A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
June 15, 2009
2. Supply –
Water conservation, technology highlighted at governors' meeting
Western governors dip into growing water demand
San Francisco Chronicle
Officials angle for west-side water
Wet June in
Our View: Don't penalize water savers
The drought tolerant landscape can be colorful!
How to wash and polish a car with 16 ounces of water
San Diego Union
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Water conservation, technology highlighted at governors' meeting
San Diego
Quenching the growing demand for water in the warming West will require a bigger push for conservation, innovative technology and a rethinking of supply and demand, Western governors and water experts said yesterday.
About 600 people gathered in Park City
This year – with several Cabinet members from the Obama administration and a record attendance – the political landscape has shifted and there's a renewed urgency for swapping ideas and working together, attendees said.
“This is kind of where it all begins,” said Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, the WGA's outgoing chairman.
The governors approved several resolutions yesterday, including one calling for a national policy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. “Global warming poses a serious threat to the Western economy, public health and environment,” the resolution said.
Yesterday's main discussion, which included Canadian officials and experts from the Middle East and Australia
Although many of the controversies in the West center around urbanization, natural resources and energy development, water – often the lack of it – comes up again and again.
Peter Gleick, one of four panelists who spoke yesterday, said there's evidence of intensified water disputes, ecosystem collapse in some places and population growth that's driving a sometimes-fractured water-management system. States can no longer rely on simply building more storage capacity, Gleick said.
The West needs to consider supply options such as rainwater, use of treated wastewater and desalination plants, said Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, an Oakland-based environmental think tank.#
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/jun/15/1n15govs22182-water-conservation-technology-highli/?uniontrib
Western governors dip into growing water demand
San Francisco
By Mike Stark
It's an old quip in the West: Whiskey's for drinkin' and water's for fightin'. Only these days, there's more people with a stake in the fight for water and a dwindling supply.
Quenching the growing demand for water in the warming West will require a bigger push for conservation, innovative technology and a rethinking of supply and demand, Western governors and water experts said Sunday.
The three-day Western Governors' Association meeting that began Sunday focuses on key issues that affect states throughout the West, including water use, climate change and energy.
This year — with several cabinet members from the Obama administration and a record attendance — the political landscape has shifted and there's a renewed urgency for swapping ideas and working together, attendees said.
Sunday's main discussion, which included Canadian officials and experts from the Middle East and Australia
Although many of the controversies in the West center around urbanization, natural resources and energy development, water — and often the lack of it — comes up again and again.
"Water is connected to all those things," said panelist Peter Gleick, president of the Pacific Institute, an environmental think tank based in Oakland , Calif.
Gleick said there's evidence of intensified water disputes, ecosystem collapse in some places and a population growth that's driving a sometimes-fractured water management system.
States can no longer rely on simply building more storage capacity, which can be expensive and "politically challenging," he said. The West needs to consider other supply options such as rainwater, use of treated wastewater and desalination plants, Gleick said.
Climate change — which will alter precipitation and the timing of mountain snow melt — also needs to be incorporated into all water management decisions, he said.
Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter said the region needs to do more to protect the water that's already available.
"Conservation has to become an ethic in the West," he said.
Inevitably, though, there will be hard decisions to make about who gets water and who doesn't, said Doug Miell, an Australian water consultant and former leader of an irrigation council during some of the country's worst drought conditions.
"The bad news is there's no silver bullet," said Miell, who advocated for more information gathering and sharing among resource managers.
Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, the incoming WGA chairman, agreed that water needs to be better measured, moved more efficiently and conserved on a larger scale.
"Those of us who are managing water in the West know how important this is," he said.#
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/06/15/national/a013459D14.DTL
Officials angle for west-side water
Federal officials are running the massive pumps of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta at low levels to protect the endangered delta smelt, but the move could keep west-side agriculture from getting its promised annual water allocation.
Tom Birmingham, general manager of the Westlands Water District, said the pumping reductions are unnecessary, but environmentalists say the actions are necessary to protect the smelt.
"A substantial portion [of delta smelt] -- in excess of 90% -- are outside the influence of the pumps,"
Despite the concern, west-side water officials are confident they can get their promised federal water allotment through increased pumping in July.
Early this year, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation officials announced that Westlands and other water contractors south of the delta would receive no water this year.
Above-average precipitation in March bumped that to 10%.
But under a new set of rules governing management of the smelt that was announced last December, delta pumping can be affected in May and June if the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service believes the fish are near the pumps or are at risk of being sucked into and killed by their operation.
The updated rules -- known as a biological opinion -- were drafted after U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger invalidated earlier regulations because they did not comply with the federal Endangered Species Act.
Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman Al Donner said a large number of juvenile smelt have been killed this month by the pumps' operation, necessitating pumping decisions that protect the species.
Pumping restrictions end June 30, however, and officials such as those with Westlands who depend on federal water allocations are working on a plan to make up for the low amount of water being pumped this month.
There are two pumps at the southern end of the delta -- one for the State Water Project and another for the federal Central Valley Project.
Even though most of the snow runoff will have occurred July 1,
Still, Westlands is unhappy about the effects of the new smelt management plan.
Westlands spokeswoman Sarah Woolf said 300,000 acre-feet of state and federal water went into the ocean in March to satisfy the new smelt requirements.
By mid-May, the amount was 459,000 acre-feet.
Each acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, or a 12- to 18-month supply of water for an average family.
In a recent ruling by Wanger, the federal government was instructed to explain their weekly decisions to set the flow rates at the delta pumps.
The ruling stemmed from a lawsuit filed by Westlands and the San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority over the updated smelt management plan.
West side water officials haven't liked what they have heard so far.
Of the pumping reductions, he said, "there has been no explanation this is necessary."#
http://www.fresnobee.com/local/story/1470120.html
Wet June in
Climatologists say the Pacific began warming in May, an indication of an El Nino that forecasters say could continue forming into August.
Kelly Redmond of the
But it remains to be seen whether the ocean condition will bring winter storms to build the Sierra snowpack and ease the drought.#
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/280/story/901319.html
Our View: Don't penalize water savers
Editorial
Yes, last week was an extraordinarily drizzly one. It was June gloom squared.
No, that paltry precipitation will have no effect on the ongoing drought throughout much of
Nor will it end the certainty of rationing of various kinds from the top on down, from the mammoth Metropolitan Water District to the little water companies in our canyons and flatlands, from commercial concerns to your own front yard.
As we reported in April, the giant MWD, from which most of us get most of our water, is expecting us to use at least 10 percent less water this summer and yet to pay more for the privilege. It's charging its member agencies about 20 percent more for the water they receive.
That's an unhappy double-whammy.
And it's going to be followed by another, very soon. Next year, the MWD expects to raise its rates by another 20 percent.
It's the first time since 1991 that imported water has been rationed and the first time since 1993 rates have increased so dramatically.
It's also a reflection of the reality of the cost of getting water from wet places to our dry place - and of the fact that one wet place in particular, the
Water politics are absolutely the most complicated politics in the West. Even more so than, say, a Rush Limbaugh fan confronted with an avid reader of The Nation, the true believers representing the two main factions of those politics are adamant that theirs is the only point of view that matters and that is true. Everything else is scurrilous lies, from their opposite points of view. And it's all a conspiracy, of course.
On the one hand you have your ecological water conservers, who would consider themselves realists about our Mediterranean climate and the access we have to water from far away - from the Delta near Sacramento, from the Owens Valley and other Sierra snowmelt and from the Colorado River. They might wish we had more, but also might rather enjoy trying to live within our means. As with those who (not irrationally) argue that higher-priced gasoline has its upside - it encourages conservation efforts both by carmakers and by consumers - they are not so bothered by either higher-priced water or by growing drought-tolerant gardens.
On the other hand you have your big-infrastructure advocates and conservation skeptics. The water's up there in
During a recent dust-up over city of
What we want to see the cities and companies that provide water to those of us who live and work in our region do is to make sure they remember the carrot approach as well as the stick.
We're a little tired of the nattering at us. We find it incredible that, in
All water sellers need to encourage us to do the right thing rather than bash us during these rationed times. The so-called budget-based systems of allocation that establish what a property "should" be using and rewarding efficiency need to be put in place sooner rather than later.
No one's going to be able to walk across the great water divide that keeps the fanatics on both sides of this issue splashing in each other's faces. Most of the rest of us are willing to pitch in and conserve during the ongoing drought - if we're treated fairly and intelligently as we do so.#
http://www.whittierdailynews.com/ci_12584468
The drought tolerant landscape can be colorful!
By Jane Gate
As water becomes an ever more critical resource, there is less reason than ever to be designing and planting water-guzzling landscapes. With water rationing, a drought tolerant garden is the best solution.
Unfortunately, many folks are under the impression that this means they must have a sparse, hungry looking garden in varied shades of olive and brown. Nothing could be further from the truth. Drought tolerant means exactly what it says.
There are plants that bloom luxuriantly and still require minimal water. These plants may not look tough, but indeed they are.
Cactus and succulent gardens, when thoughtfully designed with paths, boulders, rocks, even sculptures, can become a maze of fascinating texture and color, created in diverse scenes.
Seeding
Mid summer is the resting period for most CA natives. The hot dry air gives them the same signal for dormancy as the cold winter does to most plants in the cooler parts of the country. If you want color in your garden during this resting period, try planting an area or two with colorful plants that do require summer water.
Give them a selected sprinkler valve, or, better, snake in a drip irrigation line (putting it on a timer so you don't have to think about it), and these specific areas will brighten up your garden for the short few months the natives are sleeping. You will still keep your water bills low and your maintenance minimal.
Take a wander through some of our local nurseries. You'll find awesome
The best time to plant
So, now's the time to do a little research into drought tolerant landscaping. Don't be limited by preconceived ideas. You can make water rationing unimportant while having a garden that is the envy of the neighborhood by using drought tolerant designs and plants.
What these plants offer is less maintenance and lower water bills, with all the beauty of their more demanding counterparts. Yet they're more than just good, practical sense. They're fun!#
How to wash and polish a car with 16 ounces of water
San DiegoUnion-6/13/-09
By Mark Maynard
Water rationing won't take the shine from home detailers if Mel Craig has his way. He wants to teach the world to wash and polish a car with 16 ounces – 1 pint – of water.
It sounds impossible, but it can be done, with the proper instruction and tools. Craig demonstrated the techniques recently to a class of do-it-yourselfers at his state-of-the-art The Total Pros Auto Detail Training Center in
His school, sponsored in part by Meguiar's car-care products, is licensed by the state as a vocational school. It is one of three nationwide that focuses on professional training, not just sales of products, Craig said.
He teaches a five-day course to become a professional detailer, a monthly two-day “boot camp” to get an overview of the business and a monthly “Do It Yourself” class for anybody who wants to learn correctly how to maintain the finish of a vehicle, inside and out and under the hood.
The class for do-it-yourselfers appeals to a variety of motorists, with a significant number of women and local car-club members participating, Craig said.
The class typically has 18 to 25 weekend warriors, but on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend there were six of us, two women and four middle-aged men who wanted to preserve their collectible or just protect their new-car investment.
Jodi Asher, 41, of
“I want to keep it in shape,” she said. “You don't look very cool driving a dirty car.”
Bob Braun, 69, and his wife, Penny, 63, drove from
“I like the satisfaction of the finished product, of when you've done something the right way,” Bob Braun said.
“We come from the generation that if you own something, you take care of it,” Penny Braun said. “Money doesn't grow on trees.”
Les Jenkins, 63, lives near The Total Pros shop and is restoring a 1960 Ply-mouth Valiant.
“It has a new paint job and I want to use a paint sealant on it,” he said. Paint sealant will protect longer 7/8 three to six months 7/8 than wax, Craig teaches.
The seven-hour class costs $49.95 and includes a continental breakfast and pizza lunch. It begins with about an hour of classroom instruction on how to efficiently detail a vehicle. After that, the class moves to the shop for hands-on use of polishers, brushes and chemicals.
Craig, 51, a lifelong surfing San Diegan, is almost evangelistic in his passion for clean vehicles. He engages and inspires. And he takes the time to answer questions on what can be a very confusing process of using compounds, polishes, waxes, sealants, dressings, cleaners, polishers, buffers, brushes, caddies and other tools.
One of seven brothers, Craig started detailing in
“I came on board working with two of my brothers during junior high school and into high school,” Craig said. “Once out of the U.S. Army, I started back into detailing as a full-time career and have been detailing for over 30 years now.”
Several years ago, he saw a need and a niche for education and training “because so many so-called detailers had no idea what they were actually doing,” which is why he started The Total Pros Inc.
Using a PowerPoint presentation, with printouts for note taking, Craig begins the class with the five steps to detailing a vehicle:
· Prep wash
· Clay and decontamination
· Interior detailing: vacuuming, cleaning, dressing
· Exterior detailing: compounding, polishing, paint protection process
· Final wipe and inspection
Not all the steps are necessary each time the vehicle is washed, but if your vehicle hasn't had the benefit of a professional detail in the past year, expect Craig to label its paint as having “severe” damage and be prepared to start from scratch to make the paint shine.
Key to washing a car with a pint of water – mixed with waterless carwash – are a good low-pressure misting system and microfiber towels 7/8 14 to 16 to detail a car, Craig said. The mister can be as elaborate as his rechargeable, low-pressure power washers, or much lower-tech, such as a garden sprayer or a 1-quart trigger-spray bottle. One tip: Always mist lightly so there is no runoff.
The birth of microfiber has revolutionized the detail industry, Craig said. A good towel absorbs the dampened debris without scratching the surface of the vehicle.
“Microfiber is 100 times finer than a human hair, and a good towel will have 250,000 threads per square inch,” he said.
In the shop, students learn to smoothly and uniformly use the orbital polishing machines, practicing on Corvette roof sections. The hum of polishers at 5,000 rpm sounded like a small airport.
In
When the class concludes, participants have learned that to do the job correctly requires a big investment of time, effort and patience. And they'll know how to interview a “professional” detailer to be sure their baby will be getting the best treatment.
“You won't leave the class as a professional detailer, but you will be able to put your car through a professional detailing,” Craig said.#
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