It is one of the most graphic temperature increases on the planet. — Lake Superior surface waters are warmest on record, Duluth News Tribune, August 13, 2010

X“If the Kalabagh dam had been built, this flood could have been tamed in the reservoir.” — Shams-ul Mulk, former chief of Pakistan’s Water and Power Development Authority, Pakistan floods renew debate over unbuilt dam, Wall Street Journal, August 11, 2010

“Their crops have gone, their livestock has gone, the infrastructure, the roads are gone. Right now our land link with the rest of the country is gone.” Punjab regional assemblyman Mohsin Leghari, Pakistan floods cause ‘huge losses’ to crops, BBC News, August 12, 2010

Swimming in the rivers that feed the Chesapeake Bay after a hard rain could be as hazardous to your health as hopping into an unflushed toilet. — Swimming holes awash in bacteria, The Capital, August 8, 2010

“So we’ve put this totally natural process into a stainless steel tube where the body is washed for about four hours; it’s the same natural breakdown of tissue, just at a faster rate, and even the Catholic church has now approved it.” — John Humphries, chief executive, Aquamation Industries, on a new name for resomaton or alkaline hydrolysis or dissolving a body in lye, Queenslanders can now have a water grave with ‘aquamation’ centre opening on the Gold Coast, Australian Courier-Mail, August 12, 2010

The process, though approved by moral arbiters, was considered unpleasant to think about, and prone to being made fun of in the press as ‘sending your loved one down the drain.’ — ‘Aquamation’: What’s in a name?, The Daily Undertaker, August 12, 2010

“The cuts that they have proposed are not big enough.” — Tim Barnett, Scripps Institution of Oceanography researcher on the 2007 shortage-sharing agreement struck by the seven states on the Colorado River, Lake Mead’s water level plunges as 11-year drought lingers, New York Times Greenwire, August 13, 2010

Each 100,000 acre-feet of water adds about one foot to Lake Mead, and even a single foot could prove crucial as the lake level drops closer to a trigger point for a shortage declaration. — Mexico, US talking about Colorado River water, AP / Denver Post, August 14, 2010

“Is the problem the lack of will of voters or the lack of will with this Assembly to muster up the courage to go out and make the hard sell for something we all know we desperately need?” — Assemblyman Anthony Adams (R-Hesperia), California water bond pushed back to 2012, Los Angeles Times, August 10, 2010

About $3 billion of the money would have gone toward water storage in reservoirs. Another $2.25 billion was slated for Delta environmental improvements and $1.7 billion for ecosystem protection and restoration projects. There was $1.25 billion for water recycling and treatment and $1.4 billion for water management projects. — Good idea to delay water bond proposal, Contra Costa Times editorial, August 11, 2010

Revelations that mega-farmer and water tycoon Stewart Resnick could benefit from the bond had become a liability that the governor and other pro-bond politicians wanted to neutralize. — Dan Walters: Water bond violated unwritten Capitol rule, The Sacaramento Bee, August 11, 2010

If fully spent sometime after 2015, the bond would cost the general fund $765 million a year until it is paid off around 2050, according to the Legislative Analyst’s Office. With interest payments, the bond ultimately will cost taxpayers about $22 billion. — Legislature delays water bond to ’12 ballot; Backers feared rejection in November vote, Legislature delays water bond to 2012 ballot, San Francisco Chronicle, August 10, 2010

“It wasn’t made to extend Governor Schwarzenegger’s reach.” — Schwarzenegger spokesman Jeff Macedo on the lengthening of the terms of nine water commissioners appointed by the governor, California puts off huge water-upgrade effort, Wall Street Journal, August 11, 2010

Pulling the bond is not the end of the Legislature’s responsibility around water, it is the beginning. — Pacific Institute president Peter Gleick, Massive water bond delayed: Back to more realistic options, The San Francisco Chronicle, August 10, 2010

Where were their leaders to point out in advance the size of the risk they were taking on, and urging them to take precautions before the conflagration hit? — On the public record blog on Russia’s peat fires, Shocked, shocked, August 12, 2010

Indianapolis is selling its water and sewer systems to a public trust to get money for crumbling streets and bridges. San Jose, Calif., fresh from cutting 49 firefighters, might take its water utility private. “Excess” tap water in Sacramento, Calif., is helping supply a Nestlé SA bottling plant. — Cash flows in water deals, Wall Street Journal, August 12, 2010

“…we know that if you only do it twice a week in the hottest moments that grass just won’t survive. It’s not good for our oxygen, it’s not good for our carbon footprint, it’s not good for our heat island effect of this city. So 3 days for more types of plants does in the experts I talked to does put that forward.” — Los Angeles City Council President and rumored mayoral hopeful Eric Garcetti on why he wants to abandon the city’s two day watering regime, Arguing with drunks, Chance of Rain, August 12, 2010

Best Friends Pet Resort, scheduled to open Aug. 27, will offer not just boarding, but also bedtime stories and a water park for dogs. — Disney World opening luxury pet resort this month, AP / The Florida Times-Union, August 4, 2010

For a full round-up of California water news, go to Aquafornia, the newsfeed of the Water Education Foundation, or to UC Berkeley’s On Water. For San Diego water news, try Groksurf’s San Diego. Or, for all things fresh water, do check in with WaterWired. New to this site’s water blog roll is “Downstream,” a portal dedicated to water news from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. Do investigate it.





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