That is if you can get a glass.
"Conservationists rip water policy, quit state panel" by Beth Daley, Globe Staff | October 15, 2009
Members of four influential conservation groups abruptly resigned from a state waterway advisory panel yesterday, alleging that a new state policy undercuts environmental protection of rivers so greatly that some could run bone dry....
The resignations are the most significant break yet between environmentalists and the Patrick administration, which has largely enjoyed the groups’ support. They also underscore the growing pressure on the state’s 11,000 miles of rivers and streams for lawn watering and other uses....
With about 4 feet of rainfall a year, Massachusetts has long escaped the water woes so visible in the Western United States.
And we need not worry this year: The Great New England Flood of 2010
The enormous Quabbin Reservoir provides ample water for drinking, showering, and lawn watering to dozens of communities in Eastern and Central Massachusetts and has so much left over its managers want to sell it.
Related: The Day Boston Went Dry
Why do you treat us so badly out here when we provide you with drinking water?
Yet suburban and rural communities outside that system have to draw water from rivers and wells, some from sources that are becoming increasingly stressed.
State doing a great job looking out for you, 'eh, citizen?
A new state Department of Fish & Game report found that river fish are disappearing from many Massachusetts waterways - including the upper Charles and Blackstone rivers, in part because too much water is being taken from them. Native bait fish, such as common shiners, have plummeted in the Blackstone, in Central Massachusetts.
No wonder I am not catching a thing these days.
Aspects of the state’s new sustainable water policy were praised by some environmentalists when it was announced. But by yesterday, even the president of The Environmental League of Massachusetts, who was quoted in a state news release last week supporting the plan, said he had a problem with the safe yield definition. “Our obligation is to ensure the environment is protected,’’ said George Bachrach of the Environmental League. He said the safe yield definition is “basically saying trust us.’’
The STATE has LOST that TRUST, sorry!
TOO MANY LIES for TOO LONG!
State Representative Frank Smizik, a Brookline Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change, said the state was working to balance conservation and economic needs. “They are going to base the stream flow [criteria] on science,’’ he said. “I think this can be worked out.’’
The science, huh?
That is why the state and MSM has lost the trust.
Let's go a little further out, shall we?
"Waves of concern; Property owners face steep insurance rate hikes, as new federal maps shift flood zone boundaries" by Jenifer B. McKim, Globe Staff | November 7, 2009
Thousands of Massachusetts property owners are discovering their homes and businesses are in newly designated federal flood zones, forcing them to buy additional insurance coverage....
The changes are the result of a Federal Emergency Management Agency project to remap flood zones, county by county nationwide. The agency plans to finish most of its Massachusetts maps by next summer, and local governments are in the process of notifying residents and business owners about the new zoning. At the same time, lenders are telling affected borrowers they must increase their insurance coverage.
Just Obama "helping" you out!
Property owners across the state, confused and upset about the zoning changes, are calling local officials to complain....
Catherine Daly Woodbury, storm water coordinator for the City of Cambridge, is sympathetic to the predicament of property owners, but just because a property hasn’t been under water before does not mean it can’t one day be flooded, she said.
And if it NEVER FLOODS you are OUT HOW MANY DOLLARS in this crap economy?
Related: Boston Globe Bubble Will Not Burst
Yes, you are getting an AGENDA, not "news."
“People are angry, and I try to point them in the right direction about where to get information for insurance and what their options are,’’ Woodbury said. “Flood insurance is very expensive.’’
Why does YOUR GOVERNMENT HATE YOU, America?
FEMA’s effort to replace decades-old paper maps with digital versions started six years ago, said David Mendelsohn, who is coordinating the agency’s map modernization efforts in New England. Researchers are using new computer models and current topographical data to update maps drafted 20 or 30 years ago.
The SAME ONES that LIED ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING while the scientists were HIDING the DECLINE?
As a result of improved technology, he said, areas susceptible to flooding at least once in a century can now be more precisely identified.
We JUST HAD OURS!! It is almost as if they knew something, huh?
In addition, increased commercial and residential development is causing existing flood zones to be expanded, Mendelsohn said. Surfaces such as sidewalks and roadways can add to the risk of flooding during storms because they accelerate the flow of water....
Related: Spring Cleaning
Yeah, the flooding was YOUR FAULT, citizen!
Honestly, I'm also sick of the agenda-pushing guilt trips!
Thousands of properties are also being located in new or expanded flood plains because of updated federal requirements related to dikes, dams, and hurricane barriers. FEMA is requiring local governments to certify that storm barriers will be effective, an engineering process that can be expensive and lengthy. Without such certification, FEMA will reclassify property adjacent to such barriers as being in a flood plain....
Yeah, this after the floodwalls collapsed in New Orleans!
Yeah, FEMA is looking out for you, right.
This is a GOVERNMENT MONEY GRAB for INSURANCE COMPANIES under the cover of environmentalism, folks!
Chicopee Mayor Michael Bissonnette:
“It was a typical federal bureaucratic reaction to the screw-up in New Orleans.’’
A guy from out my way, and he's right!
David Kennedy, the New Bedford planner director, said the city is wrestling with how to pay for engineering studies that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. “It’s an unfunded mandate and we hate those,’’ Kennedy said.
Thank you, Mr. Obama!!!
For property owners, it is crucial to find out about the zoning changes early. Those who act before the new maps are made effective - a date that varies by county - can qualify for steep discounts on additional insurance by being “grandfathered’’ into the National Flood Insurance Program, created in 1968 after most insurers stopped selling flood insurance. The program is overseen by FEMA, and policies are made available through private insurers....
Told you this was to BENEFIT INSURANCE COMPANIES!
That is WHO WASHINGTON and the STATE SERVES, not you, citizen!
It’s unclear how much a change in zoning could affect a property’s value....
Hey, who cares about property values?
That is YOUR PROBLEM, not THEIRS -- until the state begins whining about falling tax collections!
Then it is TIME to RAISE 'EM!!!
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