Posts Tagged ‘Water’
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
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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.
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!
Judicial Whippings and Delta Pumps
Judge Oliver Wanger today dropped a bomb on the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and its supporters in the environmental movement by ruling that the Service’s efforts to protect the delta smelt by cutting off water supplies to folks and farmers from San Jose to San Diego lacked scientific justification. In a 225-page decision issued late this afternoon, Wanger threw out the biological opinion (“BiOp”) written by the Service, and used by the Service to severely limit pumping of Sacramento-San Joaquin delta water to thirsty users to the south.
“[T]he public cannot afford sloppy science and uni-directional prescriptions that ignore California’s water needs,” Wanger wrote, as he endorsed some of the Service’s science as just fine, but called other elements “arbitrary and capricious,” that it “represents a failure to use the best available science,” and that the Service failed to address or explain “material bias” in the data. He also said these mistakes “fatally taint” other scientific findings used by the Service to cut water deliveries.
Live Better Magazine Quotes Laer on Water
When Live Better Magazine’s contributing editor Randy Goble was looking for an expert to quote on water issues in California, he turned to Laer, and here’s what he got:
Civilizations have historically developed near ample fresh water supplies. However, modern economic affluence has enabled cities to grow where there’s plenty of sunshine but little water – requiring costly long-distance water diversion. Even diversions from ample supplies are constrained by infrastructure capacity or drought in the supplying watershed, which leaves no choice but to reduce per capita consumption.
“Total water consumption in Los Angeles has not changed in the past 10 to 20 years despite continued population growth,” explains Laer Pearce of Laer Pearce & Associates, consultant to public and private sector organizations. This is due largely to effective conservation programs that include creative public awareness campaigns and rebates that cover some or all of the cost of plumbing fixture upgrades.
With an average annual rainfall of about 15 inches in Los Angeles (L.A.), compared to 50 inches in Atlanta, it’s clear that the U.S.’ most heavily populated area has a serious water constraint. Oddly, L.A. water and sewer rates are half the amount charged in Atlanta, even though Los Angeles has experienced a persistent drought for many years. Pearce explains that pricing difference could be due to the efficiency of L.A. water treatment facilities or opposing schools of thought on pricing, or both. According to Pearce, “Historically, people have felt that water should be free, and that the only charge should be for its treatment and conveyance, but emerging pricing strategies are based on market value or forced conservation through rate penalties for over-use.”
Live Better Magazine is published by the Center for a Better Life, whose mission is to “build consumer and business advocacy for, and public and private involvement with, all aspects of sustainability by enhancing and shaping public understanding of its importance.” We were all for sustainability back when it was called stewardship, so more power to the Center.
Randy, who practices sustainability by being VP, Marketing & Canadian Regional Manager at Falcon Waterfree Technologies, met up with Laer through LP&A’s “Water Conservation Professionals” group on LinkedIn.
Water Weekly 3: Erin Brockovich moving to Michigan?
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:
Your Wake-Up Call, Ms. Brockovich!
The town of Hinkley, made famous when Julia Roberts played crusading almost-a-lawyer Erin Brockvich, was sadly back in the news this week when the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board reported the notorious PG&E chromium 6 plume was back. It’s bad stuff, for sure, but let’s at least try to report the facts and not get into cancer-causing hysterics. PG&E responded wisely, offering to purchase homes in affected areas – a pretty cheap solution, given Hinkley home prices.
Read the Regional Board’s “talking point” document
Read a typical “cancer causing” media over-statement
From EPA, the health effects facts – see page 5
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LP&A Creates New LinkedIn Group for Water Policy Professionals
Thanks to Laer Pearce & Associates, professionals that work with water policy around the world now have a LinkedIn group where they can discuss topics related to helping set and navigate water policy. The Water Policy Professionals group encourages members to discuss legislation, communication strategies, regulations, incentives and news regarding policy on water supply, quality and pricing. It will also include job postings and other networking functions.
Laer set up the group because he believes idea-sharing and open communications can help to find consensus on highly contentious issues – or at least move the discussion forward instead of having it bog down in rhetoric wars.
The group is a sister to LP&A’s other LinkedIn group, Water Conservation Professionals, which has 513 members. Seven people joined Water Policy Professionals in its first 30 minutes.
LP&A has been working on water-related issues for more than 20 years and is actively involved in helping to set policy for water issues on local, regional and state-wide levels. We currently serve four water and wastewater agencies and CalDesal, a nonprofit advocating for pro-desalination policies and regulation in California.
