Financialized savings in public water governance: An illustrative case study in the arid American West

How does financialization of the economy impact public governance of natural resources? One way includes a shift in how savings and cash accumulation are understood and practiced within public agencies. This article proffers that in the second half of the twentieth century, it became a taken-for-granted understanding that long-term savings should be held in financial investment accounts instead of traditional savings accounts. As a result of this, municipal organizations act as fiscally independent investors, marshaling economic resources to pursue strategic objectives that align with financialized institutional logics. Using a case study of the largest supplier of drinking water in the US, this article examines how the use of financial investments by a major public resource agency, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, evolved since first establishing an investment policy in the 1940s. Today, this organization maintains investments worth over one billion dollars. Analysis of archival documents suggests that financial activities, even if yielding dwindling returns over time, are counted upon as a source of revenue, deployed to obtain favorable bond ratings, used for access to earmarked funds, and leveraged to acquire land in water-strategic locations. Considering the ubiquity of these financial practices among medium to large-sized municipal governing bodies, the results of this study are suggestive and generalizable across substantive governing fields and in other locations. Ultimately, this study shows that public governance agencies are intertwined with private capital flows, problematizing the oft-assumed distance between public and private actors. The article also interrogates the influence that financial markets have over of public policy, showing that elected governance officials engage in the commodification of money, encouraging the further commodification of environmental resources.

Seismic hazard analyses of the Metropolitan Water District Emergency Freshwater Pathway, California

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in central California is particularly susceptible to damage in a large earthquake due to the vulnerability of the levees that protect cities, farms, and infrastructure. The Delta is located adjacent to the seismically active San Andreas fault system and is also subject to strong ground shaking from numerous other seismic sources in central California, including faults within the Delta. We performed a probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) to provide seismic design ground motions for the Metropolitan Water District (MWD) Emergency Freshwater Pathway. We have evaluated the appropriateness of the Next Generation of Attenuation (NGA)-West2 ground motion models for use in our analyses of the Delta, evaluated shear-wave velocity ( VS) data in the vicinity of the Pathway, and performed site response analyses. The latter was performed to compute the probabilistic hazard at the top of the peat at five sites along the Pathway. The sixth site was located outside the Delta and on firm soil. The probabilistic hazard for the six sites and for a range of return periods of engineering relevance were computed in the PSHA. For a return period of 2500 years, the peak horizontal ground acceleration (PGA) values on peat ranged from 0.40 g to 0.53 g. The seismic sources that control the hazard at these sites vary as a function of return period and spectral frequency, but in general, the closer the sites are to faults within the San Andreas fault system, the higher the hazard.

Parametric investigation of a chilled water district cooling unit using mono and hybrid nanofluids

This study presents a novel parametric investigation into the performance of a district cooling system using mono (Al2O3 and TiO2) and hybrid (Al2O3–TiO2) nanoparticles in the base fluids of water and ethylene–glycol water (EG-water) at a 20:80 ratio. The study analyses the effect of variables such as secondary fluid flow rate, evaporator and inlet temperatures, nanoparticle concentration, and air flowrate on the COP, total electrical energy consumption, and design of the district cooling unit. The analysis is performed with a thermal model developed and validated using operations data obtained from the McQuay chilled water HVAC unit operating in one of the facility plants at the Education City campus. The results of the study show that the use of nanofluids increased the overall heat transfer coefficient in the system by 6.6% when using Al2O3–TiO2/water nanofluids. The use of nanofluids in the evaporator also led to an average reduction of 23.3% in the total work input to the system and improved the COP of the system by 21.8%, 20.8% and 21.6% for Al2O3–TiO2/water, Al2O3/water, and TiO2/water nanofluids, respectively. Finally, an enhancement of 21.6% in COP was recorded for Al2O3–TiO2/EG-water nanofluids at a 5% nanoparticle volume concentration.

An assessment of the quality of houses and households in sitio Lawesbra, Lapasan Cagayan de oro city: an extension program, Mindanao, Philippines

The study focuses on assessing the quality of houses and households in Sitio Lawesbra, Lapasan Cagayan de Oro City. The respondents of the study are composed of 899 households of 110 houses. The study utilized a descriptive research design. Descriptive statistics such as frequency count, percentages, and weighted mean were used to describe the houses and household in Sitio Lawesbra; The study found out that most households per house are 9. The average age is from 19-24. The majority of the dwellers are male. The majority of the household in Lawesbra are students. And there are dwellers who are employed. The majority of the household in Sitio Lawesbra have the following electrical standards. The majority of them have primary connections and are using circuit breakers in the panel board. The majority of the junction box is opened, with 3-4 splices per junction Box. The majority of the size of wires used in Sitio Lawesbra are not standard. But the majority are using the standard, convenient outlet. The majority of the households are not using octopus type of extension wire. The houses in Sitio Lawesbra have a primary water connection. The majority are using Polyvinyl chloride pipes and do not have leaks with the pipes or water system. The data further shows that the drainage system in Sitio Lawesbra is open. In terms of toilet systems, the majority have a standard size of a comfort room, made from concrete materials with ventilation. The majority of the dwellers are using pail flush type of toilet bowl, none are using automatic flush type, and however, four percent have an Antipolo type of toilet bowl. Seventy percent of the ground is concrete with its own septic tanks. The majority have substandard room and substandard kitchen ventilation. In addition, the majority have standard security windows, standard walling, and standard partition. The majority used wood for the ceiling and used Galvanized Iron for roofing. However, twenty-nine percent of the houses in Sitio Lawesbra have roof leaks. Finally, the majority in terms of risk reduction mechanism of the houses in Sitio Lawesbra have a sub-standard fire exit. In fact, nineteen percent do not have a fire exit, and only fifteen percent have a standard fire exit. In terms of door positioning, the path majority is sub-standard. However, sixty-three percent did consider that they have an evacuation area, though sub-standard. But thirty-seven percent claimed that they don’t have an evacuation area. Thus, based on the results, the following recommendations were implemented and recommended. The researchers already coordinated with the following agencies, and actions were made respectively. The local government improved drainage and pathway systems. CEPALCO installed the installation of primary electrical connections and an independent transformer with the light post. Cagayan de Oro Water District also implemented reevaluation and repair of the water connection upon recommendation. Thus, it is recommended that the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines improve Sitio Lawesbra, as the closest community to the university that needs further augmentation and extension.

Groundwater Recharge to Address Seawater Intrusion and Supply in an Urban Coastal Aquifer

The Orange County Water District (OCWD) was created in 1933 by the California Legislature and tasked with managing water resources in Orange County. As a part of its strategy to fight seawater intrusion and guarantee a reliable groundwater supply in the basin, OCWD built a recycled wastewater facility that treats wastewater received from the Orange County Sanitation District and recharges the water into the basin through injection wells and infiltration ponds. OCWD’s first recycled wastewater facility, Water Factory 21, began operating in 1975 and was replaced in 2008 by the Groundwater Replenishment System (GWRS). Recharged water not serving as a barrier for seawater instruction is pumped by local water districts and municipalities (referred to as “producers”), who pay a pumping fee to OCWD. Water provided by GWRS is both more reliable and less expensive for the producers than water acquired from other sources, including imported surface water. In responding to the recognized threat of seawater intrusion, OCWD owes its success to creatively enabling recharge through the development of novel source water. OCWD’s broad purview and authority to manage groundwater, combined with its effective implementation and long-term stewardship of the recharge program as it has evolved over many years, have enabled innovation in MAR using treated wastewater.

PERAN AKTIF PEMUDA ERA GLOBALISASI DALAM PEMBANGUNAN DESA MUARA SEMERAH KECAMATAN AIR HANGAT KABUPATEN KERINCI

This study aims to determine the Active Role of Youth in the Era of Globalization in the Development of the Muara Semerah Air Warm Village in Kerinci Regency, using data collection techniques through field studies namely conducting direct interviews with Youth in the Development of the Muara Semerah Air Warm Water Village in Kerinci Regency and literature study by reading documents relating to the problem under study to look for concepts, theories, opinions or findings related to the subject matter. Based on the results of the study, it was concluded, about the Active Role of Youth in the Era of Globalization in the Development of the Muara Semerah Air Warm Village in Kerinci District, the lack of active role of young people in various village activities such as Musrenbang, mutual cooperation, management of the village community, and so forth. Young people are also not involved in the ranks of village administrators, resulting in the estuarine genreta as red as a vacuum, on the other hand genreta also does not carry out activities such as recitation, holding inter-household tournaments, social activities. From these phenomena the researcher has obtained the answer, namely from the results of the study with the interview above, namely the authority of the active role of the globalization era youth in Muara Semerah, the warm water district of Kerinci district which is still very low, due to the lack of active youth in village activities and village government. Involving youth organizations in village development. Here it is clear that inactive youth organizations then become vacuum without any activities and lack of synchronization between village government and youth organizations.

ECOSTRESS and CIMIS: A Comparison of Potential and Reference Evapotranspiration in Riverside County, California

The ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) provides remotely-sensed estimates of evapotranspiration at 70 m spatial resolution every 1–5 days, sampling across the diurnal cycle. This study, in partnership with an operational water management organization, the Eastern Municipal Water District (EMWD) in Southern California, was conducted to evaluate estimates of evapotranspiration under ideal conditions where water is not limited. EMWD regularly uses a ground-based network of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) from the California Irrigation Management Information System (CIMIS); yet, there are gaps in spatial coverage and questions of spatial representativeness and consistency. Space-based potential evapotranspiration (PET) estimates, such as those from ECOSTRESS, provide consistent spatial coverage. We compared ECOSTRESS ETo (estimated from PET) to CIMIS ETo at five CIMIS sites in Riverside County, California from July 2018–June 2020. We found strong correlations between CIMIS ETo and ECOSTRESS ETo across all five sites (R2 = 0.89, root mean square error (RMSE) = 0.11 mm hr−1). Both CIMIS and ECOSTRESS ETo captured similar seasonal patterns through the study period as well as diurnal variability. There were site-specific differences in the relationship between ECOSTRESS AND CIMIS, in part due to spatial heterogeneity around the station site. Consequently, careful examination of landscapes surrounding CIMIS sites must be considered in future comparisons. These results indicate that ECOSTRESS successfully retrieves PET that is comparable to ground-based reference ET, highlighting the potential for providing observation-driven guidance for irrigation management across spatial scales.