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The delay reflects just how complicated it is to negotiate water settlements, especially when disputes date back more than 100 years and the federal government wears multiple hats in the negotiations. In this case, it represents the interests of the tribe as its trustee, U.S. taxpayers and Canada, because of an international treaty.
Since the Great Recession, Congress has been especially resistant to Indian water settlements because they are expensive and some House Republicans view them as earmarks. Chairman Bishop last year laid out new criteria for Indian water settlements. He requires that the Obama administration supports the deal and testifies that it is in the net benefit of U.S. taxpayers. The Blackfeet settlement likely will be the first major test case."You've got to be vigilant, but you've got to be patient," Jerry Lunak, who heads up the negotiations for the Blackfeet tribe, told High Country News. "It just has a lot of different moving parts to it. You've got politics at every level— tribe politics, state politics, national politics. It takes everybody moving in unison for the thing to progress."
Senator Jon Tester, D-Mont., commended the tribe's patience during a meeting of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on Capitol Hill Wednesday. "They've been waiting too long," said Tester, who is vice chairman of the committee.
Tester and fellow Montana Senator Steve Daines, R, both pledged to find money not needed for other programs to offset the $422 million in federal funding the bill would provide to the tribe to either construct or update its drinking water system, water storage projects, and irrigation infrastructure.
The senators defended the spending, saying it would settle the Blackfeet's water-related claims against the federal government that date back as much as a century. For example, for 100 years, the Bureau of Reclamation has been diverting water from St. Mary River through a massive set of pipes known as the Milk River Project to irrigate farms across northern Montana and across the border in Canada.
Among other provisions, the settlement would:
For the Blackfeet, these projects are crucial to providing jobs and revenue on the reservation. About 10,000 of the 17,000 Blackfeet members live on the reservation in northwest corner of the state in the foothills of the Rockies, where unemployment is above 50 percent.
The negotiations on the deal have been taxing. One of the most contentious issues was a plan outlined by the state and the Blackfeet in their compact to construct a new pipeline to divert water from Badger Creek to Birch Creek to increase the water available for farmers in Pondera County, who irrigate tens of thousands of acres of crops. Although the Blackfeet would own the pipeline, the Interior Department was reluctant to embrace the project because it benefits non-Indians. Donald LaVerdure, principal deputy assistant secretary of Indian Affairs suggested the project went against the federal government's interests both as a trustee for the tribe and a representative of federal taxpayers. He told the Senate committee in a 2011 testimony that "substantial federal outlays that benefit non-Indian water users are not acceptable."
Under the agreement, the state puts up $35 million towards building the pipeline and compensating the Blackfeet for their water. In exchange, the Blackfeet agree not to use more water from Birch Creek until the pipeline is finished. They also agree deliver the water without addition charge until after the 25th year of the settlement.
"This has been the largest single hang-up," said Jay Weiner, an assistant attorney general in Montana who has been working on the Blackfeet settlement for 12 years. "We want [the Blackfeet] to use water, but we want to do it in a way that doesn't displace all the other users that have built up around them."
The Blackfeet say the project benefits them because they will eventually be able to sell the water. Also, the pipeline is only part of a larger project that involves repairing the dilapidated Four Horns Dam and reservoir and an archaic irrigation system. "With the water, we can use agriculture as a catalyst to develop our economy going forward," says Lunak, water resources director for the tribe.
But before any of this can happen, the bill needs a vote in the full Senate and the House Resources Committee needs to draft its own version. Tester pledged to lean in to get the settlement through the House but acknowledges that it may not be easy: "We still have a long way to go in order to do right by Blackfeet."
Note: An earlier version of this story said that the state agrees to provide $14.5 million towards building the pipeline. In fact, under the current version of the agreement, the state's total contribution would be $35 million, $20 million towards the pipeline and $14.5 million to compensate the tribe for not exercising its right to use more water from Birch Creek and for providing water from the pipeline until the 25th year of the water settlement.
Elizabeth Shogren is HCN's DC Correspondent. Follow @shogrene]]>
Both, for example, seek more federal money for new water storage and infrastructure projects. Both would expedite environmental review of those projects, and maximize water supply for farms and communities. And both "contain provisions that could alter the implementation of the Endangered Species Act and, in some cases, potentially set a precedent for how federal agencies address endangered and threatened species," according to the Congressional Research Service. Those precedents include limiting federal agencies' ability to manage stream flows for endangered fish.
Beyond these similarities, the bills take wildly different paths. Feinstein's (preferred by environmentalists) focuses on water recycling and desalination; Valadeo's on squeezing more from rivers. Still, as summer stretched into fall with little relief for sun-blasted California, there was hope the two could find common ground. More than 100 farm groups and water authorities signed a letter in October asking Congress to compromise. Environmental groups — despite their opposition to the endangered species implications — agreed something needed to be done.
Yet the year ended without any such progress.
Not only were Feinstein and Valadao's bills caught up in political bickering, Congress also failed to pass any of the six or so other drought relief bills introduced by Western lawmakers. And Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, never introduced the comprehensive drought package she'd hinted at.
On January 11, the Senate reconvenes. Despite El Niño's snow and rain, the drought will march on. Lawmakers in 2016 will be faced with the same challenges they failed to address in 2015: securing water for agriculture and communities. Planning for a drier, more populous future. Protecting water-dependent fish and wildlife. Will they do any better?
Jimmy Hague, director of the Center for Water Resources with the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, is skeptical. If Congress wasn't able to reach a compromise in 2015, why would 2016 — with the added challenges of an election year — be any different? "It is really difficult to get consensus on water legislation," Hague says. "All the controversy between those two bills still exists, and now we've added a presidential election year on top of it."
Nonetheless, Hague thinks that Western water woes will get a helping hand from the feds in 2016. That's because there are at least 20 measures that agencies can implement without Congressional action. Many were detailed in a list of recommendations that the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, Trout Unlimited and The Nature Conservancy submitted to the White House last summer — around the same time that Feinstein and Valadeo were unveiling their bills.
Compared to the controversial congressional legislation, the list didn't exactly grab headlines. While legislation calls for desalination plants and dam-building, the conservation groups' ideas include things like allowing the Internal Revenue Service to include "water donations" as a tax write-off, or encouraging the Bureau of Reclamation to fill and draw down reservoirs based on actual conditions rather than set-in-stone calendar dates.
But while Congress' plans have stalled, these smaller administrative solutions may be gaining traction. Several were implemented in 2015, including an expansion of the Bureau of Reclamation's "WaterSMART" program. Among other things, WaterSMART grants have been used to reduce leakage in aging irrigation canals. That keeps more water in rivers for fish and wildlife. A project on Montana's Sun River saved 10,000 acre-feet of water annually.
Hague believes that the Obama administration will keep quietly plugging away at similar drought resilience projects in 2016 — stuff that doesn't get much attention but could have big impacts. And lawmakers, for their part, say they're committed to doing better. Nine Western senators, both Democrat and Republican, wrote a letter asking Murkowski (who chairs the committee though which all drought bills must pass) to not give up on drought negotiations. Murkowski's spokesman, Michael Tadeo, wrote to High Country News that the Senator has no plans to do so: drought is among her top priorities for the year.
Yet in a Congress where snowballs are held up to disprove global warming, there are fears that this winter's rain and snow might derail progress on drought negotiations. "There's been this pattern," Hague says. "There's a drought and people freak out about it and work on solutions, and then it rains and they forget about it. And then the cycle repeats itself."
Krista Langlois is a correspondent at High Country News. Follow @kristalanglois2
And that's a problem. The waters of the Dolores pick up that salt and carry it to the Colorado River, where it eventually degrades the water quality for downstream cities and farmers. For about a quarter century, however, an unassuming facility has been tackling this salt. Every minute, in fact, the Paradox Valley Unit sucks nearly 200 gallons of brine, which is seven times saltier than ocean water, from wells here, then shoots it 14,000 feet beneath the earth's surface, in order to keep it out of the river. It's perhaps the most critical piece of a massive project designed to keep salt out of the Colorado River, but it's in trouble. The facility itself is near the end of its lifespan, and there is no obvious replacement. Not only that: The re-injection process can cause earthquakes.
The federal Bureau of Reclamation operates the Paradox Valley Unit under the auspices of the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program, which was created by Congress in 1974. At the time, the river was highly saline once it reached Mexico, thanks to a combination of natural loading and upstream irrigation. That risked violating a U.S. water treaty with Mexico, and it also had what retired hydrologist Dan Luecke, a former consultant for the Justice Department and several environmental organizations, calls "adverse effects" on agriculture, on water treatment in urban areas and on the environment. Salty water reduces crop yields when it's used for irrigation on the 5 million acres of farmland along the Colorado, and it mucks up water treatment plants in the municipalities, including Los Angeles and Las Vegas, that rely on the river.
The Paradox unit began operating in 1991. Since then, it's kept some 2.6 million tons of salt out of the river, making it by far the most productive of the dozens of the salinity control program's projects in the watershed.
The locals, however, are paying for the downstreamers' gains. Since injection began, approximately 6,000 earthquakes have shaken the valley, where previously seismic activity had been virtually unknown. Scientists generally agree that the tremors are caused by the deep injection at the facility, much as wastewater injection wells are causing quakes in oil and gas fields in Oklahoma and elsewhere.
Though the quakes are relatively minor, about 100 have been above the threshold for human detection. There have been no official reports of damage, but one local farmer said that the last significant earthquake, a 4.4-magnitude event in January 2013, broke a dam and caused a creek to flood; his wife thought a truck had crashed into their home. After that episode, operators reduced brine injection pressures and volumes. Since then, the tremors have calmed a bit.
Meanwhile, the facility is facing its own existential crisis. The injection well deposits the salty brine about 2.5 miles down into the Mississippian Leadville formation, in a space that will eventually fill up, rendering the facility useless. Officials aren't sure how long they have, but Andy Nicholas, facility operations specialist, estimates about 10 years, 20 tops.
So the Bureau of Reclamation is scrambling for another way to get the salt out. Either a second well could be drilled, risking more tremors, or the salt could be disposed of in vast evaporation ponds. Both options have their drawbacks, including expense and the lack of available land nearby. An environmental impact study is underway to review alternatives, but it could take several more years.
Without the unit's deep injection, the salt that covers the desert valley floor at Paradox, and the thousands of tons of it just beneath the surface, will continue to flow to the Colorado River and its millions of downstream users. Each ton of salt in the river causes $173 in damage to crops, water treatment facilities and the like, according to the Bureau of Reclamation. That puts the price tag for going without the Paradox unit at around $457 $19 million annually, and that doesn't account for the damage done to fish, bugs and other aquatic life. As Luecke says, something has to be done: "It's important that that salt be taken out."]]>
While the debate about how to better manage water continues, the drought is triggering more political momentum for several water storage projects in California's agriculture-rich Central Valley. An enlargement of Shasta Dam, 10 miles from the town of Redding, has been discussed for over three decades, and it passed a major hurdle last week when the Bureau of Reclamation released its final feasibility study.
The agency says that the most practical option would increase the dam's height by 18.5 feet, adding capacity to store 634,000 more acre-feet of water for agricultural, municipal and industrial use. It would also increase the survival of struggling salmon populations in the upper Sacramento River by releasing more cold water stored behind the dam to improve temperatures in the Sacramento River during exceptionally critical years. Since 1980, the Shasta project has been stuck in a sort of feasibility-study-feedback loop, ebbing and flowing with shifting politics and environmental changes, but the new report declared the project both technologically and economically feasible.
"People want to see action, not studies," says Leigh McDaniel, who grows wine grapes, almonds, alfalfa, wheat and barley in the northern Central Valley. "Now that the drought has persisted as long as it has, the people of California want to see construction of these projects." Last year, the state's voters passed Proposition 1, a bond that set aside $2.7 billion for water storage projects, amid opposition from environmentalists.
The Bureau of Reclamation's Shasta report gave no indication of where the funding for the $1.2 billion project would come from — only that the federal government would not foot the bill. The project isn't eligible for Prop 1 dollars because the higher reservoir levels would flood upper stretches of the McCloud River, which is protected under the state's Scenic River Protection Act.
But the California Emergency Drought Relief Act, introduced last week by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Cali., emerged as a possible answer to the funding problem. The law would provide funding for various drought responses across the state, including for new water storage.
Proponents of the Shasta project include farmers in the region who say they haven't been able to get their full appropriation of water for years. Nadine Bailey, head of the Central Valley based Family Water Alliance, which represents landowners and rural communities, says that raising Shasta Dam would give the Bureau of Reclamation more flexibility for water-release decisions. "We live in a feast or famine region," she says. "The state's water system just needs more storage so we can capture rainwater in those heavy periods."
McDaniel, who depends on Shasta water diversions for his 1,900-acre ranch, is on the board of a similar water storage project in Northern California that would divert storm runoff to the Sites Reservoir, and says California can't afford to delay such projects. The Sites Reservoir and Shasta are both part of the CALFED Bay-Delta Program, an ambitious state, federally and locally funded effort that promised to ensure reliable water supplies for 23 million Californians and farms, passed in 2000.
"In my perfect mad scientist world, I would like to see all of these storage projects and enlargements go through," he says. "There's no way to go forward without addressing the problem, and you can't address it unless there is more storage."
Opponents to the Shasta project say that raising the dam doesn't get at the heart of the drought problem: water scarcity. For the past 15 years, the reservoir's average level for this time of year has been 2.8 million acre-feet, a far cry from the 4.5 million acre-feet capacity. On Wednesday the reservoir level was 1.9 million acre-feet, according to the California Data Exchange Center of the Department of Water Resources – about two-thirds percent of the normal level for this time of year.
The Shasta project experienced a major setback last November when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released a draft report in coordination with the Bureau of Reclamation that found the project would not, in fact, significantly improve water temperatures enough to benefit salmon. The service has since backpedaled on that statement and says it's still in the "drafting phases" of the final environmental impact report.
If Feinstein's bill is approved and the Shasta project secures federal funding, the enlargement would be up for approval by the Secretary of the Interior. Congress could authorize the project for construction this year or next.
Paige Blankenbuehler is an editorial intern at High Country News. @paigeblank]]>
But as long as the surface level is at least 1,075 feet above sea level when crucial measurements are taken in January 2016, those cutbacks will be avoided. If not, the Secretary of the Interior will declare a shortage in Lake Mead and the curtailed deliveries, along with other water rationing measures, will go into effect early next year.
On June 15, the Bureau of Reclamation predicted that Lake Mead will be at 1,081.58 feet by the end of 2015, above the benchmark level that would trigger water curtailments. That's an improvement from last month when the Bureau was predicting Mead would be at 1,075.96 feet, said Rose Davis, a spokeswoman for the bureau's Lower Colorado Region.
So, what happens to the Lower Basin states if the Interior Department declares an official shortage in Lake Mead? According to the Colorado River Interim Guidelines, a 2007 agreement to address water shortages:
Arizona will face the biggest curtailment of annual water deliveries from Lake Mead. Its 2.8 million acre-feet will be cut by 370,000 acre-feet (one acre-foot is enough to supply two average homes for a year), a 13 percent reduction. Farmers who rely on water piped east by the Central Arizona Project, whose water rights are the most junior, will be the hardest hit. Farmers along the western edge of the state who use water from the main stem of the Colorado River won't be affected by the first round of curtailments. Neither will tribes, industrial users or major cities. Overall the short-term economic impact will be slight, said Michael Cohen, an expert on water use in the Colorado River basin at the Pacific Institute, a water-policy think tank. That's because Arizona has stored more than 3 million acre-feet of water underground, providing farmers with a back-up supply that will soften the impacts of a shortage.
Next in line is Nevada, which faces a 13,000-acre-feet reduction to its usual 300,000 acre-feet delivery from Lake Mead, a 4 percent cut.
California, meanwhile, can keep withdrawing its full allotment from Lake Mead. This dates back to the negotiations during the '60s between Arizona and California over the Central Arizona Project, a massive aqueduct that pumps water 336 miles from the Colorado River into central and southern Arizona. To get the project approved by Congress, Arizona needed California's help. But California saw that at some point there might not be enough water to go around, so it decided to support Arizona's bid only if Arizona agreed to take more junior water rights.
But California's deal isn't as sweet as it sounds. A recent report called 'The Bathtub Ring' from graduate students at the University of California, Santa Barbara in conjunction with the Western Water Policy Program, shows that, although California is exempt from the first round of curtailments, 13 million people in Los Angeles are still among the most vulnerable. That's because the state currently consumes its full Lake Mead allotment and also relies on bonus water it gets through efficiency measures. The program that allows them extra water in exchange for conserving will be put on hold when curtailments go into effect. That means L.A.'s Metropolitan Water District will lose its ability to draw on 662,000 acre-feet annually of surplus water.
Nevada will be largely immune to the first round of delivery cuts from Lake Mead. Though the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which provides for nearly 2 million people in Las Vegas, gets 90 percent of its water from the reservoir, the state gets credit for water it reuses. So if a provider pumps 5,000 acre-feet from the reservoir, but then treats 3,000 acre-feet and returns the treated water to Lake Mead, it's only on the books for 2,000 acre-feet. Even with the curtailment, the state's return flow credit program allows Nevada to keep its consumptive water use below its allotted amount.
Should the water levels continue to drop below the 1,075 foot mark, as they are expected to in years to come, more cuts will be required. Below 1,025 feet, the Lower Basin states will have to negotiate new water shortage guidelines.
Sarah Tory is an editorial fellow at High Country News.
Follow @tory_sarah]]>
Cover photo:]]> Courtesy BLM.
High Country News What do you mean by "Deadbeat Dams?"
Daniel Beard A deadbeat is somebody who deliberately avoids paying their bills, a loafer and a sponger who wrings others dry. A lot of federal facilities are deadbeats. There are dams that are costing us money, destroying river systems, drying up wetlands, killing fish runs. When a dam no longer performs a function that is needed, we should remove it. If a facility is blocking passage of a valuable fish run, and no one's using it or it's crumbling, we ought to remove it.
The decision to build a dam is not a technical decision or an engineering decision or an economic decision. Politics is at the heart of every decision that's made about Western water. But our political institutions make mistakes, or time passes, and the decision that was made 50 or 100 years ago is no longer relevant.HCN So dams can be obsolete, harmful and costly. But your book focuses on drought solutions. How do dams contribute to water shortage?
DB They distract us. We're mesmerized by the construction of new facilities, as if it's going to solve a problem, and it's not. The only way we're going to meet future needs is to promote water conservation, reuse and efficiency improvement. Building a dam is a lot sexier than implementing a toilet rebate program, but the reality is, in an awful lot of communities, that toilet rebate program is going to have a bigger impact than any reservoir.
It also depends on who's got water behind the dam. Water that's behind dams in many cases helps extend the water supply system we have. But if you're not getting any of that water, it doesn't help you a great deal.
In the book I refer to the "water nobility," people who are spread across the 17 Western states who receive water from federal dams. They've enabled and worked with a cadre of politicians and lawyers and lobbyists and engineers. The taxpayers built dams and provided them subsidized water, and they were grateful recipients of a federal program. But they've come to think of these benefits as an entitlement, and, in my view, they've bamboozled politicians into thinking they should continue to receive federal funds in perpetuity and maintain permanent control of the West.
The biggest player in the West is the Westlands Water District, near Fresno: 600 farming operations, the largest irrigation district in America. They've been working overtime trying to get legislation to force water to be delivered to them, or give them compensation. This is only one irrigation district in one state. Why on Earth the taxpayers at the federal level ought to be supplying them with water and money is beyond me. And the short answer is: They're doing it because they have the political connections and the political power to be able to do it. So I also use the phrase "deadbeats" because, in my view, deadbeats control Western water policy.
HCN Dam removal is one of 10 solutions you offer in your book for dealing with drought. What are some others?
DB The number one thing we have to do is stop delivering subsidized water, from federal facilities or otherwise. We deliver water that costs a dollar to develop and we sell it for pennies, and all that does is promote excessive use and causes us to waste and misallocate billions of gallons of water. The second thing we should do is eliminate the Bureau of Reclamation. Those two things would be game changers, because they would force everybody to look at things differently.
HCN How does the Bureau of Reclamation enable wasteful attitudes toward water?
DB They never question the water nobility, they never look them in the eye and say, "Sorry, can't do that." The Bureau of Reclamation looks upon them as their clients, doing everything that the nobility says. The bureau works for the taxpayers, and it ought to be making the best decisions in the interest of all Americans, not just the narrow group of people who are receiving subsidies. I took the job with the bureau because I wanted to change things. I wanted to make it a leader in solving water problems in the West. But after watching them for 35 years, I've finally woken up and realized the bureau just isn't capable of it.HCN Why not?
DB They leave decisions in the hands of members of Congress. As much as members of Congress try, they just can't avoid playing the game of "I scratch your back, you scratch mine." We need to create an independent commission. The Department of Defense's Base Realignment and Enclosure Commission has been making recommendations to close military bases and shipyards for the last 20 years, and it's saved hundreds of billions of dollars and, frankly, made our military much stronger and better. They have been able to make the tough decisions to close the Philadelphia shipyards and the Boston shipyards, which would have never been closed had those decisions played out in the Congress.
With the Bureau of Reclamation, only 2 percent of their budget this year is going to water re-use projects, which is crazy. It just doesn't make sense in the middle of a drought. We ought to be promoting all kinds of water re-use projects, because it's the fastest and cheapest way that we can have a meaningful impact on water supply problems in the West. But a lot of politicians are still running around saying the climate isn't changing. Of course, the answer to that is, "Oh, yes, it is." It is, and everybody who's looked at it can agree, and it's going to have tremendous impacts on the way we manage water in the West, going forward.
HCN How should water management itself change?
DB The first thing we should do is price water realistically. It isn't a free good anymore. If you look at the water consumption figures from communities across the West, the communities with the lowest consumption per capita are those with realistic pricing. They charge people for water. If you charge people nothing, I can guarantee you they'll waste the water.
The second thing you need to do is help communities make a commitment to conservation through toilet rebates, taking sod out, plugging leaks, or addressing leakage in your system. The mayor of Los Angeles, for example, has recently made a decision to try to reduce imports of water over a 25-year period of time—to solve Los Angeles' water problems in Los Angeles as opposed to going to the Colorado River or to Northern California. Las Vegas has been very successful in reducing its consumption of water through a whole host of approaches: looking for leaks, compliance officers who drive around looking for sprinklers that are throwing water into the gutter or people who are using water in the wrong way. Two-thirds of water consumption in every household is water that's used outside. So eliminating sod and changing our approach to the kind of yards we have is a terribly important action.
Once you add up all these actions, they will have significant impact on water consumption throughout the West.
Kindra McQuillan is an editorial intern at High Country News. Follow @KindraMcQuillan]]>
In January, the San Juan-Chama project fell short for the first time in its 40-year history. The 10,000 acre-foot shortfall was due to a series of extremely dry years. Although local reservoirs can make up for this year's shortage, further drought may deplete them, leaving no water available for the tiny fish, or for farmers. It's a reminder that climate change may disrupt once-dependable supplies — and exacerbate fights over the Rio Grande's water.
Under the so-called Pilot Drought Response Actions program, which would begin next year, urban water agencies in California, Arizona and Nevada hope to use a number of methods to add between 1.5 and 3 million acre-feet of water to Lake Mead over the next five years. That's roughly as much water as 3 to 6 million households use in a year. Those "protection volumes" are designed to keep the water level in the reservoir from sinking below 1,000 feet above sea level, at which point Las Vegas will have difficulty withdrawing its share of the Colorado River from the reservoir, which could set off a humongous water fight before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Thanks to increased demand, the drought and climate change, the Lower Basin states of California, Arizona and Nevada use more water each year than is released from Lake Powell, the major upstream reservoir on the Colorado River. Thus, each year, Mead drops lower.
"That's the underlying driver to the risk in the Lower Basin," says Chuck Cullom, the Colorado River Program Manager for the Central Arizona Project, which supplies water to Phoenix, Tucson and Arizona farms. "This agreement is a first step to address that."
Without it, conditions will likely soon be bad enough that the U.S. Secretary of the Interior will have to declare an official shortage, thereby cutting back water deliveries to the Lower Basin states — and perhaps more ominously, effectively taking control of the river there. According to the most recent projections, there's a 25 percent chance of that happening in 2016, and better-than-even odds it will happen in 2017.
The new agreement is the latest chapter in the ongoing effort to stay ahead of the drought on the Colorado. Back in 2007, the Colorado River states signed a deal for managing shortages if the drought continued. At that time, computer models suggested the risk of hitting critical elevations in Lake Mead "really wasn't very large," says Terry Fulp, the director of the federal Bureau of Reclamation's Lower Colorado River region. "It was in the 1 to 2 percent range through 2026."
But by May 2013 — when it was becoming clear that this was one of the worst droughts in the past 1,200 years — Reclamation officials realized that the severity of the drought had outstripped the assumptions underlying the 2007 agreement. "We've seen a drought much worse than what we had analyzed," says Fulp. "And when we reassessed the risk, the chance of getting (to critical reservoir elevations) was quite a bit higher."
At a Western Governor's Association meeting in Park City, Utah in late June, 2013, government officials met with representatives from the Colorado River states and began what turned into a year-long effort to negotiate the Drought Response Actions program. California's Colorado River oversight board approved the Memorandum of Understanding for the program this November; the Central Arizona Project board approved it last Thursday. Nevada's Colorado River Board will vote Tuesday, and the the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, which supplies Los Angeles and San Diego, and Southern Nevada Water Authority, which supplies Las Vegas, will vote Wednesday.
Under the program, water agencies in Arizona, California and Nevada will also carry out a series of in-state water swaps and operational adjustments to put more water into Lake Mead. But most significantly, the program provides a framework for farms in the Lower Basin states to play a much bigger role in buffering the cities against deepening drought. In Arizona, nine irrigation districts near Phoenix have already agreed to "forbear," or give up, 160,000 acre-feet of water over two years — nearly half of the total amount of water Arizona is hoping to put into Lake Mead. The bulk of that farm water will come from the Central Arizona, Maricopa-Stanfield and New Magma irrigation and drainage districts, with the remainder coming from the Tonopah Irrigation District; Roosevelt Water Conservation District; Queen Creek and Hohokam irrigation and drainage districts; and BKW Farms and Kai Farms.
The Drought Response Actions program is the second big Colorado River program launched this year that looks to farms as an emergency reservoir. This summer, Metropolitan, the Southern Nevada Water Authority, the Central Arizona Project, Denver Water and the federal government launched a separate Colorado River System Conservation program. Those agencies are currently examining more than a dozen forbearance bids from farms and irrigation districts along the lower river. That program will spend about $11 million to generate roughly 75,000 acre-feet of water for Lakes Mead and Powell over the next two years.
Though similar, the two programs are separate. The water purchased under the Colorado River System Conservation program will be earmarked as shared "system water" that remains in Lakes Mead and Powell. The Drought Response Actions program water will also be used to boost levels in Lake Mead, but will ultimately be diverted for use by the agencies that paid for it. The System Conservation program, while smaller, also allows agencies to pool their money to buy water from a wider geographical area. That includes Mexico, which can now participate in such deals thanks to Minute 319, a U.S.-Mexico treaty amendment signed in 2012.
"The System Conservation agreement contemplates pooled actions, meaning that we put money into a shared bucket, and we will fund programs wherever they are," says Cullom. In contrast, he says, "the (Drought Response Actions) MOU is about what each individual agency can do on their own," within their respective states.
Both programs will help reservoirs from reaching critically low levels and, water managers hope, could be expanded into longer-term programs. Yet they still won't provide anything close to what's needed to decisively pull the Colorado System out of its decade-and-a-half long nosedive.
As Fulp puts it: "We're not making water here."
Matt Jenkins is a contributor to High Country News.]]>
The project, expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars, comes under the Arizona 2004 Water Settlements Act, which gave New Mexico the right to develop an additional 14,000 acre feet of water on the Gila. The act also makes up to $128 million in federal funding available if the state builds a diversion system, or about half that if the state pursues smaller water projects in the region.
The decision marks the beginning of the end of a contentious 10-year long planning process. For supporters of a diversion, the decision means a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to secure more water for a drought-prone state, but opponents fear that doing so means committing New Mexico to a hugely expensive project it can't afford."Even though the (commission) obviously already had its mind made up, we are very disappointed with today's decision," said Allyson Siwik, director of the Gila Conservation Coalition. "A billion dollar Gila River diversion project is a bad idea for New Mexico taxpayers and water users — it's infeasible; it's too expensive; the project will provide little to no water and will harm the wildlife of the Gila River."
The one dissenting vote came from Commissioner Blane Sanchez, who said he had reservations about the projected costs of the project. Echoing those concerns, Siwik noted that neither farmers, municipalities, nor the state of New Mexico have demonstrated they can actually pay for the water once it's diverted. Piping it across the Continental Divide to the city of Deming, as the approved proposal outlines, could lead to a 10-fold increase in municipal water rates — from $2.28 per 1,000 gallons to over $22. That's because on top of the construction costs, and the cost of operating and managing the new facilities, New Mexico must pay to replace the water it takes out of the Gila with water from the Central Arizona Project at the current rate of $146 per acre-foot. Exchange costs must be paid in advance for the Scott Verhines, the state water engineer and a member of the commission acknowledged the financial uncertainty, but said a "no" vote before the project is fleshed out would bar the option of future development of the water.
Monday's decision catalyzes a complex set of next steps. After notifying the U.S. Secretary of the Interior that it intends to build a diversion, the state has one year to sign an agreement with the government to nail down details of the project. That means New Mexico will continue financing studies to flesh out how much the diversion will cost, how it will comply with environmental laws and how much water it will yield. The required federal studies, a necessity for the work to proceed, could take another five years to complete, staff told the commission.
The state has spent $7 million studying the diversion proposals thus far — money that Siwik says could have been used on more cost-effective, conservation-oriented projects.
In the meantime, opponents will continue to highlight the cost of the diversion, in hopes of stopping it. "If it doesn't look like anyone can pay for the project when it comes time to sign the agreement, this won't go anywhere," says Siwik.
Sarah Tory is an editorial intern at High Country News. Follow @tory_sarah]]>
While most big cities sit on the banks of a river, lake or ocean, bone-dry Las Vegas owes its existence to Hoover Dam, 34 miles away. The dam is the source of the region's cheap water and power. Without the one, the fountains along the Strip would cease to dance and at least 60 golf courses would wither. Without the other, the lights would dim, and the air conditioners would stop humming. In the words of one official, the sprawling metro area of 2 million people would revert to "a place of sand dunes, mosquitoes and rattlesnakes."
Originally, it was thought that Mormon farmers would use the Colorado River water captured by the dam to create a smaller version of California's Imperial Valley. Instead, when work on the dam began in 1931, the city was invaded by a rowdy army of construction workers. Their employer, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, "invented modern Las Vegas." As Emily Green of the Las Vegas Sun tells the story: "(The workers') needs could be largely summed up in a telephone book under B: boarding houses, brothels and bars. Moreover, that same year, Nevada legalized gambling. Las Vegas added a C to its key services: casinos."
No one expected the small number of people in and around Las Vegas at the time to pick up any portion of the capital cost of building the dam. Like other big Depression-era projects, it was both launched and paid for by the federal government.
Three-quarters of a century later, a super-sized Las Vegas continues to rely on Lake Mead, the reservoir behind the dam, for nearly 90 percent of its water. The water still costs very little. And the federal government continues to supply cut-rate electricity.
Will Las Vegas ever outgrow the great store of water that makes the desert bloom and allows the lights to burn so brightly? The city's water czars live in fear of that possibility. The Southern Nevada Water Authority and its smaller sister organization, the Las Vegas Valley Water District, have adopted a wide range of restrictions to limit water usage. They include the following rules:
To enforce these regulations, the Las Vegas district employs its own "water police," who go around town looking for violations. But it is the supply side rather than the demand side where the water authority hopes to hit it big. In October 1989, the Las Vegas district applied for unclaimed groundwater in northeastern Nevada, with an estimated pull of as much as 800,000 acre-feet of water, or just about double the allocation from Lake Mead. To bring that water to Las Vegas would require a 300-mile-long pipeline. There was fierce opposition from ranchers, farmers, environmental groups and others in Nevada and Utah. The controversy continues today, with opponents saying it would turn a sparse but beautiful desert landscape into a giant dust bowl reminiscent of California's Owens Valley.
The controversy died down for a while as the water level rose, when Lake Mead reached an all-time high in 1998. But that marked the beginning of a 12-year drought, which caused the lake to fall below 50 percent of capacity. Suddenly, alarm bells were ringing inside the water authority. Now, the Southern Nevada Authority and its supporters are demanding immediate action on the proposed pipeline. Opposition groups have become increasingly energized as well. The authority admits that a near doubling in water rates may be needed to finance the $7.2 billion project.
Here's a proposal that the water authority seems not to have considered: Since water rates appear to be going up anyway, why not move to a pricing system that recognizes the scarcity value of the resource?
Allow water rates to double or triple. Encourage free trading in water rights by homeowners and others. See if that doesn't avert the need for any construction. Call this a market-ready -- as opposed to a shovel-ready -- solution.
Andrew B. Wilson is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News (hcn.org). He is a 2011 media fellow at PERC, the nonprofit Property and Environment Research Center in Bozeman, Mont., and writes for PERC Reports as well as the Wall Street Journal.]]>
The sediment clogs canals, pipelines and farm fields. It has filled 33 small flood control dams below Elephant Butte, effectively rendering them useless. The district -- which supplies some 7,900 farmers -- maintains a fleet of excavators, dozers and dumptrucks, but Esslinger is running out of places to move dirt. He encourages developers to haul it away for fill, but demand remains low. "It's just going to become a bigger and bigger problem as these (dams) get older," he says.
It's a global conundrum: Dams slow the natural run of water, and slow water drops sediment to the bottom of reservoirs -- eventually filling them. Yet the problem has received precious little attention over the years, and as a result, it's not well understood.
A High Country News analysis of U.S. Bureau of Reclamation data -- which offers the most recent, publicly accessible surveys for eight of 11 Western states -- reveals that 35 reservoirs have lost some 4.6 million acre-feet of storage capacity to sedimentation. That's about 8 percent of their total storage, or enough water to serve at least 9 million households.
The actual amount of storage lost is certainly greater. The surveys examined by HCN cover less than 10 percent of the dams managed by BuRec. Thousands more are overseen by other agencies, from small irrigation reservoirs to giant multipurpose reservoirs owned by state agencies. And many of BuRec's surveys are already two decades old.
"(This) will be, in the next 20 to 50 years, an extremely important topic," says Robert Baskin, a hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey's Utah Water Science Center. "The economic impact ... could be dramatic."
Engineers have been aware of the problem for centuries. A dam built in Spain in 1394 is still operating because it was built with a gate at its base so sediment can be flushed out. Some modern dams, including the giant Three Gorges Dam in China, incorporate similar systems. But American engineers, while ingenious at storing and moving water, essentially ignored sediment. They generally set aside a certain percentage of each reservoir's volume, usually below its outlet gates or hydroelectric works, for sediment storage -- a space often dubbed the reservoir's "dead pool." Once that space filled, the dam's life was over.
Utah is one of the few Western states that have even attempted to assess sedimentation. In a March 2010 report, the state's Department of Water Resources estimated that in 40 years, Utah's total storage capacity will have declined 25 percent. Its reservoirs lose about 12,340 acre-feet a year to sedimentation, yet the state needs about double that amount annually in additional supply to keep up with population growth. The reservoirs "cannot be considered renewable resources unless sedimentation is adequately addressed," the report states.
But Utah was able to find data for only 18 of its 133 reservoirs larger than 1,000 acre-feet. Nationally, the state of knowledge is equally poor. John Gray, a hydrologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, Va., manages the nation's only large database on reservoir sedimentation, which includes surveys of 1,824 large and small reservoirs across the country compiled by the Soil Conservation Service, now the Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Most of the surveys are much older than BuRec's and haven't been updated in at least two decades; many were completed using crude techniques -- measuring reservoir depth with weighted rope, or noting how much piano wire sank to the bottom from a boat crossing a known transect. As a result, it's hard to know for sure how rapidly the nation's reservoirs are filling, or how full they are. "We're just not even the tip of the iceberg here," Gray says. "We should be ... getting a lot more data on this, and where there are problems, start alerting those locations. There's time to address this."
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers provided funding last year to help move the data to a more modern software platform. The data are available for public download, but are not searchable online. Gray hopes to obtain $1 million over four years to fix that, and to allow new surveys to be easily uploaded. But it's unclear where the money will come from, given the current budget crisis.
Meanwhile, BuRec has been plodding away making new surveys, says Ronald Ferrari, a Denver-based BuRec hydraulic engineer who oversees the agency's sediment survey program, though many have not been added to the USGS database. Ferrari spends two to three months every year visiting reservoirs with a specially equipped boat, using GPS, multibeam sonar and lidar to render detailed profiles of their bottoms. It once took a team of six people five or six months to survey a massive reservoir like Lake Powell, on the Colorado River. Now, two people can do it in two or three weeks, and they get far better data. Even so, the agency tackles just four or five a year. "We'd like to have more of them completed," Ferrari says, "but it's definitely dictated by the allowable budgets."
Southwestern reservoirs are generally surveyed more often because of known higher sedimentation rates in that region. The last full survey at Powell, however, was in 1986. No new survey is planned, Ferrari says, because its sedimentation rate is considered low and because of budget constraints.
How quickly reservoirs fill, and where, varies widely, but all are shrinking every day. Soil type and local geography and land use all play roles. And unexpected events, such as wildfire in the watershed, can have huge consequences.
Elephant Butte in New Mexico is an extreme example, with a 23 percent decline in capacity. Most others surveyed by HCN are filling more slowly; McKay Reservoir near Pendleton, Ore., for example, has lost 2.6 percent of its capacity over 90 years. Yet even at slow rates, problems can emerge early, especially when exacerbated by drought or other factors.
Southern Montana's Bighorn Lake has lost 3.9 percent of its capacity over 50 years. The long, narrow reservoir stretches across the state line into Wyoming. For half of every year, cliffs and plateaus of sediment maroon a popular boat launch and marina in Lovell, Wyo. "We no longer have a lake," says Bob Croft, president of Friends of Bighorn Lake. "We have a river channel that has 18-foot mud walls on it when it goes empty."
The problem is aggravated by water releases at Yellow Tail Dam -- 30 miles north -- which serve a trout fishery below the dam. This creates dramatic water-level changes around Lovell, which in turn cause sediment to settle out of the water there, rather than dispersing widely on the reservoir floor.
Most large reservoirs have centuries to go, but small ones may have only decades, and many have already filled completely. On the Stanford University campus in California, sediment has reached the brim of Searsville Dam. Meanwhile, the Matilija Dam on California's Ventura River, which was built in 1948 for water supply and flood control, now provides neither. A single storm in 1969 filled 27 percent of the reservoir with sand and mud; it's currently 90 percent filled with sediment. There is agreement to remove the dam, but finding a place to move the accumulated muck remains an obstacle.
"Every reservoir is headed towards that condition, just at different rates," says Baskin. A variety of solutions are possible; none are cheap. Sedimentation can be reduced by improved land management upstream to minimize erosion. Mechanical fixes are also available, from dredging to adding diversion structures upstream to separate and transport sediment elsewhere. Dams can also be retrofitted with new gates so sediment can be flushed out. At small reservoirs, dams are often raised, recovering lost capacity, but only for a short time.
At Otter Creek Reservoir on Utah's Sevier River, officials are attempting a multifaceted fix. Built in 1897, the reservoir had lost about 22 percent of capacity after a century. In 1999, the state helped Otter Creek Reservoir Company pay for $4 million in dam improvements, including new spillway gates to raise the water elevation 2 feet to compensate for lost capacity. At the same time, state and federal agencies are working to restore the watershed, which was degraded by livestock grazing. A 2005 fire, followed by rainstorms, delivered a fresh shot of sediment that may have reversed some gains. But the effort continues.
"We've been trying to get people to realize there may be things they could do now to prevent a major issue later down the road," says Ferrari. "Eventually, somebody's going to have to deal with it."
Matt Weiser writes about water and the environment for the Sacramento Bee.]]>
Here's a look at the three Westerners in the study:
Suzie Canales of Citizens for Environmental Justice (CEJ) investigates all of Corpus Christi, TX., for the impacts of the energy industry there. The study says CEJ "found the city's birth defect rate to be 84 percent higher than in other parts of Texas."
Suzie's current battle: preventing Citgo Petroleum Corp. from expanding operations in Corpus Christi
Test highlights:
Jean Salone, also of CEJ, chaired a biomonitoring study that found residents of her predominantly African American community "had elevated blood and urine concentrations of benzene, a chemical associated with oil drilling and refining and listed by the U.S. government as a known human carcinogen." Hillcrest, Salone's community, borders the Citgo oil refinery. She wonders if her own bout with breast cancer is connected to refinery emissions.
Test highlights:
Vivian Chang, former executive director of the Asian Pacific Environmental Network, in Oakland, CA., says Asian immigrants face "isolation and invisibility to the regulatory agencies," because nobody speaks their language. She organized the Laotian community of Richmond, CA., "to confront environmental problems caused by the local Chevron oil refinery."
Test highlights:
In April, researchers from the University of Massachusetts and the University of Southern California released a study stating that low-income and minority neighborhoods are disproportionately affected by industrially-generated toxic air.
Where's the corporate responsibility?]]>
For the third year in a row, chinook will return in numbers that are less than 5 percent of their historical abundance. A variety of problems, including poor water quality, disease and changing ocean conditions, have contributed to their decline, but low river flows have long been the central issue. Irrigation canals fed by the river have run full since 2002, and salmon have received little more than half the water federal biologists think necessary to avoid the risk of extinction (HCN, 6/23/03: Sound science goes sour).
Now, tribes will have to forgo subsistence and commercial fishing, and commercial and sportfishing industries stand to lose at least $150 million.
Farmers, fishermen, tribes and environmental groups have tussled over the Klamath for years, but this time they're trying to stay out of the courtroom. Instead, they're discussing a dramatic possibility: removing the river's lower four dams, which block access to 350 miles of spawning habitat. It would be the country's biggest dam removal project ever — and a major step toward healing the river that once supported the country's third-largest salmon runs.
The dams' owner, PacifiCorp, and Klamath farmers are surprisingly open to the idea. The lower four dams only provide hydropower, unlike the two upriver dams, which manage irrigation water and aren't on the table for removal. Nearly 2,000 farmers use the bargain-rate power for irrigation pumps, but their power contracts expire this month and they're looking for other sources, in effect loosening their grip on the dams.
For their part, river advocates have switched their focus away from irrigation diversions. "It's a different playing field," says Chuck Bonham of Trout Unlimited. "This basin is dying for some solutions, and if we fall back into finger-pointing, nothing will happen."
PacifiCorp spokesman Dave Kvamme compares the dams to "a great old used car." They're paid for, they don't cost much to run, and they generate about $27 million a year in electricity, according to the California Energy Commission. But PacifiCorp's 50-year federal license for the dams expires this month, and to renew it, the company will need to reduce the dams' impacts on fish — one way or another. The dams' future depends largely on what is cheaper for PacifiCorp: shelling out money to make the dams more salmon-friendly, or paying to take them down and replace the power they provide.
To renew its license, PacifiCorp must clear two costly hurdles. It has to address the high water temperatures and toxic algae blooms that state agencies say the dams help create. And to help salmon move freely up and down the river, the feds are requiring the utility to install or upgrade fish ladders and screens on each dam.
PacifiCorp estimates the fish passage modifications alone will cost $200 million, though the company has paid $300 million to upgrade three other dams. The federal Bureau of Reclamation, meanwhile, pegs the total cost of removal at $100 million.
Removing the dams and replacing the 151 megawatts they generate — less than 2 percent of PacifiCorp's output — would likely require building new coal or natural gas power plants, says Kvamme. The company now gets most of its power from those sources.
PacifiCorp has agreed to decommission two Northwest dams in recent years. "We're willing to consider just about any outcome," Kvamme says, "as long as it's in our customers' and shareholders' interests."
While upgrading the dams could solve many of the salmon's problems, it leaves one of the fish's deadliest foes untouched.
In the warm water below the lowest dam, two parasites flourish. In 2004, Ceratomyxa shasta killed as many as one-fifth of all young Klamath chinook. Another parasite, Parvicapsula minibicornis, infected most young chinook; its mortality rate isn't yet known. If the dams are removed, colder, faster flows could give these parasites the boot.
Not everyone is willing to let the dams go, however: Siskiyou County, Calif., opposes dam removal because it collects $1.3 million a year in taxes from PacifiCorp, and some whitewater outfitters say they rely on the dams to keep flows consistent throughout the rafting season. Even if PacifiCorp decides on removal, bureaucratic red tape can keep doomed dams, like those on Washington's Elwha River, standing for decades (HCN, 9/24/01: River of dreams).
To make removal more palatable, Klamath stakeholders have asked for $200 million of a $50 billion California public works bond. That money would help offset costs for PacifiCorp customers, farmers and local governments. The bond, however, won't make it to a statewide ballot until at least November, and there's no guarantee it will include money for the Klamath.
If the negotiations don't settle on dam removal, many say the region could return to business as usual: more disastrous salmon seasons and bitter courtroom battles. Most of those involved say they are tired of fighting — but they're realistic about the prospects for peace: "One day, I think we could do something amazing here," says Greg Addington, executive director of the Klamath Water Users Association, which represents most Klamath farmers. "The next day, I'm hit by the magnitude and complexity of it all, and I think, 'This is going to take forever.' "
The author is an HCN intern.]]>


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Top Definition
-v. (past tense)
To get your underwear pulled down in public by a stranger.
To get your underwear pulled down in public by a stranger.
Ex 1. That guy just sharked the girl at the drink machine.
Ex 2. Don't go to Japan. My mom got sharked 3 times while she was over there.
Ex 2. Don't go to Japan. My mom got sharked 3 times while she was over there.
Beküldő: PalePumpkinHead 2008. március 31.
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
A term used to describe when a male has successfully pulled your girlfriend/girl you have your eye on or girl you have already been chatting up. Can often result in small scale dancefloor fights between friends or strangers.
Dan, you have just been sharked by will, big time.
Beküldő: The Finster chief 2007. május 22.
V. Past tense. To stay sober at a party or bar in order to better chase your drunken pray in hopes of a hook up or slam.
"You know that quiet girl in our religion class? She totally sharked me last night."
"I'm not drinking tonight. I'm going sharking."
"I'm not drinking tonight. I'm going sharking."
Beküldő: Gage Horn 2012. február 17.
To have something stolen or taken from you.
1. She just sharked my beer.
2. He sharked my girl!
2. He sharked my girl!
Beküldő: BeEazzzy 2009. július 12.
The act of getting taken advantage by a girl. A very serious and problematic occurrence when a girl uses your currently intoxicated or just manly mind to take advantage of you sexually.
GT was weak and got sharked last night. Sucks to suck.
Beküldő: Fenam 2010. március 28.
To distract. To intentionally or unintentionally mess someone up from doing something.
"I would have hit the ball perfectly, but I she sharked me when she called me ugly."
Beküldő: BrooklynnS 2008. január 22.
The act of biting somebody's cheeks.
Ah! he just sharked me. My cheeks are sore
Beküldő: nikkkiiii 2009. február 10.

subset: commoncrawl


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Water line raises concerns for family
A repaired water line serving an isolated community in the county became a point concern for a Tunica County couple after, in recent weeks, water from their faucets developed a foul odor.
But despite its smell, county utility representatives offered assurances that any water coming through the line was safe and poses no threat to users within the service area.
Janice and Sonny Cooper, who recently moved to Alabama after selling their home on Fish Lake Road, just east of White Oak Road, said they have been concerned about the safety of their water for weeks. The Coopers said their concern over their water grew after a water line serving a small cluster of homes in the area ruptured and was repaired by Tunica County Utility District personnel.
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Holmgren goes out winner for Browns
CLEVELAND -- Browns president Mike Holmgren is leaving the organization immediately.
After Cleveland's 20-14 win over the rival Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday, a Browns spokesman said the game was Holmgren's last with the team.
The 64-year-old former coach had hoped to stay until the end of the season in an advisory role, but left open the possibility of an earlier departure.
He has been replaced by new owner Jimmy Haslam with CEO Joe Banner, who spent 19 years with Philadelphia. Holmgren spoke to several players and Haslam in the locker room. He will address the media today.
The Browns went 12-31 under Holmgren, hired by former owner Randy Lerner to fix his franchise.
Holmgren has indicated he's still interested in coaching. There have been stories about him joining the Dallas Cowboys.
- Browns rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden sufferd a concussion in the closing minutes of the win over the Steelers.
Weeden appeared to bang his head on teammate Joe Thomas' leg as he fell awkwardly after throwing an incomplete pass in Cleveland's 20-14 victory. Browns coach Pat Shurmur said Weeden has a concussion but offered few other details.
The 29-year-old Weeden was replaced for the final two series by backup Colt McCoy, who suffered a concussion the last time the heated rivals played. McCoy did not attempt a pass as the Browns attempted to run out the clock.
Weeden finished 17-of-26 for 158 yards with one touchdown and one interception before he was injured.


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- Table View
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Quantitative Seismic Interpretationby Per Avseth Tapan Mukerji Gary Mavko
Demonstrating how rock physics can be applied to predict reservoir parameters, such as lithologies and pore fluids, from seismically derived attributes, this volume provides an integrated methodology and practical tools for quantitative interpretation, uncertainty assessment, and characterization of subsurface reservoirs. Including problem sets and a case-study for which seismic and well-log data and Matlab codes are provided on the Internet (http://publishing. cambridge. org/resources/0521816017), the book is intended for students of petroleum geoscience as well as professionals in the field.
Select your format based upon: 1) how you want to read your book, and 2) compatibility with your reading tool. To learn more about using Bookshare with your device, visit the Help Center.
Here is an overview of the specialized formats that Bookshare offers its members with links that go to the Help Center for more information.
- Bookshare Web Reader - a customized reading tool for Bookshare members offering all the features of DAISY with a single click of the "Read Now" link.
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- BRF (Braille Refreshable Format) - digital Braille for use with refreshable Braille devices and Braille embossers.
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- DAISY Audio - Similar to the Daisy 3.0 option above; however, this option uses MP3 files created with our text-to-speech engine that utilizes Ivonas Kendra voice. This format will work with Daisy Audio compatible players such as Victor Reader Stream and Read2Go.


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Image Archive
Detailed Record
Title: CHARLES W. MORGAN at South Dartmouth, Mass.
Accession Number: 1960.435
Category: PHOTOGRAPHS
Type: sepia photograph
Place: USA, MA, South Dartmouth
Materials: paper
Description: Sepia tone photograph; portside view of CHARLES W. MORGAN at South Dartmouth, Mass.; US flag flying at stern, large private signal flying from top of mainmast; sails bunted; 8 men in rigging; on deck in foreground are many barrels on their sides with hoops scattered on them; lower right, man in bathing suit sitting on rocks; copyright symbol lower right. Duplicate of 1960.441.
Mystic Seaport Image ID m163102 Information regarding reproductions


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CBNNews.com - On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Ministry director general for Arab, Middle East and North African affairs Ali Asghar Mohammadi met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit in Cairo.
Though Egypt and Iran have had no formal ties for nearly 30 years, in the past two months, government officials have begun meeting with increasing frequency.
When the crisis at the Rafah border crossing erupted last week, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad phoned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to offer his country's support.
On Sunday, Mohammadi also offered "to provide help to the Palestinians," according to Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki.
Gueit says Iran must remove the mural of Khaled el-Islambouli, who assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, and change the name of the street named after him before relations between the two countries can be normalized.
Egypt executed el-Islambouli, one of the army officers who opened fire on Sadat during a military parade in 1981.
Source: The Associated Press
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The Terrorists Funded by the WestBassam Tawil
The New Israel Fund and those who support it are helping terroristsRonn Torossian
Column one: Fighting fire with fireCaroline B. Glick
Op-Ed: There is no 'radical Islam' and there is no 'moderate Islam'Dr. Mordechai Kedar
'Narrow' escapesRuthie Blum
Why Palestinians Do Not Want Cameras on the Temple MountKhaled Abu Toameh
Social Media Killed My FatherYoni Kempinski and Ari Soffer
Iran's New Palestinian Terror Group: Al SabireenKhaled Abu Toameh


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OverUnder "Back Talk" Conversation
To introduce readers to some of the Street Artists in the upcoming show "Street Art Saved My Life: 39 New York Stories", BSA asked a number of the artists to take part in "Back Talk" with one of our most trusted and underground and sweet sources for modern art, Juxtapoz. Today we talk with OverUnder. […]
New Dan Witz On the Street, If You're Looking
Don't make love by the garden gate – Love is blind but the neighbors ain't! Looks like Street Artist Dan Witz has installed a large full length street version of "Hoodys Kissing" in this bricked alcove, but who will see it? The artist has mastered the art of camouflage, plainly laying out his work where […]
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Choose your path
While some in Congress are pushing the Federal Housing Finance Agency to let Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac recapitalize, a bipartisan coalition of senators is urging FHFA Director Mel Watt to let legislative efforts guide housing finance reform, HousingWire reported July 11.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency reported July 11 that an estimated 31,000 borrowers nationwide are eligible for a one-time principal reduction, with most of the homeowners concentrated in five states: Florida, Illinois, Ohio, New Jersey and New York.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on July 11 said it will increase scrutiny of the commercial real estate sector because credit risks are on the rise due to low interest rates, Reuters reported.
Officials in New York City on June 30 announced plans to purchase a limited number of delinquent loans from the Federal Housing Administration in what's being called a "first of its kind" program, HousingWire reported. The Community Restoration Program will oversee the purchase, which should help struggling residents avoid foreclosure.
The U.S. Census Bureau reported July 1 that construction spending in May was down 0.8 percent from April but multifamily residential construction increased 1.8 percent for the month and 23.9 percent year-over-year. Office construction was down 0.4 percent in May, but up 22.5 percent for the year.
The U.K.'s exit from the European Union could be a boon to U.S. commercial real estate as investors pull capital out of U.K. properties and seek other markets in which to invest, National Real Estate Investor reported June 24.
The U.S. Supreme Court announced June 28 that it will hear arguments during its next term about the city of Miami's ability to sue lenders Bank of America and Wells Fargo for alleged predatory lending, HousingWire reported.
Real estate appraisers who analyze detrimental conditions should properly select and apply available tools, use relevant market data to support opinions and conclusions, and avoid unproven or suspect methodologies, according to a new book by the Appraisal Institute.
Rent that is higher than the market rent for a property, known as excess rent, amounts to an intangible asset and should be specifically identified by real estate appraisers, according to an article published this week in The Appraisal Journal.
The White House on June 21 released regulations for drone usage, including issuing aircraft weight and flight restrictions. Commercial operators will need to be vetted by the Transportation Security Administration and have to pass an aeronautical knowledge exam at an FAA-approved test center.
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Wine Details
Wine Description
(From 2008 Vintage) There's tons of vibrant pure fruit on the nose and palate, with hints of spice for intrigue.
Winemaker's Notes
The 2010 Poppy Pinot is here! Poppy hails from Monterey, one of the coolest micro climates in California where the long, slow growing season results in a fragrant and supple Pinot that really stands out amongst the competition in the under $12 category. A long-standing staff and customer favorite, the 2010 Poppy Pinot leads with juicy strawberry and raspberry aromas in the nose, followed by a soft and silky palate with hints of baking spice on the finish. Fruity and easy to drink, this Pinot is perfect for entertaining or for Tuesday night takeout; it's delicious enjoyed on its own and will also complement a variety of dishes.
recommended by Gary SFWTC 13.5% alc good everyday wine
smokey, mild. good with fish/scallops
Had at 13.


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What Is a Stroke?
A stroke is a stop in bloodflow to the brain, usually by a blood clot. Brain cells in the vicinity of the blockage begin to die because they stop getting oxygen and nutrients from the blood. Approximately 87 percent of strokes are ischemic.
Stroke remains a leading cause of death in the United States. More than 700,000 strokes occur every year.
Who is at Risk?
Almost three-quarters of strokes occur in people over the age of 65 years. The risk of having a stroke doubles each decade after the age of 55 years.
Compared with other groups of people, African Americans face a greater risk of stroke, even at younger ages.
Smokers have double the risk of stroke than nonsmokers do. If you are a smoker, you should know that quitting smoking will greatly reduce your risk of stroke. Northwestern's Smoking Cessation Program can help. Consider contacting:
Northwestern Memorial's Smoking Cessation Program at
Northwestern Memorial's Health Learning Centers at nmh.org/nm/hlc or 312-926-5465.
Know the Symptoms
Sudden onset of symptoms, such as:
Contact Us
You can contact the Northwestern Stroke Center at 312-926-5188 or by the external transfer line at 312-926-3321.


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Crowe Horwath International
|This article contains content that is written like an advertisement. (September 2013) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
|Swiss Verein
Professional Services
Corporate Finance
Tax Planning
|1915 (Horwath & Horwath by Ernest and Edmund Horwath)
|New York, New York, United States
Key people
|Kevin McGrath, CEO
|Professional Services
Crowe Horwath International, ranked among the top 10 global accounting networks, consists of more than 200 independent accounting and advisory services firms in over 120 countries around the world. Crowe Horwath member firms are known for their local knowledge, expertise and experience balanced by an international reputation for the highest quality of service.[1] In 1915 Horwath Hotel, Tourism and Leisure consulting was founded, today its on the largest consulting organization specializing in the hospitality industry, with 50 offices in 39 countries.[2]
Crowe Chizek, was established in 1942 in South Bend, Ind., by Fred P. Crowe Sr. and Cletus F. Chizek. Previously, Crowe had worked in public accounting for many years and also served as the St. Joseph County auditor for eight years. Chizek was head of the accounting department at the University of Notre Dame and also worked part-time in public accounting. Following the death of Fred P.Crowe Sr. in 1952, Cletus F. Chizek reorganized the firm as Crowe, Chizek and Company and two firm personnel, M. Mendel Piser and Fred P. Crowe Jr., became partners. The first legal partnership of Crowe Chizek and Company was formulated in 1962 with six founding partners: Cletus F. Chizek, M. Mendel Piser, Fred P. Crowe Jr., Robert W. Green, Joseph A. Bauters and John J. Pairitz.
International Expansion and rise to a top 10 Accounting firm
In 1991 Crowe became a member of Horwath International, a worldwide organization of accounting and consulting firms. The affiliation provided the firm with local, professional experts located worldwide to aid in providing service to clients with international needs. In 1995, Crowe was named among the nation's 10 largest accounting and consulting firms by revenue, according to Public Accounting Report. Crowe has been named to this list each year since. In 1996, Crowe became an Limited Liability Partnership (LLP).
Recent History
In 2006 Crowe launched the Crowe Foundation, designed to coordinate and better focus the firm's charitable giving, while encouraging and supporting personnel's volunteer involvement. In 2007 Chuck Allen became Crowe's new CEO. Former CEO Mark Hildebrand remained with the firm and stepped into the new role of executive-in-charge of strategic alliances, while maintaining his role as chair of the board of Horwath International. Kevin McGrath was appointed Crowe's new COO. After 35 years with the firm, former COO Frank Arford retired from Crowe in order to take on a new role as CEO of Horwath International.
Name change to Crowe Horwath
The firm changed its name to Crowe Horwath in 2008 to strengthen its alignment with Horwath International and in 2009 Horwath International changed its name to Crowe Horwath International. The new name combined the international awareness of the Horwath brand with the United States awareness of Crowe Horwath LLP (Crowe), the network's largest member firm in the U.S.
Historically, Crowe is one of the fastest growing firms with an average annual growth rate of 17 percent over the past 40 years.[3]
Global structure[edit]
Crowe COO Kevin McGrath became CEO at Crowe Horwath International, effective July 1, 2012, following the retirement of former Crowe partner and Crowe Horwath International CEO Frank Arford. Crowe Horwath's headquarters and regional lead offices are located as follows: [4]
- World Headquarters & Office of the CEO - New York, United States
- Asia/Pacific Regional - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
- The Americas - Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Europe, Middle East and Africa - London, United Kingdom
- ^ The International Accounting Bulletin, January 2011
- ^ . Crowe Horwath http://www.crowehorwath.net/Horwath-HTL-Firms.aspx. Missing or empty
- ^ "Crowe Firm History". Crowe Horwath. May 2013.
- ^ "Crowe Horwath Offices". Crowe Horwath. 21 May 2013.
Further reading[edit]
Seglias, Fernando (2006). Caring Sharing Investing Growing - The Story of Horwath International. Horwath International.
Ferst, Stanley D.; Seif, Juan A. (1984). The History of Horwath & Horwath International, 1956-1983. Horwath & Horwath International.


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Are you a first time homeowner who has acquired somewhere that has a fireplace, or have you recently moved to an area that experiences colder temperatures and as a result would
Typically, a fireplace tool set it will come with a shovel, poker, broom and stand. Fireplace tools are available in wrought iron, brass, copper and steel All materials used are generally sturdy enough for use in your fireplace so it really would depend on your personal taste. It is important to remember that your fireplace tools are going to be used in an area that generates heat. Therefore, extra care must be exercised to prevent yourself from getting burned.
Pilgrim is one of the most popular manufacturers of fireplace tool sets and they have a few lines of tools to suit different types of home and homeowners' taste. The Napa Forge Collection of fireplace tool sets consists of hand forged tools that are created with a lot of attention to detail. The finish on the tools in this line is something to behold, and they carry a lifetime warranty. For those customers who would want functional fireplace tools that also project quality, the Napa Forge Collection is the perfect way to go.
Pilgrim also manufactures their Old World Collection fireplace tool set which gives a more authentic look that would normally be seen in the historic Victorian hearth. The Old World Collection tool set consists of items that are forged from solid steel stock, and they are also handcrafted and unique. The craftsmanship of the Old World Collection by Pilgrim is what makes it one of the best sold collections.
If you are interested in a fireplace tool set for the purpose of helping you get used to your fireplace and take care of it, then the Pilgrim lines are definitely ones to consider. Not only will you get top-quality products, but you will get attractive pieces that complement your fireplace well. Remember that the amount of care you give to your fireplace will determine how long it will last and how much outside maintenance you may or may not need.
For a great election of fireplaces, visit www.fireplaces4life.co.uk.


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The Third Maryland Volunteer Infantry Regiment lost 8 officers and 83 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded and 4 officers and 130 enlisted men to disease during the Civil War. It is is honored by a monuments at Antietam and Gettysburg.
|August –
February 16
|Companies A, B, C, D and H organized at Baltimore. Attached to Dix's Division, Baltimore, Md.
|4 Companies organized at Williamsport; assigned as Companies A, B, C and I; Original Companies A, B, C and D designated Companies D, E, F and G
|May 11
|Companies E, F, H and I broken up and distributed among Companies A, B, C, D and G; two Companies originally recruited for 4th Maryland Infantry assigned as Companies E and H. Two Companies recruited for Dix's Light Infantry were assigned as Companies I and K.
|May 11-23
|Duty at Baltimore, Md.
|May 24
|Moved to Harper's Ferry, W. Va. Assigned to 1st Brigade, Sigel's Division, Dept. of the Shenandoah
|May 28-30
|Defense of Harper's Ferry
|Attached to 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 2nd Corps, Pope's Army of Virginia; Operations in the Shenandoah Valley
|Attached to 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, 2nd Army Corps, Army of Virginia
|August 9
|Battle of Cedar Mountain
|August 16-
September 2
|Pope's Campaign in Northern Virginia
|August 21-23
|Fords of the Rappahannock
|August 24
|Sulphur Springs
|August 28-29
|Plains of Manassas (Reserve)
|August 30
|Battle of Bull Run (Reserve)
|Assigned to 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 12th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac
|September 1
|Battle of Chantilly
|September 6-22
|Maryland Campaign
|September 16-17
Battle of Antietam
The regiment was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Joseph M. Sudsburg. It brought 148 men to the field, losing one man killed, 25 wounded, and four missing in the fighting that brought it to the corner of the Dunker Church.
|September 22 – December 10
|Duty at Bolivar Heights
|October 15
|Company F organized at Euston, Md. for 9 months
|Assigned to 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 12th Army Corps
|October 24
|Lieutenant Colonel Sudsburg was promoted to colonel.
|November 9
|Reconnaissance to Rippen, W. Va.
|December 2-6
|Expedition to Winchester
|December 10-14
|Moved to Fredericksburg
|December 14
|At Stafford's Court House
|January 20-24
|"Mud March"
|April 27
|Chancellorsville Campaign
|May, 1863
|1st Brigade, 1st Division, 12th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac
|May 1-5
Battle of Chancellorsville
|June 11 – July 24
|Gettysburg Campaign
|July 1-3
Battle of Gettysburg
The regiment was commanded by Colonel Joseph M. Sudsburg. It brought 278 men to the field, losing one man killed and seven wounded.
From the monument on Culp's Hill at Gettysburg:
Occupied this position in reserve. Late in the afternoon moved to reinforce the left of the line, returning about 9 p.m. and finding the works occupied by the enemy.
July 3d Under fire in reserve, until about noon. Then occupied the works in front and held them until relieved. Losing in killed Capt. Henry Fenton, Company G. Wounded 1 officer and 6 men.
|July 5-24
|Pursuit of Lee
|July – September
|At Raccoon Ford
|September 2
|Company F mustered out
|September 24 –
October 4
|Moved to Brandy Station, thence to Bealeton and to Stevenson, Ala.; attached to Army of the Cumberland; Guard duty on Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad
|March – April
|Veterans on furlough March and April
Non-Veterans were assigned to the 1st Brigade, 1st Division, 20th Army Corps, Army of the Cumberland
Veterans returned from their furlough to be assigned to the 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac
Timeline for old members in the Army of the Cumberland in the Atlanta Campaign
|May 1 –
September 8
|Old members participated in Atlanta Campaign
|May 8-11
|Demonstration on Rocky Faced Ridge
|May 14-15
|Battle of Resaca
|May 19
|Near Cassville
|May 22-25
|Advance on Dallas
|May 25
|New Hope Church
|May 26-June 5
|Battles about Dallas, New Hope Church and Allatoona Hills
|June 10-July 2
|Operations about Marietta and against Kenesaw Mountain
|June 11-14
|Pine Mountain
|June 15-17
|Lost Mountain
|June 15
|Gilgal or Golgotha Church
|June 17
|Muddy Creek
|June 19
|Noyes Creek
|June 22
|Kolb's Farm
|June 27
|Assault on Kenesaw
|July 4
|Ruff's Station, Smyrna Camp Ground
|July 5-17
|Chattahoochie River
|July 19-20
|Peach Tree Creek
|July 22-August 25
|Siege of Atlanta
|August 26 –
September 2
|Operations at Chattahoochie River Bridge
|September 2
|Occupation of Atlanta
Timeline for Veterans in the Army of the Potomac
|Regiment joined 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 9th Army Corps, Army of the Potomac
|May 3 – June 15
|Campaign from the Rapidan to the James
|May 5-7
Battle of the Wilderness
|May 8-21
Spotsylvania Court House
|May 10
|Nye River
|May 12
|Assault on Salient
|May 21
|Ox Ford
|May 23-26
|North Anna River
|May 26-28
|On line of the Pamunkey
|May 28-31
|June 1
|1st Brigade, First Division, 9th Army Corps
|June 1-12
Cold Harbor
|June 1-3
|Bethesda Church
|June 16-18
|First Assault on Petersburg
|June 16
|Siege of Petersburg begins
|Attached to 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, 9th Army Corps
|July 30
|Mine Explosion, Petersburg
|August 18-21
|Weldon Railroad
|Attached to 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, 9th Army Corps
|September 29 –
October 2
|Poplar Grove Church
|October 27-28
|Boydton Plank Road, Hatcher's Run
|March 25
|Fort Steadman, Petersburg
|March 28
|Appomattox Campaign
|April 2
|Assault on and fall of Petersburg
|April 3
|Occupation of Petersburg
|April 3-9
|March to Farmville
|April 20-24
|Moved to Petersburg and City Point
|April 26-28
|To Alexandria
|May 23
|Grand Review
|May – July
|Duty in the Dept. of Washington
|July 31
|Mustered out


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Shimano Di2 Battery
$28.33 - $31.17
RRP $79.33Save 61%
Out of Stock
Code: SMBTR1
Shimano Di2 Battery for the Ultegra and Dura Ace Electronic systems
- Genuine Shimano Spares
- Di2 battery for the Ultegra 6700 and 6800 electronic groupsets plus the Dura Ace 9000 series
- Battery life of up to 500 charges
- Fits the regular external Di2 long and short battery mounts
- Last between 600 -1500 miles with a 1000 mile average between charges
- The battery has no charge memory so can be topped up every week if required.
Please enter your e-mail address below then click Notify Me to be notified when this item comes back into stock. We will not use your e-mail address for any other purpose.
Shipping charges for this item to United States: $6.80
Spend $68.00 or over and get free shipping
|$ 6.80
Mr GouldI love the Di2 on my Vitus Vitesse VRi and saw the price of a battery on Merlin was so good that it was time to buy a new one. I plan to carry the original battery in my saddlebag as a back up in the event that I forget to charge it.
Mr BelisoNo internal battery? Then go with this together with battery mount. It is smaller than you might think or see in the picture.
Mr BriandThe original worked for 4 years and it's still doing fine. I purchase this second one in case...
Mr McCaffertyIt's a battery. It works. Difficult to get excited but..usual shimano quality


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post #31 of 67
7/29/07 at 10:19pm
|With 1600 you can get an electrician to run dedicated lines for your audio
You could sell the amplifier, save the money from the cost of the power cord, and buy something even better-sounding for the $3,200 you'll have.
Just a thought: If you spend thousands on an amp, some of that money is going towards high quality internal wiring / PCB traces / transformers / the pieces of metal that move electricity around. Aren't power cords and interconnects in the same boat?
No, from what I understand they are not.Due to the construction of the power supply (e.g. the reservoir caps) the amp is somewhat isolated from the quality of the cables outside.
Naturally not all amps are created equal in this regard, but just plug your Rudistor off and you'll hear that the music still plays for a few seconds until the SQ deteriorates.Otherwise you'd have to worry about the crappy cables inside your walls and the even crappier cables to the next transformer station.
The improvement from Vishnu ($660) to Valhalla ($3000) was much bigger than stock to Vishnu.
I get better sound with Benchmark DAC1 ($975) + Valhalla than Cary 303/300 ($4000) + Vishnu. It's probably because the cheaper DAC is more sensitive to tweaks. The more expensive the gear is, the harder it is to change the sound.
With the same tweaks, DAC1 sounds better than Cary 303/300. Without any tweaks Cary sounds better. So in my experience, the more you spend on electronics the worse sound you get, because the tweaks aren't as effective then. If you want to hear a certain flavor of sound, cheap electronics + tweaks is the way to go.
I hear a bigger difference replacing the power cord for the computer than for my CD transport, because there is more jitter to begin with. If you don't have any jitter, it is harder to change the flavor.
You look like an idiot, if you ask me, mister attention whoring Duggeh wannabe.
|Holy crap your an idiot.
I'm gonna get in trouble for this one.
I have a dedicated line from my fuse box which is in the basement and maybe 6 feet from my electrical outlet in my listening area which is almost directly above. There are two other outlets connected to this line but they come after the sound system. And only one outlet is ever used. That for a 75 watt lamp next to my chair.
Here's the kicker. My sound quality improves when I turn off that lamp! It becomes less fuzzy and much tighter. Mind you this is for my MAD Ear+ Purist HD. My beta 22 will be here soon and it has a much better power supply so we'll see. I expect it won't make much difference. But for some amps, clean electricity can make a huge difference.
Yes, I believe in quality power cords. BUT I have maybe $3500 in my amp and source and $200 in used Audiomagic cords. My interconnects are a couple of steps above rat shack and cost $200. But I've tried many (admittedly nothing over $200 each) and find one doesn't need to spend big bucks on power cords and interconnects. You just need the right synergy. That takes time and experimentation, not necessarily money.
Yes, they make a difference and sometimes quite large. But spend an equal amount for them as for an amp? Nah...
You look like an idiot, if you ask me, mister attention whoring Duggeh wannabe.
What's with the name calling, because someone has a different opinion than you? At least Patrick explained his stance.
P.S. If you are going to call someone an idiot. Do it right. It is you're
WTH? How many ppl actually believe the B.S. that comes out of patrick's mouth.
Those of you who believe it are the True Audiophiles


text:
Register your nonprofit by 10.1.16 to participate in Georgia Gives Day 2016.
Click if you care! Support your favorite causes on 11.17.16.
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Keep up the good work CBWW! You are a great group of ladies and gents.
Thanks for your hard work and dedication. You help and motivate people to overcome and live healthy!
So proud of all you do; keep up the great work!
Thank you for helping the community!
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Choose a suggested amount below, or give whatever you want.
$10 - Could help transport a pregnant client to her prenatal care visits
$25 - Could help a woman get her mammogram
$50 - Could help support a youth in our leadership training program
$100 - Could help provide coaching sessions to a woman trying to become economically self sufficient
$ Other :
Make this donation:
Center for Black Women's Wellness, Inc.
477 Windsor Street, SW Suite 309 Atlanta, Georgia 30312
Summary: The Center for Black Women's Wellness (CBWW) is a community-based, non-profit organization committed to improving the health and well-being of Black women and their families, and the underserved.
Whether you have $10, $100, or $10,000 to give,
it all adds up! All donations to the 501(c)(3)
participating nonprofits on this website are tax-deductible.
Support questions?
Click here and submit a support ticket.
© Georgia Center for Nonprofits 2016. All rights reserved | Privac


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bajarmp3.net opened on 11.4.2011 and this domain is 5 years, 5 months old. We see that bajarmp3.net is using Google Adsense to monetize and , 132449 Alexa Rank and Country rank shows us how good and useful this site is.It is well known webmasters care about W3 Validator and fortunately W3 didn't find any error and warning on bajarmp3.net. It is important for every website to open quick and be smooth while surfing. We see this site opens in 918 milliseconds and it isn't a good score at all, you can make your site faster by compressing your scripts and stylesheets. bajarmp3.net registered under NAME.COM LLC and Its nameservers are ns1.bajarmp3.net and ns2.bajarmp3.net.On our researches we see bajarmp3.net gets visitors with these words : bajarmp3.net, bajar mp3, bajarmp3, netbajar.com, www.bajarmp3.net, bajarmp3.com, سکس. This website has 11 keywords, we think with these keywords and contents this website deserves much visitor and rank. We see bajarmp3.net doesn't have DMOZ record that is why we don't think this site is secure to surf but since DMOZ wants money to add your site to Dmoz we can't say this site is 100% secure or not.We see that your website gets most of the users with these missed types;gajarmp3.net, bjarmp3.net, bqajarmp3.net, baarmp3.net, bahjarmp3.net, bajrmp3.net, bajqarmp3.net, bajamp3.net, baja4rmp3.net, bajarp3.net,
Mostly to be successful, and to obtain top rankings or positions in the search engines.


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A son took his old father to a restaurant for an evening dinner. Father being very old and weak, while eating, dropped food on his shirt and trousers. Other diners watched him in disgust while his son was calm. After he finished eating, his son who was not at all embarrassed, quietly took him to
There once was a little boy who wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of root beer and started his journey. When he had gone about three blocks, he met an old woman. She was sitting in
Once upon a time, there was a man who was very helpful, kindhearted, and generous. He was a man who will help someone without asking anything to pay him back. He will help someone because he wants to and he loves to. One day while walking into a dusty road, this man saw a purse, so he
A doctor, a lawyer, a little boy and a priest were out for a Sunday afternoon flight on a small private plane. Suddenly, the plane developed engine trouble. In spite of the best efforts of the pilot, the plane started to go down. Finally, the pilot grabbed a parachute and yelled to the passengers that


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'So You Think You Can Dance' Performances Gallery: Week 3
Phillip struggled, Randi shook her butt and Janette became a rocker
Next gallery »Meet the 'Hell's Kitchen' Season 6 Chefs
« Previous galleryEmmy Nomination Preview 2009 - Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy
Jeanine Mason and Phillip Chbeeb of 'So You Think You Can Dance'
Jeanine and Phillip
Choreographer: Tyce Diorio, Broadway
Monkeys As Critics' Verdict: Phillip hitches a ride on Jeanine's hot tamale train... again
Fun facts: Phillip wants to invent things, and Jeanine likes acting. And right now I would like Phillip to invent some damn skills. I have completely lost my patience with this noodle head, who really doesn't deserve to be in the competition anymore, even if he can leap sofas in a single bound (which is, admittedly, pretty cool). I will say that Toasty Oreo (don't you like that better than Tyce Diorio? I know I do) did put Phillip in a no-win situation. Maybe most of the viewers haven't watched "Singin' in the Rain," but anyone who has knows that Donald O'Connor was one of the best dancers ever, ever, ever in Hollywood history. And Phillip actually kinda looks like him. The problem is, he doesn't dance like him. Not even close. And there he was with Jeanine, who already looks like she walked out of an old-timey movie, dancing circles around him. Even though I feel for him, that doesn't mean I still think he needs to be in the competition. But I suspect fans who like his personality will keep him around.
That kind of voting seems to be getting to Nigel, who basically said in so many words that Phillip, with the exception of the couch jump, isn't up to par though voters keep bringing him back, and Mary said point-blank the guy "didn't have the technique." Toni said they were adorable, but admitted that wasn't exactly high praise. Everyone agreed that the real star, other than Toasty Oreo's choreography, was Jeanine, and I'm guessing, even though Phillip deserves to be in the bottom, he won't be yet again, meaning someone more deserving will get the axe. But the good thing is I do now want to put "Singin' in the Rain" in my Netflix queue, and that's a happy warm feeling.


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Life Is Sweet For 93-Year-Old Bennison's BakerDo you have a recipe for success that will keep you going well into your 90's? CBS 2's Vince Gerasole introduces us to a baker who you might say takes the cake.
Chicagoans Scarf Down Paczkis For CharityPaczkis are a guilty pleasure for many Chicagoans just ahead of Ash Wednesday. But nine teams took it a step farther -- battling it out Saturday in a paczki-eating contest for charity in Evanston.