DAILY LOBO new mexico
WEDNESDAY October 15, 2014 | Volume 119 | Issue 41
The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895
Water Summit discusses care solutions Expert
talks trash in lecture series
By Jonathan Baca
A diverse group of engineers, business people, scientists and politicians crowded into the SUB Ballroom on Tuesday to discuss the future of New Mexico’s most important resource — water. The Water Innovation Summit was hosted by U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham, D-N.M., with the goal of bringing together people from every side of the water conservation issue to discuss new technologies, innovations and policy changes that could be used to continue meeting the state’s water needs. Panels of experts discussed the current state of New Mexico’s water resources, technological solutions to water scarcity like water reuse and brackish and desalinated water, innovative water management and policy changes, and economic development opportunities. “In being elected to Congress, you want to identify what the key priorities are for your district and state, and given the drought and our water issues it’s easy to see that water is a major issue,” Grisham said. “There’s now a handful or more of large municipalities in this country who don’t have safe drinking water. So there’s lots of work to do, and (the summit) was really a collaboration of partners. And without figuring out water issues, you can’t do any economic work — not successfully or sustainably.” Grisham, the congresswoman from the state’s First Congressional District, said there is a dire need to tackle the issue from every angle, and for that to happen there needs to be constructive dialogue between groups that have very different
By Marielle Dent
Sergio Jiménez / Daily Lobo / @SXfoto
U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham meets with Zoe Economou from the Ciudad Soil and Water Conservation District after the Water Innovation Summit on Tuesday. The summit focused on water resource challenges in New Mexico and the technologies, innovations and policy changes that are being utilized to continue meeting the state’s water needs.
water needs and priorities, like manufacturing and conservationists. The ultimate goal of summits like these, and the goal for the entire state, is to find the delicate balance between creating job growth in industries like manufacturing and natural gas, and conserving and protecting the limited water resources of the state, she said. To do this, industry must implement as many technological innovations they can, and government needs to make policy changes that support those changes and manage and protect water
reserves as much as possible. “We should keep investing in technology. I never want innovation to be, pardon the pun, stagnant. However, you do need productive policy,” Grisham said. “If you can’t implement that technology, if you can’t get your government jurisdictions to really be serious about utilizing new ideas and new technology, you can’t move forward.” Adam Ringia, environmental and natural resources director for the Laguna pueblo, said summits like this one are extremely valuable in helping to open discussions about
the conflicts of interest that plague the water issue in New Mexico. Ringia said the pueblo has been battling in court about its water rights for 30 years. The pueblo is sovereign territory, but it is downstream from other users who the pueblo has no control over. To put it simply, he said, it’s complicated. “I think (these summits) are very constructive, but you need all the stakeholders at the table so you can understand everybody’s
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Water page 3
Lobos place third in MW media poll Despite losing seniors, team happy with current place this season By Kyle Tomasi Media members aren’t predicting a down year for the New Mexico men’s basketball team. Mountain West Conference officials released the men’s basketball MW preseason media poll Tuesday afternoon, where the Lobos found themselves sitting in third place. UNM finished second in the conference behind San Diego State last season. Head coach Craig Neal said a third-place finish is higher than he and the team would have expected. “Being picked third, I think it’s just respect of what our program has done in eight years,” he said. “I thought we would be picked between five and seven but that’s just what we’ve done with our program and where we’ve come in eight years.” Winning the conference tournament championship last season, the Lobos became the first program in Mountain West history to win the title three years in a row. Senior guard Hugh Greenwood said even after losing three seniors, he is happy with where they were picked. UNM lost starting guard Kendall Williams, forward Cameron Bairstow and center Alex Kirk, all of which are playing professionally in
2014-15 Mountain West men’s basketball preseason poll Rank
Team
Points
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
San Diego State Boise State New Mexico UNLV Colorado State Wyoming Fresno Nevada Air Force Utah State San Jose State
383 275 270 269 258 256 232 126 102 98 41
the NBA or overseas. “There’s obviously motivation to not be picked the winner,” he said. “You want to prove that you can win it, but this stage were focusing one game at a time and what we can control.” In one of the more lopsided polls in recent years, San Diego State, received 34 of 35 first-place votes and was selected to come out on top of the MW. Boise State had one firstplace vote for second in the poll. The Lobos did not have any players selected to the Preseason All-Con-
ference Team. Those honors went to San Diego State’s Winston Shepard and Dwayne Polee II, both forwards; Boise State guard/forward Anthony Drmic; Colorado State guard Daniel Bejarano; and Wyoming forward Larry Nance Jr., who also received the Preseason Player of the Year award. Neal said this year he wants Greenwood to be “old Hugh” who is a more scoring guard, rather than a passing guard. He said it’s now Greenwood’s chance to step up his responsibility and roll on the team. Greenwood said “old Hugh” is the
type of player that he was before he arrived at UNM his freshman year. “I think ‘old Hugh’ is pre-UNM, with a background of scoring,” he said. “A guy that can score and do different things. I wouldn’t take away the championships for anything but this year I am definitely looking forward to taking a bigger responsibility.” The Lobo Howl is a chance for fans to see the new players showcase their skills. Following a brief practice and scrimmage, fans will be treated with a dunk contest and a 3-point contest to end the night. Neal joked with Greenwood during the press conference, saying that he and his son, Cullen Neal, backed out on him with regards to shaving their heads on Friday at the Lobo Howl. “I’ll be glad (when) Friday comes, with our Lobo Howl, so I can cut my hair,” he said. “I guess being the father of the program, I get to be the first one to get my head shaved.” The Lobo Howl will take place Friday evening at 6 p.m. at The Pit. Admission is free and the event is open to the public. Kyle Tomasi is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @KyTo22.
On Tuesday a community panel met on campus with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edward Humes and kicked off the lecture series “Talkin’ Trash.” The panelists discussed garbology, the study of trash, as well as how New Mexico could move toward becoming a zero-waste state. The Office of Student Academic Success is hosting the lecture series as part of the Lobo Reading Experience, a community-building program created for all students to share a common reading experience. The book selected for this academic year is “Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash,” written by Humes. His book presents startling statistics such as the fact that the average American produces 102 tons of trash within their lifetime. The panelists, however, urged people to change their thinking and habits towards waste and view it as a resource rather than a crisis. “When I’m done with a piece of paper I would pretend it was money. You wouldn’t throw away money. It’s changing how we value the discards in what we do consider trash or solid waste and making those habits become new patterns,” said English Bird, executive director of the New Mexico Recycling Coalition. Multiple programs and initiatives with the potential to reduce and reuse garbage already exist or have the possibly to exist both nationally and locally, according to the panelists. Corporations such as Walmart are taking steps to eliminate waste or use it as a business strategy, Humes said. They have reduced their amount of trash that goes to the landfill by 80 percent. They grind up their old plastic clothes hangers and use them as stuffing for their dog beds, and they convert their large amount of food waste into compost, which they also sell, he said. Jill Holbert, director of the Solid Waste Management Department, explained a proposal called pay-as-you-throw which has been effective in many cities nationwide. In the proposal, large garbage carts would cost more than smaller ones, while recycling would be a flat rate. This would incentivize people to recycle more and decrease the size of their garbage bins. The proposal has not taken effect in Albuquerque because the department does not have enough revenue to afford reducing the rates for a smaller bin, Holbert said. However, he said it will be proposed again in future budget years.
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Garbology page 3