Water Poverty Index evaluates water-scarcity

Water: More Valuable than Diamonds

A new study by University of Arkansas economists shows a strong relationship between economic freedom and access to water.

David Gay and Charles Britton, economics professors in the Sam M. Walton College of Business, and Richard Ford, professor of economics at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, compared data from two important international indices and found that greater economic freedom leads to economic development, which in turn decreases the amount of poverty associated with a nation's lack of access to water.

When the United Kingdom's Centre for Ecology and Hydrology released the Water Poverty Index, a new interdisciplinary tool for measuring the world's water-scarcity problem, the Arkansas researchers wanted to examine the relationship between water and economic freedom, especially since those who developed the index acknowledged the connection between water use and economic development.

The Water Poverty Index considers five components: resources, access, capacity, use and environment. The researchers limited their analysis to the area of access, which focused on the percent of population with access to clean water, sanitation and irrigation.

To compare water poverty to economic freedom, Gay and his colleagues used the Heritage Foundation's Index of Economic Freedom, which defines economic freedom as "the absence of government coercion or constraint on the production, distribution, or consumption of goods and services beyond the extent necessary for citizens to protect and maintain liberty itself." Stated differently, it is an economic system in which people are free to actively participate -- to work, produce, consume and invest in ways they think are most productive.

The index considers 10 factors --

trade policy,

fiscal burden of government,

government intervention in the economy,

monetary policy,

capital flows and foreign investment,

banking and finance,

wages and prices,

property rights,

regulation, and

black market.

These factors were used to determine the absolute level of economic freedom of 161 countries and to compare those countries to one another.

The researchers discussed their findings within the context of an economics puzzle known as the "paradox of values." Formulated by Adam Smith, the founding father of economics, in his influential book Wealth of Nations, "paradox of values" considers the question of why diamonds have a higher market value than water when the latter sustains life and former does not.

The researchers' study was published in the Forum of the Association for Arid Lands Studies.

David Gay, professor of economics
Sam M. Walton College of Business
(479) 575-6222, dgay@walton.uark.edu

Charles Britton, professor of economics
Sam M. Walton College of Business
(479) 575-6218, cbritton@walton.uark.edu

Matt McGowan, science and research communications officer
University Relations
(479) 575-4246, dmcgowa@uark.edu


Heritage Foundation -- Index of Economic Freedom
Centre for Ecology and Hydrology -- Water Poverty Index

Water bond: largest in decade - Proposition 84

Proposition 84 — November 7, 2006 the Clean Water, Parks and Coastal Protection initiative -- is the sixth resource bond endorsed by voters in the last decade...(and it passed!)

The $5.4 billion bond sale will provide funds to protect water quality, preserve coastline, improve state parks and acquire public land for conservation. The Legislative Analyst's Office estimates the total cost of the measure to be about $10.5 billion over 30 years.

"Proposition 84 is endorsed by more organizations and community and business leaders than any other measure on the ballot," said Julie Benson, spokesperson for the Nature Conservancy. Over 450 institutional and individual supporters from across the political spectrum are listed on the Yes on 84 campaign website.

Funds earmarked for water projects make up roughly half of Proposition 84's provisions, while voter-approved bonds in the past decade sent $3.7 billion towards water quality and management projects. All of the previous bonds combined funding for water projects with financing land acquisition for conservation and recreation.

According to backers, water projects and land conservation make a happy union.

The fine print of the measure earmarks various amounts of money directly to environmental agencies. But, as proponents point out, these agencies are all public. For example, it would provide $54 million to the state-run Sierra Nevada Conservancy for various forest conservation projects.

In the area of land conservation, however, public and private agencies often work together to transfer land into the public domain. Audrey Rust, executive director of the non-profit Palo Alto-based Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST), said her group helps state agencies by acquiring land quickly and holding it until it can be purchased with government money.

Transportation air pollutants can be halved -- Interface and Meridian IQ are on their way

Nov., 2006 - Interface, Inc. and Meridian IQ are joint recipients of an Environmental Excellence Award from the US EPA's SmartWay Transport Partnership for their achievements and leadership in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other air pollutants related to transportation activities.

This partnership between Interface, a leading global manufacturer of carpet and commercial fabrics, and Meridian IQ, a leading provider of global logistics services, is an example of the benefits of collaboration between SmartWay Partners.

Meridian IQ helped Interface take the highly successful Shipper FLEET Performance model and "dig a bit deeper" to create an even more comprehensive model for measuring Interface's transportation footprint that goes beyond the rail and truck transport parameters in the EPA model, to also include ocean and air impacts. Meridian IQ has enabled Interface to break the data down by partial truckload - to ensure accurate emission reduction results and to optimize Interface's supply chain efficiency in keeping with its sustainability goals.

Interface has committed to "Mission Zero(TM)," their corporate promise to eliminate any negative impact the company has on the environment by 2020.

The EPA provides tools through the Shipper FLEET Performance Model The Freight Logistics Environmental and Energy Tracking Performance Model (FLEET Performance Model) for Shippers allows a company to quantify the percentage of freight they ship or receive with fleets that are members of the SmartWay Transport Partnership. In addition, the model has the capability to help shippers estimate the actual carbon dioxide, NOx, and particulate matter emissions generated from their entire shipping operations.

Logistical tools and solutions from Meridian IQ have allowed Interface to advance considerably toward their target of reducing GHG emissions related to product transport by 50% by 2020. Meridian IQ is the global logistics management subsidiary of YRC Worldwide.

The SmartWay Transport Partners include businesses and organizations of all sizes, from Fortune 500 companies to family-owned businesses, each working to improve their environmental performance.

Interface has a Southern California carpet division located in Los Angeles.

Leash rules for pets installed to protect rare bird

San Francisco Dogs and Rare Birds

Dogs will no longer be allowed off-leash during much of the year on parts of San Francisco's Crissy Field and Ocean Beach, under a new emergency rule aimed at protecting a rare shorebird.

Officials with the National Park Service's Golden Gate National Recreation Area have posted signs about the new rule and began warning dog owners over the weekend about the minimum $100 citation for having off-leash pets in zones designated to protect the Western snowy plover. The bird is considered threatened and protected by the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Pets and wildlife don't mix. We forget that cats and dogs are predators and that our small wildlife -- even in urban areas -- aren't genetically wired to recognize dogs, cats, ferrets, etc. as predators, or have built in strategies to protect themselves.

Another factor that we don't think of is that pets on leashes are frequently encountered by wildlife -- and they get used to seeing these predators as benign. Then they encounter unleashed predators and they are caught off-guard.

Urban wildlife, in particular, are being decimated by pets that run loose. Cats hunt at night when they are let out and owners think only about the cats' needs for freedom and happiness.
Cats hunt small native rodents such as native field mice and squirrels.

Dogs hunt birds -- I recently saw a German Shepherd maul and kill a full grown duck at an urban wetlands when the dog's master let him run loose. Remorse doesn't solve the problem. Only prevention will.

The sheer numbers of pets are also a problem.

Did you know?

* There are more than 60 million pet dogs in the U.S. and nearly 70 million pet cats.

SOURCE: http://www.avma.org/membshp/marketstats/sourcebook.asp


Feral cats are the offspring of stray or abandoned household pets. Raised without human contact, they quickly revert to a wild state and form colonies wherever food and shelter are available.

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RELATED

* Cats Can Catch and Spread Bird Flu, Study Says

Many city and county animal control agencies are mandated only to deal with dogs—not cats. So for decades feral cats have remained untouchable.

Some feline experts now estimate 70 million feral cats live in the United States, the consequence of little effort to control the population and of the cat's ability to reproduce quickly.

The number concerns wildlife and ornithology organizations that believe these stealthy predators decimate bird populations and threaten public health. The organizations want the cats removed from the environment and taken to animal shelters, where they are often killed.

In urban areas there are hundreds of cats per square mile (1.6 square kilometers) more cats than nature can support.



SOURCE: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/09/0907_040907_feralcats.html

Ports Revise Plan to Reduce Air Pollution and Health Risks

Los Angeles and Long Beach Ports

Landmark Clean Air Action Plan to Improve Air Quality in Southern California

Nov. 6, 2006--Acting on recommendations from the public and regulatory agencies, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have revised their landmark Clean Air Action Plan, adding a commitment to explore the use of pollution-based impact fees, increase shore-side electricity and improve bay-wide emission standards to significantly reduce the health risks posed by air pollution from port-related ships, trains, trucks, terminal equipment and harbor craft.

Outlining the most comprehensive clean air strategy ever produced for a U.S. port complex, the draft Final 2006 San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan was released today in order to allow ample time for public review of the revised Plan before it is formally presented to both port boards for approval.

The Plan will be brought to the Los Angeles and Long Beach Boards of Harbor Commissioners for a vote on adoption at a special joint public meeting of the two boards at 1 p.m. Monday, November 20, at the Long Beach City Council Chambers, 333 W. Ocean Boulevard.

The five-year Plan, which will reduce air pollution by at least 45 percent, was created with the cooperation and participation of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, California Air Resources Board and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. After the draft Plan was issued in June 2006, dozens of individuals and groups submitted more than 500 pages of written comments and testified at four public meetings. Responding to the suggestions, the revised Action Plan includes the following:

-- The Ports have now fully developed commitments and milestones for achieving air emission reductions.

-- The Ports will explore the use of pollution-based impact fees, such as gate fees assessed on "dirty" trucks, so that polluters pay their part to improve air quality.

-- The Ports will develop tariff-based incentives and requirements, such as vessel speed reduction incentives and port-mandated fuel requirements, to curb harmful air emissions.

-- The Ports will work with the air quality regulatory agencies AQMD, CARB and EPA) to establish Bay-wide air quality standards, as well as mechanisms for tracking improvements in air quality.

-- Within five years, the Port of Long Beach will develop shore-side electricity for ships at berth at 10 to 16 Long Beach berths, a significant increase in the number specified in the draft Clean Air Action Plan. (The draft Plan already included the Port of Los Angeles' commitment to facilitating shore-side electricity for ships at 15 berths within five years.)

"We listened to the community and made very significant revisions," said Richard Steinke, executive director of the Port of Long Beach. "This plan will help us to make these the world's greenest, most environmentally friendly seaports."

"We simply cannot grow our ports to accommodate future cargo trade volumes without a comprehensive plan like this in place to minimize port-related pollution in our region," said Geraldine Knatz, executive director for the Port of Los Angeles.

About the Clean Air Action Plan

The Plan proposes hundreds of millions of dollars in investments by the ports, the local air district, the state, and port-related industry. Even as trade grows at the two ports, the Plan aims to cut diesel-related particulate matter (PM) pollution by more than 47 percent and smog forming nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by more than 45 percent within the next five years, resulting in emissions that will be below 2001 levels. Measures under the Plan also will result in reductions of sulfur oxides (SOx) by more than 52 percent. NOx is a precursor of smog; SOx contributes to particulate matter; and PM has been shown to lead to health problems.

Under the Plan, the ports propose to eliminate "dirty" diesel trucks from San Pedro Bay cargo terminals within five years by helping to finance a new generation of clean or retrofitted vehicles.

The Plan also calls for all major container cargo and cruise ship terminals at the ports to be equipped with shore-side electricity within five to ten years so that vessels at berth can shut down their diesel-powered auxiliary engines. To reduce emissions of air pollutants, ships would also be required to reduce their speeds when entering or leaving the harbor region, use low-sulfur fuels, and employ other emission-reduction measures and technologies.

The Clean Air Action Plan accelerates the efforts of a California Air Resources Board pollution reduction plan by requiring faster replacement of existing cargo-handling equipment with new equipment that will meet the toughest U.S. Environmental Protection Agency emissions standards.

The comprehensive San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan Technical Report, a more concise Overview, and the Comment Compendium will be available for review at the web sites of the two ports, www.portoflosangeles.org and www.polb.com, as well as at the port headquarters and at local libraries.

Moving more than $260 billion a year in trade and more than 40 percent of the nation's containerized cargo, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are the two largest container seaports in the United States. If taken together, the adjacent ports would be the fifth-largest container port in the world. The two ports support more than 500,000 jobs in Southern California. The ships, trucks, trains and other diesel-powered equipment and craft at the ports are major sources of air pollution in a region that already has some of the worst air quality in the nation. Port-related vessels and vehicles account for 12 percent of Southern California's diesel particulate matter pollution, 9 percent of the region's nitrogen oxide pollution, and 45 percent of the region's sulfur oxides pollution.



Copyright Business Wire 2006

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2007 Great American Cleanup™

Keep America Beautiful Partners With The Wireless Alliance For 2007 Great American CleanupTM


Boulder, Colorado -- The Wireless Alliance, a leading cell phone recycling company, announced today a partnership with Keep America Beautiful to facilitate the recycling of wireless waste for their 2007 Great American Cleanup.

Keep America Beautiful's Great American Cleanup is the nation’s largest annual community improvement program with over 30,000 clean-up, green-up and fix-up events in over 15,000 communities throughout the United States, involving 2.3 million volunteers.

This is a large and diverse program, and management wanted to work with an established cell phone recycling company that maintains a zero-waste policy and recycles according to national and local EPA laws. The Wireless Alliance’s knowledge and cell phone recycling reputation made this an easy choice.”

The Wireless Alliance works with manufacturers, wireless carriers, recyclers and non-profit organizations to collect, reuse, resell and recycle cellular equipment. Since 2002, The Wireless Alliance has diverted more than 300 tons of wireless equipment from landfills.

"The downside of rapid advances in cell phone technology is the impact that used or obsolete phones have on the waste stream," said G. Raymond Empson, President of Keep America Beautiful. "Through our partnership with The Wireless Alliance we can provide consumers with timely opportunities, resources and information that help them to make responsible choices in the proper disposal of their wireless phone equipment."

About The Wireless Alliance
Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, The Wireless Alliance works with recyclers, wireless carriers, and non-profit organizations to collect, reuse and recycle cellular equipment. All equipment is repurposed in a zero waste manner. The Wireless Alliance has reclaimed over 300 tons of wireless equipment from landfills, contributing to a cleaner and safer environment. For more information on The Wireless Alliance call us at (303) 543-7477 or visit us at www.thewirelessalliance.com .

About Keep America Beautiful
Keep America Beautiful is a national nonprofit public education organization dedicated since 1953 to engaging individuals to take greater responsibility for improving their local community environments. For half a century, Keep America Beautiful has been the nation's leading community improvement organization successfully implementing an effective, systematic strategy for reducing waste, preventing litter and beautifying communities nationwide. The Great American Cleanup is the organization's signature program that mobilizes millions of volunteers to improve their communities through hands-on participation. For more information, visit www.kab.org.

SOURCE: http://www.csrwire.com

For more information please contact:

Nathan Bieck, Director of Marketing
The Wireless Alliance
303-543-7477
www.thewirelessalliance.com

Arungo -- like bamboo -- is a cautionary invasive plant tale

Members of the California Conservation Corps in Redding helped remove large arundo growths on banks around a pond and lagoon off Park Marina Drive.

About 50 sites at which arundo has been cleared around Redding will need to be sprayed over the next several years to keep the plant from coming back. Shasta County is home to several arundo project sites.

Arundo is native to the Mediterranean and is also known as giant reed. Arundo, which resembles bamboo, in the right conditions -- plenty of water and fertile soil -- can grow 4 inches a day.

Arundo was introduced to California in the 1800s by farmers and ranchers who thought it would stabilize stream banks, but he plant's roots break loose during storms and spur erosion.

Getting rid of arundo requires cutting the shoots -- which can grow to 30 feet tall -- and then spraying the root clusters with an herbicide to kill them.

Vernal pool reductions by US Fish & Game

Vernal pools are depressions that fill with water in the rainy season but are dry in summer.They are home to a variety of unusual plants and animals, some of which are endangered.

SACRAMENTO Nov 2006 -- A federal judge overturned a decision reducing the area designated as critical habitat for 15 rare vernal pool species.

Judge William Shubb ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reconsider its decision to delete 900,000 acres in 11 counties from its final designation of critical habitat. That reduction included about 46,000 acres each in Butte and Tehama counties and 10,000 acres in Glenn County. Judge Shubb gave the service 120 days to complete the review.

The action was taken as a result of a suit by six environmental groups including the Chico-based Butte Environmental Council.

In August 2005, the service designated 858,846 acres as critical habitat for the vernal pool species, but that area was about 900,000 acres smaller than the area initially being studied.

Of that reduction, 136,000 acres were excluded from the final rule because they were part of national or state wildlife refuges or ecological preserves, department of defense or tribal lands, or lands covered by Habitat Conservation Plans or other management plans.

The Endangered Species Act requires the Fish and Wildlife Service to delineate areas that are important to rare species' survival.

SOURCE: Oroville Mercury-Register Online

Privatization of Water comes to California with a 100-year contract

SFGate.com
reports on water wars for fresh water in California.

In the northeast corner of California, where conservationists are fighting the Nestle Co. over their plans to tap into a source near what is arguably the state's most pristine large river.

Nestle, the country's largest bottled water company, could ultimately extract up to 520 million gallons of water from the McCloud River watershed each year. The McCloud is unique among California's larger rivers in that most of its water derives from springs located near the base of Mount Shasta rather than from rainfall or snowmelt.

Under the plan, the company could also bottle an unlimited amount of groundwater and would maintain rights to a dam on the McCloud River.

Opponents to the project say it could dry up local aquifers and deplete Squaw Valley Creek, a trout stream and the McCloud's major tributary. It has also been contended that Nestle's deal may not be a sound one financially for the town.

Nestle and its supporters counter that the bottling plant, planned for a 250-acre site that once supported the town's main lumber mill, would establish a sustainable industry in the economically depressed area, providing much-needed jobs and tax revenue.

Nestle, which produces several brands of bottled water, including Poland Springs, the nation's No. 1 brand, said the company will monitor the water supply and has plans to prevent shortages in McCloud, an unincorporated town of fewer than 1,400 residents.

And although most of the bottled water will come from excess flows into the town's water system, some opponents worry about the plan to bore into the aquifer to collect even more.

"The problem is that this is a fractured aquifer, with cracks running every which way," said Debra Anderson, chairwoman of the McCloud Watershed Council, a group opposed to the project. "You really don't know what large-scale drilling will do. People around here have sunk their wells too deep and they lost all their water -- it disappeared like it was going down a bathtub drain."

"I'm not anti-Nestle," said Richard McFarland, a local businessman. "I'm pro-McCloud. If Nestle came to the table with a good plan, I'd support it completely. But this isn't it. Environmental risks aside, it doesn't make sense economically. It's a 100-year contract that contains no considerations for inflation or growth in the value of the (water)."

SOURCE: SFGate.com

Bay / delta habitats suffer big declines

I've long been intrigued by mollusks and their filtering role in our waters -- as well as bellwether of ecological health. This article not only reports on biodiversity of the No.California Bay, but the role of mollusks in today's ecological system.

Bay, delta habitats suffer big declines

Most of 39 species studied have lost half of original populations

David Perlman, Chronicle Science Editor

Friday, November 3, 2006

For more than a thousand years the waters of San Francisco Bay and the rivers that feed the delta have been losing critical species of fish, wildlife and plants, and the loss rate is steadily increasing today, say marine biologists.

Scientists studied long-term trends in 39 species of marine mammals, birds, fish, shellfish, plankton and plants around the bay, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and the rivers that feed the delta, tracing their population trends back for 1,000 years.

They found that more than 90 percent of the original water-dwelling species in those waters have lost at least half their populations, and a third of those populations collapsed close to extinction before their numbers partially recovered in more recent times.

San Francisco's waters, she said, are top contenders for historic damage with only a little recent relief from conservation efforts around the bay's shorelines to restore salt ponds and revive vegetation that serves as habitat for fish and shorebirds.

Of the 12 bays and estuaries Lotze and her colleagues studied, the biodiversity of San Francisco Bay's waters has fared worse than similar areas in Canada and Australia, she said, but is about the same as the Chesapeake Bay and the Bay of Fundy on the Atlantic coast.

Her team recorded 145 alien plants and animals that have invaded San Francisco Bay since historic times, a number that far exceeds the count of invasive species recorded in several European coastal estuaries, she said.

The bay's water quality, however, "is a bit of an outsider," she said, compared to the other bay and river systems she studied.

It shows no signs of oxygen depletion that could threaten fish, she said, and the reason is a bit ironic:

The native oysters, clams and mussels that once filtered organic matter from water and prevented algae from blooming in the bay disappeared, but varied species of alien invading clams from Japan, the Philippines and the Atlantic coast have replaced them and taken on the filtering role.

Dangerous blooms of algae no longer threaten the bay's ecology, Lotze said.

SOURCE: SFGATE.com