Green Options

Until this year, there were three Western states where it was illegal to have a rain barrel in your back yard: Washington, Utah, and Colorado. A change to local laws means we can scratch the latter off the list!

In southeast Utah rests a peaceful town located on the banks of a peaceful river. Here the Green River flows between two canyons, Gray and Labyrinth, allowing for farming and ranching in an arid desert. Driving through Green River, Utah doesn’t take but a few moments, including a stop to purchase some mouth-watering melons, for which Green River is famous. But Green River now has a new claim to fame.

Transition Power Development LLC (TPD) has proposed construction of a 2 unit nuclear power plant known as the Blue Castle Project situated just outside of the peaceful town. In order to maintain the 2 unit nuclear power plant, massive amounts of water would be required. The Kane County Water Conservancy District (KCWCD) has filed a water-rights application in order to facilitate the project. The application requests 29,600 acre-feet of water, which would be diverted from the Green River, a part of the Colorado River drainage.

A rain barrel or two may seem like the perfect solution for watering the garden without waste and without adding to your water bill. Before you build your rainwater harvesting system, though, you might want to make sure that it’s legal to do so. There are three states that say the water that falls from the sky belongs to them, not to just anyone.

While my post earlier this week about police spraying water cannons at World Water Forum protesters was intended to point out the irony, the truth is that the situation in Turkey was out of control, with unprovoked police attacks on peaceful protesters.

In addition to water cannons, police in riot gear fired rubber bullets and tear gas into a crowd, arresting 17 Turkish activists and forcing international activists to leave. The group peacefully gathered outside the official forum for the “People’s Forum” formed to oppose the “commercialization of water.”

Two peaceful protestors with the environmental nonprofit International Rivers were deported from Turkey today after revealing a banner reading “No Risky Dams” just before the conference was set to begin.

The forum, held every three years, discusses global challenges and solutions to the water crisis. International Rivers advocates alternatives to large dams, which flood large areas, block the flow of rivers, and displace people and animals.

When I was a kid, I remember helping my pops water the garden. He told me that he’d seen on the news that water was going to be the most expensive resource on earth. Eight-year-old me could not believe it! Water? But it comes from the sky! Well, I’m not sure what newscast pops was watching 22 years ago, but that report was pretty much spot on. With huge areas of the U.S. crippled by drought water is becoming more of a commodity than a right.

That distinction is the focus of The Water Front, a documentary about the residents of Highland Park, Michigan and their struggle to keep a handle on their water rights. Check out the trailer and more on the film after the jump!

Shell Oil’s plan to acquire a junior water right for eight percent of Colorado’s Yampa River average April-to-June flow for oil shale development has been opposed by some twenty-five parties, all submitting letters of opposition to the Colorado Water Court in Steamboat Springs.

L.A. residents are speaking out for sustainable water management at the March for Water on March 22nd.

Events kick off at 9am at the Los Angeles State Historic Park, and the march is at 10. The event is bottled-water free, so participants should bring their own reusable containers. There will be water to refill your bottle at the event. They’re also looking for volunteers to help outt. The folks at Food & Water Watch say:

Our water is being mismanaged. Without your voice, lawmakers and profiteers will continue to exploit the headlines and win corporate profits and political advantage.

You have two opportunities to join us and show your power. Start the march at 9AM or meet us for the noon celebration.

Organized by a wide coalition promoting responsible and sustainable water use, this march has broad support, but it won’t work without YOU.

They announced the march at a screening of FLOW - Irena Salina’s award-winning documentary about the world water crisis. Check out the trailer for FLOW:

The first time I saw the James Bond Coca-Cola ad, I didn’t think much about it. But now it turns my spit to bile.

It’s disgustingly ironic that the owners of the James Bond series would advertise Coke with a film about (spoiler alert) a greenwashing corporation stealing water from the third world. Because that perfectly describes Coca-Cola Inc.

For the past decade, Coke has invested heavily in bottled water. An increasingly health-conscious public, aware of the sickening effects of cola, drove down carbonated soft drink sales. Coke responded by bottling purified tap water and selling it under the name “Dasani.” Thanks to healthy sales of “healthy” drinks (which according to the New York Times are “still just sugar water”), Coca-Cola has enjoyed rising international sales.

Of course there have been setbacks. Coca-Cola recalled Dasani in the United Kingdom after they accidentally poisoned the bottled water with bromate, a possible carcinogen. At least it was only the Dasani that was tainted. In India, one of Coca-Cola’s fastest growing markets, problems ran deeper.

In a 390-25 vote, the House approved a measure on Tuesday that will increase protection of the Great Lakes region.

John McCain has again said something to cause his fellow western-state Republicans to wince at his political inexpedience and apparent naivete, stating last week that he wants to renegotiate the Colorado River compact to re-appropriate water from the upper basin states where the river originates and give it to lower basin states like California, and his home state of Arizona. Even though the Senator has now recanted and begun damage control, Democrats are hoping that this one will cost him, [...]