Albuquerque Water Reclaimation Tour

I found the tour to be really fascinating. I did see a TV program on the waste water treatment plant for Los Angeles county in California on the Discovery Channel before the tour, so I had somewhat of an idea of what to expect. What I found really interesting was the smell and how the foulness didn't last very long. At the beginning of the tour the smell was really bad and I expected the smell to linger longer than it did. After the first two stops the air was breathable (at the first stop it was really hard to breath), and by the end of the tour I felt like it would be safe to swim in the water being put back into the river. I think it's great that the technologies are available to us where we can treat water that is useless and put it back into the river without the water destroying the animal and plant life that surrounds it. There were a few things that I was a bit curious about though. Our guide explained to us that the plant, which uses mother nature to do all of the work, is very bad at cleaning out chemicals. Metals like mercury and substances found in birth control pills and other medicines aren't effectively filtered out. I believe he even mentioned that a study was done on the reproductive ability on fish was taken after being exposed to the treated waste water and it was shown that it had lowered. I think this is a small issue compared to what things would be like with no water treatment, but research should be going on (if it's not already). Prior to the tour I never really thought about waste water and how it was treated in depth. I assumed it was filtered somehow, but I never thought about where the water went after it was treated. I'm happy I went on the trip.

Montana Data

Population Density by County

White Persons percent 2006	89.70%
Black Persons percent 2006	0.50%
American Indian and Alaska native persons, percent 2006	6.30%
Asian persons, percent 2006	0.60%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, percent, 2006	0.10%
Some other race	0.90%
Persons reporting two or more races, percent, 2006	1.60%
Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin, percent, 2006	2.20%

	Montana Data	National Data
Housing units, 2006	432,023	126,316,181	(0.342% of U.S. Housing units)
Homeownership rate, 2000	69.10%	66.20%
Housing units in multi-unit structures, percent, 2000	15.70%	26.40%
Median value of owner-occupied housing units, 2000	$99,500.00	$119,600.00

Montana is the 44th largest state in population with 997,195 people and the 4th largest state in area with 147,165 square miles. This brings the population density to 6.19/sq mi (48th most densely populated state only Alaska and Wyoming are less densely populated). Montana is a large state and with only 6.19 people per square mile. This leaves much of the state with it's natural recourses available. The lumber industry as well as mining is a big part of the economy. Cattle grazing as well as agriculture is also a large part of the Montana economy. Tourism is a large contributer to the Montana economy as well, there are many natural destinations including Glacier National Park, and part of Yellowstone National Park. There are also many ski areas littered throughout the state as well that bring people from the west as well as Canada.

There are two major universities in Montana; Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana and University of Montana in Missoula, Montana. Both universities have other branches scattered in the state. There are Montana State branches in Billings, and in Havre. There are University of Montana branches in Butte (Montana Tech of the University of Montana), Dillon (University of Montana Western), and Helena (University of Montana – Helena College of Technology). All of these schools are state funded and are major employers in the state.

Billings is the largest city in Montana with 95,220 people. Missoula (60,722people) and Helena (26,718 people) are two other major cities. The University of Montana is in Missoula and Helena is the Capital city and home to Carroll College (private school) and University of Montana – Helena College of Technology (state funded).

(1) Montana QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau "http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/30000.html"
(2) Fact Sheet - American Fact Finder "http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ACSSAFFFacts?_event=Search&_lang=en&_sse=on&geo_id=04000US30&_state=04000US30"
(3) Billings (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau "http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/30/3006550.html"
(4) Missolua (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau "http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/30/3050200.html"
(5) Helena (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau "http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/30/3035600.html"
(6) Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montana)

The Rail Runner and Public Transportation in New Mexico

I think the emphasis on public transportation is a very important issue in Albuquerque, Santa Fe and the surrounding areas. Public transportation in Albuquerque and New Mexico has not attracted much focus of many law makers and politicians or even the citizens in past generations. This is mostly because New Mexico is so spread out and with oil prices much lower than todays oil prices, it really wasn't a problem to fill up the station waggon and drive to your destination. Today's much different. Oil prices have sky rocketed and it costs much more to fill up your SUV than it did before. People are looking for alternatives forms of transportation. Also, people are become more aware of the impact the pollutants coming from our vehicles are making on our environment.

A large number of people drive from Santa Fe to Albuquerque and from Albuquerque to Santa Fe. The Rail Runner relieves traffic from 1-25 and also takes drivers off the road. This, in turn, reduces the gases that are released in the air. In a growing region, it is important to keep issues of transportation and air cleanliness in mind for future generations. Gas prices don't seem like they're going down anytime soon, in fact many law makers are backing a tax increase to kind of ease more people to stop driving and start taking advantage of our public transportation.