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Episode 14 - Year in Review

12/23/2016

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Episode Highlights:

Top water stories - Elizabeth, Brent and John share the top water stories of 2016. From water quality issues to water quantity and water rights challenges, BWTL looks to tell the story of water. In no particular order, these are the top water stories of 2016:
- Florida and Georgia argue in court over water rights.
  - Senator Rubio mentioned this fight in a Senate debate while jokingly channeling Donald Trump: "We're going to make Georgia give us the water, and Georgia's going to pay for it."
- The presidential election and its potential impacts on water policy.
  - Trump win churns U.S.-Mexico water talks.
  - Needed investments in infrastructure, including water infrastructure.
  - Rural America came out in support of President-elect Trump and with a pending farm bill and other issues affecting rural areas of the country in play, the Trump Administration will have opportunities to support rural Americans.
- Water quality issues, including the water crisis in Flint, Mich., where people were exposed to lead in their drinking water.
  - This situation has been mentioned often on BWTL and NPR shared a complete timeline of the crisis.
- Western drought and the stories describing responses to drought. For example:
  - In California, funding was allocated for turfgrass removal programs and currently these programs show little water savings.
  - In Santa Barbara, Calif. lawn watering was recently banned.
- Lastly, the start of this podcast! Thanks for listening to BWTL in 2016. Go to our Contact page to share feedback and ideas for 2017 topics.

Happy Holidays!

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Episode 13 - Drought Management

12/16/2016

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Brent Mecham with his Certificate of Recognition for over 20 years of professional excellence, industry support, and commitment to efficient water management.

Episode Highlights:

[3:39] Congratulations to Brent! - Brent received a recognition pin and certificate for being certified for 20 years. Check out BWTL episode 7 to learn about professional certifications.
[4:06] Drought Summit - We will be linking to the presentations and a final drought summit report on this website. For now, see the schedule here.
- Pat Mulroy was the featured speaker.
- The Bellagio fountain uses water through their own groundwater rights and they recycle water through their own facility.
- Next year, the drought summit will take place in Orlando, Florida.
[8:48] Mitigating drought - Many states continue to work on this by creating and implementing drought plans.
- Texas was in significant drought in 2011/2012 - groups got together to figure out better solutions than just turning off the water for certain uses.
  - Created the Texas Water Smart program.
- Public awareness of drought, particularly in the East, tends to come from news.
[12:36] Is drought now a way of life? - In the desert climates, it is a way of life for many.
[13:43] Users of the water - a large amount of water goes toward environmental use.
[16:31] Water Resources Development Act - In the final bill, the WIIN Act, language dealing with the amount of water being pumped to farmers and Southern California was included.
- [17:21] John was a guest on a radio show - John discussed the drought language in more detail on The Water Zone - in the 12/15/16 show starting at 5:40.
[20:18] Food Waste - In general, we do not think about the water footprint of the food we eat.
- When you throw away food, you are throwing away a lot of water.
- Additionally, the water used to make electronics should be thought about. For example, during the drought summit, Pat Mulroy stated, "Every cell phone that we import takes 1500 gallons of water to produce."
[25:07] Follow-up on the lead crisis - In addition to Flint, Michigan, many other water systems are dealing with lead contamination.
- USA Today covered lead contamination in drinking water supplies - 4 million Americans could be drinking toxic water.
- 850 small water utilities have a documented history of water contamination - many are in rural areas.
[25:58] Follow-up to Dakota Access Pipeline episode - Last week, the Army Corps halted the work being done on the pipeline as they explore other routes.
- Around the same time, it was discovered that a pipeline leak (different pipeline) had spilled 176,000 gallons of crude oil into a creek 150 miles from the DAPL protest camps.

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Episode 12 - 2016 Irrigation Show

12/9/2016

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View from the Bringing Water to Life podcast recording at the Irrigation Show.

Featured Guest

Warren Gorowitz
Vice President of Sustainability
Ewing Irrigation & Landscape Supply

Warren has served on the Irrigation Association's Board of Directors for five
years and is the current president-elect.

About the Irrigation Show

The Irrigation Show is a program of the Irrigation Association, a non-profit 501(c)(6) organization dedicated to promoting efficient irrigation.

Unlike for-profit trade shows, proceeds from the Irrigation Show support IA initiatives to benefit members and the irrigation industry by:

Improving industry proficiency through continuing education.
Recognizing and promoting experience and excellence with professional certification.
Serving as a centralized clearing house for irrigation research and innovations.
Educating the public on sound irrigation practices and water management.
Lending expertise to water-use public policy at the local, state, regional and national level.

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Episode 14 - Year in Review

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