The week that was, 8/17-23/2009
Jacobs recommends everyone in Seattle practice at least one water sport. — Seattle Sketcher, Seattle Times
“I will not sign anything that does not have above-the-ground and below-the-ground water storage.” Arnold Schwarzenegger demanding new dams from any legislation to reform state water policy, AP…
The week that was, 8/3-9/2009
"Reflections, 2007." Click on the image for a profile of the artist, Anna Bliss, in the Salt Lake Tribune
New TV ads are encouraging Brazilians to save water — by peeing in the shower. — AP / Salt Lake Tribune and New York Times
One homeowner, for instance, insisted his three-day-a-week watering schedule was insufficient to create the large bill … He left out that he waters four times on each of those three days. — Denver Post
As the state entered a severe drought, many of the city of Sacramento’s biggest water users increased their watering dramatically … A Bee investigation reveals city government itself as the top scofflaw. — Sacramento Bee via Aquafornia
Think of our water supply as a giant milkshake glass. And imagine each demand for water as a straw in the glass. Most American states allow a limitless number of straws in the single glass…
The week that was, 7/27/2009 – 8/02/2009
“This is the evening for a renewed call to focus on water …” – Timothy Brick, chairman of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (pictured far right), moderating “A National Water Policy Event,” sponsored by the Chronicles Group, Tuesday July 28, 2009 in the US Capitol Visitor Center
“…we estimate that almost 19,000 bottles were not sold and used.” – Stephen Winman in the Santa Fe New Mexican on an art festival serving local tap water instead of bottled
“The ads suggest viewers go to Tappening.com to find out ‘the truth’ about bottled water, or to StartALie.com to spread an untruth.” – New York Times, “An Environmental Group’s Campaign of Wry Lies Against Bottled Water”…
Polluters 5, Environmentalists 0: Supreme Court term reviewed
FURTHER to last week’s 6-3 Supreme Court Decision in Coeur Alaska, Inc v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council et al, the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE) at UC Berkeley will be holding a live Webcast Tuesday June 30, 10-11.30am Pacific Time discussing the environmental record of the concluding Supreme Court term.
Panelists include CLEE executive director Richard Frank and Berkeley professors Dan Farber and Holly Doremus, and assistant professor Eric Biber.
The cases under discussion will include Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council (environmental organizations’ challenge to the U.S. Navy’s active sonar testing program); Summers v. Earth Island Institute (environmental groups seeking to block the sale of timber from fire-damaged federal lands in California); Entergy Corp. v. Riverkeeper (environmentalists challenging the EPA’s use of cost-benefit analysis for power plant projects); Burlington Northern v. United States (federal government trying a case under Superfund law that would have …
Las Vegas from space over 25 years
ON MARCH 1, 2009, NASA’s Landsat 5 satellite turned 25. NASA marked the occasion by publishing these photographs of Las Vegas photographed from space over a quarter of a century. The growth caught from above is sustained by an unyielding search for new water in the Mojave Desert below. This posting connects the NASA photos to that search for water.
1984
In 1984, Greater Las Vegas had exhausted its local groundwater, but grew by finally exploiting an allocation from the Colorado River and the nearby reservoir, Lake Mead.
By 1989, (see photo below), it was clear that Las Vegas was outgrowing its Colorado River allocation and the Las Vegas Valley Water District applied for half of the legally available groundwater in the state of Nevada. The plan was to build hundreds of miles of pipeline north to tap the Great Basin Carbonate Aquifer. Using these as yet unapproved but powerfully …
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