Water Resource Planning: Prepare - Or Take Our Chances?
Electricity and water are essential resources in our society. But the way we efficiently plan for our electricity needs is vastly different from how poorly we plan for our water [...]
Eric Hirst
Eric Hirst has a Ph.D. in engineering from Stanford University, spent 30 years as an energy policy analyst at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and retired to Bellingham 18 years ago. He is a local environmental activist.
Articles by Eric Hirst
An Engineer Looks at Washington State Water Law
State water law is a complicated mess, a piece-by-piece accumulation and accretion of disparate laws since 1917. Worse, these laws confound solutions to the problems we face today in managing an [...]
Water, Water Everywhere, But ...
Although we get lots of rain and snow in the winter, Whatcom County faces serious water-supply issues during the summer months. Here are the key issues I see and what [...]
Recent comments
"Hi David, Thanks for your insightful comments. I agree that unpermitted water use in the agricultural sector is a big problem, perhaps 40% of total irrigation water use in Whatcom County. [...]
An Engineer Looks at Washington State Water Law"John, Congratulations on turning 77 and deciding to begin a well deserved retirement. Although I often disagree with the stories and/or comments published in NW Citizen, I very much [...]
A time to change NW Citizen ownership"Elisabeth, thanks for your helpful comments on my article. We likely both believe that salmon are doing poorly because of many factors, some involving ocean conditions and others involving their [...]
Water, Water Everywhere, But ..."I agree with Greg’s comments. As he notes, we have allocated more water for human, out-of-stream uses than is actually available. Therefore, salmon, other fish and the environment in [...]
Whatcom Water Resources: A Major Problem and a Reasonable Solution"I agree"that it is impossible to make definitive statements about who is or is not using water illegally, until we have accurate data.” But there are no plans, at [...]
Whatcom Water Resources: A Major Problem and a Reasonable Solution
