Odds and ends: it’s how you operate the canal that matters, working landscapes for forestry and ag, limiting growth by water policy, water lecture series online, the earth as art, and check out the *new* water cycle!

It’s how you operate the peripheral canal that matters, says blogger Jim Gogek: In a post that discusses the peripheral canal and the Sunrise powerlink project, Jim writes: The canal and the power line are merely conduits for resources – water and electricity — that human civilization needs to survive. Whether we use these conduits in an environmentally sound way is up to us — through our State Legislature and regulatory agencies. If we drain away all the water from our rivers or rely only on dirty coal-fired power plants for electrons, we’re doomed. But, if we don’t build vital infrastructure for water and electricity just because we’re afraid of how we might use it, we’re also doomed. Read more from Jim Gogek’s blog: Peripheral Canal and Sunrise Powerlink: It’s up to us how we manage this critical infrastructure

Working Landscapes Adaption papers on forests and agriculture: The On the Public Record blog reviews two papers that were written by government agencies, explaining: This is actually a really exciting new development, having state agencies work on papers together. You wouldn’t think it would be a new innovation, but the Governor has informed the agencies that all of our plans must say the same thing! We are quite excited by the prospect. Check it out from the On the Public Record blog: Working Landscapes Adaptation papers

Ballot initiative approved by voters to limit growth by using water policy will be the source of lots of litigation, predicts the Watering the Desert blog, commenting on a recent ballot measure approved by voters in Washoe County, Nevada (the Reno-Sparks area). The ballot measure was only one sentence long, notes the blog: Stating it in such simple terms will create extensive work for lawyers and planning administrators in that area, working out how it should be implemented. I suspect it was stated simply in order to garner support. It could be interpreted to require something pretty similar to what is required in Arizona under the “Growing Smarter Plus Act”, requiring counties and municipalities of a certain size to include a water resources element in their general plan. Read more from the Watering the Desert blog: Using Water Policy to Manage Growth – Nevada edition

California Colloquium on Water lecture series now available online from the Water Resources Center Archives: There’s an extensive listing of past lectures available to be viewed online from a wide variety of interesting and respected speakers, such as Jeffrey Mount, Peter Moyle, Pat Mulroy, David Kennedy, Environmental reporter Mike Taugher, Thaddeus Bettner of the Westlands Water District, Heather Cooley of the Pacific Institute … the list goes on and on. An amazing resource! Check it out here: California Colloquium on Water – Water Resources Center Archives.

The earth as art: from the USGS via the Sisweb The official description is: “A collection of Landsat 7 scenes created for aesthetic purposes rather than scientific interpretation.” This boring description translates to: beautiful images of earth from space. Many, of course, are of rivers. Check it out here: USGS: Earth as Art

Think you know the water cycle? Well, it’s changed a little… Check out the way the water cycle works nowadays from the Water Wired blog: Postmodern Hydrologic Cycle

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