The week that was, 7/6-12/2009
Posted on | July 12, 2009 | 1 Comment
“El Nino arrives.” Click on the map of sea surface temperature anomalies to be taken to the July 9 announcement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
”If I was a water manager in southern Utah, I’d be paying attention.” Larry Dunn, meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service’s Salt Lake City office on the prospect of an El Nino. Salt Lake Tribune
“A Christmas gift in July?” The Redding Record Searchlight on the prospect of an El Nino, via Aquafornia
“If next year is average or below average in water, we’ll have very serious problems.” Lester Snow, director of the California Department of Water Resources, Wall Street Journal via Aquafornia
“…slightly salty, like V-8 juice.” The San Diego Union Tribune on the brackishness of local groundwater
“Not only should kids (and everyone else, too) drink water instead of sugar solution, but in this area we should be drinking our wonderful Sierra runoff tap water, among the best in the world.” Letter to the San Francisco Chronicle
“Bottled water companies are permitted to brand their product with almost any name or picture, no matter how misleading. We thus have ‘Yosemite’ bottled water from a municipal source in Los Angeles, ‘Everest’ water from Texas, and all sorts of ‘Arctic’ or ‘Glacier’ brand waters from Florida and other places about as far removed from the Arctic or glaciers as one can get. Dr. Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute on publication of the Government Accountability Office report on bottled water
“I have never seen 350 Australians in the same room all agreeing to something.” Resident of Bundanoon, Australia after near unanimous banning of bottled water
“The jackbooted thugs that lock your cattle off of water — that try to destroy you as a person and tell you they are going to destroy you and put you out of business.” Great Basin rancher Hank Vogel on what he sees as Southern Nevada Water Authority’s tactics to rid Spring Valley, Nevada of farms so Las Vegas can have its water. Las Vegas Eyewitness News I-Team report via the Great Basin Water Network
“Con artists in the past have gained entry into homes after saying they needed to check water pressure.” Warning from Denver Water on criminals impersonating their staff
“Armed with nothing but a natural gift for promotion, and for wheedling donations from people, Mr. Harrison started his group, called charity: water …. In three years, he says, his group has raised $10 million, providing clean water to nearly one million people in Africa and Asia.” From the New York Times op-ed “Clean sexy water”
Los Angeles man and son saved, fined. “Grand Teton National Park officials said 40-year-old Byron Phames was cited with not having life jackets and failing to obtain a park boat permit. The pair floated several miles downstream Friday on their ‘swimming-pool style’ raft with no problem until the side was punctured, leaving the raft partially deflated, park officials said Saturday. They were unable to reach the shore with the sticks they were using as oars.” AP / Denver Post
“We’re imploding economically and we don’t know where the bottom is so we are kicking the tires on everything.” Patricia Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority on cuts in spending on lawyers and lobbyists to an Eyewitness News team via the Great Basin Water Network
“They are not so much ugly, the 181 miles of canals that course through metropolitan Phoenix. They are plain.” The Arizona Republic
“You can’t fix the Delta without the people of the Delta as your partner,” Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, D-Davis on sudden pressure to fast-track the peripheral canal. Capitol Report via Aquafornia
“Our industry faces 100 percent unemployment.” Monterey fisherman, San Diego Union Tribune
“If [the Two Gates project] helps the water supply, that’s great, but right now it’s needed to protect fisheries,” Greg Gartrell, Contra Costa Water District’s assistant general manager. Capital Press via Aquafornia
“In 2007, a federal court in Fresno ordered water managers to protect the ecosystem of the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta. That cut water shipments from the mountains of Northern California to arid Southern California by about 30%.” The Wall Street Journal
“If ever there were a story that foreshadowed the political and legal Waterloos that loom in seeking solutions to climate change, surely that cautionary tale is the one about the Columbia and Snake rivers’ salmon and their imminent extinction. And like most stories about endangered species or environmental threats, this one is not only about fish and rivers — it’s about us.” Op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times, via WaterWired
“A key House committee has slapped down the latest effort by Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, to protest the diversion of Central Valley water for environmental protection … If it had passed, the amendment would have blocked federal spending on decisions that divert irrigation water to protect salmon, the delta smelt and other species. “People and communities have been replaced by a parade of extreme environmental activists and their misguided causes,” Nunes said. Fresno Bee via On Water
“Palmdale failed to get a restraining order to stop collection of the largest water rate increase in the district’s history.” Antelope Valley Press via Aquafornia
“what about parks are they gerin fine the park next to my home had the water running 2 days july ,4, 5, 24 hrs ,and i see the workers using water evry day to water the grass and the side walks i call the hot line d w p she says will send the waterf busters no one came i e mail the mayor office and his son jose huizar no responce what d w p is doing they goin after any of us to collect money yet there dont want to fix any probles the goverment of los angeles are doing wasting water did any of you get youre water bill water whent upthis month and they are goin to have another one in october 1 2009 this politicians and d w p are crooks and liars.” A blogged response to the Los Angeles Times article, LA Citing thousands who break drought rules
Tags: chance of rain > Emily Green > headlines > The week that was
Comments
One Response to “The week that was, 7/6-12/2009”
Leave a Reply
North American Native Plant Societies
After the lawn
Garden blogs
July 13th, 2009 @ 9:37 am
I loved George Knapp’s (Las Vegas reporter) story on the Las Vegas Springs Preserve. What are they preserving? A site where water USED to pour out of the ground that has now dried up? Wolfgang Puck (celebrity chef) for Water? The concept was lovely. The reality is a farce. The costs are atrocious! And the folks in Las Vegas are paying for all this–a monument to overpumping groundwater!