Most water companies try their hardest to hide this information, but if a new bill that just was approved by committee today in the California state assembly takes hold, the companies would be forced to sing a different tune.
Having grown up in the beautiful Chicagoland area in the 80’s my water needs were strictly as follows: Need #1: Water from hose to power clown-face sprinkler, fill water balloons, and hose off muddy dirt-bike/self, Need #2: Water from faucet to occasionally brush teeth and occasionally make Hi-C or Tang, Need #3: Water from shower to occasionally bathe. It was a simpler time, and I was a kid. To me and most other kids (adults?) in the 80’s water was simply there, always on the ready for any and all of the above dalliances.
The days of water-logged frivolity are over. We now live in a time where many parts of the world face water shortages, limited access to safe, clean drinking water, an ever-diminishing groundwater supply, and a growing number of water-related disease and death.
In fact, just last week, motivated by three years of water shortages in California, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency which may be followed by water rationing measures.
As a result of the myriad of water emergencies that the world faces I have put together a short-list of the 5 world-saving water solutions that offer hope for the future of our water, and therefore our existence.
Read the rest of this entry »
Britain’s largest water company has been fined £125,000 ($180,000), after polluting London’s River Wandle to such an extent that it wiped out twenty years of painstaking conservation work in a single day.
The shocking incident occurred in 2007, when Chlorine escaped from a Thames Water sewage treatment works, killing most of the fish along a 3 mile stretch of one of the city’s most iconic urban rivers. Local residents tried to save some of the distressed fish by transferring them from the river into buckets of clean water, but they were too late. One man rescued a large number of eels, but found they were bleeding from the gills and they all later died.
According to Charity Water, one in six people on the planet do not have access to safe, clean drinking water.
A study has revealed that poems in the loo can help tackle global warming, through cutting toilet paper use by up to 20 per cent.
A team of Japanese researchers pasted ‘toilet poems’ at the eye-level of people sitting in cubicles. One poem read, “That paper will meet you only for a moment,” another said, “Fold the paper over and over and over again,” while another read simply, “Love the toilet.”
Local environmentalists organized against a plan by a gold mine nearby Juneau, Alaska to dump mining waste and rubble into a nearby lake. While the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council lost the original lawsuit to stop the plan in 2006, they later won the appeal with the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
The Supreme Court now must decide whether mines should be prevented from storing their waste in water bodies, as specified in the Clean Water Act. Alaska issued a permit to the mine allowing it to dump waste in the lake, but environmentalists pointed out the discrepancy.
Conservationists in Australia are claiming that the postponement of the proposed Traveston Crossing Dam is actually a sign that the dam will never be constructed. The dam, set to be built on the Mary River in Queensland, Australia, faces fierce criticism from local activists, residents, and councils.
A major hurdle for the dam’s construction has been the slew of environmental precautions and protections that Queensland Water Infrastructure Pty Ltd. has had to take care of. In order to perform the required community projects, such as local trail enhancement and habitat restoration, QWI is indefinitely postponing the construction.
The first time I saw the James Bond Coca-Cola ad, I didn’t think much about it. But now it turns my spit to bile.
It’s disgustingly ironic that the owners of the James Bond series would advertise Coke with a film about (spoiler alert) a greenwashing corporation stealing water from the third world. Because that perfectly describes Coca-Cola Inc.
For the past decade, Coke has invested heavily in bottled water. An increasingly health-conscious public, aware of the sickening effects of cola, drove down carbonated soft drink sales. Coke responded by bottling purified tap water and selling it under the name “Dasani.” Thanks to healthy sales of “healthy” drinks (which according to the New York Times are “still just sugar water”), Coca-Cola has enjoyed rising international sales.
Of course there have been setbacks. Coca-Cola recalled Dasani in the United Kingdom after they accidentally poisoned the bottled water with bromate, a possible carcinogen. At least it was only the Dasani that was tainted. In India, one of Coca-Cola’s fastest growing markets, problems ran deeper.
Mining company Gem Diamonds has gained approval from the Botswana government for a controversial diamond mine on the land of the Kalahari Bushmen, under the condition it does not provide the Bushmen with water. The government has, however, reserved the right to use water boreholes drilled by Gem for wildlife.
Many of us have a large circle of friends, coworkers and family members that seems to grow wider each year. As our gift list grows longer, holiday time can bring with it a sense of environmental dread. The excess packaging, wrapping paper, bows, tape, and whatnots. The time spent searching for the perfect gift for folks who likely have just about everything they need or want. (How many re-giftable items do you receive each year?) Then you buy a couple of extra gifts just in case there is somebody you might have forgotten and you want to avoid that awkward moment of the one-sided gift exchange! Ugh.
Consider making this holiday season low impact and no-stress by joining the Blue Planet Run Holiday Gift of Water program.
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