Watershed Info No 1102

Daniel Salzler                                                                                     No. 1102 EnviroInsight.org                  Five  Items                                       May 14, 2021

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If your watershed is doing something you would like others to know about, or you know of something others can benefit from, let me know and I will place it in this Information newsletter.

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Enhance your viewing by downloading the pdf file to view photos, etc. The attached is all about improving life in the watershed. If you want to be removed from the distribution list, please let me know. Please note that all meetings listed are open.                                       

Enhance your viewing by downloading the attached pdf file to view photos, etc. 

The attached is all about improving life in the watershed.

Read this newsletter at EnviroInsight.org

1. Water Solutions for Our Warmer World Series, Episode 3: The Realities of Adaptation in the Water Sector.

Date: Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Time: 4:00 pm-5:30 pm MST

Moderated by Andrea K. Gerlak, Professor in the School of Geography, Development & Environment.

Join the Arizona Institutes for Resilience for the third episode of the Water Solutions for Our Warmer World series, “The Realities of Adaptation in the Water Sector,” co-hosted by the UArizona Udall Center and WRRC! In this public webinar, panelists will speak to questions such as “How is adaptation unfolding in the water sector?” and “What is the role of knowledge, governance, and equity in adaptation?” Please join Governor Stephen Roe Lewis of the Gila River Indian Community, Lester Snow, Former Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency, and other distinguished panelists for this important discussion.



2. OSHA Refresher.  Need to update you OSHA Certificate?  Reserve your space for May 15th by calling or emailing Dan.  Space is limited.  Cost $80. Continental breakfast and lunch is provided. 623-930-8197 or sconflict@aol.com           



3. Navajo-Gallup Water Delay Spurs Problem Solving In Arid Southwest. Early this year, five of Gallup, New Mexico’s 16 water wells stopped producing water, including two of its biggest. After a few days of maintenance, two worked. The other three were out of commission for more than a month. Had it happened in summer, the city might have asked residents to dramatically reduce use.

“I’m not in crisis mode,” said Dennis Romero, Water and Sanitation Director for the City of Gallup, but “it could go to crisis mode very quickly.”

The shortage isn’t wholly surprising — 20 years ago, the city decided it could limp along on aging groundwater wells with dropping water levels until a new water project began delivering San Juan River water in late 2024. The project is also connecting nearby Navajo communities, where many residents lack running water, an issue the Navajo Nation says is long past due and in need of a fix. But now a potential four-year delay could force a growing number of people to rely on these strained groundwater sources. A plan to keep taps from .

For decades, the Navajo Nation bordertown has relied on groundwater stored in sandstone layers deep underground. With no nearby rivers, wells tapping that water have been the city’s only option. But because annual rain and snowfall don’t replenish the water, levels have dropped over recent decades. In the 1990s, the city projected shortages by as early as 2010.

“Not only was Gallup running out of water, everybody was running out,” said Marc DePauli, owner of DePauli Engineering and Surveying, which the city has hired to work on the water systems. About 20 smaller surrounding water systems had “straws in the same bucket,” all leaning on dwindling reserves.Help is coming in the form of the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project, the result of a historic agreement that settled Navajo Nation claims to water in this arid region of the Southwest after decades of discussions.

Consisting of two major pipelines that run through Navajo communities in western New Mexico, the project will bring water from the San Juan River to within reach of some of the one in three homes without it on the Navajo Nation. One of the pipelines,the Cutter Lateral that branches to northwest New Mexico, is complete. The other, the San Juan Lateral,will move 37,700 acre feet of water each year for 200 miles along the western edge of the state, up to 7,500 acre-feet of which will come as far south as Gallup. In the future, the city will rely largely on water from the San Juan.

Gallup is also set to become a hub for a regional system of water tanks and pipelines that will transport water to nearby Navajo communities, including Church Rock, Yah-ta-hey, Gamerco, and Williams Acres. The city will supply those people with water even before San Juan water arrives.

“We’re seeing an increase in water demand without an increase in population simply because these communities and water districts that have done water hauling, that have done small well co-ops, they really want a reliable water supply and they’re looking to us to give it to them — and we want to help them, we’re neighbors,” Romero said.   The water was supposed to flow by 2024, but a new design proposed by the Bureau of Reclamation will now likely push that date back by three to four years, putting Gallup in a tight spot, monetarily and water-wise. The construction delay coupled with the city shouldering more demand will require new wells to supply everyone until water from the San Juan arrives.




4. Boost Your Brain Health – Some Post Pandemic Ideas

• Make weekly exercise dates. You can easily talk yourself out of a workout, but it’s more difficult to do when you have a standing commitment to work out with a friend. Overall, aim for 150-plus minutes of weekly moderate-intensity aerobic exercise. Exercisers are 45 percent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease, the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation reports.
  

• Eat a daily salad. Just one serving of leafy greens a day was associated with slower cognitive decline, a 2017 study by Rush University Medical Center showed.
  
• Have a superberry dessert. Dark-colored berries like blueberries and blackberries contain compounds that fight inflammation and help protect your brain. One cup of blueberries consumed daily for six months can also lower your risk of cardiovascular disease by 12 to 15 percent, according to 2019 research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Try berries and plain yogurt as your go-to after-dinner treat.
  
• Develop a green tea habit. Especially if your favorite drink is soda. Researchers have found that people who consumed sweetened beverages were more likely to develop Alzheimer’s, while some studies suggest green tea might promote cognitive functions.
  
  

• Join a book club. Those who engage their mind most often through intellectual activities such as playing games or reading were 29 percent less likely to develop dementia during a five-year follow-up period, reports a 2018 Hong Kong study of adults 65 and older that was published in JAMA Psychiatry.
  
• Once a week, try something new. Listen to new music, learn some words in another language or sign up for a lecture. Lifelong learning is associated with improved brain health, and staying mentally active is linked to delayed onset of cognitive decline.
  
  Go to Sleep Easier
  
• Make your bed each morning. According to a survey by the National Sleep Foundation, those who make their bed nearly every day were more likely to report getting a good night’s sleep.
  
• Change your bedsheets every Sunday. Allergens can disrupt sleep. To cut down on buildup, wash your sheets weekly. Also replace pillows at least every two years and mattresses every 10, both for hygiene and for comfort (they can break down over time).

• Face your alarm clock toward the wall. And place your cellphone facedown.  Artificial light disrupts sleep. Instead of night-lights, keep a flashlight next to your bed to use when needed.
  
• Turn the fan on when the lights go off. Or invest in a sound machine. Snoring  partners, traffic and other ambient noise can cause you to wake during the night and experience more daytime sleepiness and fatigue. A source of white noise, like a fan, can help modulate that problem.

• Enjoy some chamomile tea at bedtime. In a randomized, double-blind study from the University of Michigan, those taking a chamomile extract twice a day zonked out 16 minutes faster, on average.
  
  
  
  Pump Up Your Heart Health
  
  
• Brush and floss regularly. Swollen or bleeding gums caused by bad oral health may lead to microorganisms traveling into the bloodstream, which could cause inflammation and heart damage. Older adults who skimped on oral hygiene were 20 to 35 percent more likely to die during a 17-year study done by University of Southern California researchers.
  

• Try doing 10 minutes of resistance training every morning. That adds up to a truly healthy week of muscle strengthening. In research published in 2017 in the Journal of the American Heart Association, women (average age 62) who did just 20 to 59 minutes of muscle-strengthening exercises each week were 29 percent less likely to die during the 12-year study than those who did none. Low muscle strength is associated with an elevated risk of death in people 50 and older, regardless of general health levels. Even cardio exercise doesn’t appear to protect you if you allow your strength levels to deteriorate.
  
  

• Be an avocado sneak. Replace half the butter in your baking recipes with mashed  avocado, and sneak this source of healthy monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) into smoothies and spreads whenever you can. Replacing saturated fats with MUFAs can help lower LDL (bad) cholesterol.
  
  

• Walk off your cravings. Smoking puts you at a higher risk for heart disease and      stroke. When a craving hits, try lacing up your shoes and heading out for a quick walk and breath of fresh air. Who knows? You might just want to keep going!

• Put a banana on it. A diet rich in potassium can help offset some of sodium’s harmful effects on blood pressure. Add bananas to everything from breakfast cereal to nighttime desserts to PB&J sandwiches. While you’re at it, squeeze in more sweet potatoes, tomatoes and oranges.
  
  Shake Off Stress
  
• Organize one thing each day—your handbag, a bedside table, a drawer. You’ll feel one chore is behind you, which is helpful in feeling less pressured in general.
  
• Take a daily “do not disturb” break. Whether at your desk, in your kitchen or on a deck outside, close your eyes and do not open them for anyone. Even five minutes will feel wonderful!
  
• Have a go-to ritual that you look forward to when the anxiety is too much.       Do something simple like calling a friend, having a cup of tea, playing a song on the piano or sneaking away to read a few pages of a novel.
  
• Enjoy a daily “play snack.” Remember what you used to enjoy doing as a kid,   and go do that. Play with a yo-yo or Rubik’s Cube. Go outside and skip rope or swing a golf club. Doodle, build a tower with toy building blocks, fold origami, draw with colored markers. Inject fun in five- to 10-minute chunks during your day as a way to let your brain relax. 
  

Clean Up Your Diet

• Bribe yourself into eating vegetables. Find a salad dressing or dip you love; you’ll be more inclined to eat veggies dipped in it
  
• Store fruit at front of the fridge. When you bring fruit home, immediately wash and put in a bowl at the front of the top shelf rather than in a drawer. The minute you open the fridge, it will prompt you to eat some.
  
• Portion out nuts. In a study that appeared in BMC Medicine in 2013 of adults ages 55 to 80 at high cardiovascular risk, those who ate more than three servings of nuts per week were 39 percent less likely to die of any cause over the next five years of the study. The problem is that people often overindulge and eat them straight out of a large bag or can. Prepack them into individual serving sizes in zip-close bags so you have just one serving, not five.
  
• Decorate healthfully. If chocolates are on the table, you’ll eat them. Hide the less-healthy snacks and put fruit and nuts on the table within reach.
  
• Snack before you shop. Going to the grocery store on an empty stomach — even if it’s a digital store — can lead to unhealthy impulse buys. Have a bite to eat, and while you’re eating, write out a shopping list and stick to it.
  
• Drink your fiber. Throw some fruit into the blender right before it goes bad. Try blending a banana, an orange and spinach; throw in some walnuts for even more fiber and omega-3 fatty acids.
  
  

Get Back In Shape

• “Commute” even if you work from home. For many of us, COVID means no commuting to and from the office — which means no moving, either. Use that gift of time for a walk, bike ride or jog. In a study, older women who averaged 4,400 steps per day (compared with just 2,700 steps) were 41 percent less likely to die during a follow-up of 4.3 years.
  
  
  
• Set a “stretch timer.” Use the timer to prompt you to stand up and get your blood flowing and muscles moving once every hour. Your brain needs oxygen to be productive — so if that’s how you can persuade yourself to get up and move, then do so!
  
  
  
• Take your phone calls standing or walking. They’re called “mobile phones” for a reason. Each time yours rings, stand up or go for a walk. It’s an easy way to decrease the amount of time you are sedentary.
  
  

Set Boundaries With Technology

• Turn off all phone notifications. Americans are already checking their phones an average of 96 times a day, according to research from 2019, so you’re not going to miss anything. 
  
  
• Establish no-phone zones, starting with no phones at dinner and in the bedroom. One review of 290 studies by a Swedish university researcher that was published in 2018 found an association between frequent mobile phone use and depressive symptoms and sleep problems.
  
  
• When you wake up, don’t reach for your phone. Do something you love instead: Journal, stretch, make coffee or read one book chapter. Get an alarm clock so you won’t need to rely on your phone to wake up.
  
  
• Go screen-free one day a week. “My family and I have turned off all screens for one full day each week for 11 years, and we spend the day doing things we love. It’s our favorite day of the week,” says author Tiffany Shlain.
  

Improve Your Relationships

• Do the dishwasher boogie. Pick a chore you both hate, and turn it into a nightly dance party. Dancing together in the kitchen or anywhere in your house will remind you of how much fun you both are.
  

 Get Outside

• Spend 20 minutes among the trees. That’s exactly how much time you need in nature to reduce your level of stress hormones significantly, according to a 2019 study. Additional time reduces it more, but not dramatically, researchers found.
  
  

•  Keep a “no regrets checklist.” Write down a list of all the things you’ve had to put off over the years because of work or raising a family. Then make a timeline for how you’ll revisit these goals. Regret is largely avoidable with a little reflection and mindful focus.
  
  

• Put your TV in a time-out. Be mindful of exactly what content you consume -— and choose a specific show or film to watch. When it’s over, turn the TV off and go for a walk or take a bath to give your mind a break. With the end of the pandemic should come the end of long TV binges.
  
  

• Store leftovers in glass containers instead of plastic. Plastics often contain harmful chemicals like BPA and phthalates that can seep into food and may negatively impact your health.
  
  

• Bring plants into your home. Plants not only look beautiful, but many of them, such as bamboo palm and English ivy, can improve air quality.
  
• Choose organic fruits and vegetables when possible. By opting for organic produce, you’re reducing your exposure to pesticides. Organic foods may also be more nutritious than their conventional counterparts. Source: AARP Bulletin, May 2021.

5. Oak Creek Clean-Up.  

Copyright  EnviroInsight.org 2021