The water model in the western United States has generally involved Party A getting a bunch of water via a dam, canal, pipe, etc., while Party B (usually some broad group of taxpayers, either state or federal) pays for it. Economists will tell you that this tends to lead for building more giant concrete thingies than …
Continue reading ‘Last concrete diaries: someone has to pay for it’ »
In a puzzling decision, the board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California seems to have overridden a board committee and the board’s staff and decided to sit out the argument over HR1837, Rep. Devin Nunes’ legislation to revamp California water distribution. If you’re not into the arcana of California water wars policy discussions, you …
I’ve always thought Snopes, the debunking site run by Barbara and David Mikkelson, is a treasure. Fighting the good fight and all. Kinda sad, then, but not surprising, to read this: When reporters interview us about our work, they often ask us to comment on the notion that we’re engaged in a great public service, making …
Neal Neil Pederson and colleagues have a new paper (pdf) using tree rings to reconstruct flows in the Apalachicola–Chattahoochee–Flint that offer another stark reminder of a classic water management dilemma: make water management decisions during a wet time and you’ll be screwed by the regression to the mean. We’ve seen this story before, with the Colorado …
Tom Swetnam, head of the Laboratory of Tree Ring Research at the University of Arizona, who helped hugely with my book The Tree Rings’ Tale, has been named a Regent’s Professor, “an honored position reserved for faculty scholars of exceptional ability who have achieved national and international distinction.” He’s a great guy, well deserved recognition.
My interest in water lured me into an interest in real estate, because of the way the West’s housing boom ramped up the demand for water, and the way the bust has scrambled the equation. So I’m looking for new ways of measuring the housing market’s recovery. I’m still scratching my head about this one, …
Continue reading ‘Another New West real estate metric: dog pee’ »
As I write this, California’s being pounded by a particularly impressive storm. According to Mike Dettinger, it’s an “atmospheric river” storm, one of the type he and other climate/water researchers have been studying increasingly closely because of their importance to California’s water supply. As I wrote last year, California has the most highly variable precipitation …
Canada’s always, frankly, seemed to have a sort of politely understated superiority to the United States. Consider their health care system, for example, and sweaters. Now comes news that they’re also measurably better than us when it comes to managing their water: “One-half of Canadians (51%) limit their shower time to eight minutes or less, …
I had a story in the morning paper on Albuquerque’s success in reducing per capita water consumption below 150 gallons per person per day, a 40 percent drop from 1994, when our odyssey from water profligacy began. Here’s the bit I slipped in that shows the regional importance: Albuquerque’s reduced usage is a demonstration that, …
Continue reading ‘The importance of Albuquerque’s water conservation efforts’ »
From the morning paper, the story of Lake Arthur, the pond in the middle of Estancia, a rural New Mexico town that won’t give up on its public water: The natural flow in the spring feeding Lake Arthur stopped long ago, said 51-year-old Daniel Chavez, Estancia public works director and proud native son. By the …