The week that was 2/7-13/2010
Posted on | February 14, 2010 | 1 Comment
“The Party and the government will help you overcome the drought disaster and address the difficulties, and ensure you have a happy Spring Festival.” — Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee, “Premier visits drought-hit Guangxi ahead of New Year,” BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific, February 13, 2010, via ProQuest
I am working to develop an Emergency Temporary Water Supply amendment that will simply allow San Joaquin Valley farmers to plant, hire and harvest for two years . . . — statement from US Senator Dianne Feinstein, February 11, 2010
“I will do everything I can to stop it.” — US Senator Dianne Feinstein on the Cadiz, Inc groundwater mining project in the Mojave Desert, “Cadiz study shows enough water in desert for 400,000,” Bloomberg Business Week, February 8, 2010
Feinstein’s rider would force federal officials to keep the pumps floored at the highest levels currently permitted. — “Feinstein’s Water Bomb,” High Country News, February 12, 2010
“This is by any stretch an attempt to legislate science and an end run around the Endangered Species Act.” — California Assemblyman Jared Huffman, “Feinstein seeks to ease curbs on water delivery to farmers,” Los Angeles Times, February 12, 2010
“The entire Bay Area delegation had agreed we would do this National Academy of Sciences report to find out scientifically what should and shouldn’t be done, and for her to turn that on its head and go out unilaterally with this proposal does not take into consideration the needs of all of California.” — California Congressman Mike Thompson, “Uproar over water plan; Feinstein wants more for Central Valley,” San Francisco Chronicle, February 12, 2010
A lost juvenile salmon now is also lost salmon descendants and lost food from the foodchain. Taking pieces out of that network weakens the whole system, unlike fallowing, which strengthens the remaining farmers. — “Fish, farms, feedback loops,” On the public record, February 8, 2010
“Once you stop and really walk the wall, you see so much more.” — Cindy O’Brien, executive director, The Art Factory, “More murals coming to water plant,” The Augusta Chronicle, February 9, 2010“Our 20th century thinking was, ‘Storm water bad, flood water even worse.’ We’re now saying that’s water we desperately need.” — Celeste Cantu, general manager of the Santa Ana Watershed Project, “Inland water agencies are serious about capturing storm runoff,” Riverside Press-Enterprise, February 8, 2010
“This will help an ordinary village in a practical and lasting way.” — Photo-journalist Connie Frisbee Houde on a war zone well project, “Her focus is Afghan village’s plight,” Albany Times Union, February 13, 2010
Perhaps they should have added holy chlorine. — “Holy water sickens more than 200 in Russia,” Los Angeles Times, February 8, 2010
“It just stops until we get the budget to restore it.” — Toni Hardesty, Director for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, “Budget puts crimp on water quality monitoring,” Boise Spokesman-Review, February 7, 2010
Officials said they hoped the additional chemicals would force the cadmium to sink to the bottom instead of flowing downstream. — “Building stormed by angry villagers; Five held in clash over water diversion,” South China Morning Post, February 9, 2010
Andvord Bay, Antarctica, is a triptych three and a half metres across. You can see there is ice on the sea, but also that there is a shallow layer of water over it. White mountains punctuated with black rock are reflected in the water, but it is also flecked with the white of ice broken when the ship cut through it, leaving as it did a curving passage of open water that reflects the deep blue of the sky. — “Frances Walker: Place observed in solitude,” The Scotsman, February 9, 2010
“You can’t drink that much. You can’t flush that much. You can’t take that many showers.” — Shanon Phillips, director of water quality for the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, “Water use at 140 homes tops million gallons,” Tulsa World, February 7, 2010
“This has nothing to do with growth.” — Patricia Mulroy, general manager of the Southern Nevada Water Authority, “Water officials rush to craft bill in response to court ruling,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, February 10, 2010
*Editor’s note: Headlines vary as online editions are updated. Chance of Rain starts with home edition print headlines sourced through ProQuest, then provides links to online versions. The headlines quoted here are chosen between editions for their clarity.
For background on Senator Dianne Feinstein’s demands for a review of Commerce and Interior department scientific opinions affording endangered fish protection in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, click here. These demands were superseded last week by her announcement that she would be adding a rider to a jobs bill that would open the pumps slowed by fish protections and her claim that she had found a precedent to override the Endangered Species Act in order to do it. For a full round-up of articles on California water, including the storm over the Feinstein rider, go to Aquafornia.
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