WaterWired

TGIF - Tweets Galore! It's Friday, 30 September 2011 - Special Going Home Edition

It's the end of the month and that means I depart Recife today for the long trek home to Oregon. I leave Recife at 12:30 PM Atlantic time (one hour later that EDT) and arrive in Portland (PDX) on 1 October 2011 at 10:30 AM PDT. Then it's about a two hour drive down to Corvallis. So I'll arrive home about 12:30 PM, 28 hours after leaving Recife.

My itinerary: REC > GRU (Sao Paulo)  > ORD > PDX.

It's been a most enjoyable and educational week, and I am very grateful to the conference organizers for inviting me here and paying my expenses. Learned some things and saw some old friends and met new ones. I'll provide some concluding comments in a few days.

So here's your weekly dose of water news - or displacement behavior. 

 

Books, Journals, Films, and Reviews
Open-access journal Water, Vol. 3, Issue 3 (Sept 2011) now available.http://is.gd/kirGgU

Water, Volume 3, Issue 3 - September 2011: Access Articles Here http://bit.ly/oSn8SX

Have heard good things about 'Last Call at the Oasis'. One: 'best water movie I've seen'.http://is.gd/PMcNov

Via @PeterGleick Here is the more independent review of "Last Call at the Oasis", from Variety!http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117946027/

Via @aguanomics Robert Glennon's first book Water Follies -- the review http://goo.gl/fb/qxda5

From @PeterGleick: PacInst releases long-awaited Volume 7 of The World's Water. http://is.gd/Y1epQh 

Bottled Water and Drinking Water
CWAA's Ben Grumbles on 'Soft and Salty' - water softeners, not pretzels. http://conta.cc/nAh6uP

Via @PeterGleick At "5-star" Brazil hotel for water conference.No potable tap water. Need to translate #bottledandsold book into Portuguese. 

Sarvajal brings DW to Indian rural poor using local entrepreneurs and water ATMs.http://www.sarvajal.com/

RT @columbiawater Market Watch: Award-Winning LifeStraw® Water Filter Makes North American Retail Debuthttp://bit.ly/q6LYQF

RT @columbiawater Cornell Daily Sun: The Water Bottle Debate: Plastic or Metal?http://bit.ly/pHdccB #water

Climate Change
RT @rivrchik Global Warming Silver Lining? Arctic Could Get Cleaner - @NatGeohttp://bit.ly/oQGsXE RT@carbonmeme

RT @tveitdal Island nations ask UN for help to stay above waterhttp://bit.ly/nGzp1C #climatechange

At IWRA meeting in Brazil: heard new euphemism (??) for CC/global warming: 'climate disruption'.

RT @climateprogress Case Study in Scientific Integrity: The Science Behind Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards http://bit.ly/n4CY9l

RT @rivrchik Climatic Fluctuations Drove Key Events in Human Evolution, Researchers Find (ScienceDaily)http://bit.ly/r7AmYh

RT @rebootingfuture A new poll on evolution and #climatechange -- Scary stuff! http://ow.ly/6DRBK 

Via @gl0bal_warming The American 'allergy' to global warming: Why?hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie

RT @pokjaampl Island nations warn of climate disaster at UNhttp://bit.ly/pydOsm

RT @climateprogress Ocean warming will likely accelerate melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. http://bit.ly/q06Due

Economics
In Brazil: Interesting talk by Paul Kibel on prospects for a WTO suit against USA for CVP crop subsidies ('foregone revenue').

Via @aguanomics Time to dump increasing block rates?http://is.gd/3dNKZQ

Zetland (@aguanomics) on Non-profit Games http://is.gd/YhP87X

RT @aguanomics Flashback: 19 -- 25 Sept 2010http://goo.gl/fb/d2koA #watermanagers #macroeconomics #psychology #academics

Education
Via @columbiawater Science Education Crucial for Tomorrow's Water Solutionshttp://bit.ly/riTk6G #water #education

RT @IUSGS Why worry about #wetlands? Lessons on the Lake: An Educators Guide to the #Pontchartrain Basin:http://on.doi.gov/oseHii


Energy
Ohm, Canada! Via@ThisWeekInEarth Eastern Canada hydroelectric project gaining support.http://bit.ly/qEurAl &http://post.ly/3LzL9

RT @columbiawater Can Canadian Water Slake America’s Need for Power? http://bit.ly/qQsBFH #water #energy #Canada

 
Events
Zetland's upcoming (28 September) webinar on water markets, food,and ag flows.http://is.gd/jQuqIW

Where else should a rivrchik be? RT @rivrchik Happy World Rivers Day - spendin' it on the river naturally - tweet you later :)

Tnx to @rivrchik. It's World Rivers Day! http://is.gd/whyJ28

 XIVth IWRA World Water Congress Final Program http://bit.ly/mORdRm

 XIVth World Water Congress Impressions - 3: Alberta Allocation, Groundwater, Islam, Gleick, More!http://bit.ly/r3Wozv

In Brazil: Henning Bjornlund ( U. Lethbridge) speaking on water allocation and ecosystem services in S. Alberta. I will report on 9/29 blog.

XIVth World Water Congress Impressions - 2: The Bay-Delta & CVP Visit Brazil, Bioprecipitation, More! http://bit.ly/qxvsa9

Via @A_McMillen Know anyone who would like to present@WIWetlandsAssoc conference in Feb? http://ow.ly/6GAMk 

Via @chanceofraincom. First day's notes from SNWA water hearings in Nevada. http://is.gd/IurgTl

Impressions of the XIVth World Water Congress -1: 'Rios Voadores' e Muito Mas! http://bit.ly/pXAKcC

16th Int'l. Water Technology Conference, Istanbul, 7-10 May 2012.http://www.iwtc.info/
2011 OU International WaTER Conference Preliminary Programhttp://bit.ly/qEK0j1 

It's Banned Books Week!http://is.gd/P47ifF Read Zetland'shttp://endofabundance.com/

NGWA virtual conference on 'Declining GW Levels'http://is.gd/MJZH7Q

RT @columbiawater Water Problems Are Solvable: The International Water Forum at UNhttp://bit.ly/ntov52 #water #communications #education

34th Intl. Geological Congress, 5-10 August 2012 in Brisbane: 3rd Circular http://is.gd/4C1ZbO


Floods and Droughts
RT @jfleck millions lack food RT@alertnetclimate Floods ruin 70 percent of south Pakistan's cropshttp://bit.ly/r7gMyq

RT @ShaunMcKinnon My AzRep story: Poor monsoon,back-to-back La Nina winters could push AZ deep into #drought again.http://bit.ly/rlabjM

RT @rivrchik: 36 powerful, perspective-shifting photos of the floods in South East & Central Asiahttp://is.gd/M2vGtu RT@brainpicker 

3 October issue of TIME: Droughtbusters (subs required).http://is.gd/1rA3Ms

RT @indiawater NASA satellite image of Orissa floods:http://1.usa.gov/pJ3DfA Thanks@deepakmenon #floods #Orissa #monsoon2011 

RT @UNDP Video of devastated #flood zone in southern #Pakistanfrom @UNICEF_Pakistan:http://bit.ly/nQ5tGG v @UN

Hydrofracking
Via @YSIInc Fracking wastewater floods Ohio. http://is.gd/fcJsyB

Via @rebootingfuture Gas well debate over Indiana County drill site turns violent: neighbors in conflict. http://ow.ly/6Er2a #marcellus 

Law
RT @jimmilton Oklahoma Water Law website has been upgradedhttp://www.oklahomawaterlaw.com/2011/09/oklahoma-water-law-website-has-been.html?spref=tw

RT @theWaterWonk Fact Sheet: Understanding Canadian Water Rights http://ow.ly/5lqEj

RT @wildadvocate News Release 9/29/11: A Far Reaching Court Victory for Western Watersheds Projecthttp://p0.vresp.com/uxTupH

Via @highcountrynews Last thing you want in federal court is a testy judge. But that's what's happened in CA water warshttp://bit.ly/pJQRHd

 
Miscellaneous
25 Amazing Galleries on Geotechnical Engineering.http://bit.ly/qpiZGy

RT @rivrchik Ecologists Use Power of Network Science to Challenge Long-Held Theory (ScienceDaily)http://bit.ly/n57gck

Nice breeze off the South Atlantic Ocean (outside Recife, Brazil). Great WiFi, too.

RT @FWaterSys Snappy the crocodile turns himself #orangeafter attacking #waterfilterhttp://pic.twitter.com/7fGXlI9C

Via @PeterGleick @matt_weisermost poet laureates? most nobel winners? most people in poverty? most artists?other social values than riches.

RT @columbiawater Groundwater greed driving sea level riseshttp://bit.ly/qysVS7 #water or see our blog post http://bit.ly/chv4HH

The Texas of Canada! RT @rivrchikAlberta WaterPortal - all Alberta, all water, all the time - check it outhttp://bit.ly/dqE4G

New IUCN Water And Nature Initiative (WANI) website:http://www.waterandnature.org/

Glad I was in a session! RT@HuffingtonPost. Piranhas attack 100 beach goers in Brazilhttp://huff.to/pUYFpA 

Opportunities
Faculty position in water resources: SW hydrology,Penn State.http://is.gd/WFSo3u

Position open: Flow Restoration Specialist, State of MA.http://is.gd/P6fRxm

Via @UNW_WWD Vacancy: Programme Officer, Communications & Advocacy Water Supply & Sanitation Collaborative Council...http://fb.me/NQUZd2ch 

Position open: CSU-Fresno, Asst. Professor of Hydrogeologyhttp://is.gd/h6bGgx

TNC AmeriCorps positions in Oregon. Search with keyword 'Oregon' for list of openings.http://is.gd/PUUBwe

EPA position vacancy: Director, Ground Water and Ecosystem Restoration Division, (Ada, OK).http://is.gd/gflafN

Position open: Project Manager 3 --#Chicago -- http://cot.ag/oPwsG6via @Black_Veatch@BlackVeatchJobs

Pacific Institute seeks Research Associate for Community Strategies for Sustainability & Justice Program. http://is.gd/XUQMx6

People
Nice to see @PeterGleick and Jennifer McKay (U. of Adelaide) here in Brazil. PG is V.T. Chow Memorial Lecturer.

Via @gtnews Hal Salwasser,Dean of OSU's College of Forestry,will step down next June; will stay as professor.http://ow.ly/6Epla

RT @alexwitze @USGS hydrologist in Boulder loses home in 4 Mile fire,uses her property to sample runoff in burned areashttp://bit.ly/oprWCI

Came 7,000 miles to see Jim Bartolino of @USGS_Idaho. Nice surprise.

Via @BCWaterNews: 10 minutes with Kevin McCray, National GW Assn. Exec. Director.http://is.gd/HjaHG4

Dr. Peter H. Gleick Receives IWRA Ven Te Chow Memorial Award, Presents Lecture http://bit.ly/pb8XTg 

Streams, Lakes, Watersheds,  and Ecosystems
I am here now! RT @Earth_NewsBrazil farming revolution may slow Amazon demise http://bit.ly/qFVroR @reuters

RT @Boise_Watershed Natural resources: public lands and waterhttp://bit.ly/r7KO9Q via@AddThis

RT @Just_BLUE_It@Lake_Champlain: What’s So Bad About Dams, Anyway? | American Rivers http://bit.ly/rb0Bhj 

RT @kaskadia @Pinnochia: RT@americanrivers: #Klamath #restoration plan deserves congressional supporthttp://ow.ly/6EPih #dam

RT @rivrchik @highlyanne: Brazil court halts construction of Belo Monte dam on Xingu River in Amazon; http://bbc.in/r4lj1N” via@para_sight

RT @rivrchik Two Dams Down, Salmon on the Runhttp://bit.ly/pA2Ibr RT@discovery @Earth_News

RT @EPAowow EPA announces the Healthy Watersheds Initiative National Framework and Action Plan 2011 http://go.usa.gov/8U4

RT @armyengineers Levees are just on the Mighty Miss and Mo rivers, right? Wrong. Check out levees in the North East:http://bit.ly/NADinfrastructure

Via @americanrivers Was amazing to be part of Elwha dam removal celebration. Here are some quotes that stuck with us.http://ow.ly/6CSy1

RT @columbiawater Like water for schemers: Think twice before you re-engineer a riverhttp://bit.ly/mZ2Q5j #water #southwest

RT @WillSarni The Economist American waterways: Go with the flow http://econ.st/ri55U7 via@theeconomist Returning our waterways.

Twitter, E-Newsletters, and E-Newspapers
TGIF - Tweets Galore! It's Friday, 23 September 2011 - Special Brazil Edition http://bit.ly/oFDXCO 

RT @WorldHygienePrg The Daily WASH is out! http://bit.ly/l3bFmq▸ Top stories today via@activewater @kfleuranderson@hygiene_central

RT @Pauldedigitect's evening paper is out! http://bit.ly/a5Lvjq ▸ Top stories today via @waterca@waterwired @vananaarbeter

RT @ACWAWater @farmwater: The #cawater Daily is out!http://bit.ly/cAyvY1 ▸ Top stories today via @middlebm @acwawater@cmua_tweets 

RT @Pauldedigitect Water paper is out! http://bit.ly/cZ0qjf ▸ Top stories today via @rioolgids@un_water

RT @Halmawater Daily is out!http://bit.ly/pLTxFq ▸ Top stories today via @waterwelljournl@waterintelplc @wateronline@varnumlaw @instwater

Via @medindoagua The *Água & Water * Daily is out!http://bit.ly/hRCisK ▸ Top stories today via @pa_osite @waterwired@movimentocyan

RT @Pauldedigitect Water paper is out! http://bit.ly/cZ0qjf ▸ Top stories today via @architectenweb@biebwaterweg @waterbedrijf

RT The @WaterFootprints Daily is out! http://bit.ly/eDEDnD ▸ Top stories today via @wuiw@desal_response @australian@watercrunch @lpawater

Halma Water Daily is out!http://bit.ly/pLTxFq ▸ Top stories today via @bcwaternews @pvowell@processingmag

RT @theWaterWonk Today's Water is out! http://bit.ly/ecxM9a▸ Top stories today via @rainqcom@mydcwater @aguanomics@suezenv @highlyanne

RT @environmentinst@Agriculture_ Daily is out!http://bit.ly/e4QLUq ▸Top stories today via @dayangus@environmentinst @agsciences@ken4corn

RT @WorldHygienePrg The Daily WASH is out!http://bit.ly/l3bFmq ▸ Top stories today via @lshtmpress@waterisbasic @defeatdd@theryanswell

RT @WorldHygienePrg The Daily WASH is out!http://bit.ly/l3bFmq ▸ Top stories today via @adrink4tomorrow@washuganda @onedropdotorg@pp2a

RT @CorkEnvForum The Cork Environment Daily is out!http://bit.ly/hPfcHN ▸ Top stories today via @eosfuturedesign@fotawildlife @ballymaloe

RT @WaterStJournal Daily is out!http://bit.ly/haf8gw ▸ Top stories today via @waterwired@itth2opros @foodandwater@waterk

GSA Hydrogeology Division Fall 2011 Newsletterhttp://is.gd/tXhh3s

WaSH
RT @NedBreslin Talking about menstruation, and why, among other important things, clean toilets matter to girls http://bit.ly/pr1BDx 

Feliz cumpleaños @elporvenir. 21 years bringing clean water to Nicaragua! http://is.gd/8uNjEf

Water Quality
RT @highcountrynews Beautiful reported essay on remediating the nation's largest Superfund site,in MT (subs req'd).http://hcne.ws/pTCtZq

 Utah can't afford to warn anglers of Hg contamination in fish.http://is.gd/V32WvD

RT @rivrchik New water quality science paves way for improving river health in UK (ScienceDaily)http://bit.ly/nwMqFN RT@tweetingdonal 

 
Water Supply, Use, and Infrastructure
Via @westcenter @jfleck @RuralWest Is there more water to be moved from the Colorado River Basin? http://is.gd/yGUsuF 

From my hotel room in Porto de Galinhas I see lots of homes with rooftop water tanks.

USGS pub: Conceptual Model of Great Basin Carbonate & Alluvial Aquifer System. Relevant to SNWA's plan.http://is.gd/KNBLT4

G'day, Maggie! RT @rivrchikRainwater Harvesting Systems Should Combine New Tech With Old Social Habitshttp://bit.ly/qPRI4P

 RT @ibmsmarterwater Milwaukee -- a hub for urban agriculture?http://lnkd.in/vrKpdX

RT @peakwater Major Rivers Have Enough Water to Meet Food Needs, Study Shows «:http://bit.ly/no8lDS

Via @columbiawater Iraq launches groundwater database to reduce uncertainty in country’s water supply http://bit.ly/paJ2vw #water#Iraq

RT @CareEnvironment EPA: NJ needs $8B fix to antiquated sewer systems http://sns.mx/StgZy4

Larry Rahn seeks info on water supply near Las Cahobas,Haiti, for orphanage,school. Can u help? Don't reply to me; contact [email protected]

Missoula will get a chance to purchase its water system from private firm. http://is.gd/UW2JFo

RT @columbiawater CA's Imperial Valley Irrigation District & Mexico seek to store Colorado River water in river http://bit.ly/pIfgZu

RT @NedBreslin Great video on the use of #FLOW in #Liberia by@WSPWorldBank, over 7,000 #water points mappedhttp://dld.bz/ad8zJ

RT @jfleck @KateGalbraith Texas plans for water needs, but is slow to implement http://j.mp/r2VggN(AP)

 "In America, events can move from the impossible to the inevitable without ever stopping at the probable." - Alexis de Tocqueville (from Alex Prud'homme's The Ripple Effect, p. 325)

XIVth World Water Congress Impressions - 3: Alberta Allocation, Groundwater, Islam, Gleick, More!

Just a clarification about these 'Impressions' posts: they are not intended to provide a comprehensive assessment of the important points of the meeting. They simply reflect the sessions I chose to attend. 

Busy day yesterday. Started off with the cancelation of the 8:30 AM session on human rights, the one with the two Central Valley (California) presentations. It wasn't 'officially' canceled, but just that no one showed up. Okay.

So I wondered over to another session. and heard back-to-back presentations by Dr. Henning Bjornlund of the University of Lethbridge in southern Alberta, Canada and the University of South Australia.  Bjornlund spoke out surveys he and his colleagues performed related to 1) water allocation; and 2) ecosystem services (especially using market-based instruments or MBIs). 

Water Allocation
(1) dealt with water allocation in the South Saskatchewan River basin. Bjornlund noted that non-irrigator water users ae gaining importance in Alberta, but that rural interests are disproportionately represented in the provincial legislature. He surprised me by saying that the Calgary-Edmonton urban corridor is the fastest growing such corridor in North America.

An aside: I used to think that when you got to Edmonton you were in northern Alberta, but in reality, you still have a long way to go to get to the north.

The water allocation survey polled 4900 people: 2700 in Calgary (477 responses) and 2200 in a smaller town, Strathmore (337 responses). 

Initially, a lot of people were opposed to water transfers. Surprisingly, however, a lot of people would approve of transfers and wanted the government to set the price and also decides who gets to use the water. And the water saved should be used for ecological purposes.Most also agreed with specifying some level of minimum streamflow for ecosystem maintenance. Bjornlund noted that rural residents were far more likely to be less extreme in their views.

Ecosystem Services
(2) dealt with the provision of ecosystem services using MBIs. Interviews of rural landowners were done via phone. The purpose was to identify what drives behavior and how perceived benefits (environment, lifestyle, economics) influence the financial incentives required. A number of tables illustrated the aforementioned but I couldn't note them fast enough. But the results presented (and I got the impression this project is ongoing) seemed to indicate that the landowners were more receptive than initially believed.

One questioner asked a probing question regarding the first talk. The area covered is one of the most drought-prone areas in southern Canada. But were climate change/drought perception questions asked> The answer: no. Interesting.

Water in Australia
Jennifer McKay (and that is pronounced 'Mc-eye') of the University of South Australia is both an attorney and a PhD. She's a friend, and spoke on people's attitudes towards Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) using stormwater. A three-city survey - Adelaide, Salisbury and Charles Sturt - indicated that people would use stormwater MAR but not for drinking water or any use involving human contact. The respondents aldso preferred that the water be treated before being recharged. But even with treatment, most did not want to use the water for anything involving human contact.  Trust in the treatment authority was extremely important. The respondents generally agreed that they would use different qualities of water for different purposes, but were keen to have a well-funded authority take responsibility.

Water Management in Islamic Law
Raya Marina Stephan, an attorney, discussed this topic in a fair amount of detail Water is a critical element in Islam: it has a purifying role, is scarce and precious. The objectives of water management are: 1) to ensure that the entire community has access to water; 2) avoid control of water by an individual that would cause harm to the community; and 3) allow private ownership while ensuring access to all. She did her research using the Mejelle Code, a codification of Islamic Law prepared under the auspices of the Ottoman Empire during 1870-76. It is faithful to Sharia.

 Groundwater is always a common good, as are natural wells, seas, and great lakes. 

 Irrigation works are allowed, as long as no harm is visited upon anyone. Water is related to land ownership, as long as the water is not groundwater.

Water (but never groundwater) can be a private good. For it to be private, there must be clear intention and the flow must be interrupted. Even what we consider groundwater can be private. For example if you dip a bucket into a well (interrupting the natural groundwater flow and indicating intention) and ull the bucket out of the well, the water in the bucket is now a private good even though it was originally groundwater.

The laws regarding private ownership do not apply if no other water is available. Thirst and irrigation are two major elements. You can always use water to quench your own thirst or those of a few animals. 

The protection zone around a well is called a harim. Within a harim no other hydraulic works are allowed unless they are on private land.

Islamic Law is silent on priorities of water uses or sharing of water among irrigators.

Groundwater Management Plenary
The day's sessions concluded with several roundtables. I chose to go to the one on Groundwater Management. The panelists, shown here in order from left to right with moderator Jaime Cabral of Brazil right in the middle, were: Suzana Montenegro of the State of Pernambuco's Water and Climate Agency, Joao Paulo Lobo- Ferreira of Portugal's National Laboratory of Civil Engineering, Jennifer McKay, and Raya Marina Stephan. 

McKay began by stating that Australia's groundwater was undervalued and underegulated. It's also overallocated, and to rectify this some allocations have been reduced by as much as 50%. She mentioned that there has recently been a big push (National Groundwater Assessment Initiative) to study and manage groundwater.

She then discussed the Water Act of 2007, which applies only to the Murray-Darling basin. Its aspirations: 1) Use groundwater and surface water conjunctively; 2) be locally relevant, but in the national interest; 3) include the precautionary principle with inter- and intra-generational equity and adaptive risk.

Montenegro discussed some of the problems in Pernambuco state related to groundwater: 1) measurement issues, both parameter estimation and recharge rates; 2) modeling: calibration and uncertainty; 3) management, noting that applying sustainability to groundwater is difficult; and 4) water policy issues - linking water quality, land use and water reserves, conjunctive use transboundary resources, hydrodiplomacy.

Lobo-Ferreira spoke on the ASEM Waternet, a project focusing on integrated management of surface water and groundwater.

 Stephan spoke on her specialty - transboundary groundwater agerements. She noted there are only four extant agreements: Genevese aquifer (France-Switzerland); Nubian Sandstone aquifer (Chad, Sudan, Egypt, Libya); Northwest Sahara aquifer (Algeria, Tunisia, Libya); and the Guarani aquifer (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay). She mused on what would now happen to the Nubian agreement, since the office is located in Tripoli. She also noted she is working on an agreement for the Dinaric Karst aquifer system in the Balkans.

Great day, capped off by Peter Gleick's Ven Te Chow Memorial Award and Lecture (click here).

"In nature, there are no prizes or punishment - just consequences." - Robert S. Ingersoll

Dr. Peter H. Gleick Receives IWRA Ven Te Chow Memorial Award, Presents Lecture

Last night at the XIVth World Water Congress Dr. Peter H.. Gleick received  the Ven Te Chow Memorial Award and presented the Ven Te Chow Memorial lecture. The prize, awarded to honor the IWRA's first president and outstanding hydraulician Dr. Ven Te Chow, is awarded every three years to coincide with its World Water Congresses.

Gleick, President and co-founder of the Pacific Institute, recipient of a MacArthur Foundation genius award, and member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, is a world renowned water and energy expert.

Here is his lecture:

Download Gleick Ven Te Chow 2011 Memorial Award Lecture

Gleick is the author of the excellent book on bottled water, Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water. He and his colleagues also recenlty published the seventh volume of The World's Water: The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources.

Well deserved! Congratulations, Peter!

"I am tremendously honored to speak to you today at the 2111 Ven Te Chow Memorial Award Lecture. I’m sorry not to be able to be here in person, but I long ago used up all of my allotment of travel carbon credits." - Peter H. Gleick, imagining the water world in 2111 (from his presentation)  

XIVth World Water Congress Impressions - 2: The Bay-Delta & CVP Visit Brazil, Bioprecipitation, More!

Time for some more impressions of the XIVth World Water Congress. 

Imagine my surprise when I noticed that there were several presentations on 27 September 2011 dealing with the California Bay-Delta, the Central Valley Project, and assorted related topics. 

Bay-Delta and CVP
The morning began with Paul Stanton Kibel of the Center on Urban Environmental Law discussing the case for 'WTO recourse for California Farm Irrigation Subsidies: Undermarket Water Pricing as Foregone Revenue'. Interesting stuff, as some countries, Brazil in particular, are upset because they feel that export crops like cotton (in Brazil's case) are receiving subsidies from the US because of cheap CVP water. They claim that the cheap water represents 'foregone revenue' on the part of the Federal government, which is disallowed by the WTO. Kibel said that other exported crops like pistachio nuts and a few others might also come under the purview of the WTO should someone file a claim. So also might other crops like rice (China and India) that are grown in the Sacramento Valley.

Later in the day Paula Silva of CH2M Hill presented 'Hydrology Changes and Projections in the California Bay-Delta System'. She compared changes in the water availability under climate change scenarios using an unimpaired flows model. Pretty good talk; material I had seen and heard before.

At Silva's talk I met Pervaze A. Sheikh of the Library of Congress' Congressional Research Service. He and Betsy Cody (great person!) co-authored Western Water Resource Issues in 2006. Sheikh is a specialist in natural resources policy and has been involved with the Bay-Delta for about ten years. It was like old home week. We talked about Silva's presentation, the complexity of the Bay-Delta situation, and the NRC Panel's review of the Draft Bay-Delta Conservation Plan (Draft BDCP), which the panel trashed (he said that word was kind). Sheikh noted that the CRS's business picked up when our review hit the streets and probably will when our final report comes out in a few months. He had not heard that Federal District Court Judge Oliver Wanger of Fresno was retiring at the end of this month to enter private practice. I joked about coming 7,000 miles to hear about the Bay-Delta.

Today (28 September 2011) there will be a couple of presentations about human rights and water policy- and decision-making in the Central Valley; I will report on them tomorrow.

Bioprecipitation
Perhaps the most provocative talk I heard was one by Jane Maslow Cohen. The title alone was something else: 'Are We Killing the Rain? Meditations on the Water Cycle, Bioprecipitation, and Idealism as the New Pragmatism." Say What? Read on, gentle reader.

Cohen began with her skepticism with the claim by some that the Western USA system of water rights (prior appropriation) and water markets could adapt to climate change and changes in water availability. After that she launched into a discussion of bioprecipitation, the premise that certain bacteria - especially Pseudomonas syringae - have the asbility to act as condensation nuclei and can extract water vapor from the air. The bacteria essentially act like inorganic chemicals such as silver iodide to induce precipitation (rain, snow, hail, etc.). She claimed that this will help reverse desertification of places like the Western USA and described a potential large-scale experiment that might be conducted in Montana. She said that 1M acres in Montana could be planted with tomato cultivars - apparently P. syringae just thrives on tomato plants - and all the bacteria feeding on the tomato plants would just suck up all that moisture and produce rain. The P. syringae could be 'tagged" so that any rainfall produced could be traced back to them One million acres of tomato plants in Montana? That is almost 1,600 square miles or 4,000 square kilometers. Lots of water would be required to grow those plants. I keep thinking I must have missed something.

She later provided me with a couple of citations - one from Science - describing biogenic aerosols as condensation nuclei.

Cohen concluded by discussing soil compaction from too much pumping of groundwater and plunged briefly into the dangers of fracking. It was hard to see how this all conflated with bioprecipitation - just stream-of-consciousness, I suppose. 

I still don't see how this is going to improve matters much; Seems like it is just another variation on cloud seeding. Has that worked? I am not a believer; I remember the cloud seeders at DRI. Guess I'll need to read the paper.

My Presentation - Global Water Governance Panel
For those of you who heard my brief presentation on water governance among Canada, USA, and Mexico, here are the items I told you I would post:

North American Transnational Ground Water: NAFTA, IBWC, IJC  (PDF of PPT)

 Dynamics of Transboundary Ground Water Management: Lessons from North America (book chapter)

The Peaceful Resolution of U.S. - Mexican Transboundary Water Disputes (paper)

Hydropolitical Vulnerability and Resilience along International Waters: North America (PDF)   (UNEP Report)

 Enjoy!

"Too often, where we need water, we find guns...As the global economy grows so will its thirst...Many more conflicts lie over the horizon." -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, 2008 (from Alex Prud'homme's The Ripple Effect, p. 195)

XIVth World Water Congress Impressions -1: 'Rios Voadores' e Muito Mas!

The Portuguese phrase 'e muito mas' translates into 'and more'. And 'Rios Voadores'? 'Flying rivers.' More on this below.

Time to provide some impressions on the XIVth World Water Congress, which is being held at the Enotel Resort and Spa in Porto de Galinhas, Brazil, about an hour's drive (assuming your driver knows the way) south of the city of Recife. Here is the final program.

And, as Peter Gleick noted in a Tweet, the tap water at the hotel is not potable. Nice place to have a water meeting. 'Nuff said.

Disclosure notice 1: The local organizing committee paid my way here: registration, airfare, and five of the seven nights that I'm staying at the hotel. The rooms here run about $350 per night, but that includes all meals at the dining hall (cafeteria). Wireless Internet is $12 per day. Suffice it to say that I would not be here had I received no support.  

These IWRA (to which I belong) congresses are held every three years, in the fall before the next year's World Water Forum. For that reason, they are viewed as the warm-up to the World Water Fora (WWF) and this year is no exception. The World Water Council (WWC), which convenes the fora, is well-represented here.

Plenary Session - Sunday evening
This was mainly one of those formality things, where distinguished attendees/sponsors sit at a dais and each makes some opening remarks. We had some govenment officials, professional society heads, the governor of Pernambuco state, et al. Loic Fauchon, President of the WWC, was given more time and permitted to give a Power Point presentation.

Disclosure notice 2: My organization, the AWRA, is a member iof the WWC and our Executive Vice President Ken Reid is a governor of the WWC. I am somewhat involved in the planning of the next WWF in Marseille in March 2012.

His talk was actually quite surprising - pleasantly so. A number of activists (e.g., Maude Barlow) think of the WWC as a bunch of corporate pirates out to get the world's water via privatization. 

Fauchon began by listing threats to water (the figures are his, not mine):

1) Demographic. Nice to see this coming out of the closet. Used to be taboo, but you are starting to hear it more often.

2) Urbanization. 70% of the world will live in cities by 2050. 2 billion will live in slums by 2030.

3) Coastal concentration of people. Two-thirds of the world now live within 80 kilometers of the sea; 18 of the world's 27 mega-cities (metropolitan area > 10M) are within coastal zones.

4) Increasing standard of living. For example, people eat more meat when they become wealthier. A meat diet uses 5,000L of water/day; a vegetarian diet, 2,000L/day. It takes 16,000L to produce a kilogram of beef.

5) Changes in the hydrological cycle caused by climate change.

Fauchon did state that farming uses 75% of the world freshwater resources. That's incorrect; I'm sure he meant 75% of the world's annual freshwater withdrawals.

He noted that we need to think of water for health and sanitation. For each euro spent on sanitation, 7 euros are saved in health care expenditures. Recall I said a few days ago that Charles Fishman said India spends $30B per year on treating diarrhea.

And here are the surprisers! We must clearly assert the human right to water and sanitation. These rights should be in each country's legislation. Minimum allocations must be set for the poor. Slum populations must be connected to WatSan systems. WatSan must be in all public buildings, especially schools. Funding must be proivided for WatSan in the form of development assistance and the cancelation of debts and obligations.

Wow! I could have been listening to Maude Barlow!

Fauchon concluded by noting that we need to promote and practice hydrodiplomacy.

Monday Sessions

Rios Voadores
The most intriguing talk I heard was one by a young Brazilian law student, Daniela Helena Brandao Caldeira, titled (rough tranlation from Portugues): 'Crossed Views between Law and Water Resources: the Hydrologic Cycle and 'Rios Voadores'. The latter two words translate to: flying rivers. The term refers to the huge amount of water produced by evapotranspiration (ET) from the Amazon rainforest and the precipitation within and without the basin that is produced by this ET.

Here is an animation:

 

Here is another video in Portuguese. 

 Caldeira's point was that this resources is not protected legally - the 'crossed views' in the title. Other parts of the Amazon basin and other regions rely on this water for precipitation. Yet development (deforestation) of the Amazon basin will interrupt this cycle and the 'rios voadores'. So the law must be used to protect this resource that people rely on and ensure its sustainability.

The Future of Global Water Governance
Friend and colleague Joseph Dellapenna spoke on this and gave a great overview. He started by presenting some IPCC summaries of  how global warming may alter our environment. Water governance may be an important aspect of what the water future may actually be, because it can shape our response to climate change (or 'climate disruption' as Dellapenna said) - adaptation.  

He then cited the various forms of global water governance:

1) High Level Advisory groups. Examples: Global Water Partnership, UN Advisory Board, mixed public-private organizations.

2) Coordinating agencies. Examples: UN Water.

3) Framework treaties

4) Single global water agency. Unlikely.

5) Markets (he's not fan of these)

 He then posed a few questions:

1) Will choice of a governance option influence water futures?
2) Are some governance options beyond our current capacities?

Conclusions:

1) What sort of water future do you prefer?
2) What sort of governance option would bring about that water future?
3) Pursue appropriate strategies. 

More
Jeremy J. Schmidt gave an excellent talk, 'The Ethics of Transition: Evidence from Multi-Level Governance in Alberta'. Schmidt is the co-author of Water Ethics.

The ever-engaging Stefano Burchi spoke on 'Trends and Developments in Contemporary Water Resources Legislation: A Comparative State-of-the-Art Perspective'.

Unfortunately for you, I was too absorbed to take notes.

Excellent first day! Now, to get my panel talk on global water governance assembled.

"The first rule of water is that it flows uphill, towards money and power." - Edward Moran, district attorney of Mono County, California, to his children, c. 1954 (from Alex Prud'homme's The Ripple Effect, p. 151)