Archive for the ‘Water’ Category
Water Weekly 3: So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu
What were the three biggest California water stories of the past seven days? Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here. You’ll find the Big Three here every Thursday, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here. This week:
The Long Goodbye to the Drought
News that Gov. Brown was going to declare the drought over leaked like December’s deluges. We started hearing about it days before the formal announcement, and we figured he was waiting for the Wednesday Sierra snowpack reading. We were right – the announcement came Wednesday night, shortly after DWR reported snow levels in the Sierras were to die for. The Guv did the right thing by reminding us all to conserve, but disappointingly (not surprisingly!) said nothing about the need to fix the ongoing regulatory drought.
Read Brown’s drought-ending proclamation here
Water Weekly 3: Responding to the Disaster in Japan
What were the three biggest California water stories of the past seven days? Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here. You’ll find the Big Three here every Thursday, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here. This week:
Japan’s Crumbled Water Infrastructure
Lost in the deluge of bad news following the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear reactor problems in Japan is any news on the state of water infrastructure in the country’s devastated Northeast. Finally, we’re getting some indication of the extent of damage, and as expected, it’s not good: Up to 2.5 million homes are without water, there are miles of destroyed water lines, lots of damaged facilities and no power for pumps and treatment plants. Please add all that to your prayers for Japan.
Water Weekly 3: Sweet and Stinky News of the Week
What were the three biggest California water stories of the past seven days? Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here. You’ll find the Big Three here every Thursday, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here. This week:
Big News
Yeah, we’re excited the cops are finally closing in on Bat Boy, but the really big news this week is just how much good water news there’s been. Where do we start? How about the settlement agreement that will allow more water to be pumped from the Delta? Or the fact that there’s lots and lots of snow in the Sierras and it’s very, very wet? Or that the fisheries folks are predicting a banner year for California salmon, an indicator fish for Delta ecology? There’s just so much to choose from!
Read all about it! The Delta Settlement!
Water Weekly 3: Delta Plan and Generations Spanned
What were the three biggest California water stories of the past seven days? Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here. You’ll find the Big Three here every Thursday, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here. This week:
Duh, Duh, Duh, Yikes
The Delta Stewardship Council released the first of four drafts of the Draft Delta Plan that, when all are published, will lay out the entire concept for environmental review. The first draft’s four points were three duhs and a yikes: California’s water is oversubscribed (duh), it’s an increasingly volatile issue (duh), there’s no emergency response plan for the Delta (duh) and even with our best efforts, some Delta species will go extinct (yikes, because that’s an opening for endless litigation to postpone solutions). Subsequent elements will be published March 17, April 21 and May 19.
Read the explanatory cover letter
Water Weekly 3: Loons, French Kissing and Al Gore
What were the three biggest California water stories of the past seven days? Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here. You’ll find the Big Three here every Thursday, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here. This week:
Wet and Dry
Al Gore can smile and explain how the fierce winter storms in the Midwest and East can be blamed on global warming – but only if you call it climate change – and we really don’t care because it’s sunny and mild here. Such are the vagaries of weather. We’re also seeing that here in the West, as California enjoys a respite from drought … while the Colorado River basin struggles with too many sunny days.
Read DWR’s most recent report on the Sierra snowpack
Read The Economist: Las Vegas is the canary in the mineshaft
(more…)
Water Weekly 3: Arguments, Squabbles and Hissy Fits
What were the three biggest California water stories of the past seven days? Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here. You’ll find the Big Three here every Thursday, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here. This week:
Is too! Is not!
The headline pretty much recaps two major PR pushes we saw this week. AlterNet, a progressive/enviro news service, published a lengthy (9 clicks!) piece, “California Can’t Have it All,” which argued there’s not enough water for both fish and farmers. And MWD put a PowerPoint online detailing its Delta Vision Strategic Plan which, more rationally, said there’s enough water for both (in most years, anyway). Both are thoughtful pieces, but we sure thought one was more thoughtful.
Read AlterNet’s “California Can’t Have It All” here
Happy New Year, You’re the Bane of the World’s Existence
The Center for Biological Depravity…er, Diversity, announced its top 11 priorities for bringing the U.S. economy to a halt in 2011. It was going to go with 12, but making sure Jerry Brown appointed an ultra-enviro to head California’s Resources Agency has already been crossed off the list.
As you’d imagine, this year’s agenda is filled with plans to protect a whole slew of species from various man-made dangers. If you’re a wolf or a bluefin tuna, this just might be your year. Humans…not so much. After taking baby steps last year, the Center hid in the middle of its list a rather Maoist priority to “Challenge the Overpopulation Paradigm.” That’s right Joe Citizen, you and your 2.3 adorable kids (and their future kids) now have big fat target on your back. As if an economic meltdown and global terrorism weren’t enough.
We’ll continue to encourage other groups to tackle overpopulation this year. We’ll distribute hundreds of thousands of condoms and ramp up the overpopulation dialogue through high-profile projects, including a study on the connection between overpopulation and diminishing water supplies in the Lower Colorado River Basin, the Center’s unique newsletter, Pop X, and targeted actions to Congress.
We’ll be interested to see their study on the Colorado River, which is facing challenges. But that’s more so from several years of drought than too many newborns from too many “What Happens in Vegas…” nights.
Maybe the Center is grabbing for headlines to boost its coffers. Maybe it’s tired of fighting on the environmental front lines and has chosen to try the back door. Maybe it just doesn’t care for chubby babies with good short games. Maybe all of the above.
Either way, it’s time to come to grips with the fact that you and your family are the bane of the world’s existence. Happy New Year!
Read the rest of the Center’s 2011 priorities here.
Water Weekly 3: Drama in California’s water news
What were the three biggest California water stories of the past seven days? Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here. You’ll find the Big Three here every Thursday, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here. This week:
The Junk-science-man Cometh
The pseudo scientists at the Environmental Working Group have been at it again, drumming up public hysteria (and funds, presumably) by publishing yet another sloppy “scientific” analysis of nasty stuff in our water. This time it’s Chromium 6, and hundreds of newspapers picked up the story, most not bothering to note that there’s no data whatsoever linking cancer to Chromium 6 in water supplies. Or that cancer levels in the famous Chromium 6 town of Hinkley CA are below normal. Still, EPA announced that based on EWG’s study, it would look into Chromium 6 in water. Sigh.
LP&A Weekly 3 – Santa Brings Water – And Coal?
What were the three biggest California water stories of the past seven days? Well, the news-heads and policy wonks here at Laer Pearce & Associates have compiled them for you here. You’ll find the Big Three here every Thursday, or you can follow LPAWater on Twitter for up-to-the-minute news and analysis. You can also sign up to receive the Weekly 3 via email here. This week:
Ho, Ho, HO, H2O – That was some rain!
Wow! Earlier this week, we thought Noah might be knocking on our door any minute! Our friend who sends us the Costa Mesa rain gauge read-outs is on vacation in Mammoth (which reports it now has more snow than any ski resort IN THE WORLD!), but before he left, he provided the rainfall data through Wednesday at 8 p.m.: For the rain year (July-June) OC was already at 117% of average. December’s rain was 528% of average, and year-to-date rain was 376% of average! We expect the Department of Water Resources to be announcing higher allocations soon.
News of DWR’s Dec. 20th increased allocation here
Amazing photos from Mammoth here
It’s a Wet La Nina
This chart shows rainfall as of 8 p.m. yesterday at the Costa Mesa measuring station. The dotted red line is the long-term seasonal average, and the blue line represents season-to-date rainfall for the 2010-2011 rain year, which runs from July 1 to June 30. As you can see, we’re already just three-quarters of an inch behind the average rainfall for an entire year – and it’s only December … and it’s still raining.
It’s obvious that we’re in the midst of a “wet La Nina” year, which leads us to many ponderings.
First, why do reporters insist on thinking La Nina years will be dry and El Nino years will be wet? That’s a trend, for sure, but if there’s one thing any reporter should know, it’s to ask questions and not assume trends will repeat themselves. A modicum of research would show plenty of precedents for years that went the other way.
Second, we always wonder about the effect of wet years on California’s heated water politics.
Since the water bond was proposed in 2009, we’ve now had two years of relief from drought. That means very little in the larger picture, especially since we still have reservoirs to refill (including Lake Mead, which recently dropped to its lowest elevation since Hoover Dam was built), but people tend to be more willing to spend money on water supply when the well’s running dry.
Will the wet winter make it harder to pass the bond if it returns to the ballot in 2012? We realize that the state’s fiscal condition will be more important than rainfall levels in most people’s minds, but wet winters certainly won’t make the campaign any easier. Still, the messages in support have the advantage of being true: A wet year is an aberration; we have to plan as if we were going to have dry years. Supporting construction of an new, sustainability-based water infrastructure for the State isn’t just necessary, it’s the environmentally right and economically right thing to do.
Third, as a public affairs firm here in Southern California that has written probably at least ten thousand words promoting water conservation, we worry that this wet December will cause people to get sloppy about their water use. To them we say, striving for efficiency in your water use is something that should become a lifestyle commitment, something you do without thinking because it’s important for the health and well-being of our society.
Lastly, I have to admit I’ve also been thinking about the bozos who installed our landscaping at our home. Our undersized and poorly placed drain pipes allow water to seep in around the side door of our garage whenever it rains like this – and last night, as I stood barefoot in the cold water, sweeping it down the sidewalk towards the driveway and the rain gutter, I admit the thoughts I was thinking about those landscapers weren’t exactly alive with the Christmas spirit!
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