[AEN] Alarm Stage Drought Declared for Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer

[Brandi Clark]

Save Our Springs Alliance <actionalerts at sosalliance.org> wrote:
  
 
Alarm Stage Drought Declared for Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer 
On Monday the Barton Springs Edwards Aquifer Conservation District declared an "alarm stage drought" for the Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer. This means that those pumping from the aquifer - mostly small water companies and districts delivering water to residents and businesses in the Buda/Kyle/Creedmoor area - are required to reduce "normal" monthly pumping by 20 percent.   

Flows at Barton Springs have fallen precipitously from last year's wet summer when the springs flowed at more than 100 cubic feet per second ("cfs"), down to 29 cfs this week.  The record low flow, during the "drought of record" in the 1950s, was 10 cfs.  

Unfortunately, the Barton Springs District's enforcement mechanisms are limited.  While 20 percent reduction is readily achievable, the District has limited funds to both educate water users and, where necessary, take action to force necessary conservation. 

The City of Austin gets its water from the Colorado River.  Thanks to the Highland Lakes, our supply is more secure than pumping from the relatively small Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer.  This is no excuse to waste water. Wasting water eats up a huge amount of energy in pumping and treating clean water, and then pumping and treating the sewage; it damages river habitats and it ruins the recreational value of Lake Travis.  It also costs Austin water rate payers far more to waste water than to conserve it.   

The City of Austin's "green" leaders set a water conservation goal of only one percent (1%) reduction from the "peak day" - or most wasteful watering day of the year. With such a paltry conservation goal, it's hard to tell our neighbors to the south using aquifer water that they must do 20 times better than Austin and do it immediately in order to protect our spring flows. 

Austin's weak water conservation efforts cost us all, and by setting such a poor example, cause direct and severe harm to Barton Springs. 

Read more about the alarm stage drought here: http://droughtmonitor.blogspot.com/. Wherever your water comes from, please conserve water by limiting  outdoor watering, replacing inefficient appliances, and reporting water waste when you see it (call 972-1000 or online at http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/watercon/water_leaks.cfm).
 
SOS Alliance Illegally Blacklisted by U.S. Department of Justice 

Yesterday Nation Public Radio, the Washington Post and others reported on the Department of Justice's internal investigation of its own illegal screening of applicants for attorney and summer law clerk positions based on "political" affiliations. Such hirings are required by law to be made based solely on qualification to do the job. Yet department lawyers had drawn up a blacklist of organizations that would disqualify a job candidate if the candidate had worked for that organization.  SOS Alliance was on the list of 33 "liberal" organizations that, if appearing on a job applicant's resume, would disqualify the candidate from hiring.  

You can read the DOJ investigation report (and see us on the list at the end) here: http://media.npr.org/documents/2008/jun/doj_hiring.pdf.

We have typically hosted two or three law students each summer for the last 6 or 7 years. What this means is that one or more of our former summer law clerks would have been secretly and illegally denied fair consideration for a Department of Justice position.   

We can only hope that this corruption of our federal law enforcement agency has ended and will not be repeated.  We've been blessed by the work of some very talented law students and young lawyers.  We hope the Bush Administration's illegal actions will not discourage others from working with us next summer.  Special thanks to Adrian Shelley, UT law student and current SOS Alliance summer law clerk, for bringing this to our attention.

Free Yoga at Barton Springs on Saturday Mornings
Free yoga class on Saturday mornings at 10AM at the south entrance to Barton Springs Pool through September!  Meet outside the south side entrance to the Springs, off of Robert E. Lee Road. Map here. No experience necessary. Bring a mat or towel, and jump in the Springs after morning yoga.


  
Sincerely, Save Our Springs Alliance    
 
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