White Salmon River: Photo by Thomas O'Keefe.River Rally 2007 has been great, and it's not a surprise given the beautiful location - the Columbia Gorge is incredible, and we've been blessed with sunshine and rain over the past couple of days, and had an incredible rafting trip on the White Salmon yesterday.

The sessions have been informative, particularly the ones in the global warming track. I went to the first session on Water, Energy and Climate, where much of the discussion was on global warming and its impacts on rivers. But, perhaps the most interesting point made was that no matter what work we're doing to protect rivers, whether it's dam removal, wetland restoration, or stormwater management, it all connects to climate change, and we should all consider our work from that perspective, and how it can be used both to mitigate and adapt to global warming. That made me think about sewage, and how it relates to global warming. The link isn't a difficult one to make.

For rivers in the Great Lakes, Midwest and Eastern regions of the U.S., the most significant impact of global warming is going to be increased flooding (caused by stronger, heavier storms). Well, what happens when it rains? Sewage pours. Climate change is only going to underline the problem of aging sewage infrastructure, and the longer we wait to fix the problem, the more sewage is going to end up in the rivers we love. Even more reason to act now for healthy rivers!

(And, people here love the new Act for Healthy Rivers bumper stickers: Rivers are for Paddles, not Poop!)