that farmers install on the surface. Cranberry farmers use ditches and dams to steer water where they need it irrigating crops for the growing season, or flooding them for harvest. The ditches are useful for farming, but like the sand disrupt the wetland's natural ability to hold water.

About a foot below the sandy top layers, Hackman hits rich, black peat the original wetland. Part of getting back to that wetland involves removing, or at least "roughing up" those top feet of soil. The other part is creating more natural waterways on the surface you rip out the plumbing, as Hackman says, and wait for the wetland to return.

The amount of work required, he explains, depends a lot on the cranberry bog itself.

"Some of these sites require very little intervention or even none to become wetlands again," Hackman says.For instance, low-lying bogs with a lot of peat underneath probably need less help; others may need more.

"One of our challenges is determining where we need to do active intervention to restore wetlands," he said, "and where we can just walk away and let these lands self-heal."

Nature's Filter

There's another pressing question: How much can these restored wetlands improve water quality? This is an important question, given water pollution problems in southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod. Many households in these areas use septic systems, which leach nitrogen into groundwater. The excess nutrients pollute ponds and estuaries, causing algae blooms thatharmnative eel grass, fish and crabs.

The groundwater pollution is so bad in Falmouth, for example, thatit affects almost every estuary in town. The town considered installing a municipal sewer system, but balked at the $600 million price tag. Town officials and residentsare hoping that restored wetlands can be part of the solution.

Ecologist Chris Neill shares their hope. A senior scientist at the Woods Hole Research Center, he's studying a recently restored wetland on theCoonamessett River, which feeds into Falmouth's Great Pond. By measuring how much nitrogen the wetland absorbs before and after restoration, he hopes to quantify its impact.

"And then hopefully the town could use that removal and calculate that into their overall strategy," Neill says. "So maybe by building 30 or 40 acres of restored wetlands, we can build less sewers and run pipes to fewer houses, and get the same nitrogen removal. That would save the town lots and lots of money into the millions and even tens of millions of dollars."

Restoring a bog can be pricey.The state's first project, completed in 2010, converted a Plymouth cranberry bog into 40 acres of wetlands at the Eel River Headwaters Reserve. The projecttook about a year, and included some roadwork, removing a dam, roughing up the surface soil,and planting20,000 Atlantic white cedars a tree native to New England swamps. In total, the project cost about $2 million.

"Thats well worth it," Hackman says. "You know, these lands provide important services, like water purification, water storage, fish and wildlife habitat. And so why wouldnt we pay for that?"

Help For Farmers

The cost also includes payments to farmers for their land. The going rate for the program is $13,600 an acre, which sounds pretty good to cranberry farmer Jeff Kapell.

"Were kind of in a bad phase right now where theres a very low price for the fruit, and so people are trying to hang on in any way they can," says Kapell, who has been growing cranberries in Plymouth for 40 years.

Kapell briefly considered selling one of his bogs to a solar farm. But hes decided to go with the wetland option.

"I would feel very good about being able to put this into conservancy," he says. "All of the land around us is protected forever, and I think thats what this parcel should be."

Kapell plans to retire the bog next year and reinvest the money into the rest of his farm. He'll keep growing cranberries on the other bogs he owns for as long as he can.

See original here:
The State Wants To Turn Cranberry Bogs Into Wetlands. It's Gritty Work - WBUR

Senior Services of Midland County has an important mission: To help seniors keep their independence and stay in their homes as long as possible.

Charlie Schwedler, the organizations executive director, said all of the organizations programs and service are centered around this goal.

We try to do whatever we can do, whatever is possible, to help people stay in their homes for as long as they would like to stay in their homes, Schwedler said.

Senior Services has five centers: the Greendale Center, Mills center, Coleman Center, Sanford Center and Trailside Center in Midland.

Those centers are hubs that host several activities and events for seniors: congregate meals, exercise classes, educational sessions on a number of topics, Tuesday Ted Talks, card games and more.

The center also offers support and education classes for caregivers, which Schwedler said is important because caregivers dont always have support in difficult situations. There are education classes about the brains functions and about conditions like Parkinsons, dementia and Alzheimers to help caregivers understand what their loved one is going through.

Through their partnership with Family & Childrens Services, the organization offers free counseling for seniors. Because transportation can often be a barrier when it comes to seeking mental health services, the center offers transportation services as well.

Senior Services relies heavily on volunteers, especially for its transportation and programs such as Meals on Wheels, Friendly Visitors and Handyman Services, which are all composed entirely of volunteers. The organization has more than 500 volunteers in all of their programs combined.

If we didnt have volunteers, we simply couldnt do what we do, Schwedler said.

Senior Services owns 14 vehicles, all driven by volunteers who pick seniors up and take them to doctors or counseling appointments, shopping, hair appointments or whatever their transportation need might be. They also transport seniors to and from the center. All volunteers go up to the seniors doors and help them walk in and out of the car, Schwedler said.

Volunteers are also the force behind Friendly Visitors, a program in which seniors can sign up to have someone simply come visit with them and spend some time with them. Lately, Schwedler said the organization has placed a focus on programs like Friendly Visitors that can help seniors feel less lonely.

One of the things were finding out, were really focusing on this lately, is that isolation and loneliness has a direct effect on your health, whatever age you are but especially for older adults, Schwedler said.

Another Senior Services program is Team Handyman, which is a partnership with the Midland Fire Department and Mid-Michigan Health. Volunteers for Team Handyman fulfill a number of services to make sure seniors have safe home, such as ensuring that they have up-to-date fire alarms in their homes, installing or ordering handrails around the home or anything else they might need to make sure their home is safe.

For bigger tasks such as installing ramps or making a home wheelchair accessible, the center has a partnership with Home To Stay Housing Assistance Center.

Through Senior Services Care Coordination and Care Management program, seniors can get help with setting up health benefits such as their own programs like Meals on Wheels and transportation.

Senior Services also has volunteer and staff experts available through their Health Benefits hotline to walk seniors through Medicare open enrollment, help them figure out their health care and prescription coverage option, enroll them in these programs. In the last year, the hotline received more than 426 callers. Schwedler said no matter what the callers concern is, they will find a way to help them.

If we cant help them, we find the group in the community that can help them, Schwedler said.

Meals on Wheels is one of the organizations biggest programs. All of the nearly 200 people who drive and deliver the food to seniors in Midland County are volunteers, Schwedler said. The Meals on Wheels and the congregate meals hosted at the center are all prepared by a nutrition staff, led by a dietician.

More than 130,759 meals were delivered to 983 seniors from 2018-2019, according to the organizations annual report.

The organizations day facility called Seasons, located on Dublin Avenue, offers respite care to seniors with Dementia, Parkinsons or anything else they may need assistance with throughout the day. There are nurses, recreational therapists and aids who work with people who come in. Schwedler said the day facility is another effort to lessen the emotional and mental load of caregivers.

It can be almost as much for the caregiver as is it for the person with their ailment, so (respite allows people to go to work, go shopping, or just have a minute to themselves because, folks need that. Its a tough duty when you are supporting a person who has these kinds of issues, Schwedler said.

A big aspect of Senior Services is helping seniors has a sense of community, whether it be through their meals, exercise classes, their Ted Talks, and the other many programs they host at their center.

Its all about keeping yourself active, yourself engaged, and connecting with other folks that have similar issues or similar backgrounds, Schwedler said. "Our community is really big, and obviously we would like it to be bigger than it is, we would like more people to come we believe were still one of the best kept secrets.

Schwedler said a lot of people, even lifelong Midland residents, arent aware of everything Senior Services offers. Thats why theyve begun offering tours of their services, for people to come in, see their facility and hear everything that they offer.

To learn more about Senior Services of Midland County, or how to volunteer with the organization, visit serniorservicesmidland.org. In addition to general volunteering, there is an option on the website for people to volunteer a specific skill of theirs, such as working with healthcare or insurance companies, handyman skills and more.

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GIVING THANKS: Helping our seniors - Midland Daily News

Indian largest Airlines i.e. Air India Air Transport Services Limited (AIATSL) has welcomed applications for the Customer Agent, Handyman/Handywomen and other posts. The qualified persons can appear for a walk-in-interview scheduled on 15 December 2019.

Vacancy Details

The vacancy Includes-

Eligibility Criteria

Educational Qualification

The candidate should be a Graduate from a distinguished university under 10+2+3 pattern with knowledge of basic computer operations. Preference will be given to candidates having Diploma in IATA-UFTA or IATA-FIATAA/IATA-DGR/IATA-CARGO/Candidates having the relevant experience in Airline.

The candidate shall be SSC/10th Standard Pass. Knowledge of English and Hindi Languages, ie., ability to understand and speak is desirable. Airport Experience will be preferred.

The candidate shall have Three (03) years Diploma in Engineering recognized by the State Government/ITI with NCTVT (Total 3 years) in motor vehicle Auto Electrical/Air conditioning/Diesel Mechanic/Bench fitter/Welder, after passing SSC/Relevant examination with Hindi/English/local language as one of the subjects. AND Applicant must carry an original valid Heavy Motor Vehicle Driving License at the time of appearing for the Trade Test.

The candidate shall be Min. Class 10th Pass Must carry original valid HMV driving license at the time of appearing for Trade Test.

Pay Scale:

The pay scale shall be Rs. 19,350 per month.

The pay scale shall be Rs. 14,610 per month.

The pay scale shall be Rs. 19,350 per month.

The pay scale shall be Rs. 16,530 per month.

How to Apply?

The qualified persons can appear for a walk-in-interview scheduled on 15 December 2019. Kindly write your Full Name, & Mobile No. at the reverse side of the Demand Draft.

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AIATSL Recruitment 2019: Walk-in-Interview for 46 Posts on 15th December 2020, Check here for Eligibility and Selection Process - PaGaLGuY

In 1978, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designated Long Island, a Sole Source Aquifer because of its total dependence on groundwater for its water supply. The conservation of this resource continues to be crucial to the future of Long Island.

Nearly 40 years later, in January 2016, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation directed all public water suppliers on Long Island to develop plans to reduce peak water consumption (e.g. summer water demand) by 15 percent over the next three to four years and to submit reports on their plans and progress.

The following information summarizes the progress and plans outlined in the information submitted by the Long Island water suppliers to the DEC around April 2017:

Non-revenue WaterThere were several actions that nearly all water suppliers reported on. One issue was tracking the amount of water that is pumped from the aquifers but is lost from the water system or is unaccounted for. Water suppliers now refer to this as non-revenue water. This is water the does not reach the customer or generate a payment to the water supplier. A typical level of non-revenue water for a water system is 10 percent. Eleven suppliers reported levels that were above the industry standard of 10 percent.

Reducing Water ConsumptionMost suppliers are installing new or upgraded water meters that have enhanced features such as remote reading and time of use metering. The new meters provide more accurate information about water use and help improve water use tracking by suppliers.

Old water meters tend to undercount water use. Unusual spikes in water consumption due to leaks can be detected more quickly with the new meters. Year-to-year comparisons of water use are also easier to generate and report to customers by using the new meters.

Tiered water rates are becoming the industry standard on Long Island. A tiered rate structure is one that charges higher amounts for a given quantity of water as consumption increases. This is a good tool for promoting water conservation.

Top 10 Water Users in each water system is reported by most water suppliers. Some water providers are contacting their top 10 and offering them assistance to reduce their water use through actions such as water audits and water conservation strategies.

Lawn irrigation and outdoor water use is the single highest water-demanding activity reported by most water customers. Water use in cold months is viewed as the baseline water demand level, representing indoor water consumption.

The aquifers and water infrastructure systems are most stressed during the warm summer months when large amounts of water are used for irrigation. Pumpage in summer is 2 to 3 times greater than groundwater pumpage in the winter.

Also of note are the benefits of landscaping with native or drought-tolerant plants, including low-maintenance grasses.

Reducing indoor water demand is promoted by many suppliers who may offer water conservation kits, low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators. Some districts promote the U.S. EPA WaterSense program that provides information to help customers find water-saving devices and practices. Products that can reduce water use by at least 20% or more can display the WaterSense logo.

Additional benefits of conserving are reported by water suppliers. Pumping and treating water requires a significant amount of energy and other resources. For example, the Suffolk County Water Authority reported that in winter, it can operate with fewer than 100 wells, but in summer over 600 wells are needed to meet demand.

SCWA is the largest energy consumer in Suffolk County in the summer. A similar demand for energy in summer is likely created by water suppliers in Nassau County. Using less water reduces demand on the energy grid, and saves money on chemicals and other treatment costs.

Note: In the summer of 2019, various water suppliers promoted the use of smart irrigation system controls that help to reduce or stop irrigation when lawns do not need additional water.

(Elizabeth Bailey prepared this report.)

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Earth Matters: Long Island Water suppliers' plans for reducing peak water consumption - Blog - The Island Now