...some questions...
1. What is included in the acronym WaSH?
2. How old are the oldest wells, toilets, modern flush toilets, modern sewers, and modern methods of chemical water treatment? What was the role of John Snow in furthering our understanding of water-borne illness and combating water-borne illness?
3. What are the hygiene, convenience, and (possibly) asthetic advantages of improved sanitation facilities?
4. What is the implied challenge of improving the number of people with access to an improved water source? How are we (as a global community) doing in providing access to an improved source of drinking water? Is all "improved" drinking water "safe"? Is all "safe" drinking water "improved"?
5. How is access to an improved source of drinking water managed in developed communities in urban and rural areas? What are the barriers to increasing access to an improved source of drinking water in less developed (lower HDI) counties in urban and rural areas?
Slides from today are on Sakai.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Friday, March 28, 2014
Final Homework Assignment
The spreadsheet GEOL 150 Winter 2014 world water data.xlsx
contains the most recent accessible information for most countries in the world
for available freshwater resources, assess to water and sanitation, volume and
type of withdrawals, economic and social development indicators, and
population. Use this information to answer the following questions and turn in
your work as a .doc(x) by the beginning of class on Wednesday. Notes: 1. Even
if it is not stated in the question/item, all questions should be answered “for
the data available”. For instance, we do not have data for many of the small
Caribbean Island nations (or other small nation states) so we will exclude them
from this large-scale analysis. 2. For item #5, use the linear rate of change –
the easiest way is with excel’s linest function.
1a. What is the volume per person per day of freshwater
withdrawals for domestic use in the USA? (provide your answer in US
gallons/person/day to the nearest gallon)?
1b. How many countries have higher domestic use than the
USA?
1c. What are the three countries with the lowest volume of
domestic water use and what are their respective rates of use- for which data
exist (provide your answer in US gallons/person/day to the nearest gallon)?
1d. What country outside of either Africa or Asia has the
lowest domestic use?
2a. How many countries in 2011 had unsustainable rates of
freshwater withdrawals?
2b. In which countries
do annual withdrawals exceed available freshwater resources by an order of
magnitude or more?
2c. What % of Earth’s population resides in a country with
unsustainable rates of freshwater withdrawals?
2d. What is the dominant use of water in countries with
unsustainable rates of freshwater withdrawals?
3a. How many countries have a higher rate of access to an
improved water source for rural populations than for urban populations?
3b. What is the respective percent of the world’s urban and
rural populations that have access to an improved water source?
4a. In how many countries are residents more likely to have
access to cellular coverage than to sanitation facilities?
4b. In how many countries are residents more likely to have
access to electricity than to an improved water source?
4c. What percent of the world’s population has access to the following:
cellular coverage, access to sanitation facilities, access to electricity, and
access to an improved water source?
5a. Use the data in the “water” tab to answer- How many
countries experienced a decrease in the percent of its population with access
to an improved drinking water source from 1990-2011? How about 2002-2011?
5b. Use the data in the “sanitation” tab to answer- How many
countries experienced a decrease in the percent of its population with access
to improved sanitation facilities from 1990-2011? How about 2002-2011?
6a. Plot %access to water as a function of per capita
freshwater availability, annual freshwater withdrawals, corruption, and per
capita GDP (on four different graphs). Describe the relationships that you
observe.
7a. Plot child mortality as a function of, %access to water,
%access to sanitation, corruption, and per capita GDP (on four different
graphs). Describe the relationships that you observe.
8a. Develop your own weighted metric for quantifying water
resources and a water resource availability at the country scale. Describe your
metric and list (in order) the five countries with the best water resources and
the five countries with the worst water resources according to your
calculations.
Friday Week Eleven
...some questions...
1. Continuing on material from the Water Bill Homework Assignment... Why did water use in athletic building and facilities increase sharply during the fifth billing period of 2013? Why did water use in non-academic building and facilities increase sharply during the fifth billing period of 2013? Did we effectively explain the high per resident water use at Kappa Alpha? Did we effectively explain the high per resident water use at Kappa Delta? Did we effectively explain the high per resident water use at the Lee House?
2. Over the past few decades, is installed global desalination capacity increasing, decreasing or remaining relatively constant? What is the difference between membrane and thermal desalination? Is one growing more rapidly than the other (if so, which one)? Is one better than the other? What are the specific characteristics of a country that allow it to managing its water resource challenges with large desalination capacity?
3. Where is Bangladesh? What are its hydrologic, physiographic, demographic, and development characteristics that intensify its water resource management challenges? What are the specific water resource management challenges faced by Bangladesh? What was the first (historically) challenge? How was the first challenge managed? How did the management of the first challenge create (or exacerbate) a new challenge)? Why are these challenges more profound in the southern 1/3 of the country? What are some of the ongoing barriers to managing water resources challenges in Bangladesh?
Slides from today are on Sakai.
1. Continuing on material from the Water Bill Homework Assignment... Why did water use in athletic building and facilities increase sharply during the fifth billing period of 2013? Why did water use in non-academic building and facilities increase sharply during the fifth billing period of 2013? Did we effectively explain the high per resident water use at Kappa Alpha? Did we effectively explain the high per resident water use at Kappa Delta? Did we effectively explain the high per resident water use at the Lee House?
2. Over the past few decades, is installed global desalination capacity increasing, decreasing or remaining relatively constant? What is the difference between membrane and thermal desalination? Is one growing more rapidly than the other (if so, which one)? Is one better than the other? What are the specific characteristics of a country that allow it to managing its water resource challenges with large desalination capacity?
3. Where is Bangladesh? What are its hydrologic, physiographic, demographic, and development characteristics that intensify its water resource management challenges? What are the specific water resource management challenges faced by Bangladesh? What was the first (historically) challenge? How was the first challenge managed? How did the management of the first challenge create (or exacerbate) a new challenge)? Why are these challenges more profound in the southern 1/3 of the country? What are some of the ongoing barriers to managing water resources challenges in Bangladesh?
Slides from today are on Sakai.
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Wednesday Week Eleven
...some questions...
1. What is going on (water-wise) in California right now?
2. Outside of the fact that the current situation has 98% of the state in a drought, water are the ongoing water management challenges that California as a state experiences? How do they manage low levels of average annual accumulated precipitation in areas that are either densely populated or agriculturally important? How do they manage high intra-annual variability in precipitation how do they manage high inter-annual variability in precipitation. How do they manage pre-historic (dendrochronologic) evidence for multi-decade-long dry spells? How do they manage sharknados?
3. What does the Colorado River Aqueduct do? What does the LA/Owens Valley Aqueduct do? What does the California Aqueduct do?
4. What are some quantitative mechanisms for understanding and communicating variability (in precipitation)? Why does Southern California have the potential for such highly variable precipitation? How does this present two distinctive challenges?
5. Why is there a drought in California right now?
6. What evidence is there for droughts in California's prehistoric past? How long/bad were these drought periods relative to the current one?
7. Why is California considering building desalination plants in response to the current drought? Why might this not be a good idea?
8. What does California do with its water? What would an ongoing drought mean for the future of California?
Slider from today are on Sakai. Your assigned reading for Friday is Ocean's Dilemma from the most recent issue of Time Magazine (available as a s.pdf in the resources folder of Sakai).
1. What is going on (water-wise) in California right now?
2. Outside of the fact that the current situation has 98% of the state in a drought, water are the ongoing water management challenges that California as a state experiences? How do they manage low levels of average annual accumulated precipitation in areas that are either densely populated or agriculturally important? How do they manage high intra-annual variability in precipitation how do they manage high inter-annual variability in precipitation. How do they manage pre-historic (dendrochronologic) evidence for multi-decade-long dry spells? How do they manage sharknados?
3. What does the Colorado River Aqueduct do? What does the LA/Owens Valley Aqueduct do? What does the California Aqueduct do?
4. What are some quantitative mechanisms for understanding and communicating variability (in precipitation)? Why does Southern California have the potential for such highly variable precipitation? How does this present two distinctive challenges?
5. Why is there a drought in California right now?
6. What evidence is there for droughts in California's prehistoric past? How long/bad were these drought periods relative to the current one?
7. Why is California considering building desalination plants in response to the current drought? Why might this not be a good idea?
8. What does California do with its water? What would an ongoing drought mean for the future of California?
Slider from today are on Sakai. Your assigned reading for Friday is Ocean's Dilemma from the most recent issue of Time Magazine (available as a s.pdf in the resources folder of Sakai).
Monday, March 24, 2014
Water Footprint Calculator Thing
Download the excel file: WaterFootprintYourNameHere.xlsx
from the Sakai resources page, complete the questions below in the spreadsheet
for between 1 and 10 water footprint calculators (after, of course, you have
submitted your information to the calculator) and return the completed
spreadsheet to me via email by the beginning of class on Wednesday, April 2nd.
For each complete submission, you will receive 1 point toward your midterm exam
with any “overflow” points (points that would bring your exam grade above 100)
going into quiz points. You may submit results and answers for as many as 10
calculators; anyone who submits results from a unique calculator (unique in
that they are the only student in the class to use this particular calculator)
will receive an additional 0.5 points for each unique calculator submission
(and I have final say with regard to classification as a “unique” submission). If
you have any questions, please let me know. I will share the results of this meta-analysis
with the class but will not share individual responses in a manner that would
identify the submissions of a particular respondent.
Note: if the answer to question #7 is no, for the calculator
that you are using and you are asked to provide information about your income,
use the median income for female/male, 25+, with a bachelor’s degree of
US$50,944/year.
1. What is the name of the water footprint calculator (use a
provided name or invent a generally descriptive name like “National Geographic”
or Water Footprint Network Extended”)
2. What is the direct link to the calculator?
3. Would you classify this calculator as a brief, extended
or somewhere in the middle?
4. How long did you take to complete this calculator? (answer
to the nearest minute)
5. According to this calculator, what is your water use in
US gallons per day? (###)
6. Are you female or male? (female/male)
7. Does this calculator specifically consider your gender in
its calculation? (yes/no)
8. Does this calculator consider either specifically or
generally the idea that you may be in college? (yes/no)
9. Does this calculator consider either specifically or
generally the nature of water use as consumptive, non-consumptive, and/or semi-consumptive?
(yes/no)
10. Does this calculator consider either specifically or
generally the concept of green, blue, gray, and/or black water use? (yes/no)
11. Does this calculator assume (either explicitly or implicitly)
your country of residence? (yes- USA, yes- EU, yes- other (write country name
here), no- but I got to indicate my country of residence, or no- and I was not
able to indicate my country of residence)
12. Indicate which calculator was your favorite and which
was your least favorite. (favorite/least favorite)
Monday Week Eleven
...some questions...
1. What is the difference between per per capital domestic water use between a high-use state and a low-use state? What is the volume of domestic use for a low use state (gal/day/cap)? What is the volume of domestic use for a high use state (gal/day/cap)?How is water use data collected? Why is it important to consider the specific metric of water use when interpreting a water use map? What is a "withdrawal"? Where is a withdrawal?
2. Where does the vast majority of the 23 gallons of water used in the production of a 12 oz. can of Coke get used? What does a look at the volume of water required for producing a 3.5 oz. potato vs a 3.5 oz. bag of potato chips tell us about the water footprint of more heavily processed vs more lightly processed foods? Why is the water footprint of grass-fed beef so different from the water footprint of grain-fed beef? Where does the vast majority of the 28 gallons of water used in the production of a 12 oz. can of beer get used?
3. What is the difference between green, blue, and gray water? Why is it important to consider the "color" of the water when evaluating the water footprint )(volume) of a particular product? Why is it important to note that the numbers that we have been using in class are for global average water footprint (how might your local/regional/national footprint volume/color vary)?
Slides from today are on Sakai. Your assigned reading for Wednesday is The water footprint of poultry, pork and beef: A comparative study in different countries and production systems (.pdf) by Gerbens-Leenes et al. in Water Resource and Industry (peer-reviewed) 2013. We will have help sessions for the W&L Water Bill Homework Assignment Monday (tonight) at 7:30 in A115 and Tuesday at 7:00 also in A115. Instructions for the water footprint extra credit thing are here.
1. What is the difference between per per capital domestic water use between a high-use state and a low-use state? What is the volume of domestic use for a low use state (gal/day/cap)? What is the volume of domestic use for a high use state (gal/day/cap)?How is water use data collected? Why is it important to consider the specific metric of water use when interpreting a water use map? What is a "withdrawal"? Where is a withdrawal?
2. Where does the vast majority of the 23 gallons of water used in the production of a 12 oz. can of Coke get used? What does a look at the volume of water required for producing a 3.5 oz. potato vs a 3.5 oz. bag of potato chips tell us about the water footprint of more heavily processed vs more lightly processed foods? Why is the water footprint of grass-fed beef so different from the water footprint of grain-fed beef? Where does the vast majority of the 28 gallons of water used in the production of a 12 oz. can of beer get used?
3. What is the difference between green, blue, and gray water? Why is it important to consider the "color" of the water when evaluating the water footprint )(volume) of a particular product? Why is it important to note that the numbers that we have been using in class are for global average water footprint (how might your local/regional/national footprint volume/color vary)?
Slides from today are on Sakai. Your assigned reading for Wednesday is The water footprint of poultry, pork and beef: A comparative study in different countries and production systems (.pdf) by Gerbens-Leenes et al. in Water Resource and Industry (peer-reviewed) 2013. We will have help sessions for the W&L Water Bill Homework Assignment Monday (tonight) at 7:30 in A115 and Tuesday at 7:00 also in A115. Instructions for the water footprint extra credit thing are here.
Friday, March 21, 2014
W&L Water Bill Homework
Use the data stored in GEOL150WandLWaterBillHW.xls (available on Sakai) to address the following items. Please submit your responses as a .doc(x) including the requested graphs either printed or via email by Friday March 28.
1. What campus building used the most volume of water in 2013?
2. What campus building used the least volume of water in 2013?
3. What campus building used the most water in 2013 when water use is normalized for the size (area) of the building?
4. What campus building used the least water in 2013 when water use is normalized for the size (area) of the building?
5. What percent of university water use came from the following categories in 2013?
a. academic
b. non-academic
c. athletic
d. residential (include fraternities and sororities)
make a pie chart...
6. Calculate the average water use per person per day in US gallons for residents of campus fraternities, campus sororities, and other campus residence halls. Which groups of residents used the most water in 2013? Which groups of residents used the least water in 2013? Is there a large difference between the three groups?
7. Make a 2-D column graphs of per resident water use per day in US gallons for all of the residential buildings (include fraternities and sororities). Are there any outliers? What are the top (or bottom) residence, top dorm, top sorority and top fraternity in terms of least per resident water use in 2013? What are the top residence, top dorm, top sorority and top fraternity in terms of highest per resident water use in 2013? Why are these particular buildings the highest and lowest per resident users of water? (there may not be an interesting answer to this but I am interested to hear your input).
8. Plot the percent of yearly water use during a 2-month billing period for the following categories: academic, non-academic, athletic, and residential (include fraternities and sororities) buildings for the six billing periods of 2013 (your graph should be an xy scatter graph with billing period (1-6 or months) on the x axis and % on the y axis and four lines...). Describe the variation (or lack thereof) in seasonal water use throughout our campus.
1. What campus building used the most volume of water in 2013?
2. What campus building used the least volume of water in 2013?
3. What campus building used the most water in 2013 when water use is normalized for the size (area) of the building?
4. What campus building used the least water in 2013 when water use is normalized for the size (area) of the building?
5. What percent of university water use came from the following categories in 2013?
a. academic
b. non-academic
c. athletic
d. residential (include fraternities and sororities)
make a pie chart...
6. Calculate the average water use per person per day in US gallons for residents of campus fraternities, campus sororities, and other campus residence halls. Which groups of residents used the most water in 2013? Which groups of residents used the least water in 2013? Is there a large difference between the three groups?
7. Make a 2-D column graphs of per resident water use per day in US gallons for all of the residential buildings (include fraternities and sororities). Are there any outliers? What are the top (or bottom) residence, top dorm, top sorority and top fraternity in terms of least per resident water use in 2013? What are the top residence, top dorm, top sorority and top fraternity in terms of highest per resident water use in 2013? Why are these particular buildings the highest and lowest per resident users of water? (there may not be an interesting answer to this but I am interested to hear your input).
8. Plot the percent of yearly water use during a 2-month billing period for the following categories: academic, non-academic, athletic, and residential (include fraternities and sororities) buildings for the six billing periods of 2013 (your graph should be an xy scatter graph with billing period (1-6 or months) on the x axis and % on the y axis and four lines...). Describe the variation (or lack thereof) in seasonal water use throughout our campus.
Friday Week Ten
...some questions...
1.What is the difference between consumptive use and non-consumptive use? Why is water consumption (almost always) different that food or energy consumption? Why does water have value? Can water be a liability (have a value that is less than zero)? How does water use change its value? Can you map the progression of the following categories of use in value-time space: domestic, recreational, agricultural, industrial? Will all industrial water uses have the same path? Will all agricultural uses? Is there a possibility for semi-consumptive water use?
2. What is an ecological footprint? What is a water footprint? Why is it called a water footprint if it is a volume instead of an area? Is the water used in themoelectric electricity generation considered in a water footprint calculation? What do the water footprint calculations of Hoekstra and Chapagain (2007) say about the per capita water consumption in the US vs. the rest of the world? What about China?
3. What do the high rates of per capita water use in ID, MT, and WY say about the people that live there?
Slides shown today are on Sakai. Your assigned reading for Monday as well as your homework for next Wednesday and your "extra" credit opportunity will be up tomorrow (Saturday) morning.
1.What is the difference between consumptive use and non-consumptive use? Why is water consumption (almost always) different that food or energy consumption? Why does water have value? Can water be a liability (have a value that is less than zero)? How does water use change its value? Can you map the progression of the following categories of use in value-time space: domestic, recreational, agricultural, industrial? Will all industrial water uses have the same path? Will all agricultural uses? Is there a possibility for semi-consumptive water use?
2. What is an ecological footprint? What is a water footprint? Why is it called a water footprint if it is a volume instead of an area? Is the water used in themoelectric electricity generation considered in a water footprint calculation? What do the water footprint calculations of Hoekstra and Chapagain (2007) say about the per capita water consumption in the US vs. the rest of the world? What about China?
3. What do the high rates of per capita water use in ID, MT, and WY say about the people that live there?
Slides shown today are on Sakai. Your assigned reading for Monday as well as your homework for next Wednesday and your "extra" credit opportunity will be up tomorrow (Saturday) morning.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Wednesday Week Ten
...some questions...
1. How variable is the flooding history of the James River Watershed? What are the biggest storms in the instrumental record for this watershed? Why was the flooding from Agnes the largest Flood at the James River in Richmond? Why was the flooding from Camile the largest flood at Buena Vista?
2. How do the flooding mitigation challenges differ between Lexington, Buena Vista, and Glasgow? Which city has traditionally had the greatest collective challenge? What are some of the things that Lexington has done to manage its flood risk? What are some of the things that BV has done to mange its flood risk? What are some of the things that Glasgow has done to manage its flood risk? What role has FEMA and USACE played in managing our local flood risks?
3. How does a floodwall work? How does a flood control-dam/reservoir work? Why does this prevent some additional reservoir/dam uses? How many flood-control dams are there in the lower 48? Where are they located? Are there any flood-control dams currently protecting us here in Lexington? If so, where are they?
4. What do the hydrographs upstream and downstream of a flood-control reservoir like like during a large storm event?
5. Mitigation is the effort to reduce loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters. What are flood mitigation steps that can be taken before, during, and after a flood? What are some of the major barriers to effective flood mitigation in the USA?
Slides from today are on Sakai.
1. How variable is the flooding history of the James River Watershed? What are the biggest storms in the instrumental record for this watershed? Why was the flooding from Agnes the largest Flood at the James River in Richmond? Why was the flooding from Camile the largest flood at Buena Vista?
2. How do the flooding mitigation challenges differ between Lexington, Buena Vista, and Glasgow? Which city has traditionally had the greatest collective challenge? What are some of the things that Lexington has done to manage its flood risk? What are some of the things that BV has done to mange its flood risk? What are some of the things that Glasgow has done to manage its flood risk? What role has FEMA and USACE played in managing our local flood risks?
3. How does a floodwall work? How does a flood control-dam/reservoir work? Why does this prevent some additional reservoir/dam uses? How many flood-control dams are there in the lower 48? Where are they located? Are there any flood-control dams currently protecting us here in Lexington? If so, where are they?
4. What do the hydrographs upstream and downstream of a flood-control reservoir like like during a large storm event?
5. Mitigation is the effort to reduce loss of life and property by lessening the impact of disasters. What are flood mitigation steps that can be taken before, during, and after a flood? What are some of the major barriers to effective flood mitigation in the USA?
Slides from today are on Sakai.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Monday Week Ten
...some questions...
1. Why is the physiographic setting of Johnstown, PA such a nice place for a city? Why is the physiographic setting of Johnstown, PA such a nice place for a flood?
2. Johnstown is at the confluence of the Little Conemaugh and the Conemaugh Rivers. Are these large rivers? Compared to what?
3. Where was Conemaugh Lake and the South Fork Dam in relation to Jonestown? What is there now?
4. Who built the South Fork Dam? When was is built? What was it made out of? What was special about it at the time? Who were the subsequent owners? What were some of the recent (period) modifications to the dam made by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club that are important to the flood story?
5. What kind of discharge do you get when 6-10 inches of rain falls in 24 hours on a 119 square mile watershed? How does this compare to the "normal" discharge on the Little Conemaugh River? What kind of discharge do you get when you empty a 4.8 billion gallon reservoir in 45 minute?
6. What happened when the flash flood from the failure of the South Fork dam reached the Conemaugh Viaduct? Why did this exacerbate the flash flood that would eventually reach Johnstown?
7. How did the industrial areas on the upstream side of town and the Railroad Bridge on the downstream side of town exacerbate the flooding?
8.What were some of the barriers to effective warning and evacuation? In recalling the damage from the flood, why is it important to think in terms of percents instead of total numbers?
9. Why was the role of the American Red Cross so important in the aftermath of the flood? What were the results of the legal aftermath of the flood? What is an "Act of God?"
10. Why was the "Great Mississippi Flood of 1927" so great?
11. How bad were the floods in Colorado last year? Why were they so bad? Why should you never recreate in urban flood waters?
Slides from today are on Sakai.
1. Why is the physiographic setting of Johnstown, PA such a nice place for a city? Why is the physiographic setting of Johnstown, PA such a nice place for a flood?
2. Johnstown is at the confluence of the Little Conemaugh and the Conemaugh Rivers. Are these large rivers? Compared to what?
3. Where was Conemaugh Lake and the South Fork Dam in relation to Jonestown? What is there now?
4. Who built the South Fork Dam? When was is built? What was it made out of? What was special about it at the time? Who were the subsequent owners? What were some of the recent (period) modifications to the dam made by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club that are important to the flood story?
5. What kind of discharge do you get when 6-10 inches of rain falls in 24 hours on a 119 square mile watershed? How does this compare to the "normal" discharge on the Little Conemaugh River? What kind of discharge do you get when you empty a 4.8 billion gallon reservoir in 45 minute?
6. What happened when the flash flood from the failure of the South Fork dam reached the Conemaugh Viaduct? Why did this exacerbate the flash flood that would eventually reach Johnstown?
7. How did the industrial areas on the upstream side of town and the Railroad Bridge on the downstream side of town exacerbate the flooding?
8.What were some of the barriers to effective warning and evacuation? In recalling the damage from the flood, why is it important to think in terms of percents instead of total numbers?
9. Why was the role of the American Red Cross so important in the aftermath of the flood? What were the results of the legal aftermath of the flood? What is an "Act of God?"
10. Why was the "Great Mississippi Flood of 1927" so great?
11. How bad were the floods in Colorado last year? Why were they so bad? Why should you never recreate in urban flood waters?
Slides from today are on Sakai.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Friday Week Nine
...some questions...
1. Why is it important to begin any discussion of flooding with a look at were humans tend to live? What are the advantages to living close to water? What are the advantages of settling in flood plains? How long did it take for the US to have a top-10 population city that is not on a coast or inland navigable waterway? What are the current 3 top-10 US cities that are not reachable by boat?
2. Why do floods occur? Why is the answer more complicated than "rain"? What is the difference between acute and chronic rainfall? What about snow melt? How does the permeability of the ground change when it is frozen and how might this contribute to flooding severity during snow melt? How are floods like snowflakes?
3. Why is the permeability of the surface of a watershed so important to both the timing and a magnitude of a flood crest? What are some of the key ways to create large-scale changes in the permeability of a watershed? How and why does the amount and type of vegetation in a watershed affect flooding severity? How and why does the slope of a watershed affect flooding severity?
4. What are the differences between the specific hazards of a regional and flash floods? Why is it important to rember that binary classifications like this are more effective if you remember to consider the continuum between the end members?
5. Why are so many of the USA's historically deadly terrestrial natural disasters floods? Why is it important to not that the deadliest natural disasters in the USA are not very deadly compared to some of the deadliest natural disasters in the history of the world?
6. Johnstown questions will be on Monday's post.
Slides shown today are on Sakai. Your assigned reading for Monday is A year after Waldo Canyon fire, Colorado town contends with flooding by Jenny Deam in the August 29, 2013 edition of the LA Times and Flood Forensics: Why Colorado's Floods Were So Destructive by Christopher Joyce from NPR October 08, 2013 (please note that my assigning this article should not imply my endorsement of the title's misuse of the term "forensic"). The homework assignment on recurrence interval and flooding in our area that is due next Wednesday will be up on Saturday morning (sorry for the delay). There will be a help session 7:30pm on Monday in A115- bring your computer.
1. Why is it important to begin any discussion of flooding with a look at were humans tend to live? What are the advantages to living close to water? What are the advantages of settling in flood plains? How long did it take for the US to have a top-10 population city that is not on a coast or inland navigable waterway? What are the current 3 top-10 US cities that are not reachable by boat?
2. Why do floods occur? Why is the answer more complicated than "rain"? What is the difference between acute and chronic rainfall? What about snow melt? How does the permeability of the ground change when it is frozen and how might this contribute to flooding severity during snow melt? How are floods like snowflakes?
3. Why is the permeability of the surface of a watershed so important to both the timing and a magnitude of a flood crest? What are some of the key ways to create large-scale changes in the permeability of a watershed? How and why does the amount and type of vegetation in a watershed affect flooding severity? How and why does the slope of a watershed affect flooding severity?
4. What are the differences between the specific hazards of a regional and flash floods? Why is it important to rember that binary classifications like this are more effective if you remember to consider the continuum between the end members?
5. Why are so many of the USA's historically deadly terrestrial natural disasters floods? Why is it important to not that the deadliest natural disasters in the USA are not very deadly compared to some of the deadliest natural disasters in the history of the world?
6. Johnstown questions will be on Monday's post.
Slides shown today are on Sakai. Your assigned reading for Monday is A year after Waldo Canyon fire, Colorado town contends with flooding by Jenny Deam in the August 29, 2013 edition of the LA Times and Flood Forensics: Why Colorado's Floods Were So Destructive by Christopher Joyce from NPR October 08, 2013 (please note that my assigning this article should not imply my endorsement of the title's misuse of the term "forensic"). The homework assignment on recurrence interval and flooding in our area that is due next Wednesday will be up on Saturday morning (sorry for the delay). There will be a help session 7:30pm on Monday in A115- bring your computer.
Recurrence interval homework
0. This assignment will use data from the USGS stream gauges that are located on the Maury River up- and downstream of Lexington. You should have already been to the stream gauge sites for the Maury River at Buena Vista and Rockbridge Baths but before, you were accessing current conditions- this time you will be looking at historical data. To do this, go to "Summary of all data for this site" for BV or Rockbridge Baths (it does not matter which you do first) and select ""Peak streamflow". This will give you the highest discharge measurement collected during each of the years that the gauge has been operational. Request the date in table format and copy and paste it into an excel spreadsheet.
1. How far apart are these two stream gauges as the crow flies?
2. Sort your data according to discharge (the the highest discharge year at the top). What are the five years with the highest discharge events?
3. In how many years has the rivers at either of these stream gauges been at flood stage (using the NWS definition)?
4. How many years of record are available for each of the stream gauges?
5. Assign a rank and calculate a recurrence interval for the peak discharge event for each year.
6. Plot discharge (y axis) as a function of recurrence interval (x axis) on a scatter plot with a logarithmic scale on the x axis. Format a logarithmic trend-line through two or three portions of the data so that you get a visually good fit (you will not be able to do this with only one trend for all of the data).
7. Select "display equation on chart" or use the linest function to find the relationship between the recurrence interval and the discharge for all or your trend-lines.
8. Use these equations to calculate the discharge for 10- 50- and 100-year floods for both gauges.
9. How many times larger is the dishcarge for a 10-year event at RBB than for your observed discharge at Jordans Point Park this week?
10. Given the nature of the observations available to you, comment one your ability to effectively characterize the discharge for10-, 50-, and 100- year flooding events in our area?
Send me an email with a .doc(x) file with the following:
1. distance between stream gauges
2. top five years (in order) for BV and RBB... Question:
3. numbers of years with "floods" BV and RBB
4. years of record for BV and RBB
6. ...plots for both gauges...
7. ...equations with ranges of appropriate recurrence interval for both gauges
8. 10- 50- and 100-year floods for both gauges
9. Xtimes...
10. brief (but effective) answer...
by the beginning of class on Wednesday.
1. How far apart are these two stream gauges as the crow flies?
2. Sort your data according to discharge (the the highest discharge year at the top). What are the five years with the highest discharge events?
3. In how many years has the rivers at either of these stream gauges been at flood stage (using the NWS definition)?
4. How many years of record are available for each of the stream gauges?
5. Assign a rank and calculate a recurrence interval for the peak discharge event for each year.
6. Plot discharge (y axis) as a function of recurrence interval (x axis) on a scatter plot with a logarithmic scale on the x axis. Format a logarithmic trend-line through two or three portions of the data so that you get a visually good fit (you will not be able to do this with only one trend for all of the data).
7. Select "display equation on chart" or use the linest function to find the relationship between the recurrence interval and the discharge for all or your trend-lines.
8. Use these equations to calculate the discharge for 10- 50- and 100-year floods for both gauges.
9. How many times larger is the dishcarge for a 10-year event at RBB than for your observed discharge at Jordans Point Park this week?
10. Given the nature of the observations available to you, comment one your ability to effectively characterize the discharge for10-, 50-, and 100- year flooding events in our area?
Send me an email with a .doc(x) file with the following:
1. distance between stream gauges
2. top five years (in order) for BV and RBB... Question:
3. numbers of years with "floods" BV and RBB
4. years of record for BV and RBB
6. ...plots for both gauges...
7. ...equations with ranges of appropriate recurrence interval for both gauges
8. 10- 50- and 100-year floods for both gauges
9. Xtimes...
10. brief (but effective) answer...
by the beginning of class on Wednesday.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Wednesday Week Nine
...some questions...
1. Why did I take so long introducing the two OLOs that I can't talk about together here?
2. What is a flood? Can we just define it as a rare, high-water event? What is the does the default method for reporting streamflow conditions by the USGS? Is this an effective mechanism for defining a flood? What method is used by the National Weather Service? According the NWS, location-specific definition, has there been a flood on the Maury River at BV in the past 356 days? Has there been anything even close to a flood? What about the Maury River at Rockbridge Baths? Why is there a difference? What metric does FEMA use when defining a flood?
3. What is a FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map? What is the gist of the agreements between the local authorities that are responsible for zoning (building) codes and the US federal government? Why is this important?
4. What is a recurrence interval? How is it calculated? What are the two possible definitions of a 100-year flood? What is the relationship between recurrence interval and discharge?
Slides from today are on Sakai.
1. Why did I take so long introducing the two OLOs that I can't talk about together here?
2. What is a flood? Can we just define it as a rare, high-water event? What is the does the default method for reporting streamflow conditions by the USGS? Is this an effective mechanism for defining a flood? What method is used by the National Weather Service? According the NWS, location-specific definition, has there been a flood on the Maury River at BV in the past 356 days? Has there been anything even close to a flood? What about the Maury River at Rockbridge Baths? Why is there a difference? What metric does FEMA use when defining a flood?
3. What is a FEMA Flood Insurance Rate Map? What is the gist of the agreements between the local authorities that are responsible for zoning (building) codes and the US federal government? Why is this important?
4. What is a recurrence interval? How is it calculated? What are the two possible definitions of a 100-year flood? What is the relationship between recurrence interval and discharge?
Slides from today are on Sakai.
Monday, March 10, 2014
Monday Week Nine
...some questions...
1. What is the discharge of the Maury River at Jordans Point Park? What about now?
2. What is a human development index score? What is factors are considered in calculating HDI? Are these an effective measure of human development? What is the relationship between HDI and per capita energy consumption resolved at the nation-state level? Why is it important the specific shape of this relationship important? Why is the position of a nation-state in HDI- energy consumption space important when weighing the costs and benefits of a project that would add generation capacity?
3. What is special about the Three Gorges Dam? hint 1: What is special about its generation capacity? hint 2: What is special about the difference between its generation capacity and the actual annual amount of energy that is generated? hint 3: How many people were displaced as a result of this project?
4. Where is the Quabbin Reservoir? What is the purpose of the dam (in this case, the Windsor Dam and the Goodnough Dike) and reservoir? What are the costs and benefits of the reservoir? What are the specific costs that are communicated by Jane Yollen in her book, Letting Swift River Go?
Slides from today are on Sakai. You may arrange to borrow Letting Swift from me but only if you promise to read it to a child who should be learning about large-scale grave exhumations anyway.
1. What is the discharge of the Maury River at Jordans Point Park? What about now?
2. What is a human development index score? What is factors are considered in calculating HDI? Are these an effective measure of human development? What is the relationship between HDI and per capita energy consumption resolved at the nation-state level? Why is it important the specific shape of this relationship important? Why is the position of a nation-state in HDI- energy consumption space important when weighing the costs and benefits of a project that would add generation capacity?
3. What is special about the Three Gorges Dam? hint 1: What is special about its generation capacity? hint 2: What is special about the difference between its generation capacity and the actual annual amount of energy that is generated? hint 3: How many people were displaced as a result of this project?
4. Where is the Quabbin Reservoir? What is the purpose of the dam (in this case, the Windsor Dam and the Goodnough Dike) and reservoir? What are the costs and benefits of the reservoir? What are the specific costs that are communicated by Jane Yollen in her book, Letting Swift River Go?
Slides from today are on Sakai. You may arrange to borrow Letting Swift from me but only if you promise to read it to a child who should be learning about large-scale grave exhumations anyway.
Friday, March 7, 2014
Friday Week Eight
...some questions...
1. so... I guess there is a big crack in the Wanapum Dam... Why is this important?
2. so... generating electricity with a dam (hydroelectric) has low life-cycle emissions of carbon dioxide equivalent per unit of electricity generate... Why is this only one (important) consideration when defining an energy source as being "green" or "sustainable"?
3. How do you develop any context for discharge? You go to the Jordans Point Dam as part of this week's homework assignment.
Slides from today are on Sakai.
1. so... I guess there is a big crack in the Wanapum Dam... Why is this important?
2. so... generating electricity with a dam (hydroelectric) has low life-cycle emissions of carbon dioxide equivalent per unit of electricity generate... Why is this only one (important) consideration when defining an energy source as being "green" or "sustainable"?
3. How do you develop any context for discharge? You go to the Jordans Point Dam as part of this week's homework assignment.
Slides from today are on Sakai.
Jordans Point Dam Homework Assignment
Step 1: Go to Jordans Point Dam and observe the water flowing over the dam for at least 5 minutes.
Step 2: Immortalize the moment by photographing yourself at the dam- email the photograph to me.
Step 3: Look up the discharge of the Maury River upstream at Rockbridge Baths and downstream at Buena Vista online at the USGS Waterwatch website during your observation time.
Step 4: Use the formula below to interpolate the discharge at Jordans Point based on the relative area of its watershed:
Step 5: Multiply your interpolated discharge at Jordans Point by 0.9 to account for the 10% of water the bypasses the dam via the spillway at this location. Report this number to me to the nearest cfs. This is the volume of water (per unit time) flowing over the dam during your visit.
Step 6: Use the formula E = p*z*Q*g*k were E = energy in watts, p = density of water, z = height of dam (2.5 meters), Q = discharge, g = acceleration due to gravity, and k = efficiency factor (0.7) to determine the amount of power (in watts) that could be generated at this site using the discharge at the time of your visit. Make sure that your units are all in combinations of m, kg, and s. Report this number to be to the nearest watt.
Step 2: Immortalize the moment by photographing yourself at the dam- email the photograph to me.
Step 3: Look up the discharge of the Maury River upstream at Rockbridge Baths and downstream at Buena Vista online at the USGS Waterwatch website during your observation time.
Step 4: Use the formula below to interpolate the discharge at Jordans Point based on the relative area of its watershed:
Step 5: Multiply your interpolated discharge at Jordans Point by 0.9 to account for the 10% of water the bypasses the dam via the spillway at this location. Report this number to me to the nearest cfs. This is the volume of water (per unit time) flowing over the dam during your visit.
Step 6: Use the formula E = p*z*Q*g*k were E = energy in watts, p = density of water, z = height of dam (2.5 meters), Q = discharge, g = acceleration due to gravity, and k = efficiency factor (0.7) to determine the amount of power (in watts) that could be generated at this site using the discharge at the time of your visit. Make sure that your units are all in combinations of m, kg, and s. Report this number to be to the nearest watt.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Wednesday Week Eight
...questions...
1. (continuing from Friday) Why is the distribution of US dams by completion date important? Why is it particularly important for some of our large hydroelectric dam in the West?
2. Why is the timing of the construction of the Hoover Dam (1931-6) important? Was $4/day a a good wage back in the 1930s? Could the Hoover Dam be built today?
3.Why is the timing of the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam important in US (and World) history? Is there such a thing as "extra" generation capacity?
4. What is meant by "life-cycle" emissions of carbon dioxide equivalent? Why is hydro lowish but not zero?
5. (Exam stuff) Who (according to our class) is most at fault for the WV Water Crisis? What are men and seniors more likely to argue that the water being supplied by the WVAWC is "safe"? NPR report asking this same question more recently... The source water assessment report from 2002 that I used for the final question on our midterm is here (.pdf). The new one that Downstream Strategies published after our exam is here (.pdf).
Slides from today are on Sakai. Your assigned reading for Friday is The Beautiful and the Dammed by Patrick Symmes in the June 2010 issue of Outside Magazine.
1. (continuing from Friday) Why is the distribution of US dams by completion date important? Why is it particularly important for some of our large hydroelectric dam in the West?
2. Why is the timing of the construction of the Hoover Dam (1931-6) important? Was $4/day a a good wage back in the 1930s? Could the Hoover Dam be built today?
3.Why is the timing of the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam important in US (and World) history? Is there such a thing as "extra" generation capacity?
4. What is meant by "life-cycle" emissions of carbon dioxide equivalent? Why is hydro lowish but not zero?
5. (Exam stuff) Who (according to our class) is most at fault for the WV Water Crisis? What are men and seniors more likely to argue that the water being supplied by the WVAWC is "safe"? NPR report asking this same question more recently... The source water assessment report from 2002 that I used for the final question on our midterm is here (.pdf). The new one that Downstream Strategies published after our exam is here (.pdf).
Slides from today are on Sakai. Your assigned reading for Friday is The Beautiful and the Dammed by Patrick Symmes in the June 2010 issue of Outside Magazine.
Monday, March 3, 2014
Monday Week Eight
no class today... spend some time thinking about individual and institutional preparation and resilience in the face of frozen water.
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