Monthly Archive for March, 2010

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Welcome to Coming Together for Clean Water

Published on 03/26/2010 in groundwater, policy and solutions and outreach. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

“Nearly 40 years ago, Congress passed a truly remarkable piece of legislation—the Clean Water Act. This document outlined sweeping commitments to restore and maintain the integrity of our nation’s waters, rid them of pollution, and make them safe for humans and wildlife alike.

“For even longer, the Environmental Protection Agency has worked to fulfill these ambitious and important goals. Our efforts have made our water resources cleaner and safer in many ways, but new challenges arise everyday.  This April, Administrator Lisa Jackson and I are inviting 100 leaders in water issues to help us sharpen our thinking during a one-day event, Coming Together for Clean Water, on how we can meet these challenges.

“Specifically, we’ll discuss what we can do about the most significant pollution problems facing our waters. These evolving issues pose complex challenges to restoring healthy watersheds and creating sustainable communities across the country.”

read more: EPA

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Santa Cruz City Council supports next step in desal plant

Published on 03/24/2010 in desalination and water technology. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

“In a nod to naysayers, Mayor Mike Rotkin sought to remind the public that removing salt from seawater for use in the city’s water system is designed to address rainwater shortages and saltwater intrusion, not support future growth at UC Santa Cruz or elsewhere. “It’s really about drought protection,” he said.

“Rotkin threatened to have arrested an unidentified man who repeatedly shouted at council members. The man told council members they should support solar desalination because of the electricity required to run the proposed plant.

“Opponents also argue greater conservation could better address water shortages and desalination could harm marine life. But supporters say conservation measures aren’t enough to backfill shortages in severe drought years.”

read more: Santa Cruz Sentinel

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Water harvested from clouds in rural South Africa

Published on 03/24/2010 in solutions and outreach and water technology. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

south-africa-fog-nets-photo-1

“The life-giving liquid is the purest you could hope to taste–and it’s also free and environmentally friendly,” said Doreen Gough, media affairs manager for the University of South Africa (UNISA).

“UNISA is launching another of its fog-harvesting systems in South Africa today, this one in the country’s Eastern Cape Province.

“The university “has been engaged with a largescale research and development project on fog harvesting as an alternative source of potable water for many isolated rural communities struggling to access pure and clean water. Many of the communities where the research projects have been conducted experience scarce water supply and the villagers travel long distances to fetch it,” Gough said in an e-mail to Nat Geo News Watch.”

read more: The Palestine Telegraph

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Giant Ethiopian dam to make 200,000 go hungry – NGO

Published on 03/24/2010 in dams. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

“More than 200,000 Ethiopians who rely on fishing and farming could become reliant on aid to survive if the government goes ahead with building Africa’s biggest hydropower dam, an advocacy group said.

“These tribes are self-sufficient but this dam will ruin their economies,” a Survival International representative, who did not wish to be named, said.

“It will end the annual flooding some rely on to make the land they farm fertile, and for tribes who rely on fishing, it will deplete stocks. They will need aid.”

read more: Reuters

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World Water Day – The Big Picture

Published on 03/23/2010 in contaminated water, drought, rivers and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

“Today, March 22nd, is recognized by the United Nations Water Group as “World Water Day”, this year’s theme being “Clean Water for a Healthy World”. Although we live on a water-covered planet, only 1% of the world’s water is available for human use, the rest locked away in oceans, ice, and the atmosphere. The National Geographic Society feels so strongly about the issues around fresh water that they are distributing an interactive version of their April, 2010 magazine for download – free until April 2nd – and will be exhibiting images from the series at theAnnenberg Space for photography. National Geographic was also kind enough to share 15 of their images below, in a collection with other photos from news agencies and NASA – all of water, here at home – Earth. (43 photos total)”

read more: boston.com

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Unsafe water kills more people than war, Ban says on World Day

Published on 03/23/2010 in contaminated water, graywater and solutions and outreach. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

“Every day around the world, 2 million tons of sewage and industrial and agricultural waste are poured in the earth’s waters, while one child under the age of five dies every 20 seconds from water-related diseases, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).

“Human activity over the past 50 years is responsible for unprecedented pollution, and the quality of the world’s water resources is increasingly challenged,” said UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner.

“It may seem like an overwhelming challenge but there are enough solutions where human ingenuity allied to technology and investments in nature’s purification systems – such as wetlands, forests and mangroves – can deliver clean water for a healthy world.”

read more: UN

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Bluewashing: Why the Bottled Water Industry’s EcoFriendly Claims Don’t Hold Water

Published on 03/22/2010 in greenwashing and tap water. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

“Corporations have a financial incentive to hide their environmental impacts from an American public that wants to buy environmentally friendly products. As consumers have been looking for ways to “go green,” corporations have been accused of “greenwashing” — selling products as environmentally responsible when they actually damage the environment. Today, with heightened media attention on the world water crisis, blue is the new green — and corporations appear to be using similar “bluewashing” tactics to obscure their effect on the world’s water.”

read more: food & water watch

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Reflecting on World Water Day

Published on 03/22/2010 in policy, solutions and outreach and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

“World Water Day provides an opportunity to celebrate how far we’ve come and reflect upon how much we have still to do. Today is a reminder of how we should treat this valuable, precious resource. As we reach for the handle to adjust the temperature for our morning shower, or flush the toilet, or water the lawn, or turn on the tap to get a glass of clean water, we should all consider the millions of people everywhere who are walking miles to get to untreated water to sustain life in communities and villages off the proverbial grid. Our shared challenge on World Water Day, and every day, is to identify and implement solutions to the many challenges associated with water quality, access and availability.”

read more: Huffington Post

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Rising waters threaten Nile Delta

Published on 03/21/2010 in climate change, dams, rivers and world water supply. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , .

“As the sea on Egypt’s coastline rises, (Hamza says by 20cm during the last century, a statistic that leading Egyptian government scientists concur with) salt-water infiltrates the Delta’s soil from below, and destroys the farming land.

“The consequences of this are very serious for Egypt, which relies on the Delta for food production.

“In truth, there are any number of factors now damaging the ecology of the Delta. Ever since the completion of the Aswan High Dam, 40 years ago, soil fertility levels in the Delta have been falling, as large quantities of sediment are no longer washed downstream.”

read more: Al Jazeera

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Renewed Support for an Everglades Land Deal, but Cost Is Still in Question

Published on 03/20/2010 in policy and rivers. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

“The water district has a complicated mission. Formed in 1949, it represents the interests of 16 counties that support it with property taxes. In return, it accepts responsibility for “balancing and improving water quality, flood control, natural systems and water supply.”

“Everglades restoration became an important component in 2000, when the district became the lead agency for the largest environmental restoration effort ever attempted. But with fickle weather and a complicated system of canals, pumps, lakes and artificial marshes, the district struggles with protecting its residents and nature.”

read more: New York Times

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