SAO PAULO - #Brazil - STILL DRY DESPITE RECORD RAINS

SAO PAULO STILL DRY DESPITE RECORD RAINS

Despite heavy rains, reservoir levels still low after worst 80 year drought in Sao Paulo

By Stan Lehman 
2 April 2015

SÃO PAULO (Associated Press) – Brazil's biggest city has recorded its rainiest March since 2008, but the worst drought in more than 80 years has left reservoir levels critically low and water experts fear that strict water rationing may still loom for São Paulo as it enters the April-September dry season.

The crucial Cantareira water system, which provides water to about 6 million of the 20 million in the metropolitan area, was still only about one-fifth full as the dry season began.

Authorities already have imposed water-saving measures, including cut rates for people who limit usage, reduced pressure in water lines during off-peak hours and de facto rationing: some areas receive water only half the day.

Environment Minister Izabella Teixeira said this week that those programs must be expanded, and the government is preparing "a rational water-use program, given the end of the rainy season." She offered no details.

But some think that may not be enough.

Mario Thadeu Leme de Barros, head of the University of São Paulo's hydraulic engineering and environmental department, said existing measures, combined with the transfer of water among reservoirs, "will hopefully allow us to reach the end of the year with the mini-rationing that exists."

He also called for the use of more efficient appliances, the use of wastewater and better detection of leaks in a system that loses more than 30 percent of its water to leaks.

"But we cannot discard the possibility of more harsh water rationing measures should we be hit with an even worse drought during the coming dry season," he said.

Moody's Investors Service warned last month that water rationing looks increasingly likely, adding, "Overall, mandatory federal or state water rationing would worsen Brazil's already sluggish economic growth."

In March, São Paulo, received 8.13 inches (206.5 millimeters) of rain, 16 percent above the average, boosting the level of the Cantareira system from 5 percent to nearly 19 percent of its capacity, the water utility Sabesp said Thursday on its website.

The other five systems were at 23 percent to 97 percent of capacity as the dry season started.

Time For A New Rain Dance

Drilling More Until Its GONE!

Exxon Mobil says climate change unlikely to stop it selling fossil fuels
 
Oil giant issues report on risks that climate policies could pose to the value of its assets and future profitability

1 April 2014 (Associated Press) – On the same day the world's scientists issued their latest report on climate change and the risks it poses to society, America's biggest oil and gas company said the world's climate policies are "highly unlikely" to stop it from selling fossil fuels far into the future.
 

Exxon Mobil issued a report on Monday on the risks that climate change policies could pose to the value of its assets and future profitability, by coincidence on the same day as the latest paper by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a Nobel Prize-winning United Nations group assembled to assess the science and risks of climate change.
 

Both Exxon and its critics used IPCC research to bolster their cases.
 

Exxon's report was in response to the contentions of some shareholders and environmental activists that the assets underpinning the value of Exxon and other fossil fuel companies will be worth less as society restricts consumption of fossil fuels to fight climate change.
 

The report, the first detailed ...

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When its gone?

 

 

California WATER Reserviors Drying UP

Stunning Before and After Photos of California's Lakes Depleted by Extreme Drought




By Chris Dolce




BEFORE

(Weather Channel) –

 California's reservoirs are severely depleted due to the ongoing widespread drought conditions in the state. As of 21 January 2014, 67 percent of California was in extreme drought [69% on 8 April 2014], the second worst category possible on the U.S. Drought Monitor [now 23% in “Exceptional” drought, the worst category].

According to the California Department of Water Resources, Lake Shasta and Lake Oroville are only 36 percent of capacity. Folsom Lake is just 17 percent capacity.  

AFTER

Starting with Folsom Lake above, we've matched up recent photos of these three depleted lakes from the California Department of Water Resources with images from Google Earth that show the lakes when they were much fuller.



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Here's More

New Donnie Brasco: Pacino Says "For Frack About It"

Sometimes Donnie it just means:
 " For frack about it"

Fracking the USA: New Map Shows 1 Million Oil, Gas Wells

 

 By Bobby Magill

(Climate Central) – If you’re wondering where oil and gas production and hydraulic fracturing are happening near you, FracTracker has a new mapping tool that will help you find out.

Researchers at FracTracker, an independent oil and gas research group that started as a mapping project at the University of Pittsburgh’s Center for Healthy Environments and Communities, analyzed oil and gas well location data for all 50 states and created a map showing where most of those wells are, including wells that have been fracked and those that haven’t.

Fracking is the energy industry’s practice of injecting water, sand and chemicals deep underground at high pressure to extract crude oil and natural gas from dense rock formations. It’s controversial because of its not-fully-determined affect on public health and the environment. The fossil fuel produced by way of fracking contributes to climate change through the burning of crude oil and possible leaks of methane and other gas emissions from oil and natural gas production equipment and distribution pipelines.

Using data available from individual state governments, FracTracker researchers counted more than 1.1 million active oil and gas wells across 36 states. The group published most of the raw well location data on its website and mapped them. The result is an interactive map showing generally where you’ll find oil and gas wells, fracked or not, and the oil and gas basins where wells could be drilled in the future.

The glaring exception to this is the state where you’ll find the highest concentration of oil and gas wells in the country — Texas.

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Fom Pacino to the Beach Boys - fracking covers all the bases. New hits like "Fracking USA" are swamping the Billboard charts. 

We could go on and on evaluating this topic from all sides based on hard information, opinions, speculations and outright propaganda. it is not imagined that another rehashing would be useful at this stage.

So instead of following that path again, we will ask one simple question; "what happens when all this fracking is over?"

" For frack about it Donnie"

Dr Peter G Kinesa
April 1, 2014