Water filtration Thirstaid bag

The Effects of Bottled Water on the Environment

It is hard to argue the fact that waste management has become a large problem in the world, with landfills growing to enormous sizes and recycling rates remaining dismally low. The number of plastic bottles produced by the bottled water industry and subsequently discarded by consumers has only exacerbated this problem.

According to a 2001 report of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), roughly 1.5 million tons of plastic are expended in the bottling of 89 billion litters of water each year.

Besides the sheer number of plastic bottles produced each year, the energy required to manufacture and transport these bottles to market severely drains limited fossil fuels. Bottled water companies, due to their unregulated use of valuable resources and their production of billions of plastic bottles have presented a significant strain on the environment.

The authors of the WWF report suggested that water bottles be washed and reused in order to lessen their negative impact on the environment. Unfortunately, reusing plastic bottles further compromises the quality of the water, due to the fact that more and more phthalate leaches its way into the water as the bottle gets older. In another suggestion, the authors recommended that bottled water companies use local bottling facilities in order to lessen fuel expenditures for transportation needs. Regrettably, local bottling further compromises water quality due to the reduced health standards for in-state bottled water production and consumption. It seems there is no feasible solution to this problem. The bottled water industry causes a severe strain on the environment, but solutions to this environmental damage significantly lessen the quality of water in the bottles.

NASA | Earth Science Week: Water, Water Everywhere!

10 Reasons to Use a Water Filter

1. In order to capitalize on the health benefits of water, it is essential to draw from a clean source of water.
2. Drinking impure, contaminated water is the leading cause of epidemic disease in developing countries.
3. There are more than 2100 known drinking water contaminants that may be present in tap water, including several known poisons.
4. Bottled water does not offer a viable alternative to tap water.
5. Municipal water treatment facilities cannot always control for the outbreak of dangerous bacterial contaminants in tap water.
6. The only way to ensure pure, contaminant-free drinking water is through the use of a point-of-use filtration system.
7. Several types of cancer can be attributed to the presence of toxic materials in drinking water.
8. Clean, healthy drinking water is essential to a child’s proper mental and physical development.
9. According to the EPA, lead in drinking water contributes to 480,000 cases of learning disorders in children each year in the United States alone. 
10. It is especially important for pregnant women to drink pure water as lead in drinking water can cause severe birth defects

Source | www.allaboutwater.org

10 Reasons to Drink Water

1. Water is absolutely essential to the human body’s survival. A person can live for about a month without food, but only about a week without water.
2. Water helps to maintain healthy body weight by increasing metabolism and regulating appetite.
3. Water leads to increased energy levels. The most common cause of daytime fatigue is actually mild dehydration.
4. Drinking adequate amounts of water can decrease the risk of certain types of cancers, including colon cancer, bladder cancer, and breast cancer.
5. For a majority of sufferers, drinking water can significantly reduce joint and/or back pain.
6. Water leads to overall greater health by flushing out wastes and bacteria that can cause disease.
7. Water can prevent and alleviate headaches.
8. Water naturally moisturizes skin and ensures proper cellular formation underneath layers of skin to give it a healthy, glowing appearance.
9. Water aids in the digestion process and prevents constipation.
10. Water is the primary mode of transportation for all nutrients in the body and is essential for proper circulation.

20 Interesting and Useful Water Facts

1. Roughly 70 percent of an adult’s body is made up of water.

2. At birth, water accounts for approximately 80 percent of an infant’s body weight.

3. A healthy person can drink about three gallons (48 cups) of water per day.

4. Drinking too much water too quickly can lead to water intoxication. Water intoxication occurs when water dilutes the sodium level in the bloodstream and causes an imbalance of water in the brain.

5. Water intoxication is most likely to occur during periods of intense athletic performance.

6. While the daily recommended amount of water is eight cups per day, not all of this water must be consumed in the liquid form. Nearly every food or drink item provides some water to the body.

7. Soft drinks, coffee, and tea, while made up almost entirely of water, also contain caffeine. Caffeine can act as a mild diuretic, preventing water from traveling to necessary locations in the body.

8. Pure water (solely hydrogen and oxygen atoms) has a neutral pH of 7, which is neither acidic nor basic.

9. Water dissolves more substances than any other liquid. Wherever it travels, water carries chemicals, minerals, and nutrients with it.

10. Somewhere between 70 and 75 percent of the earth’s surface is covered with water.

11. Much more fresh water is stored under the ground in aquifers than on the earth’s surface.

12. The earth is a closed system, similar to a terrarium, meaning that it rarely loses or gains extra matter. The same water that existed on the earth millions of years ago is still present today.

13. The total amount of water on the earth is about 326 million cubic miles of water.

14. Of all the water on the earth, humans can used only about three tenths of a percent of this water. Such usable water is found in groundwater aquifers, rivers, and freshwater lakes.

15. The United States uses about 346,000 million gallons of fresh water every day.

16. The United States uses nearly 80 percent of its water for irrigation and thermoelectric power.

17. The average person in the United States uses anywhere from 80-100 gallons of water per day. Flushing the toilet actually takes up the largest amount of this water.

18. Approximately 85 percent of U.S. residents receive their water from public water facilities. The remaining 15 percent supply their own water from private wells or other sources.

19. By the time a person feels thirsty, his or her body has lost over 1 percent of its total water amount.

20. The weight a person loses directly after intense physical activity is weight from water, not fat.

1 / 8 people lack access to safe water

 

Around the globe, nearly 1 billion people lack access to safe water. The scope and impact of this crisis are staggering. Illnesses resulting from a lack of safe water kill more young children than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined. Tragically, the United Nations has reported that even more people die from unsafe water than from all forms of violence, including war.

In addition to this catastrophic loss of life, water poverty cripples all development efforts. Water insecurity water keeps children, especially girls, from attending school. Parents miss work due to illness or caring for a sick family member. Existing medical conditions, such as HIV/AIDS, are exacerbated. Development is not possible without addressing water and sanitation. Climate change, population growth, industrialization and urbanization all threaten to make the situation much worse. Immediate action is needed.

While this crisis is devastating and getting worse, there is room for hope. Deaths caused by water-borne illnesses are overwhelmingly preventable. Dedicated efforts have unequivocally shown that solutions exist, and that progress is possible. Through concerted efforts by governments, organizations, and private sector actors, roughly 200 million people have gained access to clean water during the past decade.

This progress demonstrates the possibilities for solving the crisis; however, it is insufficient. Meaningfully addressing this tragedy will require unprecedented collaboration between all sectors of society in order to provide sustainable solutions.

 

Source |  http://www.globalwaterchallenge.org

Water Price

“If you live in a slum in Manila, you pay more for your water than people living in London.” That is the conclusion of a report from the United Nations Human Development Programme:

Much of the world lives without access to clean water. Privatization of water resources, promoted as a means to bring business efficiency into water service management, has instead led to reduced access for the poor around the world as prices for these essential services have risen. This article looks into this issue in further detail below.

  

Source | Water Rights and Wrongs, UNHDR Youth Booklet, November 2006 p.16

Bonjour64 episode 7: Pure Hydration Filter

Clean water: Fundamental human right

UN declares clean water a 'fundamental human right'

Many people around the world have little or no access to clean drinking water

The UN has declared that access to clean water and sanitation is a fundamental human right.

About 1.5m children under five die each year from water and sanitation-related diseases.

The resolution was passed with 122 nations in favour, none against and 41 abstentions.

Abstaining countries said the resolution could undermine a process in the UN's Human Rights Council in Geneva to build a consensus on water rights.

Related stories

• How can water be fairly distributed?

• Where clean water is a pipedream

The text of the resolution said that 884m people have no access to safe drinking water and more than 2.6bn lack access to basic sanitation.

It "declares the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of the right to life".

It urges the international community to "scale up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable water and sanitation for all".

Canada, the US, the UK, Australia and Botswana were among the countries which abstained from voting.

China, Russia, Germany, France, Spain and Brazil were among those supporting the resolution.

Portuguese lawyer Catarina de Albuquerque is due to report to the Human Rights Council in Geneva next year on countries' obligations related to water and sanitation.

US delegate John Sammis said the resolution "falls far short of enjoying the unanimous support of member states and may even undermine the work underway in Geneva".

Some countries said the resolution did not clearly define the scope of the new human right and the obligations it entailed, says the BBC's Barbara Plett, at the UN in New York.

Source | BBC news US & Canada

Aquapure Traveller: Aquapure Traveller Portable Water Purifier - CGTV 51

Aquapure Traveller: Aquapure Traveller Portable Water Purifier - CGTV 51

Aquapure Traveller

Walk on water (Liquid Mountaineering)

Aquapure Traveller Portable Water Purifier - CGTV 51

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GOOD Transparency: Water Conservation

Water consumption in UK

Revealed: the massive scale of UK's water consumption

Each Briton uses 4,645 litres a day when hidden factors are included

Weir Wood reservoir in East Sussex. Each Briton uses 4,645 litres of water a day when hidden factors are included

The scale of British water consumption and its impact around the world is revealed in a new report today, which warns of the hidden levels needed to produce food and clothing.

The UK has become the sixth largest net importer of water in the world, the environment group WWF will tell a meeting of international experts in Stockholm, with every consumer indirectly responsible for the use of thousands of litres a day. Only 38% of the UK's total water use comes from its own resources; the rest depends on the water systems of other countries, some of which are already facing serious shortages.

The study makes the first attempt to measure the UK's total "water footprint" and highlights the extent to which our imports come from countries which are running out of fresh water. It calculates that:

• Average household water use for washing and drinking in the UK is about 150 litres a person daily, but we consume about 30 times as much in "virtual water", used in the production of imported food and textiles;

• Taking virtual water into account, each of us soaks up 4,645 litres a day;

• Only Brazil, Mexico, Japan, China and Italy come higher in the league of net importers of virtual agricultural water. People in poorer countries typically subsist on 1,000 litres of virtual water a day;

• Different diets have different water footprints. A meat and dairy-based diet consumes about 5,000 litres of virtual water a day while a vegetarian diet uses about 2,000 litres.

"What's particularly worrying is that huge amounts of the food and cotton we consume are grown in drier areas of the world where water resources are either already stressed or very likely to become so in the near future," said Stuart Orr, WWF's water footprint expert.

Listen to Stuart Orr of WWF explain the report Link to this audio

With modern patterns of consumption, businesses and consumers are inadvertently contributing to the slow death of some of the world's most important rivers, the charity warns, and we may not be able to depend on the same supplies in the near future.

Experts at this week's World Water Week forum in the Swedish capital are increasingly talking of fresh water as "the new oil", a finite resource that is running out in some areas and will become more and more expensive with a knock-on impact on consumer prices.

British retailers are already examining how much of their food comes from areas where water reserves are depleted and whether they will need to relocate some of their production as water runs out.

Marks & Spencer is working with WWF to calculate the water footprint of its entire food and clothing ranges. M&S's technical director, David Gregory, said the availability of water over the next decade was already a key part of the company's strategic decisions about where to source food for its stores.

"We are already in discussion with WWF about our decisions about where to grow crops in the future," he said.

The retailer is auditing the water footprint of five key crops - strawberries, tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes and roses - to establish where and how they should be grown in the next few years to make best use of water resources. The WWF report identifies Spain, northern African countries including Egypt and Morocco, South Africa, Israel, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as countries which face acute water stress and yet supply the UK with substantial exports of their water.

Sainsbury's agronomist, Debbie Winstanley, confirmed that water would be "on every agenda in sourcing food".

"From our point of view we've got to look at where our growers are going to get their water from," she said. Most British supermarkets currently depend on southern Spain for salad crops, such as lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers, as well as broccoli out of season through the winter months.

But over-extraction of water for horticulture and the tourist industry have led to a crisis there. Aquifers have become severely depleted and the water table has been infiltrated by the sea. "There are massive challenges with water in places like Murcia [southern Spain]. We have to look at least 10 years ahead in terms of security of supply. Murcia will have to look very different in five years' time.

"We'll have to look at new desalination technologies, and we may have to look at crops that can cope with more saline conditions, such as broccoli. We take tomatoes out of Morocco in winter, and we've looked very hard at Moroccan water, but it's complex; if you use more greenhouse production here it uses more energy. Peas and beans are a steady all-year market. We've got to think about how we get them here in a responsible manner," she said.

Factors that influence water needs

You may need to modify your total fluid intake depending on how active you are, the climate you live in, your health status, and if you're pregnant or breast-feeding.

• Exercise. If you exercise or engage in any activity that makes you sweat, you need to drink extra water to compensate for the fluid loss. An extra 400 to 600 milliliters (about 1.5 to 2.5 cups) of water should suffice for short bouts of exercise, but intense exercise lasting more than an hour (for example, running a marathon) requires more fluid intake. How much additional fluid you need depends on how much you sweat during exercise, and the duration and type of exercise. During long bouts of intense exercise, it's best to use a sports drink that contains sodium, as this will help replace sodium lost in sweat and reduce the chances of developing hyponatremia, which can be life-threatening. Also, continue to replace fluids after you're finished exercising.

• Environment. Hot or humid weather can make you sweat and requires additional intake of fluid. Heated indoor air also can cause your skin to lose moisture during wintertime. Further, altitudes greater than 8,200 feet (2,500 meters) may trigger increased urination and more rapid breathing, which use up more of your fluid reserves.

• Illnesses or health conditions. When you have fever, vomiting or diarrhea, your body loses additional fluids. In these cases, you should drink more water. In some cases, your doctor may recommend oral rehydration solutions, such as Gatorade, Powerade or CeraLyte. Also, you may need increased fluid intake if you develop certain conditions, including bladder infections or urinary tract stones. On the other hand, some conditions such as heart failure and some types of kidney, liver and adrenal diseases may impair excretion of water and even require that you limit your fluid intake.

• Pregnancy or breast-feeding. Women who are expecting or breast-feeding need additional fluids to stay hydrated. Large amounts of fluid are used especially when nursing. The Institute of Medicine recommends that pregnant women drink 2.3 liters (about 10 cups) of fluids daily and women who breast-feed consume 3.1 liters (about 13 cups) of fluids a day.

Source| http://www.mayoclinic.com

How much water should you drink everyday?

Water: How much should you drink every day?

Water is essential to good health, yet needs vary by individual. These guidelines can help ensure you drink enough fluids.

How much water should you drink each day? It's a simple question with no easy answers. Studies have produced varying recommendations over the years, but in truth, your water needs depend on many factors, including your health, how active you are and where you live.

Although no single formula fits everyone, knowing more about your body's need for fluids will help you estimate how much water to drink each day.

Health benefits of water

Water is your body's principal chemical component and makes up about 60 percent of your body weight. Every system in your body depends on water. For example, water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells and provides a moist environment for ear, nose and throat tissues.

Lack of water can lead to dehydration, a condition that occurs when you don't have enough water in your body to carry out normal functions. Even mild dehydration can drain your energy and make you tired.

How much water do you need?

Every day you lose water through your breath, perspiration, urine and bowel movements. For your body to function properly, you must replenish its water supply by consuming beverages and foods that contain water.

So how much water does the average, healthy adult living in a temperate climate need? In general, doctors recommend 8 or 9 cups. Here are the most common ways of calculating that amount:

• Replacement approach. The average urine output for adults is about 1.5 liters (6.3 cups) a day. You lose close to an additional liter (about 4 cups) of water a day through breathing, sweating and bowel movements. Food usually accounts for 20 percent of your total fluid intake, so if you consume 2 liters of water or other beverages a day (a little more than 8 cups) along with your normal diet, you will typically replace your lost fluids.
• Eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day. Another approach to water intake is the "8 x 8 rule" — drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day (about 1.9 liters). The rule could also be stated, "Drink eight 8-ounce glasses of fluid a day," as all fluids count toward the daily total. Although the approach really isn't supported by scientific evidence, many people use this easy-to-remember rule as a guideline for how much water and other fluids to drink.
• Dietary recommendations. The Institute of Medicine advises that men consume roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day and women consume 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day.

Even apart from the above approaches, if you drink enough fluid so that you rarely feel thirsty and produce 1.5 liters (6.3 cups) or more of colorless or slightly yellow urine a day, your fluid intake is probably adequate. If you're concerned about your fluid intake, check with your doctor or a registered dietitian. He or she can help you determine the amount of water that's best for you. 

Source | MayoClinic.com

Access to drinking water World Map

Source| World Health Organization and United Nations Children's Fund. 2000. Accessed through the United Nations Common Database in 2006. Online at: http://unstats.un.org/unsd/cdb/

GOOD: Drinking Water

Water consumption in UK

Revealed: the massive scale of UK's water consumption
Each Briton uses 4,645 litres a day when hidden factors are included
Weir Wood reservoir in East Sussex. Each Briton uses 4,645 litres of water a day when hidden factors are included
The scale of British water consumption and its impact around the world is revealed in a new report today, which warns of the hidden levels needed to produce food and clothing.
The UK has become the sixth largest net importer of water in the world, the environment group WWF will tell a meeting of international experts in Stockholm, with every consumer indirectly responsible for the use of thousands of litres a day. Only 38% of the UK's total water use comes from its own resources; the rest depends on the water systems of other countries, some of which are already facing serious shortages.
The study makes the first attempt to measure the UK's total "water footprint" and highlights the extent to which our imports come from countries which are running out of fresh water. It calculates that:
• Average household water use for washing and drinking in the UK is about 150 litres a person daily, but we consume about 30 times as much in "virtual water", used in the production of imported food and textiles;
• Taking virtual water into account, each of us soaks up 4,645 litres a day;
• Only Brazil, Mexico, Japan, China and Italy come higher in the league of net importers of virtual agricultural water. People in poorer countries typically subsist on 1,000 litres of virtual water a day;
• Different diets have different water footprints. A meat and dairy-based diet consumes about 5,000 litres of virtual water a day while a vegetarian diet uses about 2,000 litres.
"What's particularly worrying is that huge amounts of the food and cotton we consume are grown in drier areas of the world where water resources are either already stressed or very likely to become so in the near future," said Stuart Orr, WWF's water footprint expert.
Listen to Stuart Orr of WWF explain the report Link to this audio
With modern patterns of consumption, businesses and consumers are inadvertently contributing to the slow death of some of the world's most important rivers, the charity warns, and we may not be able to depend on the same supplies in the near future.
Experts at this week's World Water Week forum in the Swedish capital are increasingly talking of fresh water as "the new oil", a finite resource that is running out in some areas and will become more and more expensive with a knock-on impact on consumer prices.
British retailers are already examining how much of their food comes from areas where water reserves are depleted and whether they will need to relocate some of their production as water runs out.
Marks & Spencer is working with WWF to calculate the water footprint of its entire food and clothing ranges. M&S's technical director, David Gregory, said the availability of water over the next decade was already a key part of the company's strategic decisions about where to source food for its stores.
"We are already in discussion with WWF about our decisions about where to grow crops in the future," he said.
The retailer is auditing the water footprint of five key crops - strawberries, tomatoes, lettuce, potatoes and roses - to establish where and how they should be grown in the next few years to make best use of water resources. The WWF report identifies Spain, northern African countries including Egypt and Morocco, South Africa, Israel, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as countries which face acute water stress and yet supply the UK with substantial exports of their water.
Sainsbury's agronomist, Debbie Winstanley, confirmed that water would be "on every agenda in sourcing food".
"From our point of view we've got to look at where our growers are going to get their water from," she said. Most British supermarkets currently depend on southern Spain for salad crops, such as lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes and peppers, as well as broccoli out of season through the winter months.
But over-extraction of water for horticulture and the tourist industry have led to a crisis there. Aquifers have become severely depleted and the water table has been infiltrated by the sea. "There are massive challenges with water in places like Murcia [southern Spain]. We have to look at least 10 years ahead in terms of security of supply. Murcia will have to look very different in five years' time.
"We'll have to look at new desalination technologies, and we may have to look at crops that can cope with more saline conditions, such as broccoli. We take tomatoes out of Morocco in winter, and we've looked very hard at Moroccan water, but it's complex; if you use more greenhouse production here it uses more energy. Peas and beans are a steady all-year market. We've got to think about how we get them here in a responsible manner," she said.

Every Drop Counts: The truth about your water consumption

Sun & Water - Danny Heines

People are exposed in arcenic drinking water worldwide.

Arsenic exposure from drinking water, and all-cause and chronic-disease mortalities in Bangladesh (HEALS): a prospective cohort study

Background

Millions of people worldwide are chronically exposed to arsenic through drinking water, including 35—77 million people in Bangladesh. The association between arsenic exposure and mortality rate has not been prospectively investigated by use of individual-level data. We therefore prospectively assessed whether chronic and recent changes in arsenic exposure are associated with all-cause and chronic-disease mortalities in a Bangladeshi population.

Methods

In the prospective cohort Health Effects of Arsenic Longitudinal Study (HEALS), trained physicians unaware of arsenic exposure interviewed in person and clinically assessed 11 746 population-based participants (aged 18—75 years) from Araihazar, Bangladesh. Participants were recruited from October, 2000, to May, 2002, and followed-up biennially. Data for mortality rates were available throughout February, 2009. We used Cox proportional hazards model to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) of mortality, with adjustment for potential confounders, at different doses of arsenic exposure.

Findings

407 deaths were ascertained between October, 2000, and February, 2009. Multivariate adjusted HRs for all-cause mortality in a comparison of arsenic at concentrations of 10·1—50·0 μg/L, 50·1—150·0 μg/L, and 150·1—864·0 μg/L with at least 10·0 μg/L in well water were 1·34 (95% CI 0·99—1·82), 1·09 (0·81—1·47), and 1·68 (1·26—2·23), respectively. Results were similar with daily arsenic dose and total arsenic concentration in urine. Recent change in exposure, measurement of total arsenic concentrations in urine repeated biennially, did not have much effect on the mortality rate.

Interpretation

Chronic arsenic exposure through drinking water was associated with an increase in the mortality rate. Follow-up data from this cohort will be used to assess the long-term effects of arsenic exposure and how they might be affected by changes in exposure. However, solutions and resources are urgently needed to mitigate the resulting health effects of arsenic exposure.

Funding

US National Institutes of Health.

Source | The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 19 June 2010

DIRTY WATER Vending Machine / UNICEF (tap project)

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GOOD: Water