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July 1, 2002The "Fuzzy Math" of Fluoride Promotion By Paul Connett, PhD (ggvideo@northnet.org) Many of you may have probably heard the term "fuzzy math" before. It is a term used to describe a somewhat controversial method of teaching math where the answers do not have to be EXACTLY right. But at the very least, they are supposed to be close. Unfortunately, many of those promoting the practice of water fluoridation would fail to meet even these basic "fuzzy math" guidelines, with methods better described as "hairy" than "fuzzy". And "fuzzy math" is supposed to be a temporary teaching tool...

The Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced the first full water supply allocation since 2006, benefiting 27 million residents across California after a record winter. With reservoirs nearing capacity and snowmelt runoff starting to occur, DWR now expects to deliver 100 percent of requested water supplies, up from just 5 percent announced before the record-breaking winter. The Department of Water Resources (DWR) announced this week that it would deliver 100% of the requested water supplies to cities and agricultural operations across California. This marks the first time since 2006 that the state’s canals, pumps, and reservoirs have been able to...

While Americans were focused on a Chinese spy balloon making its way across the country, the Biden administration quietly released an al Qaeda terrorist radicalized by the September 11 attacks from Guantanamo Bay. The Pentagon announced on Thursday that Majid Khan, 42, was moved to Belize after spending 16 years in CIA custody. Authorities have maintained he was a close personal ally of al Qaeda leader Khalid Sheikh Mohammed who helped deliver money and transport other senior terrorists. And under Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's plans, Khan would have attacked US gas stations and water reservoirs.

As of Monday, California’s snow water equivalent is 199% of normal for this date (January 9), according to the California Department of Water Resources. The Southern Sierra is 222% of normal. The Central Sierra is 201% while the Northern Sierra/Trinity is 173%. The snowpack outlook is also promising along the crucial Colorado River basins which feed Lake Powell and Lake Mead and is Southern California’s primary source of drinking water. Snow water equivalent in the Rockies generally range from 117% to 176% of normal.

California’s State Water Resources Control Board, (AKA the State Board), has released a draft of its Racial Equity Action Plan and is soliciting public comments. The board is one of the more powerful of California’s bureaucracies. Members are appointed by the governor and according to its website, “...the five-member State Water Board allocates water rights, adjudicates water right disputes, develops statewide water protection plans, establishes water quality standards, and guides the nine Regional Water Quality Control Boards.” According to Executive Director Eileen Sobeck, “There could not be a more critical challenge facing us at this time than the challenge of...

A previously sunken World War II-era landing craft that once was 185 feet below the surface of Lake Mead, is being exposed as waters keep shrinking. The Higgins landing craft is nearly two-thirds exposed. It is beached less than a mile from Lake Mead Marina and Hemenway Harbor. The boat was used to survey the Colorado River decades ago, then was sold to a marina and eventually used as an anchor for a breakwater in the sediment, according to D.J. Jenner of Las Vegas Scuba, which conducts various tour dives on the lake, previously including the sunken boat. National Park...

The Colorado River’s reservoirs have diminished to the point that significant cuts to the water supplied to the seven states that rely on it will be necessary next year, a federal official warned Tuesday. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee maintaining “critical levels” at the largest reservoirs in the United States — Lake Mead and Lake Powell — will require large reductions in water deliveries.

As the West endures another year of unrelenting drought worsened by climate change, the Colorado River’s reservoirs have declined so low that major water cuts will be necessary next year to reduce risks of supplies reaching perilously low levels, a top federal water official said Tuesday. Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Camille Calimlim Touton said during a Senate hearing in Washington that federal officials now believe protecting “critical levels” at the country’s largest reservoirs — Lake Mead and Lake Powell — will require much larger reductions in water deliveries. “A warmer, drier West is what we are seeing today,” Touton told...

Lake Mead is a reservoir is Nevada and Arizona, relied upon for example by the city of Las Vegas for drinking water. Last year, its water level was significantly lower than previous years. This year, it’s even lower. This is dramatic… If the trend does continue for the next two decades as it has been going on for the past two, it seems like things aren’t looking optimal for the Colorado river, the largest water reservoir by capacty in the US, and the Hoover Dam hydroelectric power plant. Lake Mead fell about 7 feet in May. I expect June will...

All across California, residents are being told to scrimp and save water because of historic drought conditions. Meanwhile, state officials are dumping freshwater into the ocean while intentionally depriving rice farmers of the water they need to grow food. Colusa County in Northern California is the top producer of rice in the Sacramento Valley. The area generates more than 150,000 acres of rice in a normal year – but as you can probably tell by now, 2022 is anything but a normal year. Officials there say that only a fraction of the usual rice crop will be grown there this...

Federal authorities arrested a 27-year-old accused white supremacist who allegedly planned to bomb a synagogue in Colorado over the weekend. Richard Holzer had brought a knife and a mask to a motel room and was examining inert pipe bombs prepared by undercover agents moments before he was arrested late Friday night, according to a criminal complaint. He also said he paid a "witch doctor" $70 to put arsenic in the water pipes of the synagogue and "hex" the place last year, according to the complaint.

U.S. law enforcement officials are investigating a hacker’s unsuccessful attempt to tamper with a Florida city’s water supply, an event that cybersecurity professionals view as yet another wake-up call that should cause the government to examine its role in protecting critical infrastructure from more skillful attackers. On Monday, local officials from the city of Oldsmar and the surrounding Pinellas county said a “bad actor” used software that provides remote access to a public water treatment facility to increase the level of sodium hydroxide—the main ingredient in drain cleaners, which is used in small quantities to adjust pH levels—to a dangerous...

A hacker recently tried to poison a Florida city’s water supply, police announced Monday. Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said someone remotely accessed a computer system that controls the City of Oldsmar’s water treatment facility on Friday. The unidentified person increased the amount of sodium hydroxide being distributed into the city’s drinking water to a “dangerous” level, Gualtieri said at a press conference. The chemical, also known as lye, is used in small amounts to control the water’s acidity — but can be deadly if ingested in large quantities. A worker at the plant immediately noticed the change and reversed...

Israel was responsible for two blasts at Iranian facilities — one related to uranium enrichment, the other for missile production — over the past week, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported Friday. The Al-Jareeda daily cited an unnamed senior source as saying that an Israeli cyberattack caused a fire and explosion at the largely underground Natanz nuclear enrichment facility in the predawn hours of Thursday morning. According to the source, this was expected to set back Iran’s nuclear enrichment program by approximately two months. The newspaper also reported that last Friday Israeli F-35 stealth fighter jets bombed a site located in the...

If you visit Lake Tahoe this summer, the beaches might seem a little smaller than they were a few years ago. It’s not an optical illusion. Large sections of them really are underwater.

When you pay premium prices, you expect a premium product — but that’s not necessarily the case with bottled water. California nonprofit Center for Environmental Health has revealed that water bottle brands Peñafiel, owned by Keurig Dr. Pepper, and Starkey, owned by Whole Foods, contain levels of highly toxic arsenic that are above the legal limit. The United States Environmental Protection Agency says that long-term exposure to arsenic can lead to reproductive harm, circulatory, nervous system and disorders and cancer. The Centers for Disease Control also note an increased risk of diabetes and hypertension. Other symptoms of arsenic poisoning include...

Every time it rains, it could be raining pennies from property owners if Gov. Phil Murphy signs legislation that could end up taxing stormwater runoff.  The Assembly last week passed a bill that would allow for the creation of local or regional stormwater utilities. The utilities would have the power to collect fees from properties with large paved surfaces such as parking lots.The state Senate version of the bill passed in June. Both bills advanced along party lines, with most Democrats in favor. State Sens. Christopher "Kip" Bateman, R-Somerset, a sponsor of the bill, and Sam Thompson, R-Middlesex, were the...

[full title -San Francisco leaders hate Trump enough they just voted to limit the city's water rather than do this ] For months, San Francisco, a hotbed of anti-Donald Trump sentiment, has found itself in the awkward position of being aligned with his administration over California water policy. On Tuesday, the city's leaders said the alliance was unbearable. In an 11-0 vote, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors agreed in a resolution to support the State Water Resources Control Board's proposal to leave more water in the San Joaquin River and its tributaries to benefit struggling fish populations. The supervisors'...

New reports indicate the Cuomo administration tried to subvert information about a cancer-causing chemical in the water supply of the town of Hoosick Falls … and nobody seems all that concerned. Documents obtained by Politico show the New York State Department of Health dismissing warnings from the EPA, and refusing to alert residents of the very dangerous situation. Over a year ago, health department officials issued a ‘fact sheet’ indicating that “health effects are not expected to occur from normal use of the water” within days of a contradictory declaration by the EPA which advised residents not to drink or...

Governor Jerry Brown must allow the Free Flow of the vast amounts of water coming from the North and foolishly being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Can be used for fires, farming and everything else. Think of California with plenty of Water - Nice! Fast Federal govt. approvals.