Faucet Design Will Conserve Water

Don't expect to find this faucet at Home Depot any time soon. A prototype will cost about $335. Since I am no manufacturing expert, I do not know exactly when we can buy one of these for our homes. It won't be long in the scheme of things and it certainly will be much less than the prototype cost.

A design student, Simon Qiu, has invented a faucet that creates a beautiful swirl pattern and uses 15% less water than current designs. The faucet's stream is gentler to the touch and comes out a bit faster than regular faucets. It helps conserve energy because temperature is pre-set.

Whenever this design is ready for the consumer market, I want a shower head too.

The Friday Video: Conservation at St. Columban

Elpasonaturally alerted El Paso Water to the conservation going on at the Columban Mission Center in El Paso. This followed two blog posts about their efforts. See them HERE and HERE. It was great to see the video above posted in El Paso Water's news and headlines. Visit El Paso Water on Facebook and the Columban Mission Center.

If you get Elpasonaturally by email, go to www.elpasonaturally.blogspot.com to view the video.

Stop It, Folks. Just Stop It.

Bottled Water Shelf at Albertsons (Click image to enlarge.)

Just this past Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal ran this story: Nestlé Taps Into Bottled Water On-Demand ("The Swiss company is getting a big lift from customized Web orders for its Poland Springs, Perrier and Pure Life brands in the U.S.") Read the story. Note the charts. This is insane!

For a refresher course, watch this video:

The El Paso Water Utilities conservation page: http://www.lessismoreep.org/

Monday Links on Tuesday

[Monday (or, in this case, Tuesday - again) is "Links Day" with links gathered over the past week to online "stuff" to read and sites to surf that impact us directly or offer information about our regional issues. Please feel free to send me links to any conservation, environmental, simple living, city planning, energy and water, etc. stories that you have come across online.]


Water:

Rio Grande runoff forecast: 44 percent at Otowi

Bus Shelters in Austin Will Harvest Rainwater in Pocket Park

10 Must-see water documentaries that provide insight into the future water crisis

Starbucks Wants You to Feel Good About Drinking Up California's Precious Water



Climate Change:

The Solution to Climate Change Right Under Our Feet


Fracking and Oil Spills:

Bill to limit Texas cities’ rules on fracking heads to governor

GOPer Slams Texas Guv For 'Pandering To Idiots' On Possible Military Takeover (and this is the idiot governor the anti-banning bill is going to)

Study: Gas Activities "Most Likely" Caused Texas Quakes

The Brief: New Studies Link Injection Wells, Earthquakes

Frack-Happy Texas Forced to Face the Reality of Fracking-Related Earthquakes

Fracking Chemicals Detected in Pennsylvania Drinking Water

Trading Paradise for a Pipeline


Resilient Cities:

City of El Paso Resilient City Roundtables

Water - Why YOU Should Care

Water – Why YOU Should Care

by Judy Ackerman

For over 60 years  El Paso Water Utilities (EPWU) and the Public Service Board (PSB) have done such an outstanding job of ensuring El Pasoans have water, (with the few restrictions for days to water and time of day during the hot months), that now the public takes water for granted.  We take water for granted at all our peril.

On September 26, the PSB held a strategic planning meeting to outline progressively more complicated and more costly methods to obtain water for our growing city.  The meeting was to share information and solicit ideas from the public on managing our most critical and life-giving resource - water.  But only one member of the public and zero elected officials, bothered to attend.

Question:  Living in the desert, where every living thing depends on water, how did we get so complacent?  

Answer:  Because of the excellent work of the PSB.

A Brief History  

In 1951 we had the “drought of record” meaning it was the worst drought in recorded history.  Every day, El Paso papers headlined the drought.  Even with water restrictions, wells ran dry and some El Pasoans had NO water at all.  The public called for the creation of an independent board to manage water resources and do long range planning (50 years out).  The PSB was born in 1952.  The drought of the 1950s lasted 20 years.  In 2013 we set the new “drought of record” with much less water available than in 1951.  This drought could last 20 years or more.    

Currently, EPWU gets water from groundwater, the river, desalination and reuse (purple pipe).   In case of continuing drought, or growing population, the EPWU needs to expand its portfolio of water options.  Future sources of water could be advanced purification, additional desalinization plants, purification of water from agricultural drains and piping in water from near and far.  These options require planning and capital expenditures now, in order to be available for future demands for water.

Facts:

• Elephant Butte Dam in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, controls “waters of the US” for agricultural use – NOT municipal.
• Because of agreements with El Paso County Water Improvement District # 1 (the irrigation district), the EPWU usually gets 50% of our municipal water from the river during the irrigation season which normally lasts from 15 Feb to 15 Oct (nine months).  
• In 2013 the irrigation season lasted only 6 weeks because there was so little water available in Elephant Butte and only 9% of our water came from the river.  Additional groundwater pumping had to make up the difference.
• The amount of rain we receive in El Paso has very little impact on the water available in the river.  
• Water in the Rio Grande comes from snow melt in Colorado and Northern New Mexico.
• The ground water we use from the Hueco and Mesilla Bolsons is a limited resource and we are depleting it faster than we can recharge the aquifers.  
• More than half of the Hueco Bolson is brackish; too salty for drinking water.
• EPWU and the PSB are eager to share their information and expertise.

What Can We Do?

To ensure El Paso’s sustainability and future growth, stay informed on water issues.  Attend PSB meetings.  Check the PSB website.  Visit EPWU’s TecH2O Center.  Practice water conservation.

Time to Address Water Conservation on the "Macro" Level

This is the Sept. 23, 2014 U.S. Drought Monitor Map for TX

Above is the most recent U.S. Drought Monitor map for the state of Texas. According to their intensity index, El Paso is in a severe drought. In fact, most of Texas is either abnormally dry (yellow) or in worsening stages of drought - extreme (red) or exceptional (darkest color) being the worst.

A minority of us believe that Proposition 6 will be money poorly spent; but even if you voted for the proposition, it will be 10 years before there is any improvement of any kind.

In a recent op-ed piece for the El Paso Times, Rep. Marisa Marquez suggested conservation measures each of us at home can take. It's the usual "stuff": check for leaks, use drip irrigation, mulch and so forth. 

Now I understand that Democrat Ms. Marquez is smart enough (indeed she is one of the smartest legislators in Texas) to know that she must pick her battles. After all, we are a state ruled by Republicans whose only aim is to protect the natural gas and petroleum industries. Hoping for much more than home conservation in the near future is a pipe dream. However, one wishes that one day one politician would step forth and give a list of conservation measures leading to water sustainability that really address the issue on a "macro" not a "micro" level. Home conservation is good but it is a drop in the bucket.

So let me give a short list of challenges that must find local or state solutions and will require bold, persistent, undaunted leadership.

First, hydrofracking is just bad. It's bad for the water supply, it's bad for humans and their communities, its bad for the environment and all life. Rather than encouraging alternative energy technology, much like the vampires of recent cinema sensations, Texas sucks the shale for its gases. Hydrofracking works by using millions of gallons of water and sand and toxic chemicals. HERE is the best graphic that I know that illustrates the process.

A must see documentary that you can watch or stream on Amazon Prime is GasLand.  Here is the trailer:



A second "macro" area to look at is agriculture - crop selection and technology. Most of the farmers in El Paso's river valley raise water intensive crops such as Pima cotton or pecans. These same farmers control the Water Improvement District and a hand full of them have ruled as a board unchallenged, unmonitored and clandestine for decades. They will continue to get what they need from a drying Rio Grande for their pecan orchards. Yet, as one visionary Clint farmer explained to me, one pomegranate tree takes one-fifth of the water required for a pecan tree. Simply put, it is time that legislation is passed that regulates the kinds of crops that can be raised in an area based on water scarcity and needs.

We must also address our water management technology. Municipalities such as El Paso must reform landscaping and building codes so that they require rain water harvesting, "smart" homes equipped with the best in water conservation technology, and true xeriscaping not zeroscaping by concreting yards that then send water down the river where they can no longer recharge our depleting bolsons.

Water districts must begin covering canals or take other measures to reduce evaporation. We can take a lesson from India where solar panels are being used to cover canals. Do you think anyone will request some of that Prop 6 money for a project such as this:

Wow! Solar panel covers conserve water and at the same time reduce our dependence on the petroleum/natural gas industry with their water-intensive hydrofracking. The current bunch of oligarchs in Austin will never spend a dime for something like this - but is should be said and said loudly. 

Finally, the question of who owns water must be re-addressed and this I believe can only be done on the national level. Water laws are antiquated. Time to change them. Water is the property and right of every single person in the United States - indeed the world. Regulations, controls and innovations guaranteeing this right must be put in place.

Each home and business property can only do so much to conserve water. It is time that we have the boldness and the vision to address the matter on a bigger scale. Trust me - Prop 6 money will find more ways to get water to the petroleum industry. We must do better than that.

Ensuring a Sustainable Water Supply

Here is the slide show used at last Friday's PSB/EPWU Strategic Planning Session.

PSB/EPWU Strategic Planning Slide Show

Just a few quick observations:

The PSB/EPWU is the only El Paso "institution" that intimately understands conservation. The entire plan is concerned with the technology, policy and, yes, conservation necessary to make sure that El Paso has water. The PSB was created in 1951 during what was a bad drought. Our drought today is worse.

Attempts led by the clandestine and powerful Builders Association and City Council members who are in debt to the Builders to make the PSB/EPWU a city department are just wrong. In their minds it's a matter of revenue and the protection of the builders from paying impact fees and the rejection of the visionary Plan El Paso, the most hated document by the Builders Association. Conservation is the last thing on their minds. Build, build, build. Sprawl, sprawl, sprawl. Guzzle, guzzle, guzzle - no water in short time. Thank you, PSB, for being conservation oriented. Of course, EPWU's product to sell is water. If they limit the amount, they bring in less revenue. Thank heavens for innovators such as John Balliew, who know that other products must come off the line as well. They are working on it.

They conserve better than conservationists. For years we have been hounding and howling to bring more water to the Rio Bosque. They have a plan that not only does that but recaptures more water for the City!

Finally, we see a strategy for capturing more rainwater which includes the regulating pond that will benefit the Rio Bosque.

Here's the dark cloud: Council recently imposed a fee for street repairs and has the EPWU collect that fee through our water bills. The fee goes to the City. Council could have just accepted the counter-proposal for a larger EPWU budget to do the same job. However, the current Council had ulterior motives: enact the fee and, in time, raise it. More especially, Council wanted to get its hands into the governance best done by the PSB. The first major problem with the fee is that it makes it harder for the PSB to raise rates that will go to critical infrastructure needed now or soon. The second major problem is that the fee does not encourage conservation of our scarcest and most precious resource: water.

Juárez Valley Farmers Come to Blows over Water

El Diario reports on April 16 that farmers in the Valley of Juárez have come to blows over irrigation water.   The farmers claim that the water agency, Conagua, is not delivering water equitably.  Individual farmers are creating blockages in the irrigation canals and using sand bags to direct more water to their fields, and  In any case the supply of water this year will be severely limited.  The director of the regional water office says that due to the delay in delivery of water from the US, he can only supply treated water (purple water) to the farmers, and that only at one-half the amount needed for irrigation.   Well water has become too salty for agriculture.

On Sunday, April 21, El Diario noted that the northwestern segment of Chihuahua would likely lose 4 million pesos of productivity this year, as farmers decide not to even try to plant crops such as wheat.   More than 2,000 hectares are likely to be left unplanted.

Thanks and a hat tip to Marshall Carter-Tripp for this report.

Water Education Network

Bookmark this new site: Water Education Network.

Water Conservation through Sod Reduction

The following slide presentation was prepared by Mr. Tracy Novak, the Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation at the City of El Paso to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board last night, April 8, 2013. Novak used this program during his tenure in Nevada. It presents an excellent idea for water conservation through sod reduction at public parks.  Novak has been in his job in El Paso for a short while.  The big question is this: Where have they been hiding this guy!?

Compare the picture of Las Vegas Bay below in 2002 with an image of Elephant Butte in 2013. (Be sure to click on the image to enlarge it.)

Normally water would have been released to the El Paso area for irrigation in March.  It won't be this year until June.

Water Conservation and Sod Reduction

Surprising Ways That We Use Water

Melanie Palmero of Loch Ness Water Gardens recently sent me an infographic that she helped to create.  It was originally posted on the Pond Blog here.

Click on image to enlarge.

After reading my post about low lake levels at Elephant Butte, Melanie wrote: "The idea is to bring a little extra awareness to what our every day impact is.  Some of the information was pretty surprising!  I had no idea just how much water is needed to produce some of the foods I eat.  Anyway, after reading what you wrote, I thought you might like to use the infographic on elpasonaturally."

Caution Not Optimism about Future Water Supply for El Paso

At their 9/12/12 meeting, the Public Service Board heard from Dr. Bill Hutchison about the current and future availability of water in the EPWU service area. Chris Roberts' summary of that report was published in yesterday's El Paso Times. (Be sure to read the online comments.) The Times editorial board offered their opinion today: Water: Ahead of 'savings' game. 

Question is: Are we really ahead of the 'savings' game?

In an email to Roberts shared with elpasonaturally (with permission to publish), PSB member, Dr. Rick Bonart, offers this bit of cold water in the face: 

Chris,

I think you missed a couple of key points from Hutchinson's presentation.

1. Importation of water isn't a done deal. Texas legislature and courts haven't completely resolved the issue. As he stated ( and referenced in his book) our 50 year water plan is subordinate to water district  management. They will determine the number of wells and the amount of water that can be pumped.  As a policy maker it makes me uncomfortable not to be in complete control here.

2. There is an ecosystem that exists between the river, the fresh water in the bolsons, and the brackish water. Over pumping the bolsons has drawn brackish water into some fresh water wells by the airport and taken them out of production. You correctly reported the brackish wells along loop 375 have dual purpose: to provide water for the desal plant and to help intercept the flow of salt in order to protect the  fresh water  wells. That is theory. Furthermore, from his book . . . it’s not clear what effect  wholesale  pumping of brackish water has on aquifer recharge. Will industrial scale pumping slow aquifer recharge? It's all interconnected. During  the PSB strategic planning session last year we agreed to do a chloride or solute model to (as proposed in his book) to investigate.  Results????

3. The 50 year plan calls for 28k acre feet of reclaimed water use per year. That's extreme. The cost of production and distribution are off the chart. Malcom Pirnie gave a presentation the same day as Hutchinson. They came up with an effluent to potable water reuse for  11k acre feet of water at Bustamante. The cost is $11M/ year. This translates to $22 / CCF. Well water by comparison is about 37 cents.

4. You are correct the economics of water will be a limiting factor before we run dry. We have more land than water. Where we develop and how much we develop needs to be addressed in a water use budget. The 50 year water plan details how much water we get for municipal use. It doesn't detail how we use it. When you talk about smart homes and reducing per capita water use below certain levels there is a point of diminishing returns. When people use too little, the utility has to raise prices to keep revenues up to pay for the system. The notion that conservation will stave off water shortage is correct, but forcing people to third world level water restrictions while incurring  higher costs for water will negatively impact our ability to attract industry as well as people’s desire to live here.

5. Last year we used 114k acre feet of water. The 50 year plan estimates we have about 140k acre feet locally. That's 26k to spare at the regions current population. At 130gal/person/ day each 5%  addition to the region’ s population requires an additional 5 k acre feet. So we can add about 175,000 more people by my calculation to importation. That's not a long way off.  

We're all in this together, it's not enough to just plan for how much water we can get, but how we will use it. Sustainable low cost water will be the economic and life  sustaining common denominator for our region.

Rick Bonart

By the way, here is the slide show from Hutchison's presentation to the PSB:

El Paso Municipal Water Supply: Availability, Development and Management

Click on title or icon on bottom right corner to enlarge.

Update on Sad Blue Ribbon Committee

There has been a change of venue for the Blue Ribbon Advisory Committee on Public Service Board (PSB) Land Management. The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 22^nd at 8:00 a.m. in the City Council Chambers. The meeting will be open and televised. Now that more and more thoughtful El Pasoans are learning that this committee is making recommendations that will compromise El Paso’s water future, there is a greater urgency to open their deliberations to the public. In fact, many are now calling for the dissolution of this committee. Elpasonaturally hopes that will mean that the City will put more time and effort into strategic planning about our water future in light of global warming, water shortage and drought.

In  an email which I sent earlier today to Ed Archuleta, President and CEO of PSB/EPWU and Ed Escudero, Chairman of the PSB, I made a few suggestions:

·         Although the petition for preserving the scenic corridor has led to several benefits already, one negative result was the creation of the Blue Ribbon Committee because of the animosity over the intense struggle with the PSB to preserve any of that land. It’s a negative now because the Committee has been co-opted by a group whose objectives are totally opposite of land and water conservation. Instead they are motivated by the instant gratification of profit on the one hand, and the City’s urgent need for more revenue on the other.

·         Marketability should not be the only reason for declaring land inexpedient for the utility’s uses. Preserving land in its natural open state in perpetuity is and should be a very valid reason as part of a water conservation strategy. Besides taking land out of the system for development will only increase the value of other, scarcer land.

·         A closer working relationship between the PSB and the Open Space Advisory Board would be to the advantage of all El Pasoans. The desire to take politics out of water management led to the creation of the PSB. Yet, preserving open space per the master plan remains difficult because of politics. Rather than purchasing more natural open space or working on valuable projects such as Feather Lake, we find ourselves buying water thirsty sod and shrubs for a host of park ponds with more such “parks” being contemplated – even announced by City Engineer Alan Shubert at a recent meeting of City Council.

·         Seats on the PSB must include more conservationists and environmentalists.

 

Both Mr. Archuleta and Mr. Escudero met yesterday with Senator José Rodriguez’s Environmental Committee chaired by Dr. Richard Teschner. Several  points were made:

·         Although the PSB does determine whether land is inexpedient, the final decision of what to do with the land belongs to City Council.

·         PSB wants to know what they can do better or what problems there may be so that they can fix them.

·         PSB keeps the city staff informed and the Mayor sits on the PSB.  PSB briefs each new City Council member one on one.  PSB is willing to brief City Council verbally or in writing as often as needed.

·         The first Blue Ribbon Committee meeting didn’t even follow the agenda. Discussion began about taking decision-making about inexpediency away from the PSB.

·         The PSB is and has been the best place to manage land and water together apart from politics.

·         The PSB is not a broken system. [What may be more broken is the City’s ability to deal with budget, debt and revenue.]

·         PSB members carefully and thoroughly debate issues with water conservation first in mind.

·         The PSB prevents leap frog development.

·         PSB has been a leader in determining that water hungry industries either do not come to El Paso or have conservation plans if they do. [Remember the issue of water foot prints. Many industries bring good jobs without having heavy water needs.]

·         The PSB welcomes a better organized environmental community because that means being able to work more effectively with them.

Judy Ackerman, a member of the Senator’s committee, took some notes and you can read her summary as well.

It may be good to let the City Planning Department master plan – but taking the management of land and water away from the PSB and removing the key decision about determination of inexpediency would be disastrous for the short and long-term sustainability of El Paso, Texas.

Two things: in spite of the “battle” over the corridor and inanities of declaring a vacant lot as natural open space, conservationists and the PSB should be natural allies. Setting aside land in perpetuity as a reason for determining inexpediency and working more closely with open space advocates can only foster this better relationship. Throwing the baby out with the bath water will only serve the interests of those who prefer the bulldozer to water in your pipes.

Just know that the sustainability of our water supply is not just a local issue and will require much more than the important steps each and all of us take for water conservation in El Paso. It’s a regional/national/global issue. Whether it is the overuse of water in the Ogallala Aquifer or the demands on the Colorado River Basin, the scarcity, control and management of water will be the single most important issue of the 21^st Century. What has been going on in Western U.S. water policy impacts us here in El Paso.  We are just now beginning to see the consequences of bad water policies by generations of decision makers. Let’s make good ones in El Paso, Texas. Selling land for a quickie profit rather than carefully and conservatively managing our land and water is a prescription for disaster.

Finally, please do go to and bookmark Kids First/Reform EPISD and sign the petition.  Like them on Facebook.

Sustaining a City: Water and Education

Water and human minds are too precious to waste – especially here in El Paso. Here are the scoops:

Center stage now on the conservation front is the Mayor’s Blue Ribbon Committee on PSB Land Management. Some facts:

·         Tens of thousands of acres of City of El Paso land is managed by the Public Service Board.

·         It is the PSB that determines when land is “inexpedient” to the water utility and can be sold on the market for development, quarrying or other uses.

·         Land has been deemed inexpedient because it is not needed for utility infrastructure and conveyance, stormwater management,  water harvesting or conservation or the like and there is a market for the land – i.e., a developer or business wants the land.

·         Historically the PSB has been slow to declare land inexpedient and put it on the market.  Their additional  concern has been managing the scarcity of water.

Now comes a number of El Pasoans with City Council Rep. Cortney Niland leading the charge saying that land should be sold more quickly for development in order to spur economic growth. Sounds good – just one problem. El Paso is running out of water. Estimates show that we are only 30 years away from having to import water which will be quite expensive and it is not guaranteed that we will even be able to import when the time comes. More and more local communities are beginning to prevent water from leaving their locale because they face the same critical water shortages.

At the last Blue Ribbon Committee meeting, Niland (not a member but in attendance) argued that the 30 year estimate for needing to import water is a scare tactic. She further suggested that all we need to do is drill more wells. Some geological insight here will be helpful. El Paso draws water not just from the Rio Grande in season but from two underwater “lakes” – the Hueco and the Mesilla Bolsons. Those lakes are like bowls filled with water. Put a few straws in the bowl and start sucking and the water table begins to drop. Put a bunch more straws in the bowl, and you run out of water faster.  But, some argue, the bolsons are recharged with rain water and water from other sources seeping into the ground. Trouble is – the recharge is now negative. Why? This summer gives all of us good empirical evidence: prolonged drought and global warming which will lead to more prolonged drought.

So, shouldn’t there be another reason to declare land inexpedient and not just to sell it for development or industrial uses? More and more – much more – City land should be set aside as preserved natural open space in perpetuity. Why? Because we just don’t have the water and the climate is heating up meaning we aren’t going to be getting the water to recharge the bolsons and swell the Rio Grande. Besides, putting more land under conservation easements as natural open space will only make land to be sold for development more valuable because of supply and demand. As El Pasoans we stand to make more money on our land.

The Blue Ribbon Committee voted at their last meeting to recommend to City Council a new committee to determine whether land is inexpedient. This committee would be composed of the Mayor as Chair, two City Council representatives and two PSB representatives including the PSB Chair. This committee would do in essence what the PSB now does but faster – sell land for development . . . spur economic development at least until El Paso runs out of water and we repeat the lesson of the Mayans and the Anasazis of Chaco Canyon. This isn’t far-fetched and it isn’t a scare tactic.

One agrees that there needs to be better communication between the City and the PSB. The Blue Ribbon Committee also voted to suggest that the City’s CFO and Deputy City Manager in PSB financial meetings which will foster better communication (except that DCM Bill Studer who sits on the Blue Ribbon Committee didn’t seem at all thrilled with the additional work load of PSB meetings as well). Certainly we want better communication but let’s not be quick to change a relationship that has worked very well even if the process has been more judicious and conservative which is really what is in the best interest of El Paso.  Unfortunately, the PSB has employed the same reasoning as Niland and her backers would – sell land for its marketability and profit to the City and not as a key policy to conserve water by conserving land in perpetuity. Changing that policy (that zeitgeist really) is what needs to happen not usurping land management from the PSB.

So – two suggestions:

1.       Make setting land aside in its natural state forever the first reason for declaring City land managed by the PSB inexpedient. Marketing should be only the second reason.

2.       Don’t waste time on Blue Ribbon Committees based on economic development (and more revenue for the City – their real intent as demonstrated by a Ted Houghton motion).  Form now a Task Force on long range City planning as the City faces climate change, prolonged drought and increasing water shortages. Those issues should be the critical concerns and not speeding up land sales for the instant gratification of a few.

Upcoming elpasonaturally e-letters will discuss these issues further. The primary issues – the issues that drive all others – is the growing shortage of water and the control of that water. For now, read a letter to Rep. Niland from one of El Paso’s most respected jurists, Justice David Chew, who also served on City Council. Also watch Blue Gold – World Water Wars. See free water conservation movies on August 3 (tomorrow) and August 17 in McKelligon Canyon at 8 p.m. sponsored by the FMSP. (The ads say $1 – but the movies will be free.) Attend a seminar on rainfall capture at TecH20 on August 18 beginning at 10:30 a.m. And go see the film Chaco on Sunday, August 19^th, at 2 p.m. at the El Paso Museum of Archaeology.

The sustainability of this home that we call “El Paso” drastically depends on water. It also depends on an educated citizenry. Minds must not be wasted and the El Paso Independent School District needs reform now. The dereliction of each and every member of the Board of Directors of EPISD has been well chronicled in the El Paso Times recently. Nixonian attempts to hide, conduct audits in the dark, admissions of ignorance and ever-shifting stories and excuses are the identifying qualities of the current Board of Directors.

You don’t need to have a child or grandchild in the school system. As citizens we all depend on having a well-educated citizenry for the good of our “commonwealth” and community together. More of our tax money goes to the district which manages a budget much larger than the City, County and Airport combined.

Please go to and bookmark Kids First/Reform EPISD and sign the petition.  Like them on Facebook. If you can, please attend Senator Shapleigh’s second Town Hall Meeting this evening at 5:30 p.m. at UTEP’s Union Cinema located in the Union Building.  (#24 on campus map; 109 on Union Complex map)

Finally, probably one of the best restaurants from the Pecos to the Pacific is Ardovino’s Desert Crossing nestled beneath the west side of Mount Cristo Rey in Sunland Park, NM. (Map) Their brunch menu is the envy of the region. All this month (August) a portion of their proceeds from Sunday brunch (10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.) will go to the Southwest Environmental Center. Be sure you read SWEC’s Summer 2012 newsletter, the Mesquite Grill.

Finally finally, there are some must see videos – blasts from the past, old videos that Rick LoBello of the El Paso Zoo is preserving. See In Memory of the Last Wild Mexican Wolf shot on 8MM in the late 1970s and what may be the first film with sound documentary of the Chihuahuan Desert – the 1982 Land of Lost Borders narrated by Burgess Meredith. Although many of you may know Meredith as Mickey in the Rocky movies, those of you who are older will recall that he was the Penguin on television’s Batman. 

Another Letter Supports PSB

Last Friday I published Justice David Chew's letter to Rep. Cortney Niland as well as a letter from Judy Ackerman to elpasonaturally. Both are in response to the attempt to speed up the sale of City land - an idea being spearheaded by Rep. Niland with the support of what would seem to be a majority on the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Committee led by Ted "TxDOT" Houghton. Houghton's comments in the meetings make it obvious that what is really behind the desire to speed up sales of land is additional income for the City and not just economic development. At issue is the need to be judicious in selling land because of the overwhelming need to conserve water. Elpasonaturally believes that the primary reason for declaring land inexpedient (not necessary for the water utility's needs) is the need to conserve more land in its natural state in perpetuity - a need that supports water conservation while increasing the value of land that could be marketed for development. (It's the law of supply and demand - less land, same or greater demand, the higher cost for the land.) Many, including Niland, do not understand that the water in the bolsons are limited and diminishing as recharge is negative. It's not a matter of drilling more wells. Imagine a big bowl of water. Add more straws and more thirsty mouths and what happens to that glass of water sooner rather than later?


Today the E.P. Times published a letter from conservationist, Dr. Richard Teschner:


"For years, I've stated that the Public Service Board only manages open City of El Paso land and does not own it. 


"That said, I have seldom objected to the PSB's land-management practices, which are mindful of our desert location and our great distance from normally high-volume rivers such as the Colorado or the Mississippi.


"Precisely because of the water expertise of the PSB and its El Paso Water Utilities subset, the PSB indeed 'ought to be in the land-management business' and should definitely 'have a say-so in growth,' to quote in Chris Roberts' July 17 article (El Paso City Council rep seeks to speed up PSB land-use process).


"And while it's difficult to argue against including 'the city's chief financial officer and a deputy city manager in the PSB's financial committee meetings,' it also makes sense for representatives of local land conservation groups to be included there as well.


"We conservationists know where lie the arroyos, the aquifers and their intakes, and we've also had a fair amount of experience defending them."


Richard Teschner


The motion to include the city's chief financial officer and deputy city manager followed the infamous motion to establish a new committee to determine inexpediency - in effect doing what the PSB has done relatively well. The context for both motions was the seeming lack of communication between the City and the PSB. However, that lack of communication is solved by the presence of the city's financial officer and deputy city manager being part of the discussions. A committee is redundant to that end which committee proponents must know. Their real goal is to control land sales in order to gain more money for a City with a tight budget and a soon to be homeless City staff. 


Although EPWU officials probably know better than anyone (or we should all hope that they do) about "where lie the arroyos, the aquifers and their intakes", it is a need for the value of conservation to be primary rather than secondary to the market. The PSB has done quite well horse trading land so to speak. But what should be their first reason for land management is land conservation. It is that value that conservationists could bring to the table. That can be solved by re-defining PSB seats.


It's wrong to react to the PSB's market strategy for land-management by wanting the City to be the land manager. The PSB is a better place for such management as it takes it away from City politics. What needs to become the strategy for land management at the PSB is water conservation and thus land conservation. The biggest reason for declaring land inexpedient is the need to preserve land in its natural state - no development. Economic development can come through infill. More on that later.

Chief Justice Chew Takes Niland to Task

Few living El Pasoans have earned more respect for their service to community and country, their integrity and their wisdom than Chief Justice David Wellington Chew, Chief Justice, Senior Status, and former City Council Representative, District 2. You can read his biography and an announcement of his receipt of the prestigious Trailblazer Award. David's father was also a prominent community servant and El Paso has named one of its Senior Centers after him. David's sisters, Linda and Patricia, are also highly respected judges in El Paso.


Upon hearing about Rep. Cortney Niland's desire to speed-up land sales in El Paso, Justice Chew wrote her the following letter:

July 20, 2012

The Hon. Cortney Niland,
City Representative District 8
2 Civic Center Plaza, 12^th Floor
El Paso, TX 79902

Dear Representative Niland:

The El Paso Times recently quoted you as saying that estimates that the water supply for the City of El Paso will be severely strained as soon as 30 years from now [sic] are “scare tactics.” Chris Roberts, (2012, July 17). “Rep seeks to speed up PSB land-use process.” El Paso Times. pp. A1,A5.

If you said that, then I am personally disappointed in your position, and take great exception. 

May I remind you that El Paso is the driest major city in Texas, lying in the Trans-Pecos region of the Chihuahuan Desert, and it has faced water problems and drought throughout it’s history.  And while El Paso is in a perpetual drought, Texas, including El Paso, and much of the rest of the United States is confronted with the beginning of almost certainly the worst drought of the century.  We will see the depletion if not the drying up completely of the only surface water source that El Paso has --  the waters of Rio Grande from the reservoir at Elephant Butte.  Indeed, one only has to drive by, as I did this past weekend, and look out onto the much larger but nearly empty Lakes Falcon and Amistad, the reservoirs that serve the lower Rio Grande, to know that the drought in West Texas has begun. 

I am proud to have been a member of the 1991 El Paso City Council, which at the urging of the EPWU/PSB, enacted the earliest and most comprehensive water conservation measures in the state.  Then too, there were critics saying that “scare tactics” were used to enact "draconian" measures; but the unequivocal fact is that the Water Conservation Ordinance and subsequent water conservation and expansion measures taken by the EPWU/PSB since 1991 have preserved and enhanced the ground waters of the Mesilla and Hueco Bolsons, which provide the majority of the water to El Paso and are its lifeblood. 

It also seems to me that your and others’ criticism of the PSB are likely based on “Potemkim numbers,” groundless estimates of property tax revenues and job creation,  numerical facades so often created by proponents of unregulated economic growth for short term profit.  Without water, the prospect of economic growth in El Paso is simply dust.

I thank you for your service to the City of El Paso.    

With best personal regards,

David Wellington Chew,
Chief Justice, Senior Status, and former City Representative, District 2

Also in response to Niland, 2010 Conservation Award recipient and environmental activist, Judy Ackerman, wrote elpasonaturally the following:

"Representative Niland and the Mayor's Blue Ribbon Committee on the City's relationship with the PSB’s land management want to speed up selling City owned land for development.  STOP IT!  Hurry-up development got us Crazy Cat, widely cited as a huge mistake and eyesore.  Hurry-up development got us eastside sprawl with no parks, but plenty of traffic jams. 

"Remember that taxes generated from sprawl do NOT cover the cost of maintaining the streets, water, sewer, police, lighting, etc.  Sprawl development must be subsidized by existing taxpayers.

"El Paso has just been through the Master Planning Process with world renowned Dover Kohl.  Now is the time for carefully thought out, planned, sustainable, low impact, smart growth development.  Take your time and do it right.  “NO!”, to hurry-up development."

Water Scarcity, City Land and Development

There are some who, in the name of economic development, want to speed-up the sale of city-owned land for development. Most of this land is in the hands of the PSB which has historically been slow to declare land inexpedient - i.e., okay to sell. If land is required for utility infrastructure, flood control or the like, it won't be sold. If the land isn't required for those things and is good deal on the market, it will be sold. Although I've been critical of the PSB's failure to conserve land and their CEO's tight-fistedness in working out any immediate compromise in NW El Paso, I see the value of a land management strategy that is judicious, slow, deliberate and conservative. At the heart of such management should be the need to conserve the City's precious little water supply - a supply getting lower year by year. Factor in drought and global climate change and that scarcity is scary.  By some conservative estimates, El Paso is only 30 years away from needing to import water - a solution not necessarily guaranteed because of shifting political policies and realities in other localities - again because of dramatically decreasing supplies of water. 


Yet, some in the City and on City Council seem hell-bent to sell land faster for development. The Mayor's Blue Ribbon Committee on PSB land management policies has met twice now. At their last meeting on July 16, they voted 5 to 3 to recommend that a new committee be formed to determine whether land is inexpedient. The committee would consist of 5 members: the Mayor as Chair, 2 City Council representatives and 2 PSB members including the sitting Chairperson. They would short circuit what the PSB currently does more carefully: declare land fit to sell.


The Blue Ribbon Committee seems to be dominated by Bulldozing Ted "TxDOT" Haughton who has made it clear that there is only one reason to sell land: to make money and make it now. He was the one who made the motion for a new committee. His initial motion called for more money out of land sales and water revenues to go to the City. When asked by OSAB Chairman, Charlie Wakeem, to remove the additional revenues from his motion, he replied, "I was just trying to get you more money." TxDOT Ted employs a Kindergarten rhetorical style. He bullies by interrupting speakers and saying "you're wrong" or similar as someone makes a point contrary to his own. Haughton is also the one who has not enjoyed the extra audience of PSB member, Dr. Rick Bonart, myself and, at the July 16th meeting, Chris Roberts from the El Paso Times. At both meetings he has asked whether the proceedings were closed. After all, bulldozing TxDOT Ted prefers to do the people's business behind closed doors without the people. When his horrific recommendations finally get sent to City Council (and the PSB?), one hopes that the people will show up because at stake is the most valuable commodity in El Paso: WATER.


Also at the last Blue Ribbon Committee, Rep. Cortney Niland actively engaged the committee. She suggested that estimates of rapidly diminishing water supply are scare tactics and that the solution to our water problems is to drill more wells. If the lakes are running dry (and that is what the bolsons are that help supply our water - underground lakes from the ancient Lake Cabeza de Vaca - then all the drilling on either side of the mountain will find no additional water. 


Read Chris Roberts EP Times story about the blue ribbon meeting and Ms. Niland's comments. Unfortunately, the clueless EP Times Editorial Board endorsed the joint committee and stated that Niland is right that faster land sales means more jobs - well, at least, construction jobs.


Keep in mind that Niland's big campaign contributors are from the development, mortgage and insurance industries especially through the Citizens for Prosperity PAC. The top contributors to that PAC are from the very industries who would benefit from an expedited process to sell City of El Paso land. The El Paso Times (the same paper that rushes to endorse a scheme to sell land based on market benefits rather than water conservation) reported during last year's campaign that Gerald Rubin's River Oak Properties was giving Niland free office space.  They reported that Citizens for Prosperity gave Niland nearly $25,000.


It's not all about economic expansion and jobs. It's also about the City with a bloated budget finding more revenue sources. Behind the move to control the water utility more tightly is a need for greater revenue. If the City succeeds, expect your water bill to go up - and I mean way up. If the City is also successful in expanding the economy by developing land more quickly without regard to water supply, expect a boom and then imagine a site not unlike Chaco Canyon, where a long drought finally brought down the advanced Anasazi Culture. Imagine, El Paso including its new ballpark some day looking like this:

Photo by James Gordon, Chaco Canyon

Sorry, guess those are scare-tactics. However, just for once it would be nice to know that our El Paso developers and friends made decisions not just on the basis of the immediate gratification of exorbitant wealth but with a sense of community and what is good for their grandchildren's grandchildren. 


What's another reason for declaring land inexpedient? Conservation of that land in its natural state in perpetuity by conservation easements. Wouldn't it have been great if the PSB/EPWU's CEO had embraced that policy rather than attempting to keep the power to control sales to himself. Those who want economic expansion now only want to be more efficient than Mr. Archuleta and the PSB. But efficiency shouldn't be the issue. Saving our water for future generations should be.

Statements about the City Council Vote

After Tuesday's vote, I sent an email to the Mayor and City Council and issued a statement for the next Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition. Here they are:

Mayor and Members of Council,

Thank you so much for your vote to preserve the land in the NW Master Plan. Given all of the circumstances, I believe that you took the wisest and most prudent action. It has become very apparent that you and staff (both City and PSB) were trying very hard to respond to the citizens of El Paso who signed the petition. As the author of the petition and the coordinator of the petition drive, I am sincerely touched by your caring and your solid efforts in favor of conservation.

I also strongly support the PSB recommendation of Alternative 1 as a new access into the State Park. I very much appreciate your added endorsement of a separate animal corridor near the current entrance.

All of us in the conservation/environmental community look forward to working with you collaboratively in the future. We have more land than water and no land without water is or will be of any value. Therefore, preserving land as natural open space maximizes the economic value of the remaining land. May we as El Pasoans be as prudent, judicious, deliberate and conservative with our land and water management as you were with your decision about the preservation of land in the NW Master Plan. May we be faithful stewards of our land for our grandchildren’s grandchildren and may we not ever be lured by any need for instant profit and gratification.

Sincerely,

Jim H. Tolbert

Proud El Paso Citizen and

Publisher, elpasonaturally

www.elpasonaturally.blogspot.com

And to the editor of the Franklin Mountains Wilderness Coalition newsletter:

As the author of the petition and the coordinator of the petition drive, I hope we all see the tremendous achievement which came from our dedicated work.  On July 17, 2012 City Council voted unanimously  to preserve land in the NW Master Plan in perpetuity by deeding and donating the land to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to become part of the Franklin Mountains State Park. Language in the deed will contain very strict covenants that will forbid the property from ever being used other than as recreational natural open space. If for any reason the land comes back to the City, a conservation easement will be created and the land will be dedicated as Parkland. The conservation of this land in perpetuity is just one of many benefits created by our successful petition drive.  The NW Master Plan was redone as Smart Growth/Smart Code.  Moreover, City Planners are now seeking to incorporate Green Infrastructure/Low Impact Development into the engineering tools and building codes of the City.  Also, conservation and smart growth have become the goals of the City of El Paso rather than conventional growth and sprawl. The City’s Planning Department is now led by progressive, Smart Growth, New Urban, conservation advocates. Finally, a better working relationship between the conservation/environmental community and the PSB/EPWU has begun and needs nurturing.

The way is clear for all of us to begin wrestling with the bigger issue of scarcity of water as we face more years of drought and global warming/climate change.  As El Pasoans we need to realize that we have more land than water and no land without water is or will be of any value. Therefore, preserving land as natural open space maximizes the economic value of the remaining land.  Much of City-owned land managed by the PSB should be declared inexpedient not to sell to developers but to preserve as natural open space.  May we as El Pasoans be as prudent, judicious, deliberate and conservative with our land and water management as City Council was with its conservation strategy to preserve land in the NW Master Plan. May we be faithful stewards of our land for our grandchildren’s grandchildren and may we not ever be lured by any need for instant profit and gratification.

Jim H. Tolbert

Publisher, elpasonaturally

www.elpasonaturally.blogspot.com

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Even as River Water Returns, EPWU Urges Conservation

The El Paso Water Utilities/Public Service Board just issued this press release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                    June 5, 2012 Even as river water returns, EPWU urges conservation Utility calls on customers to resume two-day-a-week voluntary watering schedule

EL PASO – El Paso Water Utilities has resumed treatment of river water at two plants that were shut down when the Rio Grande ran dry in May. “El Pasoans worked together to answer our call for conservation and avoided mandatory water restrictions during a critical two-week period,” said EPWU President and CEO Ed Archuleta, “but we mustn’t let our guard down. Even though there’s water in the river, it’s not going to be nearly as much as we get in a typical year.” EPWU is asking residential customers to resume voluntary outdoor watering on only two days per week and only on designated days. •    Even-numbered addresses: Tuesday, Thursday or Saturday. •     Odd-numbered addresses: Wednesday, Friday or Sunday. •     Before 10 a.m. and after 6 p.m. Additionally, EPWU has adjusted its goal for daily water use. The utility is seeking to keep city-wide use below 145 million gallons per day. Daily updates can be found on the front page of the El Paso Times, at Facebook.com/EPWater and by following @EPWater on Twitter. “While this critical period has passed, drought conditions continue across the Rio Grande watershed,” Archuleta said. “Since the drought is not expected to end anytime soon, now is the time to adopt the ‘Less is the New More’ lifestyle. “It’s about conserving water, saving money and living more responsibly in the Chihuahuan Desert.” El Paso Water Utilities has a complete water conservation guide at LessIsMoreEP.org. A similar “Less is the New More” guide was mailed to EPWU customers with the May bill. ###

Sandra Postel: Water Conservation Is More Than Watering Less

Get to know Sandra Postel and what she has to say about water. It's not just a matter of conserving water by turning off the tap as we brush our teeth. With global warming strategies that deal with episodic droughts are not enough. It's a matter of knowing that water is embedded in everything and knowing our "water footprint". It's about eating less beef, recycling paper or using less, buying fewer clothes or checking out that Thrifty store on the corner.


Here's a 2010 video with Postel that can help get you acquainted with what she is teaching: