WEEKLY WATER NEWS

DATASTREME WES SPRING BREAK WEEK: 3-7 March 2008

This is Break Week for the Spring 2008 offering of the DataStreme WES course. This Weekly Water News will contain new information items and historical data, but the Concept of the Week is repeated from Week 6.

Water in the News

Eye on the tropics -- A tropical cyclone formed in the eastern South Indian Ocean off the Australian coast over the weekend. Tropical Cyclone 21S became a category 1 cyclone on the Saffir-Simpson Scale and was identified as Tropical Cyclone Ophelia. As of late Sunday (local time), this cyclone was continuing to travel to the west-southwest offshore of Australia.
A tropical storm briefly formed over the western South Pacific east of Australia at the end of last week. This system, identified as Tropical Cyclone 20P, traveled to the southeast and quickly became an extratropical low pressure system.
Tropical cyclone death toll mounts -- The disaster agency on Madagascar reported that near the end of last week, the death total from Tropical Cyclone Ivan had risen to 83, while 117 people remained missing. Some locals called "Ivan the Terrible", which made landfall on the island nation two weeks ago, the largest cyclone in living memory. [USA Today]
"Hurricane hunter" aircraft to have specialized surface wind instruments -- NOAA officials recently announced that the entire fleet of NOAA and US Air Force Reserve "hurricane hunter" aircraft will be equipped with a special wind sensing radar instrument called a stepped frequency microwave radiometer that will permit a more accurate determination of the surface wind speeds as the aircraft penetrate hurricanes and tropical storms. [NOAA News]
Resiliency of coast communities to disaster studied -- Researchers at Louisiana State University have been considering the economic and environmental factors as part of their study as to how coastal communities in Louisiana have responded to the recovery from disaster. [EurekAlert!]
Flooding rains in the Southern Hemisphere -- An IR image obtained from NOAA's GOES-12 satellite late last week shows the clouds that were responsible for torrential rain that caused flooding in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area of Argentina. [NOAA OSEI] Clouds across northern Australia that produced locally heavy rain can be seen from an image from the Japanese MTSAT satellite. [NOAA OSEI]
Dust storms across the Middle East -- A recent image from the MODIS instrument on NASA's Terra satellite several weeks ago shows airborne dust from dust storms across Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan and adjacent waters of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. A meteorologist from Kuwait reported that this winter season is the third driest in 50 years, thereby explaining the winter dust storms, which are not usual. [NASA Earth Observatory]
Citizen stewards sought for a California beach watch program -- The staff at NOAA's Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary off California's Golden Gate is now recruiting volunteers for its Beach Watch shoreline monitoring program at several orientation meetings that will be held during March at several San Francisco Bay Area locations. [NOAA News]
Help for management of Latin American water and coastal resources -- Officials from NOAA and the World Bank recently announced that they had signed an agreement that entails a partnership designed to help developing nations such as those in Latin America manage their water and coastal resources and combat drought. Measurement of changes in climate would also be part of the project's effort to improve climate models designed to adapt to extreme climate conditions. [NOAA News]
A mega-iceberg monitored from space -- Photographs taken by the astronauts onboard the International Space Station in mid-January show detail of the large iceberg identified as A53a floating in the South Atlantic Ocean southwest of the South Georgia Islands off South America. [NASA Earth Observatory]
How safe is the drinking water? A team of scientists from Illinois State University have assessed the nitrate levels in drinking water from a watershed in central Illinois and conclude that nitrate concentrations have exceeded levels deemed safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency. [American Society of Agronomy]
Desert soil disruption could contaminate water -- A study conducted by researchers at the University of California, Riverside and their colleagues in California's Mojave Desert indicates that disruption of the desert pavement would release subsurface nitrate salts that would be carried by wind and water, ultimately contaminating surface and groundwater. [EurekAlert!]
Microorganisms help remove contaminant from water -- Researchers at Arizona State University have utilized naturally occurring microorganisms in a microbial biofilm reactor to remove the contaminant chlorinated solvent trichloroethene from water. [EurekAlert!]
Snowwoman makes news -- The town of Bethel in western Maine recently unveiled "Olympia", the world's tallest snowwoman, which exceeds the height record of "Angus", a snowman built in 1999. [USA Today]
Bacteria could be important in snowflake formation -- Using samples collected from the US, Australia, South Africa, France and Russia, scientists from Montana State and Louisiana State Universities have found that bacteria that had formed on the surface of plants and then became airborne could become active ice nucleation agents, thereby playing a crucial role in precipitation formation. [USA Today] [Montana State University]
Dam removal efforts assessed -- The March 2008 issue of Geotimes magazine that is published by the American Geological Institute will be devoted to the assessment of the effects associated with the growing trend for removal of aging dams on the nation's rivers. [AGI Geotimes] (Note this link requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. See below.)
Artificial weather modification to be used for the Summer Olympics -- Chinese scientists have announced that they may employ artificial weather modification techniques in an attempt to insure weather conditions that will not interfere with the 2008 Summer Olympic Games that will be held in Beijing during August. Their attempts would be to prevent rain for the opening ceremonies or to stimulate rain events to clear the air pollution. [USA Today]
Harnessing the wind for desalination -- Researchers at Delft University of Technology in The Netherlands have employed a traditional windmill to drive a high-pressure pump that forces seawater through a reverse osmosis membrane to produce fresh water. [Delft University of Technology]
Origins of Antarctic ice sheet probed -- Scientists from the United Kingdom's Cardiff University and the National Museum in Whales claim that they have found new evidence of cooling of the oceans from foraminifera remains in the ancient seafloor mud from near Tanzania, East Africa, which could help explain the mysterious appearance of the Antarctic ice sheet. [EurekAlert!]
Ocean cores shows links between dust and climate variations -- Researchers from Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory who have been analyzing seafloor sediment cores using radioisotopes across the equatorial Pacific Ocean can document peaks in the dust accumulation from Asia and South America corresponding to the periodic ice ages within the last 500,000 years. [EurekAlert!]
West Antarctic glacial thinning studied -- Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey, the United Kingdom's Durham University and Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research have collected soccer ball-sized boulders from the glaciers in Antarctica's Amundsen Sea Embayment that could help in the prediction of the contribution of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to projected rises in sea level. [EurekAlert!]
No recent liquid water found on Martian surface -- Scientists studying data collected from the Martian surface by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter report that they have not been able to detect evidence that liquid water has flowed during the last decade across the surface of the Red Planet. [EurekAlert!]
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.

This Concept of the Week is repeated from Week 6.

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

4-5 March 1899...Tropical Cyclone Mahina (the Bathurst Bay Hurricane) crossed the Great Barrier Reef and generated a 48-ft storm surge across Barrow Point, Queensland, Australia. The Australian pearling fleet was destroyed, over 100 shipwrecks reported and 307 people killed. Barometric pressure fell to an unofficial reading of 915 millibars (27 inches of mercury). (Accord's Weather Calendar) (The Weather Doctor)
5 March 1910...An avalanche rushed down the slopes near Rogers Pass, British Columbia striking a passing train and hurtling it nearly 1700 feet into Bear Creek below. Sixty-two trainmen and laborers perished. (The Weather Doctor)
5-10 March 1916...Morden, MB was buried by 48 inches of snow over five-day period. (The Weather Doctor)
5-6 March 1962...The Great Atlantic Coast Storm of 1962 caused more than $200 million in property damage from Florida to New England. Winds along the Middle Atlantic Coast reached 70 mph raising 40-ft waves, and 42 inches of snow fell at Big Meadows, in the mountains of Virginia--a state record. The storm caused greater alteration of the coastline from Cape Hatteras, NC to Long Island than any previous storm, including hurricanes. A new inlet was cut through Hatteras Island and more than 10 miles of Outer Banks barrier dunes were obliterated. The Virginia shoreline was rearranged by historic tidal flooding caused by the combination of the long stretch of strong onshore winds and spring tides. A 3-mile long boardwalk in Ocean City, MD was wiped out. (David Ludlum) (Intellicast)
6 March 1898...An avalanche in the Glarnisch Mountains of Switzerland raced down a 44-degree slope at maximum speeds of over 200 mph. Upon reaching the valley floor, the avalanche continued part way up the opposite slope. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
7 March 1932...A severe coastal storm set barometric pressure records from Virginia to New England. Block Island, RI reported a barometric pressure reading of 955.0 millibars (28.20 inches of mercury). (David Ludlum)
7 March 1999...Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada's snowiest major city set a new record for a one-day snowfall of 45.7 inches, but prior to that date the winter's total had been a meager (for the city) 46 inches of snow. (The Weather Doctor)
8 March 1998...As much as 15 inches of rain fell across Coffee County in Alabama. Runoff breached an earthen levee on Beaver Dam Creek, sending a 6-ft wall of water into Elba. Four people were killed when vehicles were swept downstream. As many as 400 homes and businesses were damaged and 52 roads were either washed out or flooded. Total damage was $105 million. (Accord's Weather Guide Calendar)
9 March 1956...A whopping 367 in. of snow was measured on the ground at the Rainier Paradise Ranger Station in Washington. The snow depth was a state record and the second highest total of record for the continental U.S. (The Weather Channel)
9 March 1987...Gale force winds ushered arctic air into the north central U.S. Some places were 50 degrees colder than the previous day. Northeast winds, gusting to 60 mph, produced 8 to 15 ft waves on Lake Michigan causing more than $1 million in damage along the southeastern shoreline of Wisconsin. (The National Weather Summary) (Storm Data)
9-13 March 1891...The Great Blizzard struck southern England and Wales with storm winds on the seas. As many as 220 people were reported dead; 65 ships foundered in the English Channel; 6000 sheep perished. Countless trees were uprooted and trains buried in snow. Up to a foot of snow and snowdrifts of 11.5 feet high were recorded at Dulwich, London, Torquay, Sidmouth, and Dartmouth. (The Weather Doctor)
9 March 2001...The rain-swollen Tisza River reached its highest level in 100 years peaking at 7.5 m (25 feet) in the village of Zahony, Hungary. Twenty villages were evacuated and more than 30,000 individuals fled their homes due to the flooding. (The Weather Doctor)