The week that was, 8/15-21/2010
Posted on | August 21, 2010 | 1 Comment
"Ebb and Flow: Kern's Vanishing Water," an exhibit in which artists in California's Central Valley examine water, will be on show at framers JP Jennings, 1700 Chester Avenue, Bakersfield, CA through October 3. Click on "Gradient Reversal" (above) by Christine McKee to be taken to a Lois Henry article about the exhibit in the Bakersfield Californian.
In the early morning the cow had collapsed, and I could see it would soon be dead. Its eyes were beginning to dull, as the owner squatted next to it, sprinkling water into its mouth, as if it were possible to revive it. Its legs were swollen from standing in water, and its chest and torso were covered with deep cuts and scrapes, sheets of raw flesh where branches rushing past must have hit it. The rest of the family sat nearby on a string bed, resigned, waiting for the end. This was their wealth, but when it died they would tip it into the water and let it float away to the south. Through the past few days they had seen it all, houses collapsed, trees uprooted, grain spoiled, and this was just one more blow. — Mango farmer and author Daniyal Mueenuddin, In Pakistan, watching lifetimes get washed away, New York Times, August 19, 2010; Pakistan flood disaster relief: How to help, New York Times, August 18, 2010
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said that about a foot (30 centimeters) of rain had fallen since midnight … — Rains batter China anew, Associated Press, August 21, 2010
"July 2010 was practically in a three-way tie for the warmest July on record, tied with July 1998 and July 2005." -- NASA. Click on the image for more from the Earth Observatory
[Amor] Masovic [head of the Bosnian Institute for Missing Persons], said the killings were so frequent that the management of the hydroelectric plant across the border in Serbia appealed in 1992 over the radio that whoever in Bosnia was responsible should “stop throwing bodies into the lake because they were clogging up the culverts in the dam.” — Volunteers join search for human remains in lake, Associated Press / Denver Post, August 18, 2010
What did the state get for the [Kern water ] bank in 1995? The buyers gave up the right to 45,000 acre-feet of water annually from the State Water Project, an entitlement some value at $30 million. But the lawsuit says that in real terms, the state got almost nothing. The water, it contends, was “paper water,” a phantom allocation from a portion of the State Water Project that will never be built and therefore has no value. — Columnist and water historian Michael Hiltzik, Something’s not right about this California water deal, Los Angeles Times, August 18, 2010
The entire Chesapeake Bay watershed will be allowed to have between 6.1 billion pounds and 6.7 billion pounds of sediment pollution per year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday. Last year, there were 8.09 billion pounds … EPA sets limits for bay sediment pollution, The Capital, August 17, 2010
Great Basin Water Network attorney Simeon Herskovits rides in the fund-raising 'water bucket' at the 2010 Snake Valley Festival, which raised money to fight Las Vegas claims on rural groundwater. Click on the image for the Network's August newsletter.
Due to the large number of parties anticipated and the inability of the State Engineer to utilize the Legislative space prior to and during the Legislative Session, the State Engineer is not planning on holding a pre-hearing conference. — Informational statement, State Engineer of Nevada on proposed schedule for re-adjudication of the Las Vegas pipeline claims in the Great Basin, August 19, 2010
… the decision to build large-scale water projects usually is driven by political power rather than economic considerations. — With large water projects, someone may win, but someone else loses, Bismarck Tribune, August 16, 2010
… precipitation in Southern California could be as much as 10 percent below normal. — Southern California will see winter flip flop, Accuweather, August 17, 2010
I water my grass 2 times a day everyday for the last 2 years and have no intention of changing it. I do not care who/what my watering affects. LADWP [Los Angeles Department of Water & Power] can’t catch water violators unless they are doing so blatantly that it’s impossible not to see them. No i am not wiling to give up my nice grass, i will continue watering using my sprinklers even if watering gets banned outright. LADWP is welcome to catch me if they think they can. — Comment by ‘mike,’ More drought ahead? Los Angeles Times, August 20, 2010
Drugs such as mood stabilizers and beta-blockers are especially difficult and expensive to remove from wastewater … — Discovery Bay putting wetlands to work, Contra Costa Times, August 16, 2010
“The plume was not a river of Hershey’s syrup.” — Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution geochemist Christopher Reddy, Report paints new picture of Gulf oil, Science Now, August 19, 2010
The FRAC Act, which has not moved forward in the Senate, calls for disclosure of the chemicals that are mixed with water and used to break apart gas-bearing rock to extract natural gas. — Casey meets with Dimock families to talk about water and gas drilling, Scranton Times-Tribune, August 21, 2010
Penn State President Graham Spanier announced the creation of the Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research at Ag Progress Days on Wednesday. — Rigzone, August 18, 2010
For a full round-up of California water news, go to Aquafornia, the newsfeed of the Water Education Foundation, or to UC Berkeley’s On Water. For San Diego water news, try Groksurf’s San Diego. Or, for all things fresh water, do check in with WaterWired. For a look at water in New Mexico and beyond, by all means visit the blog of Albuquerque Journal science writer John Fleck.
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