Monthly Archive for October, 2010

Sedated Shrimp In British Waters

Published on 10/31/2010 in contaminated water, oceans, rivers and waterborne diseases. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.treehugger.com

“Drugs are partially broken down in the treatment process but what we are realizing now is that a lot more gets through than we thought. The treatment plants weren’t designed to break down medicines so some inevitably get concentrated [and] released into streams or onto beaches. Effluent is concentrated in river estuaries and coastal areas, which is where shrimps and other marine life live – this means that shrimps are taking on the excreted drugs of whole towns.

The research team tested the prawns by exposing them to the same level of prozac found in British waters and found that while prawns normally find sanctuary in dark places, these sedated shrimp were five times more likely to swim towards the light becoming more vulnerable to predators. The effects of other pharmaceuticals like hormones, pain relievers, and heart medicine are still unknown.”

Read more: Treehugger

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Indigenous Blockade Of Major River Ends In Peru

Published on 10/30/2010 in contaminated water, oil, policy and rivers. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.galenfrysinger.com

“LIMA – Thousands of Peruvian Indians blocking the Marañon River in the Amazonian jungle region of Loreto to protest damage done by an oil spill agreed to end their protest.

An official of the Iquitos river port authority told Efe that the natives agreed to end the blockade of the Marañon, one of the main transport routes in the jungle region, after meeting with representatives of the regional government and the company they are protesting against, Argentina’s Pluspetrol.

The Indians demand that the oil company fulfill the agreements reached after a June 19 oil spill.

Though Pluspetrol says that it has complied with the agreement and the waters of the Marañon are no longer polluted, the Indians say that problems persist and therefore the company must continue to distribute food and other provisions as it did at first.

Under the accord reached Thursday, both parties are waiting until the National Water Authority issues a report on the current environmental situation of the river waters.”

Read more: Latin American Herald Tribune

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Nuclear-Powered Water For The UAE?

Published on 10/29/2010 in climate change, desalination, greenwashing, groundwater, oceans, oil, tap water and wastewater. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.greenprophet.com

“Like a Middle Eastern version of Las Vegas, Dubai’s biggest challenge is water, which may be everywhere in the gulf but is undrinkable without desalination plants. These produce emissions of carbon dioxide that have helped give Dubai and the other United Arab Emirates one of the world’s largest carbon footprints. They also generate enormous amounts of heated sludge, which is pumped back into the sea.

And while they desalinate the equivalent of four billion bottles of water every day, they only have a four-day back up plan. This is particularly dangerous since an oil spill or algae bloom could easily compromise their water supply.

“Today, the gulf’s salinity levels have risen to 47,000 parts per million, from 32,000 about 30 years ago,” according to the paper, which Christophe Tourenq, a senior researcher at the World Wide Fund for Nature in Dubai explained is harmful to the gulf’s marine environment.

In response to these problems, Abu Dhabi recently committed to building underground aquifers, but there is still the issue of energy. With peak oil looming and the emirates running short, they are grasping in whatever direction they can to avoid a waterless future.”

Read more: Green Prophet

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La Principal Fuente Del Amazonas En Su Nivel Más Bajo

Published on 10/29/2010 in agriculture, climate change, drought, rivers, spanish and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Foto encontrado en: www.bbc.co.uk

“El Servicio Geológico de Brasil anunció este lunes que el río Negro ha caído a su nivel más bajo desde que comenzaron las mediciones, en 1902.

El caudal de agua, que puede alcanzar los 30 metros de altura, llega en estos días apenas a los 13,63 metros.

Esto lo vuelve innavegable en la mayor parte de sus 720 kilómetros, lo que ha dejado aisladas a unas 66.000 familias.

37 de los 62 municipios de la región de la Amazonía declararon un estado de emergencia debido a la situación.

El fenómeno hace parte de una caída en el nivel de aguas del Amazonas que afecta no sólo a Brasil sino también a Perú y a Colombia.

clicLea: Descenso del río Amazonas afecta toda la región

Se estima que la Amazonía brasileña posee el 25% del agua potable de la Tierra, por lo que esta sequía preocupa mucho a los especialistas.”

Leér más: BBC Mundo

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230 Animals Die In Tar Sands Tragedy

Published on 10/29/2010 in contaminated water, oil, rivers and wastewater. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.vtecostudies.com

“The Canadian Press is reporting that more than 200 birds died this week after landing on gooey, toxic tailing ponds in the Alberta oil fields — just days after oil giant Syncrude agreed to pay more than $3 millionCDN in a 2008 incident in which 1600 ducks died.   This week, over 230 ducks had to be euthanized after seeking refuge, apparently from an ice storm, on Syncrude’s Mildred Lake tailings pond which,  the Canadian wire service reports, contains “a thick brew of poisonous oilsands byproduct.”

Just a few hours after the Alberta government announced the incident, the Canadian Broadcast Corp. reported that similar incidents had also occurred this week at ponds owned by Shell andSuncor in the area.  Suncor said “a small number” of birds had been euthanized, and Shell released a statement saying two birds had been found dead.

Update: On Wednesday, the dead-bird toll on the Syncrude ponds was upped further, to 350, and Suncor said its grim tally had risen to 40 ducks.

These latest dead-bird incidents in Alberta are sure to give fuel, photographic and otherwise, to environmental groups who have been increasingly strident and vocal in protests against the huge oilsands projects in the past few months. Among other things, a San Francisco group has bought billboards showing oil-soaked birds in the U.S. and Europe.”

Read more: Earth First!

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Texting Program Helps African Farmers Fight Drought

Published on 10/29/2010 in agriculture, climate change and drought. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.nationalgeographic.com

“The African micro-insurance provider, UAP, sent Gathoni a U.S. $29 payment for loss of her harvest due to drought that year. (See flood, drought, and climate change pictures.)

Gathoni is one of the more than 9,500 Kenyan farmers who have “micro-insured” themselves under a new program that assesses crop loss—and subsequent payments—based on climatic data from solar-powered weather stations.

Launched in 2009, Kilimo Salama—a Swahili phrase that means “safe farming”—gives small-scale farmers in Kenya “pay as you plant” insurance, so that if they lose their harvest they can still afford to farm the next season.

(Read how a “great green wall” may help African farmers displaced by drought.)

Gathoni, a mother of one and caretaker of two orphans, has farmed for the past 11 years on 2 acres (0.8 hectare) of land and joined the program soon after its launch. She used her insurance money to buy new seeds.”

Read more: National Geographic

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France Provides 4 million For Gaza Wastewater Treatment Plant

Published on 10/28/2010 in tap water and wastewater. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.uruknet.com

“The Beit Lahia wastewater treatment plant receives wastewater from the 250,000 inhabitants of the municipalities of Jabalia, Beit Lahia, Beit Hanoun and Um Al Nasser. The plant today operates at over four times its nominal capacity. In 2005, AFD, the World Bank, Belgian and Swedish Development & Cooperation and the European Union mobilized USD 46 million of financing, at the request of the Palestinian Authority, for the implementation of a two-phase project. The first phase provided for the construction of a pumping station in Beit Lahia and the implementation of infiltration basin to transfer the sewage to the new site at East of Jabalia to avoid any new flooding of the surrounding areas of Beit Lahia.

The second phase of the project aims to build a biological treatment plant in Jabalia with a capacity of 35,600 m3/day. This plant is expected to meet all the needs of the North Gaza by 2015. An agricultural system will also be set up to recover and reuse the treated wastewater. The construction started early September and is running after time to complete works in less than 3 years to avoid any important damage of the groundwater resources.”

Read more: AlterNet

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Fracking Shown To Mobilize Uranium In Marcellus Shale

Published on 10/27/2010 in contaminated water, fracking and groundwater. 0 Comments

Photo retrieved from: www.arch1design.com

“The research required the use of sophisticated methods of analysis, including one called Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry, or ToF-SIMS, in the laboratory of Joseph A. Gardella Jr., professor of chemistry with the University at Buffalo.

Bank’s research is the first to map samples using this technique, which identified the precise location of the uranium.

“We found that the uranium and the hydrocarbons are in the same physical space,” says Bank. “We found that they are not just physically – but also chemically – bound.

“That led me to believe that uranium in solution could be more of an issue because the process of drilling to extract the hydrocarbons could start mobilizing the metals as well,” said Bank, “forcing them into the soluble phase and causing them to move around.”

When Bank and her colleagues reacted samples in the lab with surrogate drilling fluids, they found that the uranium was indeed, being forced into the soluble phase.”

Read more: AlterNet

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Durante 22 Días Derramo 72 Millones De Metros Cúbicos De Agua

Published on 10/26/2010 in oceans, privatization, spanish, tap water and water technology. 0 Comments Tags: .

Foto encontrado en: www.omnia.com

“Mientras las compuertas duraron abiertas, informaron algunos de los visitantes, los más interesados en la conservación de los niveles de la presa denunciaron el hecho a la Comisión Nacional del Agua, dado que se mantuvieron durante las 24 horas de cada día derramando sin explicación alguna.

Asimismo, fueron presentadas quejas ante la Junta Central de Agua y Saneamiento, la cual informó al gobernador del Estado, César Duarte Jáquez, sobre la situación de El Granero, lo que motivó un oficio de extrañamiento del mandatario estatal hacia el director de la Comisión Nacional del Agua, José Luis Luege Tamargo.

Hasta ayer el Gobierno del Estado no había informado de la respuesta recibida por la CNA, pero pudo corroborarse en la misma presa que las compuertas habían sido cerradas por el personal de la dependencia federal, por instrucciones que recibió de sus superiores.

La presa El Granero fue puesta en funcionamiento hace 42 años, teniendo como objetivo controlar las avenidas de agua que desembocan en el río Bravo y evitar las inundaciones en la parte baja del río Conchos, así como aprovechar el líquido en el riego que usan los agricultores en el Valle de Ojinaga.

La capacidad total de almacenamiento de la presa es de 850 millones de metros cúbicos, de los cuales 500 millones son para control de avenidas, 260 millones para riego agrícola y 90 millones para azolve, de acuerdo con los registros de la Comisión Nacional del Agua.”

Leér más: El Heraldo de Chihuahua

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What Abu Dhabi Plans For When The Water Runs Out

Published on 10/26/2010 in desalination, drought, groundwater, oceans and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.mottmac.com

“Relying almost entirely on desalination plants for drinking water, and with approximately 90% of its groundwater unfit for drinking, Abu Dhabi’s water security is deeply uncertain. A major oil spill or a serious case of sea pollution could ground the plants; without them for even a few days, experts say Abu Dhabi’s constituents will face tremendous suffering.

The government recently announced the details of Plan B: millions of dollars of desalinated water – taken from excess winter supplies – are slated to be pumped into underground aquifers. Though cheaper, less environmentally destructive, and more secure than above-ground holding tanks, this plan does not come without risks.

The Government’s emergency water strategy was unveiled at the recent International Symposium of Managed Aquifer Recharge, according to The National.

Ten times cheaper than water storage tanks, pumping the water underground will prevent exposure to bacteria, provided that Abu Dhabi’s Environment Agency and the Ministry of Environment and Water are able to keep the area surrounding the aquifer free of contaminants.

Pipes inserted from 60-900m deep will pump desalinated water into underground aquifers that have existed for millions of years. There it will mix with existing, dense brackish water.

An estimated one tenth of the water will be lost to create a protective layer between the fresh and salty water, though it will be necessary to monitor this to ensure that expensive desalinated water is not re-salted.”

Read more: Green Prophet

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