M-Uncaster Farming Saturday, January 25,1992
LEWISBURG (Union Co.)
HjO. Water. That word and those
letters were probably the first ones
we all learned in chemistry class.
Water is vital to our health and
to the economic well-being of
every community in the Susque
hanna Valley. It is probably more
vital than food, because we can
survive on little or no food for sev
eral days, but without water, survi
val time is measured in hours.
Rural areas of Pennsylvania
such as the Susquehanna Valley
rely heavily on groundwater.
Recent studies indicate that the
quality and quantity of water sup
plies in rural areas may be in jeo
pardy because of a wide array of
human activities taking place on
our land in both urban and rural
areas.
Despite rather frequent reports
of groundwater contamination,
few people are presently con
cerned about protecting our
groundwater. Probably because of
this lack of concern, few local gov
ernment officials appear to be con
cerned about taking actions that
would protect our valuable
groundwater resource.
Because of these studies, about
two years ago several Penn State
Cooperative Extension staff and
members of the League of Women
Voters met to discuss the ground
water issue in Pennsylvania. Was
it a concern of the general public?
Should it be of concern? What
information was available to
answer those questions? Studies
indicated, and there was a general
concensus among the group, that
there was evidence that our
groundwater was in jeopardy.
Subsequent information gather
ing meetings convinced the group
to initiate the Pennsylvania
Groundwater Policy Education
Project. A joint application by
Penn State Cooperative Extension
and The League Of Women Voters
of Pennsylvania to The W. K. Kel
logg Foundation was viewed
favorably and funding become
available for the Pennsylvania
Groundwater Policy Education
project
“We hope to raise awareness of
the need for sound public policy to
protect our groundwater resour
ces,” said Dr. Charles Abdalla,
project co-director and associate
professor of agricultural econom
ics in Penn State’s College of Agri
culture. Abdalla said the goal is to
encourage citizen participation in
Groundwater To Be Issue Of ’9os
groundwater policy and land-use
decisions and foster cooperation
among various public and private
groups.
“Protecting groundwater qual
ity and quantity depends on many
seemingly small decisions made
by local governments and indivi
duals,” said project co-director
Edith Stevens, a water specialist
with the League of Women Voters
of Pennsylvania. “We hope this
project will enhance public under
standing of how activities on the
land affect the water beneath the
•surface.”
The first phase of the project
was a series of six regional training
conferences designed to help mun
icipal officials. League members.
Cooperative Extension staff, and
interested citizens to better under
stand the groundwater situation in
Pennsylvania. During October/
November, several hundred
attended the conferences and
learned about groundwater charac
teristics, sources of contamination,
and local management tools avail
able to protect groundwater.
Participants learned that local
officials have the authority to
develop land use regulations that
can have an effect on how much or
how little we contaminate our
groundwater. As part of the Pen
nsylvania Groundwater Public
Policy Education, a survey was
made to determine what municipal
officials thought about the ground
water situation in Pennsylvania.
Twenty five hundred and sixty-one
municipal governments received
the survey, and 53 percent
responded.
The survey results indicated that
in northeastern Pennsylvania,
more than half (SB.S percent) of
the officials indicated that ground
water is not an issue. Twenty per
cent said it was of concern, but
only five percent said it was an
issue and had taken government
action.
Officials were asked where they
placed groundwater on their list of
priority issues. A little more than
10 percent indicated it was of
prime importance. Almost one
third said it was co-equal with
other important issues. Another
one-third said it was of secondary
importance and one-fourth said it
was of little importance.
Lack of money, community
awareness, and technical assis
tance were the major barriers local
Bread Price Rise Unjustified ,
Say Leaders
DENVER, Colo. The
nation’s bakers and food retailers
will be price-gouging American
consumers if they raise the price
of bread by five cents or more per
loaf as recently predicted by the
“Wall Street Journal,” Farmers
Union leaders and North Dakota
Congressman Byron Doigan said
recently.
To demonstrate their point, the
Farmers Union and Dorgan are
sending laminated heels of bread
and background material on the
farmers’ share of a loaf of bread to
the editorial and business writers
of the nation’s major newspapers
and television networks.
‘Traditionally, the heel in a loaf
of bread represents the fanners
officials perceived to doing some
thing about groundwater in their
municipalities. When questioned
about the types of assistance
needed to begin work on the
groundwater issues in their com
munities, more than half of all offi
cials returning surveys indicated
they needed funding, education,
and data on local groundwater
conditions.
The survey results indicated to
conference participants that there
share of the cost of that loaf no
matter what the price of wheat is,”
said Dorgan, charging that the
price of bread bears little relation
to the price of wheat.
If there were a direct price rela
tionship between wheat prices and
bread prices, you ought to see
bread prices fall when wheat
prices decline, said North Dakota
Farmers Union President Alan
Bergman, a North Dakota wheat
producer. “Unfortunately, that
does not happen.”
Bergman noted that in 1981, a
one pound loaf of bread sold for
52 cents while wheat brought
$3.65 per bushel; in 1991, howev
er, the same loaf of bread cost 73
cents and wheat sold for $3.21 per
bushel. In between, prices for
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[PENNSYLVANIA!
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is a lot of work to be done by the
Pennsylvania Groundwater Public
Policy group and others in
Pennsylvania.
If you would like to know more
about groundwater in Pennsylva
nia, call or visit your local
cooperative extension office or
contact a member of the League of
Women Voters and ask for a copy
of the publication, “A Primer for
Pennsylvanians.”
wheat fell as low as $2.40 and
bread prices did not decline.
‘There is absolutely no justifi
cation for raising the price of a
loaf of bread by a full nickel other
than greed,” said National Far
mers Union President Leland
Swenson.
Swenson explained that when
wheat prices average about $3.80
per bushel the level which has
prevailed in recent weeks the
farmers share of a loaf of bread
averages about 5.7 cents and when
wheat prices are at $2.40 per
bushel last year’s level the
farmers share is about 3.7 cents.
“Given that fact, how can the
bakers and retailers justify raising
the price of bread a nickel?”
Swenson asked.
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