Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Friday, June 14, 2013
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Water: The Great Mystery
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The Secrets of Water
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Sunday, November 28, 2010
10 Reasons Our Shallow Fresh Water Supply is in Deep Trouble
Activist Post
Fresh clean water is essential to all life forms. It seems that a resource so vital should not be corralled, controlled, or corrupted by any corporation or government. However, with fresh water supplies under assault on multiple fronts, governments seek to further clamp down on individual human usage, while doing very little to reduce the reasons for the contamination. At the same time, corporations that repackage water and sell it back to the public enjoy financial benefits from the scarcity of their "product."
Upon review, water scarcity is an alarming prospect indeed; especially in areas of the world where clean water was limited to begin with. The extended droughts caused by climate shifts, cumulative aspects of general human pollution, dirty industrial and agricultural practices, and blatant chemical contamination significantly reduce the supply of clean water. The more precious this resource becomes, the more our friendly multinational corporations profit from this new "commodity," and the more our governments seek to tax it.
Here are 10 reasons why our water supply is in deep trouble:
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| Dangerously Dry Lake Mead |
2. Industrial Agriculture pollution: Industrial agriculture is one of the leading causes of water pollution in the United States today. The EPA estimates that 48% of river and stream pollution, and 41% of lake pollution, is due to industrial agriculture. The most common pollutants from agriculture include animal waste (raw manure is up to 160 times more toxic than raw municipal sewage), pesticides, fertilizers, and animal antibiotics. Water pollution from industrial farms not only damages the environment and kills wildlife, but it can also sicken and kill people.
3. Oil disasters and dispersants: The Gulf Oil Spill leaked over 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf waters -- and many reports indicate it is still gushing. The BP "clean-up" teams have sprayed up to 36,000 gallons of chemical dispersant in a single day into the Gulf, which is believed to be far more toxic than the oil itself. Although Gulf waters are clearly not used for fresh water, there is evidence that this environmental disaster has already contaminated drinking water and crops along the Gulf Coast and beyond. There was also one of the largest oil spills in Midwest history this past July that went largely unreported nationally -- where an estimated 1 million gallons of oil has leaked into major fresh water sources.
4. Commercial bottlers: Large multinational beverage companies are usually given water-well privileges (and even tax breaks) over citizens because they create jobs, which is apparently more important to the local governments than water rights to other taxpaying citizens. These companies such as Coca Cola and Nestlé (which bottles suburban Michigan well-water and calls it Poland Spring) suck up millions of gallons of water, leaving the public to suffer with any shortages.
5. Fracture drilling for natural gas: Congress exempted hydraulic fracturing from the Safe Drinking Water Act after it was considered safe since a 2004 study (PDF) by the Environmental Protection Agency found that it posed no risk to drinking water. The evidence is now overwhelming that it does indeed contaminate the groundwater to where some residents can even light their tap water on fire. The new documentary Gasland does a great job educating the public about this method and its effects on the water supply.
6. Pharmaceuticals: It has been well-reported that measurable levels of pharmaceuticals like antidepressants, pain killers, antibiotics, and sex hormones have entered the public water supply due to our pill-pushing "health" system. Studies have shown that these pharmaceuticals are causing bizarre mutations to wildlife. We can only assume these drugs have similar effects on humans, thus making most public water systems unfit to drink for this reason alone.
7. Industrial/mining waste: Industrial and mining waste are also major pollutants in our waterways. These wastes typically include dangerous heavy metals, the most recognizable being Mercury. A 2009 study found dangerous levels of Methylmercury in all of the 291 U.S. freshwater streams tested in the report. Most of the Mercury contamination in the U.S. is blamed on industrial air pollution that falls back to the surface with rainfall.
9. Shifting Climate: It cannot be disputed that the overall climate patterns are shifting and changing. While the experts debate whether the cause of this climate shift is from global warming from C02, the sun, La Niña, or Earth's poles shifting, the fact remains that record extreme weather is happening all over the globe. Since there is always the same amount of H2O on the planet at all times, some areas have had record droughts, while others have had record flooding. Areas like the Southwest U.S. are experiencing an 11-year drought, while the Midwest has beenravaged by record floods. The effect of droughts on the water supply are obvious, but flooding too can massively contaminate the public water supply as was seen in the aftermath of Katrina.
10. Gluttonous Usage: People in First World countries who enjoy modern water treatment and delivery systems tend to use astronomically more water than their developing-world counterparts. Americans lead all global citizens in water usage at about 580 liters-per-day, followed by Australians at just under 500 liters-per-day. Although a fully-developed nation, the British only use around 150 liters-per-day, followed by India coming in at around 120 lpd. Clearly there are ways to live modern healthy lives while respecting the value of fresh water through conservation methods and practices.
As our public drinking water becomes more limited because of contamination, the purification process applies more chemicals -- which further compromises the quality of water. Incidentally, most public water companies still put sodium fluoride in the water despite that it is proven to be a neurotoxin. In fact, a town in California is being fined by the state health department for NOT fluoridating the water.
Water, which is our very foundation of health, seems to be under assault from all sides. This cannot be allowed to continue. We need to become involved at the local level, have our water independently tested, then research the various ways we can filter the water ourselves if our local governments will not support our right to drink water free of contaminants and toxic additives.
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Monday, October 11, 2010
The New Oil: Water Becoming Our Most Precious Resource
Should private companies control our most precious natural resource?
Jeneen Interlandi
NewsWeek
Sitka, Alaska, is home to one of the world’s most spectacular lakes. Nestled into a U-shaped valley of dense forests and majestic peaks, and fed by snowpack and glaciers, the reservoir, named Blue Lake for its deep blue hues, holds trillions of gallons of water so pure it requires no treatment. The city’s tiny population—fewer than 10,000 people spread across 5,000 square miles—makes this an embarrassment of riches. Every year, as countries around the world struggle to meet the water needs of their citizens, 6.2 billion gallons of Sitka’s reserves go unused. That could soon change. In a few months, if all goes according to plan, 80 million gallons of Blue Lake water will be siphoned into the kind of tankers normally reserved for oil—and shipped to a bulk bottling facility near Mumbai. From there it will be dispersed among several drought-plagued cities throughout the Middle East. The project is the brainchild of two American companies. One, True Alaska Bottling, has purchased the rights to transfer 3 billion gallons of water a year from Sitka’s bountiful reserves. The other, S2C Global, is building the water-processing facility in India. If the companies succeed, they will have brought what Sitka hopes will be a $90 million industry to their city, not to mention a solution to one of the world’s most pressing climate conundrums. They will also have turned life’s most essential molecule into a global commodity.
The transfer of water is nothing new. New York City is supplied by a web of tunnels and pipes that stretch 125 miles north into the Catskills Mountains; Southern California gets its water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Colorado River Basin, which are hundreds of miles to the north and west, respectively. The distance between Alaska and India is much farther, to be sure. But it’s not the distance that worries critics. It’s the transfer of so much water from public hands to private ones. “Water has been a public resource under public domain for more than 2,000 years,” says James Olson, an attorney who specializes in water rights. “Ceding it to private entities feels both morally wrong and dangerous.”
Everyone agrees that we are in the midst of a global freshwater crisis. Around the world, rivers, lakes, and aquifers are dwindling faster than Mother Nature can possibly replenish them; industrial and household chemicals are rapidly polluting what’s left. Meanwhile, global population is ticking skyward. Goldman Sachs estimates that global water consumption is doubling every 20 years, and the United Nations expects demand to outstrip supply by more than 30 percent come 2040.
Proponents of privatization say markets are the best way to solve that problem: only the invisible hand can bring supply and demand into harmony, and only market pricing will drive water use down enough to make a dent in water scarcity. But the benefits of the market come at a price. By definition, a commodity is sold to the highest bidder, not the customer with the most compelling moral claim. As the crisis worsens, companies like True Alaska that own the rights to vast stores of water (and have the capacity to move it in bulk) won’t necessarily weigh the needs of wealthy water-guzzling companies like Coca-Cola or Nestlé against those of water-starved communities in Phoenix or Ghana; privately owned water utilities will charge what the market can bear, and spend as little as they can get away with on maintenance and environmental protection. Other commodities are subject to the same laws, of course. But with energy, or food, customers have options: they can switch from oil to natural gas, or eat more chicken and less beef. There is no substitute for water, not even Coca-Cola. And, of course, those other things don’t just fall from the sky on whoever happens to be lucky enough to be living below. “Markets don’t care about the environment,” says Olson. “And they don’t care about human rights. They care about profit.”
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RELATED ARTICLE:
10 Reasons Our Shallow Fresh Water Supply is in Deep Trouble
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| Lake Mead, NV |
NewsWeek
Sitka, Alaska, is home to one of the world’s most spectacular lakes. Nestled into a U-shaped valley of dense forests and majestic peaks, and fed by snowpack and glaciers, the reservoir, named Blue Lake for its deep blue hues, holds trillions of gallons of water so pure it requires no treatment. The city’s tiny population—fewer than 10,000 people spread across 5,000 square miles—makes this an embarrassment of riches. Every year, as countries around the world struggle to meet the water needs of their citizens, 6.2 billion gallons of Sitka’s reserves go unused. That could soon change. In a few months, if all goes according to plan, 80 million gallons of Blue Lake water will be siphoned into the kind of tankers normally reserved for oil—and shipped to a bulk bottling facility near Mumbai. From there it will be dispersed among several drought-plagued cities throughout the Middle East. The project is the brainchild of two American companies. One, True Alaska Bottling, has purchased the rights to transfer 3 billion gallons of water a year from Sitka’s bountiful reserves. The other, S2C Global, is building the water-processing facility in India. If the companies succeed, they will have brought what Sitka hopes will be a $90 million industry to their city, not to mention a solution to one of the world’s most pressing climate conundrums. They will also have turned life’s most essential molecule into a global commodity.
The transfer of water is nothing new. New York City is supplied by a web of tunnels and pipes that stretch 125 miles north into the Catskills Mountains; Southern California gets its water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains and the Colorado River Basin, which are hundreds of miles to the north and west, respectively. The distance between Alaska and India is much farther, to be sure. But it’s not the distance that worries critics. It’s the transfer of so much water from public hands to private ones. “Water has been a public resource under public domain for more than 2,000 years,” says James Olson, an attorney who specializes in water rights. “Ceding it to private entities feels both morally wrong and dangerous.”
Everyone agrees that we are in the midst of a global freshwater crisis. Around the world, rivers, lakes, and aquifers are dwindling faster than Mother Nature can possibly replenish them; industrial and household chemicals are rapidly polluting what’s left. Meanwhile, global population is ticking skyward. Goldman Sachs estimates that global water consumption is doubling every 20 years, and the United Nations expects demand to outstrip supply by more than 30 percent come 2040.
Proponents of privatization say markets are the best way to solve that problem: only the invisible hand can bring supply and demand into harmony, and only market pricing will drive water use down enough to make a dent in water scarcity. But the benefits of the market come at a price. By definition, a commodity is sold to the highest bidder, not the customer with the most compelling moral claim. As the crisis worsens, companies like True Alaska that own the rights to vast stores of water (and have the capacity to move it in bulk) won’t necessarily weigh the needs of wealthy water-guzzling companies like Coca-Cola or Nestlé against those of water-starved communities in Phoenix or Ghana; privately owned water utilities will charge what the market can bear, and spend as little as they can get away with on maintenance and environmental protection. Other commodities are subject to the same laws, of course. But with energy, or food, customers have options: they can switch from oil to natural gas, or eat more chicken and less beef. There is no substitute for water, not even Coca-Cola. And, of course, those other things don’t just fall from the sky on whoever happens to be lucky enough to be living below. “Markets don’t care about the environment,” says Olson. “And they don’t care about human rights. They care about profit.”
Read Full Article
RELATED ARTICLE:
10 Reasons Our Shallow Fresh Water Supply is in Deep Trouble
Fresh food that lasts from eFoods Direct (Ad)
Live Superfoods
Print this page
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