Nachoman's summer 2010 enginehouse challenge.

[nachoman]

Galen - you are right about "green" jobs and the water issue. One of the consulting companies I interviewed with primarily handles contracts for utility companies, and their recent business is strongly related to solar or wind electricity production. Most of my career options depend upon sensible regulation. I previously worked for a groundwater consultant, and half of their business was a remediation contract related to a few major businesses who carelessly dumped industrial solvents into the aquifer. The other half of the business was with developers who were required to provide adequate and safe water for their developments. If it wasn't for the regulations, the developers would have drilled undersized wells and gave little concern to water contaminated with nitrates, industrial solvents, or arsenic. A good water well is much more than a simple hole in the ground (a typical Phoenix Arizona production well costs between 250k and half a million dollars).

We are also facing a very serious issue because Lake Mead is drying up. Unless the upper basin of the Colorado River has record snowfall this winter, next year water levels in Lake Mead will likely drop below a level that requires rationing. Arizona, under an agreement with Nevada and California, will be the first to require water rationing. Without water from the Colorado river, cities and developers cannot prove they have adequate water to sustain themselves for the long-term, and new development will halt. You would think this would be an important issue as much of Arizona's future depends upon managing scarce water supplies, but our current governor decided to lay off over half of the Department of Water Resources (including myself). Worse yet, the layoffs tended to affect the younger, technical staff. Those that remain are mostly administrators that have little recent science or technology background. One would think that the scarcity of a necessary resource would necessitate skilled scientists - but right now Arizona lacks the funds or the desire to deal with it. I have faith, though, but it is tough to be patient when I know I could contribute. I like living here and I would much rather keep my fingers crossed than deal with the PITA of relocating.