1. Short News
Perfluorinated Chemicals in Colorado
The Air Force will spend $900,000 to deliver clean drinking water to residents affected by chemicals from a fire-suppressing foam used on Peterson Air Force Base, the Gazette reports. The money is in addition to $4.3 million the Air Force provided in 2016 to deal with drinking water contamination from the foams.
25: Senators who signed a letter asking Scott Pruitt, the EPA administrator, to set a legally binding limit for perfluorinated chemicals in drinking water. The signatories are all Democrats, except for one independent. In 2016, the EPA set an unenforceable health advisory, but many view it as a de facto standard. (Senate)
Upper Colorado Drought Forecast
A federal-local partnership that coordinates drought response hosts a webinar on April 24 on low-water conditions in the Upper Colorado River watershed.
2. May 14th – National Chicken Dance Day. Get out on the floor and do the Chicken Dance.
3. Wanted: Your Input! Greetings ADEQ Stakeholders. Please note that we have updated the conference line number and access codes on the agendas for the following meetings discussing the 2018 Triennial Review of water quality standards:
Participation Options:
In person at ADEQ
1110 W. Washington Street
Phoenix, Arizona 85007
View parking map >
Also available online via WebEx or conference call.
Tuesday, May 1, 9 – 11 a.m.
Appendix A, a proposed new selenium multi-matrix standard, and nutrients, including a minor language change to 109F.
WebEx Access Code: 800 233 535 (for WebEx and conference line), Password: ADEQTR2
Conference call line: 240-454-0879 (Access Code: 800 233 535)
Monday, May 7, 1 – 3 p.m.
Outstanding Arizona Waters, Effluent Dependent Waters and antidegradation.
WebEx Access Code: 806 105 011 (for WebEx and conference line), Password: ADEQTR3
Conference call line: 240-454-0879 (Access Code: 806 105 011)
Next Steps:
- If you haven’t RSVP’d, please contact our project team at kcairo@gciaz.com with your name, organization, the meeting(s) you expect to attend, and whether you’ll be attending in person or remotely
- Let us know if there are topics you’d like to discuss that are not listed above
- Read Triennial Review background materials above or on our website prior to the meetings
ADEQ is currently reviewing its surface water quality standards and rules under CWA § 303(c)(1) and its implementing rules (40 CFR §§131.10 – 131.22). ADEQ will provide opportunities to offer feedback on rule development.
4. Water Roots – Seeking Springs in Sonora: New findings From Spring Surveys and the Students Working to Study Them.
Time/Location: 6:00 p.m. / Exo Roast Coffee Co. (403 N. 6th Ave., Tucson)
Speaker: Mirna Manteca, Mexico
Time/Location: 6:00 p.m. / Exo Roast Coffee Co. (403 N. 6th Ave., Tucson
Springs are where people and wildlife come together; they are the common language between conservation and human livelihood in the Sonoran Sky Islands. Young biologists from the University of Sonora have come together and are currently working with private landowners, ejidos (communal farmers), and federal agencies to locate and assess spring ecosystems in Sonora. By populating the map, the Sonoran Springs Exploration Group is creating baseline information that will help us better understand how to protect our critical water sources in the face of climate change.
5. Record Year Predicted on Salt-Verde System. According to the Arizona Department of Water Resources, 2018 is a record year, but this is not a record to cheer for. The water runoff season (January-May) in the Salt-Verde watersheds is likely to be the driest since records have been collected. ADWR’s Arizona Water News summarized the situation with information from multiple sources. The Salt River Project’s runoff totals in the Salt and Verde reservoir systems for the period January-March are at their lowest since 1913. These discouraging totals come in the wake of a disappointing December-February snowpack season, which produced most of the snowpack only at the highest elevations in the watershed. Using SNOTEL data, the Natural Resource Conservation Service estimated snowpack values in the range of zero to 40 percent of normal. The spring does not hold much hope for moisture either. Forecasts indicate Arizona will experience drier than normal weather through at least the first half of April, and chances do not look good for a “Miracle May” like the one that rescued the Colorado River in 2015.
6. Study Boosts Credibility of Cloud Seeding
In January, a study funded by the National Science Foundation proved for the first time that silver iodide introduced into clouds forms ice crystals that fall out as precipitation. Researchers in Idaho used radar and aircraft-mounted cloud physics probes to detect evidence of the processes that lead to precipitation. The results of the study, published in PNAS, indicate that cloud seeding can enhance natural precipitation. Although the study focused only on the physical chain of events— initiation, growth, and fallout of ice crystals—rather than the effectiveness of cloud seeding, it is being cited to justify further investments. A 2014 study conducted in Wyoming found that cloud seeding could increase snowfall by 5 to 15 percent. While a 10 percent increase would be a boon to water users, it is within the natural variation of winter storms and therefore difficult to attribute to cloud seeding. Despite these reservations, Arizona, California, and Nevada have funded cloud seeding in the Rocky Mountains for over ten years and they will share the cost of nine more years with Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. The PNAS article is available
at http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2018/01/12/1716995115.
7. Phoenix and SRP Agree on Water Recovery
The City of Phoenix has entered into a 40-year partnership with Salt River Project to help ensure reliable water deliveries in the future during extreme drought and shortage conditions on the Colorado River. Under this first-of-its-kind agreement, SRP will reserve capacity in its extensive system of wells so that in the future Phoenix can recover long-term storage credits for water that was stored within the Salt River Project water service area. During the term of the agreement, SRP will provide Phoenix up to 20,000 acre-feet of water per year pumped from SRP’s wells located within the Salt River Reservoir District. The city will pay a one-time fee, then a fixed rate up to 100,000 acre-feet and a higher fixed rate past that threshold. For more information: https://www.srpnet.com/newsroom/releases/030818.aspx
8. Celebrating Cinco De Mayo May 5th. Cinco de Mayo, or the fifth of May, is a holiday that celebrates the date of the Mexican army’s 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War. Cinco de Mayo 2018 occurs on Saturday, May 5. A relatively minor holiday in Mexico, in the United States Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a commemoration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations.
In 1861, Benito Juárez—a lawyer and member of the indigenous Zapotec tribe—was elected president of Mexico. At the time, the country was in financial ruin after years of internal strife, and the new president was forced to default on debt payments to European governments.
In response, France, Britain and Spain sent naval forces to Veracruz, Mexico, demanding repayment. Britain and Spain negotiated with Mexico and withdrew their forces.
France, however, ruled by Napoleon III, decided to use the opportunity to carve an empire out of Mexican territory. Late in 1861, a well-armed French fleet stormed Veracruz, landing a large force of troops and driving President Juárez and his government into retreat.
Certain that success would come swiftly, 6,000 French troops under General Charles Latrille de Lorencez set out to attack Puebla de Los Angeles, a small town in east-central Mexico. From his new headquarters in the north, Juárez rounded up a ragtag force of 2,000 loyal men—many of them either indigenous Mexicans or of mixed ancestry—and sent them to Puebla.
The vastly outnumbered and poorly supplied Mexicans, led by Texas-born General Ignacio Zaragoza, fortified the town and prepared for the French assault. On May 5, 1862, Lorencez gathered his army— supported by heavy artillery—before the city of Puebla and led an assault.
The battle lasted from daybreak to early evening, and when the French finally retreated they had lost nearly 500 soldiers. Fewer than 100 Mexicans had been killed in the clash
Although not a major strategic win in the overall war against the French, Zaragoza’s success at the Battle of Puebla on May 5 represented a great symbolic victory for the Mexican government and bolstered the resistance movement. In 1867—thanks in part to military support and political pressure from the United States, which was finally in a position to aid its besieged neighbor after the end of the Civil War—France finally withdrew.
The same year, Austrian Archduke Ferdinan Maximilian, who had been installed as emperor of Mexico in 1864 by Napoleon, was captured and executed by Juárez’s forces. Puebla de Los Angeles was renamed for General Zaragoza, who died of typhoid fever months after his historic triumph there.
CINCO DE MAYO IN MEXICO
Within Mexico, Cinco de Mayo is primarily observed in the state of Puebla, where Zaragoza’s unlikely victory occurred, although other parts of the country also take part in the celebration.
Traditions include military parades, recreations of the Battle of Puebla and other festive events. For many Mexicans, however, May 5 is a day like any other: It is not a federal holiday, so offices, banks and stores remain open.
CINCO DE MAYO IN THE UNITED STATES
In the United States, Cinco de Mayo is widely interpreted as a celebration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with substantial Mexican-American populations.
Chicano activists raised awareness of the holiday in the 1960s, in part because they identified with the victory of indigenous Mexicans (such as Juárez) over European invaders during the Battle of Puebla.
Today, revelers mark the occasion with parades, parties, mariachi music, Mexican folk dancing and traditional foods such as tacos and mole poblano. Some of the largest festivals are held in Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston.
CONFUSION WITH MEXICAN INDEPENDENCE DAY
Many people outside Mexico mistakenly believe that Cinco de Mayo is a celebration of Mexican independence, which was declared more than 50 years before the Battle of Puebla.
Independence Day in Mexico (Día de la Independencia) is commemorated on September 16, the anniversary of the revolutionary priest Miguel Hidalgoy Costilla’s famous “Grito de Dolores” (“Cry of Dolores”), a call to arms that amounted to a declaration of war against the Spanish colonial government in 1810.
9. Arizona Green Chamber Meeting. Please join us for this month’s Arizona Green Chamber Lunch and Learn!
REGISTER NOW
Join us on May 9 and learn from Alana Levine, the current chair person for the Arizona Recycling Coalition (AzRC).
AzRC is a membership-based, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting waste reuse, reduction and recycling throughout Arizona and our southwestern region.
Alana will be sharing how AzRC promotes and supports a circular economy. In a circular economy we keep resources in use for as long as possible, extract the maximum value from them whilst in use, then recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of each service life. This process can be applied to any business and we will talk about implementation and partnerships that help even small organizations achieve substantial results.
May 9, 2018
Lunch provided by McFate Brewery
1312 N Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85257
