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The Unforeseen Revisited Redux

The documentary "The Unforeseen" came up at dinner last night. I have also been noticing over the past several months that a new mega-strip (large scale strip development - my terminology) development is being built on South Mopac.

Just what we need, more big-box pharmacies and big-box liquor stores. Actually, I'm not sure who/what the tenants will be, but it really doesn't matter.

Actually, here's a list of everything I've been aware of down here in Hays County and southwest Travis county:

:: Widening of two major roads from Wimberley east to the I-35 corridor.

:: Widening of Elder Hill Road - the secret back short-cut from the Salt Lick BBQ to Wimberley.

:: New primary high-voltage power lines along (future) Toll 45 SW.

:: PEC (Pedernales Electric Co-Op) performing a large scale (hundreds of trucks) electrical upgrade of some sort throughout their service area.

:: A new mega-convenience store/gas station at 45 & 1826.

:: Development Notice signage at 1826 & Nutty Brown Road. Rumor has it that another mega-convenience store/gas station will be going in here.

:: A high-rise pole mounted billboard on RR 1826.

:: New model homes popping up in the formerly foreclosed development "Avana" along 45.

:: New golf course water permits being issued by the Hays-Trinity Water Conservation District.

:: New DFC (Desired Future Condition) issued by the Texas Water Development Board allowing a thirty-five foot (35') draw down of the aquifer.

:: A new report indicating that at current growth and use rates, the Colorado River (and Barton Springs and basically all the other rivers in Central Texas) will be DRY AS A BONE by the year 2060 - in fifty years.

It appears that everything is progressing according to plan.

Here's the original "Revisited" post from August of 2008 - in its entirety:




Well, that was a first. It was the first time I have ever cried watching an environmental documentary. Perhaps it hit home for me because it was all so close to home for me. Austin, Barton Springs, Barton Creek, The Edwards Aquifer, The Texas Hill Country. My roots there pre-date the Alamo. My roots go back in Texas before there was a Texas, before there was The Republic of Texas. Deep, deep roots. Deeper feelings, or rather, emotions, about it all.

So, I just finished watching the documentary "The Unforeseen" (on the Sundance Channel), mostly about development, urban sprawl, growth and water in one particular area of Austin, Texas. It carries a much bigger message though, a broad and deep message about all that is facing us these days. It goes not to our standard of living, but to our quality of life. Not quality as in "how good is it?", but quality as in what is the depth, breadth, character, texture, taste, and feeling of our day-to-day lives as individuals, families, social circles, as communities, cultures, societies and nations.

Following are some things, key points, key words that stuck out for me. At the end of the post are some links for you to find out how to purchase or rent the DVD. Or, just be on the lookout for it and watch it when you can.

::
Developers defined as the "classic American character", reshaping the future and getting rich in the process...

::
On golf courses: "I find them repulsive, so uniform and so green, the earth whipped into submission for these men..."

::
Developers, they know the cost of everything, but they know the value of nothing...

::
A conservative lobbyist, speaking, apparently, on "liberals" who enjoy swimming and leisure time along Barton Creek..."these self-indulgences will catch up to you eventually..."

::
"If the people will lead, the leaders will follow..."

::
Robert Redford: "...quick return on short term investment, with long term damage...a scar is all that is left..."

::
A private citizen on private property rights: "...don't want a bunch of sumbitches telling us what to do with it (our land)...."

::
A private citizen shouting and waving a placard: "People are number one! Bugs and birds are at the bottom of the list...Save people first!..."

::
Economists have set up this meter of economic activity...that all growth is good...that ANY economic activity that involves money changing hands is good for the economy...and does not take into account any down side or long term unforeseen costs...

::
There should be honest accounting...the true cost...the long term cost...

::
People are making choices that damage other people...that damage everyone...that damage nature and the environment...that damage the world...and humanity...

::
We should be living in harmony with nature, not in opposition to it...

::
Add quality to the housing stock, without actually expanding housing...housing for everyone...affordable housing...use what's already there...it's not all about size and quantity and gargantuan scale...improve the landscape until we run out of opportunities to improve it...

::
Something about "the pursuit of the almighty dollar"...

::
If you don't act on the gift (of the natural world), then you are part of destroying it...

::
Growth itself is not the enemy...it is the nature of that growth...the quality and character within it...

::
"...where all the land has not been consumed by intention..."

::
We should have a stronger, more mature regard for the future, unwilling to leave a mess behind us...

I was struck by the title "the unforeseen" - that today, we are actually living and reaping the unforeseen consequences of multitudes of actions and directions - paths and choices - individually and collectively - both societal and economic. Are we evolving or devolving?

We are reaping the unforeseen.

The Unforeseen Film Site

The Unforeseen on IMDB.

The Unforeseen on Treehugger.com

The Unforeseen on PBS

Pre-Purchase the DVD :: Release Date September 16, 2008

The Unforeseen on NetFlix

Here's my original post :: On the universe, life and water :: The Unforeseen

World Water Day :: Part I

[Foto by Alex.Tango.Fuego, I took this a few weeks ago on the day it snowed here, it's a little creek around corner and over the hill, flowing for a change...]


I was aware that yesterday was World Water Day, but couldn't get anything posted, so I'm post dating this one. (I'm writing this on the morning of the 23rd.)

I thought about this one most of the day yesterday, trying to come up with something - an angle if you will. An interesting angle, a meaningful angle. I didn't know (yesterday) the exact nature of World Water Day, but I assumed, correctly, that the emphasis was on clean water sources for the masses. The "event", or more accurately a milestone date to bring attention to this problem, is primarily focused on developing and Third World countries where there are no reliable water supplies.

I'm guessing the date went largely unnoticed in First World countries like the U.S. - especially when most people are unaware that even we have water problems. Yes, we have clean water to drink, use in cooking, brush our teeth with and even bathe in. But is that water really safe will all of the chemicals and prescription drug residues that are left after treatment processes? Safe in the long term? Or are cancers and other diseases (and the resulting deaths), after drinking municipal water for forty or fifty or sixty years viewed as "acceptable" losses?

We do occasionally hear about municipalities - usually small ones - have real problems with their water supplies. The ones that come to mind are one up in Garfield County, Colorado where the water became undrinkable (and rather toxic I believe) because of hydraulic fracturing operations by oil & gas concerns looking to extract more natural gas from extant wells.

Another is the contamination of ground water at Camp Lejeune (the U.S. Marine Corps Base) with VOC's or volatile organic compounds. Stuff like Tetrachloroethylene aka Perchloroethylene, TCE (Trichloroethylene), DCE (Dichloroethylene), Vinyl Chloride and BTEX (Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Xylene).

Bad shit.

Then there is the story behind the story of the film "Erin Brockovich" starring Julia Roberts. She plays the real life Erin Brockovich who, without an real legal background, put together a landmark case against Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) for polluting the groundwater in Hinkley, California with hexavalent chromium.

More bad shit.

Locally, back in 2000, there was a scare of the gasoline additive MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether aka "bad shit") leaking into the Edwards Aquifer from the Longhorn Pipeline (Longhorn Partners) right through the heart of the Texas Hill Country. As best I can tell, they agreed (or were required) to "not" introduce MTBE into this particular pipeline. Yeah, right. I wonder who is testing /checking this?

We also get occasional alerts that certain municipal pumps around here are testing positive for E. Coli - which in theory, gets into the groundwater from people's septic systems.

It also doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that all the green slimy aquatic vegetation growing in Barton Springs, Town Lake aka Lady Bird Lake, Barton Creek, and even our little wet weather creek a hundred yards down the hill, isn't a healthy sign. Septic effluent, lawn fertilizers, golf courses, household weed killers, agricultural pesticides, oil changes, spilled toxic stuff on the driveway, paint/stain dumped in the drainage inlet (by idiots). It all contributes, right from the swale behind the neighborhood, to the slough, to the creek, to the river, to the lake. It all runs downhill.

To the groundwater - to the aquifer. (Yes many cities obtain their raw water from surface water sources, too.)

I remember first coming to Barton Springs back in 1970 or so - it was pristine, crystal clear, with minimal "green slimy" stuff growing in it. It was a natural, healthy ecosystem. The pool is routinely closed after heavy rains. The E. Coli levels spike and it's not safe to swim.

Stay tuned for Part II.


[Foto by Alex.Tango.Fuego, just downstream from Barton Springs]

What's in the water?

Trace arsenic in water may be tied to diabetes
Risk of Type 2 diabetes was 4 times higher, study says

Smart folks in Clayton County Georgia

I've been digging around for some time on this. It's an NPR piece on an innovative way to treat wastewater by using a system of wetlands. I'm sure there may be other small towns, municipalities and other government entities that may be using this "technology". Although it's not really technology, just some common sense, some engineering, and some earth moving. I bid on a few of these plants many years ago when I was in the water/wastewater treatment business - as a general contractor - but I never actually built one.

Note that the caption on one of the photos is incorrect. It says they started building the wetlands back in 2000, when in actuality, it was back in the 1980's. They had that much foresight that long ago to realize that water scarcity was going to be an issue. They had the vision and the determination to 'do the right thing' and 'do the thing right'.

Plus, not only is it good for water, and good for the environment, but it's good government because they are saving money (tax dollars and lower water bills) by doing it this way.

Kudos to those folks!

Anyway, here's the link - it's titled "Georgia Wetlands Offer Cure for Drought", by Kathy Lohr

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90043021

Check it out.

P.S.

I hope everyone realizes that when you flush your toilet (and shower and sink "grey" water), it goes through a piping system to the treatment plant (or reclamation facility as they are calling them now) where it is treated (many nasty nasty stages/processes), then chlorinated, dechlorinated (although now the technology is UV irradiation and/or ozonation systems), and then it runs into the nearest river or stream as "effluent". You can't drink it at that point. And I wouldn't be doing any fishing for many miles downstream.

I hope everyone also realizes that we draw our municipal/drinking water from the same rivers, or a lake, or a reservoir. The drinking water is filtered through multiple sand beds, ozonated and/or UV'd and then chlorinated and flouridated for your drinking and bathing pleasure.

They are smart enough to build the water treatment intake structures UPSTREAM from the poo-poo plant effluent.

But still. You wouldn't believe what's in our water. More on this later.

The Future is Drying Up :: On Water

Twin Lakes, Colorado :: Photo by Alex


Cindy left a link in a comment to this article in the New York Times.

I haven't read the entire article yet, it's a long one. It appears to be focused on the Southwest and the West and the Colorado River. I have been painfully aware of water resource issues for many years. Water and water rights were in the news almost daily when I lived in Aspen, where all the water is headed downstream a short distance to the Colorado.



THE FRYING PAN-ARKANSAS PROJECT ::

Up in the mountains above Aspen, much of the water (mostly from snowmelt) is diverted over the mountains and through the woods to the Front Range of southeastern Colorado - Colorado Springs and Pueblo. The Frying Pan-Arkansas (the Frying Pan River is just over the ridge from Aspen, and is a Gold Medal fly fishing stream - it runs through Basalt - the Arkansas River is just over the continental divide east of Aspen) Project involves 26 miles of tunnels and 281 miles of conduit and siphons. Reservoirs include Ruedi (on the Frying Pan), Twin Lakes, Turquoise Lake, and Pueblo.

It also involves seventeen "diversion dams" or structures, on the rivers around Aspen. These structures basically suck, or divert water from the river into conduits (pipes), flumes or canals, which are all then fed to the storage reservoirs.

Needless to say it's a huge project, and includes two hydroelectric power plants - Otero and Twin Lakes/Mt. Elbert which is rated at 200 MegaWatts.

Note that the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation is the developing/managing entity when it comes to fresh water resources.

Here's a Wikipedia link.



COLORADO-BIG THOMPSON PROJECT ::

This diversion project takes water from the headwaters of the Colorado and Big Thompson Rivers and diverts it to the northern Front Range cities of Denver, Ft. Collins, Boulder, etc.



THE ANIMAS-LA PLATA PROJECT ::

Down in southwestern Colorado (near Durango) on the Animas River is the Animas-La Plata Project. I spent my summers in high school backpacking and mountain climbing in the Weminuche Wilderness - the Needles and the Grenadiers Ranges. We would get there by taking the narrow gauge railroad along the Animas River.

This one has been controversial, and is still under construction. The reservoir is slated to be filled in 2009. Water supplies will largely go to the Navajo Nation in the Four Corners area.



These are huge projects that redistribute surface water, largely from snowmelt for municipal use (your tap water, watering your yard and your golf course, and washing your car) and agricultural (irrigation) uses. This is just the state of Colorado. All of the other Rocky Mountain states have similar projects to capture the snowmelt and send it downstream, and not let it just seep into the ground.

One thing that comes to mind, the Roaring Fork River (in Aspen) dries to almost a trickle in August and September each year.

The rivers where this water goes are the Platte (Nebraska) and the Arkansas (Kansas) to the east, the Rio Grande to the south (New Mexico, Texas and Mexico), and the Colorado to the west (Utah, Nevada, California). The Colorado, again, is the focus of the NYT article.

Water resource issues are not limited to the westerns states alone. Remember the drought in Georgia being in the news this year, and the fear that Atlanta would completely run out of fresh water supplies?

There are issues with overdrafting of major aquifers - the Floridan aquifer, the Edwards aquifer (Texas and my post on "The Unforeseen"), and the Oglalla aquifer, "one of the world's largest", which stretches north-south from the west Texas plains to South Dakota.

Overdrafting of the aquifer beneath Palm Springs, California is causing ground subsidence. There are roughly 120 golf courses in the Palm Springs area. I'm not sure, but I think there is a tie between the aquifer beneath Palm Springs and the Colorado River.

What's the point of all this? The point of this post, besides being "educational"? It's that water, like oil, is a fixed and finite resource. There is not more water that's going to miraculously appear from somewhere - unless it's in the form of higher sea levels as the polar ice caps melt due to global warming - if you believe the worst case scenario of that theory.

It may manifest itself in that the American dream of the irrigated, green, lush lawn (with the white picket fence) may go by the wayside. Washing the car in the driveway. Taking a shower every day or even twice a day. American luxuries based on the affluenza mindset. How would you feel about buying a brand new house that didn't have any grass? Where's the dog going to take his morning dump?

Too many people, too much development/sprawl, not enough water to go around. Another delicate resource we take for granted. Turn on the tap and it's there. Right?

Don't even get me started on water "quality" issues. I used to build water and wastewater treatment plants. I wouldn't want to scare you.

RESOURCES ::

Here's a link to a household water budget worksheet.

The Unforeseen :: Revisited

Well, that was a first. It was the first time I have ever cried watching an environmental documentary. Perhaps it hit home for me because it was all so close to home for me. Austin, Barton Springs, Barton Creek, The Edwards Aquifer, The Texas Hill Country. My roots there pre-date the Alamo. My roots go back in Texas before there was a Texas, before there was The Republic of Texas. Deep, deep roots. Deeper feelings, or rather, emotions, about it all.

So, I just finished watching the documentary "The Unforeseen" (on the Sundance Channel), mostly about development, urban sprawl, growth and water in one particular area of Austin, Texas. It carries a much bigger message though, a broad and deep message about all that is facing us these days. It goes not to our standard of living, but to our quality of life. Not quality as in "how good is it?", but quality as in what is the depth, breadth, character, texture, taste, and feeling of our day-to-day lives as individuals, families, social circles, as communities, cultures, societies and nations.

Following are some things, key points, key words that stuck out for me. At the end of the post are some links for you to find out how to purchase or rent the DVD. Or, just be on the lookout for it and watch it when you can.

::
Developers defined as the "classic American character", reshaping the future and getting rich in the process...

::
On golf courses: "I find them repulsive, so uniform and so green, the earth whipped into submission for these men..."

::
Developers, they know the cost of everything, but they know the value of nothing...

::
A conservative lobbyist, speaking, apparently, on "liberals" who enjoy swimming and leisure time along Barton Creek..."these self-indulgences will catch up to you eventually..."

::
"If the people will lead, the leaders will follow..."

::
Robert Redford: "...quick return on short term investment, with long term damage...a scar is all that is left..."

::
A private citizen on private property rights: "...don't want a bunch of sumbitches telling us what to do with it (our land)...."

::
A private citizen shouting and waving a placard: "People are number one! Bugs and birds are at the bottom of the list...Save people first!..."

::
Economists have set up this meter of economic activity...that all growth is good...that ANY economic activity that involves money changing hands is good for the economy...and does not take into account any down side or long term unforeseen costs...

::
There should be honest accounting...the true cost...the long term cost...

::
People are making choices that damage other people...that damage everyone...that damage nature and the environment...that damage the world...and humanity...

::
We should be living in harmony with nature, not in opposition to it...

::
Add quality to the housing stock, without actually expanding housing...housing for everyone...affordable housing...use what's already there...it's not all about size and quantity and gargantuan scale...improve the landscape until we run out of opportunities to improve it...

::
Something about "the pursuit of the almighty dollar"...

::
If you don't act on the gift (of the natural world), then you are part of destroying it...

::
Growth itself is not the enemy...it is the nature of that growth...the quality and character within it...

::
"...where all the land has not been consumed by intention..."

::
We should have a stronger, more mature regard for the future, unwilling to leave a mess behind us...

I was struck by the title "the unforeseen" - that today, we are actually living and reaping the unforeseen consequences of multitudes of actions and directions - paths and choices - individually and collectively - both societal and economic. Are we evolving or devolving?

We are reaping the unforeseen.

The Unforeseen Film Site

The Unforeseen on IMDB.

The Unforeseen on Treehugger.com

The Unforeseen on PBS

Pre-Purchase the DVD :: Release Date September 16, 2008

The Unforeseen on NetFlix

Here's my original post :: On the universe, life and water :: The Unforeseen

On the Universe, Water and Life :: The Unforeseen

The Edwards Aquifer and Barton Springs are part of my soul...I grew up laying in the grass and swimming there...


Chris Barsanti, Film Journal International

Featuring interviews with Robert Redford, Willie Nelson, the iconic Texas Governor Ann Richards, environmentalist Wendell Berry and many others, THE UNFORESEEN is a powerful meditation on the American dream – on the destruction of the natural world as it falls victim to the cannibalizing forces of unchecked development. It is an intricate tale of personal hopes, victories and failures; and of debates over land, water and the public good.

Theatrical Trailer from YouTube::


Upcoming Screenings::
Cinema Village, New York (Theatrical Premiere) Feb 29, 2008
Kendall Square, Boston, MA 3/7/08
Nuart Theatre, Los Angeles, CA 3/14/08
Lumiere, San Francisco, CA 3/14/08
Shattuck, Berkeley,CA 3/14/08
Alamo South Lamar, Austin, TX 3/28/08
Varsity, Seattle, WA 4/4/08
Landmark, Denver, CO 4/11/08
Ritz Theater, Philadelphia, PA 4/18/08
Ken Cinema, San Diego, CA 4/18/08
Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH 5/17/08