Monthly Archive for August, 2010

Water Supplied In Gaza Unfit For Drinking

Published on 08/31/2010 in contaminated water, groundwater, tap water, wastewater and waterborne diseases. 0 Comments

Photo retrieved from: www.map-uk.org

“They estimate it will take at least 20 years to rehabilitate Gazas underground water system, and any delay in dealing with the problem will lead to additional deterioration in the situation and thus might extend the rehabilitation process for hundreds of years. Since it began its siege on the Gaza Strip, in June 2007, Israel has forbidden the entry of equipment and materials needed to rehabilitate the water and wastewater-treatment systems there. The prohibition has remained despite the recent easing of the siege.

BTselem said the water crisis in the Gaza Strip arose following over-pumping of the underground water of the Coast Aquifer. It is estimated that the amount of water annually pumped from the aquifer is roughly twice the amount of water that replenishes it. As a result of the over-pumping, which has been going on for several decades, salt water has penetrated the aquifer. In addition, the poor maintenance of the wastewater-treatment facilities in Gaza, which increased following the siege, and the damage done to the wastewater-treatment facility in Gaza City during Operation Cast Lead, led to further pollution of the underground water by wastewater, and to greater salinity. Another factor for the pollution is the waste-disposal sites in Gaza, which are not properly handled. Following Operation Cast Lead, these sites received enormous amounts of waste more than 600,000 tons including asbestos, medial waste, oils, and fuels.

The daily per capita water consumption in the Gaza Strip is 91 liters, slightly higher than in the West Bank, where the figure is 73 liters, yet lower than the minimum of 100 liters recommended by the World Health Organization. By comparison, daily per capita consumption in Israel is 242 liters in urban areas and 211 liters in rural areas.”

En Víspera Del COP16, México Es Viable En Sustentabilidad: Sandra Herrera Flores

Published on 08/31/2010 in policy, solutions and outreach, spanish and wastewater. 0 Comments

Foto encontrado en: www.cinu.org.mx

“En material de fortalecimiento al medio ambiente la subsecretaria Sandra Herrera Flores, afirmó que el presidente Felipe Calderón considera como insoslayable abatir el rezago en materia de residuos e impulso al reciclaje porque “el tema no se circunscribe al agotamiento de recursos naturales sino de los renovables como el agua”. En entrevista con Organización Editorial Mexicana (OEM), Sandra Herrera Flores, afirmó que “los mayores cuerpos de agua se ubican en el sur-sureste del país, aunque la actividad económica y de la población corren del centro hacia el norte”.

* Definición

¿Cuáles son las funciones de la subsecretaria de Fomento y Normatividad Ambiental de la Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (Semarnat)?

-Somos responsables de las normas ambientales que rigen las actividades económicas, así como de aquellas publicadas para proteger especies en peligro de extinción y áreas vulnerables en materia de recursos naturales, sin olvidar la normatividad de las descargas de aguas residuales a los cuerpos de las aguas nacionales.

¿Qué ocurre con las aguas de drenaje municipal?

-Para que estos cuerpos puedan descargarse a los nacionales, deben cumplir con ciertas características para lo cual la administración del presidente Calderón trabaja arduamente en las plantas de tratamiento del vital líquido que observaban un rezago en el país.”

Leer mas: El Occidental

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Why Israel, Palestine And Jordan Are Rallying Around A Single Cause

Published on 08/30/2010 in climate change, sink holes and water wars. 0 Comments

Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org

“Fathi Huweimel leans carefully over the edge of a jagged slab of broken asphalt, peering down into a 60-foot-deep crater that was level ground just yesterday. All around him sprawl the ruins of Ghawr al Hadithah, once a farming village in central Jordan but now a jigsaw of broken houses, shattered roads and abandoned tomato fields growing wild amid the massive holes pocking the earth. To the east, the village gives way to desert fringed by stark, sere mountains. To the west, a few hundred yards away, lie the glimmering waters of theDead Sea.

“We’ve had about 75 holes open up in the last two years,” says Huweimel, a thickset man with a broad mouth and deep brown eyes who has lived all of his 45 years in the area. He works as a field researcher with Friends of the Earth-Middle East, an environmental organization. “Everyone is leaving,” he continues. “Those who stay are staying because they have no choice.”

The holes first started appearing in the 1980s, but the pace at which new ones open up has increased dramatically in recent years. Miraculously, no one has been killed by a cave-in yet, though there have been some close calls. A group of seven women — including Huweimel’s aunt — were harvesting tomatoes together one day when the ground collapsed with a roar just 2 meters in front of them. A small salt factory that employed about 100 people was evacuated before it collapsed.

The cause of all this destruction is water — or, rather, the lack of it. The ground is collapsing into sinkholes because the water beneath it is retreating. And the water is retreating because the Dead Sea, a storied feature of the landscape since at least biblical times, is drying up.”

Klamath Basin’s water worries extend to wells

Published on 08/29/2010 in drought, groundwater and tap water. 0 Comments

“During the last big drought crisis in the Klamath Basin, in 2001, Carleton Farms filed for bankruptcy. Nine summers later, amid drought crisis No. 2, heavy pumping of wells that Jim Carleton and his neighbors installed since 2001 is saving his bacon, or, more precisely, his alfalfa, potatoes, wheat, cattle and 12 employees who work his 2,000 acres.

“As a Merrill councilman who oversees public works, Carleton also experienced the downside of this year’s unprecedented well use. In June, after Merrill’s wells ran dry, the town trucked in water for days and spent upward of $25,000 lowering its wellhead.

“Since 2001, the government has paid some basin farmers to irrigate with well water when the weather turns dry. Gov. Ted Kulongoski’s drought declaration in May allowed 89 one-year emergency wells this summer on top of 177 permanent wells sunk on the Oregon side of the basin during the past nine years.

“But this year’s pumping, roughly double previous highs, shows the limits of that strategy for resolving Oregon’s most politically fraught water war.

“The extra draw has lowered well water levels 30 feet in spots. ”

Nuclear Plant’s Use Of River Water Prompts $1.1 Billion Debate With State

Published on 08/27/2010 in policy and rivers. 0 Comments Tags: Hudson River.

Photo retrieved from: www.nytimes.com A canal carrying water used at the Indian Point nuclear power plant and soon to be reintroduced into the Hudson River. The use of river water and the effect on wildlife has caused disagreement.

“BUCHANAN, N.Y. — Just beneath the wind-stippled surface of the Hudson River here, huge pipes suck enough water into the Indian Point nuclear plant every second to fill three Olympic swimming pools. And each second they take in dozens of organisms — fish and crabs, but mostly larvae — that are at the center of a $1.1 billion debate: should the plant have to put in cooling towers that would vastly reduce the intake of water?

Yes, says New York State, which puts the annual death toll at nearly a billion organisms and is withholding a water permit that the plant would need to extend its initial 40-year operating license.

No, says Entergy, the plant owner, which argues that more fish could be saved by installing a different water-intake system. It warns that, if built, the cooling towers would pump tons of pollution into the air of New York’s northern suburbs — and that Westchester County already fails to meet national air quality standards for particulates.”

Cholera death toll rises to 352

Published on 08/26/2010 in contaminated water, floods, groundwater, wastewater and waterborne diseases. 0 Comments

Photo Retrieved from: telegraph.co.uk

“CHOLERA death toll in Nigeria has climbed to 352, according to an update from the Federal Ministry of Health.

“The death toll, as confirmed on Wednesday in Abuja by the Director of Public Health, Dr Mike Anibueze, emanated from Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Yobe, Borno, Adamawa, Taraba, FCT, Cross River, Kaduna, and Rivers.

““As of today, a total of 352 deaths out of 6,497 suspected cases of cholera have been recorded in 11 states,’’ he said.

“According to him, most of the outbreaks occurred in the North-West and North-East zones but epidemiological evidence indicated that the entire country was at risk.

““The disease is endemic in most parts of Nigeria but often occurs in epidemic proportion at the onset of the dry season.

““This is because people scramble for drinking water from doubtful sources and during rainy season when contaminants are washed into surface and underground water sources,’’ Anibueze said.”

Study of coal ash sites finds extensive water contamination

Published on 08/26/2010 in contaminated water. 0 Comments

Photo Retrieved from: southernenvironment.org

“A study released on Thursday finds that 39 sites in 21 states where coal-fired power plants dump their coal ash are contaminating water with toxic metals such as arsenic and other pollutants, and that the problem is more extensive than previously estimated.

“The analysis of state pollution data by the Environmental Integrity Project, the Sierra Club and Earthjustice comes as the Environmental Protection Agency is considering whether to impose federally enforceable regulations for the first time. An alternative option would leave regulation of coal ash disposal up to the states, as it is now.

“The EPA will hold the first of seven nationwide hearings about the proposed regulation Monday in Arlington, Va. A public comment period ends Nov. 19.

“The electric power industry is lobbying to keep regulation up to individual states. Environmental groups say the states have failed to protect the public and that the EPA should set a national standard and enforce it.”

Crece Demanda De Agua En EAU Mientras Se Agota El Recurso

Published on 08/26/2010 in desalination, spanish and water technology. 0 Comments

Foto encontrado en: www.medioambienteok.com

“Los ingresos del petróleo de la nación del Golfo de Arabia le han permitido subsidiar su extravagante uso de agua, ya sea para aquellos que viven en barrios privados con inmaculadas piscinas y extensos campos de golf o para agricultores aferrados a antiguas prácticas de irrigación.

Ambientalistas advierten que el país, que ya depende de costosas plantas de desalinización que funcionan con sus lucrativos combustibles fósiles, debe reducir el consumo de sus 8,2 millones de habitantes o corre el riesgo de vaciar sus recursos de agua subterránea en 50 años.

“Necesitamos convencerlos de que el agua que hay aquí no es un recurso gratuito. Ni siquiera es un recurso natural, es artificial. Es costoso, y tiene un enorme impacto ambiental”, dijo Mohamed Daoud, de la Agencia Ambiental estatal en Abu Dhabi.

Pero eso no es tarea fácil en un país donde las marquesinas que alientan la conservación compiten por el espacio y la atención con las promociones de parques acuáticos, una montaña cubierta para hacer ski y una famosa fuente.

Abu Dhabi, la sede la federación de EAU de siete miembros y el más adinerado de sus emiratos, consume 550 litros de agua por persona al día, dijo Daoud, dos a tres veces el promedio mundial de entre 180 y 200 litros. Analistas dicen que el uso de agua per capita es aproximadamente cuatro veces mayor que el de Europa.

Para aliviar el uso de agua subterránea, aproximadamente un 60 por ciento del consumo en el desierto país, los EAU han invertido mucho en desalinización, produciendo nueve millones de metros cúbicos de agua a diario a un costo de 18 millones de dólares al día.

La dependencia de la desalinización es un lujo que sólo los países del Golfo ricos en petróleo pueden costear: requiere de enormes cantidades de combustible y agua de mar. Dubái es completamente dependiente, mientras que el uso de Abu Dhabi aumentó más del triple para el 2007, dijo la Sociedad de Vida Silvestre de los Emiratos.

“Los EAU eran exportadores de gas neto antes de; 2008, pero ahora se han convertido en importadores”, dijo Ayesha Sabavala, de la Unidad de Inteligencia Económica de Londres, citando el incremento en la desalinización y la producción de electricidad como causa principal.

DESPERDICIO DE ENERGIA

La desalinización funciona mayormente a gas y, en menos casos, a petróleo, recursos que en medio siglo transformaron a los EAU de un pequeño centro de buceo de perlas y pesca a un polo financiero.”

Leer mas: Terra

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Why Your Faucet May Have Dangerously High Levels of Lead

Published on 08/26/2010 in contaminated water, products and tap water. 1 Comment

Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org

“Hundreds of recent health studies prove exceedingly low levels of lead exposure are dangerous – even at levels that were previously believed “safe.” Small amounts of lead leaching from our plumbing can cause kidney disease, hypertension, reduced brain function, hearing loss, nervous system disorders, bone marrow damage, and even death. Lead in the bloodstream robs us of our future because it is even more toxic to children. There is simply no reason that lead should still be allowed in our drinking water plumbing.

In response to the dangers of lead, our government has taken steps to reduce our exposure. In the 1970s, the use of lead in paint and gasoline was phased out. In 1986, a federal law was enacted to reduce lead in our drinking water plumbing. However, faucets sold today can still contain up to a quarter pound of lead and still be labeled as “lead-free” under the 1986 federal law. Here is how it works.

This 1986 federal law, and a subsequent amendment in 1996, established requirements for “lead free” drinking water plumbing. However, under the heading of “things aren’t always what they seem to be,” this federal law actually allows up to 4 percent lead content in faucets and up to 8 percent lead in drinking water pipes. The typical household faucet weighs about six and a half pounds. That means a typical household faucet can contain up to a quarter pound of lead and still be labeled “lead free” under the federal safe drinking water law. We’ve long known that lead contained in a faucet or other household plumbing will leach into the drinking water as that water passes through the plumbing. So how safe can a faucet be that contains a quarter pound of lead? ”

Le Urge A La Riviera Megaproyecto De Agua

Published on 08/25/2010 in policy, rivers, spanish, water technology and world water supply. 0 Comments

Foto encontrado en: www.artisanstable.com

“Los detalles del proyecto para un megaacueducto lo presentó de viva voz el presidente Héctor Paniagua, con el cual podrá dotarse de agua tanto a la zona hotelera en crecimiento, como a todos los pueblos integrados en la parte norte de la Riviera Nayarit integrados en el municipio de Bahía de Banderas.

“El problema del agua no la vamos a resolver con un pozo aquí o con otro pozo allá. Se debe prevenir el crecimiento hotelero y urbano de toda la costa norte y esto sólo podrá lograrse con un mega acueducto”, señaló Héctor Paniagua ante importantes funcionarios federales y del estado.

El Presidente hizo una referencia definitiva: enormes acueductos se construyeron en siglos pasados, incluso nuestras razas indígenas los hicieron, entonces, ¿por qué no se puedan hacer ahora con tantos elementos técnicos a favor?

El argumento de Paniagua fue contundente, Eugenio Amador Quijano, del Fonain, y Felipe Prado Hopfner, secretario de Planeación, estuvieron de acuerdo para que el Gobierno municipal, por conducto del ingeniero Merced Venegas, director del Oromapas, presente el estudio para que con dinero del Fondo Nacional de Infraestructura participe en este ambicioso proyecto que garantizará agua a toda una enorme zona en crecimiento turístico y crecimiento urbano que es la costa de Bahía de Banderas.

Sobre este tema, el presidente Paniagua abundó lo siguiente: El Río Ameca cuenta con abundante corriente que es aprovechada en pequeña escala. Debemos aquí crear proyectos para el crecimiento en una zona de enorme futuro turístico, pero sobre todo para resolver la falta de agua de los pueblos desde Corral del Risco hasta Lo de Marcos.”

Leer mas: El Occidental

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