January 2013

Sandra Postel Addresses the Impact of Climate Change On Our Waters

Sandra Postel, an author and advocate for sustainable water use and the

inclusion of ecosystem needs in allocation of scarce water supplies, will be

the 10th speaker in a lecture series sponsored by the Freshwater Society and

the University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences. The lecture will

be at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013, in the theater of the Student Center on

the University's St. Paul campus.

The Freshwater Society interviewed Postel about her work, her goals for

the lecture and her hopes for the future. The following is a transcript of the

interview, edited for clarity and brevity:

Chloride in Our Water The February 7 Road Salt Symposium marks the 12th year the

Freshwater Society has brought together scientists and transportation

professionals to address chloride pollution in our waters.

This year, MPCA Commissioner John Linc Stine will deliver the

keynote address, The Future of MN Waters. Other speakers will

present current research on chloride pollution, toxicity of deicers and

offer solutions to protect our waters and halt chloride’s impacts. The

symposium will present information about the current state of chlorides

Sandra Postel

UPCOMING EVENTSThursday, February 712:00 - 1:00 pm12th Annual Road Salt Symposium

Tuessday, February 127:00 - 9:00 pmSandra Postel Lecture

Thursday, April 11

Ice Out/Loon In Fundraiser

Coming in May...The Connection Between Groundwater and Lakes, Streams and Wetlands

In this issueFrom the Desk of Joan Nephew . . . . . . . . . . .2

Ice OUT/Loon IN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Weatherguide Calendars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

What Can I Do? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Weather Facts and Photo from MN Weatherguide Environment CalendarMonthly Normals: Temp. Max: 23.7 F Min: 7.5 F Precip. .9 in. Snowfall 12.1 in.

Male Northern Cardinal by Michael R. Cervantes

FACETS of Freshwater

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Chloride in Our Water continued from pg. 1

4 | FACETS OF FRESHWATER www.freshwater.org

Tips for conserving and protecting water in the winter

WHAT CAN I DO?

Continues on page 4

in MN waters and provide innovative tools and

new methods to help repair our waters and

sustain our resources – while maintaining

safe roads! If your transportation department

is looking for solutions, your waterways are

threatened by chlorides, you want to educate

your citizens, or you are looking to do your part

to protect our waters – you won’t want to miss

this symposium! Stopping chloride pollution is

everyone’s responsibility.

AGENDA HIGHLIGHTS:

• Keynote from John Linc Stine, MPCA

Commissioner

• New Research on Toxicity of Deicing

Chemicals

• Snow Fence Calculator

• MI Bounce and Scatter Study

• Results of New Study: Effectiveness of Deicers

and Anti-icers

• Winter Operations Assessment Tool

• MPCA’s Water Protection Goals

• 2013 Environmental Leadership Awards!

Attendees will earn Road Scholar Credits

REGISTRATION:

Register now on-line and pay by credit card or

request to be invoiced or call Jeanne at 952-314-

8133 or e-mail: jeanne@freshwater.org

Please register by February 1, 2013. Cost for the

day is $125 ($85 for seniors and students) which

includes a continental breakfast and buffet lunch.

Entrance into the Arboretum is complimentary.

A refund of the registration fee (minus $25)

will be given for cancellations received up to 5

business days prior to the event. For cancellations

received beyond 5 business days, but 24 hours

prior to the event, 50% will be refunded. No

refunds are issued if the registration was not

cancelled.

DIRECTIONS:

U of MN Landscape Arboretum

675 Arboretum Way, Chaska, MN 55318

952-443-1400

Located 9 miles west of I-494 on State Hwy. 5; 4

miles west of Chanhassen on Hwy. 5; and ¼ mile

west of the intersection of State Hwy. 41 on Hwy

5. Convenient lodging is available at Country Inn

and Suites, Chanhassen, MN 55317.

• Winter is the perfect time to research and map out the best way to be water wise with your

landscaping. Consider adding a rain barrel this year.

• If you’re remodeling or replacing appliances or electronics, look for products with the Energy

Star label when you shop. Many electronics even use energy when they’re “off” to power

continuous displays or remote controls. Replacing old items with energy efficient models will

not only help prevent greenhouse gas emissions, but save money on your energy bills.

• Start 2013 with a leak inspection of all your water using appliances and fixtures. Turn off all of

your appliances and then check your meter to see whether you have a leak.

Snow and Ice:

• Shovel. The more snow and ice you remove manually, the less salt you will have to use and the

more effective it can be. Whether you use a shovel, snow blower, snow plow, or ice scraper,

get out there as early as you can and keep up with the storm. You may even decide that salt

isn’t needed.

• 15°F is too cold for salt. Most salts stop working at this temperature. Use sand instead for

traction, but remember that sand does not melt ice.

• Slow down. Drive for the conditions and make sure to give plow drivers plenty of space to do

their work.

• Be patient. Just because you don’t see salt on the road doesn’t mean it hasn’t been applied.

These products take time to work.

• More salt does not mean more melting. Use less than 4 pounds of salt per 1,000 square feet

(an average parking space is about 150 square feet). One pound of salt is approximately a

heaping 12-ounce coffee mug. Consider purchasing a hand-held spreader to help you apply a

consistent amount.

• Sweep up extra. If salt or sand is visible on dry pavement it is no longer doing any work and

will be washed away. Use this salt or sand somewhere else or throw it away.

• ImprovedWinterMaintenance:GoodChoicesforCleanWater provides more tips to

homeowners about more environmentally friendly snow and ice removal. Provided by MPCA

John Linc Stine

Climate Change - What will the future hold?Modern scientists are looking back at the writings of Henry David

Thoreau, Aldo Leopold and other naturalists to measure nature's response

to climate change. The National Climate Assessment Report predicts

higher temperatures and increased frequency of heavy rainfalls that will

affect Minnesota’s water quality, agriculture, health, northern forests,

and infrastructure. 2012 was the hottest year on record in the U.S. and

may be the harbinger of years ahead. Looking for clues in the historical

writing of Thoreau and Leopold, scientists gleaned information on the

adaptation of spring flowers to warmer temperatures – the High Bush

Blueberry now flowers 5-6 weeks earlier than in Thoreau's time. The National Climate Assessment report

recently released, predicts the average temperature in Minnesota will increase five degrees by mid-century

and the increase in frequent heavy rainfalls will cause erosion and declining water quality. Come hear

best-selling author and National Geographic Freshwater Fellow Sandra Postel address the water impacts

of Climate Change at the University of Minnesota, Feb 12. Her talk Will we Have Enough Water? Adapting

to a Warming, Water-Stressed World is sponsored by the Freshwater Society, UMN College of Biological

Sciences and the Mosaic Company Foundation.

Joan Nephew

The Freshwater Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating and inspiring people to value, conserve and protect water resources.

Board of Directors Tom Skramstad, Chair

Stuart E. Grubb, Vice Chair

Barbara Luikens, MD, Secretary

Rick Bateson, Treasurer

Todd Bolin

Blyth Berg Brookman

Richard S. Caldecott, PhD, Emeritus Director

Robert Elde, PhD, Emeritus Director

Richard G. Gray, Sr., D.Sc.

JoEllen L. Hurr, Emeritus Director

David Knoblauch

Jim Manolis, PhD

Lili Tod McMillan

Darby Nelson, PhD

Corrine Ricard

Lisa Whalen

Staff Gene Merriam, President

Joan Nephew, Executive Director

Scott Branch, Operations Assistant

Deirdre Coleman, Administrative Assistant

Peggy Knapp, Director of Programs

Diane Lynch, Development Director/Sr. Mgr.

Chris Prok, Operations Manager

Jeanne Prok, Program Manager

Patrick Sweeney, Comm./Research Director

Facets of Freshwater is published by the Freshwater Society.

For permission to reprint, contact us at: 2500 Shadywood Road, Excelsior, MN 55331, 952-471-9773 or at freshwater@freshwater.org.

Visit the Freshwater Society web site at www.freshwater.org.

Ice OUT/Loon INAs the official caller of the “ice out” on Lake

Minnetonka since 1968, the Freshwater Society

heralds the spring return of Minnesota’s iconic state bird

with the ice out and celebrates both spring time rituals.

This year's third annual Ice OUT/Loon IN FUN-raiser will be held on Thursday, April 11 from

6:00-9:00 p.m. at the Lakeside Lafayette Club in Minnetonka Beach and it is expected to attract

over 200 guests who will connect with their friends and colleagues over festive drinks and mouth-

watering appetizers, purchase raffle tickets for exciting prizes, compete for the best Loon Call and

bid on over 150 intriguing and entertaining Silent Auction items.

This year will feature a Live Auction, a presentation about Freshwater Society’s water protection

programs, and the first annual Environmental Community Award will be presented in recognition of

community leadership in water protection. Tickets are $50 for one or $85 for two tickets. Purchase

of a table will be available.

Paul Huttner, MPR meteorologist and author of MPR’s Updraft Blog will be the emcee.

On Lake Minnetonka, the ice is designated as “out” when it is possible to travel by small boat

from any one shore to another shore through any passage on the lake. Last year, the official Ice Out

was called by the Freshwater Society on March 21 at 9:12 a.m.

Stay tuned for registration information on our website. Until then, to inquire about being a

sponsor of the event or donating a silent auction item, please call Diane Lynch, Director of

Development, at 952-314-8134 or dlynch@freshwater.org.

Sandra Postel Interview continued from pg. 1

What’s your story? Where did you grow up? What was your education?

How did you get interested in water?

I grew up on Long Island in New York. I was a beach kid, growing up near

the ocean. In school, I studied geology and political science and resource

management and ecology. I got very interested in ecosystems, wetlands and

freshwater, particularly in graduate school. Then, my first job out of graduate

school was with a natural resources consulting firm, and I was pretty much put

on the freshwater detail. Three years after that, a major opportunity opened up

to take on the global water portfolio at the World Watch Institute in Washington,

where I spent the next 11 years and really developed my understanding,

developed a research capacity, in fresh water.

You’ve written or co-written three books on water. Give us just a one- or

two-sentence summary of each of those books, please.

The first book, Last Oasis: Facing Water Scarcity, was one of the early books to

sound a warning about the global implications of water scarcity. I had a lot of pride in

that book because I think that it put water scarcity a little bit on the map in a global

sense. That book is now translated into maybe eight or nine different languages and

it’s been made into a PBS documentary, so it has reached the public.

The next book, Pillar of Sand: Can the Irrigation Miracle Last?, is a look at the

history and sustainability of irrigated agriculture, pointing out that, historically,

irrigation civilizations have failed. It was asking the question: Will ours be any

different? It pointed to groundwater over-pumping, salinization of soils, extinction

of rivers – those kinds of threats – as well as pointing toward solutions.

The third water book was, Rivers for Life: Managing Water for People and Nature,

which was a bit more technical, but still highly readable. It focused on river

management, how we can operate our dams and manage rivers with ecosystem

health in mind. It examined how we can put ecosystem health into the equation

of how we manage rivers and pointed out successes where that has been done

and the kind of policies we need.

You founded the Global Water Policy Project. What is that and what does

it do?

I founded the Global Water Policy Project in 1994 when I left the World Watch

Institute. The Global Water Policy Project promotes the preservation and sustainable

use of the Earth’s fresh water. That’s done through research, writings, outreach

and public speaking. The idea is to foster ideas, innovation, inspiration for

redirecting how we use and manage fresh water toward conservation and

preservation of ecosystem health.

Tell us about your involvement with the National Geographic Society.

National Geographic appointed me to be their Freshwater Fellow in 2010. I

head up their Freshwater Initiative. The goals of the Initiative are to educate and

engage the public on issues related to fresh water, helping people understand

water scarcity, helping people understand their own water footprint and what

they can do in their own lives and through their own actions to be part of the

solution, understanding how they can conserve water.

On the ground, we’re working to restore flows to critical ecosystems in the

Colorado River Basin. It’s quite an innovative effort to get real gallons of water

back to ecosystems throughout the basin. That campaign will be launched in a

more formal way in early 2013. But we’ve already done one project, and a very

successful one.

The title of your lecture here is, “Will We have Enough Water: Adapting to

a Warming, Water-Stressed World.” In a few words, what’s going to be your

core message for the audience here?

The core message of my talk will be that we’ve entered a new phase in our

relationship with water that leads to water scarcity. In part, it is due to population

growth and rising consumption, and now, increasingly, due to climate change.

We’re going to need a different set of actions, policies, tools, from

individuals, to communities, to state governments, to national governments

and internationally, to address these challenges in a meaningful way. That will

be the basic core of my talk: What the issues are, what the challenges are, and

how we can begin to address them. We are facing 8 billion people by 2025, 9

billion by 2050. How are we going to meet the water, food, and energy needs

of a population that large if we don’t have healthy ecosystems to support our

economies and the rest of life on the planet?

In 2010, you wrote an article for the Post-Carbon Institute and you

offered a percentage for the increase in water productivity the world needs

to achieve by 2025 to be sustainable. What was that percentage, and what

do you mean by “water productivity”?

Water productivity is the value or benefit we’re getting from every gallon of

water we extract from the natural environment. If we’re going to have any

chance of meeting the needs for water, energy, food, for 9 billion people, we’re

going to have to dramatically increase water productivity.

My sense is that we’re going to need at least a doubling of water productivity

by 2025, and that beyond that, tripling, quadrupling. Those are obviously very

rough numbers – who knows what we’re going to need – but we’re going to

need a really dramatic increase in the value per unit of water we extract from

the natural world.

We’re running out of water in so many places. Groundwater is over-tapped,

rivers are running dry. So the supplies are just not there for tapping in the way

we have in the past. We need to make sure each gallon is giving us more

nutritional productivity and more economic productivity. Unleashing technology,

policy and innovation is necessary to help us do that.

2 | FACETS OF FRESHWATER www.freshwater.org FACETS OF FRESHWATER | 3

From the desk of Joan Nephew Freshwater Society Executive Director

Hurry! Purchase your Weatherguide Calendar before we run out.

Ice OUTApril 11, 2013

Loon I N

To read more of the interview go to www.freshwater.org

To order: Call 952-471-9773, go online to www.freshwater.org or order from the FREE Minnesota Weatherguide mobile app!

All calendar proceeds help us continue our programs as we WORK FOR WATER!