Department of Water Resources
A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
June 25, 2009
5. Agencies, Programs, People –
Crime Rates Increase, As Water Shortages Persist
CBS47 News –
USAID giving $1 million to
Associated Press
Surprise: Fish in acidic waters grow bigger ears
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Crime Rates Increase, As Water Shortages Persist
CBS47 News -
Officials say that there is a link between the drought and increased crime rates.
In some valley towns the crime rates have soared. The link, officials suggest, are the water shortages to farming communities. The drought is said to have lead to higher crime rates in some Valley towns.
In the farming community of Mendota crime is up 100 percent, officials reported. Fresno County District Attorney Elizabeth Egan said that the spike is tied to the water crisis.
Still, the State Ag Secretary A.G. Kawamura believes the water crisis can be solved.
"At a time when our economy is suffering, some of these options can actually create more economic opportunity and can really reverse some of the negative situations that are here," Kawamura said.
Wednesday, members from the state's Department of Food and Agriculture met with valley farmers to hear their concerns.
USAID giving $1 million to
Associated Press – 6/25/09
By Michelle Theriault
The
For the 32 million people who live in the Zambezi's basin — some of the world's poorest — the river is a source of transportation, jobs and fertile soil for agriculture. But it also brings misery with a cycle of flood and drought that displaces hundreds of thousands of people annually.
Extreme flooding and dry spells destroy crops and cause food shortages, while receding waters leave cholera, dysentery and malaria.
Climate change is exacerbating the effects of an already precarious situation, according to Red Cross disaster management coordinator Farid Abdulkadir.
"Climate change is real; it is affecting us in
This year's flood season was unusually severe: In
The Red Cross project will coordinate efforts in the seven nations that the river winds through —
Projects will boost early warning systems and local training for disaster management, as well provide funds for malaria, cholera, and HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention projects.
"You're preparing people to adapt to a situation they have to live with for many years to come," Abdulkadir said.
It's the right approach, said Harlan V. Hale, the principal regional adviser for USAID Southern Africa. The agency's $1 million commitment is the first step in funding the $8.6 million three-year initiative. Focusing efforts on prevention and preparedness could save lives, property and disaster response funds.
"It makes good economic sense in the long run," he said.
The Red Cross hopes that the initiative will also highlight the humanitarian impact of climate change in the lead-up to December's climate accord talks in Copenhagen — an event that will coincide with the beginning of another flood season along the Zambezi River.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5joryFjfwGtlkK07XbsN5wjTS0yQQD991P3I80
Surprise: Fish in acidic waters grow bigger ears
Now, that doesn't mean you're going to reel in the Mr. Spock of the sea. Fish ears are inside their bodies.
But, as in humans, their ears perform a major role in sensing movement and whether the animal is upright - abilities that are important for survival.
"It was a surprise," biological oceanographer David M. Checkley of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the
"The assumption is that anything that departs significantly from normality is an abnormality, and abnormalities at least have the potential for having deleterious effects," Checkley said.
The ear structure in fish is known as an otolith and is made up of minerals. Checkley and colleagues knew that increasing carbon dioxide in the oceans - absorbed from the atmosphere - is making the sea more acidic, which can dissolve and weaken shells. They wondered if it also would reduce the size of the otoliths.
Just the opposite, it turned out, the researchers report in Friday's edition of the journal Science.
In their experiment they incubated the eggs of white sea bass in seawater and measured the otoliths when the fish were seven to eight days old.
In the first test, the water had more than six times the current amount of carbon dioxide, and the little fish grew otoliths 15 percent to 17 percent larger than normal. The researchers were so surprised they repeated the experiment, and got the same results.
So they reduced the carbon dioxide in the water to about 3.5 times the current level - a concentration that could occur by the year 2100 at the rate CO2 is being added to the atmosphere and then the sea. Those fish had ear bones 7 percent to 9 percent larger than fish raised in seawater with current gas concentrations.
"An important observation is that the effect of CO2 in atmosphere, and therefore in the ocean, includes not only (global) warming and making the ocean more acidic. There are other effects on the biology and ecology that merit study," Checkley said in a telephone interview.
The new finding, surprising in itself, raises further questions Checkley said need to be explored.
Researchers now will try and figure out how the added carbon dioxide in the water causes the ear bones to enlarge, whether this is happening to other types of fish, and whether the long-term effect will be good or bad.
"If fish can do just fine or better with larger otoliths, then there's no great concern. But fish have evolved to have their bodies the way they are. The assumption is that if you tweak them in a certain way it's going to change the dynamics of how the otolith helps the fish stay upright, navigate and survive," Checkley said.
There are anecdotal observations that fish in higher concentrations of CO2 seem to be lethargic, he added, but that needs confirmation.
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