Water Education

Clean water is essential for life, but most people in the developed world don’t think much about the water they use for drinking, food preparation, and sanitation. In developing nations, however, the search for safe drinking water can be a daily crisis. Millions of people die each year, most of them children, from largely preventable diseases caused by a lack of access to clean water and proper sanitation.

Much progress is possible. In fact, due to the dedicated efforts of governments and NGOs since the 1992 Earth Summit, safe drinking water has been made available to some 1.7 billion people around the world, with projects ranging from modern piped plumbing to rainwater collection and storage.

About 5,000 children die each day due to preventable diarrheal diseases such as cholera and dysentery, which spread when people use contaminated water for drinking or cooking. A lack of water for personal hygiene leads to the spread of totally preventable ailments like trachoma, which has blinded some six million people.

https://twitter.com/elreymeg/status/925741590282493952

Water woes also trap many low-income families in a cycle of poverty and poor education—and the poorest suffer most from lack of access to water. People who spend much of their time in ill health, caring for sick children, or laboriously collecting water at distances averaging 3.75 miles (6 kilometers) a day are denied educational and economic opportunities to better their lives.

Competition can be fierce for this precious commodity. Agriculture claims the lion’s share of freshwater worldwide, soaking up some 70 percent, and industrial uses consume another 22 percent. Watersheds and aquifers don’t respect political borders and nations don’t always work together to share common resources—so water can be a frequent source of international conflict as well.

 

Many opportunities exist to use the water we do have more productively. Change begins with more efficient management of water resources.

“Seventy percent of all the water we use globally is for agriculture, so that’s where we first have to become a lot more efficient through methods like drip irrigation and growing crops that are more suitable to the local climate,” Postel said. “We still have too few incentives for farmers to use water more efficiently. Farmers are good businesspeople; they respond to incentives that affect their bottom line.”

The United National General Assembly has recognized “the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.” Making that right become a universal reality, and providing each person on the planet with affordable access to the 20 to 50 liters of daily water required to sustain life, is a clear goal for the decades ahead.

I really like this article because a friend of mine used to work within the U.N and would talk to me about the sustainability goals. I would assist her in her work sometimes, gathering information on the state of water around the world. Its important to not the gaps with education and the impact that can have on a country.

Urban Water Systems—Olympics 2020 Takes a Backseat to Climate Change

A mountainous country, holding large metropolitan areas, surrounded by and filled with bodies of water—all of these are quite reasonable descriptions of Japan. As a nation that is no stranger to typhoons and intense flooding, officials have taken extra measures to ensure that defense infrastructures are in place. Yet, even with one of the most expensive systems—increased percentages of intense rainfall, storm surge, and parts of Tokyo already underwater have many worried that the systems are not effective enough. Fears are amplified by the prospect of the Olympics 2020, which will be hosted by Tokyo. In addition to managing the 38 million people already living in the Tokyo metropolitan, the system will have to support added stress. The Kasukabe site supports a large part of the treatment/divergence process. Though a possible solution would be to build a similar system, Prime Minister Abe warns that the economy may not be able to support such a feat.

Along with our discussion of city water treatment and anti-flood measures, I think another important factor to consider is the city capacity. I find it interesting that despite having a $2 billion anti-flood system, Tokyo alone is still at a high risk in terms of flooding issues. Yet in comparison to New York, which is also a highly populated city, Tokyo holds a high population in a much smaller space. Being highly developed and industrialized with little green space to act as a sponge, runoff could be a large issue, with very little room for infiltration, considering a lack of porous soil. Although the system is expensive, it does not necessarily mean it is the most effective either. The current technique used is a system of tunnels diverting water from floodplains. However, there are instances in which rainfall is so intense, which will be more frequent in the future due to climate change, that where the water is diverted to doesn’t necessarily stop flooding. Perhaps implementing green measures as New York has been planning, to create ‘sponges’ with green spaces is a viable option for this highly populated metropolis.

 

Sewage Spill in Hudson River

This summer, large amounts of sewage flowed into the Hudson River after storms in the area. This was a result of a combined sewer overflow. The 10 spills were not reported until about a week later. This is a problem because sewage and water flow systems should not allow for large storm to cause massive spills in nearby waterways. It is also a problem because people use the Hudson River for recreational use and may have come in contact with waste. This would not have happened had the spills been reported.

This article is a great source of evidence showing the problems we have with gray infrastructure that does not work during storms, which will soon be happening more often.

 

 

 

Algae in Lake Erie

Lake Erie Erie is a common water source for citizens living in surrounding towns. Unfortunately, an overuse of fertilizer on the region’s farmland has been creating an algae problem that has been growing since the 2000s. This is a huge issue, as algae blooms have been linked to being toxic in the past. These algae blooms are only increasing, threatening the health of over 3 million people, and hurting the economy by decreasing the ability to fish and attract tourists.

Although agriculture is necessary, it is clear that we need to rethink the way we grow our food if it is affecting water supply as negatively as these algae blooms. Lake Erie is not currently regulated through the Clean Water Act, despite the problem being very well known. It seems that when there is a health risk, government officials are very slow to address the issue. Flint, Michigan is the most popular example of this, but this lesser known issue has made me wonder whether citizens are using polluted water supply and are unaware of it. To many, it could have been unexpected that fertilizer can ruin such an important water supply. It is clear that we need to be careful of our everyday actions, since small,negative actions can add up to a detrimental situation in the future. We can only hope that Lake Erie can serve as a lessen for the future.

Huge energy potential in open ocean wind farms in the North Atlantic

Quite honestly, before finding this article I didn’t know wind turbines could be installed anywhere that wasn’t onshore. It turns out that if wind farms are installed on the open ocean, even more energy can be generated than from onshore wind farms.

This is the case due to the heat in the atmosphere that pours out into the North Atlantic ocean, during the winter especially. The drag that would normally affect the turbine on land has less of an effect when over water. However, the one drawback is that this efficiency is a seasonal occurrence, only happening during the winter.

Either way, this is a new frontier for wind turbines and a definite step forward for renewable energy.

Money barriers block building of barriers that block storm surges

It has been 5 years since hurricane Sandy ravaged homes on New York City coastlines, and all signs of damage have almost disappeared. While the city is back on track – there are no signs of any preventive measures being installed, which is particularly nerve-wracking given the recent increase of hurricane activity.

The biggest barrier is the cost, which according to, Malcolm J. Bowman the founder and current chairperson of the said “the cost of building a barrier in the ocean near Sandy Hook in New Jersey would be at least $25 billion.”

The second biggest barrier is the sheer difficulty of building a coastal barrier around the city. However, that issue might be solved by “the Big U, which would involve berms and walls along the edges of Manhattan from the Battery up to Midtown.” Yet construction does not begin until 2020, which means three years of potential Sandy Level hurricane damage to strike again.

 

Human Migration Due to Climate Shift

By Caroline Zuba

At our the last class, we spoke extensively about the key roles that water plays in our lives, and the roles it plays in maintaining an urban environment. We also discussed to some degree the catastrophic events that water causes, including combined sewage overflow in the modern day.

Missing from the conversation were recent studies discussing how water played a huge effect at the beginning of mankind. Naturally, most people are familiar with the rise of civilization, and the need for new communities to build around rivers or other bodies of water to facilitate trade and commerce, as well as allow irrigation (see: the Nile, China’s Yellow River in the North and Yangzi to the South). Yet, recent evidence as described in the article has determined that our first ancestors may have migrated out of Africa in search of wet climates. The climate had shifted to a hot spell, and the climate of the entirety of North Africa became hot and dry. Paleoclimate research indicates that the region shifted from the Green Sahara into a stretch of land hotter than it is today, and as a result, humans sought the wet – meaning, they followed the water. I found this to be an interesting discovery for anthropologists and historians alike, as well as modern scientists.

This image has been added to this post as an example of the vast fluxes in climate in the continent of Africa.

Fuel from Sewage

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161102134504.htm

As a society we have become hyper aware of the implications of pollution. One if not the most common mode of population is through gas emissions from cars. Our constant search for alternatives have lead to hybrid cars and electric ones, but this is not attainable for everyone. These alternatives are costly, but we can expect another alternative: sewage.

Scientist have projected that wastewater treatment plants will be able to turn sewage into biocrude oil.  This would be an amazing alternative because the U.S. treats approximately 34 billion gallons of sewage everyday. According to the article this would produce up to 30 million barrels of oil per year. Not only would this help with discarding waste and creating more eco friendly fuel, this fuel would give local governments signifcant cost savings. These savings would come from eliminating the need for sewage residuals processing, transport and disposal.

Overall, this fuel would cut costs and emissions of harmful gasses. This process is said to start up in 2018 in Vancouver. Hopefully if this shows reduction of pollution once in place the rest of the world will adopt it.

 

Machine Crushes Beer Bottles Into Sand to Save New Zealand Beaches

Sand being a well-used substance in almost all fields of research and development is, obviously, in high demand. However, that demand is taking a high toll on our limited, natural supply, as sand is being harvested from the Earth’s increasingly shrinking beaches. This invention aims to undo the damage that we have done while, at the same time, still supply us with this much-needed resource. The machine works by taking in beer bottles and processing them so that they are disintegrated back into the sand from which the glass was formed. Amazingly, this machine is able to yield about 200 grams of sand from one beer bottle. We talk a lot about sustainability and its importance, but there are often many roadblocks any project must face before becoming a reality. However, when the science, technology, and drive all come together amazing things can happen. This invention by a New Zealand brewery company is the perfect example.

Black Water in Niagara Falls

Imagine going on a vacation to Niagara Falls expecting to see beautiful clear water flowing over beautiful scenery and instead seeing water that reminds you of the color of your coffee. Gross, am I right? Turns out this isn’t the first time that this has happened in Niagara Falls. In fact, this is the second in a span of two months and quite frankly, visitors find it unacceptable. According to the Niagara Falls Water Board, “excess sewage was discharged on Wednesday when its wastewater treatment plant’s processing capacity was exceeded during a rainfall. (The Associated Press)” The color and bad condition of the water unfortunately has violated the state’s water quality standards and the high penalty for water quality violations is $37,500 per violation. That’s a lot of money to be paying with such a common recent occurrence. Unfortunately, the water board believes that there is no way to control the color of the overflow when it rains. ” It said the overflow was “a direct result of outdated infrastructure and system design limitations. (The Associated Press)” Outdated equipment must be changed and a solution must be found before the violations start racking up.

https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2017/10/05/us/ap-us-niagara-falls-black-water.html