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Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This academic paper [pdf] shows that people will use less water if they are outside “peer” norms…
Terrain magazine has some good stories:
How Berkeley’s horrible bureaucracy prevents backyard farmers from selling to their neighbors.
Pesticide residue on lawns means that “green waste” clippings contaminate — and invalidate — organic compost.
An interview with Annie Leonard [...]
Co-equal fiction — and realistic solutions
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
David Hayes (Interior deputy secretary) says that the Delta is a “zero-sum game,” which I interpret to mean that co-equal goals — save the environment AND export water — are not possible. (Maybe I’m wrong, but hang with me here…)
That’s what I was thinking when I wrote “A Broken Hub Will Not [...]
The US can improve
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
After a few months in Australia and New Zealand, I think we need these changes:
The metric system! Would 2 yrs matter?
Sales taxes included in prices, but footnoted on the receipt
No tipping*
Mailboxes that we can modify — especially with the right to refuse junk mail.**
gas prices that do NOT include tenths of pennies, [...]
Earth Day
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]
The pendulum has swung too far
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
“A woman has been sentenced to jail for a hoax in which she claimed her daughter was injured by a glass shard in a bottle of water…The former Better Business Bureau* employee was sentenced to 30 days in jail”
“* BBBs gather and report information on business reliability, alert the public to frauds [...]
Water managers don’t look for bargains
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
BF, who works for an irrigation efficiency firm, says:
What drive me nuts is this: cities (eg. San Diego) have HUGE funds (~$10 Million) for rebates for low flow personal appliances (shower heads, toilets, etc) that save maybe 50 gallons of water a week and yet we get feedback from cities that they [...]
China’s so-called friends
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
China’s dams on the Mekong worry neighbors. The Chinese — as people everywhere — will use up all that “extra” supply, the environment will suffer, and the situration will return to the that of “emergency” status quo ante — something that also worries Peter Gleick. It would be better if the Chinese [...]
Floral externalities
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
“Kenya is the main exporter of flowers to Europe, and the Kenyan floral industry is centered around Lake Naivasha in Rift Valley Province. Unfortunately, although the livelihood of half a million inhabitants depends upon floriculture, an unsustainable demand for irrigation water is draining the lake” [Italian original].
Unsustainable can be translated as “they [...]
LADWP’s new head
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
The Daily News is annoyed that the mayor has appointed his friend as the temporary head of LADWP. I agree. LA doesn’t need more cronyism.
They are surprised that the new head is a Wall Street financier, not an engineer. That does NOT surprise me.
They worry that he will not be qualified to [...]
The sorrow of West Virginia
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Some of you may have heard of the 25-plus coal miners who died in an “accident” at the Upper Big Branch (UBB) mine. What you may not have heard is this:
In 2009, the Mine Safety and Health Administration cited the UBB mine 515 times, often for problems with its ventilation and escape-route [...]
Speed Blogging
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Renowned physicist Bob Parks does the math: “What must be done [to combat climate change] is to reduce the fertility rate to below two, and keep it below two until world population drops to about a third of what it is now. It requires no draconian measures. We have only to educate [...]
Speed Blogging
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Renowned physicist Bob Parks does the math: “What must be done [to combat climate change] is to reduce the fertility rate to below two, and keep it below two until world population drops to about a third of what it is now. It requires no draconian measures. We have only to educate [...]
My talk to the environmental engineers
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
About 50 people (mostly graduate students) showed up to this talk on California infrastructure.
Here are my slides [pdf]
Here is the one hour talk [21 mb mp3]
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]
Dam bureaucrats
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This correspondence (via HZ) is real, and I recommend that you read the dam funny reply (under the fold):
December 17, 1997
Mr. Ryan DeVries
2088 Dagget
Pierson, MI 49339
Dear Mr. DeVries:
SUBJECT: DEQ File No. 97-59-0023-1 T11N, R10W, Sec. 20, Montcalm Count-,),
It has come to the attention of the Department of Environmental Quality that there has [...]
A Modest Proposal for Carbon
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Given:
China is growing without restraint, through exports and exploitation of natural resources.
The US has a voracious appetite for imports, but little credit to buy them, and little local production to export.
The Chinese are eating more and more meat, and Americans suffer an obesity problem.**
(1) and (2) can be reconciled by taking (3) [...]
America is NOT turning socialist
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
We already are. Click on the image (or here) to see the full size.
Rating 3.00 out of 5
[?]
Flashback: 11 — 17 Apr 2009
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
These posts are still relevant (to me :), so please read/comment:
BEST: Misleading Headlines — water managers still make the big mistake: tell people to use less, then raise rates when they do (and revenues fall). Raise prices FIRST.
The Power of Image — an organic garden at the White House. That reminds me [...]
Questions for a Polish reporter
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Q: I have the impression that problems with water have been underestimated for a long time – by politicians, business and public opinion. What are the reasons for this situation?
A: There was a lot of water (quantity and quality) since the beginning of time. Now there are more people using more water [...]
Gubmint, part two
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
(via JWT) Charlie Reese has been fulminating againg irresponsible politicians (”our” “leaders”) since the 1980s. In this piece (can’t find original publication location, but here’s a lot of his stuff), Reese clarifies who’s to blame for economic and military failure:
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then [...]
Dear Pope — It’s a Catholic problem
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
This is not water-related, but it’s relevant when we consider the role of institutions (rules, norms) at organizations.
The Catholic Church made a pact with the Devil long ago: Priests would promise to be “celibate,” but those who sexually abused children (and other parishioners) would be protected.
Well that worked for many centuries, but [...]
Travelblog: Unsustainable agriculture in NZ
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I was perusing the local paper in New Zealand that had a story on its front page about a rugby player’s worries about agricultural overuse of groundwater.
I sent this [unpublished] letter to the editor:
Sir –
I was interested to see your front page piece on March 10, in which Anton Oliver worries about [...]
Polling the Tea Baggers
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
The New York Times has a poll out this week discussing feelings about the economy, etc. I read through most of it, and Question 22 jumped out at me:
If you had to choose, would you rather have a smaller government providing fewer services, or a bigger government providing more services?
50% of people [...]
Tax Day
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
I did my taxes, on paper, by myself this year. (I used online H&R Block last year; can’t stomach spending $80 for their calculator this year…)
The tax code and forms are a horrible mess, as usual.
The Economist says it well:
The federal tax code, which was 400 pages long in 1913, has swollen [...]
Poll Results — Water Solutions
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
Hey! There’s a new poll (everyone’s a critic) to the right —>
When it comes to solving water problems…
…we can learn from other people in other places.
51%
50
…we can learn from others, but only after careful translation.
42%
41
…we have to find our own solutions.
7%
7
98 votes total
These results make sense to me. What I want to [...]
California desalination costs over $2,000/af*
Submitted by Aguanomics Blog
(via DW) This report [pdf] by James Fryer makes for interesting reading.
Although Fryer is sponsored by anti-desalination forces and has links to Food and Water Watch, he brings up several good points about desalination — keeping Poseidon’s Carlsbad project in mind.
In particular, he addresses cost figures from the Affordable Desalination Collaboration (ADC, [...]
