The AWRA Spring Specialty Conference 'Managing Water Resources and Development in a Changing Climate' will be held on 4-6 May 2009 in Anchorage, AK. Abstracts are due by 5 December 2008. For more info, visit: http://www.awra.org/meetings/Anchorage2009/index.html

Beastie Boy Adam Yauch defends his attack on Nestle in his new film FLOW: For Love Of Water.

See this slide show from the Christian Science Monitor.

The effects of climate change on watersheds will be a major focus of the 2008 Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board Conference Nov. 5-7 in Eugene. The event also will feature concentrated workshop series on invasive species, organization management, community engagement and restoration project management. The biennial event will feature keynote speakers and numerous workshop sessions on the impacts of climate change for Oregon’s watersheds. The theme for the conference is Working for Healthy Watersheds-Climate Change and Watershed Resilience. The event will be held at the Eugene Hilton and Conference Center. Registration for the event will open in September. Call 503-986-0178 or visit:http://www.oregon.gov/OWEB/biennialconference_08.shtml

Sarah Bates, one of the best thinkers on the Western USA land-water disconnect, has just published a short article on this topic. She promises a longer piece later,in which she will explore some remedies. T. Boone Pickens, who made his money in oil, now believes that water is the new oil. Read about his plan to pump water from beneath his Texas ranch and sell it to cities in this BusinessWeek cover story.

Now available: the June 2008 issue of the H2OSU Newsletter from Oregon State University's Institute for Water and Watersheds.

The program and registration information for the aforementioned conference, to be held in Portland, Oregon, 13-14 October 2008, is available at: aquadoc.typepad.com/waterwired/2008/06/nonrenewable-ground-water-conference-program-registration-available.html

The USGS is scoping out its Water for America Initiative and is seeking stakeholder input. To learn more about the initiative and see how to provide input, visit:water.usgs.gov/wsi/

Three cheers for NASA, JPL and the University of Arizona! Landing on Mars is very difficult and only about half the attempts have succeeded. Landing the Phoenix was especially challenging. They did it. Now for the really interesting sampling and analysis. www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/

Real time water-quality data are now easily accessible online through the USGS WaterQualityWatch website: water.usgs.gov/waterwatch/wqwatch/ Real-time water quality measurements are available at more than 1,300 sites across the United States in streams with watersheds as small as a few square miles to more than a million square miles in the Mississippi River. Measurements include streamflow, water temperature, specific conductance, pH, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity

The May/June 2008 issue of the Journal of Environmental Quality features papers by USGS authors describing in-depth studies in five agricultural watersheds across the USA. Papers can be accessed by selecting 'Special Submissions' at: jeq.scijournals.org/content/vol37/issue3/. Contact Pixie Hamiltion (pahamilt@usgs.gov) for more information.

You can download this issue, and previous ones, free at www.swhydro.arizona.edu/

Water students at the University of California-Davis have created a water 'blog' www.siswebs.org/water/. It's actually more a social bookmarking WWW site for the water resources community than a traditional blog. All can particpate.

EPA's Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds released a online document this week to help communities, watershed organizations, and local, state, tribal, and federal environmental agencies develop and implement watershed plans to meet water quality standards and protect water resources.Visit: www.epa.gov/owow/nps/watershed_handbook/

For those of you interested in water, sanitation, and waste issues in developing countries, the quarterly UK journal Waterlines recently unveiled its new look with the January 2008 issue. It is now a refereed journal, with full-length peer-reviewed articles, book reviews, online access, etc. I have found this to be an invaluable publication, and it looks to be even better now. Get all the information at:practicalactionpublishing.org/

If you decide to subscribe, use your home address. If you put your work address down, they will charge you the institutional rate, which is double the personal rate.

Today - April 25 - is world World Malaria Day. This is a disease that we in the USA don't think much about - it's been virtually eradicated from the USA for many years. But in the developing world, it is a scourge; 3,000 children per day die from this disease, most of them in Africa.This is a preventable disease - a device as simple as a bed screen (mosquito net) works wonders.Visit the WWW site to see what you can do.www.rbm.who.int/worldmalariaday/

Oregon State University is offering a new Professional/Graduate Certificate in Water Conflict Management and Transformation. This program is designed to provide decision-makers and water professionals with the required specialized resources and skills that go beyond the traditional physical systems approach to water resources management. It will explicitly integrate human, policy and scientific dimensions of water resources within the framework of governance and sustainability. Visit: www.transboundarywaters.orst.edu/new/training/certificate.html

Brown and Caldwell has published a special Earth Day edition of its Water News: www.bcwaternews.com/NationalWaterNews/earthday/EarthDay2008.htm

The American Bar Association's Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources recognizes the following paper submissions as the Best Papers prepared for the 37th Annual Conference on Environmental Law (Keystone), 26th Annual Water Law Conference, 15th Section Fall Meeting, and the 36th Annual Conference on Environmental Law. Each author was presented with a certificate of recognition and a Section publication as a token of appreciation for their outstanding submissions. You can see the papers and download them free here:www.abanet.org/environ/best/

The final report of the Snake-Columbia Basin Energy-Water Summit held in late June 2007 has been released and is available at:aquadoc.typepad.com/waterwired/2008/04/snake-columbia.html

The American Water Resources Association's (www.awra.org) Summer Specialty Conference will be held in Virginia Beach, VA, June 30 - July 2, 2008. Information and the preliminary program are available here: www.awra.org/meetings/Virginia_Beach2008/

The April 2008 issue of H2OSU, the newsletter of the Institute for Water and Watersheds at Oregon State University, is now available at water.oregonstate.edu/newsletter/20080401.htm

From Tara Lohan (tara@alternet.org), Managing Editor of AlterNet:

On the heels of World Water Day last week, we launched AlterNet's new free weekly email newsletter dedicated to water issues. You can sign up here and get the latest news, commentary, video and more in your inbox every Thursday. Thanks to those of you who have already joined and please feel free to email me with story ideas and other feedback.You can also sign up here for AlterNet's weekly environment newsletter.View AlterNet's water page and environment page.

An online, user-friendly map that tracks flood conditions has been developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).As expected rains drive flood waters higher along the Mississippi River Valley, USGS crews are in the field collecting data needed to update the flood maps, prepare forecasts, manage the flood and warn communities.This new system is part of the USGS WaterWatch suite of web-based streamflow and can be accessed at:water.usgs.gov/waterwatch/

For the complete story, visit aquadoc.typepad.com/waterwired/2008/04/bush-administra.html

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking public comment on a draft strategy that describes the potential effects of climate change on clean water, drinking water, and ocean protection programs and outlines EPA actions to respond to these effects. Visit the National Water Program Strategy: Response to Climate Change www.epa.gov/water/climatechange/. For more information contact Roxanne Smith at 202 564 4355 or smith.roxanne@epa.gov. The comment period is open for 60 days.

Read full article: 'EPA Seeks Comments on Water Strategy in Response to Climate Change' (753 bytes more)

USGS, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), has released an online report on the occurrence of 11 priority water-quality constituents of possible health concern in domestic wells located in 16 States across the USA (pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2007/5213/)

The 20 March 2008 issue of Naturewww.nature.com/news/specials/water/index.html is entitled Water: Under Pressure. You may have to pay for full article access/downloads.

Read full article: ''Nature' Special Issue - Water: Under Pressure' (2096 bytes more)

Tony Allan of King's College London has been awarded the 2008 Stockholm Water Prize, considered by many to be water's Nobel Prize. Allan developed the concent of "virtual water" (www.worldwatercouncil.org/index.php) in 1993. Read more:www.siwi.org/sa/node.asp