Make Sure Your Drinking Water is Safe

Drinking water contaminated with lead can cause learning disabilities in kids. In adults, it can lead to high blood pressure, kidney problems, heart disease, gout, infertility and painful neuropathy.

“Children ages 6 and under are at the greatest risk,” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Pregnant women and nursing mothers should avoid exposure to lead to protect their children.”

And since older children and adults aren’t routinely tested for lead poisoning, it may go undiagnosed in some cases.

If you have young children, consider asking their pediatrician to test their blood lead levels, or inquire at your local health department. The Virginia Department of Health recommends lead tests at ages 1 and 2 for all children living in the city of Fredericksburg, which is considered a “high-risk ZIP code” according to the department’s online guidelines.

And according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “Most U.S. children are at sufficient risk that they should have their blood lead concentration measured at least once,” regardless of where they live.

The academy cites data showing that a quarter of children’s homes have lead-contaminated paint, dust or soil.

Also, consider testing your water. The yearly consumer confidence report that your water utility sends out does not measure lead coming from your building’s pipes and faucets. Some hardware stores sell water-quality test kits. Or call the EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Hotline at 800/426-4791.

Although lead poisoning is diagnosed in just 1 percent of Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control, the effects can be devastating. And blood levels have to be very high for lead poisoning to be diagnosed.

But there’s some question whether so-called “normal” lead levels are safe. Today’s kids have lead levels 100 times higher than ancient children, according to a new report released by the CDC last month.

Water is just one of many sources of lead poisoning. Before 1978, paint contained lead, so older homes and buildings are the main source of lead poisoning. Paint chips off, turns to dust, and is inhaled or eaten by small children.

Soil near roadsides and driveways can be contaminated, too, from fumes from cars and trucks powered by leaded gasoline years ago. Lead persists in the environment for many years. Certain jobs expose workers to lead. For more info, try the National Lead Information Center at 800/424- 5323 or epa.gov/lead.

Lead gets into the water supply by leaching out of lead pipes. You may remember the scandal about lead poisoning in Washington in 2003 and 2010, when many city residents were told to buy bottled water.

Even though most cities and counties have replaced old water pipes made from lead, many homes built before 1986 contain pipes made of lead or soldered together with lead, which can leach into the water.

“However, new homes are also at risk: even legally ‘lead-free’ plumbing may contain up to 8 percent lead,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s website. “The most common problem is with brass or chrome-plated brass faucets and fixtures, which can leach significant amounts of lead into the water, especially hot water.”

WHAT YOU CAN DO

There are affordable and easy steps you can take to make your drinking water safe.

Run the tap. Especially if you have not used a faucet in more than six hours, run the tap until the water temperature gets as cold as possible. This flushes stale water from the pipes, according to the EPA.

Use cold water, not hot, for drinking, making baby formula and cooking. Cold tap water is less likely to contain dissolved lead. (It’s OK to heat up the cold tap water on the stovetop or in the microwave.)

Consider using a water filter. If you know there is lead in your water, you can buy water pitchers or faucet attachments with filters that remove lead.

Get enough iron, calcium and vitamin C. These three key nutrients may help protect against lead poisoning.

Adequate iron and calcium may block absorption of some lead, while getting enough vitamin C helps the kidneys get rid of lead through urine. That’s according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Good sources of iron include beef, chicken, tuna and other fish, clams, spinach, beans, lentils and fortified breads and breakfast cereals.

Vitamin C helps the body absorb iron, so it’s useful to eat vitamin-C-rich foods at the same meal as iron-rich foods. Vitamin C isn’t just found in oranges and tomatoes. Sweet red and green peppers are very rich in vitamin C, as are papayas, peaches, cranberry juice, strawberries, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, collard greens, kiwi fruit, sweet potatoes, cantaloupe, cauliflower, grapefruit, mangos and more.

And while calcium is found in milk, yogurt and cheese, you also can find it in fortified cereals, kale, collard and turnip greens, spinach, black-eyed peas, and soy and other beans.

So consider eating well and testing your water for lead—protect yourself and your family from learning disabilities, high blood pressure, gout and other problems.


By Jennifer Motl@fredericksburg.com

Progress on Drinking Water and Sanitation: 2012 Update

The report announces that the world has met the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of halving the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water, well ahead of schedule. However, the sanitation target will not be met if current trends continue. Analyzing access to drinking water and sanitation by regional trends, urban-rural disparities, and alternative indicators of progress, the report assesses progress, reports inequities, and reveals continuing challenges.

Focus Area

• Monitoring and Evaluation; WASH (general)

Key Findings

• An estimated 89% of the global population now uses improved drinking water sources; however, 780 million people are still unserved, huge disparities exist, and complete information about drinking water safety is not available for global monitoring. Tweet this »
• Globally, 63 percent of the population uses improved sanitation facilities, an increase of 1.8 billion since 1990; however an estimated 2.5 billion people are still without improved sanitation, nearly three-quarters of them living in rural areas. Tweet this »
• Global figures mask disparities between regions and countries and within countries -- for example, only 61% of people in sub-Saharan Africa have access to improved water supply sources compared with 90% in Latin America and the Caribbean, Northern Africa, and large parts of Asia. Tweet this »
• In many countries, the wealthiest people have seen the greatest improvement in water and sanitation access, while the poorest lag behind. Tweet this »
• Monitoring challenges lie ahead, as safety and reliability of drinking water supplies and the sustainability of water supply sources and sanitation facilities are not addressed by the current indicators used to track progress.

washfunders.org

Worldwide, 780 million people still lack access to clean water. 2.5 billion people, including almost 1 billion children, live without even basic sanitation. WASHfunders.org (http://washfunders.org/), a robust new web portal powered by the Foundation Center, helps funders working on water, sanitation, and hygiene to collaborate and to learn from one another

Pour Your Energy into Clean Water Worldwide

We need the energy and resources of the fluoridation crusaders and the fluoridation naysayers devoted to a much more serious water problem: the lack of clean drinking water around the world. Since we have so many people in the area who've either won or lost the recent fluoride fight and who are clearly passionate about the need for healthful drinking water, those involved in Portland's great water debate are a natural fit for this larger issue that is harming and killing people around the world. And with the Portland City Council's vote for fluoride this month, these people have inherited some time -- though some have vowed to continue the saga. 

I've been following the cholera outbreak in Sierra Leone, which, thankfully, is easing: The United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that between late August and mid-September, new cholera cases per week have dropped from 2,110 to 1,418 in Sierra Leone and from 1,152 to 346 in neighboring Guinea. Water and sanitation infrastructure and education are doing good things. They are excellent at combating the cycle and spread of disease and poverty. 

But access to clean water remains a problem. And although the world is ahead of schedule in meeting a 2015 goal of substantially lowering the number of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water, the World Health Organization reports that 783 million people in the world still do not have access to safe drinking water. That's about 11 percent of the world's population. And improved sanitation access is still a far-off target. 

In Portland we recently heard a lot about possible damages to our kids if there is a minute level of fluoride in the water, despite the widespread medical advice to fluoridate water to help kids. But the U.N. reports the hard truth that an estimated "1.8 million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation." 

The numbers are staggering. Living Water International keeps them in my face all year long, as I have supported that quality organization in the past, but reading the various numbers at the same time I was reading coverage of the city of Portland's fluoride fight has been an experience. I kept shaking my head and wondering whether folks realize how fortunate we are to be able to have this fluoride discussion instead of dealing with a cholera outbreak that is killing our children. We have clean water that doesn't make us sick! And we have an option to put something in our water that medical experts advise. What a gift. 

I understand that we aren't Rwanda. We aren't Haiti. We aren't Sierra Leone. Can you imagine having a water scarcity? I have read estimates that the average North American uses 200-400 liters a day for drinking and for the household and garden, compared with about 10 liters a day for a person in the developing world. Our standards are different, our governments are different and our goals for public amenities get to be higher. But with some perspective, we have got to move on. This fluoride fight was picked up by The Associated Press and has been featured on National Public Radio and by ABC and CBS. It's been highlighted in The New York Times, The Huffington Post and USA Today. It has hit culinary and brewery websites. Will it hit "Portlandia"? I'm out of that loop. 

I fear that fighting about fluoride in our water must make us look a little off and a bit overprivileged. In America, our nonprofits and our valuable government safety nets can keep even the poorest people fed and our children vaccinated. And as a nation we have the ability to keep water clean and safe to drink. In other parts of the world, starvation and a lack of access to clean water are life-threatening, everyday dangers. 

We need to help when it is in our power to act. Contact the Red Cross, Living Water International or a handful of other organizations to learn what can be done about getting safe drinking water to everyone. We can do this thing. Just look at the amount of attention, passion and comedy Portland was able to bring to the issue of fluoride in water. 



By Elizabeth Hovde@oregonlive.com

11 Advantages of Drinking Water

Approximately 70% of our body’s mass is made of water and according to a number of doctors, drinking a total of eight glasses of water a day fulfils the necessary requirement of this liquid our body demands.

For a long time now, I have been searching regarding the benefits associated with water. Finally, after reviewing countless websites, I  have compiled a list, highlighting the advantages of drinking water that can surely help you in living a healthy life. So, here are the 11advantages of drinking water:

1) Water is the only liquid on Earth that safely reduces weight. It removes the by-products of fat and keeps you fresh and healthy.Drinking water regularly, suppresses your appetite to a great extent and limits your food  intake. Another distinct feature of water is that it literally contains no calories, hence, contributing significantly toweight loss

2) Do you want to look younger? Problem solved! Just drink lots of water every day! Water is a perfect replacement for your expensive ageing treatments. It moisturises your skin and keeps it fresh and glistening thereby enhancing its overall appeal. In addition, it helps maintain the elasticity and suppleness of the skin and prevents dryness by detoxifying the skin. Hence, one should strictly avoid dehydrating foods and beverages such as caffeine (cola, chocolate, coffee, tea) and alcohol

3) Drinking enough water can also combat skin disorders such as eczema, psoriasis, dry skin, wrinkles and spots

4) Water is an essential component required for the effective working of our body since body parts including our brain and the various tissues are mostly composed of water. Considering this, water can significantly improve our ability to think and make us energetic too.

5) Water removes toxins and most of the waste products from our body contributing to a healthy quality of life. If our body lacks water then our heart has to make an extra effort to pump fresh oxygenated blood to our organs causing severe health issues

6) A study conducted in the Loma Linda university in California, involving 20 men and woman in the age range of 38 to 100 years, concluded that those who drank enough water throughout the day were less likely to have a heart attack (41% in women and 54% in men). Hence, it can be suggested that if you substitute water with milk, tea, coffee or other beverages then you will have increased chances of incurring a heart attack, with a precise rate of 50% in women and 46% in men.

7)  Water helps to relieve headaches and back pain. Although there are many reasons that contribute to headaches, dehydration is one of the most common ones

8) Regular intake of water increases your metabolic rate and improves your digestive system. If you are constipated, try drinking more water - it can work wonders!

9) Drinking plenty of water helps fight against the flu and other ailments like kidney stones. Water, along with lemon or lemon juice is often used to overcome respiratory diseases, intestinal problems, rheumatism and arthritis. On the whole, water plays a fundamental role in strengthening your immune system

10) Research suggests that drinking substantial amounts of water is likely to reduce the risks of bladder and colon cancer. This is because water has the ability to dilute the concentration of cancer-causing agents in the urine and reduce the time they take to come in contact with the bladder lining

11) The human body needs a neutral Ph 7 range in order to function properly. Drinking enough water throughout the day helps maintain this balance.

Given that dehydration, “the excessive loss of body fluid” can be a major source of aggravating one’s health, it seems obvious that drinking sufficient water is of utmost importance for a healthy lifestyle. Water determines the effective functioning of the body and a healthier body means a happier life!

So, if you haven’t already, go to the nearest water cooler and pour yourself a large glass of water; repeat this practice eight times a day for best results!

By Fahad Khan@blogs.tribune.com.pk

The Water-Rich vs. the Water-Poor

Infographic

Shallow Waters: 10 year old Ta’Kaiya Blaney & Aileen De La Cruz

10 year old Ta’Kaiya Blaney is Sliammon First Nation from B.C., Canada. Along with singing, songwriting, and acting, she is concerned about the environment, especially the preservation of marine and coastal wildlife.

Shallow Waters was a semi-finalist in the 2010 David Suzuki Songwriting Contest, Playlist for the Planet. The song was recorded in studio by Audio Producer Joe Cruz. Footage from Vancouver, BC was filmed by Colter Ripley. Footage of the traditional ocean-going canoe from the Squamish Nation (Burrard Inlet, North Vancouver, BC) ; Ta’Kaiya in traditional cedar bark regalia (Tofino, BC); the Oil Refinery in Burrard Inlet; and the Vancouver Aquarium was filmed by Tina House. Additional footage contributed from Canada Greenpeace and Living Oceans Society. Lyrics on Drychum channel.


livinggreenmag.com

California's Water Belongs to All of Us

                   The Rio Vista Bridge spans the Sacramento River in the delta, an area that’s vital to the economy and environment.

It doesn't make headlines or lead the evening news. You won't see it on a bumper sticker or splashed on a billboard. But right now, in communities all over the state, people are working together to resolve one of California's biggest challenges: our water future.

As leaders of two local water agencies — one in Southern California and one in Northern California — we see signs of that cooperation every day. Water agencies from Siskiyou County to San Diego are advancing local projects to upgrade pipelines and reservoirs. On a regular basis, they are joining forces at the regional level to plan and construct water recycling facilities and treatment plants, invest in conservation and protect water quality.

And the collaboration does not end there. As leaders of the state's largest water association, we see water managers from every region of the state working to resolve long-term water supply and ecosystem problems in the Sacramento- San Joaquin Delta — an area vital to our economy and environment.

Whether your community is blessed with abundant local water supplies or situated at the end of a long aqueduct, we care about the same thing: a secure water supply system. That means looking decades into the future and taking steps now to ensure a reliable water supply system.

The record shows that Californians have been making steady progress. Water managers are working to stretch every drop, diversify their water supply sources, protect water quality and plan for uncertainties in a changing climate. But there is more to be done, particularly when it comes to improving the statewide system of pipelines, canals and reservoirs that allows us to capture water for use in dry times.

That system has allowed us to prosper, but it needs to be modernized to improve water supply delivery and reduce environmental impacts.

This is where a statewide perspective is critical. Resolving long-term water supply and ecosystem problems in the delta is not a matter of one region vs. another. It's about recognizing that the status quo is not working for the state as a whole and finding solutions that work for all Californians.

We can't perpetuate the notion that our natural resources "belong" to a particular region, or that one region's economy or quality of life is more deserving of water than another's. We cannot be satisfied with actions that shift the problem from one region to another or that preserve the status quo.

In our state's long and colorful water history, the most significant and lasting progress has been made when leaders articulate a broader vision and encourage others to look for mutually beneficial solutions, compromise where necessary and act in the best interest of the state as a whole.

That must happen again if we are to succeed today. The Brown administration has made a firm commitment to the Bay Delta Conservation Plan, a collaborative process to develop a long-term solution to the delta's water reliability and ecosystem problems. Though specific elements of the plan are still being refined and studied, the process is stressing the need for comprehensive approaches that put the needs of the entire state first. That is good.

Members of the Association of California Water Agencies have long called for such an approach. We have also identified principles that must be part of any delta solution to protect, and where possible advance, the interests of all Californians.

These include protecting delta interests and respecting existing water rights, including those of water users upstream of the delta. We must also develop local surface and groundwater storage projects and other programs to assure that all regions of the state have adequate water supply security. Water use efficiency and other local strategies that maximize water supply reliability must also be pursued.

True solutions to our biggest problems come when we act as one state. It's time to move on solutions that improve water supply security for the entire state.

By Randy Record and John Coleman@modbee.com

Be sure to watch the whole documentary and visit the Links at the end of the video to support all our farmers and help save our agriculture that feeds the state! Send this video to everyone you know or think you may know that is affected by this problem (which is everyone! Everyone who eats anything here in California or buys food from the grocery store.) This is a serious problem and it's happening NOW, the longer we wait to stand up to this situation the faster our fertile farmland will dry up and blow away!

AQUASTAT

The AQUASTAT database provides information on water and agriculture by countries in the following main categories:

-   Land use and population  -   Climate and water resources  -   Water use, by sector and by source  -   Irrigation and drainage development  -   Environment and health

The AQUASTAT database can be queried on-line and the query results can be downloaded in CSV format. The current database regroups data per 5-year period and shows for each variable the value for the most recent year during that period, if available. For example, if for the period 1998-2002 data are available for the year 1999 and for the year 2001, then the value for the year 2001 is shown. It should be noted however that for most variables no time series can be made available yet, due to lack of sufficient data. AQuestionnaire and Guidelines have been prepared for the updating of the data and country profiles.

AQUASTAT online database

View the database symbols!

In the online database a search can be done both by country and by region. The Regions File shows what countries belong to what region.

If you have any suggestions regarding the data or the user interface, please send your feedback to: AQUASTAT@fao.org.

Time series on AQUASTAT variable [4313] on irrigation can be found underFAOSTAT land resources by choosing the item "Total area equipped for irrigation". For other time-series related to food and agriculture see FAOSTAT home page.

Data Quality

AQUASTAT is committed to maximizing the quality and international comparability of the data in its main country database. In order to be able to correctly interpret the information provided by countries, AQUASTAT is using questionnaires and holding workshops to clarify some of the more complex data concepts. Materials related to one of the workshops can be found here.

aquastat

Bottled Water: A Drink Against Nature

Bottled water: On its upside, it’s portable, convenient, and a no-calorie answer to thirst for an overweight society. Moreover, local water bottlers, such as Hawaiian Springs, provide local jobs, tax revenue to the government, and money to community charities while relying on Puna’s abundant rainforest aquifer.

Nonetheless, producing water as an export crop from islands caught in a long-term drought presents a seriously tilted picture of capitalism. Following are eight ways of looking at this picture.

1. Dry facts:

The August 14, 2012 USGS Drought Monitor shows 54 percent of Hawaii firmly in the grip of what it describes as “severe to extreme drought,” up from 39 percent a year ago. 80 percent of Hawaii presently sits in the grip of some form of drought or rain shortfall.

Dry predictions: the August, 2012 United States Weather Service Climate Prediction Center report says, “drier than normal conditions are expected for Hawaii and U.S. affiliated islands during the winter.” The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) agrees, predicting that warmer Pacific Ocean surface waters will trigger an El Nino condition (+ 0.5 degrees Centigrade or higher), with diminishing rainfall, starting as early as this month.

Bill Tam, Deputy Director of Hawaii’s Commission on Water Resources Management (CWRM), says, “Keep your eye on aquifer recharge. USGS hydrologists are developing new, substantially more sophisticated ways of measuring sustainable yield in the Pearl Harbor aquifer,” the source of more than half of Oahu’s fresh water. “CWRM projects that island-wide groundwater withdrawals will increase from an estimated 164 million gallons per day [mgd] in 2012 to 206 [mgd] in 2030, a rise of about 26 percent,” says a 2008 CWRM report. Meanwhile, county water authorities see no reason yet to mandate any water cutbacks.

Question: Given intensifying global warming and a possible extended statewide drought, may drought-ridden parts of the state eventually need to draw on areas with abundant natural water storage, such as Puna?

2. Draining abroad:

Overseas water sales may mean more dollars for Hawaii, but perhaps only until a foreign company buys local water bottlers and takes profits elsewhere.

Five firms already sell Natural Energy Laboratory Hawaii Authority’s (NELHA’s) desalinated sea water in bottles in Japan, one at 80,000 bottles a day. No supply problem there. Sea water transforms into yen.

With China now the world’s second largest consumer of bottled fresh water, will Hawaii begin shipping bottled fresh water there?

3. Privatization:

The export of Hawaii’s water mirrors an international pattern in which a business buys up local water rights, bottles and exports the water, and raises local water prices. In response to a Sydney company’s tapping its water to bottle and resell to residents at far higher prices, Bundanoon, Australia in 2009 became the first town in the world to ban the sale of bottled water.

4. Withering crops:

Thirteen percent of the world’s seven billion people lack access to clean fresh water. As drought sends more areas globally into serious water shortages, e.g. the historic drought now dramatically shrinking the continental U.S. corn and soybean crops, and the drought killing off agriculture in Northern China, global warming sharply reduces grain and meat yields, propelling global food prices sharply upward. Drought on this kind of scale means starvation and hardship for the world’s have-nots and increasing strife over who receives dwindling food supplies.

With shortfalls of island rain presently impacting everything from beef on the hoof to vegetables in the ground, ranchers and farmers hoping to increase Hawaii’s food self-sufficiency keep anxious eyes on the sky. Hawaii imports 92 percent of its food. At what point might water to increase local food and biofuels production compete for supply with Hawaii’s rising bottled water exports?

Charles Fishman, author of The Big Thirst, reports that the average American uses 99 gallons of water a day, much of it on the yard. Dry Las Vegas pays homeowners $40,000 an acre to replace grass and greenery with desert plants, and xeriscaped yards, finding it far less costly than trying to import more water.

5. Municipal runoff:

‘Oahu raises household water prices 9.6 percent a year (doubling water prices in 7.5 years), and sewage prices 18 percenta year (doubling prices in 4 years). Failure by two generations of city officials to maintain and upgrade ‘Oahu’s 2000-plus miles of water pipes leaves us losing massive amounts of water to leaks, then scrambling to repair 300-plus annual pipeline collapses.

According to Fishman, America’s municipalities typically lose one gallon out of six in underground leakage and water line breaks. On an annual basis, a one-sixth water loss would mean a city is losing two months’ worth of water every year. With the election looming, which mayoral candidate do you feel will do the best job of repairing and maintaining Honolulu’s water lines?

In addition to an estimated $3 billion to repair Honolulu’s aged water mains, sewer repairs will cost $4.7 billion, which, with rail costs added, may well put the City and County of Honolulu in line for possible bankruptcy.

6. Toilet-to-tap:

Scientists estimate the age of earthly water at roughly 4.65 billion years, your next bottle of water perhaps having passed through and given life to dinosaurs, plumeria trees, ants, segmented worms, trout, giant squid, sugar cane, plus you and me. In a way, each form of life is a container of water.

‘Oahu’s Sand Island Sewage Treatment facility puts some 140 to 160 million gallons a day into the sea. An expensive upgrade of sewage treatment to third stage would let Honolulu reclaim all of that waste water as potable.

It’s already being done, and drunk, in Orange County, San Diego and parts of Los Angeles, Cali., as well as El Paso, Texas. Oh, and Singapore.

Instead of adding chemicals, the newest technology relies more on filtering and re-filtering, on the model of the services that wetlands, and lava rock, have performed for millennia in purifying our drinking water.

7. The state’s kuleana:

Section 7, Article XI of the Hawaii State Constitution says that:

“The State has an obligation to protect, control and regulate the use of Hawaii’s water resources for the benefit of its people. The legislature shall provide for a water resources agency which . . . shall set overall water conservation, quality and use policies . . . protect ground and surface water resources, watersheds and natural stream environments . . .”

8. Global warming and waste:

According to the EarthPolicy Institute, making 28 billion plastic bottles a year for U.S. consumers takes 17 million barrels of oil. Add the energy to package, ship and refrigerate bottled water, and the tab mounts to 50 million barrels. More tons of CO2 enter the atmosphere and drive up global warming, raising water demand. Then Americans throw away 80 percent of the plastic bottles they use. Hawaii Volcanoes, Zion, and Grand Canyon National Parks have all recently stopped selling disposable plastic water bottles. Zion has cut its waste stream by 5,000 pounds annually. The University of Maryland recently banned the sale of bottled water at all of its public events.

At what point does drinking bottled water create enough pangs of conscience to take you back to the water tap to refill your permanent portable container?

BY DOC BERRY@HonoluluWeekly.com

Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- an endless floating waste of plastic trash. Now he's drawing attention to the growing, choking problem of plastic debris in our seas.

TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Featured speakers have included Al Gore on climate change, Philippe Starck on design, Jill Bolte Taylor on observing her own stroke, Nicholas Negroponte on One Laptop per Child, Jane Goodall on chimpanzees, Bill Gates on malaria and mosquitoes and "Lost" producer JJ Abrams on the allure of mystery. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, development and the arts

Access to Clean Water Promotes a Ripple Effect Infographic: Voss Foundation

I really like this infographic from the Voss Foundation 

@waterwired

ERAU Group Installs Water Purification System in Haiti

A tent city in Haiti is receiving clean water daily after a group from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University installed a water purification system.

The 10 Embry-Riddle mechanical, civil and aeronautical engineering students and a professor returned this week after spending about six days to help thousands of victims of the 2010 earthquake who are living in tents and surrounding areas of Onaville, Haiti, a displacement camp built northeast of Port-Au-Prince.

This is the third water system Embry-Riddle has delivered to Haiti. Previous recipients were an orphanage last year and a missionary relief camp.

In an unrelated trip, a church in Deltona also recently returned from helping to feed and take other supplies to children in Haiti.

The new water purification system is able to pump 20,000 gallons of clean water every day at a rate of 15 gallons a minute as opposed to last year's system of 4 gallons a minute.

The Embry-Riddle students and Marc Compere, Embry-Riddle assistant professor of mechanical engineering, shipped the system they designed to Nehemiah Vision Ministries in Haiti. It was then trucked to the tent-city site.

The clean-water system is about 6 feet high and operates on solar power and a diesel generator. Miller-Leaman Inc., a Daytona Beach-based water purification manufacturer, also helped with manufacturing and consulting.

About 50 people were lined up waiting after the students finished putting the system together, according to Embry-Riddle grad student Yung Wong, 22, of Iselin, N.J., the graduate team leader.

"It was continuous. Once we started, there was a lot more people coming," said Wong, who also went to Haiti last year to install a similar system to an orphanage. "It was a pretty rewarding feeling. It's amazing to be able to give clean water to people who don't have access to it."

He said the pastor of the village compared Embry-Riddle students providing water to people in the desert similar to the story of Moses from the Bible.

The students trained the pastor and a 15-year-old to run the system, which includes tanks that store the water.

Some of the group hopes to return in a couple of months to move the contraption to a permanent housing structure closer to the well.

They also want to bring a second purifier to the tent city next year so more people can be served.

Embry-Riddle junior Kyle Fennesy, 20, of Richmond, Texas, undergraduate team leader for the trip, said he was "touched by the strength of the Haitian people and how much they value clean water. It was very eye-opening to see how easily Americans take water for granted and how easily we are able to focus on our work and education without even a second glance or worry about where our water is coming from."

Embry-Riddle grad student Shavin Pinto, 23, of Sri Lanka, who was on his first trip, said he thought he would be used to seeing poverty coming from a third-world country. But he was amazed by what he saw.

"We saw kids all around that had no water at all. Water was like gold for them," Pinto said.

Another area group also recently returned from Haiti.

A team of 14 people from Deltona Alliance Church served food to 500 kids at the Kids Against Hunger feeding center in Arcahaie, Haiti. Church members also took 15 suitcases of school supplies from the church for some of the orphanages and schools. The group also painted classrooms and worked on buildings at Children's Lifeline, which provides assistance to underdeveloped areas in Haiti and at one of their schools.

Jeff Gryboski, a member of the church who organized the mission trip, has personally been to Haiti about 10 times in the past two years, focusing on rebuilding three churches as part of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.

Gryboski, who has a home maintenance service and has worked for general contractors, was joined on this trip by his wife, Sherri, and their oldest child, Noah, 11.

"The whole reason I go is because in scripture it tells us you have to love your neighbor as yourself," Gryboski said.

Gryboski said he has seen progress in the past two years, though it was initially slow, and there are still tent cities, collapsed buildings and "debris is still evident."

He has taken one or two individuals from the church to Haiti in the past but this was the first team of this size.

BY DEBORAH CIRCELLI@news-journalonline.com

On Monday, the North 40 crew followed the rotary group into the rural areas around Milot, and the first stop was to the Children of the Promise Orphanage and Nutrition Center. A young American couple runs this amazing facility, whose primary mission is to keep families together. Many parents bring their children here because they can't afford to take care of them. Rather than taking the children and sending them to adoptive parents around the world, they help them get healthy and then work to get them back to their families. 

Our second stop was a community water source that had become contaminated - a well which serves over 2,000 people. The rotary group has been designing and building a retro fit purification system back home, which they packaged up and brought down to purify the contaminated well. With the help of a lot of community members they're working on installing the system this week.

To see all the episodes and learn more about the project, head to our blog at www.north40productions.com.

A Quiet Small Water Revolution

Quietly, a revolution to develop cheap ways to draw water for irrigation is unfolding in small villages and rural regions in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, a new three-year study has found. This movement has the ability to turn agriculture around in the developing world.

The study - by the Sri Lanka-based International Water Management Institute (IWMI), a nonprofit research centre - found that small farmers, tired of waiting for governments to deliver aid, have found ways to access motor pumps, build reservoirs or ponds to harvest rain water to improve their crop yields. And it is paying off.

"We were amazed at the scale of what is going on," said IWMI's Meredith Giordano, who coordinated the initiative. "Despite constraints, such as high upfront costs and poorly developed supply chains, small-scale farmers across Africa and Asia have moved ahead using their own resources to finance and install irrigation technologies. It's clear that farmers themselves are driving this trend."

Surveys carried out in Ghana, Ethiopia and Zambia found that more than 80 percent of all owners of small-scale irrigation equipment had used their own or their family's savings to buy it. Banks or microcredit organisations rarely lent money to buy the equipment, and help from NGOs or donors was uncommon.

Buckets and watering cans used by most farmers in sub-Saharan Africa are handy for watering small plots and are rather cheap, with negligible operating costs. A treadle pump can cost up to US $100, with families helping out, and the cost of operating it is also zero. Prices for motorized pumps can reach up to $250, but Giordano told IRIN that many farmers had found a way to manage this cost. For instance, in parts of India, a farmer will buy a pump and then rent it out to other farmers when not using it. There are also pump-on-a-bike hire schemes, where cycling entrepreneurs tour rural areas, renting out pumps strapped to their bicycles.

"The proliferation of small-scale private irrigation is an established trend in South Asia that is now gaining ground in sub-Saharan Africa," said the study." In many African countries, private irrigation by farmers is already much more significant than the public irrigation sector," said Giordano. For example, in Ghana, private irrigation by smallholder farmers employs 45 times more individuals and covers 25 times more land than public irrigation schemes.

Paying off

The results are becoming apparent. In the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, farmers who have constructed ponds to irrigate crops have seen their incomes rise by 70 percent. A similar initiative in Gursum, an area in Ethiopia's Oromia region, has been so "successful that it is now known as the 'No-pond-No-wife' sub-district," said the study. Rainwater harvesting was introduced by the Oromia government in 2002, with ponds being built with plastic sheets. Farmers, however scaled-up the initiative by improving the water-holding capacity of the ponds by joining two plastic sheets, ultimately improving crop yields - so much so that "farmers without ponds are said to have difficulty finding a wife, hence the area's nickname."

The study also found that in Tanzania, half of the dry-season incomes of smallholders come from growing irrigated vegetables. In Zambia, the 20 percent of smallholders who cultivate vegetables in the dry season earn 35 percent more than those who do not.

The researchers also examined how each of these technologies - use of motorized pumps, small reservoirs, community-managed river diversions - could reduce poverty. They found the growth and impact of these technologies would be enormous. Motorized pumps, for instance, could be provided to at least 185 million people in sub-Saharan Africa, generating a revenue of $22 billion annually. The study took variables such as access to markets, investment costs and availability of natural water sources to calculate benefits.

The findings are not surprising considering only three percent of sub-Saharan Africa's water is drawn for irrigation, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, and only four percent of its arable land is irrigated. The IWMI study found that more than 80 percent of the farmers use water cans and buckets to draw water for their food crops. Small farmers across the ocean in South Asia have similarly relied on low-tech forms of irrigation, such as depending on monsoon rains to water their crops.

Yet the study warns that there are also risks to unchecked expansion of smallholder water management. "The poorest farmers, especially women, still struggle to find the resources needed to access new technologies, which may lead to greater inequities. And if farmers engage in a water free-for-all, supplies in some areas could dwindle past sustainable levels."

The study recommends that governments and local authorities engage with what is happening on the ground and support it with policies that increase access to loans and improve agricultural extension services i.e., teaching improved farming methods.

allafrica.com

World Water Week

Water and its links to development, peace and conflict was highlighted Monday when delegates from over 130 countries gathered for the annual World Water Week.

Keynote speakers included Swedish International Development Cooperation Minister Gunilla Carlsson and Rejoice Mabudafhasi, South African Deputy Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, who both touched on the linkage between climate and development issues.

Mabudafhasi later reminded reporters how women in rural areas and girls often have to walk long distances to collect water. This task can disrupt girls' schooling and has other impacts on women's ability to participate in society.

Former chief UN mediator in the Darfur conflict, veteran Swedish diplomat Jan Eliasson, recounted his experiences of how water and water scarcity came into play in the troubled region in Sudan with desertification, poisoned wells and displacement of pastoral people.

Displaying a glass of tap water, Eliasson said "this is a luxury for 800-900 million people in the world. It's a dream."

Eliasson - who now chairs the Swedish branch of the aid agency WaterAid Sweden - cited another dismal statistic that 4,000 to 5,000 children die daily due to the lack of clean water or over water-borne diseases.

Scores of seminars were also scheduled during the conference that has the overriding theme "accessing water for the common good" and where scores of organizations present findings and studies.

The winner of the 2009 Stockholm Water Prize, used his lecture to urge delegates to act.

"Only talking about the problem will not solve the problem," said Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of the Sulabh Sanitation Movement in India.

Later this week Pathak is to accept the 150,000-dollar prize. He is credited with improving sanitation across India and converting the waste into energy.

Pathak is credited with developing a simple twin pit, pour-flush toilet system used in more than 1.2 million residences and buildings.

It has since been distributed to countries in both Asia and Africa.

Like other speakers Patahk discussed the need for cooperation between countries on water issues, noting how his native India had 16 per cent of the global population, 4 per cent of the world's water and 3 per cent of the land.

Possible conflict over water was also discussed by contributors to a report on trans-boundary water produced by the Stockholm International Water Institute, which organizes the meeting.

Co-author David Grey, who works as a water advisor for the World Bank in South Asia and Africa, said "no war is fought over a single issue," but that water could be a factor in conflicts.

The Stockholm Water Prize was created in 1990 to recognize achievements in water science, water management, water action or awareness building. 

About the World Water Week
in Stockholm

World Water Week is hosted and organised by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and takes place each year in Stockholm. The World Water Week has been the annual focal point for the globe's water issues since 1991. Join us!

World Water Week niche and theme

Each year the World Water Week addresses a particular theme to enable a deeper examination of a specific water-related topic. While not all events during the week relate to the overall theme, the workshops driven by the Scientific Programme Committee and many seminars and side events do focus on various aspects of the theme. The themes change each year, but each fits within a broader "niche" that covers several years. The grouping of
themes within a niche is designed to develop a long-term perspective on a broad yet significant water and development issue. It also ensures that each year builds upon the previous years' outcomes and findings.

The current niche for 2009-2012 is "Responding to Global Changes", which looks at the potential and necessary responses in water policy, management and development to address pervasive and increasingly impacting global changes. The themes within the current niche are:

• 2009: Accessing Water for the Common Good
• 2010: The Water Quality Challenge
• 2011: Water in an Urbanising World
• 2012: Water and Food Security

Browse this website to see the Thematic Scope for 2012 on Water and Food Security, and the workshops covering different aspects of the theme.

worldwaterweek.org