April 22, 2009
Global Warming Causing River Levels to Drop
Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder,CO have found that reduced water levels in many rivers around the globe is a direct result of climate change. This has the potential of disrupting food and water supplies in the future.
The results of this research are to be published May 15 in the American Meteorological Society's Journal of Climate. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), NCAR's sponsor.
"The distribution of the world's fresh water, already an important topic," says Cliff Jacobs of NSF's Division of Atmospheric Sciences, "will occupy front and center stage for years to come in developing adaptation strategies to a changing climate."
"Reduced runoff is increasing the pressure on freshwater resources in much of the world, especially with more demand for water as population increases," says NCAR scientist Aiguo Dai, the lead author of the journal paper. "Freshwater being a vital resource, the downward trends are a great concern."
"As climate change inevitably continues in coming decades, we are likely to see greater impacts on many rivers and the water resources that society has come to rely on," says NCAR scientist Kevin Trenberth, a co-author of the paper, as reported by Science Daily.
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March 23, 2009
Activists Agree Water is the New Oil
Water activists agree that water has now become more of a precious commodity than oil, with more than a billion people in the world lacking access to clean water, and with 80% of all diseases derived from dirty water.
This is the focus of this year's International World Water Day, which closes this Sunday, in Istanbul, Turkey.
"As climate change accelerates and we see a changing hydrological cycle, diminishing access to resources, there are direct human impacts that are water-related," said Jonathan Greenblatt, a professor at UCLA.
"It is the well-managed or restored river systems that cope best with climate change impacts we are seeing now and those that are yet to come," James Leape, the director general of the Natural Resources Defense Council said in a statement.
"This is clearly an issue of water management, but the ministerial declaration flowing from the World Water Forum is more a collection of platitudes than a plan for action."
The World Health Organization reported that there is a high return on investment in clean water projects,: every $1 spent on water and sanitation can bring economic benefits averaging between $7 and $12.
"As many have pointed out in this week's debates, this payback makes a very strong argument in favor of promoting safe water and sanitation in these difficult financial times," Melanie Nakagawa wrote in the Natural Resources Defense Council's blog, as reported by Reuters, and published by News 24.
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October 29, 2008
Clean Water on the Ballot in Pennsylvania
In what is most likely to become a growing trend, water infrastructure is on the ballot this year in Pennsylvania to replace aging pipes.
On the ballot Tuesday, the State is asking to borrow $400 million in a bond issue to help municipalities address their aging infrastructure, John Hanger, acting secretary of the state Department of the Environment, said.
"The fact of the matter is that we all suffer when communities don't treat water," John Hanger said.
It has been estimated that a minimum of $36.5 billion over the next 20 years will be needed to address statewide infrastructure repairs, according to findings from a study done by Gov. Ed Rendell's Sustainable Infrastructure Task Force, as reported by the York Daily Record.
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February 20, 2008
Connecticut Government to Eliminate Bottled Water Use
The State Government in Hartford, CT is pushing to eliminate the use of bottled water in all state facilities, joining what appears to be a growing trend.
A taste test at the capitol today at the State Capital (pictured) today, left most all unsure which was tap and which was the bottled water.
State Rep. Beth Bye says this is the proof that the state needs to convert all spring water coolers at the Legislative Office Building to tap water.
"Just in this building we spend about $12,000 a year on bottled water. Year after year after year. If we put all state agencies together we'd save $465,000 a year," Bye said.
"It would save hundreds of thousands of dollars, even millions if we did it across all state agencies," Bye added.
"When we consider that there are stronger regulations governing tap water than bottled water, we're actually doing something for the health of the people working in state office buildings as well as taxpayer dollars," said taxpayer C.J. May, as reported by WTNH Hartford.
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February 11, 2008
Tampa Bay Desalination Plant Fully Operational
The nation's first large-scale seawater desalination plant, the Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Plant, is now fully operational in Tampa Bay,FL, assuring the 2.5 million residents there are protected against any future droughts.
The desalination plant is a project of Tampa Bay Water, and is operated by American Water and ACCIONA Agua through their joint venture subsidiary,American Water- Pridesa, and at 25 million gallons per day provides 10 percent of the Tampa Bay region's drinking water supply.
Tampa Bay Water provides wholesale water to the public utility systems of Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties, as well as the cities of New Port Richey, St. Petersburg and Tampa.
"We've already had folks from coastal areas in California, Texas and
other parts of Florida look at the plant," said Jerry Maxwell, general manager at Tampa Bay Water. "It's good to know that there's a safe and sustainable way to harvest water from the sea."
"We are extremely proud to have partnered with Tampa Bay Water to
successfully complete the largest seawater desalination plant in the United States," said American Water President Don Correll. "With rigorous pretreatment, the right technology and proper operation, desalination can be done efficiently and effectively and is a viable solution as a water resource."
ACCIONA Agua Managing Director Luis Castilla said, "ACCIONA is pleased to join American Water and Tampa Bay Water in a true public-private partnership bringing together cooperative strengths in technology, design-build implementation and a willingness to overcome significant hurdles," as reported by PR Newswire.
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January 17, 2008
First Ever Water Ristrictions in Florida Water District
The Suwannee River Water Management District board has, for the first time ever, a authorized Phase II Water Shortage Order effective now through April 7th, when the restrictions will become mandatory.
This action was taken due to extremely low groundwater levels throughout the 15 county region during the current drought and the predictions that the drought will only get worse during the next several months.
"Even before the mandatory restrictions go into effect, we urge all citizens to continue to voluntarily conserve water," said David Still, District deputy executive director.
The District is suffering its eighth-driest 24-month period since 1932, with a rainfall deficit of 28.7 inches. Forty-nine wells set new December lows and 17 wells set new historic lows. Twenty-three emergency permits for dry wells were issued in December, for a total of 157 issued between April 1 and Dec. 31, as reported by the Suwannee Democrat.
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January 10, 2008
Massachusetts' Aging Water Pipes
According to the advocacy group Clean Water Action, it estimates Massachusetts needs to spend $8 billion over the next two decades to repair or replace drinking water infrastructure, including water mains, storage tanks and treatment plants in the state.
The group is trying to get a bill put though the state legislature to create a drinking water finance commission, which would then have to find a way to fund the project.
Obviously, ignoring this problem will only result in additional pipe breaks. As it stands now, in 2006, water departments across the Massachusetts reported nearly 2,000 leaks that lost more than 250 million gallons of water.
No doubt Massachusetts is not alone with the problem of aging drinking water infrastructure as the whole country should be dealing with a similar situation, as reported by the Associated Press and published by WPRI.com Eyewitness News.
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November 26, 2007
Global Warming Hits the Bolivian Water Supply
La Paz, Bolivia, the world's highest capital, depends on the runoff from the glaciers in the Andes for fully one third their water, but due to global warming, the glaciers are rapidly melting.
Not only does this loss of water threaten drinking water but also crops and hydroelectric power. A poor nation such as Bolivia does not have the millions of dollars required to to build reservoirs, shore up leaky distribution networks and construct gas or oil-fired plants.
"We're the ones who've contributed the least to global warming and we're getting hit with the biggest bill,"laments Edson Ramirez, a Bolivian hydrologist who coordinates U.N., French and Japanese sponsored projects to quantify the damage exacted on fragile Andes ecosystems by richer nations that use more gas and create more pollution.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging that a new global treaty on climate change provide funding to help poor countries adapt to its damaging effects. Ban made the recommendation recently when U.N. scientists released a report saying the 40 leading industrial countries produced 46 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions in 2004.
"All these ecosystems are changing very quickly. In fact, every year they change at a faster pace, which has all of us very alarmed," said Walter Vergara, the World Bank's lead climatologist for Latin America, as reported by the Associated Press, and published by CNN.
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September 24, 2007
Missoula, MT Struggles with Water Availablity for Growth
The availability of water is affecting the growth in the outlying areas around Missoula.
Ground water has proven to be scarce in many areas, even when dilling for what seems like miles. The problem is that Mountain Water Company, the local water supplier, is private, and according to the company's general manager, Arvid Hiller, "The whole “field of dreams" theory is not good business practice. It's too risky to assume that if the water company builds it, homeowners will come."
Hiller, blames the state Public Service Commission for the company"s limited ability to plan for future needs. The PSC won't allow the current water-using customer to pay for the company to stretch pipes to land in the urban fringe.
The developers have been paying Mountain Water to install water pipes, the cost of which is recovered from homeowners, but that does not leave room for any speculation.
Commissioner Doug Mood, who represents residents from Ravalli County up to Lincoln County, said the PSC wouldn't be doing its job if it allowed companies to expand their businesses on the backs of existing customers, as reported by the Missoulian.
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September 11, 2007
India's PM: No Subsidy for Commercial Use of Water
With global warming affecting glaciers which have been a source of water for India, Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh said today that the Government would no longer subsidize the economic and commercial use of water.
While inaugurating the National Congress on Ground Water in New Delhi, Singh said, "Providing free power to farmers has encouraged excessive use of pump sets and excessive drawing of ground water. If there is economic pricing of power, there would be some incentive for conserving ground water."
Singh went on to say, "we cannot continue to subsidize the economic and commercial use of water... There are related policies that must be corrected to ensure water conservation, especially ground water."
Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz, in attendance, added that exploitation and contamination of ground water in some areas has led to apprehension about its sustainability, as reported by the Pioneer.
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August 21, 2007
Greywater Recyling Conserves Water
Greywater Guerillas, an organization founded just outside Berkeley, CA, by Laura Allen & Cleo Woelfle-Erskine, fosters the "illegal" recycling and conservation of normally wasted water in homes.
Greywater is described as water that goes down the drain from showers, sinks and washing machines, yet can be stored for use on lawns and gardens.
"We're forced into being guerilla-style because of economics," said Laura. "Permitted [systems] cost between $2,000 to $10,000. Non-permitted systems can be as cheap as $100."
Claudia Cappio, head of the plumbing inspectors for the city of Oakland said, "The motivation and intentions behind the Greywater Guerillas is a good one," but added that "codes are necessary to assure the safety of the family who's putting one in and of our environment," as reported by ABC News/Nightline.
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August 14, 2007
Australian Water Prices to Rise
Australia is a hot and dry country, so it should be no surprise that water supply experts are saying the cost of water is much too inexpensive.
While the pricing for water is now between 90 cents and $1.50 for every kilolitre of water used, the cost of improving infrastructure, and building desalination plants could double those prices, according to a report by the Water Services Association of Australia (WSAA).
Professor Stuart White, director of the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney, said, "It's true we historically and currently pay too little for water. If we take into account the massive spending spree on infrastructure [water] should be higher".
University of New South Wales water treatment expert Greg Leslie ssid, "The effort to supply safe drinking water, it is amazing it is sold for the price it is. It is certainly worth a lot more than what we pay for our water bill".
Paying more for potable water will be trend in the future far beyond the borders of Australia, as reported by ABC News.
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July 26, 2007
Bottled Water Under Attack
In addition to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, which we published about last month, Salt Lake City Mayor Ross "Rocky" Anderson and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, have joined in calling for a City ban on the wastefulness of bottled water use.
In addition, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has issued an
executive order prohibiting the use of city money to buy bottled water, and the Ann Arbor City Council in Michigan last month approved a measure calling for city events to be bottled-water-free.
Municipal water supplies are just as good as bottled water and are monitored far more closely, city officials around the country say. And a gallon of tap water typically costs less than a penny, up to 10,000 times less than an equivalent gallon of bottled water, according to the mayors.
"When you factor in that water is something that is free and available to you, and then the oil and plastic that are consumed, and the transportation halfway around the world in some cases, bottled water becomes a product whose value isn't clear," said Natural Resources Defense Council spokeswoman Jennifer Powers. "I think there's a real thirst -- no pun intended -- on the part of people who want to play a part in doing something to help the environment, and this is one issue where there is another alternative," as reported by the Chicago Tribune.
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June 19, 2006
Ethanol or water in the Midwest
Ethanol is being promoted as the savior of our high gasoline costs. We apparently are finding out there are some hidden costs in the production of ethanol that have not been considered.
In Champaign and Urbana,IL the city officials expressed concern when they heard that the proposed nearby ethanol plant, would draw 2 million gallons of water a day from the Mahomet Aquifer, which supplies the two cities.
"On a statewide scale, it's not a huge amount of water," said Allen H. Wehrmann, director of the Center for Groundwater Science at the Illinois State Water Survey.
"The demand for water by the two-dozen operating ethanol plants in Iowa has not damaged water sources or supplies," said Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association.
Ethanol supporters say there is more danger of running out of corn than there is of using too much water, and that limitation will limit the number of plants in a particular area.
Champaign and Urbana have lifted their objects to the project when the proponent agreed to study the potential impact on the Mahomet Aquifer before proceeding. The Champaign County Board voted last month to allow ethanol plants as a special use in heavy industry zones, as reported by the Associated Press, and published by The Boston Globe.
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May 03, 2006
For Western Australia desalination is likely option
With the resent ruling not to build a pipeline from the Kimberley river, the Western Australian Nationals have asked the State Government to build a desalination plant in Esperance, in the state's south-east as soon as possible.
The proposal received a set-back late last year when the Economic Regulatory Authority ruled the project was not viable, but Leader Brendon Grylls rejects the ruling and says the plant would help save much of Perth's water reserves.
United Utilities project manager Phil Endley of says, "The project itself increases water diversity. It provides another source of water for the state, it's going to stimulate economic development and it's affordable so we think it should now happen," as reported by ABC News Australia.
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April 25, 2006
Acuamed of Spain looks to the sea for potable water
Acuamed, a state company set up by Spain's Socialist government, has to find an alternative to the previous conservative government's plan to divert water from the Ebro river to Spain's parched southeast and has been given a budget of $3.7 billion and four years to complete the project.
According to Adrian Baltanas, director general of Acuamed, half the water will come from desalination plants, and the rest from recycling waste water and from savings achieved by modernizing irrigation systems.
26 new desalination plants are scheduled with three already in service, and four presently under consruction.
Baltanas said, "In the coming decades the pressure on Spain's water resources should ease," as reported by Reuters.
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March 03, 2006
World to face water crises tied to global warming
In the first comprehensive satellite survey of Antarctica, the ice sheets which comprise the world's largest reservoir of fresh water, are shriking at a rate faster than new snow can fall.
Experts say increasing global temperatures, as like the 10 warmest years on record all have occurred since 1990, may be hastening the demise of the polar ice caps, and estimates of the pace of future sea-level rise could be too low.
At the same time, Africa's rivers face dramatic disruption that will leave a quarter of the continent severely short of water by the end of the century, a separate study has found.
An assessment of climate change on Africa's waterways revealed they are highly sensitive to shifts in rainfall patterns. Even modest decreases in rain in parts of Africa will mean rivers lose as much as 80 per cent of their water, triggering a surge of what the scientists call "water refugees".
Both studies were published in the journal Science on Thursday. The findings suggest that a century of steady increases in global temperatures has altered the seasonal balance of the world's water cycle, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
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January 24, 2006
News of the day illustrates global water crises
In putting together this blog, I usually make an effort to write about the most current water crises somewhere in the world. Today, however it struck me that the drinking water news just today, should lead us all to wonder how we will deal with the growing potable water shortage.
In Mumbai, India today, where the city runs short of 900 million litres of water every day, water tanker deliver trucks have almost doubled their rate, taking advantage of the crises, as reported by the Times of India.
Irrigation farmers from the Burdekin region in north Queensland, Australia must repay more than $4 million in unpaid water charges, after a legal test case failed in the Supreme Court in Brisbane, as reported by ABC News, Australia.
Yemen is one of the most water scarce countries in the world, where the average per capita share of renewable water resources is 125 cubic metres per year, according to government estimates. This represents one-tenth of the average in most countries of the Middle East and North Africa, and one-fiftieth of the world average, as reported by Reuters.
All over the world the latest news reports always reflect the growing water crises.
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December 16, 2005
With the growing water crises in China, comes high prices for water.
As was the socialist system, till 1985 drinking water was supplied free in China. This, of course did noting to encourage conservation.
Now, with pollution of potable water sources, resulting in shortages rising to crises levels, the price of water has been allowed to rise.
The expectation is that high prices for water will improve the feasibility of water investments, so deparately needed in China at this time, as reported by the International Herald Tribune.
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November 18, 2005
Is water is a resource, a service, or human right?
In Asia, over one billion people lack access to safe drinking water.
Between 1950 and 1995, the amount of water available to each person in Asia dropped by more than half and that figure could halve again by 2025. People in the world's most populous region are running out of water fast.
This and more was reported in a most insightful article written by
Bindu Lohani, Director General of the Regional and Sustainable Development Department of the Asian Development Bank.
His conclusion is that we must move beyond the debate if water is a resource, service or right and focus our efforts on conserving and managing the water we have to see that the benefits can be shared by the largest number of people possible, as published by The Manila Times and ABS-CBN Interactive.
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November 16, 2005
Potable water declines as the earth warms
No surprise to this writer that scientists agree that global warming is reducing the drinking supply, even if some politicians think it is not real.
Mountain snows and alpine glaciers represent key reservoirs of fresh water for some 1.6 billion people worldwide. In 50 years, a warming planet is likely to disrupt many of these sources, leaving millions of people scrambling for additional supplies.
Timothy Barnett at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography said, "When it's warmer, you may have the same amount of precipitation, but more will be in the form of rain than snow. That's 'duh.' And if you have any snowpack in a warmer world, it's going to melt earlier." This can translate into less water in summer and fall.
"It's critical we start thinking about this now," says Lara Binder, an outreach specialist with the University of Washington's Climate Impacts Group. "We can't be in a position where we're trying to play catch-up," as reported by The Christian Science Monitor.
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August 11, 2005
Protesters in Salt Lake City Oppose Plan to Divert Utah Water
With potable water become a scarce commodity, as I have written before, water rights are going to be more and more in contention.
Dozens of protesters, from Utah and Nevada, gathered at the federal building in Salt Lake City to give voice to their concerns about a proposal to take groundwater from their remote desert region and send it to thirsty, growing Las Vegas.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority wants to drill wells on the Nevada side of the valley and use a 500-mile pipe network to send the water to Las Vegas.
Water authority spokesman J.C. Davis said last week that no water will be tapped unless ongoing studies by the U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Land Management confirm estimates of how much water is available annually in aquifers under the valley, as reported by the Associated Press, and published in the Los Angeles Times.
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July 13, 2005
San Diego Water Plans to Build Desalination Plants
The Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District has shown great forward thinking in planning to build facitilies to desalinate water from the Pacific Ocean.
The District approved a subsidy yesterday that would bring down the cost of turning ocean water into drinking water at a proposed Carlsbad desalination plant.
The board approved a $250-per-acre-foot subsidy for the San Diego County Water Authority and four other agencies that are considering desalination plants for future water supplies.
The $270 million Carlsbad plant, proposed by the privately held Poseidon Resources Corp. on the grounds of the Encina Power Station, is the largest under consideration. It would produce 50 million gallons a day.
The Los Angeles-based Metropolitan Water District approved the subsidy for the five proposed plants because it believes desalinated seawater can help quench Southern California's growing thirst.
The Pacific Ocean has long been considered a potential reservoir for the region, but desalination has proved expensive. Recent advances in technology have made demineralizing seawater more economical, however, as reported in the San Diego Union-Tribune.
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July 12, 2005
Summer in Toronto and Water Conservation is Urged
While the City of Toronto, with its four water filtration plants getting their supply from Lake Ontario, is in better shape for drinking water this Summer it would seem than most, the call has still gone out for conservation due to the extreme heat wave.
During extreme hot and dry weather, it could become difficult to keep water supply levels at capacity.
Reducing non-essential water usage will help ensure pumping stations and water reservoirs meet current demands
The City of Toronto is requesting City departments, agencies, boards and commissions to suspend all non-essential outdoor water use, as reported in the National Post.
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June 16, 2005
Big family, bigger water bill
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The new reality it that with less potable water to go around, we all are going to start to pay more for it, like with any commodity. No surprise in that.
In Victoria, Australia, for customers of South East Water, the large-use charge will jump by 10.8 per cent from July 1, resulting in larger families paying the bulk of the increase.
Melbourne's three metropolitan water retailers all use the rising tariffs system. As water use increases, the cost per litre rises.
The Essential Services Commission released a three-year price plan for Victoria's 17 water retailers on Wednesday.
South East Water's acting chief executive Murray Goddard said the company's pricing policy aimed to better reflect the scarcity of water. "It's all about getting customers to change their water-use habits and conserve water," he said, as reported by the Herald Sun.
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June 15, 2005
Water Rationing Hits Hard at Opuwo
All these articles about the world wide water shortages, on a planet that is mostly water, reminds me of that old saying "so much water, but none to drink." What a human tradgedy!
Opuwo, Namibian school children cannot use the toilets at the school, and businesses must hire trucks to get water, as water rationing enters its third month.
Failure to pay NamWater around N$260 000 in unpaid debts has forced the Opuwo Council to make the drastic threat of repossessing houses unless residents pay up.
Opuwo Mayor Uaurikua Kakuva, who is also the principal of a primary school at the town, describes the situation as "really terrible".
Kakuva said "the poor quality of water also made it difficult to convince residents to pay for it, but that on the other hand the town could not expect to enter into discussions with NamWater to improve the supply, if it wasn't paying for its provision", as reported by
The Namibian.
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June 09, 2005
Indianapolis residents asked to conserve water
Indianapolis Water customers are being asked to conserve water as the utility deals with peak demand during an unseasonably warm weather pattern that has produced little precipitation.
“We’re asking people to plan their outdoor water usage and water lawns between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m.," said David Gadis, vice president and chief operating officer, Veolia Water Indianapolis (VWI), in a prepared statement. "This will allow us to fill our storage tanks between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. in preparation for early morning peak demand.”
"We would ask the public to use water wisely during this time and throughout the summer. Every drop counts and through wise water use, we will be able to better maintain system pressure and water supply,” Gadis said, as reported by the Indianapolis Star.
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June 08, 2005
Carting water raised as option for Goulburn water crisis
The New South Wales, Australia Government says carting water to Goulburn in the south of the state is an option if the drought does not break.
The Government yesterday announced it would fund a new $3 million pipeline, dollar for dollar from Mulwaree Ponds to Sooley Dam. The Energy and Utilities Minister, Frank Sartor, says the project will supplement a number of measures to provide water for Goulburn.
"The issue with a city like Goulburn is it's a significant city and therefore that's a much bigger challenge and we're looking at the logistics of how we would deal with that situation," Sartor went on to say.
But the Member for Burrinjuck, Katrina Hodgkinson, says there is no doubt a new pipeline to supplement Goulburn's water supply could have been put in place much sooner, as reported by ABC News.
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June 02, 2005
Western Cape Town to run out of drinking water in seven years.
The Western Cape will face serious water shortages in seven years unless something is done about water supplies.
An anticipated 2% annual increase in urban demand will put more pressure on the water supply, including the Berg River Dam that is still under construction.
This was disclosed at a public meeting in the Bellville Civic Centre yesterday by the organisers of the two-year Western Cape Reconciliation Study, which is under way.
Isa Thompson, the chief engineer for National Water Resource Planning, warned that if nothing was done, "the current supply would be unable to meet projected urban and agricultural demands beyond 2012", as reported by allAfrica.com
Another report of a part of the world with drinking water shortages, an alarming worldwide trend.
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May 24, 2005
Public backlash over private water deals
Dar es Salaam is one of the fastest growing cities in the world and its water system has utterly failed to provide for the roughly three million people who now live there.
Due to privatisation, most residents must pay water sellers. As in every poor country, the poorer you are, the more you pay for water.
Water privatisation was meant to solve a world crisis that has left more than two billion people without clean water or sanitation.
In the 1980s and 1990s, the private sector was seen by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and governments like Britain and France as the only way of raising the money needed, and international companies such as Suez, Thames and Biwater, encouraged by the IMF, rushed to privatise the water of the poor.
Companies were frequently accused of not delivering on their contracts. Prices shot up, people lost jobs, the poor often did not get the water promised, and discontent grew.
In the past decade there have been riots in Bolivia, after which western water companies were thrown out. There has also been discontent in Trinidad, Argentina, Ghana, South Africa and the Philippines.
Water privatisation has become a subject of political debate in most developing countries - fiercely opposed by unions but widely backed by most governments.
The role of the IMF, World Bank and governments lobbying for their own companies is being questioned widely.
The UN estimates that 2.7 billion people will face water scarcity by 2025. Some 40% of the world's population now live in countries with water shortages, and tens of millions of children die because of water-borne diseases that could largely be eliminated with improved sanitation, as reported by the Guardian Unlimited.
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April 06, 2005
Nigeria needs 200 million dollars annually for water projects
Nigeria needs 200 million dollars yearly to meet the UN Millennium Development Goal of halving the proportion of people without safe drinking water and adequate sanitation by 2015.
This was disclosed today by the Nigeria's Water Resources Minister Mukhtari Shagari in Abuja according to the News Agency of Nigeria, and published by China View.
"It is estimated that 200 million dollars will be required annually for the next ten years, including 12 percent of that amount for operation and maintenance service for the program," Shagari said.
"The investment needed up to the year 2015 is of such a magnitude that it demands more proactive action to mobilize more funds to finance water supply and sanitation with particular reference to the rural areas," he said.
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February 17, 2005
The Deep Sea May be the Best Source for Clean Water
As reported in the Taipei Journal, at a mid-January meeting of the Council for Economic Planning and Development, a special task force was set up to research and develop economic activity in deep-sea water industries, those which pump water from below 200 meters.
Japan, starting their research in 1976, and with scientists in Hawaii following, both found that the icy deep ocean waters to be rich in calcium, iron, nitrogen and phosphorus, which are all beneficial to the human body. The freezing temperatures and high pressure of deep-sea water makes is naturally clean and germ-free.
The desalination and marketing of deep-sea water has led to Hawaii, Koyo USA Corp. selling bottles of it under their MaHaLo brand in Japan at high prices.
Sounds like a cleaner source of bottled water than any of the brands marketed here in the USA.
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February 03, 2005
Chlorinate or Not to Chlorinate
Seems it is now more than the scientific community, but now consumers are voicing their concerns about chlorination of their drinking water.
According to the The Olympian, Lacey, WA, a community of some 50,000, has been told that their drinking water. The City Council recently agreed to permanently disinfect the system following a 16-month effort to kill bacteria in the water that are generally harmless but might indicate the presence of dangerous bacteria.
Questions concerning the health risks of chlorination have been raised by some of Lacey’s residents. The scientific evidence to back up such concerns, however, is limited, and based on high exposure to chlorination's byproducts.
Some studies suggest drinking chlorinated water increases the risk of cancer, while other studies show no increased risk, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
For now, the EPA doesn't think there is enough evidence to state conclusively that drinking chlorinated water causes health risks.
While the concerns are based on the byproducts, trihalomethanes and haloacetic acids, public water systems now must test for these byproducts four times a year.
All alternative disinfection methods apparently produce some undesirable byproducts. The residents of Lacey should find some solace in the long term track record of the use of Chlorine in municipal water systems.
Posted by Stephen Betheil at 11:01 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 03, 2005
Environmental Health Issues: Cancer & Chlorine
We have referenced this most imformative article, "Environmental Health Issues: Cancer & Chlorine" before. That blog was dated December 17, 2004, titled "Very Scary".
The article goes on to say "If your drinking water is chlorinated, don't drink it You can purchase very effective filters which will remove 99% of the THM’s or purchase proper bottled spring water. Just this simple safeguard may save thousands from heart disease and cancer - the two major degenerative killers in the United States."
We have those very effective filters on this site, such as our five year maintenance free model 2400, very inexpensive too.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 06:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 29, 2004
Christian Science Monitor: World on the Verge of Water Cartel
"Forget OPEC. The next cartel may export drinking water." says Mark Clayton of the The Christian Science Monitor. An entrepreneur, Terry Spragg, is apparently filling ocean-going bags full of clean water for sale to water-poor nations. According to the article " If that seems far-fetched, consider that less than 2.5 percent of the world's water is fresh. That vital resource is threatened by pollution, waterborne disease, and shifts in rain patterns caused by global warming, recent studies show. All of which, in some eyes, leaves the world on the verge of a scramble by private companies and countries vying for rights to available water." Interesting and scary stuff.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 05:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 24, 2004
Bottled Water Flim-flam
I have posted many times here before about the bottled water industry's deception. How with all the false statements, and the most problematic of omissions, that of the actual sources of the water that is processed for each bottle, we are fooled. Well here is confirmation, once again, that others also feel the same way. "Bottled Water Flim-flam" by Krista Camenzind, says it all once again.
"After testing more than 1000 bottles of water from 103 different companies, the NRDC uncovered microbial content in excess of state guidelines in one-third of the brands it sampled. The NRDC also discovered synthetic organic chemicals in one-fifth of its samples, usually at levels below state and federal limits."
On another note, I do want to wish all who read this a very Merry Christmas, and also a good supply of water you can depend on, an by that I mean not from a bottle.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 06:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 15, 2004
Dispelling an Internet Rumor
There has been a rumor spread all over the internet that drinking water from plastic bottles, if frozen, was dangerous. In,"Researcher Dispels Myth of Dioxins and Plastic Water Bottles" written by Rolf Halden, PhD,PE, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental and Health Sciences at the Center for Water and Health, at John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health, he addresses that rumor. Quoting directly from the article, Dr. Halden states "First, people should be more concerned about the quality of the water they are drinking rather than the container it's coming from. Many people do not feel comfortable drinking tap water, so they buy bottled water instead. The truth is that city water is much more highly regulated and monitored for quality. Bottled water is not. It can legally contain many things we would not tolerate in municipal drinking water." I have been saying the same thing repeatedly in my blog here, as well as elsewhere on this website.
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 05:42 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 08, 2004
Socorro, New Mexico Joins Drinking Water Arsenic Study
The EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, has lowered the level of allowable arsenic in drinking water, and Socorro,NM has joined the pilot program for disadvantaged communities to test ways of dealing with the new guidelines. Arsenic in water has been a problem in mostly the western part of the US. The lowering of the standard for arsenic in drinking water is indicative of the Federal Government's policy to play roulette with the public health. Meanwhile the study is testing four methods of cutting arsenic in the drinking water. I wonder if one of them is the only NSF certified, carbon block filter system like our model cbtas Maybe the EPA should visit this website?
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Posted by Stephen Betheil at 09:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack