The alligator gar is one ugly fish, with few friends but new fans
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 30, 2009 at 6:32 am
Check out that picture of the ’sadly misunderstood’ fish as you read this story from the Wall Street Journal:
The sadly misunderstood alligator gar, reviled for its frighteningly huge and prehistoric appearance and rows of razor-sharp teeth, has been hunted for centuries. Fishermen despise the gar because they believe the fish devour prized bass and crappie. Swimmers and boaters fear the gar’s alligator-shaped jaws could take a chunk out of them in the water.
But in recent times, alligator gar have experienced a kind of trash-to-trophy renaissance as sportsmen discovered the thrill of hunting the beasts, which can weigh up to 300 pounds and reach 8 feet in length. Gar hunting, with rod-and-reel as well as crossbow, has spawned a booming market for guides who charge as much as $750 a day to lead their clients deep into the muddy backwaters of Texas where the monster fish thrive.
In the rural South, the prospect of bagging a trophy gator gar inspires a special brand of enthusiasm. “I don’t consider myself a redneck, but sometimes I do redneck stuff,” says Mark Malfa, a gar guide in central Texas.
Paula Boudra, an athletic 32-year-old, drove nearly six hours from Sheridan, Ark., one night earlier this month for the chance to kill her first alligator gar with a crossbow. Armed with stainless-steel, prong-tipped arrows that can pierce the gar’s thick scales, her guides, Sam Lovell and Steve Barclay, steered their flat-bottom boat into the brambly creeks of East Texas’s Trinity River.
Read more from the Wall Street Journal by clicking here.
Dead Sea peril: sinkholes swallow up the unwary
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 23, 2009 at 7:52 am
A story for the Weird and Wacky category from the Associated Press:
EIN GEDI, Israel (AP) — Eli Raz was peering into a narrow hole in the Dead Sea shore when the earth opened up and swallowed him. Fearing he would never be found alive, he scribbled his will on an old postcard.
After 14 hours a search party pulled him from the 10-meter-(30 foot-) deep hole unhurt, and five years later the 69-year-old geologist is working to save others from a similar fate, leading an effort to map the sinkholes that are spreading on the banks of the fabled saltwater lake.
These underground craters can open up in an instant, sucking in whatever lies above and leaving the surrounding area looking like an earthquake zone.
The phenomenon, Raz said, stems from a dire water shortage, compounded in recent years by tourism and chemical industries as well as a growing population. “This is the most remarkable evidence of the brutal interference of humans in the Dead Sea,” he said.
Read more from the Associated Press by clicking here.
Like water for money - The Phillips machine uses water to predict the economy … really!
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 5, 2009 at 2:48 pmFrom the New York Times:
Two weeks ago, while visiting Cambridge University, I arranged to have lunch with my friend Allan McRobie. He’s a professor of engineering, so it seemed a bit strange that he kept insisting we meet at the department of applied economics. “There’s something there you’ve really got to see,” he said in his Liverpudlian lilt. “It’s utterly fab. Just brilliant. The Phillips machine — it uses water to predict the economy.”
Skeptical but willing to go along with the gag, I met him at the appointed place. He led me inside and stopped at the receptionist’s window. “We’re here to see the machine,” he said. She nodded and handed him a key. We made our way through a maze of corridors to the Meade Room, where the machine is housed.
You can find out how it’s done in this interesting article from the New York Times by clicking here. You can even see a video of the machine in action by clicking here.
Hat tip to the Sisweb!
Weekend humor: Invasive species you REALLY need to be worried about!
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 11, 2009 at 9:15 amTalk about invasive species!
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | M - Th 11p / 10c | |||
| Florida Pythons on the Loose | ||||
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And you were worried about quagga mussels…..!
Hat tip to the EnvJournal, a new web/blogsite I came across which follows issues related to the Truckee River system (the east side of Lake Tahoe, Reno area) - they’ve got an interesting mix of articles and videos, like this one on zebra mussels, or this presentation on calculating your water footprint.
What to do with a dead whale? Santa Cruz wants to know
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 3, 2009 at 9:08 amThe headline just begs for this, I’m sorry…! First, the story from the Contra Costa Times:
It’s tempting to call it a whale of a problem. After a dead California gray whale washed back to shore Wednesday evening, just hours after wharf workers towed it about a mile out to sea, away from the wharf, city officials and marine mammal experts Thursday again began plotting a return to sea for the pungent yearling.
Marine biologists said there is no obvious sign of trauma on the 25-foot whale and they are not sure why the young female died. California gray whales are close to shore at this time of year, as they migrate from their winter home in the warm waters off Mexico to summer feeding grounds surrounding Alaska.
Thursday, the plan was to use the buoyancy of an early Friday high tide to tow the whale at least 10 miles offshore, said Dan Buecher, the city’s wharf supervisor.
The tricky part will be the surf conditions in the rocky cove just west of Its Beach where the whale washed up, he said.
Later Thursday, when high surf predictions began rolling in, a back-up plan was hatched — to use a tow truck to haul the whale up the cliff to a low-boy trailer, and drive it out to the city landfill, Buecher said. “It’s an evolving plan,” he said. “It’s looking like the land way is safer, but we won’t know until we are there.”
Read more from the Contra Costa Times by clicking here.
Okay, now for the fun…. I can’t believe I get to pull this one out again, but hey, the headline did ask for this, you have to admit. What to do with a dead whale? Here’s what’s NOT to do in this video classic:
More April Fool’s fun
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 2, 2009 at 5:18 am
Yesterday, power was out at Aquafornia headquarters for most of the day, so I missed these other fun articles for April Fool’s Day. From The Bright Green Blog:
In an unprecedented move Wednesday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee rescinded the Peace Prize it awarded in 2007 to former US vice president Al Gore and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, amid overwhelming evidence that global warming is an elaborate hoax cooked up by Mr. Gore.
A press release from the committee quotes a chagrined Rajendra Pachauri, the UN climate panel’s chair, who claims that he was the victim of a “cunning deception spanning decades”:
“I am deeply ashamed for having unwittingly perpetuated such a massive fraud on the governments of the world,” said Mr. Pachauri.
“It turns out that all that data from satellites and radiosondes, surface temperature readings, borehole analysis, measurements of rising sea levels, melting glaciers and permafrost, phenological data, and proxy reconstructions of paleoclimatic conditions were all fabricated out of thin air by my former friend, Al Gore. Now that I think about it, I suppose that we should have instituting some sort of peer-review process before publishing such alarming conclusions. Once again, I’m very sorry.”
After revoking the 2007 prize from Gore and the IPCC, the Nobel committee retroactively awarded it to the more than 31,000 people who signed the Oregon Petition – an appeal challenging the notion that there exists a scientific consensus regarding global warming – “for their efforts to pursue pure, objective science that is free from the influence of any special interest group.”
And from Dan Bacher at IndyBay.org:
In an epic conversion like that of Saint Paul of Tarsus, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger this morning apologized to the public for his role in the destruction of California’s fish populations during a hastily assembled press conference at the State Capitol in Sacramento. Central Valley chinook salmon, steelhead, green sturgeon, delta smelt, longfin smelt and other fish populations are in an unprecedented state of collapse, due to massive water exports out of the California Delta and declining water quality - and Schwarzenegger vowed to do everything in his power to reverse the decline.
“I greatly apologize to recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, California Indian Tribes, environmentalists and the public for the damage that my administration’s policies have caused to California fish populations,” said Schwarzenegger, with tears streaming down his face. “Starting today, I will begin a new initiative to make the restoration of California’s rivers, the Delta and coastal waters the number one priority of this administration.”
He announced a number of immediate measures that will go in effect today. These include:
• imposing a ban on suction dredge mining on California rivers until new restrictions are developed by the DFG
• instructing the Central Valley Regional Water Control Board to adopt tough new water quality standards for agricultural dischargers
• setting up a meeting with President Obama and Warren Buffett, owner of the PacifiCorp’s dams, to immediately begin dam removal on the Klamath River.
• rescinding the layoff notices of 98 Department of Fish and Game wardens and cadets
In a stunning break with his previous positions, Schwarzenegger said that his plan to construct a peripheral canal around the Delta and Temperance Flat and Sites reservoirs was ill advised and “wrong.”
Read more from IndyBay.org by clicking here.
Army Corps of Engineers unleashes FART
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 1, 2009 at 7:38 amBreaking news from Water Wired:
In an April 1, 2009 New Orleans press conference, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers New Orleans District Supervisor Col. R.P. ‘Pat’ McGroin announced a mammoth engineering project - the world’s largest - that would completely straighten, widen, and concrete-line the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The project, formally titled FART - Fix America’s River Transportation - has been sought by petrochemical and shipping companies for years, whose many facilities line that reach of the river.
“Let’s clear the air: FART is real, red-blooded, kick-butt, take-no-prisoners American engineering at its best,” McGroin said. “It’ll make Boston’s Big Dig look like moving sand in a cat box. Heck, we may even find more bodies than they did! Maybe Hoffa’s there!” McGroin stated that the project would “dwarf any previous engineering project” and give many Corps employees “something to do for the next 16 years.”
The FART project, estimated to cost $600B and to be completed by 2025, will completely straighten, widen, and line 130 river-miles and shorten the distance between New Orleans and Baton Rouge by 35 miles. It will permit supertankers not even on the drawing boards to sail effortlessly up and down the river. These tankers will be over one kilometer long and carry up to 8 times the fluid volume than current ones.
“FART will make my job a helluva lot easier,” said J.R. ‘Craw’ Dattie, long-time river pilot who hailed the project. “That reach of river has more curves than Britney Spears and is even more treacherous,” stated Dattie.
Read more from Water Wired by clicking here.
Massive water discovery ends California drought
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 1, 2009 at 7:36 amBreaking news from A Verdant Life:
April 1, 2009 - Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the California Department of Water Resources (DWR) today lifted the state’s year-long drought emergency order on the news that an enormous water reservoir has been discovered along California’s western border.
Although the exact size of the aquifer has yet to be determined, reports indicate it may be hundreds of miles across and more than 10,000 feet deep, billions of gallons in total. “We are delighted to say, the drought is over,” Schwarzenegger proclaimed at a beachfront press conference, a gleaming drinking glass on his podium. “This discovery will provide enough water for every man, woman, child, farmer, rancher, business, school and park in our great state to live the California lifestyle without ever again worrying whether there is enough water to waste.”
California’s $36 billion agriculture industry applauded the announcement. “Our crops, orchards and ranches have been in decline for well over a decade now,” said Andrew Simon of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). “This [discovery] means we will be able to get back to our business of feeding the world.”
Indeed, the state’s farmers may be able to not only regain lost ground, but even expand into new markets: low lending rates, coupled with property foreclosures throughout the state, are fueling a new era of agricultural expansion as farmers buy entire subdivisions and convert them to arable land. “We’re processing a record number of loan applications,” said banker Toiya Dobrov, whose clientele includes family farms throughout the Central Valley. “Water is going to be the new gold.”
Read more from A Verdant Life by clicking here.
Monterey Bay sea otter finds video camera, turns tables on photographer
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 20, 2009 at 6:29 am
And now for something lighthearted from the San Jose Mercury News:
Wildlife photographer Enrique Aguirre makes a point of visiting Monterey Bay once a month to capture images of herons, seals and sea otters.
But on Feb. 3, the San Francisco-based freelancer found himself on the other end of the lens — with an otter apparently looking at the photographers through a video camera viewfinder.
Aguirre was on Capt. Yohn Gideon’s Elkhorn Slough Safari boat with several other professional photographers when the group spotted an otter in the distance. Gideon steered closer as Aguirre framed the shot. Then, Aguirre noticed something odd.
“I was like, did I actually see an otter with a video camera or was I hallucinating?” he said.
Read more from the San Jose Mercury News by clicking here.
Everything’s in season for squid along Pacific Coast
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on December 7, 2008 at 7:37 amHere’s the “ew-yuck” story for your weekend:
Out of Half Moon Bay, 100 miles out to sea, the ocean surface erupted for a half mile in a froth of white water and tentacles. “The squid were eating a school of fish,” said commercial fisherman Bob Longstreth. “I’ve seen them out there. Serious predators.”
In another episode, a gang of Humboldt squid had circled the boat New Salmon Queen from Emeryville. The squid were in full attack, with the anglers aboard hooking up on every drop. Capt. Craig Shimukuzu got out his video camera to film the action and as he pressed the record button, the ocean “blew up” - a pod of 10 killer whales came to the surface in a feeding frenzy of their own, slashing the squid to bits with their teeth.
The Humboldt squid are one of the fastest growing creatures, gaining 100 lbs. in a year and growing up to six feet long. And they are voracious eaters:
The chain of amazing episodes reported by those on the sea tells you this: They eat everything in their paths.
One night, for instance, when the lights were left on aboard the commercial boat Promise, the glow on the night sea attracted needlefish, anchovies and sardines around the boat. That’s when the Humboldt squid showed up and attacked, Longstreth said. By morning, 800 pounds of squid were stuck to the side of the boat and the skipper had to gaff them one-by-one to get them off.
On the Huli Cat, in the middle of a similar frenzy, Mattusch found what he thought was a two-headed squid. On close inspection, however, he saw “one had actually eaten the body of another, and only the head was sticking out.”
Read more from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.
Voters flush George W. Bush Sewage Plant proposition, ruin backers’ plans for double-entendre-laden victory speech
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 5, 2008 at 5:34 amFrom SF Weekly, bad news for backers of San Francisco’s Proposition R last night:
Gathered in front of a sculpture of Abraham Lincoln conveniently sitting, yet leaning forward – not unlike someone in the midst of utilizing the toilet – backers of a proposition to rename a Parkside sewage plant after President George W. Bush waited out a cold night.
While Barack Obama stormed to victory and re-defined the term “blue state,” there was no joy in sewageville. When all the dust – we’ll assume it was dust – settled, they’d lost by roughly a 70-30 ratio.
This came as a blow to Bob Katz, who flew in all the way from Florida to be here for what he assumed would be the Proposition R victory party. Katz had been telling anyone who’d listen how a sewage plant should be named after the president for years, so when he found out such a plan was in the works in San Francisco, he enthusiastically lent his support.
Brian McConnell and Michael Jacinto, the proposition’s co-authors, weren’t ready to retrace their steps yet. But Jacinto noted that the Public Utility Commission’s oft-repeated estimate of $50,000 in city money to accommodate the name change was “pulled out of their posterior,” while both men were surprised at the Guardian and others rationalizing that christening a sewage plant after the president would be disrespectful to its employees – after all, the SEIU Local 1021, the sewage workers’ union, endorsed their proposition.
Proposition R was soundly defeated, with 69% voting no, 31% voting yes. More from SF Weekly by clicking here.
How S.F. may, uh, honor ‘W’: Measure would rename city’s sewage plant
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on November 2, 2008 at 7:49 amFrom the San Jose Mercury News:
Lincoln has a tunnel. Washington a monument. Even Hoover has a dam.
What about George W. Bush?
In San Francisco, “W” may soon stand for “wastewater.” On Tuesday, voters will consider commemorating the 43rd president’s legacy in a less than exalted way: renaming the city’s Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant as the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.
In a city where only 9 percent of voters are registered Republicans, organizers of the tongue-in-cheek idea had little trouble gathering 12,000 signatures to put Proposition R on the ballot.
“People were lining up to sign it,” said Brian McConnell, a phone systems designer who hatched the idea last year in a Mission District bar with friends. “One way to look at a sewage plant is in terms of its contents — what we got stuck with — the Iraq war, a $10 trillion debt and a huge mess that needs to be cleaned up.”
The measure needs only a simple majority to pass.
In a brand of civics you won’t see as part of festivities in say, Lubbock, Texas, the Yes on R news conference at City Hall on Election Night will be hosted by a drag queen named “Peaches Christ.”
If Proposition R passes, it will cost the city approximately $50,000 to redo the signage and stationary. I’ll let you know how the proposition fares on election day. Read more from the San Jose Mercury News by clicking here.
Remember, reflect, rename: an editorial in support of San Francisco’s Proposition R
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 27, 2008 at 6:10 amFrom the San Francisco Chronicle, this editorial in support of Proposition R:
Proposition R, which would rename the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant the George W. Bush Sewage Plant, may seem like a joke. However, the intent is to democratize the memorial process by remembering the outgoing administration in an appropriate manner, by insuring that the first public monument named after the 43rd president is not an airport, highway or school. The accomplishments of the Bush administration are numerous, from legalizing torture, to invading the wrong country, to the abandonment of New Orleans, to the near collapse of the world financial system. Incompetence so breathtaking in scope must be remembered so it does not happen again.
Renaming the sewage plant after George W. Bush will memorialize his administration in the proper historical context. And the city comptroller said fiscal impact is negligible.
Read more of this editorial from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.
Tracy Press: “Carbona Weather Oracle” forecasts a rainy winter, while a state water expert predicts a peripheral canal
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 18, 2008 at 6:28 amFrom the Tracy Press:
Often-expressed fears that we are in for another dry winter don’t alarm Paul Rinauro, the venerable “Carbona Weather Oracle.” Despite those predictions, Paul says we are in for a wetter-than-average rainy season as he charts his annual rainfall predictions from his room in the New Hope Convalescent Hospital.
His rainfall bottom line: a seasonal total of 13 to 14 inches, some two inches above our seasonal norm of 11.5 inches. In predicting heavier-than-normal rainfall, Paul is hoping to make a comeback from last season, when he also predicted more rain than usual.
Paul uses “carefully guarded methods and help from his son Larry” to make his predictions, which include the actual dates storms will arrive. According to Paul, the first storm will arrive October 24 through 26th, with the last storm of the season April 17 to 21. Twenty one storms in all! Check your winter travel plans against Paul’s storm calendar from the Tracy Press by clicking here.
But wait, there’s more! In this same article, Frances (no last name given) of the San Luis and Delta Mendota Water Authority predicts the peripheral canal will be built: And Californians shouldn’t expect to vote on a bond issue to finance construction of the long-debated peripheral canal, she said. Agencies receiving water from the federal Central Valley Project and the California Water Project will join together to finance the canal project themselves through the sale of bonds, Frances said. That alliance will include irrigation and water districts in the San Joaquin Valley, the Silicon Valley and Southern California water agencies, led by the huge Metropolitan Water District.
Stunned Utah resident billed for 1.4 million gallons of water
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 29, 2008 at 8:45 amFrom Fox News (via the Sisweb):
A Utah homeowner was billed for 1.4 million gallons of water for part of last winter, and even though Rick Baur disputes it, he paid the bill. “I was blown away,” said Baur, an Ogden resident who made good on the $9,700 bill in August. “It’s enough to buy a used car.”
That much water, the Standard-Examiner calculated, is enough to fill a swimming pool at Ben Lomond High School seven times — or a typical home pool 70 times.
The bill was for Dec. 19 to April 4, typically when residential water consumption is at its lowest of the year.
Baur said he irrigates only about a third of his 2-acre parcel and could never use that much water in any season. What’s more, he and his wife didn’t use any water at home from mid-December to early January because they were vacationing in the Virgin Islands.
“Something strange is going on,” said Craig Frisbee, the city’s water utility manager, who said he might issue Baur a hardship credit but nonetheless defended the billing. “When water goes through a meter, they (customers) are obligated to pay for that.”
More from Fox News by clicking here.
A little humor for your Monday: Preemptive memorial honors future victims of the imminent Folsom Dam disaster
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on September 8, 2008 at 12:00 pmA little humor for your Monday …. From the Onion, via the water sisweb, enjoy this video, which covers the opening of a preemptive memorial to honor the future victims of the imminent Folsom dam disaster:
Preemptive Memorial Honors Future Victims Of Imminent Dam Disaster
Stuff in Sacramento River is algae, not human waste
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on August 27, 2008 at 11:54 amFrom the Chico Enterprise-Record:
Like some kind of April Fool’s joke in August, nature had the last laugh with Glenn County and state officials who momentarily worried Tuesday that the stuff floating down the Sacramento River might be human waste — at least two miles of it.
Though it turned out to be a form of algae that State Park Ranger Tim Davis said indeed does look like feces. Officials initially took the call as a health hazard, accentuated by the annual Labor Day float is just days away.
Still, for all the worry, the situation also elicited a round of chuckles and puns from more than one person before the reality was clarified.
As Davis recounted, it all began around 2 p.m. when a fisherman reported seeing a “clumpy brown material” that looked like waste in the water near the boat ramp at Irvine Finch River Access, south of the Highway 32 Sacramento River bridge. The fisherman — who is a river guide — also reported what appeared to be toilet paper, was stuck to and dried on the bottom of his boat.
Though Davis said he was fairly certain the stuff was not human waste, he gingerly went ahead and physically checked the clumps out, just to be sure. “It felt like algae, but it certainly looks like the material it was thought to be,” Davis said with a hint of laughter in his voice.
More from Chico’s Enterprise-Record by clicking here.
Pass the sunscreen, the tomatoes are burning
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 28, 2008 at 11:25 pmFrom the San Jose Mercury News:
SPF 45 for produce?
Just like people damage their skin in the sun, fruits and vegetables can also get nasty burns. That’s why farmers are increasingly applying sunscreen to their crops to prevent skin blistering, heat stress and blemishes.
Sunspots on a Granny Smith apple can mean the difference between the lowest price for juice or the more lucrative fresh fruit market. As for nuts, last year buyers paid on average 3-cents a pound more for sunscreen-protected nuts than untreated ones, said grower Ed Lagrutta as stood in the bed of his Chevy Silverado inspecting a San Joaquin Valley walnut grove in its second year of sunscreen tests. With yields topping 2,000 pounds an acre, it adds up, he said.
“With the costs of production going up, growers are looking to increase their margins wherever they can,” said Lagrutta, an adviser for Western Farm Services who farms 20 acres and runs tests on hundreds more.
Climate change and drought in Australia and California’s Central Valley have meant challenging growing conditions for farmers that are affecting the quality, yields and price of produce. Sunscreens alleviate at least one worry for farmers, who lose money with each fruit or vegetable that develops sun damage.
“I spend a lot of time studying drought,” said Eric Wood, Ph.D., a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Princeton University and an expert on hydrology and climate change. “Under climate change, heat stress will become a bigger issue for plants, especially when it creates new heat-released disease. Corn under stress is reflected in smaller ears and lower yields.”
Whenever I see an intriguing headline, I am always hoping for a water connection, because this blog proudly stays on topic, and thankfully, here it is:
Tests show its immediate impact is increasing yields by diminishing stress and heat-related defects, but officials at Purfresh in Fremont hope the product also can play a role in water and energy conservation by increasing a plant’s water efficiency.
“We are where Silicon Valley meets the Central Valley,” said Purfresh chief executive David Cope, who left information technology after 25 years for what he describes as “clean technology.”
“We’re using technology to address food and water availability, which affects consumer prices,” he said.
The company has gained attention for its ozone sanitation system for water, produce packing and cold storage stabilization.Bu t it was its new sunscreen Purshade that lured 20 U.S. and international farm product researchers and advisers to a walnut grove near Visalia, Calif., last week. The product also is being tested on tomatoes, grapes, kiwis and lychees in Australia, said Kerrie Mackay, who works for a company that sells crop protection products in Queensland, which she says is in 140-year drought.
More on this story from the San Jose Mercury News by clicking here.
Pictured: The floating cities that could one day house climate change refugees
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on July 6, 2008 at 7:24 am
From the U.K.’s Mail on Sunday:
At first glance, they look like a couple of giant inflatable garden chairs that have washed out to sea. But they are, apparently, the ultimate solution to rapidly rising sea levels. This computer-generated image shows two floating cities, each with enough room for 50,000 inhabitants.
Based on the design of a lilypad, they could be used as a permanent refuge for those whose homes have been covered in water. Major cities including London, New York and Tokyo are seen as being at huge risk from oceans which could rise by as much as 3ft by the end of this century.
This solution, by the award-winning Belgian architect Vincent Callebaut, is designed to be a new place to live for those whose homelands have been wiped out.
The ‘Lilypad City’ would float around the world as an independent and fully self-sustainable home. With a lake at its centre to collect and purify rainwater, it would be accessed by three separate marinas and feature artificial mountains to offer the inhabitants a change of scenery from the seascape. Power for the central accommodation hub is provided through a series of renewable energy sources including solar panels on the mountain sides, wind turbines and a power station to harness the energy of the waves.
Mr Callebaut said: ‘The design of the city is inspired by the shape of the great Amazonia Victoria Regia lilypad. Some countries spend billions of pounds working on making their beaches and dams bigger and stronger. But the lilypad project is actually a long-term solution to the problem of the water rising.’
Read more from the U.K.’s Mail on Sunday by clicking here. (Hat tip to the Sisweb for this one!)
The Delta’s strangest yard sale
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 30, 2008 at 6:37 amFrom Stockton’s Record:
Herman Miller, the storied old man who lived on his floating laboratory, teaching bacteria to eat toxic sludge until famously evicted by the feds, called Friday. Though this paper gives Miller an ink truck of coverage, we’d never met. Nevertheless, the peppery old river rat asked me to publicize his yard sale.
“You can’t believe it,” Miller said of his items. “Everything I’ve collected over 40 years. Very large boat hardware. Stuff nobody wants but me.”
Miller directed me to the site of an old creosote plant on the south bank of the Deep Water Channel, a place of Dickensian industrial grit. Near that spot a year ago, Miller tied up his barge, the Merit, grew anaerobic bacteria in vacuum tanks and encouraged the little beasties to eat pollution, his scheme to get rich.
I found him in a weedy waterfront field. He is 83, spry, diminutive, white-bearded. He was also begrimed after hauling all his stuff out of storage and arraying it in the field. “I was just counting anchors,” Miller greeted me. “I think I have six anchors. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.”
Also lots of laboratory equipment. “Everybody thinks I’m an old bastard who lives on the river,” Miller said. “I’m a UOP graduate, an engineer and a scientist.”
It was a lousy day, hot, muggy, the air filled with infernal smoke from distant fires. A perfect day to visit a Superfund site. That’s what the feds declared the creosote-soaked property; why they evicted Miller, after a long-drawn-out battle; why he’s selling off his cumulus.
“They told me, well, move your stuff,” Miller recounted, leading me around. “So I’m trying to sell anything for anything I can get for it.”
Of Miller’s belongings, half have an Ace Hardware usefulness, and half are too obscure to fly off the shelves - unless there’s a mad scientist convention in town.
Read the rest of this story from Stockton’s Record by clicking here.
San Francisco to vote on George W Bush sewage works
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 27, 2008 at 9:21 amI found this on the Water Sisweb site (http://www.siswebs.org/water/). From the Times UK:
San Francisco is to hold a vote on whether to rename one of its largest sewage treatment facilities after George W. Bush, in what supporters describe as “a fitting monument to the President’s work”.
More than 8,500 signatures have already been gathered in support of the plan — 1,300 more than the minimum required to get the proposal on the November ballot. The scheme was devised by an official-sounding group called the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco.
“On matters ranging from foreign relations to fiscal and environmental stewardship, no other president in American history has accomplished so much in such a short time,” says the group on its website. “We believe this is an appropriate honour for a truly unique president. If you think so too, join this grassroots movement to rename this important and iconic landmark in his honour.”
The official renaming ceremony — the sewage facility is currently named the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant — would take place in January, when the next President is sworn in. Part of it would include a “synchronised flush”, described as a way to send a gift to the renamed plant.
Read the full text of this article from the Times UK by clicking here. And if you haven’t checked out the Water Sisweb yet, you should - click here. There is a lot of great information there - and much more serious than this article, I might add.
California desalination effort info release: Sea of Cortez to the Salton Sea channel
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 25, 2008 at 7:22 amPlease, folks, take this with a grain of salt. No, on second thought, grab the whole salt shaker…. From Helium.com:
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT FROM THE OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR
To be placed in all California Newspapers as an informational news releaseAnnouncing the release of information on a US & Mexico joint effort project known as the Sea of Cortez to the Salton Sea Desalination Channel
Let me point out that this “press release” is posted on Helium.com and not from the State of California. So what is this ‘channel’?
The Channel is a proposed project, a large canal actually, proposed to be built from the Sea of Cortez, Mexico, to, and as far north as, Palm Springs, California. Though, proposals vary, on its width, from between one to two miles wide, it will be deep enough for the largest of ships to travel. It is called a channel, instead of a canal, because that is the legal definition for such a project. On the United States side, it will run from the United States/Mexico border, just west of Calexico, northerly to Palm Desert, CA; 115 miles through Imperial County and, at least, 66 miles through Riverside County and, further if it goes to Palm Springs, CA. Upon the commitments of former President Fox and current President Lopez of Mexico, and Governor Eugenio Elorduy of the State of Baja, Mexico, the proponents, the National Outdoor Recreation Council (NORC), correctly assumed that there will be built, concurrently, a matching Mexican channel from the Gulf of California to the United States/Mexico border.
Okay…. a shipping channel from the Sea of Cortez to Palm Springs. An earlier post by the same person months ago talked of cruise ships docking in Indio and heading towards Indian casinos, along with a port 2 miles wide in El Centro…. This ‘press release’ continues, and tells of how the Clinton administration dissed the channel, but not Governor Schwarzenegger:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger was first made aware of NORC’s Channel Proposal by DR. Abe Beagles on August 18, 2005. Dr. Beagles and a team of six international scientists had done an extensive reclamation study to see if either Electro-coagulation or the Plasma Incubator Reactor System, a revolutionary desalination process, could restore the Salton Sea.The report was then delivered to the Governor in 2003. Shortly after his personal examination and meetings with key individuals, throughout the United States and Mexico, he soon became convinced of both its validity and its potential but, was forewarned by the California Legislature against releasing it to the public until further, more thorough, examination by them. He acquiesced to their experienced judgment, in part. Indirectly, though, on January 5, 2006, he released, the Channel’s income potential, and some other aspects, in his State of the State address.
Hmmm… Schwarzenegger talking about the channel in his 2006 State of the State address? I guess me, you, and the entire media industry must have somehow missed that….
Throughout the following two years, the Governor only hinted, in public, about the forthcoming green technologies but, it wasn’t until his most recent State of the State address, on January 8, 2008, that he began to unveil the Channel. Therein, he revealed the need to re-build (to modernize) California’s antiquated water production and distribution system.
Ha! And you & I thought the Guv was only talking about a couple of new dams, but really he’s talking about the Salton Sea channel with the “Plasma Incubator Reaction System”! Talk about bait and switch…. So now, says this post, they need to set up “Harbor Improvement Districts” in Riverside, Imperial & San Diego counties, but they need public support for this:
Private Donations are Required to Form the Harbor Improvement Districts
NORC plans to process the Petitions to Form the Harbor Improvement Districts that are necessary, by law, to govern the construction and management of the Channel. They do not, however, have the funding to complete this monumental task, at present. As such, they will require significant (tax exempt) donations to perform this great task. Please support the Channel, and the development of its green technologies, by sending your donations directly to NORC.
And there’s even an address you can send your money to! (But first, send some to me, okay?)
And now, let’s talk benefits: 30 million acre-feet of per year of desalinated water; electricity produced and sold to the Harbor Improvement Districts for only 1 cent per kilowatt hour; but wait! there’s more!
At maximum build out, the Channel is estimated, by NORC, to generate, approximately, $92.12 trillion dollars per year, net profit, in private income from the sales of water, hydrogen, electricity, development, precious metals retrieval, and the manufacture of new automobiles. That’s correct, hydrogen will be sold, as well. This is because hydrogen is a by-product of the desalination method Dr. Beagles proposes. Not only can the Channel produce as much as 300 million acre feet, per year, of desalinated water but, it can also produce 4 million acre feet, per year, of compressed hydrogen. This is more than 20 times that needed to fuel all the passenger vehicles expected to be on the road in California in 2020; that is, if they are all hydrogen powered vehicles, of course. Though, there are expected to be a number of other profitable sources, NORC only estimated these. At a simple one (1) percent tax, this would mean, a maximum yearly expected revenue of $1.24 trillion dollars per year. Even at 10 percent of maximum build out, the Channel is expected to generate additional revenue, for the State of California, the affected Counties, and the United States, of $92.4 billion dollars per year.
92 trillion dollars per year in private income, and 92.4 billion in revenue for the government?! Bye bye budget deficit!!! And by the way, didn’t he say 30 million acre-feet of desalinated water earlier? and now it’s 300 acre-feet? Ahh, but who cares, we’ll all be rolling in the trillions of dollars anyway, while driving our hydrogen powered cars to board cruise ships in Palm Springs.
But what about the environmentalists? Rejoice, tree huggers everywhere! The channel will reduce environmental impacts to insignificant!
In accordance with the vast body of environmental law, today, any new water production and distribution system would have to be designed, in such a way, as to reduce environmental impacts to insignificance. Prior to the Channel, this was considered an impossible task. The Channel exceeds these expectations. It will not only maintain environmental impacts below threshold but, it will allow for the restoration of the many significant negative environmental impacts that the prior existing water production and distribution system caused. It is an environmentalists dream come true.
Yeah, right…. Earlier versions of this post mentioned removing every single dam in the Western United States, because the Salton Sea channel would provide enough water for all. Of course they didn’t give any details on how they would distribute that water to everyone….
Coming next week, Aqua Blog Maven will unveil a enormous investment opportunity to solve world hunger while eliminating global warming and unwanted facial hair!
You can read the full text of this ‘press release’ by clicking here.
Farmed salmon being subjected to excercise regimes to stay fit
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 22, 2008 at 5:51 amFrom AlterNet, this rather bizarre story about farmed salmon:
Sit-ups, crunches, weightlifting, interval training — sounds like a rigorous workout for anyone trying to get in shape. Could this be a fitness regimen for salmon too? That’s what the scientists in Norway are trying to prove.
Since training and exercise are essential in maintaining good health for humans, could the same be applied to fish? In order to make farmed salmon stronger and more resistant to disease once they are transferred to ocean cages, a research group in Norway is trying to get farmed juvenile salmon in shape for ocean water using some techniques from the top football team of Spain (we here in the U.S. call it soccer). Scientists from the project discovered that the heart capacity in wild salmon is greater than in farmed salmon, so they put the farmed salmon on a strict training regime to make their hearts stronger.
The exercise? They say the equivalent of jogging — swimming faster with increased water velocity in their tanks. The fish in the trial were divided into three groups — one was a control group (normal fish tank conditions), one group was put in a tank with increased water velocity throughout the day, and one group was put in a tank for “jogging” or intervals of increased water velocity (what the scientists call “high intensity training”).
They actually put heart rate monitors on the fish….! Read more from AlterNet by clicking here.
Jumbo squid swims north, imperilling Canadian fisheries
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on May 12, 2008 at 5:49 amFrom Canada’s Globe and Mail:
When British Columbia’s hake fleet sets off to trawl the deep ocean off the West Coast later this month, crews will be on alert for a strange, voracious squid that is invading the north Pacific. The Humboldt, or jumbo, squid is usually found off the coast of Mexico, but there is a heightened alert on the B.C. fishing grounds this year because the species has been making its way up the coast of North America, devastating hake stocks as it goes.
“I don’t know much about them but they sound like quite a predator,” said Brian Mose, director of the Deep Sea Trawlers Association of B.C. Mr. Mose is sending a message to fleet members, asking them to report any encounters with the large squid, which has been expanding its range both north and south.
Last year, researchers reported that a breeding population had become established off the coast of central California, where it has been linked to a crash in hake stocks. Off the coast of Chile, where prior to 2002 it was seldom seen, the squid is now supporting a commercial harvest of about 200,000 tonnes annually.
Jim Cosgrove, recently retired manager of natural history at the Royal B.C. Museum, said there have been so many persistent reports of jumbo squid in northern waters that it’s time a research expedition was sent to determine how many there are and where they are roaming in Canadian waters.
The expansion of jumbo squid, he said, appears to be linked to warming ocean temperatures, and it could have good and bad side effects. On the positive end, if enough squid move into the northern Pacific, it could launch a lucrative commercial fishery, as it did in Chile. But at the same time, there are concerns about the impact it will have on hake, and possibly on stocks of wild salmon.
Read the full text of this story from Canada’s Globe and Mail by clicking here.
Jumbo squid invade waters off Pacific coast
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 27, 2008 at 6:05 amFrom Wenatchee World (a newspaper in the state of Washington):
They aren’t your normal calamari. But the jumbo squid now lurking off the Pacific Northwest coast could threaten salmon runs and signal yet another change in the oceans brought on by global warming.
The squid, which can reach seven feet long and weigh up to 110 pounds, are aggressive, thought to hunt in packs and can move at speeds of up to 15 mph. In Mexico, they’re known as diablos rojos, or red devils. They reportedly will attack divers when they feel threatened.
No one knows exactly why they started appearing in increasing numbers off Washington state and Oregon, or how many of them there are, but scientists and commercial fishermen have found them in their nets every year since 2004. One ship trawling for Pacific hake captured an estimated 50 tons of the squid in one net haul. Though they usually prefer deep water, between 1,000 and 1,500 squid washed up on the Long Beach Peninsula in southwest Washington in the fall of 2004.
“This is a new phenomenon,” said Jason Phillips, a faculty research assistant at Oregon State University’s Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport. A briefing paper from the science center suggested that the jumbo squid may be “well established” in the Pacific Northwest.
Check out the rest of this story from Wenatchee World, which has lots of pictures, by clicking here. (I’d post a picture over myself, but they look a little creepy…. )
Ojai’s scantily-clad Pastie Lady touts healing benefits of water
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 26, 2008 at 6:29 am“Girls”, he said. “If you want to increase your readership, you need pictures of pretty girls.”
OK, but how to do that, I think, drumming my fingers on my desk. I mean, post pictures of girls in bikinis? Naw, that’s just too yesterday. You’ve all seen that before. Aquafornia needs something different. Maybe Aquafornia needs ….
The Ojai Pastie Lady!
From the Los Angeles Times:
Cars were whizzing past one of Ojai’s busiest corners when Jennifer Moss decided to do a headstand, clad in only a G-string and flower-shaped pasties.
Why?
“Headstands are good for you!” she said, beaming, as she pulled a yellow smiley-face pillow out of her bicycle’s small trailer. With athletic grace, Ojai’s “Pastie Lady,” a self-described social artist and environmental activist, quickly pulled her legs up to salute her adopted hometown.
Not that this artsy, liberal-leaning city of 8,000 is all that impressed. In the year since Moss began pedaling her bicycle down Ojai’s main street in barely-there attire, she’s been arrested twice and ticketed repeatedly for obstructing traffic. Irate parents have asked the City Council to force Moss to put on more clothes. Now she may face prosecution for public indecency.
“The issue we’re looking at is exposure,” said Jim Ellison, Ventura County’s chief assistant district attorney. “We’ve assigned an attorney to do some research.”
Ojai’s citizens, meanwhile, have divided into pro- and con-Pastie Lady camps, venting their opinions in the local newspaper nearly every week. “Ojai tolerance is not eternal,” local filmmaker Leland Hammerschmitt wrote in a guest editorial in the Ojai Valley News, in which he scolded Moss for her “naked narcissism.” “You’ve had more than your day. Go away. Just stop.”
But Moss, whose social activism appears to revolve around natural-fiber clothing and the healing powers of water, also has ardent defenders. They say “Earth Friend Jen” is not hurting anyone and that naysayers should leave her alone. “In the South, they actually embrace you if you are eccentric or even a little crazy. . . .,” Dusty Fernandez, an Oak View resident, wrote in the paper. “So lighten up people! Enjoy the view or turn the other way.”
(Note the vague reference to water which nonetheless means I can post it and still be considered staying on topic…) Read more about Ojai’s Pastie Lady in the LA Times by clicking here.
Meanwhile, I’ll be sitting here, watching my sitemeter count soar ….
Revolutionary new project to drain Crater Lake and sell the water to Las Vegas
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 1, 2008 at 7:53 am
From the Water Wired Blog, this breaking news:
In an early-morning 1 April 2008 press conference the National Park Service (NPS) announced a novel plan to bottle Crater Lake water and also sell it in bulk to Las Vegas, a scheme that would finance the War On Terror (WOT), build the USA-Mexico border fence, resolve the sub-prime mortgage fiasco, fund Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare in perpetuity, and solve the NPS’s financial woes by endowing a national park trust fund. The plan, dubbed the Crater Lake Aqua Project (CLAP), will be implemented immediately by the Bush Administration under the guidance of Vice President Dick Cheney.
“CLAP will be the crown jewel in the tiara that is already President Bush’s legacy,” said U.R. “Bud” Uggley, White House spokesperson. “He is already known for WOT, No Child’s Left Behind, his memorable behavior during the Hurricane Katrina crisis, the Bear Stearns bailout, the Palestinian-Israeli Superhighway Toll Road to Peace plan, and the semi-solution to the sub-prime mortgage crisis. This will be his pièce de résistance - that’s French, by the way - I mean really big, and he will be fondly remembered for the CLAP,” he said. Uggley then introduced Ima Bedd-Wetter, newly-appointed NPS Director, who described the CLAP.
Read more about this fantastic, superspectacular plan to solve our water woes, budget woes, immigration woes, and all other woes you could possibly think of …. by clicking here.
Somewhat Related stories:
Get smarter! Learn the Ten Water Laws of the West - click here.
More breaking news! (well, okay, week old news, but what the heck!): Bush to phase out environment by 2009 from the Borowitz Report.
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Mysterious (and big!) sea creatures found in Antarctica
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on February 20, 2008 at 6:35 amFrom the San Francisco Chronicle:
Scientists investigating the icy waters of Antarctica said Tuesday they have collected mysterious creatures including giant sea spiders and huge worms in the murky depths.
Australian experts taking part in an international program to take a census of marine life in the ocean at the far south of the world collected specimens from up to 6,500 feet beneath the surface, and said many may never have been seen before.
Some of the animals far under the sea grow to unusually large sizes, a phenomenon called gigantism that scientists still do not fully understand. “Gigantism is very common in Antarctic waters,” Martin Riddle, the Australian Antarctic Division scientist who led the expedition, said in a statement. “We have collected huge worms, giant crustaceans and sea spiders the size of dinner plates.”
The specimens were being sent to universities and museums around the world for identification, tissue sampling and DNA studies. “Not all of the creatures that we found could be identified and it is very likely that some new species will be recorded as a result of these voyages,” said Graham Hosie, head of the census project.
The expedition is part of an ambitious international effort to map life forms in the Antarctic Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean, and to study the impact of forces such as climate change on the undersea environment.
Get more on this story from the San Francisco Chronicle by clicking here.
Official surveyors sent out to determine which city owns dead whale on the beach; plus a dead whale video you don’t want to miss
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 30, 2008 at 11:01 pmFrom the San Francisco Chronicle:
A whale carcass that has lain on a Pacifica beach for seven months was the stuff of high intrigue Wednesday when an official surveying party was dispatched to do a little official surveying. It was the first dead whale survey that anyone could remember. “We’re here to lay this matter to rest,” said whale surveyor Sean Stasio, staring at the remains of the whale halfway down the beach.
The whale washed up in the summer on the beach opposite Sharp Park Golf Course, west of the 16th hole. The golf course is located in Pacifica, but the property belongs to San Francisco.
For months, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department has received calls about the whale. On Wednesday, the department at last decided to dispatch two staffers to Sharp Park Beach to figure out which city was on the hook for the whale and its possible removal. Their instructions were nothing less than to take an official reading of the dead whale’s latitude and longitude with an electronic gizmo.
It turned out to be a beautiful day to survey a dead whale. The rains let up and the sun poked out. Dog walkers and kite fliers, unaware of the history about to be made, went about their business. A dozen crows pecked at the twisted, leathery remains of the whale which, after so many months, looked less like a dead whale than a pile of coiled rope or a collapsed old tent.
But the crows scattered when Stasio, a Recreation and Park Department planner specializing in geospatial information, arrived on the beach, accompanied by a colleague. Stasio stood beside the whale and unholstered his electronic device, a Thales Mobile Mapper, Model CE. It was a honey.
He punched a few buttons and the device sprang to life and began flashing numbers.
After a moment, the screen gave its verdict.
The whale, it declared, was located at 38 degrees 16 minutes 31 seconds by minus 114 degrees 37 minutes 29 seconds. That information turned out to be historic, too, as it meant that the official location of the whale was 50 miles south of Ely, Nev.
To read the rest of this humorous article from the San Francisco Chronicle, click here.
Okay, so dead whale on the beach. Whatcha gonna do about that? Here’s an lesson in what not to do in this classic video that I found on youtube: click here and prepare to laugh. (Hint: Dynamite is not the answer!) Stay with it - it starts out slow, perhaps, but only gets better. Definitely worth taking the link!
Jumbo squid enjoying hanging out in Monterey Bay
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 27, 2008 at 2:49 pmFrom the San Jose Mercury News:
Marine biologists have known for years that 100-pound squid have quietly made their way from the tropical regions of the Pacific to the cooler reaches of California.
With 10 arms, a sharp beak and a mythic reputation for hunting in packs and attacking everything from scuba divers to each other, the Humboldt squid, also known as the jumbo squid, is now a common sight for fishermen and a current fascination of ocean-gazers.
But how much of a nuisance the little-understood cephalopod could become has only recently become clear.
Researchers in Santa Cruz have found that the squid’s favorite foods are some of the most popular catches of fishermen in the region - meaning competition and perhaps another threat to an industry that has long struggled in the Monterey Bay.
“It looks like the squid have eaten a lot of the fish that are commercially important,” said John Field, a fishery biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
In Field’s laboratory at Long Marine Lab, he and his colleagues have cut open the stomachs of nearly 800 squid to see what they’re eating and just how much.
Yuk! To read the rest of this article from the San Jose Mercury News, click here.
The jumbo squid can grow up to 7 feet long and weigh more than 100 pounds. To find out more about the jumbo squid, click here.
The root of some water adages
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 21, 2008 at 7:15 amFrom the Arizona Republic, an article on the origin of the oft-repeated “Whiskey’s for drinking, water is for fighting”:
The quote is widely attributed to Twain. The problem is he probably never said it. According to an article by Guy Rocha, Nevada archivist, there is no record of Twain - who lived in Nevada in the early 1860s - ever saying any such thing. And the people at the Mark Twain Papers & Project at the University of California-Berkeley agree. Nobody seems to know who came up with the famous adage about water in the West. It also has been attributed to Will Rogers, but the evidence for that is flimsy. So I suspect that it is a clever remark some unknown person made about Western water issues and that it got passed around until somebody tagged Twain with it.
It’s like another Arizona quote, the oft-told, “You could say the same thing about hell.” I found it attributed to three sources. I suspect I could have found more if I’d looked harder.
To find out where that quote came from, click here.
When good rain barrels go bad …
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 8, 2008 at 7:16 amSent to me by Eric Eckl, of the excellent Water Words That Work blog:
You try to do the right thing. You get a rain barrel for your house. And then this.
http://www.koat.com/news/14993696/detail.html
Turning sewer sludge into electricity
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on December 23, 2007 at 7:23 amFrom the Bakersfield Californian:
That stuff you flush down the toilet may someday provide power to your home. The state’s largest sewage sludge composter, located near Lost Hills, plans to build a renewable energy plant that burns treated human waste and other organic material to make electricity. Owners of Liberty Composting, formerly San Joaquin Composting, already have a contract to sell 20 megawatts of electricity from the planned $64 million facility to Pacific Gas and Electric. Construction of the plant, called Liberty V, is slated to start in three years.
The move is part of the company’s desire to find a better use for sludge in the face of stricter air pollution regulations and public concern about sludge disposal, said Patrick McCarthy, president of McCarthy Family Farms, which owns Liberty Composting. “Five years ago, we started talking and said there’s got to be a better alternative to composting,” McCarthy said. “Our idea is to take these problematic organic waste streams and use them for their highest and best use in the most environmentally friendly manner, and in doing so, generate renewable energy.”
Liberty Composting receives up to 780,000 tons of organic waste annually. The majority is sewage sludge from 48 communities from Los Angeles to Santa Cruz. California produces about 3 million tons of sludge a year. About one-third is directly applied to the land, another third goes into landfills and the rest is composted. About 90 percent of the finished compost from Liberty Composting is used at McCarthy Family Farms’ Liberty Ranch in Kings County.
The Liberty V plant will use a process called gasification, whereby sludge and other organic waste is heated at temperatures of more than 1,500 degrees in a low-oxygen environment. The heat drives gases off the waste and into a chamber where injected oxygen causes the gases to ignite. The combustion heats water and the resulting steam spins a turbine, creating electricity.
Some butane is required for initial start, McCarthy said, but afterward the facility can sustain operation without an additional fuel source.
To read the rest of this article from the Bakersfield Californian, click here.
This story reminds me of a similar story I posted a few months ago regarding the Inland Empire Utilities District, who uses cow manure to generate electrical power to run a water recycling plant and a desalination plant. That is only one of many great ideas the IEUD has developed to provide water and energy to it’s customers. Check it out by clicking here.
Led Zeppelin and Water Dummies
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on December 18, 2007 at 7:22 amFrom the watercrunch blog:
Imagine a straight drop into a vertical loop, followed by a double inversion cobra roll, zero-G roll, vertical loop and a corkscrew. Now imagine as you twist and turn, a 1,200-watt sound system plays Led Zepplin’s 1969 hit song “Whole Lotta Love.”
Your dreams will become reality next year. Some of you all may have remembered when I first detailed in a blog post in July the new signature Led Zepplin roller coaster in Myrtle Beach at the new 140 acre Hard Rock Theme Park. Yesterday, they had a public unveiling of the roller coaster and ran the coaster not with live people (although, I am sure they would have found some volunteers), but with some water ballast dummies.
For some pictures and the rest of the story, click here to visit the watercrunch blog.
Doug Bremmer of Huffington Post on the effectiveness of praying for rain
Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on December 11, 2007 at 2:11 pmThoroughly enjoyable article from Doug Bremmer posted on the Huffington Post about Atlanta’s mayor calling for the city to pray for rain. And, apparently, rain did actually come, about two days of drizzle. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has given this a lot of press coverage, according to Bremmer, and many faiths faithfully prayed for rain.
Says Bremmer:
I think it is fine for people to pray/meditate/dance/convulse/transcend, or whatever they want to do to get themselves to a better place. But I think that those people who are folding up their hands in prayer to a personal God to open up the heavens and let rain fall on their pointed heads are simply ridiculous.
You see there is a scientific consensus that planet Earth (you live there too? How cool!) is gradually warming up, and that this warming processes will cause changes in weather patterns throughout the world, including droughts. Normally in Georgia during the summertime the heat and humidity builds up throughout the day until late afternoon when we have some real doozy rain storms with lots of thunder ‘n lighting. Didn’t have a single one of those this summer. Sonny and the prayer people were only able to squeeze out of the skies two days of steady drizzle that looked more like my native Seattle. Hardly satisfying. And nothing since then. So the obvious conclusion is that climate change is behind the Georgia drought. OK not only Red State problem. Blue State people listen up. You are burning up out there in California. Literally. And for us to ask Jehovah to make things all better after we have pooped in our own room is absurd. I say better to use prayer/meditation/dance/convulsion/transcendence to make us all better able to be good stewards of Planet Earth, that was given to us by God/Yahweh/GreatSpirit/Osiris/BigBang/Whatever.
I actually like the views from the spiritual leaders of Atlanta’s Muslim and Jewish faiths better than what the Hindus/Buddhists/Baptists/Catholics had to say.
Plemon Al-Amin, the prayer leader at Masjid of Al-Islam in Atlanta said, “Because the Quran was first revealed in Arabia, there were always challenges in terms of rain. And we do actually have rain prayers. But we want to make sure everybody is already in the frame of mind of conserving. Because it’s problematic when you are asking for something and not making proper use of what you already have.”
Rabbi Shalom Lewis of Etz Chaim of Atlanta, said, “I teach the efficacy of prayer is to inspire us, and it gives us a sense that we are participants in what goes on this planet and on this earth. And we also recognize that we pray to God for our ability to know what is right or wrong and how to deal with the limited bounty we have.”
Amen to that.
To read the full text of this post from Doug Bremmer at the Huffington Post, click here.
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