infrastructure
New stationarities: avoiding problems in the solutions
06/03/12 13:27
Most of the things that are wrong with water are easy to identify: the massive quantities of largely untreated sewage, industrial pollution that has been the legacy of the industrial revolution worldwide, chemical fertilizer and pest management runoff that is the legacy of the agricultural revolution in the most productive countries, building “bad dams” that are designed and/or operated in ways that significantly an negatively alter the ecosystems and livelihoods of rivers, invasive species, and the overconsumption and diversion of water resources, killing rivers for great lengths or draining lakes and marshes into cities, fields, and factories.
You could call these “first-order problems” with managing water. Read More...
You could call these “first-order problems” with managing water. Read More...
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Pat Mulroy - Part 2: Adapting the Invisible Utility
21/10/11 22:28
Part 2 — Institutions and Infrastructure
Expanding on topics brought up in Part 1, water manager Pat Mulroy explores in Institutions and Infrastructure how the policy, governance, and history of the Colorado river region are interacting with the “new normal” water-scarce conditions.
How are ordinary people and decision makers responding to a long drought? How do we pursue consensus over conflict? While institutions can shift, bend, and anticipate, water infrastructure like dams, pipes, and valves are far more fixed and rigid. If they weren’t designed for current (or projected) conditions, then how can people either adjust to inefficiency or modify that infrastructure? Perhaps most importantly, how do we begin to think about sustainability in the context of a shifting climate?
For more information and background on the Colorado River and the Southern Nevada Water Authority, select Read More. Read More...
Expanding on topics brought up in Part 1, water manager Pat Mulroy explores in Institutions and Infrastructure how the policy, governance, and history of the Colorado river region are interacting with the “new normal” water-scarce conditions.
How are ordinary people and decision makers responding to a long drought? How do we pursue consensus over conflict? While institutions can shift, bend, and anticipate, water infrastructure like dams, pipes, and valves are far more fixed and rigid. If they weren’t designed for current (or projected) conditions, then how can people either adjust to inefficiency or modify that infrastructure? Perhaps most importantly, how do we begin to think about sustainability in the context of a shifting climate?
For more information and background on the Colorado River and the Southern Nevada Water Authority, select Read More. Read More...
Pat Mulroy - Part 1: Adapting the Invisible Utility
20/10/11 04:50
Part 1 — Connections and Threats
Pat Mulroy manages water over a vast piece of real estate in the southwestern United States. But — as she will quickly make clear — there isn’t a lot of water there. There never was much water there, in fact. As a result, the cities, farms, and factories spanning the greater Colorado River basin have learned to live with less. The best of them have also learned to be efficient and smart in their growth. But the past twelve years have either been a drought or the start of a new normal, where only a few inches of rain each year became even less. That’s the threat.
As a result, the region whose water is governed by the Southern Nevada Water Authority that Pat manages has had to look beyond its borders for allies and cooperation. The stability, security, and growth of economic engines such as Las Vegas depend on these alliances. Those are the connections.
In the first of three videos presented here, Pat discusses the actual and virtual basin where southern Nevada is embedded.
For more information and background on the Colorado River and the Southern Nevada Water Authority, select Read More. Read More...
Pat Mulroy manages water over a vast piece of real estate in the southwestern United States. But — as she will quickly make clear — there isn’t a lot of water there. There never was much water there, in fact. As a result, the cities, farms, and factories spanning the greater Colorado River basin have learned to live with less. The best of them have also learned to be efficient and smart in their growth. But the past twelve years have either been a drought or the start of a new normal, where only a few inches of rain each year became even less. That’s the threat.
As a result, the region whose water is governed by the Southern Nevada Water Authority that Pat manages has had to look beyond its borders for allies and cooperation. The stability, security, and growth of economic engines such as Las Vegas depend on these alliances. Those are the connections.
In the first of three videos presented here, Pat discusses the actual and virtual basin where southern Nevada is embedded.
For more information and background on the Colorado River and the Southern Nevada Water Authority, select Read More. Read More...
China's Great Diversion
02/06/11 07:09
