WaterWired

Live, from Virginia Beach! Jim Karr's Words of Water Wisdom

Greetings from southeastern Virginia!

I am currently in Virginia Beach, one of the few "suburbs" that is more populous (by about double) than its central city Norfolk, where I am attending the AWRA's excellent Summer Specialty Conference Riparian Ecosystems and Buffers: Working at the Water's Edge.[Disclosure notice: I am on AWRA's Board of Directors.]

I am also seeing and smelling Great Dismal Swamp burn, another sign of the drought in this region. That is another story, however.

I'd forgotten how "warm" and humid SE Virginia can be in summer - I went to school just up I-64 at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg and spent a couple of summers down here. But today it's actually pretty pleasant.

But as usual, I digress. 

James R. Karr, Professor Emeritus at the University of Washington, gave one of the keynote addresses on 30 June. I had never heard him speak but knew that he was one of the luminaries of ecology, although to call him an ecologist is a disservice to his eclectic work in a variety of fields: wetlands, fisheries, watershed management, public policy, tropical forest ecology, stream ecology, etc.

Karr is best-known for developing the Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) a widely-used index originally developed for small warm streams in IN and IL. It has since been expanded and modified, and used to asess the condition of water resource systems.   

His talk, "Riparian Reflections" was essentially a well-ordered collection of thoughts and advice based on his years of experience. It was chock full of insight and take-aways. I got the strong impression that Jim does not suffer fools.

He urged us to define precisely what we're talking about, and to be careful when using terms like "pollutant" and "pollution".

Some examples of good advice to scientists and other professionals:

• Keep up with the advances in science, policy, and their interconnections
• Work with, and learn from others, especially those outside your own discipline
• Challenge dogma of ALL disciplines (including your own)
• Avoid hubris

Some perspectives on ecology:

• Mechanisms regulating ecological systems result from many weak forces acting probabilistically
• Cumulative effects are large but individual effects are minor, interactive, and uncertain.
• Beware of simplistic fixes (he cited TMDLs are an example)

So what's up with TMDLs (Total Maximum Daily Loads)? According to Karr, if you believe that chemistry is to blame for all the woes in waterways, then that's fine. But he likened putting your eggs in the TMDL basket to the following, where a patient sees a doctor:

• Patient: Doctor, I'm feeling ill.
• Doctor: Here, take this medicine. It'll fix you right up.
• Patient: But doctor, you haven't diagnosed my illness.
• Doctor: It's okay - I'm basing my treatment on the average illness I've seen in the past six months.

He exhorted scientists to speak up to policy- and decision-makers, and to be intolerant when bad science (or no science) is used to make decisions. He remarked that the "most impervious areas in watersheds" could be found in leaders' brains.

He is a big fan of the Clean Water Act and the Earth Charter Initiative. And he is adamant about examining biology to assess aquatic ecosystem condition. Can't argue with that.

All in all, my time was very well-spent. 

"We're not responsible for biology." -- an EPA official in the 1970s, responding to Karr's urge to look at biology to assess stream health

Water Maven Philip E. LaMoreaux Dies

It is once again my sad duty to report the recent death of yet another giant in the field of hydrogeology/ground water hydrology.

Dr. Philip E. LaMoreaux, Sr., died at home in Tuscaloosa, AL, on 23 June 2008. He was 88, and had served the ground water profession for over 60 years.

I did not know Phil as well as I knew Tom Prickett and Stan Davis, but his stature was every bit as great as theirs. Like Tom and Stan, he was not only an extraordinary professional, but also a gentleman. He leaves an unparalleled legacy. 

The following three paragraphs are taken from Dr. LaMoreaux's bio on the American Geological Institute's WWW site:

Dr. LaMoreaux had occupied a central role in the development of hydrogeology and environmental geology into the most dynamic and sought-after disciplines in geology. He has been a leader in the profession of geology and has had a distinguished career as a federal, state, academic, and consulting geologist.

He served as Chief of the Ground Water Branch of the U.S. Geological Survey, State Geologist of Alabama, Professor of Geology at the University of Alabama, and Director of the Environmental Institute for Waste Management Studies (EIWMS) for Alabama before forming his form, Philip E. Lamoreaux & Associates., Inc.

He contributed much to the profession of geology through involvement with major geological societies: as President of the American Geological Institute, Association of American State Geologists, and American Institute of Hydrology; as Chairman of t he Geological Society of America Foundation Board of Trustees; as Chairman of both GSA's Hydrogeology Division and American Geophysical Union's Hydrology Division. He was a member of the National Academy of Engineering and was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Environmental Geology.

Dr. LaMoreaux's comments on working in geohydrology/environmental geology.

Here is a memoriam from the Arizona Geological Survey's blog.

His family requests that in lieu of flowers, contributions can be sent to:

The First Presbyterian Church of Tuscaloosa
LaMoreaux Memorial
900 Greensboro Avenue
Tuscaloosa, AL 35401
205-752-3531

The Philip E. and Bunnie LaMoreaux Geology Scholarship Fund
University of Alabama Advancement Office
P.O. 870122
Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
1-888-875-4438

Rest in peace, Phil.

"Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it." -- Henry David Thoreau

Matt Larsen Named USGS Water Czar

Dr. Matthew C. (Matt) Larsen has been named the USGS Associate Director for Water. He had been the Interim Associate Director since replacing Dr. Robert Hirsch last month.

I know Matt; he's a very good man and will do an excellent job.

From the press release:

Dr. Matthew C. Larsen has been named Associate Director for Water of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).                         

In his Associate Director role, Dr. Larsen has programmatic responsibility for all water-related research and activities at the USGS. He will be responsible for water issues relating to flooding, water quality, drought, climate change and water availability.

Larsen has been the leader of the USGS National Research Program in hydrology in his position of Chief Scientist for Hydrology since 2005. 

"Matt has an outstanding record as a research scientist, advancing knowledge of hydrologic and landslide processes in tropical ecosystems. He has worked closely with the National Science Foundation on collaborative efforts in water research and has directed USGS hydrologic research in advancing the understanding of the impacts of climate change on hydrologic systems," said USGS Director Mark Myers. 

As USGS Caribbean District Chief, Larsen supervised water resources programs and worked with external partners in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands starting in 2000. That same year he also served as a coordinator and researcher on a USGS international mission that responded to the December 1999 landslide and flashflood disaster in Venezuela.

Larsen was the Luquillo, Puerto Rico, Water, Energy, and Biogeochemical Budget project chief from 1991 to 2000. Prior to that, he was project chief on a USGS study of landslide hazards in eastern Puerto Rico. Larsen began his USGS career in 1977 with the Branch of Pacific and Arctic Marine Geology, Menlo Park, CA. He was a physical science technician and participated in a study of natural hazards to petroleum development in the Northern Bering Sea, Alaska.

Dr. Larsen earned a bachelor's in Geology in 1976 from Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and a doctorate in Geography at the University of Colorado-Boulder in 1997. He is also the Chair of the U.S. National Committee for the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme and is the author of 66 scientific reports and journal articles.

"It may be lonely at the top but you eat better." -- Unknown

T. Boone Pickens Speaks: Water Is The New Oil

Imagine an 80-year old Oklahoman-turned-Texas oilman starring in a movie, There Will Be Water.

Not too far fetched, actually.

T. Boone Pickens thinks water is the new oil. Here's the cover story from the 23 June 2008 issue of BusinessWeek. The artwork is from the magazine.

Pickens was a so-called "corporate raider" (he prefers the term "shareholder activist") in the 1970s and 1980s when he and his company, Mesa Petroleum, took on the "big boys" like Gulf Oil and Unocal.

He was one of the major financial backers of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth group.

But oil is a thing of the past for Pickens; the article claims he is now the largest single individual owner of water rights in the USA. He owns a huge ranch in Roberts County, TX, and would like to pump ground water from the Ogallala aquifer beneath his ranch and sell it to thirsty Texas cities.

How much? Try 200,000 acre-feet per year. He can pump this much because of Texas' quaint ground water law, "the right of capture", aka "The Law of the Biggest Pump." If you own land, you can sink a well and pump virtually to your heart's content. Doesn't matter whether you own one acre or 68,000, the size of Pickens' ranch.

Pickens claims he is pumping in "self-defense"; if he doesn't, someone else will pump his water from underneath him. So he might as well sell the water.

But so far, none has taken him up on his offer. He thinks that the Dallas-Fort Worth area is a potential buyer - not now, but eventually. Before he can sell his water he needs to construct a 250-mile long pipeline. The article describes how how will accomplish this. Fascinating.

I remember when I was in New Mexico. Eastern New Mexico was rife with rumors that Pickens' people were running around trying to buy water rights.

I've heard Pickens speak twice, both at conferences: July 2002 in Traverse City, MI, and April 2005, at the inaugural Ground Water Summit in San Antonio. He was trying to peddle his water to San Antonio, but the city was not interested - at least not at the price he was asking.

I had actually invited him to keynote the San Antonio conference and it was fitting: our first Summit, in Texas, in a place reliant on ground water, during a time when Pickens was hawking his water.

Pickens is a cross between a "good ol' boy" - and I do not mean that as a pejorative term - and a shrewd businessman. He has been good to his alma mater, Oklahoma State University (see my post on his generosity and its down side). He's made and lost a couple of fortunes.

When I addressed him as "Mr. Pickens" he said, "Call me Boone, son." He gave a good talk in San Antonio, and although it was short on details, it was humorous, with an almost "Aw shucks, I'm just an Okie boy who's done well" attitude. I liked him; he was polite, and his "handlers", with whom I dealt, were equally so.

Anyway, read this article. It's very good and describes some of the legislative somersaults necessary to implement Pickens' plans. 

The article also notes that Royal Dutch Shell is buying up ground water rights in Colorado in anticipation of its oil-shale operation, which will require large amounts of water.

Maude Barlow, where are you now?

"Water is a commodity. Heck, isn't it like oil?" -- T. Boone Pickens

Pat Mulroy 101: Profile of 'The Chosen One'

Michael Dale alerted me to this a fascinating story from the Las Vegas Sun about Patricia Mulroy, who heads the Southern Nevada Water Authority and is the putative "800-pound gorilla" of Western Water.

And that's the nicest name some people call her.

One might call it a "puff piece" but I found it quite informative. I always wondered how she got started. Now I know.

Look at the picture. You want to mess with her?

Mobster Anthony "Tony the Ant" Spilotro hovering over her desk? Watch it, Tony!

Interesting that she apparently has no formal training in water.

We can complain about how unrelenting she is, but she gets the job done for Nevada, primarily southern Nevada (Clark County). Many water agencies undoubtedly wish she was their director.

"As God is my witness, I will never be thirsty again." -- apologies to Scarlett O'Hara, Gone With The Wind

Wow! A Famous Person Starts A Water Institute!

Curmudgeon alert!

Christine Todd Whitman, former EPA Administrator and New Jersey Governor, has formed a new water institute, the Water Policy Institute.

Here is her blurb on the Institute's WWW site:

Water issues have escalated in our country and worldwide, with record droughts, threats to water quality and cross-border disputes over water resources. I am pleased to introduce the Water Policy Institute, a one-of-a-kind forum for water leaders to consider the problems and develop new ideas and potential solutions.

Water issues impact all of us, from companies that deliver and manage water and industries that require a reliable supply of quality water to operate, to individual consumers and those who work to protect our environment. Environmental protection and water quality are of great importance to me, and while there are no easy answers or magic bullets to solve such complicated issues, progress is always possible. The Water Policy Institute brings together various viewpoints in a quest for sustainable, workable solutions. As chair, I welcome you to explore the benefits of membership and join us in an ongoing dialogue of issues critical to our future.

Here is a note from Director Kathy Robb:

Significant developments in legislation and consumption, as well as the rapidly changing climate, are already impacting, and will increasingly affect, the world's water supply. Companies deliver and manage water, and industries require a reliable supply of quality water to operate, but most individuals do not feel it is their responsibility to address these issues. The Institute provides a forum for exploring these issues across industry and geographic boundaries.

I like Whitman; I think she's a good person with her head and heart in the right places. But I'm wondering what she's hitched her wagon to.

The WPI has eight advisory panel members, 6 of whom are attorneys (one is friend, colleague, and good guy Gabriel Eckstein of Texas Tech University). Director Robb is also an attorney, a partner in the firm Hunton & Williams, which is spearheading and hosting the Institute. Corporate members (by invitation only) are: the Central Arizona Project, BP PLC, and GE Water (Maude Barlow alert!).

What, no Jeff Sachs?

Wow!  A water institute that is sponsored by a Park Avenue law firm, has corporate members, and has an advisory panel with attorneys for 6 of its 8 members!

Ask me why I'm not expecting anything but the SOS.

And if the institute were sponsored and housed in an engineering firm with an engineer for its director and 6 of the 8 advisory panelists, I'd have the same opinion.  

"Water may run uphill to money, but it gushes uphill to politics." – Terry L. Anderson and Donald R. Leal, Cato Institute, 1988 (courtesy of Todd Jarvis)

Water for America Initiative - USGS Seeks Input from Stakeholders; Bob Hirsch Steps Down

See the attached letter from Dr. Matthew C. Larsen, Acting Associate Director for Water of the USGS.

The USGS is initiating a water census of the USA and seeks stakeholder input as it scopes out the program. A special WWW site has been established, and there are alternatives to electronic comments.

This is an excellent chance to make your voice heard on a very important study.

Download water_for_america_stakeholders.pdf

In a related vein, Dr. Robert Hirsch, USGS Associate Director for Water, has stepped down to return to research after serving in the USGS leadership group for many years. Bob has been an eloquent spokesman for USGS water programs lo these many years. He's arguably the best-informed water scientist in the USA and the most astute observer of the "water scene", especially from inside the Beltway (even though his office was in Reston, outside the Beltway).

On several occasions I have featured him in this blog (February 2007 and February 2008). WaterWired will miss his observations and opinions.

Bob's talents as an advocate will be missed, but the National Research Program will gain a top-notch scientist. His replacement on an acting basis is the aforementioned Dr. Matthew C. Larsen. Matt is a great guy and will do a very good job. I wish both Bob and Matt well. 

“The power of a movement lies in the fact that it can indeed change the habits of people. This change is not the result of force but of dedication, of moral persuasion.” -- Steven Biko

A 'Mirage' in Oregon: Cynthia Barnett Visits Oregon State University

Cynthia Barnett, award-winning author of Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern  U.S., just left us at Oregon State University (OSU) after entertaining us for about 90 minutes with tales of water woes in Florida and elsewhere in the eastern USA.

We had a good crowd for a late Friday afternoon, and she also sold and signed some copies of her excellent book, which is now available in paperback, so you have no excuse for not reading it.

A brief aside: she commented on the dearth of home "For Sale" signs here as compared to Florida.

This is the third time I've heard Cynthia speak, all in the last six months. I told her that she is in my Robert Glennon class, meaning that I never tire of listening to her. Her style is more relaxed, as though she's having a cordial conversation with her audience. Very effective.

She again spoke of the merits of conservation, and how conservation is often given short shrift by politicians and water managers for a simple reason: no one makes much money from conservation projects. No big infrastructure, no grand engineering schemes, etc. She alluded to the fact that in Florida, state alternative water-supply grant money cannot be used for conservation projects.

To be sure, conservation can have its drawbacks. Customers get annoyed when their rates go up because conservation may drive utilities' revenues down. And those who save water are concerned that the water saved may just go for more development. Wastewater engineers worry about sluggish flow in sewer systems or lack of sufficient dilution.  But conservation should occupy a more prominent place in the water-supply toolbox.

She told the story of Orme, TN, the tiny (145 people) town on the TN-AL border 40 miles west of Chattanooga that ran out of water in 2007. The town temporarily survived by sending a tanker truck across the border to an Alabama town three days a week for water from the town's fire hydrant. The 20,000 gallons of water replenished the Orme's storage tank and allowed residents to use water from 6-9 PM each evening. Cynthia said that the story was big news and journalists descended upon the place, got the story, then headed home.

But they never came back to get the rest of the story. Here's what happened after the journalists left:

• volunteer plumbers and plumbing supply firms blitzed the town and fitted each home with water-saving devices free of charge;
• the town saved 140 gallons per household daily; and
• the water availability went from 3 to 12 hours per day solely because of conservation 

All in all, time very well spent with a person who has a great message.

And she brought some Florida sunshine with her.

"We use drinking water to grow our lawns, then spend the summer cutting it down using fossil fuels." -- Cynthia Barnett, Corvallis, OR, 2 May 2008

Tony Allan Wins 2008 Stockholm Water Prize

Water's equivalent of the Nobel Prize, has been awarded to Dr. Tony Allan, introducer of the "virtual water" concept. Below is the press release from the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI). You can read more here.

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Stockholm, 19 March 2008 – Professor John Anthony "Tony" Allan from King's College London and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) has been named the 2008 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate. Professor Allan pioneered the development of key concepts in the understanding and communication of water issues and how they are linked to agriculture, climate change, economics and politics.

People do not only consume water when they drink it or take a shower. In 1993, Professor Allan, 71, strikingly demonstrated this by introducing the "virtual water" concept, which measures how water is embedded in the production and trade of food and consumer products. Behind that morning cup of coffee are 140 litres of water used to grow, produce, package and ship the beans. That is roughly the same amount of water used by an average person daily in England for drinking and household needs. The ubiquitous hamburger needs an estimated 2,400 litres of water. Per capita, Americans consume around 6,800 litres of virtual water every day, over triple that of a Chinese person.

Virtual water has major impacts on global trade policy and research, especially in water-scarce regions, and has redefined discourse in water policy and management. By explaining how and why nations such as the US, Argentina and Brazil ‘export’ billions of litres of water each year, while others like Japan, Egypt and Italy ‘import’ billions, the virtual water concept has opened the door to more productive water use. National, regional and global water and food security, for example, can be enhanced when water intensive commodities are traded from places where they are economically viable to produce to places where they are not. While studying water scarcity in the Middle East, Professor Allan developed the theory of using virtual water import, via food, as an alternative water “source” to reduce pressure on the scarcely available domestic water resources there and in other water-short regions.

The USD 150,000 Stockholm Water Prize will be presented August 21 in the Stockholm City Hall. H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden is the Patron of the Stockholm Water Prize.

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Ask for euros, Tony.

"Like swift water an active mind never stagnates." -- Unknown

Zanjeros: Their Jobs Are Drying Up

Mike Anton wrote this great story about zanjeros in the 14 March 2008 edition of the Los Angeles Times.

What are zanjeros? You might know them as "ditch riders", like the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy (MRGCD) in Albuquerque does. Even in the acequias, the traditional Hispanic community ditch systems that dot northern New Mexico, it is usually the mayordomo who has the responsibility for diverting waters to the individual fields.

That's what zanjeros - Spanish for "overseer of the mother ditch" - do; they control the flow of water from the main canals into the laterals and ditches, and thence to the farmers' fields.

The huge Imperial Irrigation District (IID), the largest in the country, employs over 100 of these key cogs in the irrigation system. They work with "imprecise" tools, and rely a lot on experiecne and intuition. In this time of sensor-driven, automatic flow control devices, zanjeros are anachronisms. They literally race the water down the canal, staying just ahead of it.

Mike Anton's story starts thusly:

HOLTVILLE, CALIF. -- Daybreak in the Carrot Capital of the World and the horizon is streaked with lilac clouds, the air thick with the smell of manure. Jose Romo climbs into a pickup with a steaming cup of coffee to ward off the chill and begins his daily race with water.

He speeds along dirt roads between fields of lettuce and onions that would be a desert if not for the 1,600 miles of man-made canals and ditches that crisscross the Imperial Valley, among the largest irrigation systems in the nation.

He stops and studies the water level in his canal. It's rising but still below a stain on the canal's concrete wall, a measuring point that Romo trusts implicitly through experience. In a few minutes, the water reaches the stain, meaning there is sufficient pressure for Romo to crank a rusty metal jack that opens a wooden gate.

"Can lose a finger if you're not careful," he said. With a loud swooosh, a wall of water moves down his canal. For the next several hours, Romo will repeat this ritual again and again, harnessing gravity to shepherd the day's water through his corner of the valley.

Romo is a zanjero -- pronounced sahn-HAIR-o -- Spanish for overseer of the mother ditch. His job is to deliver prescribed amounts of Colorado River water to farmers served by the Imperial Irrigation District in southeastern California. It's a job rich in tradition, one that mirrors the settlement of the West and its complicated relationship with water.

The zanjero was once the most powerful man in any community, entrusted with overseeing its most valuable resource. In early Los Angeles, he was paid more than the mayor. Long before he engineered the city's future, William Mulholland learned the nuances of water working as a zanjero.

"One hand washes the other, and both wash the face." -- translation of a Spanish proverb on cooperation

Cynthia Barnett: the Author of 'Mirage' Brings an Oasis to New Mexico

Okay, the photo to the left should look familiar to you by now. It's Cynthia Barnett, author of Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S., an exceptional book I urged you to read. I also reviewed it a while back, referring to it as 'Cadillac Swampland'.

Last week, I met her in person when she keynoted the American Water Resources Association's (AWRA) Annual Meeting in Albuquerque, NM. [Disclosure notice: I chaired the meeting and invited her to speak].

She gave an excellent presentation, based upon her book. I thought I would highlight a few of her talking points and my take (in italics).

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Barnett started out showing a USA map with the 100th meridian, the vertical line roughly separating the dry West (<20 inches of rain per year) from the wet East (>20 inches per year). John Wesley Powell said this meant that the East would have plenty of water and would not have to fight over it; irrigation would be unnecessary. That was one of the few things Powell got wrong.  She then posed a great question: What assumptions are we making now that will seem equally far-fetched in 50 or 100 years?

She showed a map of Florida. Just above Orlando an imaginary horizontal line indicated a hydrologic divide. She pointed out that most of the population (80%) is south of that line but only 44% of the precipitation falls there. The north-south distributions of people and water mimic those of California.

She correctly indicated that the Atlanta water crisis is not as simple as Georgia humans vs. the mussels in Apalachicola Bay, the spin Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue has invoked. It's more complicated than that, as it also involves Alabama, environmental flows, farmers, etc. The Governor is scoring some political points by painting Atlanta and Georgia as the victims; I don't know about Georgia, but my former home (albeit briefly) Atlanta is no more a victim than any of the other players. 

Her comments on the The Tampa Bay Water Wars and Tampa Bay Water's desalination plant fiasco resonated with me.

The Southwest Florida Water Management District had been pumping ground water unsustainably for years.  Staff knew this but the upper echelons refused to believe it, even denying that pumping had anything to do with sinkhole formation. 

The Tampa Bay desalination plant illustrated potential problems with mega-infrastructure. It is now producing water at 25 mgd (million gallons per day) but came in four years late and $40M over budget. Why? Tampa Bay Water wanted to build the biggest desal plant this side of Saudi Arabia. But it was built on the cheap and its 10,000 membranes were fraught with problems. The water, slated to  cost $1.71 per thousand gallons, now costs $3.19 per thousand gallons. Hey, it's still much cheaper than bottled water!

Barnett indicated desal plants are nothing new. There are 250 small-scale plants nationwide, working just fine; Florida has 120.  And more importantly, while the Tampa Bay desal plant sat idle, the utility reduced overall ground water pumping from 192 mgd to 121 mgd - despite population growth. Go figure...

Here are four points Barnett said we can learn from the Tampa Bay situation:

1. The structure of water agencies makes them slow to change conventional wisdom
2. Lawsuits and politics rarely net more water
3. Regional cooperation and serious conservation are important
4. Mega-infrastructure projects seem to have unintended consequences

To further illustrate the conservation aspect she said that water use in the greater Boston area hit a 50-year low in 2004 after the implementation of an aggressive conservation program. Sarasota County in Florida has reduced per-capita consumption to 90 gpd (gallons per day) from 140 gpd.

She noted Florida's water demand has been on the upswing although it is declining elsewhere, even in those places where the population is growing. In Seattle, total water use has been constatnt since 1975 despite a population increase of 30%. She said that Florida's water supply plan calls for an additional 2 billion gallons per day by 2025 whereas California's plan calls for the same amount of water use in 2030 as today's use, even though it will add more than 12 million people.

She mentioned that if Mirage gets just one point across, it's this: Economic prosperity and increased population growth need not equal greater and greater water consumption. Amen!

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Upshot: great talk from the author of a great book. If you get a chance to see her in person, do so. She and her book are about more than just Florida; there are cautionary tales for us all.

Very good news: she's working on another book. You'll have to ask her the topic.

"Those who have failed to learn the lessons of history are destined to repeat its mistakes." -- George Santayana

Stan Davis: Another Water Giant Moves On

It was just about two months ago that we lost a giant in the field of ground water hydrology, Tom Prickett. Well, on 18 November, we lost another extraordinary "water guy", Dr. Stan Davis. He died peacefully at home surrounded by his family. He was 83.

I had the good fortune to know Stan, although not as well as I knew Tom. As I was finishing my graduate work at the University of Arizona's Department of Hydrology and Water Resources (HWR) in 1975, Stan came aboard as Department Head. He worked incredibly hard, and helped shape HWR into what it is today: the best damn hydrology program in the world.

He was an exemplary hydrogeologist; in 1966 he put himself on the map by authoring (with Roger J.M. DeWiest) the classic textbook Hydrogeology, known as "Davis & DeWiest", which was the standard until R. Allan Freeze and John Cherry penned Groundwater ("Freeze & Cherry") in 1979. Heck, I still refer to Stan's book to this day.

Stan did a lot of different work in ground water; he did anything he did very well. He was a jack-of-all-trades and master of all. Early on, he performed classical ground water resource evaluation work, land subsidence, hydrogeochemistry, etc. For me, he made his mark in tracer/isotope hydrogeology, starting off with the use of chlorofluorocarbon compounds (Freon, et al.) to date ground water. He did seminal work with chlorine and other isotopes (helium, carbon-14, etc.).  In fact, he co-authored (with D.J. Campbell, H.W. Bentley, and T.J. Flynn) a book Ground Water Tracers, that provides an excellent state-of-the-art summary as of 1985. He was, without question, one of the giants of hydrogeology. He remained active even after "retirement".

Stan received his BS in geology from the then-Mackay School of Mines (MSM) at the University of Nevada-Reno (UNR) in 1949. He knew even then that he was interested in ground water. But instruction in ground water was uncommon in those days, especially in a geology department emphasizing hard-rock mining. He told me that he mentioned his nascent interest to the dean of MSM, who, looking puzzled, thought about it for a moment, then replied, "Yes, we need people like you to drain water from mines," (or words to that effect).

Stan "retired" from the Department of HWR in 2004. I attended a combination roast/reunion ("2nd Ephemeral Reunion") in Tucson in May of that year. Fred Phillips, probably Stan's most illustrious student, gave a wonderful roast in which he described Stan's characterization of "beer-can-in-the-hand hydrogeologists". It was hilarious. I don't think I'd ever seen Stan laugh so much.

That's the way I'm going to remember him.

Below is his obituary, published in the Tucson Newspapers (Arizona Daily Star and Tucson Citizen) on 21 November 2007; the link is here.

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Stanley Nelson Davis. Dr. Stanley Nelson Davis, 83, professor emeritus at the University of Arizona and internationally recognized expert in the study of ground water, died November 18, 2007, at his home in Tucson. He was the husband of Augusta Felty Davis. A memorial service will be held at Adair Funeral Home, Avalon Chapel, 8090 N. Northern, on Saturday, November 24, 2007 at 3:00 p.m. Dr. Davis was born August 6, 1924, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where his father was researching a cure for yellow fever. He was a son of the late Dr. and Mrs. Nelson Davis. Dr. Davis received a bachelor's degree in geology with a minor in mathematics from the University of Nevada in 1949, a master of science degree in geology from the University of Kansas in 1951, and his doctorate in geology from Yale University in 1955. Dr. Davis served on the faculty of the University of Arizona from 1975 to the present. Dr. Davis also served on the faculty of Stanford University, the University of Chile, the University of Missouri--Columbia, and Indiana University--Bloomington. Additionally, over his career, he was a consultant for the United States Bureau of Reclamation, the Kansas and Missouri geological surveys, the Arctic Institute of North America, Princeton University, and the University Oriente and the University de los Andes, both of Venezuela. He also held numerous appointments during his career. The recipient of multiple honors throughout his career, in 1989 he was presented with the O.E. Meinzer Award by the Geological Society of America, and in 1996 he was made a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union. Over the course of his career, Dr. Davis was author or coauthor of more than 100 scholarly publications, and coauthor of the seminal textbook "Hydrogeology" with Dr. Roger DeWiest. From 1943-1946, Dr. Davis served in the U.S. Army during World War II in the Pacific Theater. Dr. Davis is also survived by two sons, Gerald N. Davis of York, PA, and Randall W. Davis of Phoenix, four daughters, Ruth Queathem of Pine Bluff, AR, Darlene Binder of Arvada, CO, Betty Jean Davis Voelkel of Tucson, and Nancy F. Davis of Phoenix, and two stepdaughters, Tara de Souza of Phoenix, and Locana de Souza of Tucson. Additionally, Dr. Davis is survived by three brothers, Dr. Donald Davis of Logan, UT, Dr. Irvine Davis of Albuquerque, NM, and Dr. Franklin Davis of Sacramento, CA. He is also survived by 12 grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and many loving nieces, nephews, cousins, and members of his wife's family. Memorial contributions may be made to World Vision (800-777-5777), a humanitarian organization dedicated to fighting poverty and injustice around the world for the benefit of children, families, and communities.

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"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give. " -- Sir Winston Churchill

Water Wisdom from Luna B. Leopold - Would You Expect Anything Else?

Colleague Garrett Meigs sent this quote. I think it bears repeating.

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Water--Our Common Pleasure and Our Common Responsibility
By Luna B. Leopold, Water, Rivers, and Creeks (1997)

Flood control, irrigation, water supply, and pollution are examples of water projects whose merits should be hammered out in public discussion; unfortunately such discussions often proceed with cavalier disregard for the available knowledge in the field of hydrology.

Hydrologic principles are not controversial.  The more that is known about hydrology, the easier it is to judge alternative proposals and to compare their benefits and costs.  Sound decisions require an informed citizenry.

But beyond such details, it appears that in the next decades, water needs, along with ethnic strife and state boundary disputes, will dominate the relations among people and nations.

Water, like air, is a resource required by every living creature.  Because it is so common, it is easy to take for granted.  But if any form of life is deprived, even temporarily, of access to water, a struggle will result.  There is a need to place such common resources as water, land, and air on a higher plane of value and to assign them a kind of respect that Aldo Leopold called the land ethic, a recognition of the interdependence of all creatures and resources.  No one species such as the Homo sapiens is any more deserving, any more entitled to dominate, than any other species, for all are part of the total web.  Water is a part of this whole, and it deserves what I called in another essay a reverence for rivers.

Tom Prickett, Water Giant and Gentleman

I received some sad news the other day: Thomas A. (Tom) Prickett, died on 13 September 2007. He was en route to Tennessee with his wife Alice to visit friends and collapsed and died in Indianapolis. What a loss for those of us in the hydrologic realm!

Many of you probably didn't know Tom, who worked for the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS) for 17 years and since 1981 at his own consulting firm,  but he was one of the pioneering ground water modelers, dating back to the 1960s. He and C.G. Lonnquist developed the Prickett-Lonnquist Aquifer Simulation Model (PLASM), which was published as the now-famous Bulletin 55 of the Illinois State Water Survey in 1971:

Prickett, T.A. and C.G. Lonnquist. 1971.  Selected Digital Computer Techniques for Groundwater Resources Evaluation. Illinois State Water Survey Bulletin 55, 62p. (Download a copy here)

Bev Herzog of the Illinois State Geological Survey told me that Tom and Carl did not name the code, but that someone approached Tom one day to ask a question about "PLASM". Tom had no idea what the person was talking about, but liked the acronym, and it stuck - even to the extent of adorning his license plates!

Tom's work in finite-difference (FD) ground water models set the stage for the USGS MODFLOW model, developed in the 1980s by Mike McDonald and Arlen Harbaugh, which is now the worldwide standard.

Tom and his colleagues also developed a random-walk transport model, and other models as well:

Prickett, T.A. , T. G. Naymik, and C.G. Lonnquist. 1981. A 'Random Walk' Solute Transport Model for Selected Groundwater Quality Evaluations. Illinois State Water Survey Bulletin 65, 103p. (Download a copy here)

Before computer models, Tom developed and worked with those wonderful old electrical analog aquifer models - networks of resistors (to simulate hydraulic conductvity) and capacitors (to simulate storage). Some of them are now displayed at the ISWS. 

Tom also made important contributions in the field of ground water resource evaluation, aquifer test analysis, and other areas of hydrogeology. He also was an accomplished expert witness and helped others master that specialized area.

I cut my teeth on finite-difference ground water modeling by using the venerable Bulletin 55, a copy of which I still have, as a "textbook". With that, Allan Freeze's Inland Waters Branch (Canada) publication of his UC-Berkeley dissertation (Theoretical Analysis of Regional Groundwater Flow, Scientific Series No. 3), and Numerical Methods in Subsurface Hydrology by Irwin Remson, George Hornberger, and Fred Molz, the sky was the limit.

Tom was also an incredibly genial fellow with a wonderful sense of humor. I got to know him well when we both served on the board of the Association of Ground Water Scientists and Engineers in the late 1990s. I called him "Billion-Node" Prickett, because we would facetiously speculate as to the time when computer storage and computational speed would increase to the point where they would accommodate a FD model with one billion nodes.  Gees, we both dreaded what the data entry would be like!

Colleague Barry Hibbs of California State University-Los Angeles sent me an anecdote that I had not heard before. Tom was at a National Ground Water Association convention, demonstrating electrical analog models (this was before the days of computer models). These things were as big as chalkboards, and covered with networks of resistors and capacitors.  Tom enticed a well driller over to examine the thing, during which time he lectured the driller on how it worked. After the impromptu lecture, the driller scratched his head and said, "This is all very interesting, but how do you get it down the well?"

I also learned a very good lesson from Tom: one doesn't need advanced degrees to be brilliant and make significant contributions to one's field. I was surprised to learn that Tom's only degree was a Bachelor's in general engineering from the University of Illinois and that he had no formal training in ground water hydrology. That was a humbling revelation for someone who thought he was hot s**t with a newly-minted PhD from the U of AZ and who assumed anyone "doing hydrology" without at least a Master's degree was a semi-moron. So I realized that there was not necessarily a direct positive correlation between the number of someone's degrees and his/her knowledge. Often times the correlation was negative. And when I finally met Tom, his self-effacing nature was a welcome respite from all the hydrologic prima donnas I had encountered.

Here's a great video of his 10 October 2006 lecture on History (and thoughts on the future) of Groundwater Modeling at the Colorado School of Mines. He covers about 150 years of ground water modeling. Yeah, it's been that long.

Tom was an accomplished musician (piano, bass, and trumpet) who was offered a scholarship to Eastman upon graduation from high school.

And he loved cats.

Here is his obituary from the News-Gazette:

Thomas "Tom" Prickett, 71, of Urbana, died Thursday, September 13, 2007, at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, IN.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 AM Monday, September 17, 2007, at Renner-Wikoff Chapel, 1900 S. Philo Road, Urbana. John Andrae will officiate. Burial will be held in Roselawn Cemetery, Champaign. Visitation will be hel;d from 4 to 7 pm Sunday evening at the funeral home.

Survivors also include two daughters and their families, Laura and Wesley Curtis of Champaign and their three children, Thomas, Sarah and Rachel, and Mary Beth and Robert Burke of Granger, Ind., and their two sons, Luke and Sean. He is also survived by two brothers, William Prickett of Peoria and Robert Prickett of Pequot Lakes, Minn.

Mr. Prickett was a member of the United States Marine Corps Reserve from 1957 until 1963. He was educated in the Pekin schools and graduated from the University of Illinois in general engineering in 1960. He was an accomplished musician and played the trumpet and bass in local dance bands in the 50's and 60's.

Mr. Prickett was a ground water hydrologist at the Illinois State Water Survey for 17 years. In 1981, he established his own consulting business, Thomas A. Prickett and Associates, and earned a global reputation as a consultant to some of the largest and most prestigious companies in the nation. Mr. Prickett was an adjunct professor of geology at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, an active member of the National Ground Water Association and belonged to many other professional societies. He authored countless articles and reports, was a sought-after speaker and guest lecturer and served as an expert witness in court. He received nearly every honorary award in his field. In 2004, he received the Alumni Award for Distinguished Service from the U of I College of Engineering. He was a member of the President's Council.

His interests included collecting antique calculators, traveling with friends, playing the piano and attending Illini football and basketball games. He will be remembered most as a unique character with an energetic personality.

Published in the News-Gazette on 9/15/2007.

There is also an online guest book you can view or sign.

I know where Tom is now, and he's undoubtedly got that billion-node ground water flow model up and running, and cajoled some people into doing data entry.

We're all going to miss you, Tom.

"We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give."--  Sir Winston Churchill

Annie: In Memoriam

No water post today - something personal.

              28 December 1951 - 11 September 2001

Ann was my younger sister. She was murdered by five Saudi Arabian al-Qaeda terrorists on American Airlines #77 - the Pentagon flight.

The picture below - Ann, my older sister Ellen, and I - was taken in spring 2000.

Rest in peace, Annie.

May all those who gave their lives on 9/11 and their loved ones find peace. Thanks to all those wonderful responders, rescuers, and caregivers. We owe you so much.

Visit the Ann Campana Judge Foundation (ACJF).

"A little bit of irreverence is good. A lot is better." -- Ann Campana Judge

Harry Westmoreland, Hydrophilanthropist

You won't find the name of Harry Westmoreland among the great water scientists, engineers, lawyers, managers, or economists. You'd be more likely to find him in Kenya or some other faraway place, helping people with their water problems.

Harry founded Lone Star Bit (www.lonestarbit.com) in 1984 to service and build custom drill bits. He eventually branched out into small (portable) mud rotary drilling rigs. He devised the LS-100, the "100" designation meaning that it could drill 100 feet into soft formations. He had a vision, though: use the LS-100 to train people in developing countries to obtain their own clean water supplies. To that end, he was one of the founders of Living Water International (www.water.cc), a faith-based hydrophilanthropic organization in the Houston area. His faith and acumen helped make LWI into what it is today - a group that has drilled over 4,000 wells in 21 countries.

He kept improving the LS-100, such that it has been joined by its big sisters, the LS-200 and LS-300 (a hydraulic version of the LS-200). He even developed an air-rotary version and a down-hole hammer.

Harry was an amazing man. He was one of those who inspired me to help others through water. I met him at a Lifewater International (www.lifewater.org) conference and was taken aback at the ingenuity embodied in the LS-100. In typical fashion, Harry wouldn't take credit for his invention, but gave credit to the Lord. On the spot I signed up for his drill-training session at Quantum Lakes in Cleveland, TX, in winter 2000. Harry was a skilled instructor who didn't cut you any slack. Each night, after a long day's drilling, he would quiz each team, promising to the winners the "highly-coveted flashlight award" - a Mini-Mag flashlight. Boy, did we compete for those! I later took his hand-pump repair course, and then graduated to an instructor. 

Harry died on February 16, 2007, far too young at 65.

If you would like to honor Harry's remarkable life and work, please make a donation to the Harry Westmoreland Memorial Fund - send a check to Living Water International, P.O. Box 35496, Houston, TX 77235-5496 or donate online at www.water.cc.

You can read more about Harry at:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4562162.html

Come to think of it, his name does belong up there with the water greats.   

"Those who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the people doing it." -- Chinese proverb
                                    

Bob's Four Big Water Issues

I am currently in DC (again!) for the annual meeting of the National Institutes of Water Resources (NIWR). Today we heard from Dr. Bob Hirsch, Associate Director for Water of the U.S. Geological Survey - the chief hydrologist of the USGS. Bob has been in this racket as long as I have (30+ years) and is an astute observer of the water scene. He spent about 35 minutes listing his four big water themes/issues for the foreseeable future.

What prompted his list was the question by a 20-something Capitol Hill staffer, "You have been studying water for over 100 years. Don't you have all the questions answered by now?" Makes you think. As an academic (or "academia nut)", I might have said, "Well, give me $500K and I will come back in a few years to let you know if we have answered them." (Duhhhh....guess what the answer would be?) Not Bob....So here is a synopsis of what he said. I will not go into all the detail because I could not write fast enough. I don't think these are in any particular order, although I suspect #1 is actually numero uno.

1) Instream (ecological, environmental) flows. The gridlock issue.  As Bob correctly observed, and to which I can attest, the question in his engineering hydrology class of 30 years ago was "How much water can we take out of the river (or pump from the aquifer) for human use?" Now, it's "How much water should we leave in the river (or aquifer)?" And it's not just the minimum flow, but the whole stream hydrograph that needs to be considered.

2) Ground water - surface water interactions, and sustainability (closely related to [1]). How much water is available and how is it used (we still don't know these very well in many places)? How does ground water pumpage affect surface water, and over what temporal and spatial scales?  Bob mentioned that our GW-SW models need to consider larger spatial scales (kilometers or tens of kilometers) and temporal scales (perhaps centuries). Chemistry and temperature need to be considered, not just flow. He also mentioned that to help address these issues, the USGS will soon unveil an integrated version of its PRMS-MODFLOW model called GSFLOW.

3) Incorporation of climate change into water resources planning.  We all (well, Bob and I) learned our hydrology in the Stone Age when we assumed that processes were stationary (in a statistical sense). Well, that is no longer a good assumption, even without climate change - think of PDO, ENSO, etc. But now we have global warming. He spoke of "neohydrology" - hydrology assuming nonstationary processes.

4) "Fixing" impaired waterways. A lot of work still to be done. One sticky issue - to "fix" these, we will have to pay closer attention to water quality and land use impacts (Wow! What a novel idea - integrated land use and water resource planning!) which will mean telling property owners what they can and cannot do with their lands. In the USA, that is not a popular idea. 'Nuff said.

Bob summarized by stating the obvious - that to tackle the above, we cannot use "compartmentalized" approaches. And both theory and data are needed.

But I wouldn't be surprised if, in 2107, some 20-something Congressional staffer asks Bob Hirsch V "Hey, you've been studying water for 200 years. Haven't you answered all the questions?"

"The more things change, the more they remain the same."