This is just one post in the Odds and Ends Category

Odds and ends: water transfers, reflections on a trip down the Central Valley, redefining rivers, Australia and desalination, a naughty octopus, and more!

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 15, 2008 at 7:40 am

Here’s the latest interesting stuff out there on the ‘net:

How water transfers work in California: David Zetland of the Aguanomics blog asked the State Water Resources Control Board for some details about water transfers and posts their response here.

Aguanomics reader travels the San Joaquin Valley from top to bottom: He writes: the real conclusion is that there are two different Valleys and the demarcation is as sharp as if Winston Churchill sat down with a ruler and a pen and a map of Persia. Everything north of Sacramento, e.g. the Delta, is rich and prosperous. The fields are neatly harrowed for spring planting. The hedgerows are neat and clean. The houses and barns are painted and well maintained. The cars, trucks, tractors, etc. are relatively new and well maintained. South of Sacramento everything is simply shabby. That is where all of the fallowed land and the deserted orchards are located. Read more of this post from the Aguanomics blog by clicking here.

Living on Earth, a radio show on public radio, reported on the possible revisions to the Clean Water Act this week: Two years ago, the Supreme Court made a landmark ruling on America’s rivers that limited the reach of the Clean Water Act. The ruling has many repercussions, especially in the arid Southwest. Living on Earth’s Ingrid Lobet reports. .. you can read a transcript, listen online or download an mp3 by clicking here.

Is Australia’s push for desalination making their problems worse? The Grist says yes in this article about droughts, desalination and feedback in the land down under - click here.

Pictures, pictures: Here’s a picture of salt evaporation ponds in the Central Valley from Lloyd Carter’s Chronicles of the Hydraulic Brotherhood blog, the 12 most astonishing hot springs in the world from Life in the Fast Lane, and drought tolerant landscapes from the O.C. Register.

Bad octopus, bad bad octopus! Whats an aquarium to do with a misbehaving octopus? An octopus has caused havoc in his aquarium by performing juggling tricks using his fellow occupants, smashing rocks against the glass and turning off the power by short-circuiting a lamp. From Radio Wammo off the wireless - click here.

Honorable mentions for interestingness: Everything you wanted to know about eutrophication, Mariposa County’s water history, and the latest issue of the Santa Clara River Watershed Times.