More floods, more often
January 7, 2011

A report sent to the governor and Iowa legislature this week says that Iowa is already being affected by changes in the climate that are causing summer storms to become more intense, leading to more serious and more frequent flooding, as well as increased water pollution from runoff. The report notes that autumns have become significantly drier and springs significantly wetter over the last century or so, and the trend appears to be continuing. As the report notes, the changes are occuring, whether they're caused by human behavior or not, and as a result, everyone ought to be able to agree that some measures need to be taken to mitigate the impact -- whether or not there is agreement on whether to mitigate the cause.

The effects are largely concentrated in areas of specific concern to our industry, with stormwater control equipment and municipal water treatment requiring particular attention, since the additional pollution created by the additional rainfall is non-point-source, but has concentrated effects at well sites.

January 2011
1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 31




last revised January 2011