WEEKLY WATER NEWS

WEEKLY WATER NEWS

DATASTREME WES WEEK SIX: 8-12 October 2007

Water in the News

(Thurs.) Environmental Literacy Grant Recipients for 2007 announced-- NOAA recently announced the names of the 2007 recipients of the NOAA Environmental Literacy Grants, awards designed to support educational projects aimed at increasing the public's environmental literacy. [NOAA News]
(Thurs.) Alaskan walruses head for shore -- Conservation officials from a variety of federal and state agencies, along with conservation groups, have voiced concern that thousands of Alaskan walruses have abandoned the melting sea ice surrounding Alaska and have taken up residence along the state's northwest coast. [USA Today]
(Thurs.) British tidal power plan endorsed -- The Sustainable Development Commission, an influential advisory body in the United Kingdom's government has endorsed a proposal that would have a tidal barrage stretch across the Severn estuary so as to harness the power of the tides to generate electricity, which according to projections would account for approximately 10 percent of that nation's electricity. [BBC News]
(Thurs.) Twin Cities metropolitan area has groundwater contamination -- An investigative report by the Minneapolis Star Tribune has found as many as 20 plumes of contaminated groundwater that have affected as many as 35 Minnesota communities in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area. [US Water News Online]
(Thurs.) Effort planned to get clean water to the poor -- The Carolina Global Water Partnership has been developed by the academic community at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill designed to apply business principles to find solutions for making water treatment technologies available to poor homes in developing countries. [EurekAlert!]
(Tues.) Celebrate Earth Science Week -- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, to include the National Weather Service, along with NASA, the US Geological Survey and several professional scientific organizations such as the American Geological Institute have recognized next week (14-20 October 2007) as Earth Science Week to help the public gain a better understanding and appreciation for the earth sciences and to encourage stewardship of the Earth. This year's theme for the 10th annual Earth Science Week is "The Pulse of Earth Science", designed to promote public and professional awareness of the status of earth science in education and society. [American Geological Institute]
(Tues.) New phase of Narragansett Bay debris cleanup efforts launched -- Last week, officials from the state of Rhode Island and NOAA launched "Clean Sweep II.", the next phase in a project designed to clean up the waters and shoreline of the state's Narragansett Bay. [NOAA News]
(Tues.) Upwelling effects seen on Lake Michigan -- High-resolution temperature data collected by MODIS sensors on NASA's satellites show that surface temperatures on Lake Michigan, just offshore of eastern Wisconsin and northeast Illinois, were in the mid 40s and low 50s last week. This is nearly 20 Fahrenheit degrees lower than on smaller lakes across the Badger State, most notably Lake Winnebago. The lower temperatures of the nearshore waters of Lake Michigan were caused by upwelling due to a prolonged spell of southwest and west winds across the Upper Midwest. [Milwaukee/Sullivan National Weather Service Forecast Office]
(Tues.) Causes for record low level on Lake Superior examined -- Scientists with NOAA's Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory are among various people attempting to explain the occurrence of the lowest lake level of Lake Superior in 81 years. The ongoing drought along with unseasonably warm weather appear to be the main culprits. [USA Today]
(Tues.) New Zealand lake could overflow -- At the end of last week, a lake behind a dam in New Zealand's Mount Aspiring National Park was in danger of cresting the dam because of a landslide that had caused the lake level to rise. [Stuff from New Zealand]
(Tues.) Shipwrecks caused by storm waves are simulated -- Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed a new computer program and analysis method that they have used to simulate the development of sufficiently large water waves that could cause shipwrecks, such as the storm-driven waves that contributed to the loss of the ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior in November 1975. [University of Michigan]
Eye on the tropics ---
- As of Sunday afternoon, no tropical cyclones had formed during the past week in the North Atlantic, eastern North Pacific or central North Pacific basins. However, several areas of low pressure, including tropical waves, had developed in the Atlantic basin, which includes the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.
- Earlier in the week, Tropical Storm Juliette dissipated over the eastern North Pacific several hundred miles offshore of the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula.
- In the western North Pacific basin , Typhoon Lekima formed early last week in the South China Sea, reaching a minimal category 1 typhoon (on the Saffir-Simpson Scale). By late in the week, this typhoon made landfall along the northern coast of Viet Nam, where at least 46 fatalities were reported as of Sunday due to flooding and landslides caused by the typhoon's torrential rain. [USA Today]
  Typhoon Krosa (Cambodian word for crane) formed east of Luzon in the northern Philippines and moved northwestward, intensifying to a category 4 typhoon late in the week as maximum sustained surface winds reached 130 mph. This system traveled across northern sections of Taiwan, where five fatalities were reported. By Sunday afternoon (local time) the system made landfall on the southeast coast of mainland China. Torrential rain fell across southeastern China, where more than one million people were evacuated. [USA Today] A MODIS image from NASA's Aqua satellite from late last week shows the spiral swirl of clouds surrounding the central eye of Typhoon Krosa, which is a characteristic of tropical cyclones. [NASA Earth Observatory] A day earlier, an image from the Japanese MTSAT satellite shows the clouds associated with Typhoons Lekima and Krosa across the western Pacific and southeast Asia. [NOAA OSEI]
- At the start of the week, the hurricane research team of Professor Bill Gray and Phil Klotzbach at Colorado State University made an updated hurricane forecast for the North Atlantic covering the months of October and November in which they predicted four additional named tropical cyclones, including only two additional hurricanes, both of which could become severe. [USA Today]
Drought in eastern Europe -- Images of the vegetation anomaly, a measure of the health of vegetation obtained from the MODIS sensor on NASA's Terra satellite, show the current severe drought conditions in the eastern European republic of Moldova. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Volcano erupts in the Red Sea -- A volcano erupted on a Yemeni island in the Red Sea early last week killing at least four people. [BBC News] A MODIS image from NASA's Aqua satellite shows the plume of ash and steam spreading out across the Red Sea. [NOAA OSEI]
Warm winter could worsen drought -- Meteorologists at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center have issued a preliminary outlook for the upcoming winter season (December through February), which suggests that temperatures across much of the nation would be above average. It also suggests that many areas of the country should see below average precipitation, except for sections of the Pacific Northwest and Ohio Valley where heavier than average winter precipitation can be anticipated. [USA Today]
Deadly African floods -- More than 200 people have died in several African nations because of recent floods caused by torrential rains during the last several months. [US Water News Online]
Global and US Hazards/Climate Extremes -- A review and analysis of the global impacts of various weather-related events, including drought, floods, and storms during the current month. [NCDC]
Global Water News Watch -- Other water news sources can be obtained through the SAHRA Project at the University of Arizona [SAHRA Project]
Earthweek -- Diary of the Planet [earthweek.com] Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Concept of the Week: Bottled Water

During the 1990s, bottled water soared in popularity among Americans. Today, they spend more than $7 billion a year on bottled water. Although 120 to 7500 times more costly per gallon than tap water, the demand for bottled water (especially in individualized containers) continues to climb for several reasons including convenience, health concerns, and dissatisfaction with the quality and taste of municipal tap water. Furthermore, clever ad campaigns have been very successful at persuading consumers of the advantages of drinking bottled water.

Although enamored by bottled water, the U.S. consumer must navigate through a variety of different brands (more than 900), and a potentially confusing terminology on labels mostly having to do with the source of the water. According to the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA), bottled water is defined as drinking water that is sugar-free, calorie-free, and contains no sweeteners or chemical additives other than small amounts of flavors or extracts. Bottled water may also have trace amounts of sodium. Beverages containing 1% or more by weight of flavors or extracts are classified as soft drinks. Soda water, seltzer water, and tonic water are considered soft drinks not bottled water because they may contain sugar and are not calorie-free.

About 75% of all bottled water comes from the subsurface. Bottled water from a well that taps a confined aquifer under hydrologic pressure is artesian water or artesian well water. Mineral water is groundwater that contains at least 250 parts per million (ppm) of dissolved solids from natural sources (i.e., dissolved bedrock, and sediment). Sparkling water contains dissolved carbon dioxide undiminished in concentration from its natural source. Spring water is groundwater that flows naturally to the surface of the Earth where an aquifer intercepts the ground. Well water is bottled water withdrawn from a hole drilled or bored into an aquifer. Collectively, all bottled water from subsurface sources is called natural water.

The quality of bottled water from the subsurface benefits from natural filtration as groundwater slowly seeps through permeable Earth materials. Nonetheless, in many cases bottlers employ additional purification steps such as applying ozone and/or ultraviolet light as disinfecting agents. Bottled water producers who use municipal sources (about 25% of the supply) typically (but not in all cases) reprocess the water for improved quality and taste through distillation, reverse osmosis, deionization, filtration, and/or ozonation. Labels on their products may include the terms purified water or distilled water. These same labels may include the statement "from a community water system," or "from a municipal source" meaning tap water.

While efforts at quality control of bottled water are designed to protect public health, a study by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) published in March 1999 raised some questions about whether enough is being done. The NRDC tested the quality of 1000 bottles of 103 brands of bottled water and found that not all the tested water was of high quality and some samples contained contaminants (http://www.nrdc.org/water/drinking/nbw.asp). Although the industry has strict standards and both federal and state governments regulate bottled water quality, the NRDC argues that existing regulations are not adequate. The NRDC recommends that the Food and Drug Administration set strict limits for contaminants in bottled water and that bottled water standards be at least as strict as those applicable to municipal (tap) water supplies.

Concept of the Week: Questions

By convention, bottled water is drinking water that is both sugar-free and calorie-free. [(True)(False)]
The source of most water in bottled water is [(subsurface)(surface)] reservoirs.

Historical Events

8 October 1871...Prolonged drought and dry winds from the southwest led to the great Chicago fire, the Peshtigo horror, and the Michigan fire holocaust. Fire destroyed more than seventeen thousand buildings killing more than 200 persons in the city of Chicago, while on the same night a fire consumed the town of Peshtigo, WI killing more than 1100 persons. In Wisconsin, a million acres of land were burned, and in Michigan, 2.5 million acres were burned killing 200 persons. In northeastern Wisconsin, "tornadoes of fire" generated by intense heat caused houses to explode in fire, and burned to death scores of persons seeking refuge in open fields. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
9 October 1903...New York City was deluged with 11.17 in. of rain in 24 hours at Central Park to establish a state record, while 9.40 in. fell at Battery Park. Severe flooding occurred in the Passaic Valley of New Jersey where more than fifteen inches of rain was reported. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel) (Intellicast)
9 October 1936...The first generator at Boulder Dam, later renamed Hoover Dam, began generating electricity for Los Angeles. From 1939 to 1949, the Hoover power plant with 17 main turbines was the world's largest. (Today in Science History)
9 October 1967...A cyclone of relatively small dimension with a surface width of only 31 miles hit India's coast at Orissa and moved to the northeast along the coast for 75 miles. As many as 1000 people and 50,000 head of cattle died. A surge in the storm's wake penetrated 16 miles inland. (Accord Weather Calendar)
10 October 1973...Fifteen to 20 inches of rain deluged north central Oklahoma in thirteen hours producing record flooding. Enid was drenched with 15.68 inches of rain from the nearly stationary thunderstorms, which established a state 24-hour rainfall record. Dover, OK reported 125 of 150 homes damaged by flooding. (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
10-16 October 1780...The most deadly Western Hemisphere hurricane on record raged across the Caribbean Sea. "Great Hurricane of 1780" killed 22,000 people on the islands of Martinique, St. Eustatius, and Barbados. Thousands more died at sea. (The Weather Doctor)
11 October 1737...Deadly cyclone and storm surge of 42 ft raced up the Hooghly River in India and through the city of Calcutta destroying an estimated 40,000 boats and drowning as many as 300,000 people. (The Weather Doctor)
11 October 1846...A very intense hurricane caused great destruction on the Florida Keys. Key West was virtually destroyed with 5 feet of water reported in the city. Fort Taylor was reduced to ruins. (Intellicast)
11 October 1954...A deluge of 6.72 inches of rain in 48 hours flooded the Chicago River, causing $10 million in damage in the Chicago area. Unofficial reports indicated as much as 12 inches of rain fell. (9th-11th) (David Ludlum) (The Weather Channel)
11-12 October 1995...Heavy rain contributed to flooding along parts of I-75 near Ocala, FL. Five sinkholes up to 10 feet deep and 15 feet wide turned I-75 into a parking lot, as traffic was backed up for more than 5 miles. (Accord Weather Calendar)
12 October 1886...A hurricane made landfall between Sabine Pass, TX and Johnson's Bayou, LA. Tidal waves were said to be as high as 2-story buildings. The surge extended 20 miles inland, with 150 people killed. Survivors clung to trees or floated on mattresses. Only two of 100 homes in Sabine Pass were reparable. (Accord Weather Calendar)
12 October 1954...Hurricane Hazel pounded Haiti and the island of Hispaniola with winds of 125 mph. Many villages were reported totally destroyed and more than 1000 Haitians die. (The Weather Doctor)
12 October 1962...Remnants of Typhoon Freda struck the Pacific Coast of British Columbia's Vancouver Island. Wind speeds at Victoria reached 44 mph with gusts to 87 mph. Seven people died as a result of this storm that also caused $10 million in damage. (The Weather Doctor)
12 October 1979...The lowest observed sea-level barometric pressure (870 mb or 25.69 inches of mercury) was recorded near Guam in the western Pacific Ocean at the center of Typhoon Tip. (The Weather Doctor)
14 October 1755...Red dust that was likely transported from the Sahara Desert spread across Europe. Red rain fell at Locarno, Switzerland, while red snow fell on the higher elevations of the Alps. (Accord Weather Calendar)
14 October 1957...Floodwaters roared through a migrant labor camp near the town of Picacho, AZ flooding fifty cabins and a dozen nearby homes. Some 250 migrant workers lost their shelter. The month was one of the wettest Octobers in Arizona weather history. (The Weather Channel)