Crikey Creek

Land use hydrology paradox in Central Texas

Daniel Collins • Apr 13, 2010

When it comes to conversion of grassland to shrubs or trees, the typical story goes like this. More rainfall is caught be the foliage and evaporated straight back into the air. Higher rates of transpiration deplete soil moisture faster, and deeper roots inhibit drainage of water from soil to aquifer. This story is typical because … Read More

Kyrgyzstan trips over utility price hikes

Daniel Collins • Apr 09, 2010

The sudden fall of the Kyrgyz government may have had its roots in meteoric rises in utility rates, including water: “One expert said the government had triggered the protests by imposing punitive increases on tariffs for water and gas. “In the last few months there has been growing anger over this non-political issue,” said Paul Quinn-Judge, central Asia project director … Read More

HydroEtymology: Aquifer, infer

Daniel Collins • Apr 07, 2010

The first known instance of ‘aquifer’ dates to a 1901 Science article: “The artesian system shows four or five aquifers, or water-bearing strata, more or less completely separated from one another.” ‘Aquifer’ is a combination of the Latin ‘aqui-‘ meaning ‘water’, and ‘-fer’ meaning ‘bearing’ (from the Latin verb ‘ferre’). ‘Ferre’ is also the origin of the English … Read More

Responding to errors in the Press

Daniel Collins • Mar 31, 2010

I had a chat with David Williams of the Christchurch Press last Thursday. He was interested in my previous post about the ‘70%’ error in the Creech Report. He followed up on it and wrote an article in today’s paper. He rang around and confirmed my analysis. Unfortunately there are two things I’ll have to take issue with: … Read More

Overheard in Christchurch

Daniel Collins • Mar 31, 2010

Not quite New York, but much more on topic. Nicky Wagner, National list member and Christchurch resident, suggested during question time following the ‘Blue Gold’ screening last Thursday that perhaps Canterbury should think about restricting the number of cows it houses. She also suggested that part of the delay in ECan’s consenting was due to the complexity of … Read More

Citizen oversight of water abolished in Canterbury

Daniel Collins • Mar 30, 2010

In what was described by opposition MPs as a bloodless coup, Environment Canterbury’s democratically elected councillors will be replaced by a set of central government-installed commissioners. Cantabrians won’t have a democratic say in their regional body until 2013. Also removed is the Environment Court as a means to appeal consent decisions. The commissioners will be led by Dame Margaret … Read More