Water Water Everywhere

Far above our heads, there are currently astronauts working away in attempt to repair the International Space System's cooling station .  Currently the space station in operating on only one cooling system which would leave the astronauts vulnerable to being left without a working system should the current cooling unit fail.  After a seemingly successful mission on Saturday, astronaut Rick Mastracchio discovered something interesting in his spacesuit, water had gathered in his suit's sublimator which is a device that's designed to dissipate excess heat.  Usually the suits have water based systems in them that remove moisture, and cool the astronauts.  But it is unusual for the water to accumulate.  The spacewalk on Saturday consisted of a 5 hour and 28 minute mission removing a faulty coolant pump module, this mission will continue tomorrow December 24th and no further issues are expected to arise.  This unfortunately is not the first time that water has been a problem is space.  In July an astronaut's suit malfunctioned causing him to nearly drown inside his suit.  NASA officials have declared that the two problems are not related and they believe the suits to now have a "clean bill of health" although they have added makeshift snorkels and absorbent pads to the suits as a precaution.  Water water everywhere, even up there.

LEMA Awards presented by 'Water +Energy Progress'

    With a busy year coming to a close for Groundwater Management District No. 4, so does an equally busy year for the producers of the Sheridan-6 LEMA.  As many of you may know, a LEMA, or Locally Enhanced Management Area is crafted on the community level, giving producers and community members an opportunity to discuss ways in which they may hope to extend the life of the Ogallala Aquifer by reducing their water usage over a set period of time.  For the Sheridan-6 LEMA, this time period consisted of 5 years and an approximate 20% water reduction.  Many years of hard work and dedication went into this LEMA, from the initial idea, to working with both the Kansas Legislature and local Ag producers, and finally to the implementation of the first LEMA in the Sheridan-6 High Priority Area.  GMD4’s now retired Manager Wayne Bossert, Assistant Manager Ray Luhman, and countless others, contributed so very much in to making this incredible dream a reality.  The kind people at the Water + Energy Progress organization, which is in association with CEP(the Climate and Energy Project) have decided to honor the efforts of these SD-6 Producers by featuring their efforts on the organization’s website in an extensive article featuring two of the producers from the SD-6 LEMA.  Recognizing such a forward thinking tool, which has so successfully brought people together to discuss future water concerns and hopes is truly Inspiring.  I encourage anyone to visit the link below in order to read further information provided by the Water+ Energy Progress organization.  The appreciation of this recognition is, I am sure very great by many.

 http://www.waterandenergyprogress.org/case_studies.php?id=9