Friday, January 18, 2008

Book Review: The Big Switch The Big Switch: Rewiring the World, From Edison to Google, Nicholas Carr, W.W. Norton Company, 2008, 236 pages, $25.95, ISBN 978-0-393-06228-1 Nick Carr likes to stir up readers of his weblog Rough Type, writing about technical issues and the business of technology, often taking a contrarian view of the movers and shakers and their understanding of the world they helped create and are helping to build. His new book, The Big Switch deals with Carr's (and many others) view that the computer is now the Internet and that the importance of an always on connection, with applications and data center services in the cloud, is as significant a development as that of the personal computer itself. He concludes that utility computing is the next wave and might just enable the rise of artificial intelligence as well. I found the book hard to put down. While it is not a page turner per se, if you are a technologist, businessperson, or if you just like reading about technology, pick up a copy. It will help you understand what is going on here at the start of the 21st century. Carr is adept at breaking down jargon and technical concepts in an understandable way without getting stuck in the detail. Since I read the book at my day job it was necessary that I break it up into several sessions over a couple of weeks. I worried that I would lose the continuity a reader can find by reading a work in it's entirety in a short time. To my surprise this didn't happen, the chapters are pretty well self-contained and it was not hard to get back into the story each time. Carr uses the rise of the electric grid to illustrate his view that utility computing will evolve (is evolving?) in a similar fashion. He avoids the trap that some authors fall into when they connect the dots too closely between the past and present. The similarities he highlights serve to educate and explain. While I am not an expert in the history he describes, all facts seemed to me to be well researched and accurate. I found myself hoping that he would find a parallel for cheap government power in the Western U.S. and the new model of utility computing, thus enabling the crossing of the Digital Divide in the last mile, but he can't be all things to all people I suppose. I must add that I'm an avid reader of Mr. Carr's weblog. He uses his blog to sort out ideas and get feedback on his ruminations. That may be why I found the book so interesting. Prior familiarity with the author, his ideas and his writing style, can prejudice an evaluation. That being said I'll argue that The Big Switch stands on its own and is worth your time. 11:53:34 AM     Eastern Fremont County approves measure to join UAWCD From The Cañon City Daily Record, "Two men who filed a protest against the amendment to include Fremont County into the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District will have an opportunity to refile a protest against the inclusion amendment, which passed in the November election. Cañon City resident Ivan Widom and Salida resident Mark Emmer have until Jan. 25 to refile an appeal for the inclusion into the UAWCD question on the grounds it was not a legal election. Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District general manager Terry Scanga said the judge approved the district's motion to squash the appeal. 'The judge gave them an additional 15 days to refile because they didn't file it properly the first time,' he said." More from the article: Emmer reiterated the five points the men are claiming in protesting the vote. First, the fiscal information required by TABOR "was materially inaccurate," he said. "Con summaries required by TABOR were improperly edited by the designated election official. Pro summaries required by TABOR were accepted late and were not summarized. The summary printed contained improper endorsements" and there was no authorized person to summarize the pro statements received and therefore, "none should have been printed." The third point for the case is the election was a mail-in ballot, but in a prior case, the court ruled that the UAWCD is "not authorized to conduct mail ballot elections." The fourth point was that the "UAWCD improperly campaigned in favor of the ballot question using public monies," Emmer said. The fifth point said, "the election intergovernmental agreements with the Fremont and El Paso County Clerks were entered into improperly," Emmer said. "The UAWCD board of directors had not appointed the designated elected official at the time he took official action in that capacity." In the meantime, the district is waiting for the court to appoint new directors. The applications have been sent in and once the judges coordinate, they will appoint new directors from divisions 5 and 6, which are the geographic boundaries of Cañon City, Florence and Penrose school districts. More Coyote Gulch coverage here. Category: Colorado Water 7:31:52 AM     San Luis Valley: Blanca Wetlands From The Valley Courier, "The nearly 10,000-acre wetlands south of San Luis Lakes near the Great Sand Dunes National Park provide habitat for wildlife and plants as well as recreational opportunities for humans. The wetlands are comprised of about 200 predominately shallow basins sitting on layers of sand and clay, Wetlands Biologist Jill Lucero explained during a presentation to the Rio Grande Water Conservation District board this week. Lucero said the wetlands are watered through more than 40 artesian wells with output ranging from 30 to 200 gallons per minute in addition to mitigation water from the Closed Basin Project. She said currently the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) waters about 1,200 acres of the 10,000-acre wetlands area each year with various areas of the wetlands intentionally dried up periodically." Category: Colorado Water 7:24:39 AM     Real estate law for ditch companies DARCA: "Real Estate Law for Ditch Companies is a pre-convention workshop before the Colorado Water Congress Annual Convention in Denver on Jan. 23-25, 2008. Ditch and reservoir companies in Colorado are not only concerned with water law issues but many spend the majority of their efforts and time dealing with their portfolios of real estate assets. Many canal companies realize property rights can be extremely valuable. If properly managed, they can add greatly to the company's financial health. The scope of real estate holdings and issues faced by canal companies may include: easements of ditches and reservoirs, carriage agreements, oil and gas royalties, reservoir holdings, and rights, responsibilities and liabilities of land owned under fee simple. Urban pressures facing ditch companies have created storm flow problems, the creation of trails along ditches and increased liability concerns." Category: Colorado Water 7:18:28 AM     Bayfield wastewater news Bayfield thought they had dodged a bullet last year, working with the Colorado Water Quality Control Commission to reduce releases from their treatment plant in the the Los Piños to permitted levels. According to The Pine River Times they're still facing the possibility of a $150,000 fine for their past transgressions. From the article: Bayfield sewer customers spent around $500,000 last year on interim improvements to the sewage treatment lagoons. They will spend around $6 million this year on a new state of the art treatment plant. But at least one staffer in the State Department of Health and Environment thinks they should pay a $150,000 fine for sewer plant operating permit violations since 2005. In a Jan. 15 memo to the town board, Town Manager Justin Clifton said, "I was told by Ginny Torrez that she is recommending a fine of approximately $150,000. This is not a formal settlement offer at this point, so this number could change drastically." He continued, "However, this amount is far above and beyond what I was expecting. It is incredibly ironic that at the same time they are talking about a $150,000 fine, they are also asking if we can add things to the plant construction to ensure better performance." The decision will be made by Dave Akers, director of the State Water Quality Control Commission, Clifton told trustees. Plant violations occur because of lack of knowledge and resources, Clifton said. And if the state was going to issue a fine for past violations, they should have done it sooner. But he said this sort of fine is common. The formula for figuring fines is mandated by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, he said. "We can dispute the settlement offer. I don't know what the final offer will be. We can suggest using the fine money to upgrade the plant," he said, lamenting, "My head has been spinning." Trustee Carol Blatnick wanted to make sure this was publicized, "that it's poor government."[...] Public Works Director Ron Saba reported, "The schools (all together) average BOD (organic loading) removal is running at 70 percent reduction from before their pre-treatment installations. The RV park is at 67 percent, Tequila's 67 percent; Mini Merc is estimated at 50 percent (no data from before tank installation). Steamworks no change, and the rest are presently under the 300 (milligrams per liter concentration) limit." In his memo, Clifton said, "This loading is very high, and we're not sure where the loads came from. The good news is the effluent has remained very good. The effluent has not been nearly this low for such a long period of time since we took on operations in April 2006. Last year the town and sanitation district had ongoing arguments with state officials who wanted the priority to be reduction of loading coming into the plant, while the town and district argued it's the quality of effluent that really matters - and the item of interest to the Southern Ute Indian Tribe" More Coyote Gulch coverage here. Category: Colorado Water 7:12:21 AM     Lake Pueblo: Zebra mussels found in the lake Just last year Quagga Mussels were discovered in Lake Mead. They've now been found all over Southern California, in reservoirs and water supply aqueducts. Most observers were hoping that quaggas and their kissing cousins, Zebra mussels would skip Colorado water, since they clog facilities and compete with native species for habitat. Well they didn't, according to The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article: Zebra mussels, which have clogged water lines and depleted aquatic habitat in the Great Lakes states, have been found for the first time in Colorado at Lake Pueblo. DNA testing confirmed last week that mussels found at Lake Pueblo in November are zebra mussels, a striped bivalve mollusk primarily found east of the 100th meridian, said Doug Krieger, senior biologist with the Colorado Division of Wildlife... Unlike native mollusks and even other invasive freshwater mollusks, the zebra mussel attaches itself to structures in clumps, spreads prolifically and out-competes other aquatic life, according to a Web site devoted to slowing the spread of zebra mussels. "This is the first confirmed incident in the state," Krieger said. It's not known how the mussel migrated into Lake Pueblo, although the mollusk usually is spread by boats. The mussels is able to live for a short time in small pools of water, then spread to a new area, Krieger said. "They get into little nooks on a boat," Krieger said. "Then they're spit out at a new location." A dead zebra mussel was reported several years ago on a boat at a Colorado Springs boat shop, but the mussels found in Lake Pueblo are of more concern. It's not known whether a sustained population could survive in at this elevation or in cooler temperatures, but larvae were also found in the water, Krieger said. "They appeared to reproduce at least once in the reservoir," he said. He couldn't rule out the possibility they will further multiply. There is already some concern among water users who connect to Lake Pueblo for water supplies - the Pueblo Board of Water Works, Pueblo West and the Fountain Valley Authority. Roy Vaughan, head of the Pueblo office of the Bureau of Reclamation, updated the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District on the potential problem Thursday. "The zebra mussel could attach to outlet works," Vaughan said. "It's not a problem in bigger flows, but as they get larger, they can restrict the flows in pipes." Beyond the problems for water users, zebra mussels could deplete aquatic habitat, Krieger said. "They filter the water and take out the plankton that other animals feed on," Krieger said. "They out-compete other species." The Colorado Department of Parks and Outdoor Recreation is investigating whether it has any authority for mandatory boat regulations to prevent further spread, following a meeting Wednesday. Krieger said high-temperature, thorough washing of boats being moved from one lake to another is recommended to stop the spread of the zebra mussel. The state also is looking at treating localized areas with potassium chloride - which kills mollusks, but not other aquatic life - where the mussel is found and containing the spread of the mussel. More coverage from TheDenverChannel.com. They write: Two adult mussels and one immature specimen were found on substrate sampling gear, and the larva was found by performing plankton tows. Although zebra mussels do not pose a known threat to human health, biologists are concerned that zebra mussels may cause ecological shifts in the lakes they invade, with consequences to valued wildlife resources. Because these invasive mussels attach to hard surfaces like concrete and pipes, they will affect canals, aqueducts, water intakes and dams, resulting in increased maintenance costs for those facilities. Additional sampling at Lake Pueblo State Park to determine the degree of infestation and exact mussel species is planned for this winter and spring. State Parks and the DOW are planning a concerted effort to notify recreational users at Pueblo Reservoir, and other state parks, about the potential impacts of zebra mussels. The Pueblo State Fish Hatchery, which receives its water supply from Pueblo Reservoir, will undergo an assessment regarding options to prevent the spread of adult mussels and/or larvae. Sampling inspections have been conducted to determine if zebra mussels or larvae are present in the hatchery unit. To date none have been detected... These mussels can settle in massive colonies that can block water intake and affect municipal water supply and agricultural irrigation and power plant operation. In the United States, Congressional researchers estimated that zebra mussels alone cost the power industry $3.1 billion in the 1993-1999 period, with their impact on industries, businesses, and communities more than $5 billion. Here's the link to the USGS website for quaggas and zebras. More Coyote Gulch coverage here. Category: Colorado Water 6:55:21 AM     Dick Wolfe: It's important that we find consensus about what we need to do Dick Wolfe, governor Ritter's newly appointed state engineer weighed in on the proposed efficiency rules for the Arkansas River Valley yesterday, according to The Pueblo Chieftain. From the article: The state engineer said Thursday he will listen to concerns of the Arkansas Valley and take his time to implement proposed rules on agricultural efficiency. "We do have a rational basis for the rules and we need to move ahead with the rules," State Engineer Dick Wolfe said Thursday at the Southeastern Colorado Water Conservancy District monthly meeting. "It's important that we find consensus about what we need to do." Following a meeting this week with Colorado Water Conservation Board Director Jennifer Gimbel and Division 2 Engineer Steve Witte, Wolfe decided to push back public meetings on the rules for a month or two. Originally, meetings were scheduled in January, a downtime for farmers, in order to give as many people as possible a chance to attend, Witte explained. However, Wolfe wanted the chance to review studies made by the Division of Water Resources in 2004, indicating there could be a problem. He and Gimbel also wanted to schedule the meetings so they could attend as many as possible. Wolfe said he is convinced irrigation efficiency - adding sprinklers, drip irrigation, lining ditches with concrete, sealing canals - can have an impact on return flows. However, the state does not have enough information to identify where the problems are being created. "Just because you've put in a system improvement does not mean you have a problem," Wolfe said... Wolfe said he is open to looking at ways to find the engineering resources to identify where problems exist and how much they may contribute to depletion of flows. He said he wants to do this in a way that does not hurt agriculture but still protects flows. "The last thing we want to do is come up with a set of rules, go out and enforce them and have neighbors pointing fingers at each other," Wolfe said. "That takes a lot of time and energy. We're not under any time constraints here."[...] The rules would not apply to wells that are already required to provide augmentation water to make up for depletions, or improvements like irrigation scheduling or cropping patterns. The rules would be for the entire Arkansas River basin, but would not apply to the state's other basins, Wolfe said. More Coyote Gulch coverage here. Category: Colorado Water 6:36:48 AM

© Copyright 2008 John Orr. Last update: 1/31/08; 9:19:03 AM.