originally posted on April 16, 2016

 

JOHANNESBURG – African economies lose up to 25 percent of Gross Domestic Product to floods and droughts every year.

At the same time, 35 percent of people on the continent don’t have access to clean drinking water.

The Institute for Security Studies says research shows South Africa is exploiting its water resources — with devastating effects.

And over the next 20 years, that consumption will increase substantially as the population grows.

Although government has proposed interventions to increase supplies and reduce demand — it’s just not enough.

by Craig and Marc Kielburger, originally posted on April 16, 2016

 

When the people of Aleppo, Syria, turned on their taps in early March, they saw clean, running water for the first time in months.

In January, the Islamic State seized the sole water plant that serves the city of Aleppo and shut it down, depriving three million people of drinking water. Syrian forces reclaimed the facility last month.

As the violence in Syria drags into its sixth year, water has become a weapon of war. All sides in the conflict have fought over, or destroyed, water resources to further their military goals.

The United Nations formally recognized access to clean drinking water as a human right in 2010. For much longer than that, international law has decreed that denying civilians access to the basic necessities of life is a war crime.

Yet according to experts we spoke with, there is still too little global awareness and action to protect vital water resources in war zones.

The crisis in Syria is far from the only conflict in the world where water is a battlefield chess piece.

In Somalia, the Islamic militia al-Shaabab has used different tactics to deny water to cities in retaliation against government forces. The Nigerian army has accused terrorist group Boko Haram of poisoning wells and streams before retreating from villages they had captured.

Water infrastructure in Afghanistan was severely damaged by decades of conflict, according to Romila Verma, a University of Toronto hydrologist. Now, projects to repair water and sanitation systems have become a political football between India and Pakistan; each jostles to gain influence in Afghanistan at the expense of the other, Verma tells us.

Verma is involved in the Trans Africa Pipeline project, an ambitious plan to bring water to 11 sub-Saharan countries via an 8,000-kilometre conduit. But violence in countries such as Mali and Nigeria has made it dangerous to construct the pipeline and train locals to maintain it.

While targeting necessities like water is a tactic as old as war itself, what’s different today is climate change makes the consequences far worse, says Peter Stoett, an expert in international law and environmental politics at Montreal’s Concordia University. Verma agrees: “Sources of fresh water around the world are shrinking. When you make water a pawn, this crisis increases tenfold.”

Another difference is that, where once the denial of water served to force the surrender of armies, now it is increasingly a measure to control or punish civilians, says Verma.

What’s more, the disruption of sanitation systems can also harm innocent people in conflicts, Stoett notes. In March, an Israeli environmental group warned the destruction of sewage systems in the Gaza Strip could result in a cholera or typhoid outbreak that would have the potential to contaminate cross-border waterways, affecting the countries beyond Gaza, like Israel and Egypt.

One of the first steps in better protecting water resources in conflict zones is raising global awareness of the issue, say Verma and Stoett. “No one it talking about this,” Verma says.

Government diplomacy and public pressure can encourage institutions like the International Criminal Court to tackle robbing people of the right to water as they would any other human rights violation in war. Policy makers and military planners must consider how their operations can avoid damaging water resources.

At the UN in 2005, all countries committed to the Responsibility to Protect protocol–to defend human rights in times of war. The world needs to remember water is one of those rights we are sworn to protect.

Gaza’s sewage treatment plant can’t function without reliable electricity, and Israel’s ongoing blockade on supplies like cement has hampered efforts to improve the region’s infrastructure.

– by Kit O’Connell, originally posted on September 9, 2016

 

AUSTIN, Texas — Unreliable electricity, an ongoing blockade on building supplies, and a failing waste treatment plant have spawned a sewage crisis in Gaza that experts warn could permanently damage Palestinians’ access to clean water.

The crisis is now spilling over into Israel and threatening its water supply. According to an Aug. 25 report from Middle East Eye, floods of sewage flowing into the Mediterranean Sea have caused Israel’s Ashkelon desalination plant, the source of 20 percent of the country’s drinking water, to shut down at least four times in recent months.

In the report, Kieran Cooke wrote: “[E]ach day an estimated 90m litres of untreated or partially treated sewage flows into the sea in Gaza — only a few kilometres south of Ashkelon.”

Cooke continued:

“Tides and winds then disperse the sludge, taking a substantial portion northwards into Israeli waters. The sewage gives rise to blooms of algae which have threatened to block filters at Ashkelon.”

The most pressing issue, according to Cooke, is insufficient power to operate a new water treatment plant funded by the World Bank in northern Gaza.

Palestine’s sewage problems are one of many issues resulting from years of mistreatment under Israel’s illegal occupation. These problems have grown notably worse since Operation Protective Edge, Israel’s brutal 2014 attack on Gaza, which killed about 2,250 Palestinians, including 551 children, and left about 500,000 homeless.

“Poor sewage treatment in Gaza is the result of a rapidly expanding population, an infrastructure damaged during wars with Israel and a chronic shortage of electricity to run the wastewater plants that still function. In 2007, a sewage reservoir overflowed in a village in northern Gaza, drowning five people,” The Associated Press reported in May.

The health of Palestinians who cannot afford clean water is already suffering. The AP’s Fares Akram and Daniella Cheslow interviewed Eitemad Abu Khader, a Palestinian mother of four girls, who lives north of Gaza City in a neighborhood surrounded by pools of untreated sewage.

“I spend my time from doctor to doctor, hospital to hospital,” said Abu Khader, who cannot afford to buy purified drinking water. “My daughters always have rashes.”

Another compounding factor is that Israel restricts Palestinians’ access to their own water supplies. While the World Health Organization recommends that each person have access to 100 liters of water a day, Palestinians living in the West Bank must make do with a daily average of just 73 liters.

A major obstacle to stemming the tide of sewage is Israel’s ongoing blockade on goods flowing into Occupied Palestine. A diverse array of crucial building materials, including cement, steel cables and ball bearings, are routinely blocked at the border. Even everyday supplies like crayons and musical instruments are frequently turned away.

According to an Aug. 16 report from The Los Angeles Times’ Rushdi Abu Alouf and Joshua Mitnick, “The lack of building materials and restrictions on generators and heavy machinery are also hobbling the rebuilding.”

Citing figures from Israeli human rights NGO Gisha, they reported:

“[F]rom the end of the war through the end of 2015, only about 14 percent of the construction materials needed to rebuild Gaza made it through to the area.”  

In an Aug. 11 report from Al-Monitor, Eilon Adar, a hydrologist and the former director of Ben-Gurion University’s Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, warned that time is running out to finish construction and provide electricity to Gaza’s waste treatment plant.

Adar told Shlomi Eldar, a columnist for Al-Monitor’s Israel Pulse:

“Gaza sends wastewater to the area of the nonfunctional treatment plant, causing the water level to rise. A virtual mountain of underground water has been created that will flow to the only place in Gaza that still has drinkable water. That water will become contaminated and then disaster will hit. Once [contaminated] water permeates potable water, it will be almost impossible to fix the situation.”

San Diego water resilience project wins top global civil engineering award.
For the San Vicente Dam Raise, a project that more than doubled the storage capacity of the San Vicente Reservoir, Black & Veatch provided construction project management services as part of a joint venture team with Parsons.
The project provides water system resilience and reliability to the San Diego region if imported water deliveries are interrupted due to events such as prolonged drought or damaging earthquake.
San Diego County imports more than 80 percent of its water from Northern California and the Colorado River.
"The high-level operation of the E&CSP is vital in maintaining resilient and reliable imported water supplies for the San Diego region," said Kevin Davis, Black & Veatch Associate Vice President and Project Director for the company’s involvement on the E&CSP.
For the San Vicente Dam Raise, a project that more than doubled the storage capacity of the San Vicente Reservoir, Black & Veatch provided construction project management services as part of a joint venture team with Parsons.
Black & Veatch also designed the San Vicente Pump Station project, completed in 2010 as part of the E&CSP.
This award-winning project facilitates reversal of flow that connects and moves water from the San Vicente Reservoir to SDCWA’s Second Aqueduct and to water agencies in the central and northern areas of the county.
Learn more at www.bv.com and on social media.
Water Authority, City of San Diego measuring interest in potential renewable energy-supporting pumped storage project San Diego County Water Authority wins Sustainable Water Utility Management award

Concerns about water quality and contamination have led to the decline of public water-fountain use and the rise of bottled alternatives.
If you were asked where the closest water fountain was, would you know?
Measuring the decline in water fountain use is impossible because the data isn’t tracked.
Little Risk of Illness The Pacific Institute’s “Drinking Fountains and Public Health” report found that there is little evidence tying illness to the water quality of the fountains at the point of use, and any problems can typically be traced to poor cleaning and maintenance of pipes.
“The real problem is with the infrastructure – older piping could have lead, which was the problem in Flint, Michigan, where the water picked up contaminants in the pipes.” It boils down to regular cleaning, testing, maintenance and repair, which are not done enough.
It suggests installing more fountains to increase public access to municipal water, and helping schools, parks and others rebuild confidence in using fountains through communications outreach.
In the rural desert region of Coachella Valley, advocacy groups including the California Endowment, have funded a new version of the traditional water fountain: water refilling stations.
Refilling stations look like slightly revamped water fountains that also allow for easily refilling reusable bottles.
They are meant to increase access to safe drinking water in communities where water quality is an issue, due to arsenic or other contaminants.
Refilling stations have been installed at the California Academy for Sciences, which does not sell bottled water, as well as in some area schools, parks and San Francisco International Airport.

Products & Services: Wastewater Treatment.
Sludge gun Markland’s handheld sludge gun is a blanket level detector that measures solid-liquid interface levels in wastewater treatment clarifiers, tanks and lagoons.
It helps users to eliminate unnecessary pumping/dredging, to monitor sludge bed depth for regulatory compliance and prevention of carryover, and to create valuable level profiles.
The Sludge Gun® uses high-intensity infrared light to locate both sludge blanket and overlying cloudy layer.
Markland Wastewater testing The QuenchGone21 Wastewater test kit (QG21W) from LuminUltra provides the ability to measure the active biomass population (AVSS), stress levels (BSI), and suspended solids activity (ABR).
By isolating the living population and eliminating all interferences, the operator can maximize efficiency and stability in any treatment process to prevent upsets, manage toxicity, streamline operations, and save money.
This test kit uses two parallel analyses on each sample to determine the health and activity of the active biomass population in a wastewater sample.
LuminUltra Degasification technology SEPAREL hollow fiber membrane modules remove dissolved gases, such as oxygen and carbon dioxide, in water to prevent the formation of rust and bacteria in water treatment systems.
SEPAREL modules can be installed in series within the same water treatment system to ensure sufficient degasification and achieve the desired ppb (parts-per-billion) level for various water treatment applications.
DIC Corporation Membrane bioreactor The TITAN MBR QUBE™ from Smith & Loveless is a complete, factory-built, packaged wastewater treatment system featuring a compact design for simple shipping and mobility.

Foreground — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Opaque Background — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Default Monospace Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Sans-Serif Casual Script Small Caps Defaults Done Play Video Play Mute Current Time 0:00 / Duration Time 0:00 Loaded: 0% Progress: 0% Stream TypeLIVE Remaining Time -0:00 Playback Rate 1 Chapters Chapters Subtitles subtitles off Captions captions settings captions off Fullscreen This is a modal window.
Foreground — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Opaque Background — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Default Monospace Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Sans-Serif Casual Script Small Caps Defaults Done Play Video Play Mute Current Time 0:00 / Duration Time 0:00 Loaded: 0% Progress: 0% Stream TypeLIVE Remaining Time -0:00 Playback Rate 1 Chapters Chapters Subtitles subtitles off Captions captions settings captions off Fullscreen This is a modal window.
Foreground — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Opaque Background — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window — White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan — Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Default Monospace Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Sans-Serif Casual Script Small Caps Defaults Done Play Video Play Mute Current Time 0:00 / Duration Time 0:00 Loaded: 0% Progress: 0% Stream TypeLIVE Remaining Time -0:00 Playback Rate 1 Chapters Chapters Subtitles subtitles off Captions captions settings captions off Fullscreen This is a modal window.
This development in graphene technology could help millions of people across the globe who don’t have access to clean and safe drinking water.
The graphene oxide sieve could be extremely efficient in the process of filtering salts.
The researchers solved some of the challenges using a chemical derivative called graphene oxide.
Previous studies carried out at the University of Manchester showed that, when immersed in water, the graphene oxide membranes become a little swollen, allowing smaller salt molecules to flow through the holes in the membrane along with the water.
Water Scarcity And The Infrastructure Necessary To Overcome It The effects of global warming keep reducing the water supplies of modern cities, and wealthy countries have started investing in technologies that allow desalination.
The United Nations expects 14 percent of the world’s population to face water scarcity by 2025.
With the new graphene-based sieve, the world would be able to massively improve water filtration technologies and address water scarcity.

originally posted on September 8, 2016

 

KEWAUNEE, Wis. (AP) — A group of farmers has formed to buy and deliver clean, bottled water to families with contaminated drinking wells.

The Green Bay Press-Gazette (http://gbpg.net/2cJ18be ) reports that the nonprofit Peninsula Pride Farms will pay for well inspections and most of the cost of in-home water treatment systems for those whose well water tests positive for E. coli.

The farmers are addressing a groundwater pollution problem in Kewaunee County some environmentalists say is caused by large-scale agriculture.

A study released in December found 34 percent of wells tested in the county had unsafe levels of nitrates and bacteria. About 2 percent of tested wells were contaminated with E. coli.

A work group set up by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommended in June that farmers and other stakeholders provide emergency water supplies.

 

by Carol Glatz, originally posted on August 29, 2016

 

VATICAN CITY — Allowing people to drink unsafe water or have no access to dependable, clean sources of water is shameful, Cardinal Peter Turkson told religious leaders.

“It is a continuing shame,” too, that people’s needs “are secondary to industries which take too much and that pollute what remains,” said the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

It’s also a shame “that governments pursue other priorities and ignore their parched cries,” he said in the keynote address to an interfaith meeting Monday in Stockholm, Sweden. The Vatican office sent Catholic News Service the cardinal’s written speech the same day.

The meeting on how faith-based organizations could contribute to the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals dealing with water was part of Stockholm’s annual World Water Week gathering, which seeks to find concrete solutions to global water issues. The meeting also came in the run-up to the Sept. 1 World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.

With speakers representing the Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist communities, the Aug. 29 meeting looked at how religious communities could promote guaranteed access to sanitation and clean water for everyone. Some 660 million people are without adequate drinking water, and every year millions, mostly children, die from diseases linked to poor water supply and sanitation, according to the United Nations.

Religious faith and practices, Turkson said, offer the needed “motivation to virtue” that inspires people to protect human dignity and rights.

Faith-based organizations can help youth embrace the values of “solidarity, altruism and responsibility” needed to become “honest administrators and politicians,” he said.

Religious leaders could also help organize “interreligious campaigns for cleaning rivers or lakes in order to foster mutual respect, peace and friendship among different groups,” as well as promote “a wise hierarchy of priorities for the use of water,” especially where there are competing demands, he said.

NEW YORK/STOCKHOLM, 29 August 2016 – UNICEF said the 200 million hours women and girls spend every day collecting water is a colossal waste of their valuable time.

As World Water Week gets underway in Stockholm and experts gather to try to improve the world’s access to water, the UN children’s agency stressed that the opportunity cost of lack of access to water disproportionately falls on women.

“Just imagine: 200 million hours is 8.3 million days, or over 22,800 years,” said UNICEF’s global head of water, sanitation and hygiene Sanjay Wijesekera. “It would be as if a woman started with her empty bucket in the Stone Age and didn’t arrive home with water until 2016. Think how much the world has advanced in that time. Think how much women could have achieved in that time.”

“When water is not on premises and needs to be collected, it’s our women and girls who are mostly paying with their time and lost opportunities,” he added.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal for water and sanitation, Goal 6, calls for universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water by 2030. The first step is providing everyone with a basic service within a 30-minute round trip, and the long term goal is to ensure everyone has safe water available at home. However, UN estimates are that in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, for 29 per cent of the population (37 per cent in rural areas and 14 per cent in urban areas), improved drinking water sources are 30 minutes or more away.

In sub-Saharan Africa, one roundtrip to collect water is 33 minutes on average in rural areas and 25 minutes in urban areas. In Asia, the numbers are 21 minutes and 19 minutes respectively. However for particular countries the figures may be higher. A single trip takes longer than an hour in Mauritania, Somalia, Tunisia and Yemen.

When water is not piped to the home the burden of fetching it falls disproportionately on women and children, especially girls. A study of 24 sub-Saharan countries revealed that when the collection time is more than 30 minutes, an estimated 3.36 million children and 13.54 million adult females were responsible for water collection. In Malawi, the UN estimates that women who collected water spent 54 minutes on average, while men spent only 6 minutes. In Guinea and the United Republic of Tanzania average collection times for women were 20 minutes, double that of men.

For women, the opportunity costs of collecting water are high, with far reaching effects. It considerably shortens the time they have available to spend with their families, on child care, other household tasks, or even in leisure activities. For both boys and girls, water collection can take time away from their education and sometimes even prevent their attending school altogether.

Collection of water can affect the health of the whole family, and particularly of children. When water is not available at home, even if it is collected from a safe source, the fact that it has to be transported and stored increases the risk that it is faecally contaminated by the time it is drunk.

This in turn increases the risk of diarrhoeal disease, which is the fourth leading cause of death among children under 5, and a leading cause of chronic malnutrition, or stunting, which affects 159 million children worldwide. More than 300,000 children under 5 die annually from diarrhoeal diseases due to poor sanitation, poor hygiene, or unsafe drinking water – over 800 per day.

“No matter where you look, access to clean drinking water makes a difference in the lives of people,” said Wijesekera. “The needs are clear; the goals are clear. Women and children should not have to spend so much of their time for this basic human right.”

###

About UNICEF
UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere. For more information about UNICEF and its work visit: www.unicef.org.