WaterWired

Celebrate Drinking Water Week, 1 - 7 May 2011

 
This coming week is Drinking Water Week.

From the WWW site:

For more than 30 years, the American Water Works Association and its members have celebrated Drinking Water Week – a unique opportunity for both water professionals and the communities they serve to join together to recognize the vital role water plays in our daily lives. Join AWWA in celebrating the essential by celebrating water.

There is plenty of good information on the site.

I don't usually celebrate special 'days' or 'weeks' but I will make an exception in this case. In the USA we generally have excellent-quality tap water and it is important to maintain that overall quality and improve it where the quality is substandard.  But our drinking water systems are being threatened by aging infrastructure that in some cases is over 100 years old.  We also must strive to protect our drinking water source areas. If we do not act quickly, our drinking water quality will suffer. 

I am fortunate to live in a community - Corvallis, OR - where good quality tap water is most certainly the case. Tom Penpraze and his crew at the Utilities Division do a remarkable job for us. [Disclosure notice: I serve on the division's Watershed Management Advisory Commission, which advises Tom and his staff on managing the Rock Creek watershed, where Corvallis gets about 40% of its municipal water.]

Don't drink bottled water except in rare instances. According to Charles Fishman's The Big Thirst (see back cover) Americans spend $21B annually buying bottled water and only $29B maintaining their water systems. That's ludicrous, and a prescription for trouble.

Lobby for drinking water fountains in public areas and in buildings.

Contact your local utility for special Drinking Water Week activities. In Corvallis we're having tours of the Willamette River Taylor Water Treatment Plant, which supplies about 60% of Corvallis' water.

Most of all, enjoy!

 "Water is H₂O, hydrogen two parts, oxygen one,
but there is also a third thing, that makes it water
and nobody knows what it is.
The atom locks up two energies
but it is a third thing present which makes it an atom.
    --D.H. Lawrence, The Third Thing

Shout-Outs to One Gerry and Two Lindas

CE News recently named seven people to its Power List. One of them is friend and colleague Dr. Gerald E. 'Gerry'  Galloway, Jr., Past President of AWRA.

Here is his entry:

Gerald Galloway, Jr., Ph.D., P.E.
Professor, University of Maryland
Galloway is a Glenn L. Martin Institute professor of engineering for the department of civil and environmental engineering, and an affiliate professor at the school of public policy at the University of Maryland, where his focus is on water resources policy and management. He also is a visiting scholar at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Institute for Water Resources. Galloway serves as a consultant to the California Department of Water Resources on flooding and, from 1998 to 2003, served as secretary of the United States section of the International Joint Commission, an independent bi-national organization charged with preventing and resolving trans-boundary air and water quality issues disputes between the United States and Canada under the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909.

A civil engineer, public administrator, soldier, educator, and geographer, he has led and managed large organizations in successfully executing a variety of important activities, including assessing the causes of the 1993 Mississippi River floods and proposing a long-term approach to floodplain management; preparing reports on the disastrous flooding in the Red River of the North; addressing principles to govern management of potential withdrawals of water from the Great Lakes; and managing a multi-state water resources development program that included the operation of seven large dams and the construction of two locks and dams.

A fellow and life member of the ASCE, he currently is a vice-chair of a task group reviewing educational requirements for professional practice and a member of ASCE’s Strategic Planning Committee and the ASCE Post-Hurricane Katrina Critical Infrastructure Guidance Task Force.

Gerry is one of the sharpest knives in the drawer vis-a-vis water resources management and water policy. He is world-renowned expert on water management, especially flood and floosplain management. Go ahead, ask him about the 1993 Mississippi Basin floods.

A couple of years ago I recommended him for Assistant Secretary of the Army, Civil Works. Alas, the WaterWired kiss of death! He'd be a great 'water czar', too!

He is in his mid-70s and still going strong. He's certainly one of my role models. And he's a nice guy, too!

Congratulations and well-deserved, Gerry!

Three of the seven named were WaterWonks: in addition to Gerry, Linda  Abriola (left) Dean of Engineering at Tufts University, and Linda Bridwell, Kentucky American Water’s Director of Water Quality and Environmental Compliance, were both named to this exclusive list. I salute Dr. Abriola and Ms. Bridwell for their achievements - all the more remarkable in a profession long a bastion of males. Three of the 'Power List' members are women.

"If you want truly to understand something, try to change it."  -Kurt Lewin

TGIF-Tweets Galore! It's Friday, 29 April 2011

Here are my Tweets for the past week.

Climate Change, Water Quantity
Megadroughts, higher temps in New Mexico's water future? http://is.gd/7BBFVW

USBR report: Climate change to sap Utah water supply. http://is.gd/0EzW5R

Columbia River Basin dam managers to adapt to warmer weather. http://is.gd/yU3NQB

RT @markgrossi NY Times on the fed 21st century water forecast http://ht.ly/4Hyxg  #cawater

Presentation at Baltimore AWRA Conference: Oregon's Water Future http://bit.ly/iijnZu

USBR report: CC and Western water. http://is.gd/rSNvqv More  info:  http://is.gd/VP1ZEV

Conflict 
How to stop the water wars of 2050. http://is.gd/iBrZ2A

Lester Brown: This will be the Arab world's next battle. http://bit.ly/eJsk3Y

People
WaterWonks Enjoy a Day at the Races http://bit.ly/dUUHT6

Civil Engineering Power List includes 3 WaterWonks: Gerry Galloway,Linda Abriola,Linda Bridwell http://is.gd/SuoqqE

@MGhydro Hi, Matthew. You have to be an CE to be on the list. How are you doing down there?

@joshlarson I recently had a prospective grad student ask me "How much longer are you going to be around?" She didn't apply

An Easter Morning Gift from IAD TSA Supervisor Michael Williams http://bit.ly/exvL5r

Gov. Rick Perry's Precipitation Prayer Proclamation http://bit.ly/eI5oac

Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX) issues proclamation to pray for rain in Texas. http://bit.ly/fPxwCl

Management
From UNDP & SIWI: Training Manual on Water Integrity. http://is.gd/OWsdnD

Ecosystems
Bay-Delta Items from the Metropolitan Water District and the NRC http://bit.ly/mHPAQc

 NAS Panel's review of BDCP expected to be released on 5 May

Via @alexbreitler New Met WD pwrpnt: merits of smaller conveyance tunnel, other topics. http://tinyurl.com/6bfl5yf  #sacdelta

Via @matt_weiser @noaaswrfish @JeffBarnardAP Court finds CA protections for Klamath Basin #salmon inadequate http://is.gd/XX7C12

Extremes - Droughts, etc.
RT @highcountrynews 'Extreme Drought' Torches Texas and May Torture South Until Midsummer http://nyti.ms/hyC3GX

Jobs
Via @MGhydro @CanadianWater: Position at UNU-INWEH for Project Assistant in the Freshwater Ecosystem Programme http://bit.ly/hxYoit

WaSH
Via @ewb Video: David Damberger on learning from failure and exploring if 'aid has failed'. http://is.gd/aMkb1d

Via @vossfoundation @Water_Decade: UN rolls out innovative #water carriers to help residents of arid #Darfur region http://bit.ly/mjO1Cm

Colorado Climber Launches Three-year Expedition for Global Water, Sanitation Solutions http://bit.ly/lxAfzz

UNECE-WHO Workshop: Equitable Access to Water & Sanitation,Geneva, 4-5 July 2011. http://is.gd/BnGJDw

It's In Your Hands - video featuring low-tech handwashing device. http://bit.ly/hUo1yX

Water Quality
Via @WhoDat35 Congressional probe finds 29 human carcinogens in hydrofracking fluids. http://t.co/ULEp1K7  #Louisiana #fracking

UN scrutiny of CA farm town's water divides residents. http://is.gd/xiEh13

Via @highcountrynews @OutdoorCouncil: Former WY gas exec urges AR to suspend hydraulic fracturing. http://bit.ly/dQPwwn

Western USA Water
RT @jfleck Is it about the alfalfa? Thinking Like a River Basin. http://bit.ly/gCGAeJ

ABQ Journal Op-Ed: Westerners in Same Boat on Water Future. http://is.gd/KsQ7lY

Water Quantity
MIT: Development In Fog Harvesting Process. http://is.gd/Wft8k1

Events

Via @nwksgmd4 GW Fdn-1st call: 2011 National Conference, Omaha, NE Oct. 4-6, 2011. Focus: Groundwater Protection. http://bit.ly/mtnfou

Second OU WaTER Conference, 24-25 October 2011: Abstracts Due 15 June http://bit.ly/hiaTsp

25 April 2011: World Malaria Day http://is.gd/bgwnBF

Going to NGWA GW Summit in Baltimore next week? Here’s a bike tour for you. http://is.gd/Aq9PWY

G. Tracy Mehan on Earth Day 2011, Tree-Hugger Edition http://bit.ly/f9b58H

RT @craigtimes Top 5 dumbest greenwashed ‘Earth Day’ gimmicks http://bit.ly/fKYIWB

Presentations from AWRA Baltimore CC meeting (uploads ongoing) http://is.gd/FbJEDM

“A successful person is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him.” -- David Brink

Bay-Delta Items from the Metropolitan Water District and the NRC

 
I thought I would post a few things related to the Bay-Delta.

Here are a couple of Power Point presentations (as PDFs) that were presented at the 26 April 2011 meeting of the Special Bay-Delta Committee of the Metropolitan Water District.

Update on Bay-Delta Conservation Plan and Delta Conveyance: Download 04262011%20Bay-Delta_Committee%204b%20Presentation

New Science Developments - Fish Life Cycle Modeling: Download 04262011%20Bay-Delta_Committee%204c%20Presentation

The Delta conveyance presentation is especially interesting. Mega-engineering at its 'best'.

You can view a video of the meeting by going here and scrolling down to 'Archived Board & Committee Meetings'.

The NRC Panel to Review the BDCP will release its review of the draft BDCP to the public on 5 May 2011. I will provide access to it once it has been officially released (I am a member of the panel).

“O Lord, help me not to despise or oppose what I do not understand.” --William Penn

Second OU WaTER Conference, 24-25 October 2011: Abstracts Due 15 June

Shill alert: I am on the external advisory board of the WaTER Center and good friends with its director, Dr. David Sabatini, as well as Dr. Randy Kolar, Dr. Robert Nairn, and Dr. Robert Knox. All remarkable folks.

I've been remiss in not announcing the Call for Abstracts for the OU WaTER Conference. They are due on 15 June 2011.

 Here is a flyer: Download WaTER_Conference__October_2011_4 15 11

Here is more information from Dr. David Sabatini, director of the WaTER Center:

This is a second notice announcing the 2011 WaTER Conference with the theme of “Synergy at the Interface:  Integrating Technology, Social Entrepreneurship and  Behavior Change” on October 24-25, 2011 in Norman, OK.  We are excited to present our Second OU International Water Prize to Ben Fawcett , co-author of The Last Taboo: Opening the Door on the Global Sanitation Crisis, who will give the plenary talk for the conference.  We have also assembled an impressive group of six keynote speakers to address our theme areas of technology, social entrepreneurship and behavior change – see below for the list of speakers.  We  invite abstracts in these theme areas as well (please go here to learn more about the conference, to submit abstracts by  June 15, 2011 and to register).  We will also have half-day hands-on workshops on the morning of October 26 on appropriate well drilling technologies, eco-latrines, etc.

Keynote speakers from the fields of social entrepreneurship, behavior change, water technologies, climate change, and hydrophilanthropy:

• Ned Breslin, Water for People – Hydrophilanthropy
• Annette Johnson, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology - Water Technologies
• Dennis Lettenmaier, University of Washington - Water Resources/Climate Change
• John Oldfield, Water Advocates - Legislative Update
• Kurt Soderlund, Safe Water Network - Social Entrepreneurship
• Peter Winch, Director, Social and Behavioral Interventions Program, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health - Behavior Change

We are looking forward to building on the success of our first conference in 2009 and hope you will be able to join us.  Please pass this information on to other interested parties.  We welcome you to join us in Norman, OK on October 24-26, 2011.

Great keynoters! This will be an excellent meeting; the OU folks know how to put on a conference. I will see you there.

 “Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance.” – Will Durant