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Odds and ends: toll road has some supporters; conserving water by conserving food, the USGS wants YOUR input, raft of junk sets sail for ocean garbage patch, new online water journal, and will California really get a straw in the Columbia River?

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 3, 2008 at 11:04 pm

Sorry for the super long title folks…

Eight Congressman support building the toll road through San Onofre State Park, according to a blurb in the LA Times: Gary Miller (R-Diamond Bar), Ken Calvert (R-Corona), John Campbell (R-Irvine), Ed Royce (R-Fullerton), Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), Darrell Issa (R-Vista), Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) and Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley). According to the statement, “the commission failed to recognize years of study for the roadway to protect the environment and valuable state park and coastal resources.” The Department of Commerce recently announced they would be holding public hearings on the appeal sometime later this summer.

Food conservation is also water conservation: (Hat tip to the Water Wired blog!) “Losses of food between the farmer’s field to our dinner table - in food storage, transport, food processing, retail, and in our kitchens are huge. This loss of food is equivalent to a loss in water. Reducing food loss and wastage lessens water needs in agriculture. We need to pay attention to this fact,” says this report from the International Water Management Institute, based in Stockholm. Increasing demand on a limited resource means we need to manage it much more efficiently than what we are doing now. Check out the report by clicking here.

The USGS’s Water for America Initiative seeks stakeholder input in developing a ‘census’ of America’s water resources: According to the website, “In its simplest terms the philosophy of the initiative is “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” Knowing our nation’s water “assets” and rates of use on an ongoing basis is crucial to wise management.” Find out more by clicking here to visit the website. Look on the black menu bar for the “Stakeholder Feedback” link for an electronic feedback form that asks for your input on a series of questions. (Also from the Water Wired blog.)

Raft made of junk sails off towards Hawaii to bring attention to the garbage patch in the Pacific Ocean: The Emerald City blog covers the launch in this post. You can follow the progress on the Junk Blog - click here. And watch a 4-minute video of the launch in this Emerald City post.

New online free journal on water issues surfaces as promised: From the Water Wired Blog, here’s a link to “Water Alternatives” , an interdisciplinary journal on water, politics and development. Water Alternatives intent is to address “the full range of issues that water raises in contemporary societies. Its ambition is to provide space for alternative and critical thinking on such issues.” Check it out by clicking here.

The Pacific Northwest as a water farm? Yeah, right, says the AquaDoc in this Water Wired post, who says we really don’t know how much water is there: “It’s premature to make such statements, given our lack of knowledge of the volcanic ground water systems in the Cascades. For one thing, it’s more than just a matter of permeability and porosity. We need to know the large-scale storage properties, the recoverability of the ground water, and the effects of withdrawals on hydrologic systems and ecosystems. It’s tempting to say that there is a lot of available ground water beneath the Cascades, but we just don’t know at this point.” Aquadoc also responds to many points in the recent Stockton Record article. Click here for this Water Wired post.

Wow… we’re 0 for 2 now… turned down by the Great Lakes AND the Pacific Northwest…. at least we have the Salton Sea channel….