A Landmark California Plan Puts Floodplains Back in Business

A Landmark California Plan Puts Floodplains Back in Business — Water Deeply

SOMETHING MONUMENTAL HAPPENED on August 25 in California water management that received almost no media attention: It became official policy to reconnect the state’s major rivers with their floodplains.

The action by the Central Valley Flood Protection Board, an obscure panel appointed by the governor, clears the way for the state to embrace projects that allow floods to recharge groundwater. This could include projects like breaching levees, building setback levees and creating flood bypass structures so rivers can inundate historic floodplains for the first time in a century.

In short, it means rivers must no longer be confined within levees as a standard practice.

The result could be not only reduced flood risk, but reviving severely depleted groundwater aquifers, restoring wildlife habitat and improving the capabilities of existing water storage reservoirs.

The state calls these “multibenefit” flood-control projects, said Mike Mierzwa, chief of the office of flood planning at the California Department of Water Resources. They’re a major focus of the Central Valley Flood Protection Plan, a massive policy document the board adopted at its August 25 meeting.
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Silicon Valley Wants to Solve Our Water Problems

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Tackling water security: Who owns the right to groundwater?

Tariq said that to understand water security there is a need to understand water scarcity. He explained, “The global yardstick for water scarcity is that if you have 1,700 cubic metres per person, per year then you are in a very comfortable water regime.”

He added that the moment this amount reduces, you start getting into water stress situations, water shortages and water scarcity.

“Plant the water, as the best place to store water is underground”
“The surplus water available for Pakistan doesn’t last for more than 30 days.” He elaborated that for the rest of the 335 days, Pakistan is in a semi-drought or drought-like condition.

The PWP CEO said that for an arid country like Pakistan there is a need to have 40% surface water storage. However, he deplored that the country has only 7% storage to counter the problem. He added that this is also reducing due to sedimentation, which leaves a big question mark on the country’s water security. More

I'm on the Kill List. This is what it feels like to be hunted by drones

I [Malik Jalal] am in the strange position of knowing that I am on the ‘Kill List’. I know this because I have been told, and I know because I have been targeted for death over and over again. Four times missiles have been fired at me. I am extraordinarily fortunate to be alive.

Friends decline my invitations and I have taken to sleeping outside under the trees, to avoid becoming a magnet of death for my family

I don’t want to end up a “Bugsplat” – the ugly word that is used for what remains of a human being after being blown up by a Hellfire missile fired from a Predator drone. More importantly, I don’t want my family to become victims, or even to live with the droning engines overhead, knowing that at any moment they could be vaporized.

I am in England this week because I decided that if Westerners wanted to kill me without bothering to come to speak with me first, perhaps I should come to speak to them instead. I’ll tell my story so that you can judge for yourselves whether I am the kind of person you want to be murdered.

I am from Waziristan, the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan. I am one of the leaders of the North Waziristan Peace Committee (NWPC), which is a body of local Maliks (or community leaders) that is devoted to trying to keep the peace in our region. We are sanctioned by the Pakistan government, and our main mission is to try to prevent violence between the local Taliban and the authorities.

In January 2010, I lent my vehicle to my nephew, Salimullah, to drive to Deegan for an oil change and to have one of the tires checked. Rumours had surfaced that drones were targeting particular vehicles, and tracking particular phone signals. The sky was clear and there were drones circling overhead.
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In Peru's deserts melting glaciers are a godsend - until they are gone

Using some of the glacial water to ‘Green’ the Peruvian the desert, as is being done in China and North Africa would be a smart move. See LOESS PLATEAU WATERSHED REHABILITATION PROJECT

Yet climate change now threatens some of these ambitious undertakings, reducing lakes, diminishing aquifers and shrinking glaciers that feed crops. Here in Peru, the government irrigated the desert and turned it into farmland through an $825 million project that, in a few decades, could be under serious threat.

“We’re talking about the disappearance of frozen water towers that have supported vast populations,” said Jeffrey Bury, a professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz who has spent years studying the effects of glacier melt on Peruvian agriculture. “That is the big picture question related to climate change right now.”

A changing climate has long haunted Peru. One past civilization, the Moche people, built cities in the same deserts, only to collapse more than a millennium ago after the Pacific Ocean warmed, killing fish and causing flash floods, many archaeologists contend.

Now dwindling water is the threat. While more than half of Peru sits in the wet Amazon basin, few of its people ever settled there. Most inhabit the dry northern coast, cut off from most rain by the Andes range. While the region includes the capital, Lima, and 60 percent of Peruvians, it holds only 2 percent of the country’s water supply.

The glaciers are the source of water for much of the coast during Peru’s dry season, which extends from May to September. But the icecap of the Cordillera Blanca, long a supply of water for the Chavimochic irrigation project, has shrunk by 40 percent since 1970 and is retreating at an ever-faster rate. It is currently receding by about 30 feet a year, scientists say. https://goo.gl/Wa1JyK

Cayman Islands Take Note: $100 Incentive Program to Purchase Real-time Water Sensors

City Launched $100 Incentive Program to Purchase Real-time Water Sensors

The City of ​Welland is ​taking a ​smarter ​approach to ​assisting ​consumers with ​water ​conservation ​and leak ​detection. City ​Council ​approved a ​partnership ​with Alert Labs ​to assist ​Welland ​residents with ​the purchase of ​real-time water ​sensors. ​

Alert Labs is ​a unique ​Ontario based ​company ​committed to ​water ​conservation ​through ​technology. ​

WELLAND ​RESIDENTS GET $​100 OFF ​ FLOWIE

The City of ​Welland is ​offering $100 ​incentives for ​residents to ​purchase a ​Flowie water ​sensor. The ​regular price ​of Flowie is $​259, along with ​a $49 annual ​monitoring fee. ​

The first 100 ​Welland ​residents to ​participate in ​the Flowie ​Incentive ​Program can ​purchase Flowie ​for $159 and ​will receive ​one year of ​monitoring for ​free. ​

FLOWIE : WATER LEAK DETECTOR

The Flowie ​water sensor ​straps onto ​residential and ​commercial ​water meters. ​It detects ​water usage and ​sends alerts to ​the customer’​s phone when it ​identifies high ​or unusual ​water ​consumption. ​

The Flowie can ​also detect ​silent water ​leaks, frozen ​pipes, ​temperature ​drops, and high ​humidity. It ​also generates ​detailed water ​usage reports ​and continues ​to work during ​a power outage. ​

FLOODIE : FLOOD SENSOR

For homeowners ​with flooding ​or water damage ​concerns, ​Flowie has an ​optional ​companion ​sensor, Floodie,​ that alerts ​homeowners to ​the presence of ​unwanted water. ​Floodie fits ​easily under a ​hot water tank, ​dishwasher, ​washing machine,​ or beside a ​sump pump to ​help protect ​against water ​damage ​

REAL-TIME WATER USE DATA

“​Residential ​water meters in ​the City of ​Welland are ​currently read ​and billed ​quarterly. As a ​direct ​consequence, ​staff’s ​ability to ​provide up-to-​date consumption ​data lags up to ​three months,​” said ​Erik Nickel, ​Acting General ​Manager of ​Infrastructure ​Services. ​“A ​customer’​s ability to ​receive early ​notification of ​possible water ​leaks is not a ​service the ​city currently ​offers ​customers; ​however, with ​the installation ​of the Flowie, ​customers can ​be alerted of ​leaks ​immediately.​” ​

Residents are ​urged to take ​advantage of ​the Flowie ​Incentive ​Program and ​contact Alert ​Labs directly ​with inquiries ​or to purchase ​the real-time ​water meter ​sensor online ​at ​www.alertlabs.ca/welland .

TH Köln: International Symposium in Cologne Adopts Declaration on Water Security and Climate Change

TH Köln: International Symposium in Cologne Adopts Declaration on Water Security and Climate Change

As a result of their international symposium on water security and climate change at the TH Köln - University of Applied Sciences 200 researchers from around 45 countries have adopted the 'Cologne Declaration on Water Security and Climate Change'. They confirm that a concerted collaboration between science, politics, business, and civil society is required at all levels in order to ensure the water supply worldwide and manage the risks of climate change.

"Climate change has a massive influence on how the limited resource drinking water is managed. At the same time, well-designed water management is a key factor in enabling societies to adapt to climate change. Due to this complex system with its many natural and man-made influence factors, we require a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach," explains Prof. Dr. Lars Ribbe, head of the Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics (ITT) at TH Köln.

The Institute and its associated Center for Natural Resources Development (CNRD) organized the conference together with the Food Security Center at University of Hohenheim and the Center for Sustainable Water Management in Developing Countries at Technische Universität Braunschweig. As academic excellence centers for exchange and development all three institutions are supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development

(https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/th-koln-international-symposium-in-cologne-adopts-declaration-on-water-security-and-climate-change-649739783.html