I’ve become entranced with “Stein’s Law” as an alternative to the faux Twain “water’s for fightin’ over” as a cliche to help guide water policy rhetoric: If something cannot go on forever, it will stop. The draining of Bonny Reservoir in eastern Colorado to comply with the terms of the Republican River Compact – such …
It’s that time of year when a water wonk’s thoughts turn to the hills, to the romance of the beginnings of a winter snowpack’s accumulation. But there is a problem every year at this time – soil moisture. In particular, a lack of data about soil moisture. This matters come spring, when things start to …
On the subject of the problem of declining revenue from water conservation, there is this, from the February 2009 10-k filed by American Water Works, a private water utility, with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: Increased water conservation, including through the use of more efficient household fixtures and appliances among residential consumers, combined with …
Continue reading ‘The conservation-revenue dilemma, private sector edition’ »
Lissa and I are in St. Louis, a wet place. I know it is a wet place because there is no dirt. Or, more specifically, there is no bare dirt. Something’s growing everywhere, the result of 38 inches (97 cm) precipitation per year. I’m always struck by that when I visit a wet place. While …
Continue reading ‘Stuff I wrote elsewhere: more on our forests burning’ »
We see this over and over again. Generally speaking, water is free to municipal/industrial customers in the United States. What we pay in our water bill is for the cost of delivery – the pumps and pipes. We’re paying for water delivery infrastructure, not the commodity itself. But we nevertheless generally price the water by …
Continue reading ‘Conservation and the water pricing dilemma’ »
My sister, Lisa, found this old postcard at Mom’s last week: The caption on the back argues that Palm Springs is America’s favorite winter playground. Who am I to argue?
An economic analysis released last week suggested a Peripheral Tunnel to move California’s water around the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta could create 129,000 jobs. (Good Alex Breitler story lays out the details.) The boosters at the Southern California Water Committee jumped on the argument: This new jobs study on the tunnel options is the first major …
Continue reading ‘After we’re done with the Peripheral Tunnel, pyramids!’ »
A group with one set of interests in California water has tried to frame the discussion over how much water can be diverted from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in the classic “farmers vs. fish” framework. Others disagree. Traditional “view from nowhere” journalism quotes one from Column A and one from Column B and calls it …
Continue reading ‘Mike Taugher tells us what’s really going on with Sacramento Delta diversions’ »
The premise of a piece I wrote recently over at the Lane Center was that folks in the Colorado River’s Upper Basin are all elbowing up to the front of the line to try to get the next straw slurping water out of the big river before it’s too late. The focus was on the …
Irony defined: sitting in the shaded courtyard at work yesterday at lunch, next to a lovely fountain/pond flanked by lush lawn, reading the opening chapter of Cynthia Barnett’s Blue Revolution: Sacramento landscape architect Ronald Allison tells of a two-and-a-half-acre residential design in Granite Bay with a waterfall, a grotto, a cave, six fountains, a pool …
Continue reading ‘Irony defined: Barnett’s “Blue Revolution” at the office pond’ »