New Zealand's Waikato, Ruapehu Officially in Drought

NZ Herald

New Zealand's Waikato, Ruapehu Officially in Drought
By Paul Harper
11:52 AM Wednesday Dec 15, 2010

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/droughts/news/article.cfm?c_id=180&objectid=10694454

Agriculture Minister David Carter has told Waikato farmers this morning the region is officially in a drought. Photo / Christine Cornege



Agriculture Minister David Carter has declared a drought in the Waikato and Ruapehu District, saying recent rainfalls appear to have had little effect on dry pastures.

The two areas have been designated medium-level drought zones, allowing funding for local Rural Support Trusts to be increased and farm management advice and welfare support to be provided.

Mr Carter's announcement followed weeks of minimal rain that has had little impact on soil moisture deficits.

Mr Carter visited farms near Hamilton today with Waikato Federated Farmers Waikato president Stewart Wadey.

"Many farmers I spoke to today are comparing this early dry to 2007-2008 when drought stripped the national economy of $2.8 billion, with Waikato the worst-affected region," Mr Carter said.

"The sheer size of the economic impact of drought reflects just how important the primary sector is to New Zealand."

Mr Wadey said some parts of the Waikato had received 1-9mm of rainfall, however 120-130mm was required to address the moisture deficit.

The last time Hamilton received more than 10mm of rain was October 14.

The lack of rain meant pasture and silage planted by farmers had not sprouted, Mr Wadey said.

"We've had less than 50 per cent silage supplement making in the Waikato," he said, adding he had been unable to make hay on his own Matamata farm.

Mr Wadey said rain expected later in the week was not likely to be adequate.

"We will get rain, but not of the type of fronts to give up to 25-30mm every other day," he said.

"Things are certainly building up in front of us - if we don't get significant rainfall in the next 10 days we will have a severe situation in the Waikato."

Mr Wadey said the drought would affect the local service industry and the region's towns.

With 70 per cent of New Zealand's milk herd in the Waikato, Mr Wadey said the region's farming problems will affect the country's economic outlook.

"Certainly in the Waikato we are looking very sick," he said. "It will drastically impact export receipts - that was not expected by the Government in their forecasts."

Mr Carter said the situation was particularly hard for farmers who had endured back-to-back droughts.

"This puts pressure on the whole rural community, and I urge those affected to seek advice from their local Rural Support Trust. Making the hard decisions on stocking rates and feed levels can make all the difference in getting through a drought."

Mr Carter said with extreme weather patterns increasing, farmers need to plan more for drought recovery and familiarise themselves with the support available for adverse events.

Soaking 'Cancels' (Australia's) Qld's Fire Season

Soaking 'Cancels' Qld's Fire Season

By Kathy Marks of the New Zealand Herals
5:30 AM Tuesday Dec 28, 2010

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10696792

The east braces for more rain while the west swelters. Photo / Getty Images


It might be hard for flood-weary Queenslanders to appreciate, but the drenching the state received in recent months means the risk of bushfires this summer is virtually zero.

As Queensland braced itself for another soaking yesterday, a Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said the flip side of the torrential downpours - which have caused widespread flooding - was the low fire risk.

"The bushfire season has effectively been cancelled, because of how sodden the state is and has been for a long time," he said.

The rest of the country, though, particularly southern regions and drought-plagued Western Australia, still faces a heightened bushfire threat.

With temperatures of 40C forecast for Perth yesterday, a total fire ban was declared for the city and its surrounds, amid warnings of a severe bushfire danger.

The temperature reached 39.9C in Perth on Christmas Day and the forecast for the rest of the week is for temperatures in the low to mid-30s.

That Australia is a land of extremes was highlighted by the snow that fell overnight on Mt Wellington, on the outskirts of the Tasmanian capital, Hobart.

Although the city itself was somewhat warmer, yesterday's forecast high was only 15C - a world away from the baking cauldron of Perth.

The southwest of Western Australia, which has received minuscule rainfall, will be the nation's bushfire flashpoint this summer, forecasters say.

"The drought hasn't broken in that part of the country whatsoever, and the conditions created by that extended and pronounced period of aridity put it at extreme risk," said the Bureau of Meteorology spokesman.

In Queensland towns such as Chinchilla, in the state's southern inland, residents have different concerns.

Chinchilla was cut off yesterday after more than 100mm of rain was dumped on the town overnight, flooding the Warrego Highway in both directions.

Homes were evacuated and dozens of businesses were forced toclose.

In Theodore, west of Bundaberg, authorities have evacuated low-lying homes, the hospital and the retirement home as the swollen Dawson River rises.

While northern Queensland - the first region to be hit by ex-tropical cyclone Tasha - also received another 100mm of rain, the floodwaters were receding yesterday.

The townsfolk of Ingham, which had been cut off, breathed a sigh of relief after the Bruce Highway reopened in both directions.

Tasha, which was downgraded to a low after making landfall south of Cairns at the weekend, was moving across southern inland areas of the state yesterday.

Parts of central-western New South Wales were also affected, with two dozen properties evacuated after flash floods.

Climate Change Could Push Staple Food Prices Up 130%

Climate Change Could Push Staple Food Prices Up 130% – study

Report warning comes as many countries fear instability caused by rising food prices and shortages

Suzanne Goldberg, US environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 1 December 2010 21.42 GMT

Zambian farmer Amelia Nyundo in a field of maize which failed to grow due to drought: Maize shortages in sub-Saharan Africa could push prices up. Photograph: Martin Godwin

Climate change could lead to shortages and punishing 130% price rises in staple foods within our lifetime, raising the spectre of riots and civil unrest, a new study warned today.

The report, by the International Food Policy Research Institute, warned that warming of even one degree by 2050 could play havoc with food production – with hotter, wetter temperatures cutting crop yields.

With a global population of 9 billion forecasted by the middle of the century, the effects of lower crop yields could be devastating – especially if income growth faltered in developing countries, the report warned.

This year's drought and wildfires in Russia and the massive floods in Pakistan provided a window into a future of extreme weather conditions.

So did the food unrest of the last few years.

"The food price spikes of 2008 and 2010 both had important weather components," Gerald Nelson the report's co-author said.

In the world's poorest countries, average calorie intake would fall significantly, even by 2025. By the middle of this century, child malnutrition could rise by 18%.

"Reducing emissions growth to minimise the effects of climate change is thus essential to avoid a calamitous post-2050 future," the report said.

In a worst-case scenario, the study forecast the price of maize – a staple in sub-Saharan Africa – could go up by 130%. That's 34% higher than in a world without climate change, it said. Rice prices could rise by as much as 78%, and wheat by 67%.

Rice and wheat production would fall across the globe. But in a conference call with reporters, Nelson said sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia would likely suffer most under climate change.

However, even the American midwest would see poorer harvests because of hotter, drier weather patterns. "The corn belt in the United States has serious production losses," he said.

The study is relatively rare in forecasting severe and far-reaching consequences of climate change by 2050 – a time period within the lifetime of most people alive today – rather than the end of the 21st century.

It produced 15 different scenarios of the world in 2050, combining different rates of income and population growth with various climate outcomes,

It also called for warming caused by agriculture – thought to be responsible for about 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions – to be reduced as well as the adoption of a carbon-negative agriculture target by 2050.

Pollution means China's thirst can't be quenched – no matter what is spent

Pollution means China's thirst can't be quenched – no matter what is spent


Jonathan Watts Friday 9 July 2010 17.30 BST

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2010/jul/09/china-yangtze-diversion-pollution

The Baoying Pumping Station in Yangzhou in China's eastern Jiangsu province is one of more than 30 pumping stations to be constructed in the province as part of China's ambitious South-North Water Diversion Project. Claro Cortes/Reuters

A 50-year plan to divert the course of the Yangtze, Asia's mightiest river - to solve droughts and shortages is falling foul of costly pollution clean-up plans

China's ambitious South-North Water Diversion Project : The Baoying Pumping Station In Yangzhou The Baoying Pumping Station in Yangzhou in China's eastern Jiangsu province is one of more than 30 pumping stations to be constructed in the province as part of China's ambitious South-North Water Diversion Project. Claro Cortes/Reuters

China's biggest hydro-engineering project – the £39bn South-North Water Diversion Project, is so contaminated by pollution despite the construction of more than 400 expensive treatment plants that water remains barely usable even after treatment, reports revealed this week.

California Urges Tunnel System for Delta

California Urges Tunnel System for Delta



latimes.com/news/local/la-me-water-tunnel-20101216,0,4140245.story
latimes.com

The $13-billion project would carry water under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River estuary to southbound aqueducts. Environmental groups assail the plan.

By Bettina Boxall, Los Angeles Times

December 16, 2010

State officials Wednesday recommended construction of a $13-billion tunnel system that would carry water under the troubled Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to southbound aqueducts, a project that would replumb a perpetual bottleneck in California's vast water delivery network.

The proposal is far from final. It faces a new administration, lengthy environmental reviews and controversy over how much water should be exported from the Northern California estuary system that serves as a conduit for water shipments to Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley. The earliest completion date would be 2022.

The tunnel plan is a variation of an idea that has been around for decades. Voters in 1982 killed a proposal to route water around the delta in a canal. But talk of a bypass has resurfaced as endangered species protections in recent years have forced cutbacks in pumping from the south delta.

Some water would still be pumped from the south under the new proposal, but the bulk would be drawn from the Sacramento River as it enters the north delta. The water would then be carried by two huge tunnels, 150 feet deep, to the federal and state aqueducts.

Some delta advocates remain staunchly opposed to the concept. But there is growing agreement that changing diversion points could lessen the environmental impacts of pumping and that a tunnel would not be as vulnerable to earthquake damage as a canal bypass or the existing pumping operations.

The project, which would be accompanied by $3.3-billion worth of habitat restoration over 50 years, is part of an ambitious multi-agency program intended to resolve the conflict that has enveloped the delta for decades.

Reaction to the state recommendations, which the Obama administration generally endorsed, underscored how difficult it may be to achieve a delta truce. Environmental groups assailed the planning report as "flawed, incomplete and disappointing." And the largest irrigation district in California already pulled its support of the plan, suspecting that it would not restore its water supplies.

Of particular contention to environmentalists are the size of the tunnel system and the operating rules that would determine the volume of diversions.

California Natural Resources Secretary Lester Snow said Wednesday that annual delta exports under the project could average 5.4 to 5.9 million acre-feet, more than allowed under current environmental restrictions — and considerably more than environmentalists and some fish biologists say the delta ecosystem can withstand if it is to make any sort of recovery.

Critics said there were too many unsettled issues to make such a projection, and they accused federal and state officials of pandering to the agricultural and urban water agencies that would pay for the tunnel system.

Officials "know the assertions that they're making aren't true," said Gary Bobker of the Bay Institute, one of the environmental groups participating in the delta program. "They know that the amount of water that we're going to be able to export from the delta in the future is probably not going to be the kind of numbers the [plan] is talking about."

Last month, the giant Westlands Water District said it was pulling out of the delta program because it didn't think the project would live up to its promise of restoring delta exports, which had reached record levels before the recent drought and endangered species cutbacks of the last two years.

"We cannot justify the expenditure of billions of dollars for a program that is unlikely to restore our water supply," Westlands General Manager Tom Birmingham said Wednesday.

He added that the state plans and statements by the U.S. Interior Department that the project could increase deliveries were a good sign.

"What Interior said today is encouraging. But whether Westlands reverses its position or decision is going to be determined by what Interior does, as opposed to what it says."

bettina.boxall@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times

In a region that imports water, much goes to waste

In a region that imports water, much goes to waste

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-water-storms-20101224,0,592116.story

Southern California laid miles of pipe and tunneled through mountains to import water. But it also built a storm drain system to quickly get rid of rainfall. The contradiction played out again this week.

By Bettina Boxall, Los Angeles Times

December 24, 2010

It is one of the Southland's enduring contradictions. The region that laid pipe across hundreds of miles and tunneled through mountains to import water also built an extensive storm drain system to get rid of rainfall as quickly as possible.

That's exactly what happened during the last week, when tens of billions of gallons of runoff that could lessen the region's need for those faraway sources were dumped into the Pacific. Enough water poured from Los Angeles streets to supply well over 130,000 homes for a year.

As Southern California's traditional water supplies diminish under a variety of pressures, all that runoff sheeting across sidewalks and roads into the maws of storm drains is finally getting some respect.

Save Up to 90%: Sign up for our free daily e-mail to get in on exclusive deals around L.A. Powered by Groupon. Subscribe Now.

"This isn't wastewater until we waste it," said Noah Garrison, an attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council who co-wrote a 2009 paper on capturing and reusing storm water.

The report concluded that the region could increase local supplies by an amount equal to more than half of Los Angeles' annual water demand by incorporating relatively simple water-harvesting techniques in new construction and redevelopments. These include installing cisterns and designing landscaping to retain runoff and let it seep into the ground.

Los Angeles is poised to adopt an ordinance that takes a step in that direction. Most new and redeveloped commercial, industrial and larger apartment projects would have to be designed to capture the runoff generated by the first three-quarters of an inch of rain. New single-family homes would have to install a rain-harvesting device, such as a rain barrel or a hose that diverts water from gutters to landscaping.

But the proposed rules would save only a fraction of the city's runoff. "If we're able to convince people to do it on their own, there's so much more" that can be captured, said Los Angeles Public Works Commissioner Paula Daniels. "The really important thing to do is unpave and change the texture of Los Angeles."

Water-quality regulations, which are clamping down on runoff pollution, are another big impetus for changing attitudes. In South Los Angeles, the city is converting a former bus depot into a nine-acre wetland park that will retain and filter runoff, keeping contaminants out of the L.A. River.

"I believe we will be able to start changing the footprint of the city to make it more water-friendly and hopefully look at storm water as a resource and a benefit," said Adel H. Hagekhalil, assistant director of the L.A. Bureau of Sanitation.

The storm system dumped copious amounts of snow — at least 10 to 12 feet and in some spots far more — in the Sierra Nevada, washing away vestiges of a three-year drought that ended last year. Statewide, 61% of the snowpack, or snow water content, normally measured on April 1 is already on the ground. Storage at most major reservoirs is well above average for this time of year. Dam operators have been releasing water to make sure they have enough space for inflow later in the season.

Managers are cautioning that snow and rain usually taper off in early winter under the La Niña weather conditions expected this year. "The characteristics, unfortunately, of La Niñas are generally a pretty good start and then a frequent lapse. Quite often January, February do not measure up," said Frank Gehrke, chief of the California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program.

But even if they don't, state hydrologist Maury Roos said California has been so thoroughly soaked this month that the year's water supplies will probably be above average.

In the Eastern Sierra, which supplies Los Angeles with a portion of its water, some Department of Water and Power stations have registered eye-popping measurements. At Independence, precipitation as of Tuesday was 549% of the norm for this time of year. Some areas were buried under snow depths usually not seen until the end of the winter.

James McDaniel, the DWP's senior assistant general manager, said the snowpack at Mammoth Pass had shot up to the levels of 1982-83, one of California's wettest winters. "We'll need more storms later in the season to build on that," he said, adding: "There's no denying this is a great beginning to the season."

The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which imports water from Northern California and the Colorado River, is refilling local reserves that had dwindled to levels that forced the agency to cut sales to member agencies.

"I think we're feeling a lot more comfortable about the availability of water supplies," said Debra Man, the MWD's assistant general manager. Still, she said the agency was not ready to scratch allocations that have reduced demand by more than 20%. "I think we're going to wait and see what January, February and March look like."

McDaniel also said L.A. would wait until winter's end before deciding if it would lift the water rationing imposed during the three-year drought. "Statewide storage has recovered well," he said. "But the piece of the puzzle that is not where we'd like to see it is the Colorado River," a source stuck in a long-term drought.

bettina.boxall@latimes.com

Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times

Mexico, US Agree on Colorado River Allotments

From Denver.com

Mexico, US agree on Colorado River allotments
The Associated Press
Posted: 12/20/2010 04:19:31 PM MST
Updated: 12/20/2010 04:20:48 PM MST


MEXICO CITY—U.S. and Mexican officials reached a deal Monday for Mexico to defer part of its water allotment from the Colorado River until 2014 while farmers in the Mexicali area repair irrigation networks damaged by an earthquake this year.

Under the agreement, Mexico can defer delivery of up to 260,000 acre-feet of water through 2013 and then seek to recover that in the following three years, when its canals will be better able to handle the load.

Mexico's annual allotment under a 1944 treaty is 1.5 million acre-feet, a measurement equal to the amount of water needed to flood an acre one foot deep.

The agreement was announced in a meeting between Mexican Environment Secretary Juan Rafael Elvira Quesada and U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar.

Salazar said the two nations want to negotiate a full management plan for the Colorado River in 2011.

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Michael Connor said a comprehensive management agreement "is of particular importance in light of ongoing, historic drought in the Colorado River Basin," where reservoirs have dropped from nearly full levels in 2000 to approximately 55 percent of capacity.

He said that if current drought conditions persist, states like Arizona, California and Nevada may be subject to shortages as early as 2012.

The magnitude-7.2 earthquake on April 4 killed two people and damaged Mexican farm villages near the California border.


Read more: Mexico, US agree on Colorado River allotments - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_16905307#ixzz19Ca5fkvX
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

Department of the Interior Reverses George W. Bush-Era Wilderness Polic

From Denverpost.com

Denver and the west

Interior reverses Bush-era wilderness policy

By Kevin Vaughan
The Denver Post
Posted: 12/24/2010 01:00:00 AM MST
Updated: 12/24/2010 09:09:37 AM MST

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar watches geese fly overhead Thursday outside REI's flagship Denver store as BLM Director Bob Abbey speaks about a new policy that will allow the agency to protect pristine areas as "wild lands." (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar on Thursday gave the Bureau of Land Management the power to designate tens of millions of acres as "wild lands" — a new categorization that could dramatically alter future decisions on everything from mining and drilling to off-roading.

Salazar, who announced his order in Denver's Central Platte Valley, said the new policy will supersede a 2003 out-of-court settlement that came to be known as "no more wilderness." Agreed to by then-Interior Secretary Gale Norton, that settlement removed federal protections on 2.6 million acres of public land in Utah, and the resulting policy left millions of other backcountry acres vulnerable to development, Salazar said.

"That is simply unacceptable," Salazar said, flanked outside the REI flagship store in Denver by members of his staff, conservationists and even an executive from a leading outdoor-gear manufacturer.

Salazar insisted his new policy, which should be in place within 60 days, does not mean that any of the 245 million acres controlled by the BLM land will be "locked up" and barred from development. Instead, he said, the "wilderness characteristics" of each parcel will be among the factors considered as the federal government determines the best use of a particular piece of land.

He said it would protect pristine wildlands while allowing a "common sense" approach to decisions on such matters as oil and gas drilling.

"There will be oil and gas that will continue to be developed," Salazar said.

He and supporters framed the argument in simple terms: as a policy needed to protect backcountry areas and to consider their unique wilderness characteristics as land-use plans are formulated.

"These landscapes are our Sistine Chapel, our Mona Lisa, our David," said Peter Metcalf, head of Black Diamond Equipment.

He and others touted the policy as a way to preserve jobs in hunting, fishing, hiking and climbing.

Whit Fosburgh, head of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, said 13 million Americans hunt and 33 million fish, and the result is 900,000 jobs.

"These are jobs that are here forever," Fosburgh said.

Representatives of the oil and gas industry and the Colorado Oil & Gas Association had no immediate comment on the new order and did not return phone calls seeking reaction. However, Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, head of the Congressional Western Caucus, denounced the action as "little more than an early Christmas present to the far left extremists who oppose the multiple use of our nation's public lands."

Salazar's order will not create new wilderness areas — a designation that can be approved or changed only by Congress under the 1964 Wilderness Act. The new policy also will not affect the management of lands being considered for wilderness designation.

Instead, it will call for the BLM to update its existing inventory of federal land and designate areas that have "wilderness characteristics" as "wild lands."

The Wilderness Act outlines the specific characteristics that can be considered, including the size of an area, opportunities for solitude, and ecological or geological features.

Salazar said the BLM can institute the new policy under existing federal law.

The designation of a particular area as a "wild land" would mean that the wilderness considerations would be "on the same platform" as other factors when decisions are made about what uses to allow, Salazar said.

"The bottom line is land with wilderness characteristics will have a significant place at the table," Salazar said.

Kevin Vaughan: 303-954-5019 or kvaughan@denverpost.com


Read more: Interior reverses Bush-era wilderness policy - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_16933882#ixzz19CYIlIQJ
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

Time to Quench Landscape's Thirst on Colorado's Dry Front Range

From the Denver Post

Denver and the west

It wasn't frosty in Denver, but that's still a snowman that Harper Grace Elmini, 2 1/2, has her hands on Thursday. Harper and her parents traveled from Florida to Denver to visit her grandfather, Vin Elmini, for Christmas, and he was determined that it would be a white one. So he went to great lengths to find some snow for his front yard. Harper accessorized the snowman they made and up with a name: Joe. Read Bill Johnson's column on how Vin brought a snowman to snow-starved Denver. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

Travis Ireland of Denver Parks and Recreation waters trees Thursday at Observatory Park. (Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post)

Although mountains are blanketed in heavy snow, the Front Range is bone dry, suffering through what the Federal Climate Center designates as a moderate drought. So while you're planning your holiday fêtes, serve up one of your drinks with a hose, instead of a glass.

"In my memory, this is as dry as I've ever seen between October and mid-December," says Carl Wilson, Colorado State University Extension horticulturist. "It's been pitiful. I've dug down 12 inches in several places without finding moisture."

Denver has received 1 inch of precipitation since October, making it one of the driest fall seasons on record. That, coupled with warm temperatures and wind, has created conditions that have experts urging us to water landscapes.

"Basically, all landscape plants need water to keep them from drying out," says Kelly Gouge, manager with Swingle Lawn, Tree & Landscape Care. "A lack of moisture means twigs or branches die and trees get brittle. Instead of bending or being flexible, they break."

Drought conditions have landscapers scrambling to give trees a drink. City of Denver forestry workers have quenched nearly 800 trees with 37,500 gallons of water over the past two weeks.

"Trees need watering, but because most of their roots are in the top 6 to 12 inches of the soil, you don't have to water to China," said Gouge, a member of the Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado, adding that efficient watering starts in the grass.

"Water your lawn, and you're watering trees too," says Tony Koski, Colorado State University Extension turf specialist. "Lawns will come out of winter healthier, with fewer weed problems. But the critical ones needing moisture are those that are new. If it was sodded or seeded-in after early September, water it."

Yards with lawn mites also need water, says Koski, especially now. "On these warm days, mites get active and pretty frisky. This means their populations start rising. Watering now helps break that reproduction cycle, preventing disaster later."

Water monthly through March if the weather stays dry. In general, landscapes need an inch of water per month, so people should record snowfall at their residence and add it up every four weeks. Anything less than 12 inches of snow means extra water is required.

Tips for winter watering

• Water when temperatures are above 45 degrees and there's no snow on the ground.

• Apply water slowly. Use a timer to remind you when to move the hose. To water shrubs and trees, using a 5-gallon bucket with holes punched near the bottom can help you gauge the amount of water.

• Give trees 10 gallons of water per inch of trunk diameter. To determine diameter, measure across the trunk at about chest height.

• Soak an area 2 to 3 feet wide on either side of the dripline of trees.

• Shrubs planted less than a year ago need 5 gallons twice monthly; established shrubs need less.

Read more: Time to quench landscape's thirst on Colorado's dry Front Range - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_16933881#ixzz19CUhYg2w
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse