Scarce Water and Technology, Control and Use Solutions Course Outline

Fromm Institute Fall Term 2009 Mondays September 14 – November 9

Rod Handeland 2415 Octavia St. San Francisco, CA 94109

415-929-8617, rpjhand@pacbell.net, www.rodhandeland.com

I. Water and Earth’s Biosphere

• Salty oceans and seas
• Freshwater and water cycle
• Water supply, distribution, quality, reuse, management, cost, price

II. Water and Civilizations

• Bridge from hunter gather societies to agriculture, cities, civilization
• Irrigation, surplus, services, specialization, seasonality in Fertile Crescent, Indus Valley, China
• Trade and sea transport for resources and food as stored water in Mediterranean, Asia and Europe
• Industrial Revolution, power, transportation, factories and social change
• Canals, aqueducts, dams and reservoirs for power, irrigation, storage
• Green revolution, drip irrigation, purification treatment, reuse

III. Water Challenges for North America, the Western US and California

• Great Lakes, Niagara, St. Lawrence, James Bay, Rust Belt
• Mississippi Basin, TVA, Gulf Coast, Dust Bowl, Ogallala Aquifer
• California from Henry Miller to Central Valley Project
• California from Owens Valley to Los Angeles, Hetch Hetchy to San Francisco
• California water north to south, peripheral canal, delta, levees
• Colorado River from Wesley Powell to Boulder and other dams
• Canada and the US in Columbia River Basin development

IV. Water Challenges and Cooperation in the World

• Himalayas and Tibet Plateau source of Indus, Ganges, Bumaputra, Irrawaddy, Mekong, Yangtze, Yellow Rivers
• Largely unused rivers to Arctic contrast to European river civilizations
• Africa’s Nile and Congo enormity contrast with water purity, scarcity, distribution problems elsewhere
• Coastal community threats from weather extremes, rising oceans, salinity

V. Extending the Water Cycle through Conservation, Efficiency, Technology, Management

• Engineering marvels for storage and power systems in 20 th century
• Irrigation, agriculture advances, information technology to forestall Malthus forecast
• Industrial efficiency for better water use through reengineering processes, reuse, clean-ups
• Improved distribution, sanitation, purification, treatment, reuse systems to extend water cycle

VI. Water and Public Policy to Improve Equity and Meet People’s Needs

• Water as human right and/or need and match to supply
• Water pricing, subsidies, incentives, laws, regulations, mandates
• Water for ecosystems, biodiversity, sustainability
• Private and public control options, costs, benefits, potentials, partnerships

VII. Potential Breakthroughs to Meet Challenges of Population Rise, Economic Growth, Global Warming

• Tropical rainforest, reforestation, land use, reclamation policies
• Individual life style actions and changes in times of water as scarce resource
• Global warming threats of carbon emissions, reduced glaciers and snowpack, precipitation and storm intensity
• Technology breakthroughs for storage, purification, reuse, treatment, expansion including desalinization
• Reconciliation of engineering feasibility of great projects with costs, ecosystems, public opinion