Tomorrow is the first day of summer and the heat has arrived! I'm so thankful for the rains we have received this week. The plants are so happy to have the moisture. Many of the towns surrounding Des Moines are under a ban for watering lawns.
The nitrate level is too high in our water source and the nitrate removal system can't keep up with the usage. That is a problem unique to agriculture areas. I was surprised to learn that Des Moines has the largest nitrate removal facility in the world. The system can process 10 million gallons of water a day at a cost of more than $10,000 a day.
Many Des Moines area cities get their water from the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers. The high nitrate levels are primarily due to agricultural runoff from fertilizers and animal waste that accumulates in the soil. The nitrates then wash into waterways during rainfall exacerbating the concentration of nitrates in the water sources. Unfortunately a remedy for this problem is still a ways off.
On another topic, today is Juneteenth, a federal holiday in the United States since 2021. Juneteenth is celebrated annually to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States. On June 19, 1865 Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, to proclaim that more than 250,000 enslaved African Americans in Texas were free. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued nearly two and a half years earlier by President Abraham Lincoln. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, but the ongoing Civil War limited the reach of implementing the freeing of enslaved persons.
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen," (Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV).
Father God, we pray to You today thanking You for sending Your Son Jesus Christ to save us all from our sins. Lord, we are humbled as we reflect on America's history of slavery. We know that all are made free in our belief in Jesus Christ, our Savior. Lord, help us do what is right and treat others with dignity and respect. We pray in the Name of Jesus, Amen.
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