Happy Fourth of July! Website is updated.

Posted by: Maven on July 4, 2011 at 9:32 am

Campsite was lovely, but not enough to do to stay another day, and besides, I have decided there are many things I will do: haul a bunch of stuff out into the sticks, cook while bugs nosedive into the grill, sleep in a tent, even forego a shower for a few days, but there is one thing I will not do again … I will not go camping without a flush toilet. Done with that.

Soooo, here ya go, a complete update!

Have a safe and enjoyable Fourth of July!

-Maven

Vintage postcard by flickr photographer Rip the Skull.

Happy 4th of July: Website note

Posted by: Maven on July 1, 2011 at 9:45 am

I am headed off to go camping in the mountains over the holiday weekend. The campsite is rather remote and without running water or flush toilets, so I don’t know how long we’ll last. I have decided to forgo taking the computer along and driving into town – in other words, I’m going to take a few days off. When I return, the website will be completely updated – but when exactly that will be, I cannot say. I do promise it will be done by Tuesday morning at the latest, though!

I thank you all for your continued readership, and I hope your holiday is safe and enjoyable one!

With warmest regards,

Maven

Photo of fireworks by flickr photographer bayasaa.

Check out the newly updated Research and Publications page!

Posted by: Maven on June 5, 2011 at 8:20 am

Where can you go on the internet to find links to all those reports and publications on California water The Research and Publications page on the Information Desk, of course! Bringing together links to reports from the PPIC, Pacific Institute, Legislative Analyst’s Office, Little Hoover Commission, the Delta Watermaster’s report and more (even the CPUC’s paper on the public goods charge on water!), I’ve been updating it this weekend to make it as complete as possible.

You can check it out here: http://aquafornia.com/research-and-publications

Do I need to add anything Drop me a line and let me know!

Interesting to note … apparently finance has been on the minds of legislators lately, as I found this report and this report over at the Legislative Analyst’s Office….

Website news: Check out our updated About page, and Aquafornia’s now formatted for smart phones and iPads, too

Posted by: Maven on June 1, 2011 at 8:37 am

I wanted to let you know that we’ve updated Aquafornia’s “About” page, so if you are interested, check it out here.

Aquafornia also is now formatted for mobile devices so you can now easily stay up to date with all the latest water news on your smartphones and even your iPad, too!

And stay tuned for an exciting website announcement in the upcoming weeks!

Happy Memorial Day!

Posted by: Maven on May 30, 2011 at 7:11 am

On this Memorial Day….

Please take a moment today to remember those who have given their lives in the service of our country.

Have a safe and happy holiday!

Check out Aquafornia on your mobile phone! plus some weekend highlights

Posted by: Maven on March 28, 2011 at 8:35 am

Hey mobile phone users! Check out Aquafornia on your smart phone! I’ve added a plug-in to the blog that formats the page for mobile browsers. It looks great on my phone; hopefully it works for yours, too. If you have any problems, drop me a line and let me know.

And not to be missed weekend news: Coming in late on Friday, Court tentatively holds that DWR's proposed geological activities on Delta properties would result in an unconstitutional taking of private property, and the Court upholds protections for the Delta smelt, and Judge Wanger will issue his ruling on Wednesday whether pumping will be cutback on April 1st.

The Water Education Foundation welcomes new Board members

Posted by: Maven on March 21, 2011 at 8:04 am

From the Water Education Foundation, this press release:

The Foundation welcomes Lester Snow to their Board of Directors, effective March 11, 2011. Mr. Snow brings more than 30 years of experience to this position. He previously served as Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency, Director of the California Department of Water Resources, Regional Director of the Bureau of Reclamation, Executive Director of the CALFED Bay-Delta Program, and General Manager of the San Diego County Water Authority. He currently serves as a consultant, providing policy, planning and communication guidance to clients.

“We are pleased that Lester Snow has joined the Foundation’s board as he brings vast knowledge and experience in working with state, federal and private water interests,” said Executive Director Rita Schmidt Sudman.

Continue reading “The Water Education Foundation welcomes new Board members” »

Odds and ends: Waste management can happen in the strangest places, drinking water and autism, Buddhist fish ceremonies & California’s water history

Posted by: Maven on February 20, 2011 at 6:00 am

The latest edition of odds and ends, filling you in on everything you didn’t know you needed to know:

Coming to Copenhagen in 2016: Waste management plant and urban ski park, all in one! Yes, if you’re planning on visiting Copenhagen’s waste management plant, which will incinerate the waste from five municipalities to create heat and electricity for 140,000 homes, don’t forget your skis. The plant will also feature an urban ski park; after your tour, take the elevator to the top and ski on down. Check it out, from the New York Times Green blog: Skiing Your Way to ‘Hedonistic Sustainability'

SFPUC’s new office building will have a sewage treatment in the lobby, as well as exterior landscaping: By using a constructed wetland, the water will be cleaned up, good enough for irrigation, toilet flushing, and other non-potable uses. The SFPUC expects to save about 750,000 gallons and produce another 900,000 gallons. From Clean-Technica: World’s most gorgeous sewage treatment plant will be put inside an office building

Say what Regulating drinking supply prevents kids from getting autism, so says Lisa Jackson I’ve heard many theories as to why autism is on the rise, but not that one. Jackson told a Senate Committee at a hearing: ” “Our science may be good, but I don't know how you price the ability to try to forestall a child who may not get autism if they're not exposed to contaminated water,\” Jackson said.” Read it all here from CNS News: EPA Administrator Claims Regulating Drinking Water Supply Prevents Kids from Getting Autism

If you’re planning any Buddhist fish release ceremonies, read this first.

The water history of California: I stumbled across this pdf which, despite it’s complex and academic title, is an excellent history of how California’s water system developed, from the Native Americans to the present. If you’re into water history, you’ll want to bookmark this: Water Conveyance Systems: Historic Context Development and Evaluation Procedures (at the California Department of Transportation website)

New on Maven’s Photoblog: The Eastern Sierra Mountains, A Visit to Kern National Wildlife Refuge, and the Placerita Canyon Nature Center

Odds and ends: My Delta tour pictures, nature’s slurpee machine & iceberg death rattles, Bay Area’s low-rent pirates, a sexy flood film, a dam power point and more!

Posted by: Maven on January 30, 2011 at 8:49 am

Oh yes, it’s the return of Odds and Ends, which longtime Aquafornia readers will remember as the occasional installment that covers all of those little water things you didn’t know you needed to know. Here’s some notable bits and pieces of water-related links from around the internet:

Delta tour pictures finally posted: Back in July, I traveled with the Water Education Foundation on their Delta tour. I’ve finally arranged my photos on my Photoblog. You can check it out here: Photos from the Water Education Foundation’s Delta Tour. (Note: I’ll be spending a day in the Delta in March. If you have any suggestions of great places to photograph the Delta, please let me know!)

Hey! Look to the right over there and check out my updated Web Resources section, now featuring links to check on current snowpack and reservoir conditions as well as your state and federal legislative committees. Coming soon: an updated Research and Publications page!

Nature’s slurpee machine: Check out this YouTube video of the Frazil Ice Flows in Yosemite Park in this post from the Fresno Bee News Blog: Frazil Ice Video Brrrrrr!!!!

If you’re in the mood for more ice, check out the Death Rattle of an Iceberg from KQED’s Climate Watch blog.

Low rent “pirates” in Sausalito Apparently so! The Bay Citizen reports on the Gates Co-op, a holdover from the beatnik communities of the 50s. Check out the photo gallery – this is definitely not your high-rent living. Find it here: Gates Co-op Houseboats, Sausalito

The Sexiest Flood Film Ever, or so says the Los Angeles Creek Freak blog. Go decide for yourself! Sexiest Flood Film Ever

Dam Powerpoint: Check out this comprehensive power point on California Dams: Dams and Disasters: a brief overview of dam building triumphs and tragedies in California's past

Brochures to check out: The Delta Stewardship Council’s brochure about the Delta plan and the Union of Concerned Scientists 10 Things You Should Know about the Energy-Water Collision.

Interesting historical notes: There is a wealth of history online now that is available through Google books and others websites that I have found while researching the Salton Sea and the Imperial Valley. Check out this Popular Mechanics article from December 1946 about the machines building the All-American Canal and other canals in the desert; or this Life Magazine article from 1940 on the Pacific Fruit Express and its highly successful Imperial Valley cantaloupe trains; This Popular Mechanics article from 1940 profiles how the reefer cars were iced to keep the produce cool.

Salton Sea – the renovated North Shore Yacht Club: I could fill endless odds and ends posts about Salton Sea blogs, but here’s what’s interesting in the last week. On my recent trip to the sea, I had hoped to visit the renovated North Shore club which has been turned into a museum but I just ran out of time. The Spirit blog made a visit – the place looks amazing now! Check it out here: New playground and patio at the renovated North Shore Beach & Yacht Club at the Salton Sea Also, check out these beautiful pictures of sunsets at the sea by Peter Tellone photography here: The Salton Sea – The Sunsets

Maven’s Photoblog: The New River

Posted by: Maven on January 6, 2011 at 7:33 am

It was a great day, visiting the fields of the Imperial Valley, and I can’t wait to show you the pictures, but not much time today. However, I just had to show you the pictures from our visit to the New River in Calexico yesterday, the most polluted (& disgusting) river in the U.S. Check it out on my photoblog by clicking here.

Today, we are headed to the Salton Sea. Tomorrow, one more museum and then home!

Happy 2011! Maven’s New Year’s message for you ….

Posted by: Maven on January 1, 2011 at 8:43 am

Happy New Year!   It's been another wild ride in California water news this year, and no doubt 2011 will be much the same. I look forward to serving your water news needs in 2011! As the year draws to a close and a new one begins, I'd like to take a moment to share some thoughts with you.

I developed this website with the concept of following water news from around the state to include not only newspaper articles but also blogs, trade journals, legislator statements, press releases, and even regional weather, and more. Aquafornia is not an environmental blog nor an agency blog; it’s the ‘everything’ blog when it comes to California water and I don’t think there’s anything else like it on the internet. That being said, the stories on the scroll are driven by what is being posted and published to the web each day; it is never my intention to favor any one side.

I don't have an agenda to push or a point of view to present because I have respect for all sides. I think the water agencies do a phenomenal job delivering water to our taps virtually uninterrupted day after day, and I am fascinated with the large-scale infrastructure systems that our modern society depends on. (If you think water is complicated, just check out electricity!) I like agriculture because I like to eat, and I'm especially appreciative of the amazing selection of high quality fruits and vegetables that are available to me year-round living here in California. (Those early season strawberries are the best!) And I really enjoy being out in the environment, and believe it needs and deserves protection, too; our family trips often involve visiting the remote and rural parts of the state. (We especially enjoy real rivers!) I don't fish myself nor do I eat fish, but nonetheless I think it's important for there to be fish in our lakes and rivers, too.

I have to believe there are answers to be found and that those answers lie somewhere in the murky middle. The best solutions to our problems can only be crafted when everyone has at least a basic understanding of and respect for each other's position, for the outcome will surely affect us all. It is important to realize that there are people fighting for their very livelihoods over these issues; decisions must be carefully made. And in a state where ballot initiatives determine spending and policies, an engaged and informed electorate is absolutely necessary. It is my hope that Aquafornia makes a significant contribution to creating that understanding.

But Aquafornia is not just about following the news and commentary of the day. California's water issues cannot be fully understood without knowing some basic information about how water is managed and conveyed around the state, and Aquafornia's Information Desk is the top spot on the internet for providing that information. With a combined total of nearly 35,000 hits last year alone, the articles Where Does California's Water Come From, Where Does Southern California's Water Come From, California's Water Crisis, and Why the Delta is Important are always among the top articles read on Aquafornia each day. The Los Angeles Aqueduct Slideshow along with articles on the Information Desk have even been used as source material for college courses, and the State Water Project Slideshow joined the Information Desk in November. I am proud that Aquafornia is fulfilling its educational mission by providing accurate and basic information on the internet for those who are interested in learning more about California's water.

As this year opens up, I'll be traveling the Imperial Valley from Imperial Dam through the fields of the Imperial Valley and out to the Salton Sea this week. I'll be compiling pictures and doing research for an upcoming project that I'm hoping will launch in the spring that's been two years in the making. I'll try and post pictures on my photoblog as I travel along. I may need to use a shortened format for the regional news stories, but rest assured, everything will return to normal once I'm back at Aquafornia headquarters next week!

I'd like to take a moment to thank the Water Education Foundation for their sponsorship and support of Aquafornia; they do important work , they support me :) and they're a nice bunch of people, too. If you like Aquafornia, please consider supporting the Foundation by becoming a member, attending a conference or taking a water tour.   (I took several tours this year, and enjoyed them all!)

I’d also like to say thank you to all who take the time to comment or send me emails. Even though I’m not so good at answering them all, I do read each one, and your comments and suggestions are always appreciated.

I certainly never imagined when I started this blog over three and a half years ago that it would enjoy the incredible success that it has, and so most of all, I owe it all to you, the readers, because without your steady and faithful readership, this blog be just another abandoned website on the internet. After all, a blogger blogs to be read, so from me to you, a heartfelt ‘thank you!’ and my sincerest best wishes for all the best for you and yours in 2011!

With warmest regards,
Chris Austin
aka ‘Maven’

Here’s a recap of yesterday afternoon’s postings

Posted by: Maven on November 24, 2010 at 8:34 am

And finally …. here’s a rundown of the postings yesterday afternoon in response to Westlands – note that these are all posted further down the scroll, but are being located up here for your convenience:

THE BDCP REPORT

The BDCP “Complete Working Draft” has now been posted and is available here: http://www.baydeltaconservationplan.com/BDCPPlanningProcess/ReadDraftPlan.aspx

DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR’S RESPONSE TO WESTLANDS

Click here to read the letter from the Department of Interior.

BLOG COMMENTARY:

Kate Poole/NRDC: And now, will the real purpose of the BDCP please stand up from the NRDC Switchboard blog
On the Public Record blog on Westlands: A whole cartload of schadenfreude for me.
Delta National Park blog: Westlands takes the ball and goes home

MEDIA STATEMENTS:

State Water Contractors Response
Metropolitan Water District’s Response

On the Road: Aqua Blog Maven’s slideshow of Lake Tahoe, the Feather River, and Lake Oroville

Posted by: Maven on August 1, 2010 at 8:05 am

Here’s a slideshow of my pictures of Northern California. First, there are some shots of Lake Tahoe, and then some pictures of my trip down Route 70, following the Feather River, followed by Lake Oroville. We visited it yesterday; it is only 68% full.

Today, we leave Chico and head over to Grass Valley and down the 49 to Jackson. Tomorrow, we’re going to see a gold mine and some limestone caverns. Then, it’s down through the Central Valley, back to home on Tuesday.

Note: If you want to read the comments I have for each picture, you must click the “show info” button at the top of the slideshow. if you want to view in full screen, click the button in the lower right hand corner.

I hope you enjoy these pictures!

Aqua Blog Maven’s photos from the road

Posted by: Maven on July 26, 2010 at 9:59 am

I’m on the road for the next ten days. The blog will be updated as usual, albeit perhaps a little later than usual…. (it is vacation, you know….) Periodically I’ll share pictures from the road, this batch from our trip up the Eastern Sierra (click on the picture to see it larger):

Quite possibly the smallest water company in California(unverified):

Click here for more pictures: Continue reading “Aqua Blog Maven’s photos from the road” »

Water Education Foundation announces winners of the 2010 “California Water\”? photo contest!

Posted by: Maven on June 18, 2010 at 7:19 am

From the Water Education Foundation:

“The Foundation would like to announce the winners of the 2010 “California Water\” photo contest!

Michael Carl won for his photo of the Upper Kern River. Michael is a freelance writer and photographer whose work focuses on California rivers and their diverse fisheries. He edits and develops content for the Ecological Angler, a website targeted to the fishing community: http://www.ecoangler.com.

Steve Folino won for his photo of Yosemite, shot across the Merced River and the Yosemite Valley towards El Capitan. With his wife Lee, Steve owns and operates a North Sacramento portrait studio called Inner Vision Images. More examples of his work can be seen on their website at http://www.innervisionimages.com.

Both winners will receive $50 and a copy of the Foundation's Emmy award-winning documentary, Salt of the Earth: Salinity in California's Central Valley. The winners will also be announced on our Facebook page and Aquafornia.”

Slideshow: Central Valley Tour

Posted by: Maven on April 28, 2010 at 8:03 am

A few weeks ago, I traveled with the Water Education Foundation on their tour of the Central Valley. Here’s a slideshow of just some of the things we saw (You can view this in a larger window or full screen on the slideshare site):

Interactive map for upcoming Water Education Foundation Central Valley Tour

Posted by: Maven on April 6, 2010 at 7:39 am

Rebecca Scott sent me this interactive map of the upcoming Central Valley Tour:

“The Water Education Foundation’s Central Valley Tour is April 14-16. Check out this interactive map to find out what sites in the Central Valley we will be visiting. The blue points are the locations we will be visiting on Day 1, the red points Day 2 and the green points Day 3. For more info about our tours and to register, visit www.watereducation.org/tours. “

I’m going on this tour, and I am very much looking forward to another action-packed tour, like the Lower Colorado River Tour (check out my slideshow here).

The major sponsors of the 2010 Central Valley Tour are Bowles Family Farm (in honor of Mr. John H. “Jack\” Threlkeld); California Department of Water Resources; Kern County Water Agency; Bureau of Reclamation : Mid Pacific Region; George Miller and Janet McKinley; PBS&J.

This tour is all filled up, but there are more water tours this year, including the popular Delta tour in July. Check it out at the Foundation’s website by clicking here.

View Central Valley Water Tour in a larger map

Water Education Foundation announces photography contest : “California Water\”?

Posted by: Maven on March 18, 2010 at 6:40 am

From the Water Education Foundation:

“The Water Education Foundation is an impartial, nonprofit organization whose mission is to create a better understanding of water resources and foster public understanding and resolution of water resource issues through facilitation, education and outreach.

The Water Education Foundation is seeking the best California water photographs that best represent each of the following categories:

\Ӣ California Rivers
\Ӣ The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
\Ӣ Indoor/Outdoor Water Conservation
\Ӣ Agricultural Water Use
\Ӣ Fish and Wildlife
\Ӣ Urban Water Use
\Ӣ Recreation

PRIZES: The top three entries will be announced and posted on the Foundation's website, Facebook page and Aquafornia along with a link to the artist's webpage. The winners will also receive $50 and a copy of the Foundation's Emmy award-winning DVD, Salt of the Earth: Salinity in the Central Valley.

GUIDELINES: Photo submissions should be in color, creative but realistic and must be at least 8 ½ by 11 at 300dpi. You can submit as many entries as you'd like but they must be original work. Please email digital photo submissions by April 10, labeled with your name and title of the piece to Robin Richie, [email protected] No calls please. The winner will be chosen in May.

All entries become property of the Water Education Foundation and could be used in future publications. Photographer will receive a photo credit and copy of the publication for any photos used. The Foundation reserves the right to edit, modify, publish, use, and reproduce any and all entries without further compensation.

A Sunday morning slideshow of pictures from around California

Posted by: Maven on February 28, 2010 at 8:37 am

Slow news day today. It feels so relaxing after yesterday when I posted 33 items …

I recently uploaded a lot of pictures from all around the state onto my flickr page – click here to check out all of my pictures at the flickr website. Aquafornia pictures are available for your non-commercial use under the Creative Commons license; all I ask for is credit for Aquafornia and a link to the photo’s flickr page if possible.

I have been experimenting with photo galleries and flash programs, and I discovered that I can now embed flickr slideshows! Unfortunately, I can’t add my own custom comments for the slideshow, although you can see the title & description by clicking on the “Show Info” link at the top left on the screen. Note that you can see the pictures in full screen view by clicking on the icon in the bottom right corner.

So, if you feel so inclined, sit back and enjoy views of waterscapes and infrastructure from around California….

The Foundation’s Northern California tour shows participants where California’s water system begins

Posted by: Maven on January 4, 2010 at 8:17 am

Rebecca Scott fills us in on all the activities of the Water Education Foundation’s action-packed Northern California tour:

Many people don't think about where their water comes from, which is ironic since the average family turns on the faucet 70 times a day. It is important to acknowledge the systems behind the faucet – the systems that transport water throughout all of California. The majority of people in California receive some of their water from the State Water Project (SWP) and the Central Valley Project (CVP), both of which begin in Northern California.

In October, the Foundation held its Northern California Tour which gave participants an inside look at the dams and rivers that feed into the water system of the whole state. What happens up north affects the water supply to the south, as we have clearly seen with the off and on shutting down of the pumps due to fish population decline and the biological opinions.

On the tour one of the many issues we discussed was the biological opinion requirements to change operations at several of the dams and facilities we visited in an attempt to restore the declining populations of salmon and steelhead. I led the tour, and Rita Schmidt Sudman, the Foundation's Executive Director, joined the group. This tour not only gave us a better understanding of Northern California water issues but also shed light on the fact that everything in water is connected in California.

Continue reading “The Foundation’s Northern California tour shows participants where California’s water system begins” »

Road trip! Aqua Blog Maven tours Southern California reservoirs

Posted by: Maven on October 28, 2009 at 8:08 am

And speaking of road trips, I recently took one. Having been blessed with a day completely free of familial obligations, I and trusty AquaDog took to the road to visit some Southern California resevoirs, including the area’s largest reservoir, Diamond Valley Lake.

To cut to the chase, here’s a picture of Diamond Valley Lake. An MWD press release in July of 2009 said it was down 100 feet.

If you want to check out more of my pictures, click Continue reading “Road trip! Aqua Blog Maven tours Southern California reservoirs” »

The Los Angeles Aqueduct in pictures: See how it all began in this Aquafornia exclusive!

Posted by: Maven on October 5, 2009 at 6:58 am

The Los Angeles Aqueduct was the very first large-scale water project ever completed in California. Mulholland & his engineer’s system of bringing the Owens River water to Los Angeles was an engineering feat of it’s time, second only to the Panama Canal. It is still in use today, nearly one-hundred years later. Follow the path of the aqueduct from Mono Lake to Southern California in this Aquafornia exclusive:

This presentation is best viewed in full screen mode. Click the button fourth from the left on the command bar at the bottom of the slideshow’s window.

Enjoy!

Picture gallery of the Owens Valley and other waterscapes of California and Northern Nevada

Posted by: Maven on August 18, 2009 at 8:11 am

I recently traveled to Reno for a week, stopping along the way and taking lots of pictures. I will be putting these pictures with other pictures I have taken over the years, and will be building another photo tour – this one of the Owens Valley and the L.A. Aqueduct system.   This post is the pictures from my trip, and is just a sampling of the slideshow to come.   Look for it in a couple of weeks.

This picture is of some wildflowers in the Owens Valley.

So … from the LA Aqueduct siphon at Jawbone Canyon to the alpine scenery of the Sierras, from the Lake Tahoe to Nevada’s Pyramid Lake, and even a picture of the very first dam ever built by the U.S. Reclamation Service, click ‘Read More’ to check out some pictures from my trip!

Continue reading “Picture gallery of the Owens Valley and other waterscapes of California and Northern Nevada” »

Odds & ends: Aguanomics weighs in on water & population, more on Cadiz, pictures & historical slideshows, plus conserve water : pee in the shower!

Posted by: Maven on August 10, 2009 at 7:53 am

A short odds & ends piece to clear off my desktop:

Aguanomics blogger David Zetland weighs in on water & population: His bottom line Water has affected population and growth patterns throughout history, but growing environmental consciousness and unstable climate are disrupting these patterns. In the past, politicians directed allocation, engineers built projects, and real estate developers made money. Can these interest groups change their professional habits and institutions from building ahead of demand Not unless intense outside pressure forces them to consider new ways of thinking, take up economic management tools, and step off our unsustainable path. Read his full report (in pdf form): Aguanomics: Water & Population — Final Draft

More questions about Cadiz project: The Chance of Rain blog continues to question the Cadiz project, this time with an open letter to Governor Schwarenegger, who was quoted in a company press release in June as “applauding the leadership of these Southern California water agencies who are helping address the state's water supply challenges by exploring a path-breaking, new, sustainable groundwater conservation and storage project.” Blogger/Journalist Emily Green asks the Governor: May the public please know whose efforts you are applauding Cadiz, Inc has yet to reveal the full list of companies that have allegedly signed letters of intent to remove 150,000 acre feet of Mojave groundwater a year from beneath its table grape farm in San Bernardino County. Read more here: Dear Governor

Meanwhile, Michael Campana of the Water Wired blog weighs in on the Cadiz project and posts some documents related to the project, including one from John G. Bredehoeft, “arguably the greatest living hydrogeologist” writes Campana. At issue: how much recharge in that aquifer … 1) the annual recharge is more like 5,000 AF, not 50,000 AF the Draft EIR/EIS claims; [and] 2) the annual pumping of native groundwater should be capped at 5,000 AF to make the project sustainable … Read more from Water Wired: The Cadiz Project: Some Documents For Your Reading Pleasure

Interesting historical slideshows & pictures: Check out this slideshow from the LADWP website on William Mulholland & the construction of the Owen’s Valley & Colorado Aqueducts (be patient – it takes some time to download), this slideshow on the history and construction of Shasta Dam from the Bureau of Reclamation, this webpage on the Oroville Dam Train Tunnel disaster, these pictures of the San Francisco Bay salt ponds from Environmental Graffiti, and check out this photostream on flickr from Intake Screens showing the installation of fish screens at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam.

And last but not least, this Brazilian ad: Save water by peeing in the shower!

Odds & ends: Drought uncovers ancient city, Lake Shasta, new water treatment plant & groundwater get some blog love, bloggers on the latest PI report, reforming water governance, onerous stormwater regs, plus pictures of salmon migration, 4th of July in the Delta & more!

Posted by: Maven on August 4, 2009 at 8:21 am

European drought uncovers ancient city: Drought stress on agricultural fields near the edge of Venice lagoon has unveiled the urban infrastructure of the city of Altinum, which dates back to 100 B.C.: The researchers used aerial near-infrared photography which is exquisitely sensitive to vegetation stress to reveal archaeological features such as streets, bridges and buildings underlying the crop fields and a “digital elevation model” to fill in the urban topography. Check it out from the Discovery Channel: A good for something drought

Lake Shasta gets some love …. The League for the Love of Lake Shasta has started a blog at www.keepshastafull.org. They want to remind you to do your part to conserve water and keep Lake Shasta full because “The lake looks amazing when it’s full. And when it’s full at the beginning of the summer recreation season, we all houseboat, wakeboard and fish a little bit happier. So whether you live in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada or even Colorado, do your part wherever you are and love this lake, and all that beautiful water, for all it has to offer. ” Check it out here: http://www.keepshastafull.org/

And how about some love for the new Tesla Water Treatment Facility, perhaps the only water treatment plant with it’s own blog! Think I’m kidding Where else can you find posts about pipes and excavations … Follow all the action here: Hetch-Hetchy Water System Improvement Program blog

All about groundwater that you didn’t learn in school: Check out this blog dedicated to groundwater: Hydro365. The blog delivers technical information on groundwater, like this post on drilling wells in the Sierra Nevada foothills, or this post on the hardpan in the Central Valley.

Pacific Institute’s approach could lead to more water use than less, says the Aguanomics blog: we need some empirical evidence to help us understand which outcome is more likely to happen. Conveniently, some researchers at my old department at UC Davis have looked into this question, and this [PDF] is what they find: “We consider two voluntary, incentive-based groundwater conservation programs and estimate their effects on groundwater extraction for irrigated agriculture. We find that the programs do not have the intended effect; the subsidization of more efficient irrigation technology induces the production of more water-intensive crops, thus increasing total extraction, and land retirement programs are generally not utilized on irrigated land, thus having little effect on groundwater extraction.” So the Pacific Institute’s proposal to subsidize the use of technology to reduce agricultural water use is more likely to increase use than decrease it. Read more from the Aguanomics blog: Technology Use Up, Water Use Up

There is an alternative to the market-based, capitalistic agricultural economy envisioned by the Pacific Institute, says the On the Public Record blog: We could have a healthy agricultural economy that produced sufficient food for California by capping farming production to something scaled to sustainable practices, buying that food, plus subsidizing farmers for farming the way we want them to. … I no longer want to export California's environmental quality, its water, sun and salmon, bundled into almonds and apricots. I don't want to do that even if a market supports it, even if people on the East Coast would like to eat what we grow*. I don't want to depend on a growth economy when I think we're approaching the physical limits of our stocks and flows. Read more here from the On the Public Record blog: Of course that would require a functional state government.

New publication on water governance from the International Union for Conservation of Nature: This toolkit will introduce readers to the central role played by policy, law and institutions in designing and implementing good governance for water resources. It will guide users through approaches to reforming water governance, including useful mechanisms for incorporating environmental considerations into water laws and policies. It is intended for use by water professionals, working in water management, who do not have a law background. Check it out here: Rule: reforming water governance

New stormwater regulations will drive up cost of new construction considerably, only making “new homes, factories, schools and hospitals more expensive to build, more difficult to finance, and ultimately less likely to ever happen”, says the Cheat Seeking Missiles blog: If run off is such a problem, why not treat it as sewage and send it to a treatment plant We tried to get that cost effective and reasonable idea approved by any number of regional boards, but they said they wanted the conveyance systems – be it a creek or a concrete-lined channel – to be “fishable\” and “swimable. We had some fun with that, creating this image of what every Southern Californian would rather do than go to a nearby beach. Up and down the state, Regional Boards are foisting this kind of insanity, pretending its normal human behavior. And they're getting away with it. Read more from the Cheat Seeking Missiles blog: Crazifornia: Imperial Imperviousness

Pictures of salmon migrations, the Delta & more: Check out Environmental Graffiti’s picture essay of migrating salmon, photographer Adrian Mendoza spends 4th of July in the Delta, here’s more of Adrian’s fabulous aerial shots of the Delta, incredible waterfall cavern pictures, and not water related but cool: mind boggling photo manipulationsand The Big Picture blog does lightning. Enjoy!

Odds and ends: Buy more imported water rather than conserve?, bloggers discuss outdoor irrigation & groundwater recharge, MLPA in Malibu, farmer disputes Spreck’s 86% number, educate yourself and make exploding drinks, plus some great picture galleries!

Posted by: Maven on June 21, 2009 at 10:03 am

Great stuff in today’s edition of odds & ends:

Should Pasadena buy water from Northern California instead of enforcing conservation It would cost close to the same, Blogger Wayne Lusvardi says: The San Diego County Water Authority is about to purchase enough water for 40,000 households for one year from Folsom Dam in Placer County, operated by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation at a price of $5.5 million, or $275 per acre foot (or $137.50 per household per year). He then points out: To comply with water conservation mandates Pasadena plans to hire six new water enforcement personnel and set up a water court for water wasters to appeal fines at an administrative cost of about $1,000,000. Buying 3,750 acre feet of raw water from Folsom Dam in lieu of a 10% water cutback would only cost about $1 million plus, say, about $375,000 in treatment costs for a total of about $1,375,000, or about $183 per household per year. (Note: This may not include conveyance costs). Read more from the Pasadena SubRosa blog: Would it be better to buy imported water or hike water rates

Does outside irrigation recharge groundwater aquifers This question was raised by Wayne Lusvardi of the Pasadena SubRosa blog in a recent “Perspectives” section of the Pasadena Star News: It featured the mainstream conservationist views of Pasadena water expert Tim Brick, the chairman of the mammoth Metropolitan Water District, and then the skeptical minority-report take of Pasadena Sub Rosa blogger Wayne Lusvardi and water engineer David Powell. They argued that cutting back on irrigation of what Wayne in another place terms “traditional” landscaping could have the unintended consequence of failing to recharge the huge underground aquifer known as the Raymond Basin beneath much of the West San Gabriel Valley, from which we get a lot of well water. (Some would say that topiaried hedgerows, massive lawns and begonias are traditional if you live in the Lake District and not the Southwest, but that’s another story.) Our former City Hall reporter John Fleck, now a science writer and the reigning water-policy wonk at the Albuquerque Journal, saw a reference on our editorial page to the failing-to-recharge theory and posted it on his blog, soliciting comments from any experts. You can read what Larry Wilson has to say from the Pasadena Star News: Bloggers divided on watering lawns, and check out the conversation on John Fleck’s Inkstain blog: Groundwater recharge in California

More on the MLPA meeting in Malibu:A fisherman shares his sobering thoughts on the MLPA and why it is needed: The truly sad thing is that we’re incapable of policing ourselves. There wouldn’t be a need for reserves if we could understand what is happening, educate ourselves and act accordingly. But we’ve put a dollar sign on fish and measure our success in tons. Our ego driven, trophy hunger demands taking the largest fish, usually the biggest breeding females. Convincing people to rethink these parameters is the tough sell. Will posting “no fishing” signs in the best fishing spots accomplish this Doubtful. Will we, once again, make a law abiding public into criminals, crowding the over-burdened courts Probably.   Many people refuse to believe there is global warming, severely diminished fisheries, global ocean pollution; they just want their calamari, their sashimi, their surf and turf, and their Mcfish sandwiches. Regardless of the cost. Stronger education and alternative aquaculture is the key, but we live in a punitive country that loves to pass laws and punish those that don’t obey. Read more of this forum post from BloodyDecks: Some MLPA in Malibu observations…

Westlands getting 86% of their water   No way, says Westlands farmer Shawn Coburn, who takes issue with Spreck Rosenkranz’s calculations: Cherry picking data from previous years is disingenuous at best. Spreck did not inform the readers of his article that this data at best is a rough estimate, example 1 transfer water at 172, we will be lucky if we can get the south of the delta transfers done this year which is 80 not 172. Ground water pumping is used in his scenario to prove his point that WWD is at 86%, first no one knows what is going to be pumped, my standing water levels on all of my properties east or west are going down, secondly I find it quite interesting that this “Estimate\” does not account for any ground water pumping for Friant, more water is pumped in Friant than has ever been annually pumped in WWD simply based on aquifer constraints and quality. Just this omission of fact should shed some light on the validity of this draft. Read more from the Aguanomics blog: Waterflows II (Shawn for Spreck)

Clean Water Act course available online: Check out the River Network’s Clean Water Act course by clicking here.

Just for fun, Wired gives you instructions on how to mix an exploding drink and Thirsty in Suburbia tells you four corny water jokes.

Picture galleries worth checking out, both water related and not: Here’s the Long Beach Post’s slideshow of the Colorado River Aqueduct, and Scientific American has posted a view of China’s Three Gorges Dam from space. Not water related but interesting nonetheless: Aerial shots of the San Andreas Fault by Environmental Graffitti, Wired’s Oddities of NASA’s Massive Image Archive, and the Big Picture’s Dance Around the World.

Monday afternoon odds and ends: Aerial shots of the rivers, it’s really fish vs. wine, psychotic shower curtains, Moss Beach stroll, new Delta website, is gold dredging good for the salmon? and more!

Posted by: Maven on June 8, 2009 at 1:32 pm

The latest in an occasional series on what’s going on around the internet…

Aerial shots of some of the rivers in the west, including the Colorado River and Idaho’s Snake River, ending with a multitude of shots of the Delta, whose highly altered landscape makes incredible designs on the earth when viewed from above. Check it out from Environmental Graffiti: America's Rivers from Above

It’s not fish vs. people, it’s really fish vs. wine, says the Irregular Times blog: The Green Man writes: In California, people aligned with Big Agriculture are complaining that the issue is one of fish vs. people, and the National Marine Fisheries has chosen to side with fish, against people. Is that how it really is Well, people aren't drinking that irrigation water. Plants are. Some of those plants provide food crops, and some provide a harvest that's a bit more recreational. The area is part of the top wine-producing regions in the United States. People drink wine. I like to drink wine myself. But, people like to eat fish too, especially the endangered Chinook salmon populations of which have become so decimated as a result of California's irrigation projects, the salmon fishing season has been canceled for two years in a row. The salmon contribute strongly to the local economy too. So, this conflict isn't really about fish vs. people. To be more accurate, it's about fish vs. wine. Read more from the Irregular Times blog: It's Fish Vs. Wine, Not Fish Vs. People

Psychotic shower curtains makes sure you don’t waste time in the shower: French designer Elisabeth Buecher has found a way to help remind us that long showers waste water as well as energy used by the water heater. Her concepts for a green shower curtain might seem a little pushy, but the result is a better world for all of us. This represents what Elisabeth describes as “Design for pain and for our own good. Check it out from Divine Caroline: Pushy shower curtain forces you to be green

Moss Beach Stroll – Highway 1′s best kept secret, says the SF Examiner: A breathtaking beach walk; a scenic cliff-top hike; a chance to see harbor seals up-close-and-personal; and if you keep your eyes peeled, perhaps a whale to two breaching and blowing or, at this time of year, flocks of pelicans heading north. Then there are the rock pools to explore; sand for the kids to dig in if you take them along; and an incidental visit to one of the world's most famous surfing spots, which just happens to be a marker on the trail. If you’re making the trip this summer, check out this article: California Highway 1 best kept secret: The Moss Beach coastal stroll

New website about the Delta: I have to admit this one mystifies me a little bit. It’s called Delta National Park, although apparently it’s mission is not to advocate for a Delta National Park; instead: The site is intended to be a forum for critical exchange, and is open to others who would like to contribute content, including especially speculative design projects and mapping analysis at any scale. Visitors are encouraged to contribute links to relevant sites, stories, photographs, documents and other material. It’s put together by John Bass, assistant professor at the University of British Columbia School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. There’s already YouTube videos and a photo gallery. Check it out: Delta National Park website

Does gold dredging actually help the salmon Sure does, says the Gold Rush University in this YouTube clip:

And it cleans mercury from the waterways and is good for the environment, they also say. Disclosure: this group aims to teach you how to dredge for gold yourself.

More pictures: Check out this picture gallery of art made from trash from the Fake Plastic Fish blog, the TreeHugger blog has a gallery of interesting water shots, and photographer Adrian Mendoza goes windsurfing on the Delta.

Odds and ends: FOX, Westlands & the ‘shock doctrine’, stupid arguments against desal, Lloyd Carter on the farmworker’s march, Zetland on Sacramento’s pee, hydric deficit calculations, California’s engineering disasters & more!

Posted by: Maven on May 25, 2009 at 8:13 am

“Meet FOX’s victim of the month, Westlands Water District,” says the FireDogLake blog: One-fourth the size of Connecticut, owned by a few hundred wealthy families and trusts, in hock to us taxpayers for nearly half a billion dollars, and laden with farmers who get triple Federal subsidies (crop, water, electricity). Oh, and, nearly 300,000 acres, much of it public lands, poisoned, so severely with heavy metals that the land will be toxic for millennia. Fox is feeding us the Shock Doctrine, so says the blogger: Where’s the Shock Doctrine come in Pretending market failure is actually a natural resources “emergency.” Taking up that intentional lie and using it to demand suspension of Federal law, California law, and a century of water rights senior to Westlands’. Creating the mechanism for a handful of very wealthy, very powerful people to take perpetual control over the commons, in the form of publicly owned water from state and Federal projects. Water that just happens to be the part of the commons that we all require, every day, to live. Read more from the Fire Dog Lake blog: Westlands: 300,000 Acres of Hot Water Perfect for a FOX Teabag

Stupid arguments against desalination, says blogger: The Learning Diary of an Israeli Water Engineer explores what the blogger feels are two of the stupidest arguments against desalination. The first one being the concern for corporate control of seawater, a common property of all humanity, and the second one being the ‘disminution’ of fish: This is a favorite “green” argument that I never understood. Say before the Poseidon plant there were two trillion small fishes we call the schmietzsch. Say the schmietzsch likes sea water with 30,000 mg salt/lt and the plant will increase salinity in a 100 meter radius. Some schmietzsch may have to emigrate. The overall number of schmietzsch may decrease to only one trillion and nine hundred billion, but a second species called “saltwater schmietzsch” that looks exactly like the schmietzsch will colonize the newly underpopulated waters. The overall biomass will not suffer or even increase. Diversity will increase. By what law of nature there is a need for a fixed number of schmietzsch to exist Every living population fluctuates, there are no fixed numbers at all. And the schmietzsch may been a Central European immigrant that arrived in 1945. What are its rights Why Poseidon has to build an artificial schmietzsch paradise Read more here: The Stupidest Arguments Against Desalination

Lloyd Carter weighs in on the farmworker’s March for Water, pointing out that the United Farm Workers Union was noticeably not present, a fact not widely reported in the press. Lloyd writes: In my view, the coverage of the march by San Joaquin Valley media outlets was little more than cheerleading for the regionÂ’s biggest industry. Not one reporter asked whether or not Comedian Paul Rodriguez is being paid for any of his efforts, nor how much the march cost, or who actually is bankrolling the California Latino Water Coalition although it seems obvious it is the growers and not the poverty-stricken farmworkers. Read more from the Chronicles of the Hydraulic Brotherhood blog: “March for water” was not a farmworkers’ march.

Aguanomics chats via email with Claudia Goss of the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District: Claudia defends the SRCSD: First, ammonia from Sacramento's discharge has not to date been found to be responsible for the decline in Delta fish species. (Unlike water exports which have actually been proven to have caused significant impacts.) You should be aware that SRCSD and its treatment plant meets all of its regulatory and water quality requirements at a high rate of compliance, including attainment of US EPA aquatic life criteria for ammonia in the Sacramento River. However, we have been the first to state that if scientific analysis finds that, under current conditions, SRCSD's discharge is adversely impacting the Delta environment and that ammonia reduction is the best course of action, we will expect to pay our fair share and address the problem. Secondly, we believe prudent policy and fiscal management dictate the largest Delta impacts be tackled first : namely reduced flow effects and fish losses associated with SWP and CVP project operations : instead of expending significant resources to nibble around the edges of the problem. Otherwise many million more dollars will be spent on “solutions\” that will not fix the problem. Zetland responds, saying in part, I would not hide behind the figleaf of compliance with EPA guidelines. It’s easy to obey the law and still do harm and I agree that there is more politics than science in these issues — mostly because politics is a winner-take-all game! Read the full text of the email and response from the Aguanomics blog: Sacramento’s Pee

Calling all math nerds! How to calculate hydric deficit: The Lost in the Landscape blog calculates hydric deficit for San Diego and for some of the other areas of California, and shows you how to calculate your own: how dry am i

Some of California’s engineering disasters featured on Modern Marvels: Check out this online episode of Modern Marvels on engineering disasters, covering the Baldwin Hills reservoir break in Los Angeles, the Salton Sea, and the Aral Sea, among others. From VideoSift: Modern Marvels – Engineering Disasters

Entertaining video on groundwater, produced by King’s County in Washington:

Honorable mentions for interestingness: Hippies, Hollywood and the Flush Factor from the New York Times, How Many is Too Many from the California Greening blog, Like Clockwork, State Raises Water Deliveries to 40% After Propositions Defeated by the Pasadena SubRosa blog, off-topic but interesting – GOOD Picture Show: Traffic!

Odds and ends: a 1951 solution to moving water, Delta smelt can never be endangered says speaker, invasive species ballads, Led Zeppelin and levees, lithium in drinking water supplies, bloggers on all sorts of subjects, photoblogs galore, & more!

Posted by: Maven on May 12, 2009 at 2:36 pm

Loads of interesting things for today’s way overdue installment:

We don’t need no stinkin’ peripheral canal to move water around the state if we implement this radical idea … Check out this from a 1951 issue of the magazine Modern Mechanics to move water around from the Modern Mechanics blog: California’s Big Squirt (October, 1951) Hey… no one said anything about moving water over the Delta …! (hat tip to Thirsty in Suburbia)

Delta smelt is ‘threatened’, not ‘endangered’, and it can never be considered endangered, says this speaker at the Fresno County Farm Bureau:

Posts worth reading on a variety of subjects, too many to be summarized and posted, so here’s the short list: Food Grows Where Water Flows by the California Greening blog, Desalinomics 101: ‘No Cost' Desal Costs A Lot! How your tax dollars built the desalination business by Orange Coast Voice, California: More than Just Economic Problems (Plus Some Potential Solutions) by Seeking Alpha, California Central Valley Water Issues Worth Watching by Beezer Notes, and Wetlands Caused Big Jump In Sea Level Rise by the Cheat Seeking Missiles blog.

Melodies for mussels It’s music with a message, from the U of Wisconsin Extension Service! Check out the folk song, The Ballad of Aquatic Species; dance along with the rockabilly tune, Clean Boats, Clean Waters, or rock out to One Bait, One Lake. According to the website, The songs have been vetted by natural resource professionals to assure they are scientifically accurate and recommendations are consistent with current laws. Listen to these songs and share with others to promote simple behaviors that can protect the quality of our lakes and rivers for future generations. Check it out here: Preventing the Spread of Aquatic Invasive Species: Music with a Message

Led Zeppelin and a national levee policy .. Yeah, mama, you got to move when the levee breaks … WaterWired invokes the Led Zeppelin song while posting this article from the National Society of Professional Engineers, calling for a national levee safety policy: Cryin’ and Prayin’ Won’t Do You No Good…When the Levee Breaks, Mama You Got to Move, while Thirsty in Suburbia posts her favorite covers of the song: h2o mp3s: When the Levee Breaks: Covers

Who’da thunk… Lithium in water reduces suicide rates! From BBC News: [Japanese] Researchers examined levels of lithium in drinking water and suicide rates in the prefecture of Oita, which has a population of more than one million. The suicide rate was significantly lower in those areas with the highest levels of the element, they wrote in the British Journal of Psychiatry. More from BBC News: Lithium in water ‘curbs suicide’

Photo essays worth looking at: More fabulous aerial shots of the Delta (taken May 6th) from Adrian Mendoza, Stunning shots of Death Valley and Mono Lake by Tom Mackie, interesting shots of human landscapes from above by the Boston Globe’s Big Picture blog, and bloggers visit the Sonny Bono Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge Complex and Slab City.

Odds and ends: FOR blasts the peripheral canal, more on the Public Water Coalition, ag subsidies distort the market, urban runoff that’s not urban, free online course in watershed management, your chance to be the ultimate worldwide water God, plus pictures & more!

Posted by: Maven on April 23, 2009 at 12:16 pm

There’s so much here in this jam-packed edition of Odds and Ends, I simply cannot list it all in the title!

If you’re for the peripheral canal, you’re for river destruction, says the Friends of the River blog, because a peripheral canal only makes sense in conjunction with more dams. Let’s also be honest about the PC’s potential. It COULD be run well and it could reduce the negative impacts of Delta pumping. The problem is that with water in California the potential for good is often overwhelmed by the political necessities of harmful decisions. If the PC is built, water WILL be shipped south at times that more fresh water is needed in the Delta. It will happen and if you think otherwise, well, I have a great investment opportunity for you with Madoff Investments. From the Friends of the River blog: The Peripheral Canal … Let’s Be Honest

More on the Public Water Coalition: The On the Public Record blog tracks down their position paper and checks it out. What is this coalition about Every recommendation in the report is a way to protect the power of the already powerful water interests in the state. If you want to know the water buffalo party line, this is it. (Given that, I'm impressed with the extent to which they have conceded that environmental management is necessary. I'm thinking that is Tim Quinn's influence.) This position paper heavily favors the upper Sacramento Valley water users, which doesn't surprise me, because it looks as if they were the organizers for this coalition. They are throwing the in-Delta farmers TO THE WOLVES. Advocates for maintaining the Delta in its current state, know that the big dogs have turned on you. More analysis and commentary on the paper from the On The Public Record blog: Introduction, I got mine, II. e. Real Time Operations/Monitoring/Reporting

Subsidies distort the market, says the Environmental Working Group’s Mulch Blog, responding to the recent AP article. These subsidies encourage inefficient water uses by encouraging farmers to grown water-thirsty crops in arid places: The AP reporter made highly conservative assumptions, resulting in a subsidies estimate at the low end of the range calculated by EWG. But even AP’s numbers show that taxpayers have paid huge amounts to double-dippers – and for what Countless farm communities are facing disaster. So we have to wonder — what if just half of that money had gone towards supporting farmers to implement water conservation practices More from the Environmental Working Group’s Mulch Blog: Federal Subsidies Worsen California Drought

All ‘urban runoff’ is not necessarily ‘urban’, discovers the LA Creek Freak in a mapping project of local streams.   While mapping streams past and present in the Hollywood Hills, she discovers a stream not dry – and feeding into the local storm drain system.   She ponders how much ‘urban runoff’ is generated from urban sources:   True, we have no shortage of waste from poor water management, and plenty of it is polluted.   But here is interesting evidence that some runoff is from a stream just being a stream – and that it would still be flowing in a stream if we hadn't rammed a street through it.  Suggestive to me, anyway, that we might want to have a policy for managing this urban runoff a little differently than treating it like wastewater.More from the LA Creek Freak: Urban runoff

Free online course in watershed management from the U.S. EPA: Complete 15 modules and you can earn a signed certificate. The course requires no registration, admission, or tuition is necessary, is open to everyone worldwide, at any time, and is completely Internet-based. Get more details from the EPA by clicking here.

Your chance to be the ultimate water God – play the World Water Game: You can download this free game from Delft Hydraulics: The WWG is a computer game with a double purpose. One, to be played as a game in the spirit of challenge, tension and fun. Two, to show students and other non-professionals the relationship between four extremely important elements: population growth; water supply (and use); food demand and production; and measures taken and investments made to avoid hunger, and even starvation, situations in the coming century. WWG players become World Water Managers with incalculably more power and responsibility than any single person will ever have in the real world. They have to manage the world’s precious water resources and public funds sensibly and ensure that the 19 World Water Regions remain reasonably self-sufficient in food production. Hat tip to the Sisweb for this one! Delft Hydraulics presents the World Water Game

Pictures and other fun stuff: Is this not a rather obscene water tower and The Top 10 Water Idioms from the Thirsty in Suburbia blog, Astronauts photograph water flowing to Southern California from the Science Dude, and On Walkabout blog posts about the Hoover dam tour, with plenty of pictures and information. Here’s three new water blogs (AWRA blog) and not this guy again with his Plasma Incubator Reactor Desalination System again (why am I thinking of that Bugs Bunny cartoon with the little Martian guy…)

And here’s even more: Tim Brick discussing the federal stimulus money on the KCRA News: Capitol Corner: California’s Drought Woes Continue, Westchester Parents notes that the LA City Council skipped Phase II restrictions and jumped to Phase III, and the New Yorker Magazine on the shrinking of Lake Mead.

Odds and ends: bloggers blog about desal, the Delta,and drought, DWR’s drought report to the Governator, how much nature is enough, balance the budget and turn out the lights at the Coliseum yourself, plus all the best water pranks!

Posted by: Maven on April 5, 2009 at 11:31 am

Lots of interesting things today out there in the blogosphere:

Do we really ‘need’ desal, asks the LA Creek Freak Depends upon what you think our ‘needs’ are, writes the blogger, responding to the recent High Country News editorial: [My generation] has watched our resource-consumptive lifestyles drain rivers even further afield; in our name (if not strictly our need) the salmon fisheries collapsed. And yet we stand at a crossroads, seeing in the ocean opportunity, and barely draw breath. Now would be a good time to pause, take stock of our actions, and contemplate what “need\” really constitutes for us humans. For once again, the voices of reason have insisted that we “need\” desal. Enviros who object are resisting technology and refusing to reckon with the “reality\” that we need more water. The easy choice is the one to perpetuate our water-wasting life styles through expensive and impactful techonologies so that we don’t have to make the more difficult choice of changing our lifestyles, writes the LA Creek Freak. Check it out: Whiskey’s for drinkin’ … desal ‘s for fightin’

WaterWired’s Michael Campana blogs about the California Delta: Inspired by Delta Dawn, no doubt, Michael Campana pens a post about the Delta after attending a lecture by U.C. Davis’ Dr. Jeffrey Mount: I was quite surprised at what we had done to the Delta. We have ‘reclaimed’ 700,000 acres. I knew ‘some’ land had been lost since we began farming the Delta but I had no idea it was something like 2.6B cubic meters. That has caused many of the islands in the Delta to be below sea level (in some cases tens of feet), and is the reason why levee protection is such a critical issue (1100 miles of levees). Jeff noted the drivers of change in the system: 1) sea level rise; 2) seismicity; 3) changing inflows; 4) land subsidence; and 5) economics (competing public interests and limited public funds). Read more about WaterWired’s thoughts on the complicated Delta problems: The California Bay-Delta Imbroglio: An Expert’s View

What does drought mean to the typical California urban water user Not much, says the On The Public Record blog: Because most urban Californians will never experience an interruption of water service, nor rations small enough to threaten their bodily uses of water, what drought really means to most people is that they have to pay attention. What they really want is a few daily experiences (that don't have to take much actual wet water) and that they don't have to think about it. In a society as rich as ours, a drought starts the moment casual users have to think about it. The marker of the start of a drought is completely independent of snowpack or precip. For most people, a drought starts when they get a bill insert or see something about it in the news. At that point, the privilege of living in such a wealthy society that you don't have to fix your broken sprinkler is gone**. That is what drought will mean to most people. From On the Public Record blog: What drought means to most California water users

Speaking of drought, you can check out Lester Snow’s 34 page report to the Governor on the California drought, sent over to the Governator just last week by clicking here.

How much nature is enough Is there a way to build support for leaving some portion of a resource untapped for the sake of other species and, in the end, ourselves The Dot Earth blog ponders the fate of dolphins and porpoises, and other endangered species in relation to what’s left of the Colorado Delta: The real trouble for these mammals and a host of less charismatic coastal species now results from human activity at greater and greater distances, as dam building and withdrawals of fresh water for growing cities upstream disrupt the brackish ecosystems where a river meets the sea. A classic case is the Colorado, seen in the NASA image above and another view here. After reading Wednesday's piece, Bice Wilson, a Dot Earth reader, posted a wrenching comment describing his experience visiting the dessicated Colorado delta. Read it here from the New York Times Dot Earth blog: Thirsty Cities, Dolphins and Dead Clams

Check out the Salton Sea if you want to see and smell something different, says blogger: This enormous inland lake lies east of San Diego on the other side of some mountains the make that entire region a desert. The Salton Sea submerged the Salton Sink, which was the lowest point in North America before that, a place of honor now held by Death Valley. When I was a boy, the Sea was still a resort destination in the winter, a place for the Rat Pack glitterati to boat and fish and drink when they tired of nearby Palm Springs. My interest in it was piqued recently when I read about Albert Frey, an architect who designed in the Desert Modern Style, and built the Salton Sea Yacht Club. The post gives a brief history of how the sea came to be. Read more from the Journey to Perplexity blog: Silent Sea, Salton Sea

Think you can do a better job of balancing the budget then our elected legislators What programs would you cut What taxes would you raise You can give it a try yourself here at the California Budget Challenge. If you like what you create, you can even send it off to legislators. Warning: it’s not at easy at it looks! Take the California Budget Challenge.

Flip the switch and turn out lights all over the world in this photo gallery of Earth Hour from the Boston Globe’s Big Picture: Very cool! You can turn off the lights at Beijing’s Water Cube, Rome’s Coliseum, and even the Las Vegas Strip. Check it out from the Boston Globe’s Big Picture: Earth Hour 2009

A gallery of April Fool’s pranks involving water: How did I miss this one, too! (Aqua Blog Maven is shaking head woefully….) Not only classics, like rigging the sink sprayer to spray in the face, but also pranks like gelatin-filled toilet bowls and more. From Thirsty in Suburbia: March 31st: The Annual Day of Readiness

Odds & Ends: Concept maps for the peripheral canal, pricing and population growth, Zetland reviews Exec. Briefing, environmentally friendly boxed water, do DWP’s new rates discriminate against families?, San Diego garden tours, a National Aqueduct?, vegetable gardening the lazy way, pictures of the Hoover Bridge construction, underwater volcanic explosions, and spring in Sacramento, plus more!

Posted by: Maven on March 26, 2009 at 5:10 pm

Perhaps the lengthiest odds and ends post ever!

Delta maps and posters used in the BDCP scoping process now available online, including “concept-level conveyance maps”. From Delta e-news: The nine maps and 13 informational posters used in DWR's series of 12 scoping meetings including tonight's meeting n Clarksburg are now available online. The meetings were designed to share the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) environmental review process and to solicit public comment. The meetings allowed the public, agencies, and tribes to review the scope of the Environmental Impact Report and Environmental Impact Statement (EIR/EIS). Meetings this week were held in Brentwood, Stockton and Fairfield; tonight's meeting in Clarksburg (6 to 10 p.m., Clarksburg Community Church, 52910 Netherlands Ave.) is the final meeting in the series. The concept-level conveyance maps can be found here. The posters include such topics as climate change, land use and recreation. The posters can be found here.

Proper pricing can control population growth in the Southwest, writes Aguanomics blogger David Zetland. Population is NOT something that we can “manage” to an efficient level. (Note how the Chinese one-child policy cut population growth but led — via selective abortion — to a “shortage” of women, a problem that has fed a growing business of kidnapping women from elsewhere.) Population will rise and fall as the cost and benefit of children changes. The “demographic transition” begins (population rising quickly) when babies stop dying, food is cheap, and adults live to 60+ years. The transition ends (population stabilizes) when women can choose how many children to have and bear a cost (i.e., lost work time) for additional children. I’m not sure how the Octomom fits into that, but okay…. Bottom line, says Zetland: I predict (as others have) that the southwestern population will get denser as expensive water leads to smaller lawns and shrink as desert living becomes more expensive. As usual, those predictions may be swamped by other considerations (the same way that New Yorkers are happy to pay high rents in exchange for the “good life”), but I have no doubt that water shortages (or expensive water) will dampen the appeal of the Southwest. Read more from the Aguanomics blog: Water and population

Aguanomic’s David Zetland reviews the Water Education Foundation’s Executive Briefing, where he was a panelist. He’s posted mp3′s of the various speeches and panels, and writes: The most surprising things to me were the absence of discussion on pricing or markets, Lester Snow’s assertion that the Drought Water Bank would handle 500TAF, and the need for a “Delta Conservancy.” (Seems that the Nature Conservancy’s endorsement of the Peripheral Canal is already paying off!) Bottom Line: It was good to get everyone in the same room — even if they did not agree on everything or failed to consider “unconventional” ways to manage our water. Check it out from the Aguanomics blog: Report: Water Education Foundation

Introducing the environmentally-friendly boxed water: Considering that every piece of plastic ever made is still existing here on earth, somewhere, here may be the answer to those who don’t want to give up the portable, disposable beverage: Benjamin Edgar, designer of Boxed Water, has created a product that appeals to consumer consciousness from several angles. The product provides an efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to the conventional product. The trees harvested to produce the boxes come from certified sustainable forests. The efficient box shape means a greater quantity of unites pack into a smaller space. More boxes per truck equals fewer trucks hence, a reduced carbon footprint. Since most of the impact comes from the bottle itself, maybe it is the answer for some. (Not me, though … I use refillable bottles.) Check it out from the Circle of Blue blog: Water designer turns box thinking inside out

Extensive list of garden tours in San Diego County from the San Diego Union Tribune: There’s a garden to suit every dream of green in this year’s crop of area garden tours. If you’re treating yourself to one or more of the opportunities, find out what the requirements are: Some tours don’t allow heels, others will be held rain or shine, still others might cancel in case of heavy rain with no refund. Always wear sensible shoes, take water and a hat and don’t forget to enjoy. Check it out from the San Diego Union Tribune: Season’s garden tours offer a blooming bonanza

LA DWP’s new rate structure discriminates against families, says the Westchester Parents blog: The unfortunate result of reducing the basic (Tier I) allotment is that it hurts the pocketbook of households with three or more members, particularly those with kids. Single member households and couples will easily stay under the 24 HFC tier level. However, households with children will end up paying more since water rates are not based on the number of people living in the home. If you have three or four children, each taking daily baths, brushing teeth, doing laundry for them, etc. you will obviously use more water, but probably less per capita than a one or two person household. Households with three or more members are the ones who will be penalized, he says, since the tier rates don’t account for the number of people in a household. From the Westchester Parents blog: Does L.A.'s proposed water rate structure discriminate against families

Stimulus on steriods: One blogger’s idea for a really BIG water project: The nation needs a major building project: a national aqueduct system capable of moving the massive amounts of fresh-water runoff so much of the north and northeastern states must worry about each spring, and transport them to California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and the surprisingly water-poor areas in the Midwest. Letting all of this precious resource simply wash back to the ocean seems such a waste (of course a fair amount MUST be allowed to flow through in order to preserve the natural downstream environment). With proper treatment, we might also be able to use the flood-waters due to massive storms that create misery in many areas every year. How much will this cost to build A lot. How much to maintain A lot. How much will it cost if we don't build it A lot more. How much will it cost if we wait to build it when energy costs for vehicles, materials, and ore refining rise A whole lot more. If we don’t, this blogger writes, the whole economics of raising animals is going to have to change. Check it out from the Therefore I Blog blog: Investing in Infrastructure – A National Aqueduct

The White House gets a garden, the Governor’s going to have one, too – how about you I have a garden every year – my homegrown tomatoes can’t be beat! Having a vegetable garden can be easy if you set it up right… easy, yeah right, you think Over the past twelve years, I have perfected the lazy gardening way… Check it out in this old post I wrote, posted over at the Valley News: Lazy gardener’s guide to growing veggies in SCV

Waterblogged’s Shaun McKinnon posts these pictures of the Hoover Dam Bridge, currently under construction. Just back from a week away from Waterblogged World Headquarters, thought I’d share pix from a trip north, up near, um, Hoover Dam. I was, uh, researching Colorado River issues. That’s it. Anyway, work is moving ahead slowly (and that’s understating the progress) on the big bypass bridge over the Colorado, a span intended to move traffic off Hoover Dam, especially the big trucks. Due to be completed in 2010, (really) he likens part of it to Megatron escaping from deep inside Hoover Dam…. Check it out from Waterblogged: Hoover Dam Bridge up in the air

Picture gallery of undersea eruptions: The Boston Globe has a regular feature called “The Big Picture” which always features high resolution photos of various topics. Click here to see a stunning photo gallery of the undersea eruptions from near Tonga.

Spring in Sacramento: Check out the Sacramento Bee’s gallery of spring photos by clicking here.

Honorable mentions: I could do a whole odds and ends post on water pricing, but heck, that’s what Aguanomics is for, like this post: Yes to prices. Other people write about it, too: Here’s the Leakbird Blog: Vieled Water Wonk Wars: Richard Stavins vs David Zetland on water conservation pricing, and this series of posts from the On the Public Record blog: Why it isn't simple to charge market rates for water. Background., Long digression on the opposition to rate increases., and Why districts are slow to charge market rates for water. Also interesting, this post from LA Creak Freek: Saving salmonids: some technical fixes, and the ubre-cool Trout Underground shows us how wearing bright orange inflatable pants on your head is the future of fly fishing: Sure, Laugh Now, But This is Fly Fishing's Next Big Thing

Picture gallery from above California, the Delta and Sacramento

Posted by: Maven on March 15, 2009 at 7:59 am

This past week, I had the pleasure of attending the Water Education Foundation’s Executive Briefing in Sacramento. It was a wonderful chance to listen to legislators, water officials, and environmental representatives talk about the issues facing California’s water supply. It was also great opportunity to meet some of my readers, and I thank you all for your kind comments regarding the blog.

While I was there, I took some time to drive down to the Delta, and here are some of the pictures I took while I was on my trip.

Continue reading “Picture gallery from above California, the Delta and Sacramento” »

Odds and ends: Your lawn an ‘unreasonable use’ of water?, rationing and development in LA, our real crisis not budget but water, Aguanomics water chats in the Imperial Valley, PLF on the priorities of water allocations, the good and bad of desal, update on TCID case, Australia’s toilet tax : “pay as you go\”?, and beautiful aerial shots of the Delta, plus more!

Posted by: Maven on February 22, 2009 at 11:03 pm

With my desktop filling up, this post is long overdue…..

Could your thirsty green lawn be determined an ‘unreasonable use’ of water Quite possibly, says the Pasadena Sub Rosa blog, and we all had better pay attention: An anonymous apparent insider to the backstage dealings of California’s water crisis has alerted this blog to the real possibility that imported water could be shut off soon to Southern California’s cities if the cities have the wrong type of landscaping (i.e., water thirsty home gardens). This shut off scenario could hit Southern California cities out of nowhere much like the world-wide financial meltdown appeared nearly overnight. And like the financial meltdown, it would be wise to listen to those who are furtively trying to give us an early warning signal of this emerging situation. Read all about it from the Pasadean Sub Rosa blog: Imported water to So Cal cities could be shut off soon if they have the wrong landscaping

LA’s rationing plan & penalties especially unfair to the residential class, especially considering Los Angeles city council’s penchant for building more and more housing without regards to infrastructure, says the Westerhcester Parents blog: Imposing penalties on residents is bad policy given that the drought was created by ill-managed housing policies throughtout Southern California and not mother nature alone. The problem is.. our elected officials “build at all opportunities\” housing policy. As if there are no other Southern California regions participating in the larger equation. Participants such as the other five counties including Imperial, Orange, Riverside, Orange and San Bernadino counties who all have similar myopic goals to meet California's populaton projections. This is classic “silo mentality\” thinking at the county and city level. Read more from the Westchester Parents blog: Wrecking L.A.’s residential class

Forget the budget – California’s real crisis is water management, says the TreeHugger blog: Last minute negotiations may have solved California’s budget crisis; but, a more protracted problem shadows the future of civilization-as-they-know-it: water reservoirs are drying up; and climate change is likely to worsen the problem. Food prices throughout North American, and even parts of Asia, which import produce from California, will be affected in the short-term. Long-term water shortage prospects point to an either-or scenario: social disorganization on a large scale or, alternatively, to massive, government-funded water project expansions, plus water conservation measures, and dietary changes. Read more from the TreeHugger blog: California’s Real Sustainabilty Problem: Not Budgets, Water Resources Management

Aguanomics travels south for ‘water chats’ in the Imperial Valley: Here’s his photo essay, his chat with Imperial Valley farmer Joe Tagg: Water is too expensive at IID. $17/AF is way more than $6-12/AF that farmers pay elsewhere. and The Imperial Irrigation District does NOT own the water. It belongs to the farmers. Then he chats with IID staffers, writing about it in two posts. In the first post (click here), he writes: I came out of this interview convinced that IID is walking into a shitstorm of its own making: 1. Nobody appeared to know how much revenue IID has made from water exports to urban areas or when or how that revenue would be distributed to farmers who fallowed land. Farmers are angry about that. 2. IID is trying to set quantity (5.25AF/acre) AND price ($17/AF) at the same time. It’s basic economics that you can’t set both without getting a surplus or shortage. 3. IID appears to think that water rights do not belong to the farmers whose land initially attracted those water rights. That’s just silly. In the second post (click here), he tries to explain why he thinks IID is so dysfunctional, pointing to a divergence between voting and economic power: At IID, this means that one-man, one-vote political power does not match the concentration of economic power in farmers who are few in number (about 300) but responsible for 97% of water purchases. The result is that the majority (by vote) makes policies that serve it (e.g., no water trades or reform of water institutions), and the minority (by vote) suffers from a reduction in the value of their assets (irrigated farmland). The answer, he says, is to split the power and water divisions, but there’s no political will within IID to do that. From the Aguanomics blog.

The Pacific Legal Foundation responds to the news that the state and feds knowingly violated rules to protect the smelt in order to protect the salmon: If you’re a farmer in California’s Central Valley, it’s news like this that makes you wonder. On the one hand, you’re told that the amount of water you receive is restricted in part due to required protection for the delta smelt. On the other hand, California water officials are restricting the amount of flow into the delta, making the recovery of the delta smelt species and the needed lifting of water export restrictions that much less likely. In other words, the order of priorities for the allocation of water seems to be 1) salmon, 2) delta fish species, 3) farmers. Read more from the Pacific Legal Foundation: News on Delta interspecies conflict

Desalination – there are both good and bad reasons to pursue it, but eventually it will be necessary in some locales more so than others, says the California Greening blog: The economic costs of dealinization are one of the most promising areas for ventue capital application right now. New membrane products from NanoH2O are many times more efficient than current technologies. New processes such as those being developed by Oasys in New England project a 90% reduction in energy consumption. Industrial permaculture processes could reduce costs even more. Read more from the California Greening blog: Desalination – neither savior or devil

Update on Truckee Carson Irrigation District trial: It has been delayed for at least a year.

Australia considers changing sewage charges based on volume of sewage generated by the household: Says official: “It would encourage people to reduce their sewage output by taking shorter showers,recycling washing machine water or connecting rainwater tanks to internal plumbingto reduce their charges,”Professor Young said. “Some people may go as far as not flushing their toilet as often because the less sewage you produce, the less sewage rate you pay.” And what do they plan to call this new system “Pay as you go”, of course…. From the Environmental Economics blog: I love when the jokes write themselves

More stunning Delta pictures: I love the patterns the fields and water makes on the earth. Check out this aerial gallery of pictures of the Delta and other places by photographer Adrian Mendoza. And here’s a great photo gallery of Eastern Sierra photos by Kevin McNeal Photography.

Honorable mentions for interestingness: Aguanomics weekend discussion on moving water between watersheds; Our precarious levee system by Romick in Oakley; Torqopia blog on Water in the West; The California water vs Delta smelt war by RBO, Drought in California to suck worse than ever by La Vida Locavore; the Porterville Nerd responds to Jim Gogek’s post about water conservation beginning down on the farm; A sponge brick in the toilet tank – why Pasadena’s rainfall flows to the sea in a drought from the Pasadena Sub Rosa blog, and last but not least, Winter Ascent of the Complete North Ridge of Lone Pine Peak – okay, this isn’t necessarily water related, but it does mention Owens Valley, which is how I found it, but I did get a kick out of Astronaut, Viking and Pirate’s crazy adventure of actually hiking to the top of a mountain in the middle of winter – folks, don’t try this one at home – these guys are seriously nuts!

Odds and ends: Downsize California, says farming group; water conservation should begin on the farm, says blogger; Pasadena and the cultural effects of water conservation, water in XXXXXL Ziploc baggies, A-Roid & aquifers, plus end of the rainbow pics & more!

Posted by: Maven on February 14, 2009 at 1:00 pm

Lots of great stuff today:

Downsize California! Another scheme to divide California into two states, this time over Proposition 2 – yes, prop 2, not 8: From the Citizens for Saving Farming Industries: It’s time to let the coastal and metropolitan counties have their way. If they can’t appreciate agriculture they should live without it. They should form their own state. The farm community can start the ball rolling by proposing that the 45 interior counties come together as a separate state. Separating California into two states is a mammoth undertaking. Some will tell you it’s impossible. But simply allowing the mass numbers of farm uneducated city dwellers to dictate farm policy is committing agricultural suicide in California. No other region in the world, let alone the United States, has the capability of producing the variety of agriculture commodities as California. We must not allow the shortsightedness of sheer voting numbers to destroy an irreplaceable industry. The truncated state would include the coastal counties from the Bay Area down to Los Angeles County, with the remaining 45 counties, including Orange County and San Diego County remaining with the rest of the state. Apparently, they want to keep Mickey Mouse! (No way, I say!) All this is being led by Bill Maze, a termed-out Republican assemblyman from Visalia, and a few others. Check it out from the San Francisco Chronicle’s Politics blog: Farmer’s plan to split California ships San Francisco out. Also check it out here.

Conservation needs to begin down on the farm and then we’ll talk about those 3 minute showers, says blogger Jim Gogek. Pointing out that agriculture uses about four times as much water as cities, he writes: Don't get me wrong, California's rural-based agriculture is very important. The Golden State is the nation's breadbasket. But California's urban-based manufacturing is even more important. In 2006, the California gross domestic product for crop and animal production was $15 billion. For manufacturing, it was $172 billion. California needs all of its industries to survive and thrive. Read more from Jim Gogek’s blog: Water conservation in California needs to begin down on the farm

In Pasadena, outdoor water conservation is a cultural and a preservationist issue, says the Pasadena Sub Rosa blog: David Czamanske of the Sierra Club is recently cited in the Pasadena Star News as saying that in Arizona people landscape their yards with rock gardens and cactus and don’t use as much water. But what would be the resulting impact on property values and cultural values if Pasadena implemented such a radical standard Why would people live in Pasadena instead of, say, Tucson, Arizona Czamanske and the Sierra Club apparently haven’t a clue as to what it would cost to take out lawns and rose gardens in the front yards of homes in Pasadena and replace them with rocks, cactus and pots. At the heart of the issue is Pasadena’s cultural image, as well as real estate values: And all this begs the question: can the City impose such a water rate restructuring without going through the environmental clearance process And would preservationists bring a legal challenge as part of the clearance process Read more from the Pasadena Sub Rosa blog: Is water conservation a preservation & cultural issue in Pasadena

Bringing water to California in extra-extra-EXTRA-large baggies   Aguanomics blogger Zetland says someone should put up $1 Million to check it out in this post   on “Spragg Bags” – one man’s idea to bring drinking water to coastal cities by way of large plastic baggies.   The inventor’s key ideas are: Water and people are not always in the same places, getting water to people requires infrastructure, which can be expensive, and the bags can “move water” at low cost, in variable quantities, on short notice. I don’t know, in a region where 18.5 million people live, it just sounds merely like a drop in the bucket to me. But Zetland writes, Some water utility should put up $1 million to test these bags. If When the Delta levees fail, they will be handsomely rewarded for a proactive investigation of alternatives, rather than flogged for a reactive struggle to keep failure from turning into disaster (e.g., Katrina). The post over at Aguanomics includes a link to a You Tube video of the product, suitable for showing to your board of directors …. Persistence and Baggs

The A-Roid Aquifer connection – betcha didn’t know there was one! From Sports Illustrated: Rodríguez's hope is that this managed interview will put his drug use in “a vault,\” he said, so he can move forward. It's a nice sentiment, not just as it applies to him but also for the entire Steroid Era. We should hope it is true. It's just not realistic, not when too many questions remain and the truth, like water from an aquifer, is relentless. Well, we may pump an aquifer relentlessly, but I’m not sure it can hold up, so what does that mean for truth Anyway, the American Water Works Blog says maybe it will lead to a whole new sports journalism hydrologic fusion with phrases like “James was sweating like alfalfa transpiring in the Texas summer sun. Good humorous post from the American Water Works Association blog: A Roid and Aquifers – a connection

Pictures galore – Burney Falls, wartime water conservation posters, the end of the rainbow, and Owens Valley: Spreck Rosekranz discusses Burney Falls and subterranean rivers, the Watercrunch blog posts pictures of 5 wartime water conservation posters, the Sciencedude has a gallery of rare end of the rainbow photos set to music (Judy Garland – what else), and check out this interesting picture collection of the Owens Valley from Atom’s Picture Blog.

Honorable mentions for interestingness: No Answer from Garrick on water shortage from the Leucadia Blog, Rachel Maddow on California Water Security from the Calitics blog – includes the full text of her speech to the recent ACWA convention, Drought: Should we redo state water policy as a partial response by Tom Graff of the EDF, and the Friends of the River page on the Auburn Dam: If you build it, it will .. rain

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