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disputes that Qingdao is more polluted than other courses around the world.

"The water's not poison and it won't harm the athletes," he said.

He said the stomach problems experienced by athletes following previous races in Qingdao could be caused by a variety of factors, such as not being used to Chinese food.

The government has invested heavily to clean up Qingdao's water, he said, with new facilities moving sewage away from the coast and into the deep sea.

"Now you can see the bottom of the marina, before I couldn't see it," Qu said.

The wings act like webbed hands. The bat can move its wings like we move our fingers. Bats fold one of their wings to steer and brake.

Many bats can hover in one place like hummingbirds and helicopters.

Bats live in barns, attics, and caves. They like anyplace that is cold and dark. They usually live in small groups. But their colony size can be in the 1,000's.

Tropical bats can transfer pollen as they fly from plant to plant. They digest bananas, mangoes, guavas, and berries in 20 minutes. The seeds of the fruit are dropped by the bats as they are flying. This reseeds large areas of land.

There are people who think that bats are dirty and evil. Bats are very clean and groom their wings and teeth daily. Some even believe that Count Dracula turns into a bat. This is not true. Bats are very helpful to man and our environment.

A bat will eat half its weight in insects in a single night.

Fewer people have died from bat rabies during the past 40 years than have died from dog bites or bee stings in a single year.

Although the bat is not blind, its eyes are best adapted to seeing in the dark, and see in only black-and-white.

The thumbs of the forefoot are small, equipped with sharp claws and not connected to the membrane.

Bats are very shy creatures and like most wild animals, avoid contact with humans while going about their business of eating, reproducing and avoiding predators.

When a bat returns to its roost for its upside-down sleep, it will spend as much as 30 minutes cleaning itself before settling down to sleep.

Some species of bats prefer to live alone in trees.

Nearly all bats that live in the United States feed on insects.

Mating may occur two or even three times a year

Bats have many natural enemies and large numbers of them die while still young.

The most significant causes of premature bat death, however, are the activities of people.

Bat droppings (guano) support entire ecosystems of unique organisms, including bacteria useful in detoxifying wastes, improving detergents and producing gasohol and antibiotics.

"hot spots" of contaminated sediment.

Pathogens such as bacteria and viruses, which are often presentin urban runoff, can pose public health problems.

Drains Versus 400 or More Yards Away Found On Hard Copy-Storm Drain Runoff," Epidemiology, July 1999, Vol. 10, No. 4.Metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in urban runoffcan present a threat to aquatic life.

proved to betoxic to sea urchin fertilization in the Santa Monica Bay, anddissolved zinc and copper were determined to be contributors tothis toxicity. -Brown bullheads (a bottom-dwelling catfish) inthe Anacostia River developed tumors that were believed to becaused by PAHs associated in part with urban runoff. High PAHand heavy metal concentrations were found in crayfish tissuesamples from several urban streams in Milwaukee. The studyassociated these contaminants with storm water runoff.

The three primaryactivities used in these programs include efforts to characterizestorm water runoff; BMPs aimed at reducing pollutants in stormwater runoff to the maximum extent practicable; and reportingprogram activities, monitoring results, and costs of implementingthe program. Some BMPs are structural-meaning that they aredesigned to trap and detain runoff until constituents settle orare filtered out.

-good housekeeping" practices by the local government, such asoil collection and recycling, spill response, household andhazardous waste collection, pesticide controls, flood controlmanagement, and street sweeping; -public education programs, suchas storm-drain stenciling, to remind the public that trash, motoroil, and other pollutants thrown into storm drains end up innearby receiving waters;' -new ordinances to control pollutionsources, such as prohibiting the disposal of lawn clippings instorm drains and requiring pet owners to clean up after theirpets;" requirements that developers comply with storm waterregulations and incorporate erosion and sediment controls at allnew development sites; -requirements that runoff from propertiesowned or activities sponsored by the municipality be properlycontrolled; and -efforts to identify and eliminate illicitconnections and illegal discharges to the storm sewer systems,such as those from pipes carrying sewage.

Several officials in the cities we visited said that their annualcosts are likely to increase. A number of factors could affectthe costs. For example, a Baltimore City official explained thatthe anticipated, future program costs depend on several factors,including (1) requirements in watershed- management planscurrently being developed, (2) pollution-reduction goals the citywill be required to achieve, (3) requirements of the stateregulatory agency in future permits, and (4) requirements thecity may have to meet if TMDLs or numeric effluent limits areincorporated into NPDES storm water permits. Other city officialsalso expressed concern about the extent to which TMDLs couldaffect their future costs. These city officials are concernedthat when and if TMDLs are established, their future storm waterpermits may require that storm water runoff meet specific waterquality standards. For example, Los Angeles County's trash TMDLcould potentially drive the county's storm water management costsupward, and the county expects additional TMDLs to be imposed. Onthe other hand, Worcester officials estimated that their futurestorm water costs would be about the same as they were at thetime of our review-about $4.5 million per year.

but industrial and household waste removal is a growing concern. Per

capita tonnage has doubled in the past 20 years, and finding urban space to build more processing plants has been a challenge.

, when Israel started to divert the water for agriculture and other domestic use.

ronmentalists

ordan and Syria built a series of dams and canals on the Yarmouk River, the Jordan's main tributary, further cutting the flow to the river. Yet another large Jordanian-Syrian

dam is slated to open by 2006, a fact that makes the issue that much more urgent for envi

The river's slow but steady decline began in the 1950s

If it were up to environmentalists, local countries would import more produce in order to save the Jordan and other water sources in the water-deprived Middle East.

"if Christians knew that just a mile down the river a toxic mix was being dumped, they would be very upset about it."