10 March 2016

This Week in Water

Oh, Jim H., what further and on-going depredations of our planet's most precious resource will you aggregate (much to our general annoyance) this week?

Flint, Michigan news. Still no remediation. Still no accountability.

Seas have been rising faster the last century than at any time in the past 2800 years, much of it due to global warming.

Locally, tidal flooding closed Tybee Island, GA.

Cyclone Winston, the worst storm ever recorded in the southern hemisphere, left tens of thousands homeless in Fiji.

El Niño storms have brought billions of gallons of water into California's parched reservoirs. Snowfall in the Sierras is way above average.

Coral reef islands provide hospitable habitats for phytoplankton production and thus for healthy ecosystems in otherwise barren oceans. Some fear coral may not survive into the next century. Excess acidity in the oceans is warping the skeletons and bleaching young coral, a result of carbon dioxide emissions.

They had to truck in snow for the ceremonial start of this year's Iditarod sled-dog race in Alaska.

Radiation from Japanese nuclear reactor Fukushima has now contaminated as much as one-third of the world's oceans.

Indian Point, New York City's nuclear power plant, is leaking 'uncontrollable radioactive flow' in the Hudson River.

After Flint, water testing methods are coming under increasing scrutiny.

Delhi, India is experiencing a severe water crisis. More here.

U.S. tech leaders are calling for a comprehensive innovative strategy to map a secure water future for the country and the world.

Iraq's largest dam is at risk of bursting, threatening millions of people around Mosul downstream.

Is China building a powerful radar on a disputed island in the South China Sea?

@FloridaMan: A scuba diver survived after apparently being sucked into a nuclear power plant intake pipe in South Florida.

Giant, and I do mean GIANT, waves shut down a 12-mile stretch of the Kamehameha Highway on the North Shore of Oahu. Who would want to go there, you might well ask? Well, Eddie Would Go! And, indeed, Eddie Aikau went. And so did his 66 year old brother Clyde. [Full Disclosure: That's one of my favorite beaches in the world. In summer, the water is as calm as a lake. You can stand in the water up to your neck and never get any up your nose. Oh, and the water's so clear you can count your toes 5' below the surface. Babies play in the gently lapping waves. Not winter!]





1 comment:

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

It's been far too long since I snorkeled around some coral.

Best get back to it before it's gone.
~