Embotelladoras de agua – Noticias Tratamiento de agua – Osmosis Inversa

Are you ready for your daily dose of H20 packaged into a handy-dandy Public Service Announcement (aka PSA)? Well, I hope so…

Today’s PSA is from WaterAid. It was created to encourage world leaders to make toilets a priority at the upcoming UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Summit in September 2010. Musicians playing at Glastonbury Festival were featured in the PSA.

Ten years ago, United Nations member states agreed to achieve eight MDGs by 2015 to end global poverty. MDG No. 7 includes a target to reduce – BY HALF – the number of people without safe drinking water and basic sanitation.

“There are just five years to go and targets in Sub-Saharan Africa for water continue to fall behind but, most shockingly, the aim of halving the proportion of the world’s population without adequate sanitation is almost 200 years behind target.” – WaterAid

See the recent MDG Report 2010 for more information on the status of all targets.

But, wait, as a special up-lifting bonus today:

Water Aid hosted a film competition on YouTube for the ‘Don’t Let it Drop’ campaign. Competitors had only 48-hours to create a film. Watch the two winning entries here. Congrats, you two.

More PSA-maddness can be found covering rainwater harvesting in India, the LA Tap Project, a water-conservation campaign in Denver, the Tap Project 2009, Charity Water, and The World Cup, Water, and Sanitation.

Filed under: drinking water, film, outreach, PSA-a-thon Series, sanitation, united nations Tagged: mdgs, millenium development goals, psa-a-thon, toilets, wateraid

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Many around the world have just finished watching the USA vs. Algeria game in South Africa. USA won the match (1-0) and will be able to continue to play in the 2010 World Cup. I’m VERY happy with the final score (sorry, Algeria) but not so happy about something else…

During the time of each World Cup match, around 140 children in Africa will die from diarrheal illnesses related to dirty water and a lack of toilets.

One organization, Wash-United, hopes people will become more aware of these issues during the 2010 World Cup. They have enlisted football greats (like Didier Drogba, Nwankwo Kanu, and Stephen Appiah) and created Public Service Announcements (PSAs) to help the spread the world

Enjoy these PSAs as part of the PSA-a-thon Series, and keep watching and rooting for your favorite teams.

Football Greats for Safe Water and Sanitation

Desmond Tutu for Safe Water and Sanitation

Can’t get enough?

The other five PSAs in the series cover rainwater harvesting in India, the LA Tap Project, a water-conservation campaign in Denver, the Tap Project 2009, and Charity Water.

Filed under: africa, community, drinking water, international, outreach, sanitation, south africa, video, water availability Tagged: 2010 world cup, football, psa-a-thon, soccer, sub-saharan africa, wash

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Stunning and breathtaking visual imagery of women from around the world using water for drinking, cleaning, cooking, growing, working, praying, and living. This striking video was produced by the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) for International Women’s Day on March 8th. The video is posted on their new Gender Topics page.

Filed under: agriculture, community, gender, women Tagged: International Water Management Institute, International Women’s Day, iwmi

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Bangalore in Karnataka, India was once a city of lakes (aka tanks). Around 1,792 lakes existed there 500 years ago (most built by the city’s founder). In the 1960s, about 280 lakes were left. An estimated 70 to 80 lakes remain today. Lakes were lost from development and surrounding commercial or household encroachment.

The India Water Portal, a water-website of Arghyam (where I completed my internship last fall), recently hosted The Lost Lakes of Bangalore contest. The aim of this project was to document histories of lost lakes in the city. The winning entry was “Err- bane” Truth – Dharmambudi Tank.  I really enjoyed watching this short-film. It showed, in an easy-to-understand format, the importance of lakes to urban areas.

To summarize, lakes are important to urban areas for several reasons including:

• Water Supply for Urban Areas (catching and holding rainwater supplies)
• Recharge of Groundwater Supplies (catching rainwater and recharging groundwater)
• Reducing Temperatures in the City
• Providing Habitat for Vegetation and Wildlife

Filed under: drought, film, groundwater, india, lakes Tagged: Arghyam, india water portal, Lost Lakes of Bangalore

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Bangalore in Karnataka, India was once a city of lakes (aka tanks). Around 1,792 lakes existed there 500 years ago (most built by the city’s founder). In the 1960s, about 280 lakes were left. An estimated 70 to 80 lakes remain today. Lakes were lost from development and surrounding commercial or household encroachment.

The India Water Portal, a water-website of Arghyam (where I completed my internship last fall), recently hosted The Lost Lakes of Bangalore contest. The aim of this project was to document histories of lost lakes in the city. The winning entry was “Err- bane” Truth – Dharmambudi Tank.  I really enjoyed watching this short-film. It showed, in an easy-to-understand format, the importance of lakes to urban areas.

To summarize, lakes are important to urban areas for several reasons including:

• Water Supply for Urban Areas (catching and holding rainwater supplies)
• Recharge of Groundwater Supplies (catching rainwater and recharging groundwater)
• Reducing Temperatures in the City
• Providing Habitat for Vegetation and Wildlife

Filed under: drought, film, groundwater, india, lakes Tagged: Arghyam, india water portal, Lost Lakes of Bangalore

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An oil rig, the Deepwater Horizon, located 40 miles from the Louisiana coast exploded on April 20th. This explosion left eleven people dead and copious amounts of crude oil and natural gas flowing into the Gulf of Mexico from a deep-water well. Today, the oil and gas mixture continues to stream into the Gulf.

Rates of discharge from several leaks range anywhere from BP’s estimate of less than 5,000 barrels a day to Steve Wereley’s (a scientist from Purdue) estimate of less than 100,000 barrels a day. Steve analyzed underwater video provided by BP to arrive at his estimate (see below). Most people in the United States use oil for daily activities such as driving or heating. And oil is utilized for many industrial processes. Catastrophes like this one are one liability of relying on oil to meet energy needs.

Images from the Gulf Oil Spill of 2010

“The oil slick appears as a dull gray on the water’s surface and stretches south from the Mississippi Delta with what looks like a tail.” Photo Courtesy: NASA

“A satellite image taken May 17th shows oil slick being entrained in the Loop Current with a broad conveyor-belt-like extension of the slick sweeping in a gentle arc to the southeast and reaching 222 miles from the location of the leaking well.” Photo Courtesy: SkyTruth on flickr

“A map of the northern Gulf of Mexico showing the nearly 4,000 active oil and gas platforms in 2006.” Photo Courtesy: NOAA Ocean Explorer

“Soldiers of the Louisiana National Guard continue constructing the interlocking water diversion system near Venice, LA at the southwest pass of the Mississippi River Delta on May 14th.” Photo Courtesy: The U.S. Army on flickr

“Ships make their way through surface oil near a barge funneling off oil from the Deepwater Horizon wellhead in this aerial view over the Gulf of Mexico, May 18th.” Photo Courtesy: Reuters/Daniel Beltra on flickr

“Fort Jackson, LA  International Bird Rescue Research Center” Photo Courtesy: PBS on flickr

“Campaigner Lindsey Allen walks through a patch of oil from the Deepwater Horizon on the breakwater in the mouth of the Mississippi where it meets the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, May, 18th.” Photo Courtesy: Greenpeace on flickr

Filed under: oceans, water pollution, water quality Tagged: BP, British Petroleum, oil spill, photos

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My dear friend Praveena continues to inspire me with her devotion to improve the quality of life for people in our world. Herself and her friends, Sachin and Prateek, recently started a thought-provoking blog called Detail Talk based out of South India. This blog, like their film company Bhoomi Productions, is linked to their interests and endeavors in entrepreneurial and social development projects.

Detail Talk focuses on many topics including “matters of utmost concern to India and to the world and where we are confident of contributing in a greater capacity. These for us are Education, Environment and Healthcare. On Detail Talk we cover conferences, workshops, other events like film festivals and expositions related to these broad categories that we set ourselves on.”

For those of us interested in water conversations, this blog talks a LOT about water.

Above Photo: India during monsoon. Courtesy NASA Earth Observatory.

Here are a few of the water posts on their blog.

Water Stories from Around the World: Book Review
Bringing order in a chaotic water management scenario: Case study from Udupi district
I am large, I contain multitudes: On Water
Inter State Water Disputes and the Judiciary

To see the rest, check out Detail Talk. My simple overview does not do this blog justice.

Thanks Praveena, Sachin, and Prateek. Keep-on with conversations for positive change.

Filed under: general

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Above Photo: Saddington & Baynes for WaterAid and End Water Poverty.

“The White House was given a shocking makeover by international charity WaterAid and global campaign group End Water Poverty. The makeover took place to mark the first ever High Level Meeting on Sanitation and Water in Washington on 23 April. Gone are the immaculate White House lawns, in their place a squalid otherworldly scene where children collect water from a filthy rubbish-strewn water hole and long queues form at the standpoint. Except that this isn’t another world. Having to use a contaminated and potentially fatal water source is a daily reality for 884 million people. Then there are the 2.6 billion who have no access to a toilet. At this meeting Ministers and policy makers from 30 developed and developing countries had the opportunity to commit to financial and political action to tackle this forgotten crisis.”

Filed under: conference, international, sanitation Tagged: GLAAS, WHO

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As the rainy season wanes in the Pacific Northwest, our water-focused student club at Oregon State University has decided to promote the UNICEF Tap Project. The Tap Project, which began in 2007, is held during World Water Week from March 21st to March 27th. The aim is bring awareness to and collect donations for water and sanitation challenges faced by children around the world. Nearly 4,100 children die each day from water-related illnesses. Through the Tap Project, restaurants collect one dollar for each glass of tap water usually served for free and provide these donations to UNICEF.

Above Photo: Tap Project volunteer looking for participating restaurants.

We spent a couple of days walking around encouraging restaurants and coffeehouses to get involved. Four restaurants and two coffeehouses have agreed to participate. This is the first year of the Tap Project in our area. Restaurants are a great venue to reach a diverse group of people. The campaign might present the opportunity for someone in the United States to think about a young child in Zambia (or Bangladesh, India, Sudan… ) and their lack of water and/or sanitation. And, with the UNICEF Tap Project, we are giving people the chance to help alleviate the suffering of children worldwide.

If you want to engage your city in the Tap Project, visit the UNICEF Tap Project website at www.tapproject.org.

Filed under: activism, donation, drinking water, outreach, sanitation, unicef Tagged: education, outreach, tap project, tap water, unicef, world water day

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