Alternative source of potable water

Scientist sought rain as source of potable water

As we all know the limitations of potable water, because of too much wastage and over exploitation we are facing serious water crisis, ground water level is falling down rapidly. In most of the parts people have no water to drink, if they have it that is not potable water. So many individuals and scientists are trying to find out the alternatives of potable water sources.

A Filipino scientist sought rain water as alternative source of potable water through a technology called Innovative Rain Water Harvesting System.
Science and Technology undersecretary Graciano Yumul said a catchment basin will be installed to gather rain water especially during the occurence of storms to save water from wastage or running to the ground.

This will serve as an alternative source of clean water for communities, he said.

The technology, developed by Antonio Mateo of Adamson University, has been granted by P2 million aid through the Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research Institute (DOST-PCIERD) for fabrication of catch basin or tanks.

The water may cater to domestic and industrial use to lessen their dependency on expensive commercial water and make use of abundant water from rain.

The country experiences 20 typhoons each year, and excessive downpour sometimes cause calamities such as rain-induced flashfloods and landslides.

The PCIERD is enhancing Mateo's technology to enable it to produce safe drinking water, Yumul said.
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"Water Undervalued and Not Treated With Respect"

A Report Of Conference on Water Issues in SADC

A two-day conference on water issues in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which opened Wednesday in Maseru, Lesotho, has seen representatives of government, civil society, the private sector, donors and other groups discuss the likely effects of climate change on development in the region.

Keynote speaker Torkil Jønch-Clausen emphasised that practical solutions were needed to help countries cope with these effects: "...climate change is an added challenge to achieving the Millennium Development Goals," he said. "We need to rise above the challenges..."

Eight goals, or MDGs, were agreed on by global leaders at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000 in a bid to raise living standards around the world by 2015. MDG seven, on environmental sustainability, commits nations to halving the number of people who lack access to ,.

According to the latest data from the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation, an initiative of the World Health Organisation and United Nations Children's Fund, 40 percent of people in sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to a safe and adequate water supply. The figures, from 2004, also show that people living in rural areas are much worse off than their urban counterparts: only 26 percent of rural Africans have adequate access, compared to 55 percent of city dwellers.

While the numbers are generally better in Southern Africa -- with Botswana reporting 95 percent coverage, and South Africa 88 percent -- Zambia and Angola with 58 and 53 percent coverage respectively show the region has some way to go with providing water to its citizens. Mozambique, at 43 percent, has the lowest coverage in SADC -- although this figure marks an improvement from the 36 percent coverage registered in 1990.

According to the United Nations, obstacles to providing clean water in sub-Saharan Africa include population growth, the relatively low priority given to water and sanitation management, and the frequent failure of water supply systems.

Jønch-Clausen is a Danish engineer and researcher who has advised the organisations that convened this week's meeting, the United Nations Environment Programme and the Global Water Partnership: a Stockholm-based organisation that brings together governments, companies and development agencies -- amongst others -- to help meet water-related needs and improve management of the resource.

He said there was a range of solutions at hand to help communities adapt in situations where the availability of water was declining, and that governments should look into rationing water to meet the competing needs of manufacturing, agriculture and households. New pricing structures for water, greater re-use of the resource and the introduction of drought-resistant crops could also assist.

Maieane Khaketla, chief public relations officer in Lesotho's Ministry of Natural Resources, who officiated at the opening of the meeting, also raised the issue of wide- ranging demand for water -- saying the biggest challenge in meeting development goals was ensuring citizens' access to water for basic needs, while responding to increased demands for the same resource from the industrial and agricultural sectors.

With several countries in the region planning increased hydro-electric power generation to meet their future energy needs, Belinda Petrie of OneWorld Sustainable Investments urged caution in this regard: "What is the use of investing in a huge hydro-power plant that will in a few years to come have no water?" OneWorld Sustainable Investments is a South African consultancy firm working on sustainable development.

She said the answer to uncertain rainfall could be to build small hydro-electric plants, and that governments should also consider alternative, renewable energy sources such as wind power.

Pete Ashton, an aquatic ecologist from South Africa's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, told the conference that to avoid conflict and improve water management, Southern African states needed to address delicate issues such as control over shared water basins, at once. The Orange, Limpopo and Zambezi Rivers are amongst the region's trans-boundary water resources.

Ashton also said that urgent attention needed to be given to use of alternative water sources such as harvesting rain water, and to new technologies for sustainable use of these sources.

"We need to improve the way we understand the value of water," he observed. "It is undervalued and not treated with respect."

By Lawrence Keketso

Potable water everywhere

The upcoming decades will hold in them a water crisis- the aquifers are emptying, many reservoirs aren’t re-filling as they used to, and there will be continually less snow runoff in the spring to keep them at their current capacities. The better prepared we are for this, the easier it will be to get through it relatively unscathed as individuals and communities. One of the biggest ways to prepare is to conserve water. How does one do this? Pretty simply, actually. First think of all the things you use water for that aren’t drinking. Ask yourself why you’re using potable (that means safe to drink) water for these purposes. Do you need to? For all the ones where the answer is “no,” think of ways to re-use water for these purposes.

#1- The lawn. You don’t need to use drinking water for your lawn, even if you water it! Set up a rain barrel (pretty much a 55gallon barrel that sits under your gutter). Use that water to water your lawn- and do it in the early morning (like 5-6AM) or at dusk to maximize the amount the grass gets before it evaporates.

Same idea for your houseplants- use a smaller barrel (5gallon bucket, garbage can, etc.) and fill your watering can there instead of at the sink.

#2- The toilet. Think about it this way- you take a couple of gallons of perfectly drinkable water, and you shit in it. Literally. I would argue the person who decided we would universally use potable water to contain our urine has done more damage to the earth than nearly anyone else in history. Ok, maybe I wouldn’t go that far, but pretty close. Remedy? Set up a greywater system in your house. You could reroute your used sink water into the toilet via direct or indirect ways. If you can’t afford that you could use a bucket to retain some of the water from a shower and manually flush by pouring some of it into the bowl. Not the ideal for many of us, but absolutely functional- and you can hide it with the shower curtain when company comes over.

An intermediate remedy for toilet use is to use less potable water in it. This is easily done by filling a half gallon or gallon jug with water and sticking it in the tank of your toilet so that it doesn’t touch any moving mechanisms. Alternately there are products you can buy to sit inside your tank to do the same thing (more effectively, I might add), or if you need to replace your fixture for other reasons- more efficient fixtures.

Get creative, but DON’T USE post-sink water on your plants directly if it’s soapy. The soap, even friendly biodegradable and organic soaps in higher concentrations, can damage plants.

http://cometherevolution.org/2008/04/potable-water-everywhere/