Here are a few items that caught my attention in the past few days.
I’m not sure where I saw this first item, which describes how Dutch intelligence gained early information about Russian infiltration of the U.S. election process. Very interesting look at the global nature of intelligence gathering and sharing.
“Dutch agencies provide crucial intel about Russia’s interference in US-elections.”
Then, via Quartz: Quartz Obsession–Gin. This is just about everything you might want to know about gin.
Here’s a little sample of something I didn’t know:
In the modern era, Filipinos drink the rest of the world under the table when it comes to gin consumption. The liquor took root in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial era, and the Ginebra San Miguel distillery, founded in 1834, remains the country’s dominant gin manufacturer. The base is locally grown sugar cane, similar to rum.
Gin and powdered pomelo juice (known as a Gin Pom) is reportedly the country’s most popular cocktail, along with the bracing Expired—beer mixed with gin, sometimes with some menthol candies for extra flavor. Yum!
And, finally, I’m a little freaked by the news coverage as the city of Cape Town, South Africa, and its more than 400,000 residents, get closer and closer to running out of water (Washington Post: “‘Day Zero’: Water shut-off looms in South Africa’s Cape Town“).
Check out Google’s full coverage of the Cape Town news for more.
Now think of the drought in the U.S. Southwest, including California. What happens when Day Zero arrives there?
Then you might want to just search for articles about the linkage between drought and civil unrest, even civil war, in Syria, Iran, Somalia, etc.
It’s becoming very clear that water, or the lack of water, along with climate change, are very much national security issues. And I have to wonder whether Hawaii is doing enough to develop our water resources given the potential for climate change to raise temperatures, reduce tradewinds, and interrupt previously reliable wet seasons in the future. Are we ready for Day Zero?
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Typical Hawaii..no it isn’t ready.
Access to water has been a big issue in Kona over the past several years. The C0unty Department of Water Supply has been in hot water because of restrictions it imposed on water usage that were necessaqry because of problems with several of their wells.
The monthly newsletter “Enivironment Hawaii” devotes a great deal of attention to water issues, including the various controversies regarding the Keauhou aquifer, which serves Kona, and controversies over the diversion of water from two dozen streams in East Maui to central Maui for irrigation (at issue was water for taro farming in East Maui). “Environment Hawaii’ reports on the state Commission on Water Resource Management, which has been involved in both of those controversies. (See its October 2013 issue, for example.)
It seems to be CWRM’s job to develop and manage our water resources. I am sure that they would welcome more scrutiny.
I think it’s at least as important for us to protect and conserve existing water resources as develop resources.
The Honolulu Board of Water Supply has been a leader in raising concerns about how climate change threatens our water supply. The current consensus projection is that total rainfall will be about the same, but the storms will be more intense, delivering more rainfall more quickly than in the past and therefore increasing the amount of runoff into the ocean, and the periods of drought and hotter temperatures will increase. To counter this, plans and implementing regulations are protecting water recharge areas and requiring retention of storm waters on site for most new building or redevelopment projects. In addition the BWS has commissioned a study by UH scientists to prepare a water budget for Oahu based on modeling of the impact of climate change on rainfall patterns to help identify what needs to be done to maintain sufficient potable and nonpotable water supplies. For more detail, visit the BWS website to review the Oahu Water Plan information.
Bottom line: Hawaii scientists have been studying this issue for years and Hawaii water agencies have taken their warnings seriously and are taking actions to mitigate and protect against the impacts of more intense rainfall, and longer periods of drought and much higher temperatures.
Lopaka43’s comment is very helpful. It would interesting to know how the Honolulu Board of Water Supply’s projections compare with those of the state Commission on Water Resource Management–and how those two entities coordinate their work.