WaterWired

Groundwater Mining: The American Experience

2009-12-30T00:20:00-08:00

In October 2008 Todd Jarvis and I co-chaired the First International Conference on Nonrenewable Ground Water Resources. It was a landmark event, attended by 55 of the most engaged people I'd ever encountered at a conference venue.

Here is a copy of the conference report.

For our keynote speaker we were fortunate to have Dr. T.N. Narasimhan, Professor Emeritus, Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California at Berkeley. Nari is a friend, scholar, gentleman, and one of the world's foremost hydrogeologists.

I mention all this because Nari recently sent me a link to an Op-Ed he wrote for The Hindu entitled Groundwater Mining: American Experience. Parts of Nari's native land are plagued by groundwater mining and he wrote this article in hopes that India might learn some lessons from the USA.

Here is a brief abstract of the piece:

Recent geophysical studies report large-scale groundwater mining in the Indus-Ganga Basin. India can gain useful insights by examining American experience in adapting to unacceptable groundwater overdraft.

Here is his paragraph on five USA cases:

For a glimpse into this overdraft, we may consider the following five basins: the Dakota Aquifer System (171,000 sq. km.), the Atlantic Coastal Plain System (44,000 sq. km.), California’s San Joaquin Valley (9,730 sq. km), the High Plains Aquifer System extending from South Dakota to Texas (443,000 sq. km), and South Central Arizona (8,070 sq. km). Groundwater production from these systems significantly exceeds the ability of ambient natural precipitation to replenish. During the 20th century, non-renewable water mined from these systems amounted to over 365 cubic km. Unintended consequences of groundwater mining included continuous decline in water levels, drying up of perennial streams that depend on groundwater for base flow, demise of deep-rooted phreatophytes, land subsidence and ground fissuring. Evidence is overwhelming that irrigated agriculture and industries that rely on groundwater from these systems cannot be sustained for long.

I recently posted about the San Joaquin Valley situation. The recent 60 Minutes piece on California's water problems had nary a mention of the serious groundwater overdrafting in the SJV.

He continues:

During the 19th century and early 20th century, water laws were formulated in the U.S. to maximise economic growth through incentives for exploitation. Appropriative water rights were granted to users. Groundwater was treated as private property. During the second half of the 20th century, the traditional mindset of exploitation and growth found itself confronted by uncertainty of resource availability and interconnectedness of surface water and groundwater. Adapting to the changing reality gave rise to a serious social challenge.

Those who own water rights and have commercial interests like to exercise their rights to groundwater as private property, citing economic benefits to society. Others who are concerned about long-term resource integrity for the present and future generations like to see integrated, sustainable management of surface water and groundwater. Society is in a state of transition, continuously adjusting to these two opposing forces.

Legally, private rights to groundwater continue. Whereas navigable surface water is subject to public trust, groundwater remains outside its scope. In practice, as groundwater productivity declines, water levels fall, and ecological impacts become obvious, regulatory statutes are invoked to identify critically affected areas and regulate groundwater production.

To most of us, there is nothing surprising in the aformentioned three paragraphs. Our Western water laws were designed to encourage development. But now we are seeing the downside to this emphasis on development and aren't quite sure what needs to be done, or if we know what needs be done, we aren't quite sure how to do it equitably.

Nari is optimistic, more so than I am (at least today); see his quote at the bottom. He does believe that society must be resilient to solve these problems:

In a democracy, such resilience is inherent in constructive, open debate among informed citizenry that enables sacrifices and compromises.

I couldn't agree more on the need for resilience. I just haven't seen enough of it.

Read the entire article. It's well worth your time.

"Although progress may be slow in arresting overdraft, there are encouraging signs that sustainable groundwater management will eventually materialise out of sheer necessity." -- T.N. Narasimhan, from the article

New Blog From Todd Jarvis: Rainbow Water Coalition

2009-12-29T00:20:00-08:00

So what's this? Has the Rev. Jesse Jackson entered the blogosphere? Actually no - it's someone much better as far as water is concerned.

Hydrogeologist extraordinaire, colleague, and friend Dr. Todd Jarvis, Associate Director of the Institute for Water and Watersheds, whose name has been liberally spread throughout WaterWired opining on dowsing, bottled water, nonrenewable groundwater, exempt wells, transboundary groundwater, etc., recently entered the blogosphere with the Rainbow Water Coalition blog.

From his header:

A non-partisan, neutral perspective supporting diversity in the color of water. A blog mostly about greywater.

Todd was recently appointed to the Oregon Graywater Advisory Committee, or as he refers to it, The Oregon Way for Graywater.

So what does he mean by the color of water? You'll have to read his first post!

"Seek not to follow in the footsteps of wise men; seek what they sought." -- Matsuo Bashō

Emily Green's The Week That Was (in Water), 20-26 December 2009 (and More!)

2009-12-28T00:48:00-08:00

Emily Green's got some real good stuff in her post this week.

Take Copenhagen - please! She's got some different perspectives on the Copenhagen Conference.

First, this:

China played an important constructive role in promoting the attained achievements at the conference and demonstrated the greatest sincerity and the greatest efforts. — Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao

Okay. Now:

Copenhagen was a disaster. That much is agreed. But the truth about what actually happened is in danger of being lost amid the spin and inevitable mutual recriminations. The truth is this: China wrecked the talks, intentionally humiliated Barack Obama, and insisted on an awful “deal” so western leaders would walk away carrying the blame. How do I know this? Because I was in the room and saw it happen. — Mark Lynas

Duhhh....Lastly, the one with the wonderful Latin quote:

Two weeks ago thousands descended on Copenhagen to save the world. The result is 12 paragraphs of good intentions … The Romans had a phrase for it: Parturient montes nascetur ridiculus mus ("The mountains have been in labor, and a little mouse has been born.") -- Philip Lloyd

What's that Meat Loaf song - Two Out of Three Ain't Bad (I still get chills whenever I hear that - but that's fodder for another blog). Too bad the outcome wasn't more like Paradise by the Dashboard Light.

And she has more goodies: Westlands Water District, almonds, LADWP, Denver (the city, that is), 60 Minutes, Asian carp, Ft. Wayne, Lloyd G. Carter, and more.

Give it a read.

“I expect that these waters in the mountains, instead of being a menace to the people upon the plains, will be their source of strength and their source of wealth.” -- William Jennings Bryan, in Colorado (1910), from Emily's post

'60 Minutes' Tackles California Water: Videos and Print Story

2009-12-28T00:10:00-08:00

Last night 60 Minutes had a piece ( c. 13 minutes) on California's water problems, focusing on the San Joaquin Valley and the Bay Delta.

The Governator himself had a fair bit of face time, and was upbeat about finding a solution. Here he is expounding upon a water diet in a brief (one minute) video.

Here is a print version of Lesley Stahl's story.

Here is Emily Green's take, Hasta la Vista, 60 Minutes.

"People have died over water. You know, movies have been made about the wars of water in California."-- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, quoted in the story

Watch CBS News Videos Online

Are California's Water Laws Being Enforced?

2009-12-27T00:27:00-08:00

Lloyd G. Carter, whose blog has the wonderful title, Chronicles of the Hydraulic Brotherhood, has a recent post in which he asks, "How about enforcing current water laws?" That's certainly a reasonable inquiry.

He begins:

Seventeen years ago, Patrick Porgans and I co-authored an article that ran at length in the Forum section of the Sacramento Bee. We argued then that new and proposed state and federal water marketing changes would enrich some people "by turning [publicly-owned] water into a freely transferable commodity."

Sadly, as proven by a recent below-the-radar $73 million water transfer from a small irrigation district in the western San Joaquin Valley to an urban district in the Mojave Desert, time has proven us right. Profiteering by buying cheap water from the public and selling it to the highest bidder is now making small groups of people enormously rich, to the detriment of farming, the Delta, and the state treasury.

An appropriate post for the holiday season, when gift-giving abounds.

Give it a read.

And here's a letter he wrote to the New York Times in 1996. I keep thinking: the more things change, the more they remain the same.

"In regard to the identified illegal diversions, although I am obviously aware of them, the Division has not taken follow up action because of a lack of resources." - Vicky Whitney, Chief, Water Rights Divsion, California State Water Board (quoted in the article)

Video: COP15 and Beyond - Bridging the Water and Climate Change Agenda

2009-12-26T00:10:00-08:00

Here is a link the video (90 minutes) of the side event held at the recent Copenhagen Conference: COP 15 and Beyond: Bridging the Water and Climate Change Agenda.

The blurb from the WWW site (where you can also access the video and see the list of speakers):

Water is central to development, but climate change is the spoiler: no matter how successful mitigation is, people experience climate change through water. This joint event of GPPN and GWP discussed how COP15 can address the institutional arrangements for a global response from the water community.

Give it a view.

"Bearing in mind the fundamental interests of the Chinese people and mankind's long-term development, we have exerted unremitting effort and made positive contribution to the fight against climate change. " -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao

Christmas With...The Singing Sewermen of Thames Water?

2009-12-25T00:15:00-08:00

It's the Singing Sewermen from Thames Water!

You can sing along with them (tune: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen):

This Christmas Think of Sewermen

This Christmas think of sewermen who tremble in dismay
When grease from goose and fatted fowl is idly poured away
It clogs the drains of London and it must be scraped away.

Put your fat in the rubbish in a bin, throw it all in
Put your fat in the rubbish in a bin

So when you’ve had your Christmas meal of turkey, wine and pud
Remember our poor sewermen and treat them as you should.
Don’t pour your hot fat down the drain ’cause it will do no good.

Put your fat in the rubbish in a bin, throw it all in
Put your fat in the rubbish in a bin

Thanks (I think) to Gayle Leonard for alerting me to this remarkable assemblage of talent, who recorded this live in the sewers of East London.

This is part of Thames Water's "Bin It - Don't Block It" campaign, an effort to alert people to the sewer pipe blockages caused by pouring fats and oils into the sewer system.

There are something like 55,000 blockages per year, and that doesn't include arteries.

Here is a link to the video.

Enjoy your holidays!

"For the spirit of Christmas fulfils the greatest hunger of humankind." ~Loring A. Schuler

Report: Measurement of Environmental Impacts Related to Use of Water - Status Summary for Business Water Sustainability

2009-12-24T08:10:14-08:00

I received this paper from Ken Reid of AWRA along with the author's permission to distribute it.

Measurement of Environmental Impacts Related to the Use of Water - Status Summary for Business Water Sustainability, by Paul Wiegand, National Council for Air and Stream Improvement, Inc. (NCASI)

Executive Summary
Development and deployment of water sustainability initiatives will require the establishment of frameworks by which participants can effectively plan, implement, and be judged by actions which do not degrade, or are in fact beneficial, to water resources. Such frameworks will necessarily include procedures for measuring the amount of water resources used and returned to the water resource cycle, and the impact of this use on humans and aquatic systems. This paper summarizes and contrasts measures that are available for use in water impact analysis for purposes of supporting water sustainability initiatives.

Of some sixteen water sustainability and related water management initiatives, eight include or plan to include specific measures for impacts that derive from the use of water. Nine measures were identified that address one or more negative aspects that might be associated with the use of water. The measures available for assessing the impact of water use are predicated on (a) denial of access to water, (b) alteration of water quality, and/or (c) irresponsible management of water. Some of these measures were quantitative (i.e., numeric) and others were qualitative (i.e., narrative). No single measure had the ideal characteristics of being capable of measuring impacts of local water use on humans residing in the region or local ecological conditions and was comparable across businesses, time, and geographic regions. Those involved in water sustainability initiatives and LCA practitioners are seeking to develop measures having these ideal characteristics. In the meantime, additional refinement of water impact assessment frameworks appears to be needed to support deployment of water sustainability initiatives.

Download Water_Impacts

For those of you unfamiliar with NCASI:

The National Council for Air and Stream Improvement is an independent, non-profit research institute that focuses on environmental topics of interest to the forest products industry. Established in 1943, NCASI is recognized as the leading source of reliable data on environmental issues affecting this industry, and has more than 75 member companies throughout the US and Canada.

Enjoy!

"Don't let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." -- John Wooden

We Suck At Managing Exempt Wells: Is There Big Trouble in Big Sky?

2009-12-23T10:10:00-08:00

Cally Carswell's recent post on the Goat Blog of the High Country News  relates the story of exempt well problems in Montana's Gallatin Valley. There, rancher Joseph Miller is claiming that exempt wells, aka domestic wells, are depleting his water. These wells supply water to the new homes and subdivisions in the valley. Miller believes thay have been responsible for drying up at least one stream on his ranch. The rub is that Miller likely has permitted rights to his water, whereas the exempt wells, by definition, are exempt from permits.

Carswell reports:

To address the problem, Miller and a few other ranchers recently petitioned Montana’s Department of Natural Resources and Conservation to stop letting residential developments use exempt wells to skirt the state’s water laws. They claim exempt wells will draw down water supplies that they have senior rights to.

I have previously posted on Western exempt well issues including the Bounds case in New Mexico, which sounds similar to the situation Carswell describes. This case, still under appeal as far as I know, found for the rancher who claimed domestic wells were impairing his water right.

Carswell's post states that there are about 200,000 exempt wells in Montana, almost as many as we have here in Oregon (c. 240,000) and more than in New Mexico (c. 130,000). As many as 78,000 more are expected in the next 10 years. I suspect that virtually of these new wells will supply homes by out-of-staters in subdivisions, many of whom will be 'amenity ranchers' or 'amenity farmers'.

The post continues:

In Montana, groundwater wells pumping less than 35 gallons a minute and no more than 10 acre feet a year don’t require a permit and aren't regulated under prior appropriation during drought. A 60-lot subdivision, for instance, can legally drill 60 wells into the same aquifer without permits or environmental review as long as those wells aren't connected. Even though the law says the exemption doesn't cover a "combined appropriation" by multiple wells from the same source if, together, they suck more than 35 gallons a minute, the state only considers wells that are physically connected by pipes to be a "combined appropriation."

The above describes a major problem: subdivisions where the water supply for each home is provided by an exempt well. In this manner, developers can escape the responsibility to obtain a water right and build a water system; the homeowners assume the responsiblity. If you're using an exempt well out in the middle of nowhere, your well will probably not have much effect. But if you are in a large subdivision in which each home has a well, that could be a different story. Water quality could suffer as well, since homes are likely on septic tanks.

I encountered this problem in New Mexico. I recall getting an earful from a state senator railing against developers who would 'game the system' by building subdivisions that required homeowners to drill their own wells. Not only did such wells impair the rights of others, but they compromised groundwater quality because the homes were closely-spaced and on septic tanks. In some cases, the developers had water rights, but withheld them so they could lease or sell them at a later date.

Carswell includes this quote:

"There’s really no protection in place for senior water rights," says Matthew Bishop, an attorney with the Western Environmental Law Center, which filed the petition on the ranchers’ behalf. Bishop says the state has known exempt wells are a problem "for a number of years," but "no one’s been willing to fix it."

"We felt we had to force the issue," he says.

What struck me about this story is that Jared Diamond touches on this problem in his excellent book Collapse, in which Montana has a key role. Diamond uses the case of the Bitterroot Valley in Ravalli County (see pages 52-53) and mentions the issue of domestic wells and their effects.

One of these days, states will wise up to the exempt well issue and do something about it. It's not so much that state water resources departments don't recognize the problem; it's that they don't have the resources or laws to regulate these wells because state legislatures fear doing anything about them. That's been the case here in Oregon.

You hear the SOS: "I'm not the problem, I just have a domestic well." Yeah, you and a gazillion other folks.

The graphic (from GOOD's Summer 2009 issue) says it all: We suck at this. Do we ever!

"The county itself lacks the resources to monitor its aquifers and does not carry out independent assessments of water availability when it is considering a developer's application to build a new house. Instead, the county relies on the developer's assurance that enough well water will be available for the house." -- Jared Diamond, Collapse, p. 53, referring to Ravalli County, MT [as of 2005]

Beverage Companies, the Human Right to Water, and Water Neutrality

2009-12-22T00:15:00-08:00

Elizabeth Royte's blog Waste, Water, Whatever led me to this story by Rebecca Bowe,The Human Right to Water, that recently appeared in the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Bowe covered an event called the Second Annual Corporate Water Footprinting Conference, that was

...part of a corporate conference series called Action for Sustainable America, cost approximately $2,000 to attend. Unlike last year, when conference organizers denied press passes to both the Guardian and the San Francisco Chronicle, they opted to allow reporters in this time — perhaps as a show of goodwill after being publicly critiqued for a lack of transparency (see "Tap dreams," 12/10/08). The event was held at Le Meridien, a swank Financial District hotel, and was attended by businesspeople from a variety of high-profile companies.

Representatives from Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestle portrayed their respective corporations as model stewards of the environment, the opposite of the bad raps they've been branded with by social justice advocates, who complain that these corporate entities are responsible for exacerbating water shortages in drought-prone areas. Rather than profit-driven behemoths sapping communities of a critical resource, the spokespeople described their companies as environmentally-minded leaders acutely aware of the widespread lack of access to clean water and actively trying to hatch solutions to alleviate it.

Here is what the panel session on the human right to water covered:

What is the human right to water?

As it is not defined as one of the 32 internationally recognized human rights listed in UN Declaration on Human Rights does the corporate community need to specifically recognise this?

What are practical applications and corporate implications of such a right?

Is it possible for companies to include the human right to water within strategy and operations?

Can a rights based approach to water management work – can this be aligned with corporate water strategy?

What are the responsibility and ethical boundaries for the various water stakeholders (government, rights holders, corporates, utilities, communities) on the right to water?

Sounds good, right? Bowe continues:

Mark Schlosberg, California director of Food & Water Watch, made it clear that he views the human right to water through a very different lens than the other panelists. "The 'human right to water' is not a concept for corporations to implement," Schlosberg said, relaying what was perhaps an unpopular message to a tough crowd. "Just as free speech is not a concept for corporations to implement. The human right to water is a concept which says that nobody should be denied access to clean water for basic human needs. It's not a question of whether or not a corporation wants to adhere to that. It's the responsibility of governments to create laws, and of corporations to follow laws. I don't think that the basic human right to water ... is alienable, just like certain constitutional rights are also inalienable and can't be contracted away."

I get the sense that Mark Schlosberg's viewpoint was not one that was widely shared by the typical corporate attendee, but perhaps I am being cynical. I should note that not all the speakers were corporate types.

Here's more:

Dan Bena, director of sustainability, health, safety and environment for PepsiCo International, kicked off with a presentation about how an estimated 1.5 billion impoverished people living in developing countries worldwide lack access to safe drinking water. Showing images of African children swimming naked in a river, he stressed the frequently repeated statistic that once every 15 seconds, another child in the developing world perishes from waterborne illness.
To hear Bena tell it, PepsiCo is emerging as a corporate trailblazer in protecting people from such a fate. In addition to its conservation efforts, it has donated to an organization that provides microloans to families for small-scale water infrastructure projects, he said. And at the urging of one of its shareholders, it recently agreed to sign a commitment supporting "the human right to water.
But when asked whether PepsiCo, the parent company of Aquafina, has a strategy for reducing the widespread use of bottled water — a flashpoint for environmentalists because it taxes aquifers, requires extensive shipping, and uses tons of plastic to produce — Bena didn't have a straight answer. "We are evaluating it, but I can't tell you," he said. "The critics are certainly very strong, but we think that people, by and large, want the convenience that bottled water provides."

Bowe also noted that Coca-Cola spokesperson Denise Knight trumpeted (Bowe's word) "Water Neutrality", something Coke pursues. But given the fact that Coke annually uses 313 billion liters of water to produce 129 billion liters of beverages and uses more water as its business grows, Knight acknowledged that the term might be somewhat misleading.

Ya think?

One activist referred to the "water neutrality" claim as "greenwashing".

But decide for yourself - read Bowe's entire article.

Wish I could have been there.

"I don't necessarily agree with the term 'human right to water,' because then the lawyers jump in here ... and become rich off of this back-and-forth, knocking-heads process." -- Harry Ott, conference speaker, quoted in the article

DC Event, 24 February 2010 - Running Dry: Beyond The Brink

2009-12-21T00:15:00-08:00

Running Dry: Beyond the Brink is filmmaker/hydrophilanthropist Jim Thebaut's latest addition to the Running Dry franchise. It will be a documentary feature film that will be presented in movie theaters around the world. Its central focus is the impact of drought and water scarcity and its connection to energy, public health, agriculture, food supply and ultimately, international security.

[Disclosure notice: Jim is a good friend of mine, and the aforementioned was based on information posted on his WWW site.]
From information on the above WWW site:

A preview of the Beyond the Brink film is currently being produced and will be presented during the evening of Wednesday February 24th, 2010, in Washington DC, at the U.S.Capitol Visitor Center. The event will be co-sponsored by the Congressional Water Caucus and the Chronicles Group in association with the Embassy of Australia and the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Special guests will include members of Congress (such as Rep. John Linder (R-GA), co-founder of the Congressional Water Caucus), actress Jane Seymour, senior representatives of the Australian government and many others.

Obviously, in order for us to achieve our ambitious goals we need everyone's continued support in 2010 because the stakes in today's world are high. The developing drought, increased demand due to population growth and changes in standard of living, and the water crisis will stretch those regions throughout the planet, in places where basic humanitarian needs are largely ignored. There are currently 6.8 billion people populating the planet. One in eight do not have access to safe water and 2.5 billion (40% of the world's population) do not have access to sanitation. As the number of people increase so will the stress on these water and sanitation systems. Over a million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and sanitation. Furthermore, the emergence of infectious disease could result in those regions of the world where there is drought and   extreme temperature warming, and this will add to the evolving emergency. The Chronicles Group RUNNING DRY Project needs your financial help in order for us to continue to communicate this stark reality to the world!

Thanks again for your continued support and I wish you a blessed holiday.

Jim Thebaut

If you are unfamiliar with the Running Dry films here is a 'generic' trailer:

More information will be posted at the Running Dry and Chronicles Group WWW sites. I will also keep you updated as well.

I plan on being there and I hope to see you there as well.

"You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you." -- John Wooden

Emily Green's The Week That Was (in Water), 13-19 December 2009 (and More!)

2009-12-20T14:58:33-08:00

Emily's up to her usual excellent journalistic standards, as she posts The Week That Was, 13-19 December 2009.

One story in particular caught my eye - the one about Japanese researchers suggesting that lithium (salts) be added to water supplies to keep society muy tranquilo. I seem to remember reading about a study done 20-30 years ago that suggested that El Paso's relatively low violent crime rate (for a border city, anyway) was due to the natural lithium in the groundwater that was used for drinking water. Lithium salts form the basis for many anti-depressant drugs. Remember Librium?

Actually, I'd suggest that lithium salts be added to the water supply of Ciudad Juárez - forget El Paso!

Emily goes into much detail about discrepancies between results reported in the drinking water quality report by the Environmental Working Group and what the utilities have to say about their results in that report. There is another entire story here, and Emily has separate post for it.

And Las Vegas is in there, too. Not just water quality, but some problems associated with excessive water as they drill a tunnel to tap deeper water in Lake Mead. When it rains it pours, I suppose.

Other stuff: subsidence, groundwater issues in California, Australia, melting glaciers.

A great read!

A caveat for Emily - you realize that we will be expecting The Year That Was, 2009 or The Decade That Was, 2000-2009, both in a couple of weeks. We're waiting.

“Another way to think of ocean acidification is as osteoporosis of the seas.” – Jane Lubchenco, NOAA head

“This is mostly a legal argument rather than one of facts.” – Nebraska attorney Don Blankenau, quoted in the Lincoln Journal Star about the Republican River case

Groundwater Mining in the Central Valley: Something New?

2009-12-20T00:12:00-08:00

Last week, there was much interest in the news that satellite data indicated [thanks to colleague John Lambie for this link] that groundwater pumping in California's Central Valley had extracted the equivalent of one Lake Mead (about 24 MAF at full pool) during the past six years. The data confirmed an earlier report by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Yes, Virginia, that's a lot of water, almost double the average annual flow of the Colorado River.

Recent reductions in surface water for irrigation have no doubt contributed to the high pumpage figures (see quote below).

But this realization is nothing new, although the amount of pumpage may be. Groundwater has been pumped unsustainably (mined or overdrafted) in the Central Valley for decades. When I took Aquifer Mechanics from the late Dr. Gene Simpson in 1971, the Central Valley was already one of the 'poster children' for groundwater mining (we didn't refer to it as 'unsustainable pumping') and land subsidence. Pumpage had long since exceeded recharge, and when coupled with the necessary geologic conditions, land subsidence resulted.

Here is a classic photo of USGS hydrologist Dr. Joe Poland standing by a utility pole near Mendota, CA, that graphically illustrates over 50 years of subsidence, 1925-1977. At this location the subsidence was about 29 feet, at the time the maximum amount of subsidence in the San Joaquin Valley.

Subsidence in the Valley had been noted as early as 1935, as mentioned in this 1970 paper by USGS hydrologist Ben Lofgren that we used in Gene's class:

Download 088031

So although the amount of groundwater pumping in the Central Valley may have increased in the past six years, it's been a much longer time since it was 'sustainable' (although that depends upon your definition of 'sustainable' - I'm using it in the sense of groundwater 'overdrafting' or 'mining').

My blogosphere colleague David Zetland has a somewhat different perspective on the Central Valley pumping. Give him a read.

So what do you think? Does California need to regulate groundwater on a statewide basis?

"It's an undeniable cause and effect - farmers are having to pump more groundwater to survive the surface water cuts designed to save fish. " -- Mike Wade, California Farm Water Coalition

The Real Reason I Left New Mexico

2009-12-19T00:15:00-08:00

Leslie Kryder, who just finished her Master of Water Resources degree at the University of New Mexico, sent me this.

"Every calculation, based on experience elsewhere, fails in New Mexico." -- Territorial Gov. Lew Wallace, 1878

Carpe mañana! -- New Mexico state motto

Global Groundwater? Issues and Solutions

2009-12-18T00:11:00-08:00

Good paper from Mark Giordano of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI):

Download Global Groundwater-Giordano

Enjoy!

"I can't believe how many memories I'd forgotten." -- Yogi Berra, upon visiting his St. Louis boyhood home

NRC Announces New Studies of Sustainable Water and Environmental Management in the California Bay-Delta

2009-12-17T11:28:04-08:00

Today the National Research Council, one of the National Academies, formally announced the study of the California Bay-Delta and the 15-person committee [you can comment on the choices] that will undertake this task.

[Disclosure notice: I am on the committee. Note that I am the former Director of the Institute for Water and Watersheds.]

The study will last two years and will produce two reports:

1) In its first report, the committee will focus on scientific questions, assumptions, and conclusions underlying water-management alternatives in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (FWS) Biological Opinion on Coordinated Operations of the Central Valley Project and State Water Project (15 December 2008) and the National Marine Fisheries Service’s (NMFS) Biological Opinion on the Long-Term Central Valley Project and State Water Project Operations Criteria and Plan (4 June 2009). This report is tentatively scheduled to be completed by 15 March 2009.

2) Second, in the fall of 2011, the committee will issue a second report on how to most effectively incorporate science and adaptive management concepts into holistic programs for management and restoration of the Bay-Delta.

The first meeting is scheduled for 24-28 January 2010 in the ARC Ballroom on the UC-Davis campus. Sounds like the perfect spot:

With its private courtyard and calm ambiance [emboldening mine], the ARC Ballroom is the perfect location to host wedding receptions, banquets, and professional conferences.

Here is the complete announcement:

Download Bay-Delta Study Announcement

Here is the committee:
   Robert J. Huggett, Professor Emeritus, College of William and Mary,

Seaford, VA, Chair

   James J. Anderson, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

   Michael E. Campana, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

   Thomas Dunne, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA

   Albert E. Giorgi, BioAnalysts, Inc., Redmond, WA

    Patricia M. Glibert, Horn Point Laboratory, University of Maryland

   Center for Environmental Science, Cambridge, MD

   Christine A. Klein, University of Florida College of Law, Gainesville, FL

   Samuel N. Luoma, U.S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA

   Michael J. McGuire, Michael J. McGuire, Inc., Los Angeles, CA

   Thomas Miller, Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland

   Center for Environmental Sciences, Solomons, M

    Jayantha Obeysekera, South Florida Water Management District,

   West Palm Beach, FL

   Max J. Pfeffer, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY

   Denise Reed, University of New Orleans, LA

   Kenneth A. Rose, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA

   Desiree D. Tullos, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR

   David Policansky, NRC Study Director

More information is available here.

“In the business world, the rearview mirror is always clearer than the windshield.” – Warren Buffet

"You've got to be very careful if you don't know where you are going because you might not get there." -- Yogi Berra

Oregon's Integrated Water Resources Strategy @ ORAWRA Inaugural Meeting

2009-12-17T00:02:18-08:00

We had about 55 people show up in Portland for the inaugural meeting of the Oregon Section of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA), also known as ORAWRA.

Download 2009-12-16 Flyer

If you would like to join ORAWRA, send your contact information to our membership chair, David Gilbey (dgilbey@ci.oswego.or.us), and join the e-mail list.

I attribute the excellent turnout to the 'dynamic duo' we had for speakers: Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD) Director Phil Ward and his counterpart at the Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ), Dick Pedersen, gave an excellent tag-team presentation on Oregon's Integrated Water Resources Strategy (IWRS).

Here is a pdf of their presentation:

Download 2009-12-16 IWRS

OWRD, ODEQ and the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife (ODFW) are the main departments involved in the development of this strategy, with OWRD taking the lead.

Development of the IWRS will be a daunting task, but it is in good hands.

“A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow." -- Unknown

Finally! A Real Knowledge Center

2009-12-16T00:34:00-08:00

In early November 2009 my wife Mary Frances, a professional librarian, and I got an inside tour of the University of Nevada-Reno's Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center. Our tour guide was Carol Parkhurst, Senior Director, University Libraries.

Why post about a library? This is a water blog!

Two reasons:

1) this is not about a library - it's about a model for the evolution of libraries; and
2) WaterWonks need superior access to knowledge and a place to house and distribute the knowledge they discover.

[Disclosure notice: Carol Parkhurst and her husband, hydrogeologist extraordinaire Steve Wheatcraft, have been very good friends of mine for close to 30 years. I take partial (50%) credit for introducing them to each other; I was the best man at their wedding and Steve fulfilled the same role at ours.]

Since my wife is the expert I asked her to write about the UNR KC.

In November we toured the University of Nevada-Reno Mathewson-IGT Knowledge Center. The tour guide was the person responsible for this remarkable entity—Carol Parkhurst, Senior Director, University Libraries.  Both Carol and I have been in librarianship for a long time and have seen the naming fashions come and go. Often these trendy names for libraries (e.g., information center, learning center and knowledge center) are just attempts to attract non-library users. But the UNR KC has achieved something special in my mind—it is a true, physical and functioning knowledge center.

Besides being gorgeous—all its appointments tasteful, functional and coordinated—it is designed to integrate all the various information accessing technologies available to us today. Remember that books are a technology just as nettops are a technology—the key is to get the entire format product line to provide a whole, seamless experience in information access to the user. UNR KC does that. Books are very much in evidence, but they flow in the physical space to connect with computers and other media so that information may be discovered and extracted (or created). A multiple-story edifice with almost 300,000 square feet of usable space, it contains expertly-organized computer areas, media production services, social interaction areas of various types, clearly-marked, well-lighted bookshelves and supports these products and services with state-of-the-art (and more) backend processes.

The whole exceeds the parts, which should be a goal of libraries. Carol Parkhurst was able to bring prodigious attention to detail together with an overall vision to create this true knowledge center. Congratulations!

I was impressed by the multi-story publication 'warehouse' at the back of the KC, where about 660,000 little-used documents are housed and retrieved remotely - all in about 10-15 minutes after a request is made.

Here are some videos of the UNR KC. Take a look at the slide show of the KC's construction.

You get the picture. This is an extraordinary resource. What's incredulous is that more attention (as of early November 2009) has not been paid to this feat. I suspect it will eventually; the KC has been open just a little over a year.

"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it." -- Samuel Johnson

Free! MIT's World Policy Journal Water Issue

2009-12-15T00:29:00-08:00

As usual, good things happen when I read David Zetland over at Aguanomics: the special water issue of World Policy Journal, published by MIT.

You can download the articles for free.

Articles about conflict in the pursuit of water security, groundwater and conflict, Lake Baikal, a water scarcity map, water wars, the melting of the Arctic, Iraq, and China's dams.

Peter Gleick weighs in on Facing Down the Hydro-Crisis, in which he calls for a Third Water Era.

Enjoy!

“Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.” – Woody Paige

The Swiftboating of Science

2009-12-14T06:40:32-08:00

Colleague Ari Michelsen alerted me to this article in The Progress Report byFaiz Shakir, Amanda Terkel, Matt Corley, Benjamin Armbruster, Zaid Jilani, and Alex Seitz-Wald, Global Warming, A Fake Scandal.

I excerpted the following two sections, because the term 'swiftboating' caught my eye. Looks like we have a new application for the process!

THE SWIFTBOATING OF SCIENCE BEGINS: The coordinated attack began last month when more than a thousand stolen internal e-mails from the CRU were dumped on a Russian web server. Hackers then used a computer in Saudi Arabia to post the e-mails on the climate skeptic website Air Vent. Skeptic blog "Watts Up With That" then picked up the story, and it wasn't long before the National Review and the rest of the right-wing blogosphere leaped on the hacked e-mails. Within a few days of the leak, Sen. David Vitter's (R-LA) staff began distributing a letter claiming that the stolen e-mails revealed that global warming "could well be the greatest act of scientific fraud in history." Soon after, right wingers of all stripes took up the cause of using the e-mails to debunk climate science, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, oil empire tycoon David Koch, and radical Fox News host Glenn Beck. Despite all this hysteria, the truth is that the content of the e-mails proved no such thing. Right wingers point to exchanges between climate scientists disparaging global warming deniers, which by itself does nothing to disprove the case of a warming planet. The most prominent e-mail deniers are touting is one from Pennsylvania State University climatologist Michael Mann sent to CRU chief Phil Jones, where Mann wrote, "I've just completed Mike's Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years and from 1961 for Keith's to hide the decline." While conspiracy theorists were quick to declare that this was evidence of Mann and Jones conspiring to hide data skeptical of global warming, as Time explains, Jones's "'trick'...simply referred to the replacing of proxy temperature data from tree rings in recent years with more accurate data from air temperatures. It's an analytical technique that has been openly discussed in scientific journals for over a decade -- hardly the stuff of conspiracy." Even conservative writer Megan McArdle has admitted, "I have so far seen no evidence of the kind of of grand conspiracy that some critics have charged."

THE MEDIA BOOSTS THE CONSPIRACY: Despite the fact that the e-mails in no way disprove the science of climate change, the mainstream media almost instantly took up the right wing's spin and used it to undermine the case for the existence climate change. NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams quickly adopted the conservative Climategate smear, asking, "Have the books been cooked on climate change?" Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal accused climate scientists of being Stalinists. A variety of Fox News hosts and guests promoted the e-mails over and over again as refuting the science of climate change. One of the worst media reports on the non-scandal appeared on CBS News. The network reported that the "e-mails seem to show that some of the top experts decided to exclude or manipulate some research that didn't help prove global warming exists," and said that the e-mails could cause the Copenhagen conference to "only produce the framework for an agreement that then will be passed on to next year." The mainstream media's willingness to grant legitimacy to the conspiracy theories has had unfortunate consequences. Two of the scientists whose e-mails were leaked have received death threats, prompting the FBI to launch an investigation. The Saudi negotiator in Copenhagen told the press that his government's "confidence" in the science of climate change "has been shaken" by the hacked e-mails.

Read the entire article here.

“I would assume that more interesting issues will be found in the files, and that a useful debate about the degree of politicization of climate science will emerge. A conclusion could be that the principle, according to which data must be made public, so that also adversaries may check the analysis, must be really enforced. Another conclusion could be that scientists like Mike Mann, Phil Jones and others should no longer participate in the peer-review process or in assessment activities like IPCC.” -- Hans van Storch

Emily Green's The Week That Was (in Water), 6-12 December 2009 (and More!)

2009-12-14T00:51:00-08:00

Grades are due tomorrow for the 210 bright-eyed, inquisitive, happy, refreshing undergraduates who populate my GEO 101 - The Solid Earth class. Ten weeks and it's time for them to move on. I get to stay where I am.

But rejoice! It's that time of the week again: Sunday night, and I have something to post since Emily Green has come through again with her waterworld recap.

No need to fear that you'll be reading of yet another of Tiger Woods' transgressions; Emily's post (there I go again!) is certified to be Woods-free.

So what's on tap (again!) this week:

A group hug among the governors of FL, GA, and AL? Gov. Sonny's prayin' that'll happen.

DiFi and Resnick: the saga continues. Even David Zetland weighs in, with his inimitable style.

Brazil's 'river of death' - where alligators are known to float belly-up so as to tan their undersides.

Lawsuits on the horizon in SoCal? Will MWD take to the courts to save its agreement with irrigators?

Will the wild mustangs overrun Florida? Will Asian carp overrun the Great Lakes? Will Brad Pitt save Planet Earth?

Bureaucrats' revenge in the EPA: CWA? What's that? Concerned Women for America? Communications Workers of America? Oh, that CWA!

Pennsylvania homeowners say 'Frak you!' to the gas industry.

A laconic limnologist just says 'No.'

No Christmas water fights in Oz, but icebergs Down Under? Acid oceans Up Over?

Government guide to proper usage of the words 'climate' and 'change' in the same sentence: don't!

So read her post, already!

“I would hope that Gov. Riley and Gov. Crist and I could have a group hug and we could agree on a water allocation between our three states.” — Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue

“We were advised not to use ‘climate’ and ‘change’ in the same sentence.” — National Park Service administrator Tom Olliff

Report: Climate Emails Showed Pettiness, Not Fraud

2009-12-13T08:45:00-08:00

This report from the AP describes the results of a study by AP reporters and seven experts in research ethics, climate science, and science policy. The team examined 1,073 emails hacked from the Climate Research Unit at East Anglia University.

From the story by Seth Borenstein, Raphael Satter and Malcolm Ritter:

The 1,073 e-mails examined by the AP show that scientists harbored private doubts, however slight and fleeting, even as they told the world they were certain about climate change. However, the exchanges don't undercut the vast body of evidence showing the world is warming because of man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

There is a lot more in the story. It's not a pretty sight, especially when you see how petty these climate scientists were.

Here is a previous post of mine with Phil Mote's perspective.

The effects of all this? A PR nightmare.

Over at Aguanomics, David Zetland quotes Fred Pearce:

I have been speaking to a PR operator for one of the world’s leading environmental organizations. Most unusually, he didn’t want to be quoted. But his message is clear. The facts of the e-mails barely matter any more. It has always been hard to persuade the public that invisible gases could somehow warm the planet, and that they had to make sacrifices to prevent that from happening. It seemed, on the verge of Copenhagen, as if that might be about to be achieved...The e-mails represented a seminal moment in the climate debate of the last five years, and it was a moment that broke decisively against us. I think the CRU leak is nothing less than catastrophic.

"I'll be tempted to beat the crap out of him. Very tempted." - A climate scientist, about a climate skeptic, quoted in the article

Asit Biswas: Pricing is the Answer to Global Water Crisis. Will That Be True in the Future?

2009-12-12T00:30:00-08:00

Asit K. Biswas, 2006 winner of the Stockholm Water Prize (the closest thing we have to a water Nobel Prize), is interviewed in Forbes (the picture is from the article) about the global water crisis. A similar story published last month in Wend Magazine can be found here.

Thanks to David Zetland at Aguanomics for alerting me to this story.

Biswas, who has had a long, distinguished career in water, now runs his own water think tank, the Third World Centre for Water Management in Mexico City.

No water crisis? There is, but it is not one of scarcity -  just mismanagement. There is a lot of truth in what he says.

Here's how Megha Bahree's story begins:

Asit Biswas loves to tell the story of the Phnom Penh Water Authority. It was 1993 and a new manager, Ek Sonn Chan, had been appointed to the then bankrupt utility. Of the water that it piped from its reservoirs, 72% disappeared without ever being paid for. Chan decided to chase down errant customers, among them all of Cambodia's government agencies and the Army. When asked to pay up, the officer in charge pulled out a gun. Chan retreated but went back the next day with a handful of journalists in tow. The general once again pulled out his gun. Chan cut off the water supply. The next day the Army paid its dues, and all the other agencies followed. Today the utility is flush with cash, and there is clean drinking water--the kind that can be had straight from the tap--available through the city, around the clock.

As governments across the world, and especially the developing world, worry about a looming water crisis, Biswas dismisses it as a self-inflicted wound. The problem we have, he says, is not scarcity but mismanagement. The solution to shortages is simple: "Water must have a price. Anything that is free won't be used prudently."

The last sentence is the key element of his argument, and it closes this post. But in some cases it is too simplistic. Shortages can be caused by other things: hegemony or conflict, for example. I suspect we will see such cases as climate change affects water supplies. And what if the price becomes too high because of diminishing supplies caused by hydrologic factors?

And water should be declared a human right, but that does not mean it has to be provided free.

"Water must have a price. Anything that is free won't be used prudently." -- Asit Biswas

Secretary Ken Salazar in Copenhagen: Role of Public Lands in Clean Energy Production and Carbon Capture

2009-12-12T00:08:00-08:00

On 10 December 2009 Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar delivered a keynote address before the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change, entitled New Energy Future: The Role of Public Lands in Clean Energy Production and Carbon Capture.

Here is the full text of his remarks:

Download 44338_salazar

Thanks to Jan Schoonmaker for alerting me to this.

“It is not what we have that will make us a great nation; it is the way in which we use it.” -- President Theodore Roosevelt

Dr. Vandana Shiva Lecture and Q & A: Earth Democracy

2009-12-11T00:33:00-08:00

Here are a presentation and the subsequent Q & A session on Earth Democracy by Dr. Vandana Shiva, the Indian PhD physicist who has taken up the causes of water pollution, privatization, globalization, sustainability, GMOs, ecofeminism, poverty and other issues.

Q & A session following the talk:

I ran across a film about her entitled Bullshit.

"In nature's economy the currency is not money, it is life." -- Vandana Shiva

Workshop Summary: Surface Water and Groundwater Changes in the Endorheic Tarim River Basin

2009-12-10T01:04:00-08:00

Asia's Tarim Basin is an endorheic, or closed, basin that occupies more than 400,000 square kilometers (c. 150,000 square miles) in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. It is the largest arid-region closed basin in the world and the most densely populated (10 million people) of any closed basin.

My colleague Todd Jarvis just returned from a conference in Xi'an, International Workshop on Surface and Ground Water Changes in the Tarim River Basin, where he presented an inivited paper.

Here is the the Third Circular.

He said he was reminded of his earlier times spent in Wyoming's Great Divide Basin.

The workshop was sponsored by the U.S. NSF, the National Nature Science Foundation of China, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. A number of other organizations, among them the University of Idaho, co-sponsored the workshop.

As Todd is wont to do, he wrote a very nice summary:

Download Tarim_Basin_Summary

A report and recommendations will be posted on the conference WWW site.

"Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still." -- Chinese proverb

Report: Water Forum for the Americas/Foro del Agua de las Americas

2009-12-09T00:10:00-08:00

A few weeks ago I reported that I'd be heading to Costa Rica on a brief, three-day trip for a meeting to discuss the Water Forum for the Americas (WFA, or FAM in Spanish). About 70 of us met at the Radisson in San José on 30 November - 1 December and had a fruitful discussion. Ken Reid and I represented AWRA.

The meeting's objectives:

1) strenghten the mobilization process initiated on the occasion of the Fifth World Water Forum and work towards the Sixth World Water Forum (6WWF; March 2012 in Marseille, France);

2) continue to build momentum and promote the water agenda at the policy level; and

3) support regional initiatives that promote the global water policy recommendations.

The conveners - Roberto Olivares (from ANEAS in Mexico), Maureen Ballestero Vargas (Vice President of the Legislative Assembly in Costa Rica), and Bendito (Ben) Braga (of ANA in Brazil) - would like to see the Americas 'have their act together' at 6 WWF in Marseille. Previous WWFs saw the Americas not as well organized as the other regions. So we'd like to have an 'Americas consensus' of sorts for 6WWF.

The WFA will establish a work agenda for the next two years. We agreed that we wanted the WFA to be a loose-knit organization without a strict, hierarchical structure (president, vice president, etc.). To that end, ANA, the Brazilian national water agency, agreed to function as the WFA Secretariat.

Executive Secretariat – Water Forum of the Americas
Phone: +55-61-2109-5169/5170/5534
Fax: +55-61-2109-5227
Email: wfa@ana.gov.br

Here is the press release in Spanish and English (run through a translator).

Download WFA_FAM_Press_Release_1 Dec 2009

Here are the documents describing the consensus we reached on the WFA/FAM. The text was modified from a proposal presented by Roberto Olivares, to whom we owe a debt of gratitude.

Download Water_Forum_of_the_Americas_1Dec2009

Download Foro_del_Agua_de_las_Americas_1dic2009

For reference, below are copies (English, Spanish, Portuguese) of the WFA Iguassu Falls message, which was sent  to the 5WWF participants.

Download Message_of_Foz_do_Iguassu

Download Mensaje_de_Foz_do_Iguazu

Download Mensagem_de_Foz_do_Iguaçu

Now the work begins - planning meetings, establishing work groups, etc. But for me, it'll be a labor of love. I look forward to it.

I especially want to thank Ing. Maureen Ballestero Vargas for serving as hostess and main organizer. Ben Braga, Director of ANA, did a remarkable job as meeting chair and did much to forge a consensus. Marie-Violaine Chabrel of ANA did yeoman duty before and throughout the meeting.

An added bonus: I delighted in seeing our three SUSIE participants from Costa Rica: , Gloriana Araya, Esteban Lobo Perez, and Marilyn Manrow Villalobos.

Looks like I'll be getting more Spanish practice in the coming months.

"Between the beginning and the end there is always a middle." -- Brazilian proverb

Winter 2009 Stygoscape Issue: Groundwater, Gossip, and the Guaraní Aquifer

2009-12-08T00:53:00-08:00

Like water conspiracy theories? Who doesn't?

If you do, or even if you don't, check out the Winter 2009 issue of Stygoscape, the newsletter of the Transboundary Ground Water Interest Group (TBGWIG) of the National Ground Water Association.

The featured aquifer is the Guaraní aquifer of South America, considered by some the largest single liquid freshwater body in the world, larger than either Lake Baikal or the North American Great Lakes.

Here is a link to a video showing the aquifer's formation.

Much has been made of the premise that the USA seeks to gain control of the aquifer. A Spanish-language film has been produced about this - Stygoscape has more on this. Maude Barlow has even invoked this belief as well. It's also suggested in the film Blue Gold: World Water Wars, which even includes a tenuous link to the Bush family.

Another great job by Stygoscape's founding editor Todd Jarvis!

"The biggest conspiracy has always been the fact that there is no conspiracy. Nobody's out to get you. Nobody gives a shit whether you live or die. There, you feel better now?" -- Dennis Miller

Emily Green's The Week That Was in Water, 29 November - 5 December 2009

2009-12-07T01:05:00-08:00

Time once again for that weekly tasty morsel craved by all true WaterWonks: Emily Green's recap of some of the more fascinating and bizarre happenings in WaterWorld.

And nary a mention of Tiger Woods!

So what do we have to look forward to this week?

Philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore; California water (gees, again?); Florida; chemicals from hydraulic fracturing, or 'fracking' (a favorite of BSG fans); retired judge notes the difference between Eastern and Western water law vis-a-vis Atlanta (Gov. Perdue's probably praying for rain again); resurrection of (God save us!) NAWAPA (conjures images of Japanese 1950s monster flicks. Arrgghhh - it's Nawapa!); Canada; conservation; and more!

An aside: if NAWAPA is returning, could NARA be far behind?

Give Emily a read.

“The dinosaurs didn’t know it was coming. We do. … Scientists might think that the right information in the right place is enough to move people to moral action, but that’s a logical mistake.” — philosopher Kathleen Dean Moore

COO Position Available: Imagine H2O

2009-12-07T00:45:00-08:00

I rarely post a position available notice on this site unless it is something unusual, and I think this one qualifies:

Download Imagine H2O COO Opportunity

Imagine H2O is a 501(c)(3) [nonprofit] start-up that is looking for a Chief Operating Officer. If you are interested, you might contact their search consultant, Daniel McGrath, at +1 415-781-2626 or toll-free (USA only) at 1-800-382-2733. Daniel is with Concept Corporation. You can also email him at danielm@conceptc.com. He spoke with me about the postion and sent me the flyer. I have no additional information.

You can also obtain more information by emailing info@imagineh2o.org.

Good luck!

"It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen." -- John Wooden

Climate Change Effects on Groundwater: Some Considerations and Publications

2009-12-06T00:50:00-08:00

At the recently-concluded NAS USA - Ukraine workshop on Climate Change and Water Sector Adaptations I gave a brief general Power Point presentation on Climate Change Effects on Groundwater: Some Considerations:

Download NAS USA - NASU CC Workshop_Groundwater_Campana

Boris Faybishenko of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and I also wrote a 'one-pager' on the same topic, complete with a few references:

Download NAS Workshop_CC_and_Groundwater_30_Nov_2009

And let me make a another pitch for this special session in Copenhagen on groundwater, climate change and adaptation;

Climatic change is expected to cause significant changes in the water cycle. On the one hand more concentrated and stronger precipitation is expected, and on the other hand it is expected that droughts will be more persistent. Longer and sustained droughts will especially influence semi-arid regions where, in many cases, there are water shortages already. Particularly in these areas, the availability of groundwater is crucial to the survival of both nature and humankind.
The Netherlands National Committee IHP-HWRP, together with AMCOW, GEUS, IGRAC, UCL, and UNESCO's IHP, will host a special session during the UN Climate Change Conference (COP-15) in Copenhagen on Groundwater, climate change and adaptation. The session is supported by IAHS' timely publications on Groundwater and Climate in Africa.

Date: Thursday, 10 December 2009
Time: 20.00-22.00 hrs
Venue: Holland Climate House, Hall C7, Bella Center, UN Climate Change Conference, Copenhagen

Here is a little publication from the Germans:

Download Groundwater_and_ climate_change_071108

And this one I posted a few yars ago.

Lastly, here's a nice booklet, Managing the Water Buffer for Development and Climate Change Adaptation. It will take a while to download.

Enjoy!

"The word "enough" does not exist for water, fire, and women." -- Ukrainian proverb

Jon Stewart on Climategate

2009-12-05T00:24:00-08:00

Well, why not? Everyone else has weighed in.

How did Memogate get a "gate"? How did Nipplegate get a "gate"? We invaded a country with the wrong information, and Janet Jackson's tit got a "gate". Who gives out the "gates"? Is there a "Gate"-gate? Is there a, a... I mean, it's absolute... We're living in insanity!" -- Jon Stewart, 2004

Kathleen Dean Moore Lecture: Water - Do We Have Any Moral Obligation to the Future?

2009-12-04T01:00:00-08:00

Dr. Kathleen Dean Moore is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy and University Writer Laureate at Oregon State University, where she teaches environmental ethics, Native American philosophy, and a field course on the philosophy of nature. She also directs the Spring Creek Project. She is the author of many books ranging from critical thinking textbooks, to collections of essays on environmental ethics and nature. Additionally, she publishes about environmental ethics and moral reasoning in academic journals such as Conservation Biology and the Journal of Forestry and in books about the management of forest and ocean resources. Dr. Moore is a very accomplished and decorated author and professor.

Dr. Moore has a forthcoming book, Moral Ground: Why Do We Have to Save the Future?, a collection of moving and powerful essays by 100 of the world's moral leaders, all arguing that we have an obligation to the future to leave behind a liveable world.

Click on the image below or link to the video.

"Civilization can only revive when there shall come into being in a number of individuals a new tone of mind, independent of the prevalent one among the crowds, and in opposition to it -- a tone of mind which will gradually win influence over the collective one, and in the end determine its character. Only an ethical movement can rescue us from barbarism, and the ethical comes into existence only in individuals." -- Albert Schweitzer

Phil Mote: More on CRU Hacked Emails

2009-12-04T00:55:00-08:00

Dr. Phil Mote, who directs the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute (OCCRI), sent around an email listing two places to get some thorough and reasonably-balanced perspectives on the incident: Wikipedia posting and Ben Santer's open letter to a NYT blog.

Phil also included some words of his own:

By now you've probably heard about the incident a couple of weeks ago
in which some emails, data files, and fortran source code were stolen
from the University of East Anglia (UK) Climate Research Unit and
uploaded to various web sites. The correspondence is being used to
claim that CRU and other climate scientists were manipulating data to
exaggerate global warming and colluding to prevent skeptics from
having a voice. While some of the personal comments about skeptics
are embarrassing, the incident primarily represents woeful
misrepresentation of the scientists' words (e.g., where 'trick' was
used to mean 'clever way to solve a problem', not 'deception') has
been blown out of all proportion.

Furthermore, few if any of the scientific conclusions on global
warming rests on the matters discussed. The fact is that two other
research centers (NASA GISS and National Climatic Data Center) have
performed their own analyses fairly independently over the years and
they all reach virtually the same conclusions.

"If you can't prove apocalypse is nigh, at least now nobody can prove it isn't." -- New York Post

Mitigating the Next Ice Age: Do We Need More GHG Emissions?

2009-12-03T07:02:01-08:00

Nothing like a another provocative title. It is based on a comment recently made by a colleague, who noted that we are on track for another glacial period, an event made less certain because of humanity's GHG emissions. But he posited that it might be useful to determine the level of GHG emissions required to stave off another Ice Age.

That's probably not a politically expeditious thing to do.

Some have noted that global warming could actually enhance the prospects for an Ice Age.

There is nothing new about the chance that global warming could actually trigger a new Ice Age. Catastrophic melting of the Greenland ice sheet and the resulting freshening of the North Atlantic Ocean could diminish or shut down the thermohaline circulation that transfers heat from the tropics to the northern latitudes.

That is the mechanism that keeps northern Europe from having a climate like Siberia.

I posted on this prospect on 19 April 2008, including a prospect that the same could happen to the Southern Ocean because of the melting of the Antarctic ice sheet. See the diagram below.

I asked my colleague if he had calculated the level of GHG emissions needed. He replied in the negative.

"Climate change poses clear, catastrophic threats. We may not agree on the extent, but we certainly can't afford the risk of inaction." -- Rupert Murdoch