Inter-state water transactions

This story, illustrates some of the challenges facing the US. In the article, the only demand that gets recognized is the use of water to supply a growing population. In the same manner that the Colorado river is completely consumed, where does the natural environment fit into their management scheme? Would decisions about water management be made differently if there wasn’t a state boundary there? With regard to managing water, political boundaries are completely arbitrary and yet, they set the agenda in the US as it is the only legal platform from which to begin a discussion about water “rights”.

Great lakes water levels

Yes, anyone that’s been to the great lakes this past fall can bear witness to the low levels.
Story here.

But how low are they?
Here and here.

One thing to consider is that the great lakes drainage basin is not a particularly deep one.
.

Compare to the Fraser River in BC.
“The Fraser River watershed is almost as large as California and accounts for over 25% of the land in British Columbia.”

What you see in comparison to the Great Lakes are fed by a myriad of relatively small and large rivers that are not very long in comparison to the long rivers like the Fraser. The great lakes basin is mostly about short duration contributing streams that are very affected by available rainfall and snowfall. The lakes themselves have a 25 year turnover, (different for each one of course).

I was of the opinion that September was a very low precip month and that was true for all of the stations in the Great Lakes but for Superior. The result is that across all the Great lakes precipitation for September was pretty much right on average.

G.L. Basin      3.48            3.41

more on precip. data is here.

So yes the precipitation this past fall has been lower for most of the Great Lakes but not necessarily lower in the extreme. Can the lower levels be a double whammy of low precip. and high evaporation? Maybe.

Interesting Dam DeConstruction Story

Civil engineers planning the demolition of the 60-year-old Matilija Dam on the Ventura River
Full story here.

Headline news: Going nowhere fast: Top rivers face mounting threats

The WWF has released a report assessing the world’s top 10 rivers at risk.
More info is here.

Pump out pond fix

The Hamilton Spectator reports on the MOE “fixing” a pond thought to have gone anaerobic next to the city’s new compost plant. Could there be a connection between:

• Pond has gone anaerobic, and
• City’s new compost plant?

The full story is here.

Is Our Tap Water Safe To Drink?

He makes a good point about the livestock manure and the need to better manage it. He doesn’t mention that the Ontario government did implement the Nutrient Management Act to improve the issue but I’m not sure if the province has solved the problem.
Original Story published in the Cambridge NOW

Clean Water Act Brouhaha

Lot’s to link to on this one but I thought Judith Lewis had the best blurb that I’ve read, so far.

E-coli and beach contamination

A nice story on Minnesota Public Radio yesterday about E-coli and beach comtamination. Couple of quotes from the story.

“He and Sadowsky and other colleagues are going to spend the next year trying to match the DNA fingerprints of bacteria collected in the water with the DNA fingerprints of bacteria from known sources. That could help the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency deal with the problem.”

“Recently researchers found e. coli living in soils in the tropics. And last month, Hicks and his colleagues reported they’d found e. coli bacteria living in soils near Lake Superior. They were surprised to discover the bacteria could survive the cold winters.”Whether they originally came from a warm-blooded animal or not, some have adapted to environmental areas like sediments and soils, and are self-sustaining populations now,” Hicks says. And that raises a big question about whether it makes sense to use e. coli as an indicator to warn of contamination that threatens people.”

A couple of good bits but the final story will be more interesting still.

Endangered Maine salmon

Currently only about 80 adult salmon return from the ocean each year to spawn in the eight Maine rivers where they’re endangered. The government has spent five years and at least $20 million on efforts to restore the once-abundant fish.
Full Story The Boston Globe, Beth Daley.

Radio Water Essays by NY College Professor Peter E. Black

Peter E. Black, emeritus professor of water and related land resources at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF), is a man on a mission and he is taking to the radio airwaves to fulfill that mission. Black will be on WRVO radio[1] with a weekly essay on water beginning January 7, 2006.

Black explains, “Water is life. That’s why water has fascinated me so much for so many years of my life. I have spent my whole adult life studying and teaching about water in our environment. I want to share some of my wonderment of what water is and how it behaves; how we use it; how we try to control it; and some fun things about it that you can see yourself.�

The Water Drops weekly radio features will begin airing on Saturday, January 7, 2006, 12:57 PM (EST) and then will be repeated on Sundays at 11:58 AM following WRVO’s weekly round-up of regional news, “Then And Now�. The 90-second essays can also be heard on WRVO’s web site www.wrvo.fm. Programs and scripts will also be available at www.esf.edu and Black’s web site www.watershedhydrology.com.