discussing how to best understand, protect, and preserve the water around us
"Blue space as an urban design term stands for visible water. Harbour front parks, rivers, ponds, lakes, ports, canals, fountains, etc. are all counted as blue spaces. It is an important physical and aesthetic element of landscape design."Urban Design and Public Health - What is Blue Space? As discussed in the article reference above, most... Continue Reading →
Just a quick preface to this post. As a hydrologist, I am interested in all things water. Surface, sub-surface, fresh, salt, fast, slow...all of it. I am also interested in, and have been involved professionally with, water quality for my entire career. You really cannot separate the two. I, however, am not a chemist, nor... Continue Reading →
A levee, berm, dike...whatever you want to call it feels like the right thing to do, yes? I mean, if you don't want the river coming onto your property you build an earthen wall to keep it out, right? This has been the practice for some time, and far too long if you ask me.... Continue Reading →
An article came to my attention today describing the variety of ways the use of salt and other chemicals on roadways in the winter impacts the roads themselves, bridges, cars, land-based wildlife, and of course...water quality. All the runoff from all the paved roadways across our country flows into roadside ditches, stormwater pipes, infiltrates into... Continue Reading →
The weather forecast called for rain overnight, but ending mid-morning. Not enough to warrant canceling the trip, we thought, after all with seven families all set to head out to the river, there would have been much disappointment. We all woke in the pre-dawn hours, sleepy children were loaded into the cars, still in pajamas.... Continue Reading →
Unless you have a specific interest in the water level of your local river or stream, you probably never think about stream gaging, and what that data collection does for us. Various groups such as boaters, seek out this data for their recreational use, and others, like myself, use it professionally. Gages are generally defined... Continue Reading →
It seems like we hear about another newly identified pollutant in our waterways and/or drinking water every week or two. I read an article the other day about the "Erin Brokovich" chemical/carcinogen (chromium-6) and how it was found in nearly all of the water supplies around the US that were tested, at levels greater (sometimes... Continue Reading →
So, I have known this to happen to others and am now getting to experience it at our house. We have had a lot of rain in the past 12 months, but more specifically in the last few months. The ground has not been able to dry out and those saturated conditions lead to all... Continue Reading →
Floodplain maps. This topic alone drives more confusion and misunderstanding than nearly any other one I encounter. There are people who sincerely believe that because they do not reside within a mapped 100-year floodplain that they will not experience flooding or have a near zero chance of it....seriously. To dig into why this assumption is... Continue Reading →
After a recent question about the flooding in storms such as Harvey (Houston, TX 2017) I found a well-written article in The Atlantic about urban flooding from Harvey due, in large part, to stormwater runoff. Often we think of hurricane and related coastal flooding as being due to storm surge. Harvey was a different kind... Continue Reading →
The Hydrologist Next Door 