WaterWired

Bless Their Hearts! NWF's Texas Living Waters Project Produces 'Best Bets for Texas Water' - A Guidebook for Texas' Water Future

Sarah Bates of the National Wildlife Federtation - one of the  brightest lights when it comes to the Western  water-land nexus - just sent me this missive about the Texas Living Waters Project. 

Funny I would receive this today. I just finished sending Texas Water Wonk (H2OWonk) extraordinaire Todd Votteler a message. He is editing a fiuture (July 2019) issue of Water Resources IMPACT on - you guessed it - Texas Water! Stay tuned!

 Here's Sarah's email:

NWF’s Texas Living Waters Project team has released an educational guidebook that establishes our positions on and explores the pros and cons of different water supply options in Texas. You can view the interactive guidebook here: https://texaslivingwaters.org/bestbets

This project came together thanks to many contributions and rounds of revisions from the Texas Living Waters policy, science and conservation team. Please send congratulations to: Tom Spencer, Annie Schmitt, Norman Johns, Jennifer Walker, Myron Hess, Susan Kaderka, Ruthie Redmond (Sierra Club) and Paula Paciorek (Galveston Bay Foundation).

In addition to this online release, our team will be leading outreach efforts through webinars for both reporters and the general public, and will leverage our print booklet to build relationships through a state legislative briefing, the Texas Tribune’s Rural Texas Symposium, and one-on-one meetings with local representatives in key counties.

Here’s the release we sent out earlier this week:

Free educational resource helps Texans play an informed role in preparing for Texas’ water future

The Texas Living Waters Project, a coalition of National Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter and Galveston Bay Foundation, will release Best Bets for Texas Water this Thursday, Oct. 25. This guidebook explores strategies in Texas’ water security toolbox so that communities can prepare for both flood and drought without sacrificing wildlife and the environment.

The heavy rainfall that parts of Texas have experienced in recent weeks is consistent with climate change studies that predict more intense periods of both flood and drought across the state, causing hardship as communities struggle to prepare for both water extremes. Even as flooding events become more intense, Texas’ inevitable droughts will continue to threaten the long-term viability of the state’s water supplies.

While the most recent (2017) State Water Plan predicts a steadily rising population and growing municipal needs during the next 50 years, it also predicts the state will increasingly have fewer existing water supplies and higher potential for water shortages. As Texans grapple with the challenge of providing enough water for a growing state and a changing climate, the Best Bets for Texas Water guidebook breaks down the pros and cons of different water supply strategies so that community leaders, water suppliers and residents alike can understand the potential impacts of different water supply decisions.

This resource evaluates nine different water supply and management strategies against the following criteria:

• Environment: How does this strategy impact rivers, springs, bays and wildlife?
• True costs: This criteria looks beyond dollar signs to the big picture. How does this strategy affect the Texas economy (and water customers whose wallets foot the bill for water supply projects)?
• Long-term viability: Decades from now, will this strategy have been worth the investment? Looking forward, are there any opportunities and concerns that we already know to expect?

“The good news is that many strategies exist for Texas communities to prepare for a future with more people and less water,” said Tom Spencer, director of the Texas Living Waters Project. “But when it comes to implementing these strategies, the stakes are high. If water supply projects aren’t examined closely and done carefully, water could be wasted, rivers could be depleted, and wildlife could be harmed – all while Texans foot the costly bill.”

Texans can utilize this resource to better understand some of the strategies that will likely be considered during upcoming planning and decision-making processes, such as the 2019 Texas legislative session and the utility-led development of five-year Water Conservation Plans, due May 2019. As the individuals who typically bear the cost burden of water supply strategies through the water rates they pay, residents can use the information in this guide to hold decision-makers accountable for state and local water management approaches.

In addition to the digital version of this resource, the educational tool is also available upon request as a physical booklet. Texans hoping to take a deeper dive into these materials may do so by registering for a webinar that the Texas Living Waters Project team will host on Wednesday, Nov. 7 at 11 a.m. Central Time.

Press contact:

Tom Spencer
Director, Texas Living Waters Project
spencert@nwf.org, 512-610-7763

The Texas Living Waters Project is a collaboration of conservation groups working to ensure that there will always be enough fresh water. We do this by using science-based advocacy to encourage balanced approaches to Texas water management. It’s important for our wildlife, our economy and our kids.

I would have loved to have seen 'Best Bets for Nevada' but that's just me.

Enjoy!

"If that ain’t a fact, God’s a possum." - Texas saying

Patrick Griffiths: Good Water News for the City of Bend - OWRD Conservation Award and More!

One of the first WaterWonks I met when I arrived in Oregon in 2006 was Patrick Griffiths of the City of Bend. Patrick hosted me on a visit to the water facilities and was a veritable fountain (pardon the pun) of information not only on Bend's legendary water system but also on Oregon water issues, people and idiosyncrasies. No question was too simple or vague.

Patrick and I have not communicated for a few years so it was wonderful to hear from him. He's now Water Resources Manager for the City of Bend so he was naturally proud of a recent award Bend received from the Oregon Water Resources Department (OWRD).

Here is the email he sent: 

So wanted to share some good news – you can decide if it is noteworthy and worthy of sharing on WaterWired or other channels.

Bend has again won Gold – tying for first with City of Ashland in OWRD's recent Conservation Awards  (news release attached):

Download 18-08AnnoucementofWinners

Much of the credit goes to budget bounce back post-recession and hiring a great Conservation Program manager and staff, but for me after 18 years of chipping away on the conservation continuum as part of my water resources responsibilities and supply portfolio, we submitted our “Top Ten Integrated Conservation Strategies” to try and show the whole iceberg of work going on to support our public facing WaterWise Program.

They (OWRD) liked it and I think responded to the comprehensive nature of what we have going on.  The 2000-2017 water production graph is a compelling look at water use too!  Clearly always more to do, but big data is getting into the water world with mostly good results!

I have also attached part of our nomination submittal for your review!  Please share out as you see fit.

Download 2018SummaryTopTen ConservationBend

In addition, we are concluding a significant Reclamation Basin Study with some interesting results for the Deschutes, and the irrigation districts are doing some of their best “system improvement plans” (SIPS) to date and chasing big federal money to modernize.  A particular frog and some federal statutes are helping prioritize them a bit…  so lots going on at the basin level too.  Add in the Oregon Legislature apparently making water a priority again as well… could be timely to talk water education!  The state and the Tribes are putting on a invite only water summit Oct 21/22 and facilitated by Jamie Damon. Perhaps you guys can score an invite? (I will raise OSU staff invites at a planning meeting later this week too).

On that note, regardless of the water summit dates, since we now have a little OSU Cascades Campus over here (and growing), I would love to invite you and perhaps your hydrogeologist partner in programmatic crime (Todd) over to sip something from one of our breweries, distilleries or wineries soon to do some informal brainstorming on some water coursework of the future! Be great to chat regardless!  If you have others over here we should pull in, let's do it!

We could throw in a  tour of our new state-of-the-art Water Filtration Facility too and inspect the raw materials of above mentioned product tasting!

Let me know your thoughts and always happy to answer questions and explain our work to date!

Cheers

pg

So good to hear from Patrick and the work he and his staff have done in Bend. I just may take him up on a visit to the other side of the mountains.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle

El Paso Water Celebrates 75th anniversary of the W.E. Robertson Water Treatment Plant

Who knew? I received this information from Joshua H. Moniz of El Paso Water. The material is from Martha C. Koester, Public Information Coordinator for El Paso Water.

El Paso Water threw open the doors Sept. 27 at the W.E. Robertson Water Treatment Plant in honor of the plant’s 75th anniversary. Chihuahuita neighbors, former employees and water sector professionals streamed inside, eager to tour the historic and pioneering plant, as mariachis and folklorico dancers provided entertainment.

“This plant represents the foresight of city individuals who dedicated their lives to ensure that El Paso has a continuous, safe and sustainable supply of water,” said President and CEO John Balliew, who fondly recalled beginning his utility career at the plant’s laboratory more than 30 years ago. “We had a great group of employees back then, just as we have now.” 

Significance of plant, neighborhood

Public Service Board member Dr. Kristina Mena spoke about the importance of river water and what it means to El Paso’s water supply. The water treatment plant came online during remarkable growth in the borderland. Residents faced crime, growth, health and environmental challenges, some linked to water quality and supply.

“This beautiful plant marked El Paso’s first step to diversify its water supply so El Paso could thrive and sustain itself,” Mena said. “The importance of river water cannot be understated. Today, El Paso relies on river water for half its water supply in a non-drought year.” 

EPWater commissioned a painting by local, acclaimed artist Patrick Gabaldon to mark the occasion. The painting, “Water Works,” features the close relationship between colorful Chihuahuita and the plant.

“Although the community did have to part with some of their cherished sites to make room for the construction of this plant in the 1940s, within time many in Chihuahuita came to accept the plant and understand that it was necessary because it would benefit the city,” said Christina Montoya, Communications and Marketing Director. “Many residents also took jobs at the plant.”

Moving experience

Chihuahuita Neighborhood Association leader Manuela Rodriguez couldn’t contain her excitement once inside the plant.

“Just walking in brought a lot of memories of my dad who worked here for a long time,” she said. “We fished back here.”

The painting was the cherry on top, she said.  

“What caught my eye was the poles of red, white and blue because my brother and other residents painted all the poles around the neighborhood in the colors of the flag when 9/11 happened.”

To benefit community improvement projects identified by the Chihuahuita Neighborhood Association, signed prints of the painting were sold during the event, with funds collected by the El Paso Community Foundation. For information on purchasing a print – 16-by-20 print is $100, 8-by-10 is $25 — please contact Rene Leon, EPWater Intergovernmental Affairs Coordinator, at 915-594-5613 or rleon@epwater.org.

Below is a video about the history of the Robertson plant. If you cannot view it, click here.

Here is a video about the event itself, or click here.

Looks like a good time was had by all.

Congratulations, El Paso Water!

Enjoy!

"I have not failed. I have just found 10,000 ways that won't work." - Thomas Edison

UNM Conference Report: 'New Mexico Water: What Our Next Leaders Need to Know'

What a great idea! Sponsor a conference to help out the next cadre of state leaders and the rest of the state's citizens. The conference was organized by the 'Water Mafia' at the University of New Mexico: Bruce Thomson, John Fleck, Kerry Howe and Adrian Oglesby.

UNM Water Conference, May 17, 2018

University of New Mexico Student Union Building (SUB)

"New Mexico Water:  What Our Next Leaders Need to Know"
8:30 am to 4:30 pm

Click here for the agenda/speakers. Here is the summary report: 
Download UNM_Water_Conference_17May2018

Executive Summary

Upon taking office in January 2019, the next Governor will likely appoint new leaders of the state’s water, environmental, and natural resource management agencies. These agencies include the Office of the State Engineer (OSE), the Interstate Stream Commission (ISC), the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED), the Energy Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD) and others. New leadership in these agencies will result in opportunities to reconsider and possibly reshape water and environmental management policies and activities in the state. At the same time it will be important that these new leaders, including the next Governor, understand the challenges and issues facing the state. This report summarizes the results of a UNM-sponsored conference in which nine remarkably well qualified people, all of whom have previously held top level appointed federal and/or state administrative positions, offered their insight on the major water and environmental challenges facing the state and made recommendations regarding how the next administration should work to address them.

The conference consisted of four sessions. In the first session the conference organizers each gave brief overviews of the water supply, water quality, legal, and administrative challenges facing the state. The second panel considered the federal perspective on NM water and environmental challenges by four panelists, all with substantial leadership experience in federal agencies. The third panel consisted of panels with leadership experience in state agencies who offered their perception on the state’s perspective. The final session consisted of a presentation by Mike Connor, former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Interior who gave five specific recommendations to the next administration, most of which served to amplify remarks of previous speakers.

This report, with few exceptions, does not capture specific comments of each of the speakers but rather presents a summary of the topics that were discussed and the suggestions that were made. The panels were not challenged with seeking agreement on their observations and 

recommendations. Instead this report summarizes observations and recommendations that were offered by at least two of the panelists. Many of these suggestions were made several times throughout the day. Recurring suggestions during the course of conference include:

• The next Governor needs to be fully informed on water and environmental issues in NM and should appoint highly qualified administrators with a strong background in water and environmental issues. Agency administrators need to attract and retain good technical staff for their agencies. The next Governor should involve these officials and their staff in making decisions and developing policy on water and environmental issues.

• The next administration should aggressively seek collaboration with federal agencies to assure that administration of federal regulatory programs is appropriate to conditions in NM and to take advantage of funding opportunities that are often available through them.

• The next Administration should place an immediate emphasis on developing policies and management strategies to deal with severe drought and the consequences of a warming climate. It will be important to address these challenges immediately upon taking office.

• The next Governor should consider appointing a senior advisor on his/her staff who would act as a liaison with state resource management agencies, help cabinet appointees navigate political challenges, and facilitate collaboration between state agencies.

• The next Governor should re-constitute the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Task Force on Water to assist in identifying and addressing water and environmental problems facing the state.

• The state needs to provide financial assistance to small communities to help meet their water and wastewater infrastructure needs. State funding programs for capital projects needs to be revised to allow funding of large multi-year projects and to include a process to direct funds towards projects which incorporate best practices for investing taxpayers’ dollars. It would be based on life cycle evaluation, effectively used, appropriate for the agency or community, and prioritized accordingly.

• State water planning should be based on clearly articulated objectives to provide direction and guidance in development of the plans. The plans should place more emphasis on implementation with the possible inclusion of incentives to meet implementation schedules.

• The next Governor and legislature should work to more clearly define the role and responsibilities of the OSE and ISC. This may require legislative attention. Appointment of well qualified individuals to this commission and others such as the Water Quality Control Commission (WQCC) and the Environmental Improvement Board (EIB) is necessary to ensure their good function.

  In his concluding presentation Mr. Connor offered five specific observations and recommendations, many of which were discussed in preceding panels. They were:

  • Beyond its borders, NM water issues don’t capture anybody’s attention (i.e. nobody else will make these issues a priority) therefore it is largely the state’s responsibility to solve its problems.

  • The State should prioritize opportunities to engage tribes and pueblos on water issues because of ongoing needs in those communities and because uncertainties regarding the amount of water rights allocated to them impedes development and implementation of strategies to solve state wide water problems.

  • New Mexico’s economic and cultural future depends in large part on protection and conservation of its water and environmental resources – as much as consumptively using those resources.

  • Sustainability and resilience must replace the drive for legal victories. Cooperation and collaboration will result in faster, cheaper and more equitable solutions for state and inter- state water challenges.

  • The next governor needs to recognize the importance of water & environmental issues and institute policies to address them as soon as he/she takes office. 

Enjoy!

Only one quote will do today:

"Every calculation, based on experience elsewhere, fails in New Mexico." -- former Territorial Governor Lew Wallace, 1878

Whatever Happened to the Bipartisan Geospatial Data Act (GDA) of 2017? (Thanks to UCGIS)

Just about a year ago (20 August 2017) I posted about the Geospatial Data Act of 2017 and some of the problems with the it: The Geospatial Data Act: The New Plot to Hijack GIS and Mapping. Read about it - click here.  

So what happened? Dr. Dawn Wright of Esri and formerly a professor here at OSU, sent out the following message from the folks at the University Consortium for Geographic Information Science (UCGIS):

Whatever happened to the bipartisan Geospatial Data Act (GDA) of 2017, you may be wondering? This important bill is designed to facilitate and support geospatial data development, sharing, and coordination across federal agencies and partnerships with state and local governments, towards a more robust National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI). Unfortunately, the bill has yet to reach congressional floors for a vote. Back in mid-November 2017, parallel versions of a revised Geospatial Data Act of 2017 made their way to their respective committees in the Senate (S. 2128) and the House (H.R. 4395). You can find the committee assignments at the links to the bills above. Those identical bills had been modified to remove language in two places, Sections 11 and 12, that UCGIS and many other organizations and individuals had previously regarded as problematic to the pursuit of open GIS and mapping activities in academic and public sectors.

Since that time, actions have been largely behind the scenes and the bills
remain on their respective congressional dockets. Further discussions and debate around data and mapping language have taken place but have yielded no changes to the text. UCGIS strongly supports the Bill as it is, and we align with groups such as NSGIC (the National States Geospatial Information Council) and Boundless in this. There are many extremely important and worthwhile parts to these Bills that are critical to our NSDI, making enactment worth continuing to pursue in this Congress.

Fortunately and significantly, additional Senators and Representatives continue to join as co-Sponsors of the bill, bringing the number in the Senate to six Republicans, seven Democrats, and one Independent; in the House, two Democrats and three Republicans are co-sponsors. This growing and bipartisan support is essential but more is needed now. The Bill’s first Sponsor, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is set to retire in January 2019, and the odds are stacked against the passage of this legislation, given (dysfunctional) patterns of progress in Congress these days.

Nevertheless, we strongly encourage you to keep informed about the Geospatial Data Act and encourage your State’s Congressional representatives to do the same. In particular, if your State’s Senate or House delegate is on one of the committees to which either Bill is assigned, we encourage you to send a letter of support or make a phone call to let them know you support the bill.

Best,

Aaron Addison, Washington University at St. Louis, and Chair – UCGIS External Relations Committee
Diana Sinton, UCGIS Executive Director

If you are on Twitter you might follow UCGIS in Twitter for updates. I will post them as I receive them.

Enjoy!

"Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." ~ James Baldwin