The week that was, April 24-30, 2016
Posted on | May 1, 2016 | 1 Comment
Source: Wikipedia
Puerto Rico has become the primary American front in the public-health fight against Zika, just as the health, economic, and social infrastructure needed to fight the virus are eroding. — A commonwealth in crisis, The Atlantic, 4/27/16
The great debate over statehood has to wait; that’s Rose and Jack on the Titanic asking, When’s our next date? — Lin-Manuel Miranda on the crisis in Puerto Rico, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, 4/24/16
The island has 707 confirmed Zika cases, including 89 pregnant women. —
First Zika virus-related death reported in U.S. in Puerto Rico, Washington Post, 4/29/16
“… you need to take it seriously.” — CDC entomologist Janet McAllister, New discovery means more US states will face a risk from Zika, Washington Post, 4/29/16
Nancy Nowacek, subject of a new profile in Next City, seeks to optimize public space in New York with a floating bridge. Click on the image to go to the Citizen Bridge Kickstarter page.
But New York City has 528 miles of coastline, and so to ignore the water seemed like ignoring the city’s largest public space. — A bridge to change how New Yorkers think about their waters, Next City.org, 4/29/16
Tunnel No. 2 is 80 years old, has been in continuous use and has never been shut for inspection. — Revised plan to speed up New York’s back-up water delivery system, New York Times, 4/26/16
“One of the titles I’ve given the map [above] is ‘Think geology, not nationality,’” Parag Khanna told the Washington Post. Click on the map to learn more about his new book Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization.
Canada is going to potentially be the world’s largest food producer in 20-25 years as a result of climate change. — Parag Khanna, Six maps that will make you rethink the world, Washington Post, 4/29/16
“This is my idea of a world-class addition to life in Owens Valley. And we didn’t even have to go to court to get it.” — Michael Prather, Eastern Sierra Audubon, Is it an olive branch or ‘crazy?’ Owens Valley is skeptical of Angelenos bearing gifts, Los Angeles Times, 4/25/16
Owens Lake land art project conceptual drawing by NUVIS landscape architects for the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power Owens Lake MasterProject.
This is a compromise, but it’s a good compromise that will be very good for wildlife. — Photographer Robin Black, This was never supposed to happen, The Owens Lake Project, 4/28/16
“We’re not just talking about what’s happening in the water; we’re talking about what’s happening out of the water – hotels, restaurants, sport shops, boat manufacturers. — Why Lake Michigan’s Chinook salmon population is plummeting, WOODTV.com, 4/29/16
Here we go again… — Battered Houston facing another bout with severe storms, ABC13.com, 4/28/16
Critics worry that the commission is soft on holding the oil and gas industry responsible for such incidents, since — according to one watchdog group’s accounting — commissioners receive more than half of their campaign contributions from that sector. — Flooding flushes oil, chemicals into Texas rivers, Austin American Statesman, 4/30/16
“They can’t follow the rules, so they’re trying to change them.” — White Pine County Commission chair Gary Perea, Legal advocate fighting SNWA briefs county commission, Ely News, 4/29/16
Shortage sharing under negotiation by the Colorado River’s “lower basin” states of California, Arizona and Nevada will revisit allocations set when the states agreed on the construction of the Central Arizona Project, above, and shortage sacrifices agreed in 2007. For more on the construction of CAP, click on the photo from the federal Bureau of Reclamation.
Arizona would lose 512,000 acre-feet of its share if a first-level shortage is declared, compared with the 320,000 acre-feet it had agreed to cut based on 2007 negotiations. Nevada would sacrifice 21,000 acre-feet, up from its original 13,000. — Arizona may give up even more Colorado River water, Arizona Republic, 4/26/16
“There’s not technically a drought in the lower basin except a structural drought that they’ve created.” — Utahn / Colorado River “upper basin” water claimant Ron Thompson, general manager, Washington County Water Conservancy District, referring to “lower basin” water users in Nevada, California and Arizona, Lake Powell Pipeline proposal goes to federal review, The Spectrum, 4/29/16
Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay Delta islands bought by Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Source: MWD
“There has to be a grand plan. That’s just not being revealed to us yet.” — Public Policy Institute of California fellow Jeff Mount, The Mysteries of Delta Islands Sale, Water Deeply, 4/27/16
This is not a water grab. — Opinion piece by Jeff Kightlinger, general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Delta islands purchase is to restore wetlands, not capture water, San Jose Mercury News, 4/29/16
He is currently leading a research effort to optimize sustainable water management in the city. — Mark Gold joins Metropolitan Water Board representing City of Los Angeles, MWD press release, 4/12/16*
Last year, while you were carrying your warm-up water out to the rose bushes, growers planted another sixty thousand acres of almonds. — Various: almond acreage, leasing a water right, AP exam, On the public record, 4/27/16
… a California-centric bill sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein and a Western water bill sponsored by Rep. David Valadao both contain egregious, anti-environmental giveaways hidden behind modest provisions for modernizing California’s water system. — Op-ed, Peter Gleick, Congress is about to wipe out decades of progress in sustainable water use, Los Angeles Times, 4/28/16
“You put up a disco ball, you play some Barry White, you let nature take its course.” — Ted Cruz has a Delta smelt plan, Sacramento Bee, 4/30/16
Webcam image from NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. Hat tip WOODTV meteorologist Bill Steffen.
A study next month examining trees from the air is expected to report a near doubling of the 29 million trees already reportedly dead or dying. — Thousands of trees getting cut to prepare for summer, Fresno Bee, 4/24/16
… just as a high level of lead makes for bad water, a high level of politics makes for bad cases. — Jonathan Turley editorial, Flint water case no slam dunk for prosecutors, USA Today, 4/28/16
All of the Great Lakes continue to have water levels significantly above the April average. — Great Lakes water levels and news, Bill’s Blog, WoodTV, 4/30/16
“My mom said chances are you will be too busy with more important things, but there is a lot of people coming on these buses and even just a meeting from you or your wife would really lift people’s spirits.” — Flint resident Amariyanna Copeny, Tap Water Crisis; Obama Will Visit Flint, Mich., He Says in Response to 8-Year-Old Girl’s Letter, New York Times, 4/28/16
“It’s like watching a slow-moving train wreck.” — Richard Tutwiler, director, Research Institute for a Sustainable Environment, American University, Cairo, on witnessing population growth, dam-building upstream and slow irrigation reform along the Nile, Egypt looks to avert water crisis driven by demand, waste, Associated Press, 4/26/16
The park … got the nick-name “Class Action Park” by nearby hospitals due to the amount of injuries they treated. — Dangerous new waterside unveiled at the most notorious water park, Daily Express, 4/29/16
“Ocean life and marine ecosystems must now simultaneously contend with the triple threat of warming waters, increased acidity, and now—we’re learning—lower oxygen levels.” — Penn State University climate scientist Michael Mann, Global warming could deplete the oceans’ oxygen – with severe consequences, Washington Post, 4/28/16
“I’m always impressed by how intensely Canadians observe the United States and how so many Americans forget Canada exists.” — Novelist Jim Lynch, The lure of sailing; American novelist revels ‘where water, wind and sky collide,’ Edmonton Journal, 4/29/16
*=a was-ier week than last week.
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North American Native Plant Societies
After the lawn
Garden blogs
May 9th, 2016 @ 5:20 pm
Great coverage. Did you catch the event we put on here in California a few months back? Maybe of interest to you and your readers!
http://cbwcd.org/213/Mosquito-Prevention
Regards!