water matters51
-
IBM’s Water Membrane
Scientists at IBM Research, together with collaborators from Central Glass, KACST and the University of Texas, Austin have created a new membrane that filters out salts as well as potentially harmful toxins in water such as arsenic while using less energy than other forms of water purification. According to the press release, this materials in…
-
Water for Profit?
I’ve long been fascinated by the concept of privatization of water. I can think of few topics related to natural resources that are so controversial. I tend to reject the claim, espoused by many including former Water Center speaker Maude Barlow, that water is a basic human right and therefore should never be private. While water…
-
Water Usage Per Person
Seeing Samantha’s post on water conservation kits reminded me how much water we use in the US compared to others in the world. The above data is from UNDP Human Development Report 2006. For your reference, 1 liter = 0.264172052 US gallons. I hope there are a lot of related posts that come from this…
-
Free water saving kits from NYC DEP
If you go to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection website, you’ll see that nearly half the items on the homepage are about water. There’s the large scale, like protecting and maintaining the sewer systems and watersheds, and also the smaller scale, such as their rain barrel and residential water conservation programs. As…
-
Sand Filtration
Via ScienceDaily, Dr. James Amburgey, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, has developed an inexpensive and low-tech way to treat water using sand. According to Dr. Amburgey, all that is needed to create safe drinking water is PVC pipe, sand and inexpensive treatment chemicals. Previous technologies have used sand filtration, however, this current…
-
Aquaduct Bicycle
Note: The following image links to a promotional video from Aquaduct In the most recent Innovate or Die contest sponsored by Google and Specialized, the grand prize winner was the Aquaduct, a pedal-powered concept vehicle that transports, filters, and stores water for the developing world. According to the website, As the rider pedals, a pump…
-
LifeStraw®
According to the World Health Organization, 3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease, and 84% of water-related deaths are in children ages 0 – 14. Access to safe and clean water is an option many people in developing countries don’t have. I think the picture above says all that is needed about the LifeStraw®,…
-
Do you still drink bottled water?
For most of the readers of this post, the issue of bottled water might not be entirely new. Surely there has been rising awareness and alarming voice about the downsides of bottled water. However, the market is undeniably still growing. Bottled water market is growing on a global scale and, especially in the U.S., the…
-
Obama’s Clean Water Initiatives
From U.S. News: Obama Likely to Boost Water Quality Rules After Years of Lax Regulation [The Clean Water Act] Passed in 1972, the law was interpreted by both Congress and the courts for nearly 30 years as protecting virtually all federal waters. But in 2001, and again in 2006, the Supreme Court handed down rulings…
The first Earth Day in 1970 ignited a movement to stop polluting our planet. This Earth Month, join us in our commitment to realizing a just and sustainable future for our planet. Visit our Earth Day website for ideas, resources, and inspiration.