JAWRA Blog

Fairmount Water Works

The December 2011 issue is in your (real) mailbox — you are a member, aren’t you? Our cover photo was taken during the 2010 AWRA Annual Conference in Philadelphia. Fittingly, the Fairmount Water Works was the venue for the conference’s social evening.

Begun in 1812, the Fairmount Water Works is on the National Register of Historic Places. It no longer supplies water to Philadelphia, but it’s architectural beauty makes it a popular site for tourists. I took the photo from the gazebo extending out into the river. Behind the water works, up on the hill, is the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

There’s a good editorial in this week’s Nature, “Uncharted Territory,” talking about how territorial disputes are leaking into the pages of science journals.When a paper shows international boundaries, you have to consider whether all concerned parties accept those boundaries. Place names also come into dispute.

My own experience with the Middle East Peace Process taught me the importance people attribute to names and squiggles on maps. Therefore, my first revision to JAWRA’s Instructions for Authors added a section on contested place names:  ”The names of geographic locations and even countries are not always universally accepted. In these cases, JAWRA policy is to use the name preferred by the author. Where necessary to avoid confusion, the editor will add a neutral clarifying note.” I would apply the same policy to boundaries.

Of course, I would never allow an author to use a deliberately provocative name such as the “People’s Republic of Massachusetts” (I’ve heard this in reference to health care.) or the “Lying Capitalist Dogs of …” Authors, even when their intent is not to insult, should always consider how names and boundary representations will be perceived. Sometimes an author has to follow the policy of their country, but good manners always recognize the concerns of others.

AWRA President Michael Campana has announced the winner of the 2011 Boggess Award: Deborah Elcock of Argonne National Laboratory. Her paper, “Future U.S. Water Consumption: The Role of Energy Production,” was published in the June 2010 issue of JAWRA. The award will be presented at the luncheon of the AWRA 2011 Annual Conference, this November in Albuquerque. Congratulations, Deborah!

Her article investigates how meeting domestic energy production targets for both fossil and renewable fuels may affect future water demand. In my blog entry at the time of publication, I noted, “This article is a great example of why one has to look at all aspects of an issue — take a multidisciplinary approach.” The Associate Editors agreed, and we have a winner!

The William R. Boggess Award is given to the author or authors of the paper, published in the Journal of the American Water Resources Association during the preceding year, that best describes, delineates, or analyzes a major problem or aspect of water resources from either a theoretical, applied, or philosophical standpoint. Established in 1973, the Award honors William R. “Randy” Boggess, a member of AWRA, one of the first Directors, and a former President of the Association, who has also made significant contributions to AWRA as an Editor of JAWRA.

[Incredibly, I've received NO RESPONSE to this earlier post. So, I'll do it again, changing the date.]

JAWRA Associate Editors (AE’s) serve as primary advisors to the JAWRA Editor. Responsibilities fall into two areas: reviews and subject development. The Water Quality Modeling position handles between 15 and 20 papers per year. All manuscripts are handled through our ScholarOne Manuscripts™ system, with the AE selecting reviewers and, when reviews return, making a recommendation to the Editor. AE’s are encouraged to seek out qualified authors in their subject areas and encourage them to submit papers to JAWRA. These could be individual submittals or as featured collections of related papers organized around an introduction.

Although JAWRA publishes papers in all aspects of modeling, we have particular interest in the SWAT, HSPF, and SPARROW models.

Associate editorship is a volunteer position earning our heartfelt thanks and an invitation to our annual AE luncheon. It also offers the opportunity to make a difference on the cutting edge of multidisciplinary water resources. The term of an AE is three years, but may be extended by mutual agreement.

Interested individuals should email the Editor at editor@awra.org. We are happy to answer any questions. We will hold this position open at a minimum until July 6, 2011, but early application is encouraged.

Since we’re covering our recent featured collection on nonstationarity, I call your attention to an article in today’s Washington Post, “Romney in hot seat on climate change.” Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney’s position on climate change, as described by the Post, hardly is extreme, and he doesn’t advocate any radical action. Nevertheless, his alignment with science seems a definite liability with voters in the primaries.

To me, raised in the post-Sputnik, scientists-as-saviors world, this all appears like a regression to the dark ages. Chilling stuff. How did willful ignorance become mainstream politics?

I’m just back from the AWRA 2011 Spring Specialty Conference, “Managing Climate Change Impacts on Water Resources: Adaptation Issues, Options, and Strategies,” in Baltimore. Associate Editors Ge Sun and Xing Fang joined me in listening to many interesting talks and in scouting out potential JAWRA papers. The Proceedings are online for brief period, then will be available to members only.

The conference was held in the Sheraton, near the Inner Harbor. I donned by Orioles cap and got to see TWO games! Orioles Park at Camden Yards — only three blocks from the hotel — is still, IMHO, the most beautiful of the new old ballparks. My history as an O’s fan goes back to a time when the ballpark (old Memorial Stadium) was shabby and the team (Palmer, Ripken, Murray, etc.) sparkled.

Photos of the conference also are online.

I’m at the AWRA 2010 Annual Conference in Philadelphia. Great weather, great food, great program!

This evening, at the AWRA President’s Reception, 2010 AWRA President Ari Michelsen awarded JAWRA Associate Editor Joe Delfino the status as an AWRA Fellow. This is a well-deserved honor for Joe. Besides his sterling academic record, Joe has been one of our hardest working Associate Editors and one of my most valued confidants. I’ve always said, if you like JAWRA, thank an Associate Editor, and Joe is one of the best. Congratulations, Joe!

P.S. The President’s Reception was on Halloween.

MORE PHOTOS OF THE CONFERENCE ARE ONLINE!

August 2010 article: The Effect of Channelization on Floodplain Sediment Deposition and Subsidence Along the Pocomoke River, Maryland, by Daniel E. Kroes and Cliff R. Hupp.

Channelization’s got to be one of these things that sounded like a good idea at the time. No doubt it achieved some immediate benefits and there are places today where we probably can’t do without it. The environmental price of massive channelization, however, has been very high.

The nontidal Pocomoke River was intensively ditched and channelized by the mid-1900s, and this article documents the effects. The sediment storage function of this river has been dramatically altered by channelization. Channelization has limited contact between streamflow and the floodplain, resulting in little or no sediment retention in channelized reaches. Additionally, the drainage of floodplains by improved channels has resulted in the oxidation of stored organic sediments, resulting in subsidence. The nutrient by-product (nitrates, phosphates) of this subsidence could be a contributor to the eutrophication of downstream water bodies; in this case, the already stressed Chesapeake Bay. Wish we knew all this when somebody made the decision to channelize!

[Please note: I have quoted and paraphrased freely from the article, but the interpretation is my own!]

June 2010 Article: Effects of Urban Spatial Structure, Sociodemographics, and Climage on Residential Water Consumption in Hillsboro, Oregon, by Lily House-Peters, Bethany Pratt, and Heejun Chang.

We often think of the Northwest United States as a wet climate where seasonal outdoor water use would not be a major factor. However Lily House-Peters and her colleagues found this not to be the case. Their findings imply properties with large outdoor spaces are sensitive to variations in climate, especially an increase in summertime temperature, which is widely projected to be an outcome of anthropogenic climate change.

They found individual census blocks that respond with a significantly greater amount of seasonal water usage during a drought period. The census blocks that used the most external water during the summer 2004 had newer and larger homes, higher property values, and more affluent and well-educated residents. Importantly, their results suggest that during periods of low precipitation and higher than average maximum temperatures, seasonal water use tends to be more dependent on physical property variables rather than socioeconomic variables.

Basically, this research means that community design matters. Decisions planners make now will affect water use in the future. One more argument against the unsustainable big-house, big-yard American dream!

[Please note: I have quoted and paraphrased freely from the article, but the interpretation is my own!]

I recently was asked if JAWRA accepts opinion articles. Here’s what I replied:

Opinion articles are welcome in JAWRA provided they are fact-based. That is, “I think A because of B and C.” Naturally, all sources must be properly cited. We are particularly interested in articles which give a unique perspective on a topical issue or which enlighten us on the views of decision makers.