Your friendly neighborhood reporter Yanqi Xu is filling in for Matthew today.
It’s been a while since I last showed up in your inbox, because I was visiting family in China earlier this year. I had nice reunions with some high school friends. Seeing them now going into different career paths was quite an experience. Some were curious about my job. I joked that being a reporter lets me ask questions, but I kind of do it 24/7, as we are constantly reading about what’s happening, thinking about what we should cover next (btw, we have a tipline: [email protected]. Please get in touch with story tips!).
But I recently learned about another demanding, around-the-clock job: an operator for a public water system. There are so many different chemicals in our water, some of which can cause harm to human health. Operators need to watch water quality and act quickly to find alternatives when a contaminant poses a threat to public safety.
I spoke with two water operators, Marty Stange and Lynn Mayhew, from Hastings and Grand Island, respectively. Both observed upward uranium levels in their municipal wells more than a decade ago. An irrigation well 4 miles from a Hastings municipal well tested 300-plus parts per billion of uranium, 10 times the Environmental Protection Agency drinking water standard.
Uranium, a heavy metal that exists in Nebraska’s aquifer sediments, sometimes creeps into our water. Its presence worries University of Nebraska Medical Center experts, who are examining potential links between uranium, as well as other waterborne contaminants, with pediatric cancers. Experts say we don’t know the full picture yet, especially in rural areas where some home wells are not required to be tested.
Both cities’ water treatment plants remove uranium in their drinking water and have stabilized uranium levels. But Marty and Lynn know that the uranium has not magically disappeared – it’s still there in our aquifer.
After discovering high uranium levels in and around Hastings, Marty tried to figure out how it got there. He called experts. Dr. Karrie Weber, a microbiology professor at UNL, helped. Her team has been doing research on the linkage between uranium and high nitrate, and recently found in an experiment that nitrate — an odorless, colorless contaminant largely from agricultural production — can mobilize uranium, and prompts its release into water.
But years later with continued groundwater monitoring, Marty knows some pockets of uranium seem to be moving southeast with the groundwater flow toward the city. To avoid the high uranium water in the northern part of the city and high nitrate to the west of it, the city is drawing water from a precise area in between.
That’s why we need water operators! But to our readers on private wells, experts told me it’s never a bad idea to get your well tested.
We’ve got (new) T-shirts!
Next Friday, April 7th, 4 -7 pm! At Omaha RAYGUN at 1108 Jackson St! We will be unveiling some new merch! We are excited! Hence the exclamation points! We won’t tell you what new merch we’ll have just yet ’cuz you may wanna come find out! (Wait, did I tell you already?)
Baseball history
Judging from the looks on their faces, our executive director and editor were probably preoccupied with something else other than work on Opening Day. And I also learned something new.
Many thought the 2019 game at Omaha’s TD Ameritrade Park was the first major league baseball in the state. Our freelancer and sports correspondent Kevin Warneke tells you why it may not be, and we likely had our first more than 70 years ago.
He talked to 93-year-old Tony Thulin from Oxford, who watched the Kansas City Monarchs play against the Memphis Red Sox on the rodeo grounds in the small town. With Major League Baseball recognizing some Negro League clubs as “Major League,” experts believe this 1948 game should carry MLB status (and maybe a Lincoln game even earlier, too).
Desk neighbor wanted (plus you get to be FFP’s advancement director):
Come work with me! FFP is hiring a director of advancement. This is a director-level job for someone driven to help power the mission of nonprofit journalism in Nebraska – who will work to ensure that we can tell more important stories to a statewide audience.
You can sit (or stand) right next to me. We have standing desks, but no judgment whichever desk you pick.
Thanks to our sponsors: This week it’s History Nebraska, which sponsors our coverage of Nebraska history stories like this week’s about an important baseball game more than 70 years ago.
Sincerely,
—Yanqi Xu, FFP Reporter
Here’s what we’re into this week: News from around Nebraska
Every week we like to share great Nebraska journalism, no matter who made it. Here’s what caught our eye this week:
- Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert promised to increase the diversity of some 40 city boards and commissions. But as Jessica Wade at the World-Herald found out, the racial and ethnic makeup of these mayor-appointed positions barely changed since the mayor’s pledge in 2020. I raised my eyebrows when I read this sentence in the story, “In fact, the Mayor’s Office isn’t even keeping track of appointee demographics — and doesn’t intend to.”
- Nebraska’s teacher of the year said she’s being bullied by state ed board vice president Kirk Penner online. Penner criticized Lincoln teacher Renee Jones multiple times over the drag queen issue, Lauren Wagner at the World-Herald reported.
- What state office should oversee up to $400 million broadband funds? Aaron Sanderford at the Nebraska Examiner wrote about the legislature’s debate on whether to keep such authority under the Public Service Commission or move it under Gov. Pillen’s new broadband office.
- Nebraska Public Media’s Aaron Bonderson had an important story about the loss of grocery stores in Nebraska’s rural towns. These communities have come up with solutions: co-ops, nonprofits and even school-run groceries, including this one in Cody run by local students.
- Add this story to your reading reading list! It’s another good one about how schools are serving students with dyslexia from Lauren Wagner (again)! She followed up on what’s been done after a bill to increase reading proficiency 5 years ago, a lack of reporting on student dyslexia from schools, and renewed interest in helping these students.
