watercrunch

Reclaiming the Everglades in the 19th Century in Pictures

2010-01-08T06:25:00.001-05:00

19th century progress in the Everglades.

Interesting.

Homemade Southern Style Snow Making

2010-01-06T06:49:00.000-05:00

We all have gifts. Some lay hidden for years, some we unwrap and toss into the closet, while some we look for, but they are simply not there.

The mechanical gift is missing for me. I have no patience when it comes to working on a car or building or retrofitting most anything. My brother, however, has this gift.

Before Christmas I wrote about making your own white christmas. Well, by gosh, my brother built a homemade snow maker out of parts and pieces from Lowe's. I thought I would share these pictures. Pretty cool. I am jealous.

You want to build it? Click here for the plan. Just don't ask me any questions. :)

How does Atlanta Find Water by 2012?

2010-01-04T06:04:00.002-05:00

Thanks again for reading my blog and Happy New Year! I have been writing now for three years. While my posting frequency dropped off more than I would have liked last year, this just means I have more great material filling my Evernote basket of ideas that I want to share with you this year. I can't wait!

-Robert

This fall a Georgia task force of eighty business, environmental and government officials have been studying a long list of options to address Judge Paul Magnuson ruling that metro Atlanta’s use of Lake Lanier for drinking water could be reduced in 2012. Four days before Christmas, the task force published their report. I finally downloaded the report this morning.

The report says if the judge’s ruling stands, there are no other options for to "close the gap" by 2012. Simply put, they said Lake Lanier for water supply is the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly option. The task force found metro Atlanta alone would take a $26 billion annual hit to its economy if no action is taken. Now, that's shock and awe.

Here is the report.

Water Contingency Final Report height="450" width="400" > value="http://d1.scribdassets.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=24739865&access_key=key-rlrxkmun8se7yekn460&page=1&version=1&viewMode=list">

How to Make Your Own White Christmas

2009-12-24T10:45:00.003-05:00

Forget about dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones you used to know. Statistically speaking many of us will not have a white Christmas this year.

As of yesterday, here is the current snow cover for the US along with the the statistical probability in percent that a snow depth of at least 1 inch will be observed on December 25th (Thanks to the National Climatic Data Center).

So, can you ignore mother nature and just make your own snow? No, mother nature still needs to give you a couple things from her kitchen: good ambient temperature and good humidity. Temperature is a given, but humidity? In late summer in the sticky south, one knows you can't seem to sweat enough. This sticky principle is the same for snow. When there is high humidity in the air, water in the air can not evaporate to remove some of its heat. Heat is the enemy of snow (the Frosty the Snowman principle).

Check on this online snowmaking weather chart to see if the conditions are right to make snow in your part of the world. Apparently, I missed out on 12 great snow making days last year here in Clemson.

Some snow-making tools of envy include:

For the Suburban Snowmaker: The SG6 X-Stream™ Complete Snow Making Package contains everything you need, and everything you want when making snow including an SG6 X-Stream™ snow maker, a 1.75gpm Electric Pressure Washer, and a 5.5cfm Campbell Hausfeld Air Compressor. Cost is $1,248.

For the Unlimited Budget: YORK Neige makes a new generation snow sprayer called the Safyr (Sapphire). The Safyr touts itself as a low energy, high volume snow producer and claims to achieve huge flows in the range of 220 gallons per minute. The Safyr can even adjust the size of the water droplets. Bigger droplets mean less drift, reduced evaporative loss, and increased volume. All you need to go with this is a water source and a really big pump.

Spike the Punch: Still can't get the snow size you need? Why not add a little juice to your snow making water? Snomax, produced by York Snow, allows easier snow making at warmer temperatures. Snomax is an ice nucleating protein from the naturally occurring bacterium (Pseudomium syringae, strain 31 -A to be exact ). After fermentation, the bacterium is pelletized, freeze-dried to reduce water content, and irradiated to kill the bacterium. The protein produced by the bacterium is Snomax.

TVA Fly Ash Spill One Year After

2009-12-21T06:59:00.000-05:00

The failure was not instantaneous, but "a progressive sequence of ruptures over a period of approximately one hour." The rupture released the 5.4 million cubic yards of fly ash and dike material on December 22, 2008 into the Emory River.

So what has happened this year. Amazingly, an army of 400-500 workers have removed two-thirds of the spill material from the river and are overall halfway through the $1-billion cleanup. However, the removal of all material may not be completed until 2013.

Pretty dramatic aerial footage comparing last year to this past December. View it Here.

As a result of the spill, EPA will be issuing new regulations for handling coal-ash waste nationwide. TVA will be eliminating all wet ash and gypsum storage from its facilities. Learn how they are removing the fly ash from the river.

Top 10 Potential Lunar Bottled Water Slogans

2009-11-16T06:10:00.000-05:00

Last week, NASA said they had found "significant amounts" of water on the moon. One day in the not too distant future a bottled water company may set up shop on the moon and sell bottled water back to us on Earth. To assist with this effort, I have come up with some potential slogans this morning.

1. Its your world. Do your own moonwalk.

2. Make it a Full Moon everyday

3. Drink the most natural water out of this world

4. The antidote for sustainability

5. Drink and take one large step for mankind everyday

6. Howl with the Moon

7. Born out of this World.

8. Blasted, but never filtered. Moonwater.

9. Drink our water and save your earth

10. Miles away from the ordinary (actually 238,857 miles)

Toccoa Falls Dam Failure Anniversary

2009-11-06T07:19:00.001-05:00

Just after midnight 32 years ago today on November 6, 1977, the Kelly Barnes Dam failed, releasing 176 million gallons of water just above Toccoa Falls College campus in northern Georgia. Thirty-nine people lost their lives.

I wrote a series of blog posts about this incident a couple years ago.

Here is a video I also made with the series.

The Single Most Important Day to Learn About Water

2009-11-04T06:22:00.001-05:00

I think we have topped ourselves from last year. Although I am a bit biased, we have lined up some impressive speakers this year. This one-day water resource workshop will be held in Columbia, SC on December 2, 2009.

Registration is now open. You can register here. Take a look the flyer below (I had fun creating it!).

South Carolina Water Resource Workshop

The Miracle Behind the World's Biggest Cruise Ship

2009-11-02T06:11:00.002-05:00

Hook, line, and sinker. I am a sucker for the big-isms when explaining something that is the world's biggest. I was hooked when I read last week about Royal Caribean's newest cruise ship.

Let me uncork these -isms so I can share the cool construction pictures:

Right off the bat, this ship is longer, taller, and wider than any other passenger ship ever built.
The smokestack had to be retracted this weekend just so it could squeeze under a bridge in Denmark and make it to the Atlantic and on to its home port, Port Everglades in Florida. Amazingly it had less than a 2-foot gap between the bridge and smokestack.
The ship features 16 passenger decks and 2,704 staterooms.
The total power output of the ship's engines is 97,000 kW and the cruise speed is 22.6 knots.
Ship includes an open-air park with trees and hanging gardens, a pool that changes into a stage, an ice rink, and a small golf course.
It reuses its waste water and consumes 25 percent less power than similar, but smaller, cruise liners.
This ship cost $1.5 billion dollars to construct.

Huge cranes and a gigantic dry dock helped to build this ship, but the true miracle for these new breed of ships is modular construction. Components of the ship were fabricated and assembled separately. Each of the 181 sections of the ship were then lowered into the dry dock and welded to the previous sections.

Thanks to this miracle of modular assembly, a $1.5 billion dollar ship took less than two years to construct.

7 Engaging Videos about Hurricane Hugo : 20 Years Later

2009-09-21T07:22:00.002-04:00

I was a freshman at Clemson when twenty years ago this Category 5 hurricane struck Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St. Croix, South Carolina and North Carolina in September of 1989, killing 82 people.

Some quick facts:

Hugo's toll in dollars was greater than the total insured losses of the 10 most costly hurricanes prior to it.
In South Carolina, there was one insurance claim for every four households.
Duke Energy (then Duke Power) used or replaced 8,800 poles, 700 miles of cable and wire, 6,300 transformers, 165,000 automatic splices, 37,500 meter sockets, 17,000 electric meters, 600 chainsaws and 5,500 rain suits.

Here are some engaging videos I found on YouTube. These brought back some memories, especially the last one which has the last great governor Carroll Campbell narrating video over Myrtle Beach.

Abandoned Nuclear Power Plant from The Abyss

2009-08-24T05:50:00.003-04:00

James Cameron had a problem. The script was done, but he had no location to shoot his movie called "The Abyss". Do you remember this movie from 1989? Civilian divers encounter aliens while trying to rescue a stricken nuclear submarine. Most of the action was underwater. He could shoot the movie at sea, but he would be at the mercy of waves, weather, and way out of this world insurance premiums.

Not far from the peach fields of Gaffney, SC, a perfect location was found in an abandoned nuclear power plant. In the 1970s Duke Power began construction on a new nuclear plant. After spending over a billion dollars in today's dollars and with only one of three reactors partially completed, work was halted and the project was abandoned.

Soon after, a local businessman bought the site and converted the complex into a movie studio. The ultimate green movie set? Cameron soon came came calling and determined he could fill the containment vessel with 7.5 million gallons of water and turn it into the largest underwater set ever. After the production went above budget, the set was never dismantled. Check out the pictures.

Pictures From HistoricDecay.com

You can't visit this place anymore. The old nuclear power plant and the set was demolished in 2007 to make way for a new $11 billion two-unit nuclear power plant at the site. I need to blog about this new project in the future.

Drought Yields Ancient Roman City

2009-08-03T22:16:00.008-04:00

During a severe drought in 2007, researchers reviewed aerial images of crops just north of Italy's Venice airport in several wavelengths of visible light and in near-infrared. They found lighter crops traced the outlines of buildings and even a canal below the surface. What they discovered was the ancient roman city of Altinum.

Aerial Image

Map of the City

Pretty Cool! Read more in this USA Today article.

Texas Drought Heats Up

2009-08-03T05:34:00.000-04:00

I have not been checking the Drought Monitor as much as last year, but I was surprised to see that 77 of the Texas's 254 counties are in extreme or exceptional drought. Parts of Texas have had drought conditions for the last two years.

230 public water systems are under mandatory water restrictions, including San Antonio, Dallas, Houston and Austin. There are reports of up to $3.6 billion in crop and livestock losses caused by the drought in the past nine months.

Lake Travis which helps provide drinking water for more than 1 million people is 50% below normal.

Three Grandiose Projects to use Canada's Water

2009-07-27T06:44:00.004-04:00

You know the joke. Water flows uphill toward money.

So, what if we really opened our wallets and diverted water from Canada for use here in the U.S.? Dreamers have been thinking about this for the past 60 years. Here are three proposed grandiose water projects for bringing water out of Canada to the United States.

1. NAWAPA Plan for Western USA

I remember the first time I read about this grand scheme in Michael's WaterWired blog and thinking no way.

Yes way. The North American Water and Power Alliance (NAWAPA) was designed to tap 1.3 million square miles of water in Canada and supply water to 35 states. The Parsons Company‘s original 1964 estimate was $80 billion. The upgraded plan was estimated to cost $130 billion in 1979. The drainage area to be tapped was approximately 1.3 million square miles. Here was a promotional video of this plan (Thanks Michael for finding this!).

2. CeNAWAP - Central USA
Apparently in the late 1960s, the Washington State Resource Center developed plans for the Central North American Water Project (CeNAWAP). This plan involved a series of canals and pumping stations from Great Bear Lake and Great Slave Lake to the Great Lakes for ready transport to the U.S.

3. GRAND - Eastern USA
The Great Recycling And Northern Development Canal (GRAND) plan's linchpin was a dike to be built across James Bay at the mouth of Hudson Bay. With this new giant fresh water reservoir 17% of the fresh water in Quebec and Ontario would have been captured and diverted to the south by a 167 mile canal to Lake Superior and Lake Huron. This project was estimated in 1994 to cost $100 billion to build and another $1 billion a year to operate.

Me and My Boat

2009-07-25T22:41:00.005-04:00

This picture sums up how I feel about some the back-end stuff with this blog. Everything works, but it is not quite the best.

Well, the house is quiet and I have decided to finally move my blog over to watercrunch.com. I have put this off for over two years. I will also move my RSS feed service. I have got my fingers crossed that everything should be seamless for you all, but you never know. If you don't see a blog post by next Monday then check out watercrunch.com here.

Top 10 Water War Quotes

2009-07-24T06:37:00.003-04:00

Last Friday afternoon, a federal judge ruled the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been illegally reallocating water from Lake Lanier to meet metro Atlanta’s needs. Yesterday Georgia announced a new task force will develop "multi-pronged" strategies from appealing the decision to exploring other options.

I thought I would capture this morning a few of the quotes concerning the fallout from this ruling before they are drowned out completely on the web.

"I will not negotiate a deal that's harmful to the future of Georgia. Just won't happen, We'll take our chance in court before we'll agree to a deal that does not meet the needs of a growing and prosperous Georgia."- Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue

"Even if it is appealed, we would win again. What they have been doing is illegal. They should not be able to continue to do something that is illegal.” -Alabama Gov. Bob Riley

the ruling “was a huge step in the right direction. "- Florida Gov. Charlie Crist

"... we need to sit down and make an agreement. Then hopefully we can appeal to a higher calling and that higher calling will get everyone to put aside past differences." Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson

"I think the governors all felt they were likely to be victorious. I kept telling them that if you don't settle it, somebody's going to win and somebody's going to lose," - US Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala.

"Now we’re going to have to deal not with just two other states — we’re literally going to have 50 states involved, It’s going to be a real challenge.”- U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia

"Floridians love to make fun of wasteful and sprawling Atlanta. But guess what? Water use there at its worst was about 120 gallons per person per day in the 10-county metro region. Florida's statewide average is 158 gallons a person" - Cynthia Barnett, author of Mirage: Florida and the Vanishing Water of the Eastern U.S.

“All of us have 18 months left. All of us are Republicans. There’s no reason the three governors can’t get together and come up with a solution that addresses the needs of the three states.” -Alabama Gov. Bob Riley

"Georgia's Republican leaders have been using lawyers and engineers and political fixers to put off this day, and all of the millions of dollars poured into that effort has finally come to nothing,"- Georgia House Democratic leader and gubernatorial candidate DuBose Porter

"Atlanta has based its growth on the idea that it could take whatever water it wanted whenever it wanted it, and that the downstream states would simply have to make do with less. Following the court's ruling today, this massive illegal water grab will be coming to an end." - Alabama Gov. Bob Riley

Back to the Future Runner-Up:

“I can see Florida and Alabama from my house, Hopefully, that gives me some broader perspective.” -Alec Poitevint in 2003

Digging Deep with the Incredible Rudy Van Prooyen

2009-07-20T06:13:00.001-04:00

While some of us will be inside enjoying the wonders of air conditioning the rest of this summer, Rudy Van Prooyen will be biking 2,000 miles in 40 days starting in San Francisco. Unbelievably this is after he warms up by completing the San Francisco Marathon on July 26th.

He will travel through some fourteen metropolitan areas including here in the Southeast, with Washington DC as the final destination. He is raising $20,000 for the Blue Planet Run Foundation, which translates roughly into $10 per mile.

I caught up with Rudy this past week and here is what he had to say.

So, how did you get originally involved with Blue Planet Run?

I first heard about the Blue Planet Run at the Atlanta Marathon Expo in November 2006 and was shocked to learn that so many people lacked access to safe drinking water. Going from attraction to action, I logged on to www.blueplanetrun.org that night, applied for the Blue Planet Run, and made a donation to the cause. Never thinking to hear from them again, several months later they contacted me for an interview. Over the next several months more than 350 applicants were screened and reviewed and I ended up as one of the 21 runners selected.

I felt exuberant and honored to be included in this incredible mission. A truly life changing moment and I will never forget it.

Why did you choose safe drinking water?

The facts are that unlike all of us, over one billion people on earth have no safe drinking water. Women and children may walk up to 6 hours a day to get water, and even then, it may not be enough, or safe enough to drink.

Many drink contaminated water and then get sick. 2.2 million human beings die each year from water borne illnesses. 6,000 people die every day and 240 children die every hour. But there is hope, because the solutions are so simple and collectively we have the power to solve this human crisis that is going on in front of our very own eyes, tragically mostly unnoticed.

How do you hope this coast-to-coast cycling adventure will raise awareness of clean water issues?

While fundraising is one of my goals, I hope that I can also create more awareness. Before I met the Blue Planet Foundation, I had an idea about worldwide water problems, but not a clue about the range, types and size.

I have learned much since then, but found out from giving presentations on the subject matter, that many others, including educators, today are not well informed on the size and scope of the core water problems. The technology today of social networks like facebook, twitter, youthnoise, linkedin etc. makes it possible to get a message out fast and furious.

So my iphone and me will try our best to inform my network of friends of the crisis and urgency to participate in solving this human tragedy. Then I hope that many will see the need for speed to save lives, and follow my ride electronically or on the road and help with a donation. When that happens, I will be able to call this “Rudy” initiative a success. See the zero carbon footprint Blue Planet Ride unfold on www.tourdewater.blogspot.com.

What is the biggest hurdle in preparing for this type of an event?

For me without little prior experience it is important to be flexible and not get overzealous on ideas and aspirations. The only objective is to raise funds and awareness and get across the land without cuts and bruises, everything else is commentary.

One of the challenges certainly is the limited amount of luggage I can carry since it is an unsupported ride. Everything for the 50- days transcontinental voyage must fit on the rack and panniers. And since this is a one-way trip I can’t use a hard case for the bike and have to resort to a used cardboard box from the bike store. So far the planning is going well and friends and family have been very supportive. And when the going gets tough I will just have to dig deep, grind my teeth and think about all those people that lack access to safe drinking water and are struggling and dying because of contaminated water sources. That will keep me motivated for sure.

What is your training schedule this week?

Since my bike ride begins with a marathon run in San Francisco I train by running three days a week, then spin and swim four days a week and ride on the trainer or on the road two hours twice a week. I bought the Bike-o-Vision DVD series, that ones inserted in to the player takes my stationary bike ride on High Definition scenic routes throughout the US and Europe without any danger of heatstroke, wildlife, dogs and road rage drivers.

How can someone help you?

Readers, interested parties and abolitionists, can simply make a donation and appeal and pass on my blog and messages to their circle of friends and family. Since I will be passing through some major metropolitan areas, anyone can involve themselves by fundraising for the event on a local level.

I will be happy to get out of the saddle, and hold a town hall meeting over a tall glass of water. I have also allotted time for local fundraising (5 – 10 K) runs or rides with running and cycling clubs. A corporation can sponsor one of the five scenic byways I will be riding, for a certain $ amount or simply make it part of their corporate social responsibility program. This information is detailed on my blog and people can email me for further information at: rudy@blueplanetrun.org

What advise would you pass on to a dad with young children?

My advise is to teach our children that we are collectively responsible to take care of one and other, near and far, no matter what creed, color or religion. And that only by role modeling our actions we can be an example to them, so that they can learn this most valuable life lesson and sustain this obligation from generation to generation. Because making a positive difference is our duty and should be a human response for living on this planet.

Way to go Rudy! I will be looking forward to reading the updates. I like this quote below from Rudy's blog:

“There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open." -Jawaharlal Nehru

Can Congress Allocate Atlanta's Water In Three Years?

2009-07-18T09:02:00.009-04:00

Yesterday was a big day in the Southeast Water wars arena. Nothing like a typical late Friday ruling to light up everyone's blackberries.

A federal judge ruled the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been illegally reallocating water from Lake Lanier to meet metro Atlanta’s needs. Georgia basically has three years to seek congressional approval or water withdrawals from the lake are cut and only Gainesville and Buford will be allowed to withdraw water.

Is this Draconian? Read on from the ruling...

"The Court recognizes that this is a draconian result. It is, however, the only result that recognizes how far the operation of the Buford project has strayed from the original authorization. As the Court stated at the hearing, the slow pace at which the Corps operates has only served to further complicate and provoke this already complicated and inflammatory case.

It is beyond comprehension that the current operating manual for the Buford Dam is more than 50 years old. Certainly, the pendency of this litigation has made the Corps’s completion of plans and manuals more difficult. However, the states and municipalities that rely on the ACF basin for water cannot determine how the operation of the project will affect their interests if they do not understand how the Corps intends to operate the project.

The uncertainty created by the Corps’s alarmingly slow pace only adds to the frustration of all parties involved in this litigation. The Court encourages the Corps to complete its plans for the ACF basin as quickly as possible, to allow the parties and Congress to analyze more effectively the future of this vital resource. The blame for the current situation cannot be placed solely on the Corps’s shoulders,however. Too often, state, local, and even national government actors do not consider the long-term consequences of their decisions.

Local governments allow unchecked growthbecause it increases tax revenue, but these same governments do not sufficiently plan for the resources such unchecked growth will require. Nor do individual citizens consider frequently enough their consumption of our scarce resources, absent a crisis situation such as that experienced in the ACF basin in the last few years.

The problems faced in the ACF basin will continue to be repeated throughout this country, as the population grows and more undeveloped land is developed. Only by cooperating, planning, and conserving can we avoid the situations that gave rise to this litigation."

-Paul A. Magnuson United States District Court Judge

So, can congress allocate Atlanta's Water in three years? I guess we will find out.
District Court Order Regarding Atlanta on July 17, 2009

The Greatest Dam of Antiquity

2009-07-13T05:55:00.000-04:00

When were you last surprised by a book?

I bought a 1956 textbook on Engineering in History for a dollar on Amazon a couple of weeks ago thinking it may just sit on the shelf. I was wrong. Reading history through an engineering lens magnified past accomplishments for me and made clear whose shoulders I am standing on.

Case in point, if you are like me, you will never believe where the greatest dam of antiquity was located. Try Southern Arabia in the present day country of Yemen.

While some simple dams and canals were built in the area as far back as 2000 BC, the building of the first Marib dam began somewhere around 750 BC. The earthen dam spanned over 1,800 feet.

In 115 BC the dam height was increased to 45 feet with 25 foot thick walls connecting the dam to the canyon walls. The dam was not designed for a massive amount of storage, but to divert water into channels which allowed the irrigation of 25,000 acres.

The earthen portion of the dam is long gone. These pictures below show some of the surviving stoneworks on the northern and southern ends of the dam that diverted the water into the canals.

Pictures from Panoramio

The final destruction of the dam is noted in the Qur'an and the consequential failure of the irrigation system some say resulted in the migration of up to 50,000 people. In 1986 a new earth dam was completed 3 km upstream of the ruins of the old Marib dam. It took some aerial searching, but I found the remnants of the dam on Google.

View Marib Dam - The Greatest Dam of Antiquity in a larger map

7 Reasons Why Apple Decided to Build a Data Center in Maiden, NC

2009-07-09T06:06:00.006-04:00

View Larger Map

Google and Apple are placing big bets on the future of computing. They say the future will involve having all our data and apps in a giant internet cloud called cloud computing. It's nice to see this ethereal idea of cloud computing begins with concrete on the ground.

Apple is close to officially dropping a billion dollars for a new data center in Maiden, North Carolina. Construction of the 500,000-square feet building could begin in August and would be completed by late 2010 employing some 750 construction workers.

The new Apple facility will be the company’s East Coast operations center and would according to some take advantage of the 3 hour time change on the East Coast to facilitate communications between European operations/sales and California for data transmission. This data center is close to twice the $600 million that Google is investing in a large data center in Lenoir, NC, 28 miles to the north.

Catawba County Board of Commissioners and the Maiden Town Council approved economic incentive packages that could grant Apple $20.7 million in tax breaks during the next 10 years. Last month, the state changed its tax calculations to land the data center, giving Apple a tax break estimated at $46 million in the next 10 years.

So, what makes this area a good location, especially from an infrastructure point of view? Here are seven reasons, not including the healthy tax breaks.

Up to 120+ MW available to site from Duke Energy (45% Nuclear)
Low cost reliable power - 3.8 - 4.4 cents/kilowatt hour
Multiple Transmission lines at multiple voltages
Low natural disaster risk
Multiple fiber carriers (AT&T DukeNet Charter PalmettoNet)
1 mile to AT&T Central Office, 4.6 miles to redundant AT&T CO
Water: Town of Maiden – 12” main in street and Town of Newton – 12” redundant main available

Updated:

07.12.09 : The data center will use about 20 megawatts annually – enough to power 16,000 homes. From Charlotte Observer

What Caused the Spill at TVA's Kingston Plant?

2009-07-06T07:00:00.000-04:00

Failure was not instantaneous, but "a progressive sequence of ruptures over a period of approximately one hour" that released the 5.4 million cubic yards of fly ash and dike material on December 22, 2008.

Last week, TVA released a comprehensive report which detailed the probable cause of the failure. In a nutshell, there was an inherent weakness under the dike that probably contributed to the failure.

This weakness consisted of a six-inch thick "slimes" layer of flyash, eroded dike soils and re-deposited river sediments formed from how the plant was operated in the 1950s. The layer was named for its slippery, viscous feel. Creep failure of this slime layer occurred under the loose wet ash which may have started the failure sequence.

Meanwhile, EPA now is reviewing all 427 coal-ash impoundments in the U.S., including those recently identified as having “high hazard potential." North Carolina which has 12 of these ponds, more than any other state, is also considering a bill that would tighten regulations for coal-ash disposal and would prohibit construction of new ash ponds.

Images from Root Cause Analysis full report.

Little Known Birthplace of Our Interstate Highway System

2009-07-01T05:53:00.000-04:00

If you are driving east bound on I -80 toward Ottawa, Illinois, and looked out your window, this image below is what you see.

Remnants of an old race track? Here is what it looks from above. So, what is it?

From Google Map

Let me first give some background. In 1956, the the government signed legislation that would stitch the country together with 41,000 miles of interstate highways. As the country was gearing up for this monumental task, there was one big problem. There was no manual or standards from which roads could be designed from.

Thus the largest road experiment of its time commenced in August of 1956. Sponsored by the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO), six test track loops two lanes wide were built with with varying types of designs, bases, subbases, and thicknesses.

The defense department supplied vehicles for testing and soldiers to drive 24 hours a day starting October 1958 until November of 1960. The tests were conducted by running cargo of different weights. How would like that job? I wonder how fast they had to go?

The basis of design for the pavements and bridges on the Interstate System was born from this facility. The pictures above shows the last remnants of one of the test tracks. Drive really slow past them to pay your respects.

Are There Toilets on the Appalachian Trail?

2009-06-29T06:05:00.003-04:00

Honestly, I actually hiked on the Appalachian trail two weeks ago in Maine and my wife was there, too! From our base at Lake Nahmakanta, we hiked enough on the trail to get a good view of Mount Katahdin (see picture below). We even met a couple young hikers straight out of college heading south.

These hikers are going to cross or see some 1,800 streams, rivers and lakes found along the trail. They are literally walking at the head of 64 major watersheds.

As you can imagine outdoor toilets will not be plentiful. There are 265 constructed toilets along the AT as of 2005. Nearly 75% are basic pit toilets.

So what are some of the ways of dealing with waste on the trail. The following is adapted from the Backcountry Sanitation Manual by the Appalachian Trail Conference.

Pit toilets — They breakdown wastes slowly with pathogen potentially remaining viable for years. They work well when properly sited and matched to local soil characteristics and not overused.
Modified pit toilets — These attempt to create aerobic decomposition by having users throw in additional organic matter after use. Some provide access to mix and aerate the wastes if needed.
Catholes — Dig a hole, squat, and cover with soil. Studies have shown human pathogens remain viable for up to two years in catholes. To increase effectiveness users must break up wastes with a stick, mixing them thoroughly with leaves within the cathole. This creates a mini-composting pile.
Composting toilets — This is the preferred method where applicable. High water tables and/or heavy use have led to different varieties. But, in general, wastes are are sufficiently decomposed so they can be spread over the forest floor.
Dehydration and incineration toilets — Burn it up baby! Results have been mixed. Fuel can be expensive.
Removal of wastes — Typically by helicopter, truck or mule. I suppose this is the option of last resort you can't handle it onsite.

I wonder where those hikers are now. Their goal was to be done in November. Ten years ago I would be envious, not now. I am too soft.

World's Ultimate Floating Radar

2009-06-24T06:55:00.000-04:00

Today's question is, What in the world is this?

Last week, I am sure you heard the Defense Department deployed mobile, ground-based interceptors to Hawaii and ordered a seaborne radar into the waters off Hawaii. I saw this picture above in a related article and had no clue what it was until I did a bit of research.

Let's break it down. At it's core, its a mobile oil-drilling platform that Norway designed and was actually built in Russia. Larger than a football field, it is supposedly stable in high winds and wild sea conditions. In Ingleside, Texas, the Missile Defense Agency pimped this wanna be oil platform to be the world's ultimate radar.

The key to this roving radar platform is the large dome that encloses and protects a 2,000 ton phased-array X band radar antenna, the most sophisticated in the world. The radar was described by the Director of the Missile Defense agency as being able to track an object the size of a baseball over San Francisco from Virginia approximately 2,900 miles away.

Here are some pictures during construction that show how ridiculously big this one antenna is.

The X band frequency uses its short wavelength to track incoming ballistic missiles through space when they are outside the Earth’s atmosphere. The platform will transmit tracking information to a ground based missiles and help coordinate other layers of defense. To support the electrical demands, the platform currently has six, 3.6 megawatt diesel generators.

While it looks like a floating death star, this station has the bling where it counts like the capability to track ballistic missiles and their warheads, discriminate among various objects in flight, and provide data for intercepting targets and their destruction.

"Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force" - Darth Vader

Drought is Over, But...

2009-06-22T06:26:00.001-04:00

I missed it.

I have been writing about it for over two years ago, but it happened while I was away on vacation. The drought in my part of the world is over.

In Georgia residents can resume unlimited outdoor water use on the odd/even address schedule, a first since June 2006. In South Carolina, the S.C. Drought Response Committee lifted the remaining drought declarations which is also a first since August 2006.

Only one full year, 2005, in the past 12 years has South Carolina been "drought free". Will we be drought free next year? I doubt it.

Here is a slideshow of drought monitor images in June for the last nine years.