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Just as I said last week - it's nice to be back home. I enjoyed my time at Virginia Tech. The hospitality was typical of the South: extraordinary.
Also had some fun with Hokie bottled water.
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Some items may not have a hot link to a story, which is fine - it may have been just an informational item or a personal message to someone. Or, I may have screwed up and forgotten the link!
Books and Book Reviews
RT @bill_easterly A certain economist reviews new blockbuster book "Why Nations Fail" http://on.wsj.com/GWB569
In 'Blue Revolution' Cynthia Barnett Reacquaints Me with the 'Lords of Yesterday' http://bit.ly/H1AdPj
Bottled Water and Tap/Drinking Water
RT @BCWaterNews Rhode Island government spent $110,000 on bottled water in 2011. http://bit.ly/GS3jRy
RT @StraussGroup DRC: Fighting cholera with chlorinated waterhttp://bit.ly/H0KyL4 #water #strauss
Fluoride hot topic at Bozeman City Commission meeting.http://is.gd/PjXumx
RT @laurably More U.S. national parks curb sales of disposable plastic water bottles http://usat.ly/Hbt3cu #travel
California Bay-Delta Report
NRC Committee Final Bay-Delta Report, Executive Summary and Key Findings http://bit.ly/HtmL3p
RT @jfleck More good NRC #sacdelta tidbits via @alexbreitlerhttp://j.mp/Hq2YGJ #cawater
Via @AGUSciPolicy Science addresses #cawater management issues in CA but can it be used effectively? http://bit.ly/HyEwhK via@NSF
RT @jfleck A fevered first reading of the National Research Council’s Bay-Delta Report : jfleck at inkstain http://bit.ly/Hv0DXm #sacdelta
NRC #SacDelta Report site. Free download of full prepub report or executive summary. http://is.gd/Av5rXT #cawater
RT @matt_weiser @sacbee_news: Report: No 'silver bullet' to fixing#SacDelta problems http://bit.ly/HmJZeJ #cawater
Climate, Climate Change, and Meteorology
RT @NRDC Extreme weather of last decade part of larger pattern linked to global warming http://j.mp/H2OBGT
Temperatures could rise by 3C by 2050, models suggest.http://is.gd/pfwuwZ
RT @craigtimes New study finds link between #climate change and the past decade's extreme weather http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2012/0326/Past-decade-s-extreme-weather-is-manmade-new-study-suggests
RT @theAGU Journal Highlight - Regional models expect drier, stormier western United States http://bit.ly/H0PtLc #GRLjrnl
RT @deepseadawn Rift Over Climate Change Is Social, Not Scientific: Great interview by #ALLP fellow @HoffmanAndy http://n.pr/dSScWH
RT @GraemeLScott Global warming close to becoming irreversible - scientists http://reut.rs/H5Vk2T via @reuters
RT @ScienceNOW Earth Warming Faster Than Expectedhttp://scim.ag/GZAp3v
RT @NASA Where snow wasn't this winter across the U.S. & Canada: map of data from NASA's Terra satellite.http://go.nasa.gov/H6Og22
RT @climateprogress General Motors Stops Funding The Heartland Institute http://bit.ly/HstiNU
Conflict and Cooperation
No. Via @sciam. Are We Doomed to Wage War Over Water?http://is.gd/ZIVlDe
"People are willing to do horrible things to each other. What they seem not willing to do is turn off each other’s water.”-Aaron Wolf
Education and Science
RT @TheEarthScience Is a new explanation needed for plate tectonics? http://sns.mx/y6h6y3
RT @columbiawater GIS & Science: Species’ Geographic Distributions through Time: Playing Catch-up w/ Changing Climateshttp://bit.ly/GMzr8s
Ethics, Rights, Corruption
Video of @cynthiabarnett at Clinton School (U of AR) speaking on 'Blue Revolution' and case for water ethic. http://is.gd/nDyTbE
Via @MickieGirl Barlow & Hauter: @WorldWaterForum Paves Way to Privatize Nature, Undermine Human Right to Waterhttp://wp.me/p1Sris-2q
RT @aguanomics Corruption at the top http://goo.gl/fb/Glqpj
Jim Thebaut video: 'Water For a Thirsty World' http://is.gd/mrozvy
Via @phixod @columbiawater: Time for US to lead new Green Revolution - this time for water sustainability http://huff.to/GGxfzP
Events and Conferences
Sec. Clinton's World Water Day remarks - text and video.http://is.gd/gYrqNw
Global guide to water conferences and events. http://is.gd/Nq3RJU
Santa Fe Basin Climate Change Workshop: Presentationshttp://bit.ly/Hby1kK
RT @OSUHydrophiles Brownbag Calendar http://fb.me/1QxJEr2PW
@USGS Cooperator Water Science Symposium, Hofstra University (NY) 2 May. http://is.gd/GcDcB0
Hillary Clinton's World Water Day Remarks and the U.S. Water Partnership http://bit.ly/GRP8eY
Floods and Droughts
RT @Waterwise Drought conditions spreading in England:http://bbc.in/HitrDl (via @BBCNews)
Via @capitalpress Wet March improves California rangelands, snowpack. http://is.gd/NAUBVt
RT @capitalpress Klamath Basin irrigators set for another dry year.http://is.gd/DDLcrk
PBS series looks at drought, how Texans are coping.http://is.gd/78lvhz
Via @KateGalbraith Midlanders (TX) invest in outdoor extras amid drought. http://is.gd/0HOS2n
RT @jfleck Snowpack in every NM river basin is now below average:http://j.mp/s9KoXo #drought
Groundwater
RT @UCIEngineering Jay Famiglietti and NASA's GRACE mission on groundwater supply are featured @circleofblue http://bit.ly/H1WDm4
RT @KavehMadani Understanding the connections that determine groundwater availability http://is.gd/ZdtSMr
Poorly-cemented wells cause pollution, not fracking.http://is.gd/fIx1ua
Hydrofracking
Op-Ed (from Missoula, MT): Fracking is bad. And the West had better watch its water http://is.gd/ntvTOj
Hydrophilanthropy
Excelente! Otro de los proyectos de mi fundación - el pueblo de Tulito, Honduras. http://www.acjfoundation.org
Hydrophilanthropy in Hokieland: Great Visit to Virginia Tech http://bit.ly/Hiv7KT
RT @wash4ever We're helping families get sustainable clean water for life. Raise your voice http://bit.ly/y1dVtY #WaterDay
Miscellaneous
RT @aguanomics Speed blogging http://goo.gl/fb/7CFDq
Opportunity: RT @ACWAWater Students majoring in a water resources-related field: Check out these #scholarships!http://bit.ly/GXA0ec
People and Personal
Gray skies, rain - feel like I haven't left Corvallis. But it's nice to back in SW VA @ VaTech. http://www.vt.edu
@rimapaw You're welcome, Rima.I filled it out - very good survey!
Via @voxterra Reluctant combatant in #climate wars bears his soul, weighs in on Heartland. Q/A w/ Michael Mann. http://bit.ly/GQ5y3l
RT @BCWaterNews Robert Redford puts star power behind film about Colorado River. http://reut.rs/GUsG4c
Great first day on VT campus! Thanks to @kjmcguire &@VaWaterCenter - Campana's visit http://wp.me/p1hroP-6W
Via @BCWaterNews Q&A: 10 Minutes with @NedBreslin http://is.gd/PRTSLd
Thanks to the best @PeterGleick for the shout-out! Good western#water tweeters: @jfleck @aquafornia @matt_weiser@chanceofraincom
Only four? RT @aguanomics Four years of @aguanomicshttp://goo.gl/fb/GRpKR
Policy, Planning, and Management
Via @phixod @columbiawater: Time for US to lead new Green Revolution - this time for water sustainability http://huff.to/GGxfzP
Via @rimapaw Short survey on national water planning & management from UT-Austin. http://lnkd.in/PKiWcc
@WorldWaterForum Report: 'Water in the US American West: 150 Years of Adaptive Strategies' http://is.gd/OAfLpU
RT @OOSKAnews Armenia’s Problem Is Water Management, Not Water Deficit. http://bit.ly/Hj4URf
RT @watersecurity #Gulf Cooperation Council says the #GCC needs integrated #water policy: http://goo.gl/OYJYA
Water 4(1) - March 2012: Flood Risk Management, Recycling & Reuse, Climate Change & More! http://bit.ly/GN43Hh
Positions Open
Position Open: U of Bradford (UK) - Environmental Social Science Research Assistant (closes: 28 March) http://is.gd/GC3u0D
Position Open: @ORSierraClub hiring Administrative Assistant (0.8 FTE; Portland) http://is.gd/2CZni1
Position Open: State Conservation Engineer, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Jackson, MS. http://is.gd/KAMd8m
Position Open: Operations Mgr., Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program (Bosque School, Albuquerque, NM) http://is.gd/rnhri1
Volunteer Position Open: Long-term engineering position in Bolivia with Engineers In Action. http://is.gd/HJL5GF
Position Open: GIS Analyst, Clean Water Services (Hillsboro, OR) http://is.gd/rx1qJE
Position Open: @EnvDefenseFund Financial Policy Fellow- #EnergyProgram in SF http://bit.ly/GQKP5E #Jobs
Previous Weekly Water Summaries
TGIF! Weekly Water News Summary, 24 - 30 March 2012http://bit.ly/H7fEkw
TGIF! Weekly Water News Summary, 17 - 23 March 2012 http://bit.ly/GRLsGe
TGIF! Weekly Water News Summary, 10 - 16 March 2012 http://bit.ly/xeD89Z
TGIF! Weekly Water News Summary, 3 - 9 March 2012 http://bit.ly/xXluYG
TGIF! Weekly Water News Summary, 25 February - 2 March 2012 http://bit.ly/yEY43C
TGIF! Weekly Water News Summary, 18 - 24 February 2012. http://bit.ly/w6elbW
TGIF! Weekly Water News Summary, 11 - 17 February 2012 http://bit.ly/wHGMzb
TGIF! Weekly Water News Summary, 4 - 10 February 2012http://bit.ly/wxqQsX
TGIF! Weekly Water News Summary, 28 January - 3 February 2012http://bit.ly/zdQXyW
TGIF! Weekly Water News Summary, 21-27 January 2012 (Florida Edition)http://bit.ly/yw836U
TGIF! Weekly Water News Summary, 14-20 January 2012 (AWRA Day!)http://bit.ly/wOAXFy
TGIF! Weekly Water News Summary, 7-13 January 2012 (Triskaidekaphobia Day!)http://bit.ly/z8j8s2
TGIF! Weekly Water News Summary, 31 December 2011 - 6 January 2012 http://bit.ly/xvMj3P
Streams, Ecosystems, and Dams
Via @columbiawater @rivrchik, @Snider_James: "Can hydropower be environmentally sustainable?" Video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3bjJarz44A
Via @chanceofraincom LA not alone in barring public from its rivers. Terrific piece on blocked access to Delta tribs http://bit.ly/GMWMFt
Via @craigtimes One of the best takes on the Sackett v. EPA#wetland case that I've seen:http://www.eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/03/29/1 via@lawrencehurley
Redford puts star power behind Colorado River film.http://reut.rs/HfiXm6
NRC Committee Final Bay-Delta Report (Prepublication Copy)http://bit.ly/HtmL3p
RT @SEAlbertawaters Savannah River "metabolism" explored in new flow study (AugustaChronicle) http://bit.ly/H1eRm9
Via @cfishman Sandra Postel LAT Op-Ed 'Colorado River delta blues' http://is.gd/ZaANRr
Twitter, E-Newspapers, and E-Newsletters
RT @daviddavis The Poverty & Water Daily is out! http://bit.ly/htVHfn▸ Top stories today via @worldrelief @mattjohnsn @charitynews
RT @agleader The #cawater Daily is out! http://bit.ly/cAyvY1 ▸ Top stories today via @chanceofraincom @sgbwqa @farmorganics
RT @BlueWaterBmore Urban Waters Daily is out!http://bit.ly/w53DDZ ▸ Top stories today via @stewardshipp@toxickmonster @coyotegulch
RT @medindoagua The *Água & Water * Daily is out!http://bit.ly/hRCisK ▸ Top stories today via @saveourwater@bluegoldfilm @cawateralliance
The @Water_Supply Daily is out! http://bit.ly/i1Ca7r ▸ Top stories today via @greenlifepages @waterwired @waterforpeople@melbournewater
RT @daviddavis The Poverty & Water Daily is out! http://bit.ly/htVHfn▸ Top stories today via @wecanendpoverty @food4thehungry
RT @CorkEnvForum The Cork Environment Daily is out!http://bit.ly/hPfcHN ▸ Top stories today via @littlegreenblog@csoireland @kjmurrayceng
RT @Water_Supply Daily is out! http://bit.ly/i1Ca7r ▸ Top stories today via @indiawater @aussiebusiness @waterwired @abclandline
RT @Halmawater Weekly is out! http://bit.ly/pLTxFq ▸ Top stories today via @tristabug @wimraaijen @jwilliamsinpipe
The @WaterUtilities Daily is out! http://bit.ly/gPIkJ2 ▸ Top stories today via @barwonwater @bwcsi @mattygeorge @waterwired@suezenv
OSU CEOAS Newsletter - 30 March 2012. http://is.gd/uhx7Ra
WaSH and Development
Report from Foundation Center: Foundation support for WaSH growing. http://is.gd/HTSbp0
RT @FrankRijsberman A Reinvent the Toilet story for engineers... Away with waste! http://www.prism-magazine.org/mar12/feature_03.cfm
Via @JohnforWASH Have WASH questions? 2 more days to @WHOWorld Health Day Twitter chat 2 April! Get questions ready & use#AddHealth2Life
Water Quality
Via @troutheadwaters Record 'Dead Zone' predicted in Gulf of Mexico http://usat.ly/lBI7L8 via USA TODAY
RT @chanceofraincom USGS map shows solvent pollution in San Fernando and San Gabriel Valley basinshttp://chanceofrain.com/2012/03/water-quality-beneath-the-asphalt/
RT @EPAwater #EPA issues permits to help Idaho officials reduce phosphorus discharge into Boise River by 98%. http://bit.ly/H15SyN
Via @peakwater Zimbabwe typhoid outbreak: Govt to De-Commission Boreholes «: http://bit.ly/H0Roln via @AddThis
RT @aquatic_habitat The "Fish Poison" Rotenone - On the Shelf Instead of Shelved via @sciam http://ow.ly/966N9 RT @stopriverkill
Water Supply and Water Use
RT @KateGalbraith Many North Texas Lakes are Full or Overflowing.http://is.gd/Jg2I7y
Aaron Million still pursuing Wyoming-to-Colorado pipeline.http://is.gd/a8VIUZ
RT @LakeScientist Report: Projects to control Great Lakes unlikely http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Report-Projects-to-control-Great-Lakes-unlikely-3440664.php
Editorial: NV State Engineer's LV decision is a bad one for southwest Utah. http://is.gd/cadprK
RT @chanceofraincom Desal Plant Builders Holding Back Key Info From Regulators http://www.voiceofoc.org/oc_coast/article_24a5c5ee-78f3-11e1-a36d-001871e3ce6c.html#.T3Ny4c6NGAk.twitter via @townnews
RT @columbiawater "Watershed," new documentary by Redford shows history and tragedy of Colorado River's developmenthttp://huff.to/GVGTA8
WTF?
RT @jfleck #ABQ's Mark Boslough's Alabama Pi makes another all time April Fools list: http://j.mp/H0A8K2 backstory http://j.mp/H1XKll
"Conceit may puff a man up, but can never prop him up." - John Ruskin
Here it is! A PDF of the prepublication copy of Sustainable Water and Environmental Management in the California Bay‐Delta is downloadable here. You do not need to set up an account to log in - you can continue as 'Guest'.
This report copy is a 'prepublication' copy, which means that minor grammatical and similar corrections may be made before the final copy is released; it's an uncorrected proof. No substantive changes will be made, so 'this is it' in terms of content.
You can also download a PDF of the Executive Summary at the same site.
Read the key findings.
Here is the news release.
Here are previous related committee/panel reports:
Bay-Delta Conservation Plan review
First Bay-Delta Committee Report
I want to give a hearty shout-out and thanks to the NRC staff who were absolutely amazing: David Policansky, Laura Helsabeck, Sarah Brennan, and Ellen de Guzman. The committee itself was comprised of many dedicated, intelligent individuals. Committee chair Bob Huggett kept us on point.
Note added on 30 March 2012: Read these posts from journalists Matt Weiser, John Fleck and Alex Breitler, and Science.
"If you ask me anything I don't know, I'm not going to answer." --Yogi Berra
It has taken me far too long but I just finished Cynthia Barnett's excellent book,
Blue Revolution: Unmaking America's Water Crisis.
I will not provide a review of the book, not because I consider Cynthia a friend but because both my wife Mary Frances and I reviewed drafts of a number of chapters.
However I will encourage you to read the book. What I find especially refreshing is her call for a national water ethic and its emphasis on stewardship and intergenerational equity (Gees, I don't sound like a hydrogeologist anymore, but that's fine).
She also does not shy away from discussions of conflicts of interest when it comes to water issues. I cannot recall reading much about those in other tomes. Amen!
So read her book.
I confess that Blue Revolution provided a double bonus: not only a great read, but it afforded me the rediscovery of Charles F. Wilkinson's "Lords of Yesterday", a term coined in his book, Crossing the Next Meridian: Land, Water, and the Future of the West. Wilkinson attacks five 'lords' for thwarting water sustainability in the US West.
Barnett calls out the Top Five Lords (p. 112):
1) The Hardrock Mining Law of 1872, which dedicates more than half of all public lands to mining as as the preferred use.
2) Public rangeland practices that devastate western ranges and rivers;
3) Forest policy that promotes logging as the dominant use of our national forests;
4) Mega-dams and other wanter-development practices that provided 'cheap power' at a cost we could not fathom until now.
5) Prior-appropriation doctrine, with its 'first in time, first in right; and 'use it (beneficially) or lose it' tenets that worked fine when we were promoting development and settlement of the West but have now mired us in the anachronistic world of 100 or so years ago.
I am going to reread Wilkinson's book; it's still on my shelf. You should too, after you read Blue Revolution.
And tomorrow I'll post the Bay-Delta report at 1 PM EDT.
I will leave you with a few choice words from Jared Diamond, the author of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, in which he examined why some societies succeeded and some failed (Easter Island, early Norse in Greenland, et al.). At a lecture in Albuquerque a few years ago he was asked if there was some common thread that linked those societies that failed. His reply:
"There was a failure to reexamine and change their core values in the face of change."
My visit to Hokieland ('Hokie' is the Virginia Tech nickname) is about over and it's been a great one.
I was even caught 'imbibing' the campus bottled water, Hokie Water!
I keynoted the Fourth Annual FREC Graduate Research Symposium ably co-chaired by graduate students Ms. Beth Stein and Ms. Amy Werner.
Download 2012_FREC_Keynote_Speaker
Thanks to Dr. Stephen H. Schoenholtz and Dr. Kevin J. McGuire, Director and Associate Director, respectively, of the Virginia Water Resources Research Center, who suggested that I be invited to speak.
Both these gentleman have connections to Oregon State University. Stephen was a faculty member in the College of Forestry who was leaving for VT just as I was arriving at OSU in late Spring 2006. Kevin received his PhD under the tutelage of OSU CoF faculty member Dr. Jeff McDonnell. I had unsuccessfully tried to recruit Kevin to UNM in the mid-1990s.
The Department of Forest Resources and Conservation (FREC) supported my travel. I am very grateful to Dr. Janaki R.R. Alavalapati, Head, for his generosity and hospitality, and Ms. Sue Snow, for flawlessly handling my travel details. Dr. Alavalapati presented me with a FREC mug and a copy of the beautiful book, Remarkable Trees of Virginia. Dean Paul M. Winistorfer of the College of Natural Resources and Environment (CNRE) welcomed me with cordiality.
It was great seeing Dr. Tom Burbey, whom I remember as a bright graduate student at the University of Nevada-Reno in the early 1980s, and meeting his colleague, Dr. Madeline (Maddie) Schreiber, whom I mistook for Tom's PhD student.
I enjoyed interacting with the graduate and undergraduate students I met. It was especially nice to see the very active AWRA Student Chapter led by President Rebecca Stewart, and 'the crew' (shown here: Beth, Cody, Trip, and JP), and the VT Engineers Without Borders chapter.
Here is my presentation:
Download Campana_VT-27March2012
And tomorrow morning I breakfast with high school and college classmate Jim Cavanaugh, who is on VT's football staff as Director of Recruiting and High School Relations. I have not seen him since we both graduated from W&M in 1970.
A trip I won't soon forget. And the weather!
"Never was there a man who so dragged his feet through the sands of time." - Unknown, said of Sen. Harry F. Byrd, Sr. upon his death on 20 October 1966
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