Three winners will be chosen to receive a 5,000 dollar grant for “innovative approaches to providing access to safe drinking water and sanitation”. Over 265 entries have been received from 54 countries, and now you may help to decide the winning projects.
Vote for your favorite three participants by May 11, 2008!
Less than half of Iraq’s population of 29 million people have access to clean, drinkable water. And, according to a recent report by Oxfam, the number of civilians in Iraq without water has risen from 50 percent to 70 percent during 2003 to 2007 (the continued US occupation).
A child cries as a woman fills pans of water from a public water hose on open ground in Najaf, Iraq, in 2006. (Alla al-Marjani/Associated Press)
Recent History of Water in Iraq
In the recent past, Iraq had over 140 drinking water and treatment facilities in operation. Air attacks, in 1991, during the Persian Gulf War destroyed many of these water treatment plants. At the same time, UN imposed sanctions disallowed trade between Iraq and other countries. This made import of needed chemicals and supplies for upkeep of the water treatment facilities difficult.
By 2003, Iraq’s 140 major water treatment facilities were operating at about 35 percent of their design capacity. In March 2003, the US government launched a direct-attack on Iraq. This continued war, for over five-years now, has rendered useless the already deteriorating water infrastructure systems across the country.
Years of political upheaval, sanctions against Iraq, consistent mortar attacks, and unstable-transitional governing bodies have made maintenance of the water treatment systems almost impossible.
“Over 600 workers from the Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works have been killed attempting to repair these networks since 2005″
Unsafe water is also taking its toll. Iraq saw the worst outbreak of Cholera in recorded history in 2007.
A man in a village in southern Iraq demonstrates how Bechtel left his village without access to clean water. Photo courtesy the BanglaPraxis blog.
While some measures are being taken to ensure water availability in Iraq…
UNICEF provides water on tanker trucks and distributes home-hygiene kits to civilians. UNESCO has assessed water resources available in Iraq and evaluated possible management plans. USAID has refurbished 10 water treatment plants and installed 70 small water treatment systems in rural communities.
The transitional Iraqi Government has been developing water policy.
The Iraq Water Project (Veterans for Peace in conjunction with LIFE) has sent small, sterilized water units for hospitals and schools and has been working to rebuild six water treatment plants in Iraq.
…really, though, these actions are not yet enough.
For it is true, if water conditions are to improve in this country, then current upheaval, war, and fighting in Iraq must come to an end.
“We have photos of the units we sent to several hospitals, including the city of Hit where there has been a recent outbreak of cholera, and we got a dandy little video of our Sterilight in action at al Mansour children’s hospital in Baghdad.” - The Iraq Water Project
One man’s dream will soon raise the world’s awareness about the complexity of water challenges occurring in India.
Beginning on Saturday, April 26th in Bangalore, CS Sharada Prasad will travel 19,000 km (11,807 m) on motorbike to document the meaning and encompassing challenges of water to people in India.
Crossing 15 major rivers, 28 states, and 7 territories, Mr. Prasad will document his journey on a blog called “K2K - In Search of Water“. His route will be mapped with a GPS unit attached to his motorbike and uploaded to Google Maps. Geotagged blog posts will be updated everyday and photos from his journey will be available on EveryTrail and Flickr.
The trip will take over two months to complete, visiting places such as the Khardung La Pass at 18,380 feet to Kanyakumari at the southernmost tip of mainland India. Mr. Prasad will meet with local citizens, organizations, and community leaders to bring light to their accomplishments and challenges regarding sustainable water supplies.
This event will be a great opportunity for students, classrooms, and people around the world to follow along with his adventure and become educated about water supplies in India.
Sharada Prasad is a project officer for the India Water Portal and Blog developed by Archyam, a nongovernmental organization. Archyam “seeks to support strategic and sustainable efforts in the water sector that address basic water needs for all citizens”.
Visit the cool interactive Google Map of the Journey across India here.
Into the local grocery store for my weekly accruals, I browse the aisles for items on my shopping list…
Milk - 65 gallons of water for production per serving
Cherries - 90 gallons of water for production per serving
Eggs - 136 gallons of water for production per serving
I diligently note the amount of water used for production of each product clearly labeled on the back of the container and then place them into my cart.
Sound a bit far-fetched? Well, not so much if you were in Australia this week attending an international water conference in Adelaide.
James Hazelton, a professor from Macquarie University, suggested this approach for labeling of food products in Australia and beyond, according to ABC News. He cited the success of labeling water efficient appliances such as low-flow toilets and washing machines.
Indeed, perhaps if we were more aware of the amount of water used for production of our food products, we might be inclined to conserve water and eat a ‘low-flow’ diet.
“Shot on location in the West Bank over a period of almost a year, Drying up Palestine illustrates the stresses and strains imposed on Palestinian society by Israel’s almost total control over access to water and sewage facilities in the Occupied Territories. Told in the words of ordinary inhabitants, the film creates a compelling portrait of the impact of military occupation on everyday life.”
Purna Bahadur Vaidya is a Newar Poet from Nepal with a collection of “84 poems refracted through water” in the language of Nepal Bhasa called LA LA KHA (WATER IS WATER).
Wayne Amtzis (photographer and writer himself) sat down with the author to translate the poems into English. He has so graciously given permission for some of these translations to be featured on the Cultural Earth page on Water for the Ages. His translations have also appeared in The Drunken Boat, a web magazine of international works.
In addition, the Library of Congress has recorded Purna Vaidya reciting portions of LA LA KHA in his native language of Nepal Bhasa.
Photo above courtesy Wikimedia Commons. Mount Everest is the peak with the clouds to the left. Ama Dablam is the peak to the far right.
Several interviews on the ‘politics of oil and water’ are featured this week on Big Think, a website of ideas from people on everything including the environment. The following people and others were asked about “access to oil and water as a human right, sources of alternative energy and the future of global conflicts over resources”.
The people of San Rafael de la Laguna, an indigenous community of 4,700, constructed a water treatment facility along the edge of Lake Imbakucha to offset polluted discharge from local tourist facilities and agricultural practices.
The water treatment facility removes up to 90% of the contamination, and the clean water is then used for irrigation of reeds. Local artisans create furniture, crafts, and paper from the reeds, and sell the products through the Totora Sisa Cooperative.
Photo above is Lake San Pablo (Imbakucha) in Ecuador.
In Africa, there is a young girl named Christina. She lives with her family in a small village in rural Ghana in West Africa. Ghana is close the equator with a tropical climate, but each year over eight months may pass without a drop of rain.
During these dry spells, the one watering hole in her village will slowly evaporate in the hot sun. Villagers are forced to seek water elsewhere. It is Christina’s job to fetch her family’s daily ration of water.
Each day, she will walk up to four hours to gather enough water. Christina is a hardworking girl, but because she walks so far for water means she has no time to attend school.
Christina is a real girl and this is a true story, as told in the short film below by Water Aid. Water Aid is an international organization with a vision of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation.
Africa Water Facts
Desert, rainforest, and savanna… over 900 million people live in Africa, the second largest continent in the world. Of all who live in Africa, 340 million people (38%) lack access to clean water and 500 million people (56 %) lack access to sanitation facilities.
The Nile, Niger, Volta and Zambezi River Basins cross multiple political borders making water policy difficult and even volatile, according to research conducted by the UN as featured on the BBC.
Ashoka’s Changemakers and Global Water Challenge have partnered to open a worldwide search for ideas and projects that, when scaled-up, have the potential to transform the provision of sanitation and water.
All entries are due by Wednesday, March 26, 2008 6:00 pm EST (21:00 GMT).
Currently, over 149 entries have been received from 45 countries with ideas such as:
Affordable household filters that remove arsenic and microbes.
Biosand water filters in India.
Implementation of water harvesting ponds in Ethiopia.
About 4,500 children die each day from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation facilities. – UNICEF
‘A mother in Delhi, India, helps her son drink from a public tanker on World Water Day 2007′, photo on BBC News.
World Water Day 2008
Events happening across the globe draw international attention to a lack of available and clean drinking water supplies on World Water Day, whether celebrating March 20th (as so noted in this post on Water Wired) or on the typical March 22nd.
Confusion about the date of the event this year (to account for a religious holiday on the weekend) certainly has not hindered many from observing the need to focus on global water issues.
Shekhar Kapur launches a blog on Changemakers.net inspired by his latest film, ‘Paani’ (Water), which will examine the daily struggle for water in the slums of Mumbai.
The Our World - Our Water group on Flickr is launched to encourage those from around the world to share photos and stories about water.
March 22nd Events (to name a few)
WaterPartners Village — a virtual exploration of the water crisis – will launch across social networking sites like Second Life on World Water Day. A virtual concert, with proceeds to support global water organizations, will start at 5:00 pm (PDT) on March 22, 2008 at the WaterPartners Village stage.
Worldwaterday.net is organizing events across the United States that observe World Water Day including organized walks to raise money for the global water crisis.
WorldWaterDay.org features events happening across the globe and on the Internet.
The Film Connection supports World Water Day by featuring several films about water for viewing and discussion about global water issues. ‘With this film program, we invite you to take a closer look at how individuals experience and utilize this diminishing resource.’
The Middle East is an area rich in oil reserves but without ample water supplies to sustain a growing populace. Over 21 politically distinct countries and jurisdictions maintain 5% of the world’s total inhabitants with less than 1% of the world’s water reserves.
At times, coming to an agreement on how to share the three river systems (the Jordan, Nile, and Tigris-Euphrates) that traverse the region make water policy a virtual nightmare. Now three countries are coming forward to resolve past arguments on transboundary water issues.
Turkey, Iraq, and Syria will soon form an institute to study water in the Middle East, as detailed in Today’s Zaman (a major Turkish newspaper). Experts, scholars, and professionals from each country will begin meetings at Turkey’s Atatürk Dam to share information and work on resolving past water-allocation problems.
Develop and share information on irrigation and potable water technology.
Map water resources in the Middle East.
Release a report on effective water management in each country (for release on April 15th).
Management of water storage and dams in the region will be an aspect of the institute’s endeavors. Turkey and Syria will attempt joint construction of a dam on the Asi River. Syria expressed an interest in greater downstream shares from dams on the Euphrates River. Iraq, which had previously filed concerns against Turkey’s dams on the Tigris and Euphrates, approved the construction on the controversialIlisu Dam on the Tigris River.
Also, see this post on Intercontinental Cry on the contested Ilisu Dam and related protests in Turkey!
Above cover photo of January 2, 2000 issue of al-Majalla, a leading Arabic language weekly news magazine. Main headline reads: “The Waters of the Middle East: Scenarios of Wars to Come”. Courtesy of Ted Thornton at History of the Middle East Database.
You may have heard the phrase S&P 500 floating around, background noise as you listen to the news. But if you are a person with even an inkling of interest in the stock market, you will know the S&P 500 is an index exhibiting stocks of the top 500 publicly owned companies primarily from the US.
The S&P 500 shows the market value of the 500 companies in the index and is a good indicator of how the stock market is doing as a whole. The index will rise if the market value of a company goes up (with an increase in individuals interested in purchasing shares), and the index will decrease if the market value of a company goes down.
Well, what does this have to do with water, you ask.
The S&P 500 actually has little to do with water itself, but Standard and Poor’s (the company that created the S&P 500) recently released an index of the top 50 companies in the global water sector called the S&P Global Water Index.
The Global Water Index is similar to the S&P 500 except investors use it to track viability of investments in the international water sector. The Global Water Index is comprised of 25 companies in water utilities or infrastructure and 25 companies in water equipment or materials.
“One man’s challenge is another man’s opportunity. With water shortages an enormous challenge in both the developed and developing world, companies that transmit, purify, or supply equipment should benefit.”
Should individuals with money benefit on global shortages of drinkable water?
Individuals are already investing in the global water sector, and this will influence sustainable and available water supplies into the future.
It is likely such investments will drive-up the cost of implementing water infrastructure or treatment facilities for developing countries with dwindling budgets.
Investments in the private water sector will begin to widen the gap between affordable, reliable water and water infrastructure (public water supply) and expensive, unreliable water and water infrastructure (private water supply). As more individuals invest in private water industries, private water supply services will increase across the globe.
Water Privatization + Investors = Water Investments
= Bad News for Water Drinkers
For more information on water privatization, see this post on Waterblogged.info or listen to this CBC radio series (a little past due but still great), Water for Profit.
“Wash-in-Schools” (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) is a campaign to ensure safe drinking water and sanitation facilities for schoolchildren throughout the world. This program, first introduced by UNICEF and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council at the 3rd World Water Forum in 2003, has been joined by growing list of non-profit organizations, foundations, corporations, and schools.
Water Advocates, a non-profit organization in Washington DC, will be launching their Wash-in-Schools Initiative on March 12, 2008. This non-profit has the goal to expand the WASH program to 1,000 schools in developing countries while creating the momentum to help as many additional schools as possible worldwide.
The event will feature videos of schoolchildren in the developing world as well as comments from individuals including Dr. Peter Gleick, President and Co-founder Pacific Institute; Gil Garcetti, Photographer of “Water is Key: A Better Future for Africa;” and Alexandra Cousteau, co-founder Earth Echo International.
For more information on how you can be involved, please contact Andra Tamburro at 202-293-4047 or atamburro@wateradvocates.org.
To attend the event, please RSVP to Katie Delisio at WaterAdvocatesRSVP@gmail.com.
Over two million people are expected to visit Beijing this year for the Summer Olympic Games. In August, the population of the metropolis will crest 19 million souls.
The arrival of so many visitors to China’s capital will result in exaggerated water use of 2.75 million cubic meters (2,229 acre-feet) a day or, in layman’s terms, enough water to fill 2000 Olympic size swimming pools each day.
Chinese officials may soon begin to worry as North China is currently enduring a severe drought including Hebei (which surrounds Beijing) and other provinces in the north.
China’s answer to this Catch-22 is to pipe water to Beijing via extensive water supply canals, often at the expense of local citizens, businesses, or agricultural practices. China hurries to finish 309 km (192 miles) of canals to draw water from behind several dams in the province of Hebei to serve water to Beijing for the Olympics, as stated on Reuters. These canals are actually part of a larger project China is undertaking to pipe massive amounts of water from the Yangzte River in the south to arid regions in the north, widely known as the South-to-North Water Transfer Project (previously reviewed on WaterWired).
Central route of the South-to-North Water Transfer Project, courtesy of The New York Times.
Concerns about the colossal diversion project by residents of the area are many. During an interview with the Environmental News Network, one farmer said:
“For the country, it’s a good thing. It will bring water to Beijing so everything runs smoothly,” said Shi Yinzhu, herding sheep near the 100-metre wide canal in Tang county. “But for us here, they had to pump away underground water to dig the canal and we’ve lost a lot of land too … Sometimes you wonder if they need all the water more than us here.”
The world’s attention will soon be on Beijing, China for the Summer Olympic Games.
Will the world’s attention also be on the many people currently affected by drought conditions and difficult times in North China?
The team used piezoelectric materials, which generate electricity with mechanical stress, to capture energy from raindrops as they hit the surface. Raindrops the size of drizzle produced approximately 2 microjoules of energy, while large raindrops produced approximately 1 millijoule of energy.
“Although the output is puny compared with that of solar panels, rain power has the advantage of working in the dark and could be used to supplement solar-powered devices.”
In this “table-top” book filled with awe-inspiring photographs, authors from around the world contributed to each provide their own unique perspective on the water of the earth. Many prominent and knowledgeable individuals, such as Kofi Annan, Maude Barlow, Mikhail Gorbachev, Pete Seeger, and Desmond Tutu, each drafted a portion of the book.
Water Voices from Around The World is published in consideration and support of the United Nations’ effort for the “International Decade of Action ‘Water for Life’, 2005-2015.”
The Water Voices Web-site also hosts a blog for up-to-date information on the book tour and other global water issues.
See the Water Books Page at the top of this web-log for more books on water.
Three million acres of sensitive grassland becomes desert each year in northern China and Inner Mongolia. This process of desertification causes water-tables to drop, groundwater sources to become salty, and dust storms to become more frequent. People from all walks of life are challenged by deterioration of these grasslands (often referred to as Steppe). Nomadic people of the area can no longer graze animals on the land and dust from storms is noticeable as far away as Japan, Korea, and the United States.
The non-profit organization, Circle of Blue, has just released a comprehensive multimedia report on the desertification of Inner Mongolia called Reign of Sand. This inclusive and sensitive picture of Inner Mongolia (on the Circle of Blue web-site) features articles, an interactive map, a slide show of photographs, and videos. The collection examines linkages between climate change and rapid industrialization of north China to desertification and water unavailability in Inner Mongolia.
See the report on Inner Mongolia by Circle of Blue, REIGN OF SAND.
A new book, Bottlemania by Elizabeth Royt, will focus on the complications of bottled water in today’s society. It will be available on May 13, 2008.
The book will address questions such as:
“Who owns our water? What happens when a bottled-water company stakes a claim on your town’s source? Should we have to pay for water? Is the stuff coming from the tap completely safe? And if so, how many chemicals are dumped in to make it potable? What’s the environmental footprint of making, transporting, and disposing of all those plastic bottles?”
Drought and dry weather are seemingly the norm recently on two island nations nearly 10,291 miles (16,562 km) apart. Cyprus and New Zealand have been dealing with shortages of water continuing into 2008.
Cyprus
As highlighted previously on this blog, a dry winter with little rain in Cyprus has diminished water supplies on the island. Reservoirs, now at less than 9% capacity, lack water for the coming summer season. Groundwater wells will provide little relief because they are often over pumped and inundated with saltwater.
The Republic of Cyprus is pursuing alternatives for water supply including construction an additional desalination plant and import of water from other locations on tankers. Regardless, extreme water rationing will be commonplace until the end of the summer in November or December of 2008.
New Zealand
It is summer in New Zealand from December until the end of February, and this year the country has been enduring an unusually severe drought. The Waikato Region on the North Island has been facing dessicated conditions not seen in over 100 years.
Effects of the drought in are far-reaching. Toxic algal blooms are on the rise in waterways, and water restrictions have been put into place. The agricultural industry, primarily dairy production located in the Waikato Region, has been the hardest hit.
The government of New Zealand is engaged in research on climate change and increasing drought events in drought-prone locations.
Officials believe rain will finally come to the region by the end of the fall season in May of 2008.
Advertising that will raise awareness of the global water crisis, while raising money for UNICEF’s campaign to provide clean drinking water to children in developing countries, sounds better than consumerism to me!
The second annual Tap Project ad blitz will soon arrive in papers and magazines of over twelve US cities including New York City, Boston Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Portland, OR, Richmond, VA, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and several cities in South Carolina, as stated in the New York Times today. Several notable advertising agencies will be producing the outreach material pro bono (for free).
Posters, ads, lapel pins, etc. will highlight fund-raising to begin Sunday, March 16th through Saturday, March 22th. Participating restaurants will invite customers to donate a minimum of a dollar for tap water normally free.
As the Tap Project web-site states, “For every dollar raised, a child will have clean drinking water for 40 days” through UNICEF project implementation. The project is set to coincide with World Water Day on March 22, 2008, an annual event promoted by the UN to promote public awareness of global water issues.
Photo courtesy of the New York Times and the Tap Project. (A poster for the Tap Project that will appear in Chicago, created by Energy BBDO.)
Singapore is hosting International Water Week from June 23rd to June 27th of 2008. This first-annual event is to be held as a forum for “government officials, industry leaders and water specialists” to discuss policy, business, and water technology. Festivities of the week encompass a Water Trade Show, a Water Summit, and presentation of the Lee Kuan Yew Water Prize to an innovator in the field of water technology.
However, several main sponsors of International Water Week include multinational corporations with questionable environmental and water management track records including:
French owned companies, SUEZ and Veolia Environment, both engaged in water privatization in developing countries (not known for great customer service or reliable water infrastructure).
Does sponsorship of International Water Week by the above organizations make this event any less important? Not necessarily, but maybe it does mean that we should pay closer attention to these companies and their water management standards.
Molds, mushrooms, and yeasts - prevalent in all locales from the cracks of a sidewalk, in the forest, and sometimes even your refrigerator. At times, fungi have wonderful uses including yeasts for brewing beer or wine to the gastronomic delight of the rare white truffle. At other times, certain fungi will produce a substance toxic to living beings called Mycotoxins.
While some toxins in this family may weaken the immune system or act as an allergen, other toxins have no evident effect on humans. This study showed increased quantities of such micro-pollution in Swiss rivers, and indicated “a need for stronger monitoring and control of these overlooked micropollutants.”
A series of cyberseminars will be offered very soon by CUAHSI - universities allied for water research. You can watch the seminars from your computer in the comfort of your own abode, with a call-in number to access the lecture.
February 1, 2008 -
Hydrogeology is the key to understanding the arsenic crisis on the Ganges Delta
February 22, 2008 -
What does a hydrologist need to know and do about climate change adaptation?
March 14, 2008 -
Flooding in the Urban Environment
April 25, 2008 -
Hydro-NEXRAD: Community Resource for Use of Radar-Rainfall Data
Sound a bit far-fetched? Well, not so much if you were in Australia this week attending an 
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Cincinnati, Dallas, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Portland, OR, Richmond, VA, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and several cities in South Carolina, 
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