The Sacramento Bee today included an op-ed by two hydrologists criticizing a proposal by Cadiz, Inc., to tap groundwater beneath the Mojave Desert for sale to southern California water utilities. Authors John Bredehoeft, a former USGS staffer, and Newsha Ajami, with the Pacific Institute, questioned the project's sustainability because the proposed extraction rate exceeds the estimated natural recharge rate and noted its potential for negative impact upon the desert ecosystem.

The sale only needs approval by San Bernardino County. If approved, it sets a precedent for future sale of groundwater -- a public good -- for private gain. The op-ed ended with a call for state policy to manage groundwater and revision of California groundwater laws.

For more information, see the project description and EIR from the Santa Margarita Water District, a commentary from science writer Peter Gleick, and perspectives from local journalists, broadcasters, and others.
 

Bristol Lake after a heavy rain in 2010. Bristol Lake generally is dry and mined for salt deposits, which are visible at the water's edge.Copyright DesertUSA.com

According to Tom Tietenberg, yes!

Tietenberg, writing in the journal Review of Environmental Economics and Policy, evaluates consilience -- the linking together of principles from different disciplines to form new constructs -- in bringing new ideas to the management of natural resources and the environment. He finds that cross-fertilization has been important to developing new methods, perspectives, and policy instruments. 

Take a look at the article, or if you're a CCWAS IGERT trainee, skim it now and download it for reference later -- you're apt to see this again! 

According to an interdisciplinary group of UC Davis faculty and researchers, more than 245,000 people in California are at risk for exposure to harmful levels of nitrate in their drinking water. CCWAS IGERT trainers Thomas Harter, Jay Lund, Graham Fogg, Richard Howitt, James Quinn, and Josh Viers contributed to a comprehensive study of nitrate in groundwater in the Tulare Lake basin and Salinas Valley. Lund remarked, “Cleaning up nitrate in groundwater is a complex problem with no single solution...This report should help inform discussions among people involved with drinking water, waste discharge, and agricultural issues, including various local and state government agencies.” You can read an op-ed written by Harter and Lund at the Sac Bee website. For more information, including flash video, see the UC Davis news site. The entire report is available at a dedicated UCANR website.

Addendum, 19 March. The Sac Bee editorial page staff weighed in this morning:

Implementing [the report] recommendations shouldn't be seen as a confrontation with agriculture. The UC Davis researchers were clear about the value of farming to this region. At the same time, California can't create a sacrifice zone for water drinkers in farm areas. The state has a legal obligation to enforce the non-degradation provisions of the Porter Cologne Act Water Code. Those provisions are being violated. That must end.

Two things of interest!

On March 27^th, the Sacramento Chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers Environmental Water Resources Institute is holding a workshop on climate change and water at the Sacramento Convention Center, California's New System Yield - A Paradigm Shift: Increasing System Yield in the Face of Uncertainty/Protecting the Future Beneficial Use of Water.

You can get information about program and preregistration here.

And, the Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) for Polar and Marine Research will sponsor the International Summer School on Climate Change in the Marine Realm, at the AWI Wadden Sea Station on the island Sylt and at the University of Bremen from September 10 to 24, 2012. For complete information, see

http://www.awi.de/de/forschung/nachwuchswissenschaftlerinnen/
summer_school_on_climate_change_in_the_marine_realm/

or email climateschool@awi.de.

Applications will be accepted until March 31, 2012; stipends cover travel, board, and lodging. 

Coral under an Antarctic ice shelf, taken during the AWI Polarstern expedition ANT-XXIII/8. Photo courtesy of J Gutt /Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research.