Archive for February, 2010
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Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Reclaimed water from Tijuana is going to farms (and other details).
The Financial Times reports on wastewater. A lot of conventional wisdom and not very good analysis.
“You can’t have a smart water grid until you have smart water pricing.” True dat. (More on smart meters and this on how to hack electric meters.)
Arguments [...]
This is TRUE
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
From PhD Comics:
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]
Future of Irrigated Agriculture pt2
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
David Zoldoske and Juliet Christian-Smith spoke about irrigated agriculture on Tuesday. Some thoughts on his talk:
Lower Tule River Irrigation District applies water in perhaps a “wasteful” manner. But what he showed was that Pixley Irrigation District next door pumps heavily from the aquifer that the two districts share, and pumps most heavily [...]
Bureaucracies are not businesses
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This article says:
California’s energy crisis in the winter of 2000… may seem like a thing of the past for electricity customers. It’s not. They’re still paying the price: About $3 billion each year for the next three years.
Bureaucrats are not good at making business decisions because they do not face bankruptcy, have [...]
An Exxon Valdez Every Year
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
Sitting in a hotel room in Ottawa tonight, wondering if I will make that connection in Detroit tomorrow. Right now the airport there is at a standstill due to the snow.
As I mentioned in the previous essay, I have been keeping up with the energy headlines, flagging several stories for comment [...]
The frauds of Cadiz water
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Emily Green notes that Cadiz is claiming to have “found” more water that it can now sell. That’s before those resources are quantified, certified and approved. She makes a good point — the claim is probably aimed at pumping up the price of Cadiz’s thinly traded shares — most of which are [...]
Is Washington being overtaken by Treehuggers?
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
On December 3, 2009, the White House Council on Environmental Quality released a proposal to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for their review that would significantly change the principles and guidelines that govern America’s water resource planning. The proposal would require that such projects help to improve the economic well-being of [...]
Water Chat with John Quiggin on Australian water
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I spoke to John Quiggin of the University of Queensland about water issues in Australia and Queensland. I learned that California and Australia are similar in many ways (dams, salinity, politics, paper water rights, ag trading, desalination, etc.)
I was quite surprised to hear that Brisbane’s dramatic drop in per capita use (to [...]
Technology is Magic
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I am freshly arrived back on the U.S. mainland, with a couple of stops before I head back to Hawaii. I have been reading about energy developments during my travels, and finally wrote something on the flight from Europe yesterday. What has prompted me to write was a report that was [...]
Biofuel Developments
Submitted by R-Squared Energy Blog
I woke up in Switzerland this morning after having spent the past 3 days in the Netherlands. Later today I travel to Germany. The weather here is cold. I love Europe, but do not miss riding my bike in rain that is 1 degree above freezing (as I had to do [...]
“The Future of Irrigated Agriculture - Where’s the Water?”
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
On UC Berkeley’s campus Tuesday, Juliet Christian-Smith from the Pacific Institute will be speaking along with David Zoldoske from Fresno. There is no abstract yet, but hopefully it will be be informative. If you have questions, put them in the comments and I will try to ask one or two and write [...]
Profit seeking
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Jack Ceadel over at Global Water Intelligence wonders what is going on:
Mostly we talk about market consolidation, but over the past decade, the reverse has been happening in the desalination industry. Growth has sucked more and more players into the industry, to the extent that the market leaders have actually been losing [...]
Monday Funnies
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]
Wasting our most precious resource?
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
“California’s Central Valley will be the Appalachia of the West” says the Economist. It won’t be if California’s scarce water is traded at market prices, instead of allocated to historic users. That’s the fastest way to maximize the value of our scarce asset. No change will merely enrich a few while producing [...]
Flashback: Jan 31 — Feb 6 2009
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
These posts are still relevant, so please comment!
The Cost of Rationing is less reliability.
BEST: Cochabamba Update — Bechtel was kicked out, but the re-affirmed public service provider provided little service to the public.
Water Rights are necessary for water markets.
BEST: Speaking of Australia — water markets Down Under. Now I am here, and [...]
Speed blogging
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Emily Green tells how Pat Mulroy’s obsession for imported water and growth got too sloppy and hit the wall (a recent court ruling that may undo 20 years of Mulroy’s maneuvers.)
Aquadoc lambasts water cliches. I’ll drink to that!
Scientists create a test to identify contaminated water CHEAPLY [in Spanish]
Dams affect rainfall. Lessons for [...]
Avatar and King Leopold’s Ghost — The Reviews
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Coincidental juxtapositions can be interesting.
Today I finished King Leopold’s Ghost, a book about the Belgian king’s ruthless exploitation of the people living in Congo (then Zaire, now Democratic Republic of Congo). The story is one of a colonial owner using force and cruelty to extract wealth (ivory, slaves, rubber) from vulnerable land [...]
Need I say more?
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
JF send this:
Restore the Delta revealed this week that Phil Isenberg, chairman of the Delta Vision group - the supposedly objective group that recommended the Peripheral Canal - lobbies for a Southern California water district. In other words, the man tasked with finding a solution to the destruction of the Delta works [...]
More policies for People, not special interests
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
…and here are five more ideas for solving collective action problems (see yesterday’s post) that caught my eye.
Anna O. suggested that carbon taxes be introduced, and that revenue used to offset a end to/reduction in income taxes for people making less than $22,500/up to $77,500, respectively. I liked this idea because the [...]
Plasticless Valentine’s Day Gift
Submitted by PlasticLess.com Blog
I am somewhat romantic. Really, I am. I just don’t tend to equate romanticism with gift giving. Valentine’s Day will always have an element of meh for me thanks to the conspiracy between card manufacturers and elementary school teachers. I know that I am a bit of an exception in this regard, [...]
Electric pipes for water
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
“Steve Shoap has invented a rapidly deployable system to move large quantities of water over long distances. The invention can rapidly bring water, electric power, and communications to areas that have lost them. Haiti shows how an earthquake can destroy the water supply to a large population. If you know anyone at [...]
Policies for People, not special interests
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
During my class at Berkeley, I gave my students “the hardest assignment in the world,” i.e.,
Please explain how a leader can promote an environmental program that will benefit the average citizen — but not special interest groups — and still get re-elected.
Although I provided numerous clarifications to my students, this assignment is [...]
Water is Boring
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
JG sent this column by Ben Baeder. It’s funny — and pointed. You can write your own bottom line…
Is it just me, or have we been in a water crisis my entire life? No joke, some of my earliest memories are sitting with my dad watching super-spooky “WATER CRISIS!” stories on the [...]
Travelblog: Incentives on islands
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
We are were on another island. Gili Trawangan — like Nusa Lembongan [link] — has problems with fresh water shortages. As before, there is a fixed supply that is exceeded by demand. This demand — given no constraints on new developments, visitor numbers or use by visitors — is only likely to [...]
Sustainability and equity
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
TS sent this paper [pdf], which describes “The sustainable residential water use [sic]: Sustainability, efficiency and social equity. The European experience,” but you probably will want to skip the obtuse discussion of sustainability. The author wades through three pages of confusion before settling on (paraphrasing) “sustainable water use means that you use [...]
