Positive News on Water Management from UTEP

In Tanzania holes are often dug for water which is often contaminated.

[This bit of positive news from UTEP just came to my attention. According to the U.N. "(w)ater scarcity already affects every continent. Around 1.2 billion people, or almost one-fifth of the world's population, live in areas of physical scarcity, and 500 million people are approaching this situation. Another 1.6 billion people, or almost one quarter of the world's population, face economic water shortage (where countries lack the necessary infrastructure to take water from rivers and aquifers)." The problem is also right here at home. Check out which city is number 5 in this 2013 Huffington Post report.]

UTEP to Offer New Water Resources Engineering Management Track
Last Updated on July 13, 2015 at 1:16 pm 

The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) now offers a Water Resources in Engineering Management (WREM) track within the Master of Engineering in Civil and Environmental Engineering program.

The WREM track will prepare students with the necessary abilities to understand and manage resources in a water-scarce world. It will be led by WREM Coordinator and Clinical Professor Ivonne Santiago, Ph.D., and Edmund Archuleta, director of water initiatives at UTEP.

“The long-term vision for this program is to prepare engineers to solve complex problems in an increasing water-short world and to establish UTEP as a preferred university to study water,” Archuleta said. “UTEP is already a well-known leader in water resources with a diversified research and teaching portfolio in desalination, reuse, advanced water treatment, sustainability and related topics. This degree will provide the student with the important engineering and management tools to work in various facets of either the private or public sector.”

Click on image to enlarge.

Across the developing world, there is a shortage of fresh water supplies free from pollution and there continues to be a lack of development of these resources. Given its geographic location in the Chihuahuan Desert and need for integrated water resources, the El Paso region is perfectly situated for students to study and learn about the need for water sustainability.

While there have been continuous education advances in the field of water use and desalination, there is a need to better define the water resource curriculum to meet today’s challenges and expected future challenges so that our water resource workforce is better prepared at the technical and management level.

Out of necessity, El Paso has had to diversify its water resource plans. The city has been successful in developing and implementing water conservation, ground water management, surface water rights, reclaimed water use and desalination.


“Water resources management is a critical need across the U.S. and the world,” said Richard Schoephoerster, Ph.D., dean of the College of Engineering. “El Paso and UTEP have developed unique expertise in this area, and this program will help to share our expertise and knowledge. I am very grateful for Ed Archuleta’s leadership and the effort of the faculty to get this program off the ground.”


Please support elpasonaturally©. Go HERE to donate and help turn El Paso "green".

Conflict of Interest

Richard Schoephoerster is both the Dean of the College of Engineering at UTEP and the Chairman of the Public Service Board. Recent open record requested documents clearly show a conflict of interest with regard to the UTEP Reclaimed Water Project and his role as Chairman of the PSB.

As I reported in an earlier post, my first ORR to the EPWU came up short. I made a second request. Frankly, the response to it seems to be lacking as well. Nevertheless, there are some email exchanges that demonstrate that Schoephoerster was very much engaged in inappropriate persuasion for the UTEP project and, in so doing, failed to act as a fiduciary for the PSB/EPWU, his sworn duty.

Although Shoephoerster recused himself as both Chair and voting member when the project was discussed at the PSB in August and again in September, behind the scenes he was quite active in promoting it. His enthusiasm became apparent publicly at the last EPWU strategic planning meeting when he attempted to shut down any discussion that was negative about the Centennial Park project or reclaimed water in general. Although reclaimed water is subsidized, Schoephoerster used some pretty creative sophistry to suggest that it isn't. He recused himself from voting at a PSB meeting prior to the strategic planning meeting, but was quite engaged in the discussion during strategic planning and used his position as Chair to shut down any discussion of doubts raised by PSB member, Dr. Richard Bonart. After the PSB failed to support the project at its September meeting, Schoephoerster exhibited what can only be called peevishness. He very much personally owned the issue.

In fact as shown by ORR docusments, Schoephoerster put together "talking points" for the project. His "talking points" came in the form of a resolution as if he were drafting the motion for a vote. When asked by UTEP Executive Vice President Richard Adauto why he used the form of a resolution, Dr. Schoephoerster at first quipped in an email: "Artistic license? :)" Less than 3 hours later in a follow-up email, he wrote: "I used the 'resolution' form just as a way to organize the information." Ingenuous? CYA? In that same follow-up email to Adauto, the Dean of Engineering and Chairman of the PSB added a P.S.: "David Crowder [El Paso Inc.] is doing a story in next week's Inc. He asked to speak with me but I told him I have no comment due to conflict of interest." No comment to Crowder, but a resolution to Adauto and Balliew. 

He highlights two of his "whereas clauses". In both he touts the "education opportunity to thousands [my emphasis] of UTEP students, faculty, staff and visitors annually" and states that the project "will educate thousands [again my emphasis] of students and their families, along with faculty, staff, and community stakeholders, on responsible water management including the use of reclaimed water."

Nevermind the grandiosity of the resolution, the fact that the program showed no benefit cost, was obviously going to be subsidized by ratepayers (you and me), championed a methodology (reclaimed water) which shows dubious and expensive results and says nothing about rainwater management and capture - a better strategy. What was not noted was the fact that waste (read "crap") from the project would not be recycled at UTEP but would instead go back to the NW Plant to be re-processed - a double whammy not included in the cost overruns. Oh - sorry - they didn't show any cost overruns.

Schoephoerster's resolution is rhetoric with very little sense of reality. He is promoting a program. Why? Missing in the second set of documents (and I requested communications as far back as January 2012) was any discussion of the origin of the project. We are led to believe that it just came to mind and just came to many minds at the same time.

Obviously as early as December 2012 there was some talk about justifying the Centennial Park/UTEP Water Reclamation project. An email from government relations consultant John O'Donnell to Ed Archuleta and others talks about the "[use] of reclaimed water on lands at UTEP" as "another way UTEP and EPWU collaborate to provide a water supply to benefit the University, City and Fort Bliss for environmental and economic sustainability in the high desert." The collaboration with UTEP benefits the City and Fort Bliss? How? Again a program of rainwater capture and management would be much better and more cost effective. Students at UTEP can always go to EPWU reclaimed plants off campus. 

Whatever the origin (and it would seem that it may take a court subpoena finally to get all of the relevant documents especially noting the apparent attempt by EPWU legal to shield Schoephoerster from the first request), the Dean of Engineering was very much involved in seeing that the PSB approve the project. In so doing, he was acting not as a sworn member of the PSB but as a Dean seeking a showcase project (those thousands and thousands of students and their parents). His actions would seem to violate Texas and El Paso ethics laws.

By the way, there is one more interesting twist to Schoephoerster's turning down an interview with David Crowder. An old communications policy of the EPWU/PSB states that only the Chair of the PSB, the CEO and the Vice-President of Marketing can respond to media requests. When a request is made to another board member, that member must turn the request over to the Chair, CEO and VP of Marketing. News is controlled and channeled that way. By denying an interview, Schoephoerster is attempting to shut down press coverage negative to his pet project. Crowder in a September 8, 2013 Inc. article reports on the questions raised about the UTEP project by Dr. Richard Bonart.  On the agenda for tomorrow's PSB meeting the communications policy will be discussed in executive session. Why discuss it in the privacy of executive session and not out in the open with the public present? Could this be an effort to get back at Bonart for dissenting on the UTEP project? The only reason why it would be behind closed doors and away from the public is because it may very well be a means of retaliation. Here's the policy and it needs to be abolished or changed since it comes from an old leadership style that wants no transparency, utilizes subterfuge and makes decisions in the dark behind closed doors:

PSB Communications Policy 

PSB members swear an oath to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States . . . " I guess that the First Amendment is just too darn inconvenient to be covered by the oath.

It would seem that Schoephoerster violated his fiduciary duty and should resign as Chair and member of the PSB. Discussions about communications policies should be made in the open. 

Open Request Records on UTEP Project Come Up Short

On September 4, 2013, I emailed the following open records request to John Balliew, CEO of the EPWU:

John,

I would like to examine the following documents:

1. All emails, letters or any form of correspondence, memos, notes, etc. since Sept. 1, 2012 between anyone from the EPWU or any member of the PSB (past or present) with/between/among each other or with faculty or administrators at UTEP regarding the Reclaimed Water Project and/or the Water Initiatives Project.
2. A copy of any research contract between the PSB/EPWU and UTEP with regard to the Reclaimed Water Project and/or the Water Initiatives Project.

After examining the documents I may ask for copies.


Thanks.

Yesterday I received and reviewed the documents and asked for copies of all the pages presented to me. Here are my observations:

I received copies of responses from CEO John Balliew, CFO Marcela Navarrete, Economist David Torres and the following Public Service Board members: David Nemir, Henry Gallardo, Mayor Oscar Leeser, Terri Garcia, Richard Bonart and Katherine Brennand.

I received NOTHING from PSB Chairman, Richard Shoephoerster, who is also the Dean of Engineering at UTEP.  I saw two emails from Dr. Shoephoerster - one to John Balliew (8/29/13) and another to Bob Andron with a copy to Mr. Balliew (8/13/13). Both emails were part of the CEO's response to my ORR. But NOTHING from Richard Shoephoerster himself even though he was obligated to turn over the same email just mentioned. How curious! The lack of anything from Dr. Shoephoerster reminds one of the 18 minute gap in Nixon's Watergate tapes. Is Rose Mary Woods not deceased? Is she now, in fact, the Administrative Assistant to UTEP's Dean of Engineering?

Former CEO and now head of the UTEP Water Initiatives program at UTEP, Ed Archuleta, is referred to in emails. But again NOTHING from Ed Archuleta even though he remained on the EPWU payroll for a greater part of this year.

The Timeline:

Pre-October 2012: The Plan for the Water Project at UTEP is presented to the EPWU. How this was presented and by whom and to whom is still a mystery.

October 2012: Project brought to EPWU budget meetings according to an email from John Balliew to me on 8/29/13.

October 11, 2012: Slide show at a public Strategic Planning meeting mentions UTEP reclaimed water. See EPWU Day One Strategic Planning Slide Show #22/64. 

November 19, 2012: according to an email to me from Balliew, UTEP project presented at CIP Budget meeting.

Finally, Economist Torres probably best explained the institutional reason for the UTEP project in an email to CEO Balliew with a copy to Marcela Navarrete:

"I think the real value of this project is not in the financials it is in the intangible opportunity this project has. UTEP is celebrating their 100 year anniversary and this is a great way for EPWU to be showcased as a partner in the community providing an innovative supply of water that other communities don't have. There is no monetary measure of this, however it is something that will bring positive news for EPWU as UTEP will be promoting their 100 anniversary and the information will reach alumni and individuals all over the world."

Let us forget for the moment the grandiosity. It is doubtful that this project will ever have the kind of marketing value Mr. Torres claims. When AT&T branded the Dallas Cowboy Stadium with their name, you can bet that AT&T had a very good idea about the marketing/PR/advertising value of naming the stadium after themselves. 

Although this project is presumably dead (but one never knows with such powers behind it), the proposed location on campus would be far from the beaten path and hidden by traffic routes and parking garages.

Click to enlarge. Waldo would be easier to find.

Where's Waldo?

Here is my new ORR complete with preface:

Yesterday I received documents related to my request, I reviewed them at the EPWU administrative building and was given copies of all pages. I believe that the documents that I received are not the total number of documents that actually exist. It is curious that all members of the PSB responded with the exception of Dr. Shoephoerster, Chairman of the PSB. In fact, I see no email from Becky Lopez to him requesting any documents related to my 9/4/13 request. There are two emails from the PSB Chair which were part of CEO Balliew's response. If nothing else, I would have expected to get the same copies of those emails from Dr. Shoephoerster but I do not. Mr. Archuleta is referenced in email suggesting his involvement in the project. I believe that he continued on the EPWU payroll until this past July. Surely during the last months of his tenure, he should have had documents related to my request or someone at EPWU would have documents from Mr. Archuleta relevant to this request.  The UTEP Reclaimed Project was mentioned in a slide show to the PSB at a Strategic Planning meeting in October of 2012. Am I to believe that the project just popped up at that meeting without any prior discussion without a paper trail of that discussion? 

I respectfully submit this new ORR:

1. Copy of communication between Becky Lopez (or another person at EPWU) to Dr. Richard Shoephoerster requesting a response to my 9/4/13 ORR and copy of Dr. Shoephoerster's response.
2. In an email from David Torres to John Balliew on 8/23/13 at 9:59 AM a file is attached: UTEP reuse project.xlsx. Please furnish a written copy of that file.
3. All documents for the presentation of the project, including any budget numbers, at the 2012 Strategic Planning meeting and CIP budget presentations or any budget presentation to the PSB.
4. With the exception of the documents that I have already received, copies of all communications, emails, letters, memos, notes between and among EPWU and UTEP persons regarding the UTEP Reclaimed Water project and/or the Water Initiatives Project from January 1, 2012 to the present. (This includes EPWU to EPWU communications and EPWU to UTEP communications.)
5. All communications between Ed Archuleta and anyone regarding the UTEP Reclaimed Water Project and/or the Water Initiatives Project during his tenure at EPWU beginning on January 1, 2012.
6. If Mr. Archuleta's tenure at EPWU was shorter than 7/13, then payroll records showing his last day of tenure with EPWU.
7. All communications from or to the Chairman of the PSB, Dr. Richard Shoephoerster, regarding the UTEP Reclaimed Water project and/or the Water Initiatives Project from January 1, 2012 to the present. 

Thank you.

We shall see.

PSB Vote Practically Torpedoes UTEP Centennial Park Water Program

On Wednesday, the PSB didn't exactly say "no" to the Centennial Park Water Reclamation project at UTEP.  However, there was enough skepticism on the Board to hobble the program. 

Rainwater Harvesting Would Make a Better Study for UTEP

An expert hydrologist and engineer gave this analysis of the proposed UTEP reclaimed water project/boondoggle: 

"Because of the large area of buildings, sidewalks, bedrock, run on from the campus arroyo and parking lots relative to the green areas, it is straight forward to meet all of UTEP’s landscape watering needs with stormwater (rainwater harvesting) at a cost that is insignificant relative to the proposed plant. The water would also be of much higher quality (very low TDS). Unless there are some hidden cost savings that haven’t been mentioned this appears to be a product of a) poor economic analysis and b) an outdated concept of the water budget, c) typical El Paso politics. We need to move into the future, not optimize yesterday’s solutions."

TDS by the way stands for Total Dissolved Solids. "A high concentration of TDS is an indicator that harmful contaminants, such as iron, manganese, sulfate, bromide and arsenic, can also be present in the water." [Safe Drinking Water Foundation publication]. Arsenic is an issue in El Paso water and may be more so at UTEP which abuts where ASARCO once belched the element.

The project proposed for UTEP could very well take place at the Bustamante plant and could help the Rio Bosque Wetlands park. The Center for Environmental Resource Management (CERM) at UTEP is tasked with water initiatives and it is the same department that already manages the Rio Bosque, now a part of the EPWU inventory.

Speaking about the Rio Bosque: Is doing something there just talk by the EPWU to calm the savages of the environmental community? PSB member, Dr. Rick Bonart, explained: 

"At the February meeting we talked about the Rio Bosque. A formal motion was made to authorize the President and CEO to design and build a pipeline from Bustamante to Rio Bosque to convey either reclaimed H2O or effluent.

"I asked CEO John Balliew how much and how long to do the project.  The anwser: $440,000 and 6 months.

"At the last PSB meeting call to public a member of the public asked when this would be done and Mr. Balliew said it would be on this month's agenda."

Here's the agenda for this Wednesday. Anyone see anything about the Bosque?

Item 3 is about the so-called UTEP Centennial Project.  This message is making the email rounds:

"This Wednesday the PSB will be deciding to fund a request from UTEP to provide a packaged plant to make reclaimed water on campus for use on the campus. Evidently, UTEP is expecting all the rate payers in El Paso to subsidize this project which is primarily to benefit watering some landscaping at Miner Village, Centennial Plaza,  and for the replacement of grass to the Sun Bowl. This seems like a very elitist and preferential burden for all rate payers. Supposedly it is to be a research project for UTEP, but it will be subsidized not by the University or its system, but by local rate payers. As a research project, this researcher asks, 'What is the hypothesis? What is the need? What are the variables? and What prior research does this come out of.'  Whose idea was this anyway?

"I encourage you to attend the PSB meeting this Wednesday and hear what the justifications are for this? There are too many inconsistencies and lack of community participation for this to slide through."

The regular meeting of the Public Service Board will be held at 8:00 a.m., Wednesday, September 11, 2013, at the Public Service Board Meeting Room, 1154 Hawkins Boulevard, El Paso, Texas. Map

Check out David Crowder's story at the Inc.: Questions about UTEP water plant: PSB member says project is waste of money

Red Flags, Red Herrings and Inappropriate Lobbying

Preface: On August 22, 2013 the PSB/EPWU held a Strategic Planning meeting. It was done in house (no outside facilitator this time) and it was done well. It was open and, for the most part as far as anyone can tell, honest. Weaknesses as well as strengths were discussed. Challenges and opportunities were laid out. Prior to the actual meeting, CEO John Balliew directed that meetings with key stakeholders be conducted. I was one of those interviewed. 

One slide presentation did raise a red flag . . . or was it a red herring? Whatever, the impassioned defense which followed from PSB Chairman and UTEP Dean of the College of Engineering, Richard Schoephoerster, was out of line. He has or appears to have a conflict of interest. He should have excused himself from discussion and should recuse himself on any future votes if indeed he is, as I suspect, personally involved in a proposed program to be financed by the EPWU to produce reclaimed water on the UTEP campus.

Here is the title slide of the presentation:

Here is the slide that raised the flag:

The project proposed will produce 70 Acre Feet/year of water for UTEP. In the beginning the water was for irrigating Miner Village but that was too little space to justify that much water. So then it was defended to include the new Centennial Plaza (now being constructed). Again, the xeriscaped area will not be enough to justify 70AF. So, an idea was floated to include re-sodding the Sun Bowl with real grass (not astroturf) in order to attract more soccer games. (UTEP Chancellor Arleigh B. Templeton changed the field in 1973 in order to save water.)The idea for natural grass didn't have traction. So, we are left with more reclaimed water that can be justified by the area required for irrigation.

Why? The quid pro quo could be that EPWU with ratepayer funds finances a water reclamation process (such as Ovivio) and, in return gets research. The project coincides with a new engineering program, Water Initiatives, now being led by former EPWU CEO Ed Archuleta.

In an email sent on September 3, 2013, the Consumer or Citizens Advocacy member of the Public Service Board, Dr. Rick Bonart, wrote to me and John Balliew the following:

"The Public Service Board, at the September meeting [Item #3 on 9/11/13 agenda], is being asked to approve what I think is an extremely selfish request from UTEP. It's basically a 6 million dollar toy, disguised as a research project. Needless to say, I'm completely opposed. Let me explain why.

"The request is for a packaged plant to make reclaimed water on campus. To be worthy of funding by the utility, the UTEP reclaimed water project  must create value for the rate payer. Unfortunately, the parameters of this endeavor are so ill-defined, that determining if there is any value in this project is impossible.

"What determined the size, and need, and who requested the project?  The plant will make 70 acre/feet of water enough for 18 acres of turf. I was originally told the water was for landscaping the southwest corner of Miner Village. When, I questioned why the need for so much water for such a small parcel, I was told the water was also for the new Centennial Plaza.  When, I pointed out Centennial Plaza is only 10.6 acres and xeriscaped, I was then told the additional capacity  was to provide water that would enable UTEP to change the Sun Bowl's surface from Astro Turf back to grass.  Now, in Mr. Balliew's latest response, UTEP will not be changing the Sun Bowl's surface. 

"Mr. Balliew admits the project doesn't make economic sense, but  goes on to explains "financial reward isn't the only criteria the utility judges and approves projects." I agree financial concerns are not the only consideration for building a project. However, when the agreement benefits just one party to such an egregious degree, it's unacceptable.  

"In my opinion, the current reclaimed water system is a logistic and financial boondoggle. Reclaimed water is an inferior product, that can only be used by a few customers, on select vegetation. The utility makes reclaimed water for $496/ an acre foot and sells it for $51 an acre foot. EPWU must annually subsidize reclaimed water with $3 Million dollars of rate payer money (a 90% subsidy). Compared to the current reclaimed water cost, the UTEP project is a quantum leap in the wrong direction. Reclaimed water produced at the UTEP plant will cost about $4500 an acre foot, that's a 900%  subsidy.

"While some  will defend the above subsidy saying "look how much water it saves", I want to point out that, while reclaimed water saves 6750 acre feet of water, we concurrently and for years, waste 15,000 to 20,000 acre feet of water by giving it away to EPWD#1.  Reclaimed water is an evolutionary dead end. Mr. Balliew understands these short comings and thankfully is rapidly transitioning the utility to purified water.

"Finally, we have the theory this is a "research project".  At best this project will be a duplication of effort. It will divert valuable resources needed for real research. There is nothing innovative about a package unit designed and built  by others with current technology.

"EWPU was recently awarded $100,000 by the Army Corps of Engineers, seed money for such a research project at Bustamante/Rio Bosque. Using those funds at Bustamante makes perfect sense. Processes developed at that facility could easily be scaled up from prototype to production and distributed to all customers without subsidy. Purified water production at Bustamante has the potential to increase our total municipal water supply by 15 to 20%, and it's drought proof. Reprogramming the UTEP reclaimed water funds to the project at Bustamante will accelerate development . Bustamante is a research project UTEP should be willing to both participate in and contribute to. If we truly want to do research on purified water, the project should be at Bustamante/Rio Bosque, where the whole community will benefit. 

"In it's present form the UTEP project does not create value for the rate payer.

"As a member of The Public Service Board, I have a fiduciary responsibility to the rate payers, not UTEP.  The PSB should not proceed with this poorly conceived project, but focus the utility's efforts and resources on a research facility at Bustamante to  innovative purified water production that will create real value for the rate payers and the whole community."

Rick Bonart

Citizen Advocate PSB


This post is just Part 1.

Electronic Recycling at UTEP for Earth Week

Click on image to enlarge.

Deal for Water Almost Complete on the Rio Bosque

Item #9 on the Wednesday, November 14th PSB agenda regards a simple transaction transferring Rio Bosque to the PSB and having the PSB assume the license with UTEP.  It will be drafted in the form of a Joint Resolution between the PSB and the City and has "obtained approval by the Asst. City Attorney and the Parks Director" according to Open Space Chairman Charlie Wakeem.  "This action will pave the way for reclaimed and/or treated effluent from the Bustamante Waste Water Plant to flow to the Rio Bosque in the very near future." Only City Council approval will be necessary after Monday evening assuming the PSB adopts the resolution. However, all signs point to adoption since helping the Bosque became a major issue at this year's strategic planning meeting as reported here at elpasonaturally in an earlier post.

The PSB/EPWU will continue an unchanged relationship with UTEP according to CEO Archuleta in an earlier email to me. "We have no intention of changing the relationship with UTEP and thus would maintain the license agreement as it," Ed Archuleta told me. "This is also the request from UTEP since I have spoken to Dr. Natalicio about this and also Dr. Schoephoerster. [Schoephoerster is the Dean of the College of Engineering at UTEP and a member of the PSB.] We would simply assume the license agreement."

In an email to Richard Teschner, Chairman of Senator Rodriguez's Environmental Advisory Committee, David Ornelas, the Wastewater System Division Manager for EPWU wrote: "The good news is that we are near an agreeement with the City and EPCWID#1 that will result in a water supply for the Rio Bosque that does not require a permit amendment. An announcement will be forthcoming."

John Balliew, EPWU VP, confirmed what Ornelas said: We [PSB/EPWU] have a verbal agreement with Joyce Wilson and a written agreement will be signed shortly. The irrigation district is in agreement."

In spite of a claim by Ornelas that water is already running to the Bosque "no water releases will be authorized until the City and the PSB approve the agreement," according to EPWU CEO, Ed Archuleta.  

However, it is no longer a matter of "if" but "when" the water will begin running.

There is more to this happy saga to report but I shall do so after the ink is dry  on the resolution and all the i's dotted so to speak. It is safe to say that Mr. Archuleta paved the way for this long-awaited solution through a meeting with the water district. That's a story to tell!

For now, those who have long cared about saving the Rio Bosque may want to attend next Wednesday, November 14th meeting of the PSB at 1154 Hawkins Blvd. The meeting begins at 9:00 a.m. 

Nabhan Speaks at UTEP at 5PM Today

Click in image to enlarge.

Ethnobotanist, conservationist, farmer, essayist and internationally-celebrated nature writer, Dr. Gary Paul Nabhan, will lecture and sign his new book, Chasing Chiles, this evening in Room 116 at the Undergraduate Learning Center on the UTEP campus. A reception will follow at the Centennial Museum. (Map)

Nabhan was the Founding Director of the Center for Sustainable Environments at Northern Arizona University. He co-founded Native Seeds/Search, a clearinghouse of native varieties of agricultural seeds of the American Southwest and northwest Mexico, and founded RAFT (Renewing America's Food Traditions), "an alliance of food, farming, environmental and culinary advocates who have joined together to identify, restore and celebrate America's biologically and culturally diverse food traditions through conservation, education, promotion and regional networking."

Mother Earth News has called Gary (an orchard-keeper and wild forager) "the father of the local food movement."He is also an Ecumenical Franciscan brother.

Chasing Chiles is co-authored with Kurt Michael Friese and Kraig Kraft. "Chasing Chiles looks at both the future of place-based foods and the effects of climate change on agriculture through the lens of the chile pepper - from the farmers who cultivate this iconic crop to the cuisines and cultural traditions in which peppers play a huge role."

The Rio Bosque Is Dying

Paired Images Riparian 11-07-09a

Program Coordinator/Manager of the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, John Sproul, explained the pictures in the slide show above:

"The 3 photo pairs in the attached PowerPoint file compare some cottonwoods and willows in the southern part of the park. The first photo in each pair was taken last year in Sept or Oct. The second photo was taken this year in July.

"With the first two photo pairs, the trees are in worse shape today than they were back in July. A photo taken today would give a more dramatic comparison.

"With the third photo pair, the cottonwood featured was dead by mid-July. The clumps of green in the July photo are all mistletoe."

The Rio Bosque Wetlands Park is dying. And, in spite of the drought, there is water available. In fact, Sproul and volunteers almost daily truck water from the Bustamante Plant, a wastewater treatment plant that delivers treated effluent to either the Riverside Canal or the Riverside Drain - both under the control of the El Paso County Water Improvement District #1. Chuy Reyes is the General Manager of the District. He is the brother of U.S. Representative, Silvestre Reyes of El Paso.

According to information on the El Paso Water Utilities web site, water from the Bustamante Plant is discharged either to the . . .

". . . Riverside Canal or the Riverside Drain. Discharges to the Riverside Canal are used chiefly for irrigation purposes. Discharges to the Riverside Drain go mainly to the Rio Bosque Wetlands Preserve where they help maintain and sustain the aquatic habitat required by the diverse animal and plant species present."

EPWU's statatement above may have been true when it was written and posted to their web site some time ago, it isn't true now. El Paso Water Utilities is obligated, under the Rio Grande Project 2001 Implementing Third-Party Contract, to deliver 13,333 acre-feet of the treated effluent from the Bustamante Plant to the Riverside Canal or the Riverside Drain each year between 15 Feb and 15 Oct. That leaves at least 7,800 acre-feet of Bustamante Plant effluent EPWU does not have to deliver to the irrigation district during that period.

"Some of that could potentially be delivered directly to Rio Bosque via pipeline," Sproul says. Unfortunately, the Water Improvement District owns both the canal and the drain and they make the call whether that extra water is delivered to the Bosque Wetlands Park or not. So, 7,800 acre-feet minus the pittance Sproul and friends can truck to the park in order to hand-water individual trees, is taken by the Water Improvement District.

To add insult to injury, careful (almost daily) monitoring of wells at the Bosque reveal that the groundwater in the park dramatically drops when one of the Improvement District's wells (CW-4) is on. Not only is the Improvement District denying water from the Bustamante Plant to the Bosque, it appears that they are draining the Bosque's groundwater!

Park volunteer, Judy Ackerman, reports:

"Most of the groundwater monitoring wells are lower than in 2006 drought. Seven out of the 13 wells are dry. Most groundwater levels are below 20 ft, while 5 ft is more normal. This is the driest year for rainfall on record for the park and we expect the driest year for surface water too."

On September 13th water distribution from the Elephant Butte reservoir stopped. That usually happens in mid-October and signals the end of the irrigation season and the start of water delivery to the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park from the Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plant. However, the El Paso Water Improvement District #1 says they need every drop they can get and the park might get water by Christmas.

The Rio Bosque Wetlands Park is a 372-acre City of El Paso park that the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) manages through its Center for Environmental Resource Management. The City of El Paso's contribution to the Bosque is a mere $10,000/year. A recent meeting of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board revealed that Parks and Recreation Director, Nanette Smejkal, has little interest in the Bosque.

At the recent PSB Strategic Planning meeting it was rumored that UTEP was not interested in continuing its committment to the Bosque. However, PSB/EPWU officials at yesterday's Open Space Advisory Board reported that Richard Adauto of UTEP had reaffirmed UTEP's committment to the management of the Park.

The City may show little interest in the Park. However, it has targeted $170,000 for a public arts project for a sculpture and new signage at the park. The slide show given by Public Art Program Coordinator Pat Dalbin to the Open Space Advisory Board yesterday describes the plans for the Bosque art and signs:

Rio Bosque Public Art Project

One wonders whether the sculpture and signage will preside over a dead park. There is $170,000 for public art but nothing to help with water especially to buy an $8-10,000 pump to replace a broken one so that the park might get to some needed groundwater.

Speaking about the forced water-shortage to the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, Urban Biologist, Lois Balin, asks: "This is ridiculous. Enough is enough. What can we do to rectify this dismal situation."

Perhaps a first step is to join the Friends of the Rio Bosque. Beyond that talk to PSB and EPWU officials who have been important partners to the Park. Talk to your City Council Representative and to Parks and Recreation and Open Space Advisory Board members. Call members of the Board of Directors of the Water Improvement District. Email Chuy Reyes.

I have a few more questions myself especially about that 7,800 acre-feet of water that could go to the Park but is being swallowed by the Improvement District, Chuy Reyes (brother of Silvestre) General Manager.

Earth Science Day at UTEP

Click to enlarge image

UTEP Offers Updates and Information about the Swine Flu

El Paso Media Group announces that UTEP has created a site to give updates and information about the swine flu. The site gives useful information and travel advisories as well as links to the Center for Disease Control and the World Health Organization. UTEP is also giving updates on Twitter.

For more information about the swine flu pandemic, follow entries at Conkey's Tavern.