Monthly Archive for October, 2010

Page 2 of 5

The Gulf Between Us

Published on 10/25/2010 in contaminated water, oceans, oil, rivers and waterborne diseases. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.guardian.co.uk

“The oil is not gone. This story is not over. We smelled it in the air. We felt it in the water. People along the Gulf Coast are getting sick and sicker. Marshes are burned. Oysters are scarce and shrimp are tainted. Jobs are gone and stress is high. What is now hidden will surface over time.

“Meanwhile, 1 billion birds are migrating through the Gulf of Mexico this fall, resting, feeding, and finding sanctuary as they have always done, generation after generation. The endangered piping plover will be among them. Seventy percent of all waterfowl in North America fly through the Mississippi Delta. Their energy will be compromised, with food not as plentiful. Their health will be vulnerable to the toxic traces of oil and dispersants lingering in the marshes.

The blowout from the Macondo well has created a terminal condition: denial. We don’t want to own, much less accept, the cost of our actions. We don’t want to see, much less feel, the results of our inactions. And so, as Americans, we continue to live as though these 5 million barrels of oil spilled in the Gulf have nothing to do with us. The only skill I know how to employ in the magnitude of this political, ecological, and spiritual crisis is to share the stories that were shared with me by the people who live here. I simply wish to bear witness to the places we traveled and the people we met, and give voice to the beauty and devastation of both.

To bear witness is not a passive act.”

Read more: Orion Magazine

lily victoria

Redland Residents Fear Biomass Energy Facility Means Dangerous Traffic, Sullied water

Published on 10/25/2010 in groundwater, policy and water wars. 1 Comment Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.ct.gov

“Clackamas Compost Products must invest $2 million in required upgrades at its current site to comply with more stringent environmental regulations. Before it does so, it would like to sign a long-term lease with the county, which is its landlord, or invest in a new site.

If the company can’t accomplish either, it would need to explore hauling materials to other facilities farther away, which would not benefit the environment, Gehr said.

“It’s still a service the county needs and desires,” Gehr said. “The ultimate question is where are they going to put a composting facility in order to retain the composting capacity the county needs. We have been looking for sites for at least five years.”

The site the Stroupes settled on, however, alarms Redland residents, many of whom say they support composting in general.

“I compost, I recycle, I heat my home with woody biomass,” resident Marie Naughton said. “It’s the scale of it that really has us concerned. They want to operate 24/7, so we’ll have chippers and bulldozers going all day long and through the night.”

Naughton and other residents worry about the 5,000 gallons of water the facility could use each day and the potential effect on their water supply. They especially fear an emergency that could contaminate the wells and creeks they rely on for water and livestock.

“I don’t know how they could possibly pump that much water out of the groundwater that we all share,” Naughton said. “The amount of water they would be pumping could wreak havoc with all our individual wells.”

Read more: Oregon Live

lily victoria

El Cólera, Enemigo Milenario

Published on 10/25/2010 in contaminated water, tap water and waterborne diseases. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Foto encontrado en: www.bbc.co.uk

“Según la Organización Mundial de la Salud el número de casos de cólera continúa aumentando en el mundo. Desde 2004 a 2008, dice la organización, ha habido un aumento de 24% en la incidencia de la enfermedad.

Tan sólo en 2008 se informó de más de 190.000 casos en 56 países, pero la cifra podría ser incluso mayor debido a que no todas las personas afectadas son diagnosticadas.

Más de mil millones de personas no tienen acceso a agua potable en el mundo y unos 2.500 millones no cuentan con sistemas adecuados de sanidad. Así que es probable que el cólera siga siendo un desafío de salud pública.

Actualmente hay dos vacunas disponibles contra el cólera pero ambas sólo ofrecen protección a corto plazo, ambas requieren de dos dosis, y su costo y distribución es para muchos inaccesible.

Por eso, tal como señala la OMS, mientras una comunidad no cuente con un sistema adecuado de sanidad, la prevención debe seguir siendo el arma más efectiva para el control de esta enfermedad.”

Leér más: BBC Mundo

lily victoria

Chile To Begin Measuring Its Water Footprints

Published on 10/25/2010 in agriculture, groundwater, policy, products and solutions and outreach. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org

“The water footprint is the total volume of freshwater used in the production of goods and services. It can be calculated for a specific product, an individual company or an entire country. This footprint, say experts, is an indicator of both potential and limits.

“Perhaps the water footprint will not follow the same critical path as the carbon footprint, but it does call companies’ attention to rethinking their water resource management,” said Rodrigo Acevedo, head of agro-industry projects at the Chile Foundation, one of the entities measuring the footprint in this South American country.

It is a matter of “changing the paradigm,” Acevedo told Tierramérica. It will obligate companies to “go beyond the legal spheres,” like water use rights, and consider the effects of their consumption on the sustainability of local watersheds and of their own businesses.

Right now, the leading entity for defining the standards is the Water Footprint Network, a non-profit foundation based in the Netherlands. It has calculated the water footprint of such things as a cup of coffee (140 litres) and a kilo of rice (3,000 litres).”

Read more: AlterNet

lily victoria

Has the U.S. Passed the Point of Peak Water?

Published on 10/23/2010 in policy and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

2010-10-11-PeakWaterPNASGleickPalaniappan2010.jpg

retrieved from: Huffington Post

“Freshwater is fundamental for maintaining human health, agricultural production, economic activity, and critical ecosystem functions. But as populations and economies grow, new constraints on water resources are appearing, raising questions about ultimate limits to water availability. Such resource questions are not new. The specter of “peak oil” — a peaking and then decline in oil production — has long been predicted and debated. Arecent paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences I wrote with a colleague, Meena Palaniappan, offers three concepts of “peak water:” peak renewable water, peak nonrenewable water, and peak ecological water. And it looks like the U.S. has passed all three points.

“Peak renewable water applies where flow constraints limit total water availability over time. Peak nonrenewable water is observable in groundwater systems where production rates substantially exceed natural recharge rates and where overpumping or contamination leads to a peak of production followed by a decline, similar to more traditional peak-oil curves. Peak “ecological” water is defined as the point beyond which the total costs of ecological disruptions and damages exceed the total value provided by human use of that water.”

read more: Huffington Post

chrismorrow

The Sugar Industry’s Assault On The Environment And Florida’s Politics

Published on 10/19/2010 in policy, products, rivers, solutions and outreach and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org

“The water supply requirements of sugar production — flood control in the wet season and supply during the dry — is out of sync with the natural Everglades. Keeping it that way enhances sugar profits. At the same time, fertilizer runoff and chemicals released by the exposure of wetlands to extensive drying have massively polluted the Everglades. These factors converted the Everglades from a multi-billion dollar economic engine including fisheries, estuaries, and natural habitats valued by the nation into a resiliant if flickering shadow. At the same time, Big Sugar has used its profits to become the main obstacle to restoring America’s River of Grass.

Crist’s accomplishment was historic, albeit on a much reduced scale from his original plan; 187,000 acres at a cost of $1.75 billion. Crist appointees at the water management district — mostly Republicans — saw the moment through, despite the chaos organized by the Fanjuls. For doing the right thing — Crist’s own words, why he conceived the deal — GOP insiders hounded him from the party. Fanjul interests were early and big contributors to Marco Rubio; the Republican candidate for US Senate. In July, Pepe Fanjul hosted a fundraiser for Rubio, at $42,500 per ticket.”

Read more: AlterNet

lily victoria

The New Oil: Should private companies control our most precious natural resource?

Published on 10/19/2010 in bottled water, climate change, glaciers, greenwashing, policy, privatization, products, tap water, water shortage and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Lake Mead. Photo retrieved from: www.newsweek.com

“Sitka, Alaska, is home to one of the world’s most spectacular lakes. Nestled into a U-shaped valley of dense forests and majestic peaks, and fed by snowpack and glaciers, the reservoir, named Blue Lake for its deep blue hues, holds trillions of gallons of water so pure it requires no treatment. The city’s tiny population—fewer than 10,000 people spread across 5,000 square miles—makes this an embarrassment of riches. Every year, as countries around the world struggle to meet the water needs of their citizens, 6.2 billion gallons of Sitka’s reserves go unused. That could soon change. In a few months, if all goes according to plan, 80 million gallons of Blue Lake water will be siphoned into the kind of tankers normally reserved for oil—and shipped to a bulk bottling facility near Mumbai. From there it will be dispersed among several drought-plagued cities throughout the Middle East. The project is the brainchild of two American companies. One, True Alaska Bottling, has purchased the rights to transfer 3 billion gallons of water a year from Sitka’s bountiful reserves. The other, S2C Global, is building the water-processing facility in India. If the companies succeed, they will have brought what Sitka hopes will be a $90 million industry to their city, not to mention a solution to one of the world’s most pressing climate conundrums. They will also have turned life’s most essential molecule into a global commodity.”

Read more: Newsweek

lily victoria

Water Windfall In New Mexico

Published on 10/19/2010 in drought and water shortage. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.themint.org

“While floods inspire tent-pole news coverage, the American Southwest has been quietly struggling with the opposite problem: a near-crippling drought. For the first time, water in the Lake Mead Basin, which feeds much of the region, is in danger of falling into the “shortage” zone, according to recent federal estimates. And the National Weather Service is predicting the worst seasonal drought since the mid-1950s.

There is, however, one city that’s still all wet. Santa Fe has a water surplus large enough to support at least 160 new houses thanks in part to an innovative conservation program approved in 2007: for every new toilet installed, developers must pay for 12 low-flow toilets in existing homes (roving plumbers have literally gone knocking on doors in search of customers). Now, with virtually no commodes left to retrofit, the city has moved on to washing machines, showers, and urinals. Though environmentalists worry about desert sprawl, water experts say it may be only a matter of time—and thirst—before other cities follow Santa Fe.”

Read more: Newsweek

lily victoria

We are Facing the Greatest Threat to Humanity: Only Fundamental Change Can Save Us

Published on 10/16/2010 in agriculture, climate change, contaminated water, groundwater, rivers, tap water, wastewater and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org

“We are polluting our lakes, rivers and streams to death. Every day, 2 million tons of sewage and industrial and agricultural waste are discharged into the world’s water, the equivalent of the weight of the entire human population of 6.8 billion people. The amount of wastewater produced annually is about six times more water than exists in all the rivers of the world. A comprehensive new global study recently reported that 80% of the world’s rivers are now in peril, affecting 5 billion people on the planet. We are also mining our groundwater far faster than nature can replenish it, sucking it up to grow water-guzzling chemical-fed crops in deserts or to water thirsty cities that dump an astounding 200 trillion gallons of land-based water as waste in the oceans every year. The global mining industry sucks up another 200 trillion gallons, which it leaves behind as poison. Fully one third of global water withdrawals are now used to produce biofuels, enough water to feed the world. A recent global survey of groundwater found that the rate of depletion more than doubled in the last half century. If water was drained as rapidly from the Great Lakes, they would be bone dry in 80 years.”

Read more: AlterNet

lily victoria

3 Countries in South America Defending Local Rights Against Destructive Water Projects

Published on 10/14/2010 in dams, greenwashing, policy, rivers and water wars. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.alternet.org

“South America is home to some of the most biodiverse, and ethnically diverse, regions in the world, but some of the precious water resources are being used to boost energy for some while threatening local ecosystems and the health and survival of thousands, if not millions, of others.

Here are three controversial projects that may boost energy or agricultural production, but not without tradeoffs. It sure does complicate the clean energy discussion—hydropower is cleaner than fossil fuels, but is it a perfect solution? Not if you ask the people living near the proposed dam sites.

Brazil

The Brazilian government is moving ahead on plans for the world’s third-largest dam, Belo Monte, despite years of protests from both local and international communities and organizations.

Critics say the project, to be built on a tributary of the Amazon, will ruin the local environment and displace 50,000 (mostly indigenous) people—if not threaten the survival of indigenous groups entirely. Despite the protests, President Lula da Silva gave the formal go-ahead last month.

Ecuador

A giant hydroelectric project funded by China would threaten Ecuador’s highest waterfall, San Rafael Falls, which sits in a crucial transition zone between the Andes and the Amazon.”

Read more: AlterNet

lily victoria