I'll be printing this one at the office... I'm more "modeling adjacent" but this is something I think about a lot.

I want to put together a queer water group and call it the Frogs but I can't think of a good acronym... FFROGs - Freshwater Freaks Running On Garbage???

Very exciting bumper sticker find this morning

Anyway I should probably have a less work-related interest to engage in on Saturday mornings.

I guess what I'm trying to figure out with this AI thing as an early career water professional is that everybody is saying that it's inevitable and I need to learn to use it. But I don't know what "it" means, I don't know what the risks are.

Currently working through this paper by @sashamtl.bsky.social et al, starting to get my brain around the throughline between ethics and environmental impacts arxiv.org/pdf/2504.00797

I don't post here that much but my latest obsession has been AI ethics. I'm really interested in what the potential risks are for water management specifically - if anyone has papers to point to, even for public health and resource management more specifically, I'd appreciate it.

why is talking about climate at my water job so much easier than talking about water at my water job

this fire has exploded by over 800% in the last few weeks with almost no containment as we head into another extended period of heat and red flag days

may have found a good starting point www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I want to learn more about engineering history, particularly of non-western origins. We sort of learn in school that modern civil engineering (especially water) started in ancient Rome but that feels like an oversimplification. Who gets to decide what engineering is and isn't?

Medieval Water Distribution We are familiar with water distribution systems of Persia (qanats) and Rome (aqueducts), but we rarely hear about such systems in the Middle Ages. Still, the construction of aqueducts continued, in Europe often initiated by monasteries and shared with nearby cities.

Still going back and forth on this. I'll probably decide by labor day and treat it as a college semester.

I'm not sure I actually have too many engineer mutuals but question for the class - does it make sense for me to start studying for my PE right now while Rome is burning outside? (Some more thoughts in the thread)

Shit's on fire but I am researching PE prep courses I guess

Going to the river to not think about the world but it's a river so it WILL make me think about work. Which usually makes me think about the world.

Never before in the history of this nation has such a large redistribution of income been directed upward, for no reason at all

Trying to get back into cycling regularly so I bought a bike that is actually my size and not a hand-me-down earlier this week. Shout-out to bike co-ops, that place felt like it was straight out of a solarpunk novel.

actually while I'm here my hot take is that "scope 3" is way too broad because how can you put employee commuting and embodied carbon of materials and end use of your product in the same category. The lack of specificity is why scope 3 is optional in many certs and it should NOT be.

I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE. This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined. It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.

“In a public letter, EPA employees accused the administration of engaging in unlawful partisan activity and endangering public health” Yikes. Tough day for a letter release but let’s all try to multi-task. Gift link: EPA Workers Warn Trump Is Politicizing Their Work www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/c...

Hurricane forecasters rely on weather data collected and processed by Department of Defense satellites. That data will no longer be available as of Monday, June 30. By @rhersher.bsky.social

Same for scientists and everyone else who is rewarded professionally for being “objective,” neutral observers and describers.

Senator Padilla’s office sends me this video of his take-down and detention at Sec. Noem’s press conference in L.A.

Folks, CBO estimate of the distributional effect of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is out: www.cbo.gov/system/files... It's grotesque

Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice is a group of interfaith leaders and community members that support local workers. They have created a bond fund for detained immigrants and their families in Los Angeles. secure.qgiv.com/for/2025immi...

A couple of months ago, I posted a checklist of things one could do to be useful in these days of rising fascism. Here’s Part Two of that list—more focused on ways to protect you and those in your tightest circles of care. Part One is embedded and also skeeted below.

The intentional destruction of US science and academia by Trump and the GOP continues to accelerate. www.cnn.com/2025/06/06/p...

This short week felt long and the book fresh from the library is on my shelf calling me to read... but the water must be counted 😔

saving this one, I use the crop data layer often

I did appreciate the presentation where someone just put up a slide of all the federal agencies we rely on for data and said "holy shit guys," that was quite cathartic in a time where it feels weird to get up and go to work each day.

I sat in on some hydrology modeling presentations this week and had the experience where I'm like. I have most of the prerequisites but I have not taken this class. Information overload, pedagogical spiral malfunction, too many engineers.

Uhhh how many reservoirs is that in the Central Valley alone?

Going to keep this in my back pocket for when people at the lunch n learns talk about using Chat GPT to work with water data because there's some irony happening here.

The biggest reason I can't be a politician is because someone will tell me they also work in water and I will impulsively ask them the most controversial question and this WILL get me in trouble one day when I am no longer seen as naive

how it feels working in california water sometimes istg how did I miss THAT agency's 200-page strategic plan

BREAKING: Chuck Schumer arrested 11 young people who were at his office demanding he fight for our generation and block Trump's disastrous budget. He wouldn't even face them. No more cowardice. Step up or step aside.

Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky sharply disagreed with a decision by Gov. Gavin Newsom of California to host Steve Bannon on Newsom’s new podcast this week, saying Bannon’s voice should not be elevated “on any platform ever, anywhere.”

BREAKING: Jewish American activists with @jvp.bsky.social have taken over the lobby of Trump Tower in New York to demand the release of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, who faces deportation for protesting Israel's war on Gaza.

This is fucking chilling

1. Gavin Newsom launched his podcast where he "completely aligned" with far-right activist Charlie Kirk on some transgender issues. Now, members of his party says he's worked behind the scene to kill pro-LGBTQ+ bills in California. The latest from S. Baum. Subscribe to support our journalism.

The frontline folks are saying fight don't cave talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/bigge...

While I'm on Bluesky for two seconds I also want to express my anger at @governornewsom.bsky.social for his blatant transphobia and even thinking for one second it was a good idea to interview Charlie Kirk. We are not a disposable sacrifice for your future centrist failed presidential campaign.

Hey water folks how are we feeling about the loss of ACE-HEC

The Supreme Court's first and only opinion today is San Francisco v. EPA. The majority substantially weakens the Clean Water Act's limitations on raw sewage discharge. It is 5–4 in relevant part, with Barrett, Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson dissenting. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

I'd like to see the Western Governors Association step up and articulate what's being done to water management in the west. Between cuts at NOAA, NRCS (snow survey folks), other parts of USDA like USFS, and all throughout Interior, things have the potential to go sideways quickly

Very simply (and pardon the language), this is Donald Trump, in his total ignorance about how American agriculture works, telling American farmers to go fuck themselves. Destroying international markets for US food products will not only kill people overseas, but destroy US many farms.

Economic blackout tomorrow. Seems like an easy thing to do - if you're cynical, think of it as an experiment. I'm interested to see what the impact is. www.newsweek.com/nationwide-e...

I did end up writing a letter, DM if you want to see the language. Expect more from your professional organizations.

I'm seriously considering writing ASCE a letter. I expected them to try to be "nonpartisan" but NOTHING on the BIL or federal layoffs? I'm not a member but they ARE representing me by nature of the profession whether I like it or not.