WaterWired

Fifth World Water Forum: Input Sought by 20 December 2007

The World Water Council (WWC) will be convening the Fifth World Water Forum (5WWF) in Istanbul, Turkey,  in March 2009. The overarching theme is "Bridging Divides For Water", which will be organized around 100 key questions. These questions will be used to design the 5WWF sessions.

The WWC has designed an online questionnaire in which a number of questions are posed. You are requested to vote for the question that is most pertinent to each topic or propose your own question. The WWC is looking for questions as "concrete" as possible, so that "concrete" answers can be obtained.

There are "policy-oriented" questions and "action-oriented" questions. Here is the link to the questionnaire.

You can also email suggestions to Dani Gaillard ([email protected]).

Please respond by COB, 20 December 2007.

Effects of Long-Term Drought and Poor Water Quality on Politicians' Brains

A colleague of mine, who shall remain nameless, suggested that one of our journals have a theme issue with the aforementioned title. He proposed a lead article documenting the case of Oklahoma. The Sooner the better (ha ha).

Effects of Long -Term Drought and Poor Water Quality on Politicians' Brains: Oklahoma, a Case Study

Abstract

Long-term water shortages and use of dubiously-sourced waters have had devastating impacts on the electorate and subsequently on their elected officials. Oklahoma is a tragic case. For a state with the proud political history that gave America Carl Albert, David Boren,  and Daniel Patrick Moynihan (born in Tulsa), who served honorably in elected office; Will Rogers and Dan Rowan to make fun of politicians when they got out of hand; and James Garner, Dennis Weaver, and Chuck Norris who time and time again reminded us on the screen that even if we don't have good politicians we have good cops; it has surely fallen on hard times. Today, Oklahomans everywhere must hang their heads that they hold the distinction of having simultaneously sent to represent them in the Senate of the United States two of the biggest whacko dingbat idjits (technical terms) ever to disgrace the halls of Congress: Jim "My brain is affected by global warming" Inhofe and Tom "Rachel Carson causes malaria" Coburn. They also gave America Mike "I used to run horse shows before I ran FEMA (into the ground)" Brown. No one state could produce that much idiocy and send it off to Washington at once without some outside explanatory variable -- and that is bad water!

“The word 'politics' is derived from the word 'poly,' meaning 'many', and the word 'ticks', meaning 'blood-sucking parasites'.” -- Larry Hardiman

Pigs Are Flying: I Agree With a Bottled Water Industry Position

Have I finally gone daft? Or worse, been bought off?

Do I no longer see anything wrong with spending the equivalent of a million (give or take) dollars per acre-foot for a product that is provided safely for virtually nothing? Wasteful plastic bottles or energy needlessly spent shipping water from one part of the country to another?

No, I've not sold out. It's just that I find myself agreeing with the testimony of Joseph Doss, President and CEO of the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA). Doss testified before a House of Representatives subcommittee on 12 December 2007 about the need for more comprehensive ground water management and aquifer data.

You can read the press release and his testimony below:

Download ibwa_press_release.htm

Doss also said that use of ground water for bottling should be treated no differently than any other industrial use.

No complaints from me.

He did put in a plug for the small amount of ground water used by the industry, and I suspect he's right when he says it is only 0.02% of all USA ground water withdrawals. That's about the amount of water used by a small city like Albany, NY, or Springfield, MA. But what he forgot to mention is that if that small amount relative to the entire nation is occurring in your neighborhood or from your aquifer, then it might be very significant. Robert Glennon talked of this in his excellent book Water Follies.

Pass me that Dasani, will you?

"The meek shall inherit the earth but not its water rights" -- Anonymous

Symposium - 'Common Grounds, Common Waters:Toward a Water Ethic'

Friend and colleague Gabriel Eckstein of the Texas Tech University School of Law, who is a Professor and Director of both the International Water Law Project (IWLP) and the TTU Center for Water Law and Policy, will be co-chairing the symposium, Common Grounds, Common Waters: Toward a Water Ethic (click here). The meeting will be held at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, CA, on 14 March 2008.

Here is the Program Description:

The upcoming symposium builds on a symposium held at Texas Tech University School of Law in November 2005 - Precious, Worthless, or Immeasurable: The Value and Ethic of Water- to further explore the idea of water ethics. This symposium will bring together people from a wide variety of groups representing different interests in water, such as the water industry (e.g., privatized utilities, bottled water, water marketing, etc.), agriculture, government (at the municipality- to the national level), environmental and nature organizations, indigenous peoples, human rights organizations, and others. The purpose of the symposium is to seek common ground in identifying a water ethic that are fundamental to all of these interests and that might lay the foundation for compromise, cooperation, and sound management of fresh water resources. Fundamental to this goal is the ideal that common water ethics should be at the base of all agreements, legislation, and management efforts related to fresh water resources.

Gabriel's co-chair is Dr. Irene Klaver, Director of the Philosophy of Water Project at the University of North Texas.

The symposium will have three panels:

1. Water Ethics and Commodification of Freshwater Resources
2. Ethics-Based Decision-Making in Societal Water Management
3. Water Ethics in a Globalized World

The final session will be a roundtable on "Toward a Water Ethic".

Avoid this excellent symposium at your own peril!

"Action indeed is the sole medium of expression for ethics." -- Jane Addams

Colorado Basin States 'Play Nice', Reach Historic Accord

Well, a while ago I was chastising the seven Colorado Basin states - CA, NM, NV, AZ, WY, UT, and CO - for "not playing nice". Looks like they have been "playing nice" after all, as they have reached a new agreement on the Colorado River that not only alter the way the river is managed during drought but also ensure California's water supply and Las Vegas' drinking water as well.

The agreement will dictate how reduced water supplies will be allocated should the present drought continue. Check out this little drought update from the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA):

Download SNWA_drought_update2011_2007.pdf

Check out Michael Gardner's story in the San Diego Union-Tribune and Edward Lawrence's story on Las Vegas TV station KLAS. I used both sources in writing this post.

The agreement, ten years in the making, prescribes that if Lake Mead, now at 48% of capacity after 8 years' drought, continues to shrink, Arizona and Nevada will absorb cuts first, which likely will not occur before 2010. California won't get cut till the lake falls to 16% of capacity, a level never reached since the lake first filled.

Lake Powell, the other big reservoir on the Lower Colorado, is also about 48% of capacity. The two reservoirs have a maximum combined capacity of about 50,000,000 acre-feet.

Lake Powell levels are managed to benefit the Upper Basin states - WY, CO, NM, UT - whereas Lake Mead's are managed for the Lower Basin states - CA, NV, and AZ. The new agreement permits changes in those operating rules.

Las Vegas will get additional water, enough for 210,000 more homes.  To get this concession from the other six states, SNWA will construct a reservoir near the USA-Mexico border at a cost of up to $200M. The reservoir will capture unused Colorado River water.

There are some unresolved issues, which are not minor: 1) Mexico; and 2) maintaining environmental flows. Dealing with Mexico is the purview of the U.S. State Department.  The Mexicans have protested some California water moves, such as the lining of the All-American Canal (click here, too). With regard to (2), the agreement left open the possibility for storing environmental water in Lake Mead.

Will all this work? It's a Band-aid. Read this article by Sarah Bates Van de Wetering that appeared in Headwaters News.

It is apropos that the agreement will be signed at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. The Dairy Queen in Kingman would have been a better venue.

Hey, now we can build that 60,000-home subdivision near Kingman after all!

"There is nothing worse than having sight and no vision." -- Helen Keller