Archive for the 'solutions and outreach' Category

Merck and Safe Water Network Launch Initiative to Improve Water Access and Help Reduce the Impact of Water-Borne Disease in India

Published on 04/16/2012 in contaminated water, management, peak water and solutions and outreach. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Retrieved from: SafeWaterNetwork.org

“Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, and Safe Water Network, announced the launch of a three−year, $1.5M partnership to increase access to safe water and reduce the impact of water-borne disease among impoverished communities in Andhra Pradesh, India.

This initiative addresses a critical need in India where an estimated 70 − 80 percent disease is related to water contamination and poor sanitation, and where more than 120,000 children under the age of five die each year from rotavirus diarrhea alone.

“India faces significant water and sanitation challenges. Seventy−five percent of the country’s surface water is contaminated by human, agricultural and industrial waste[2], while half of the country’s population lacks access to basic sanitation[3]. Those living in urban slums and rural environments are most affected. In many areas of the country, a growing dependence on groundwater for drinking is associated with a rise in health problems due to fluoride, salinity, water-borne pathogens, nitrate and other contaminants found in the water. In Andhra Pradesh, only 31 percent[4] of households treat their water before use, and 43 percent[5] of children under the age of five are stunted, a common result of frequent episodes of diarrhea.

This joint effort draws on Safe Water Network’s field experience in India, Ghana and Kenya to address the operational, economic, cultural and environmental challenges to safe water access. The team will apply a rigorous method to data collection and analysis to produce effective demand generation and education methods that can be replicated at scale throughout India.

The initiative will add a dozen sites to Safe Water Network’s existing field projects in Andhra Pradesh, which already provide nearly 40,000 people access to clean water. The additional sites will provide safe water access to another 20,000 – 30,000 people. Each phase of the initiative will be documented, including the data on health outcomes. Key findings will be shared with the water and sanitation sector as well as other organizations to help them address the global water crisis.”

Read more: Safe Water Network

Sami Oueida

Goldman Prize for Kenyan River Activist Ikal Angelei

Published on 04/16/2012 in rivers and solutions and outreach. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.internationalrivers.org

“Ikal Angelei, the founder of Friends of Lake Turkana in Kenya, receives the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in San Francisco today. The award will honor an activist who is defending the interests of 500,000 poor indigenous people against a destructive hydropower dam, and has successfully taken on many of the world’s biggest dam builders and financiers.

Ikal Angelei grew up on the shores of Lake Turkana, the world’s biggest desert lake. This lifeline of Northwestern Kenya is under threat from the giant Gibe III Dam, currently under construction on the lake’s main water source, the Omo River in Ethiopia. When she learned about this threat, Ikal founded Friends of Lake Turkana with a few friends in 2007. Working together with partners around the world, she started an international campaign to stop the mega-dam which threatens her people’s livelihoods.”

Read more: International Rivers

lily victoria

Opposition to Santa Cruz desalination plant lobbies for signatures

Published on 04/08/2012 in desalination, privatization and solutions and outreach. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

“Opponents of the $115 million desalination plant proposed in Santa Cruz gathered on West Cliff Drive on Saturday to gather signatures to place a measure on the ballot that would change the city’s charter to require a future vote on the plant.

“The group needs to collect the signatures of 5,000 people registered to vote in Santa Cruz to get on the November ballot. Organizers say they’re about halfway there. The City Council passed an ordinance requiring such a vote in March.

“Four council seats are up in November,” said Rick Longinotti. “We want to make sure the right to vote can’t be revoked with future city councils.”

“City officials have been planning to team with the Soquel Creek Water District to build a desalination plant in Santa Cruz since 2004.

“They’ve since spent several million dollars on studies, designs and the running of a pilot plant.

“Water Department officials say the permanent plant would be used to supplement the water supply during drought years. In nondrought years, Soquel Creek would have access to the desalinated water as an alternative to its underground aquifer supply.

“Saturday’s gathering included five former mayors and former county Supervisor Gary Patton.

“The anti-desalination group of more than 50 folks took a walk through the Westside streets where the proposed desalination pipelines would run.

“Their rally took place on the bluff above Mitchell’s Cove. The spot was chosen because that’s where the brine-filled wastewater would be returned to the ocean.

“Former Mayor Tim Fitzmaurice, who was on the council when the idea was initiated in 2004, said protecting the environment from possible damage by the plant would be his foremost concern when deciding how to vote.”

Read more: Mercury news

sammykayed

Farmers urged to undertake rainwater harvesting

Published on 03/30/2012 in agriculture, groundwater, rainwater harvesting and solutions and outreach. 0 Comments Tags: .

Photo retrieved from: www.rubbeirzeit.com

“Farmers are advised to undertake rainwater harvesting in agriculture lands as it would dilute the fluorosis content in the ground water and would improve the ground water table.

Presiding over the farmers’ grievances meeting, Mr. C.N. Maheshwaran, Collector said that to encourage the farmers for creating RWH facilities, the district administration and the agriculture department had developed a model project in mango orchards near Kaveripattinam town in the district.

The scheme, besides diluting the fluorosis content in the water will also prevent soil erosion and improve the moisture content of the soil.

The administration is planning to take the farmers to the model RWH facility near Kaveripattinam before the next grievances meeting.

In the meantime the proposal would be sending to the government for its approval recommending providing subsidy for the farmers. If the government approves the proposal, farmers would be getting over Rs. 8000 per acre, he added.”

Read more: The Hindu

 

lily victoria

Water Sector Options for India in a Changing Climate

Published on 03/21/2012 in agriculture, climate change, dams, hydrology, management, peak water, policy, rainwater harvesting, rivers, solutions and outreach, tap water, water conservation, water shortage and water technology. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.washfinance.com

“On the eve of the World Water Day 2012, the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People (SANDRP) is happy to publish its new report: Water Sector Options for India in a Changing Climate. The report highlights that for the poorest sections, also most vulnerable in the climate change context, the water, food, livelihood and energy security, closely linked with the environment security, is already getting severely affected in the changing climate. It is well known that water is the medium through which climate change impacts are most dominant. South Asia is considered possibly the most vulnerable region in terms of number of people that would be affected by climate change impacts, and within South Asia, India has the largest vulnerable population. The importance of understanding the Water Sector Options in such a situation cannot be underestimated. The report highlights the options for coping and mitigating climate change challenges in water sector in India.”

Read more: www.sandrp.in

lily victoria

Time to tackle water crisis, global forum told

Published on 03/15/2012 in climate change, displacement of people, greenwashing, management, peak water, privatization, solutions and outreach, water rights, water shortage, water wars and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Retrieved from: Spx daily

“A global meeting on water opened in France on Monday with demands to provide billions of poor people with clean water and decent sanitation and address the spiralling demands of the future.

“The challenges are huge and the problems are deep-rooted,” French Prime Minister François Fillon said as he opened the sixth World Water Forum in the southern city of Marseille.

“The number of human beings who have no access to clean water is in the billions. Each year, we mourn millions of dead from the health risks that this causes. This situation is not acceptable — the world community must rise and tackle it.”

“As many as 20,000 participants from 140 countries are expected for the six-day event, including scores of ministers for the environment and water and a scattering of heads of state from francophone west Africa.

“Separately, a massive UN report, issued only once every three years, said water problems in many parts of the world were chronic.

“Without a crackdown on waste will worsen as demand for food rises and climate change intensifies, it said. “Pressures on freshwater are rising, from the expanding needs of agriculture, food production and energy consumption to pollution and the weaknesses of water management,” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in the report.

“Climate change is a real and growing threat. Without good planning and adaptation, hundreds of millions of people are at risk of hunger, disease, energy shortages and poverty.”

“Demand for food will increase by some 70% by 2050, which will lead to a nearly 20% increase in global agricultural water consumption, the UN’s Fourth World Water Development Report said.

“Abstraction of aquifers has at least tripled in the past 50 years and now supplies almost half of all drinking water today. “In some hotspots, the availability of non-renewable groundwater resources has reached critical limits,” the report said.

“The report demanded an overhaul in the use of water, especially by curbing waste. Smarter irrigation, less thirsty crops and the use of “grey,” or used water, to flush toilets are among the options.”

Read more: Bworldonline

sammykayed

The Prem Rawat Foundation Partnership Brings Clean Water into Niger Village

Published on 03/11/2012 in boreholes, drought, groundwater, policy, solutions and outreach and waterborne diseases. 0 Comments Tags: , .

Photo retrieved from: www.tprf.org

“Residents of Ebagueye in the parched Azawak region of Niger danced in celebration last month as the first water gushed from a borehole that will provide them with a reliable source of clean water year-round. TPRF has contributed $40,000 to the nonprofit Amman Imman Water is Life to help fund the drilling and upkeep of the borehole, which brings pure, fresh water from a natural aquifer more than 600 feet underground.

The project is a collaboration with Vibrant Village Foundation, a nonprofit organization that provides direct assistance to help people in vulnerable communities around the world. Ken DeLaski, VVF’s founder and director, also sits on TPRF’s board of directors.

Amman Imman was founded in 2006 by Executive Director Ariane Kirtley, then a Fulbright Scholar conducting public health research in the Azawak region, a dry plain about the size of Florida bordering the Sahara Desert. In recent years, drought and political turmoil have disrupted the traditional way of life to the point where half of the Azawak’s children die before the age of five, mostly from dehydration and water-related illnesses.”

Read more: The Prem Rawat Foundation

 

lily victoria

World Water Forum Attendance Reportedly Down as Activists Ramp Up Preparations for Alternative Forum

Published on 03/08/2012 in management, solutions and outreach and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Retrieved from: Canadians

“Critics of the triennial World Water Forum are encouraged by the failure on the part of forum organizers to attract large numbers to this year’s event taking place March 12-17 in Marseille.

“Forum organizers announced at a press conference last week that only 2,000 people had fully registered, while another 2,000 were yet to be confirmed. This falls dismally short of the 20,000 participants that had been anticipated.

“The small number of registrations also comes despite the fact that various national, regional and municipal authorities have poured millions of euros of public funds into sponsorship of the event.

“It isn’t just the World Water Forum that is failing,” says Maude Barlow, senior advisor to the 63rd President of the UN General Assembly. “Water privatization has failed communities around the world and a growing number are now reclaiming control of their water. In this context, it is no surprise that this illegitimate Forum is no longer able to attract attention.”

“Notably, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already stated that it will not be attending this year.

“At the 2009 World Water Forum in Istanbul, 24 governments signed a counter-declaration recognizing water as a human right in opposition to the forum’s official ministerial declaration. And in a scathing criticism of the World Water Forum, then-president of the United Nations General Assembly Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann called for the UN to hold its own event to address the global water crisis.

“Groups from around the world—who view the forum as a corporate trade show disguised as a multi-stakeholder conference—are organizing the Alternative World Water Forum (in French, Forum Alternatif Mondial de l’Eau, or FAME). They have invited governments to a consultation with civil society outside the forum on the implementation of the human right to water.”

Read more: Food and Water Watch

sammykayed

World Rivers Review: Dam Greenwashing Flows at World Water Forum

Published on 03/06/2012 in aquatic ecosystems, climate change, contaminated water, dams, displacement of people, drought, greenwashing, hydrology, hydropower, lakes, management, peak water, policy, privatization, rivers, solutions and outreach, tap water, water conservation, water diversions, water technology, water wars and world water supply. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Photo retrieved from: www.wash-united.org

“The stated goal of this year’s World Water Forum- the world’s largest meeting devoted to water- is to create solutions to the water, energy, and food challenges presented by climate change and economic growth. However some of the “solutions” being presented will do more to protect business-as-usual interests rather than spark innovative approaches to pressing water-related problems.

The sixth World Water Forum (this year in Marseille, France from March 12-17) is, like its predecessors, heavily weighted with corporate players, including many from the large dam industry, making pitches for large-scale projects and private-sector approaches.

One corporate “solution” on the agenda this year, the Hydropower Sustainability Assessment Protocol (HSAP), proposes to replace the “best practice” recommendations of the World Commission on Dams with a voluntary, non-binding scorecard that allows dam builders to assess the social and environmental performance of each other’s projects.”

Read more: International Rivers

 

lily victoria

New Technology Turns Air Into Drinking Water For Troops

Published on 02/29/2012 in products, solutions and outreach and water technology. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Retrieved from: Triplepundit

“Military leaders’ greatest concerns are often to ensure water sources are always available, even in the most arid of places.

“One Israeli company took up the challenge to ensure water can be readily available, anywhere and at any time, by extracting it from the most common of things: air.

“Water-Gen, based in Rishon LeZion, Israel, specializes in water generation and water treatment technologies integrated with tactical military vehicles and ground units. Their technology extracts water from the ambient air humidity, and turns it into drinking water.

“First, the system filters the air so that water can be extracted and accommodated in containers. Then, it is cooled and purified into drinking water. This water can be served from a tap within the system or inside the cabin.

“Chairmen and co-CEO, Arye Kohavi, says that “water transportation is one of the most common reasons for the departure of convoys across Afghanistan. These convoys are attacked and have casualties.” He adds that “if we can produce the water to the exact point where it is consumed, we spare the need to transport water and reduce the risk and expenses.”

“According to the Water-Gen, the device, which can be fitted onto vehicles, produces 10-20 gallons (40-80 liters) of pure drinking water a day, even in harsh weather and field conditions. The system, which is operated by solar or electric energy, is designed to meet military needs and standards, the company adds.”

Read more: Triplepundit

sammykayed