I’ll start by giving you a little information on Bangladesh because if you’re anything like me you don’t know much about it. Bangladesh is located in southern Asia and is surrounded mostly by India (95%), but also has a border with Burma, and sits on the Bay of Bengal. Bangladesh has an area of about 55,597 square miles (10% of which is water) and has a population of about 161 million people. As a comparison, the state of Iowa is 56,271 squarecontinue reading
Welcome to this week’s installment of Water Heroes. The hero we’re looking at today is Mr. Rus Alit. Mr. Alit is a man that has dedicated his life to helping the people of the world get clean water easily and cost effectively. He is founder of the Bali Appropriate Technology Institute (BATI) with his wife and is an appropriate technology expert renowned for his simple water technologies that have been used in over 30 countries. At BATI Rus teaches otherscontinue reading
Everyone in the world knows about the war in Afghanistan but few know about the water crisis going on in the country. Afghanistan was once a flourishing country with beautiful cities and plentiful food and water supplies, but decades of war have decimated much of the country. One of the casualties of war has been the infrastructure that supplies the people with a clean water source. However, the war is not the only cause of the crisis. Geographical constrains, climate change,continue reading
Dr. Ashok Gadgil – UV Waterworks This is the first in a series of profiles about people who are making a change in the world of water conservation and sanitation, and why not start with someone who has fostered big change throughout the world, Dr. Ashok Gadgil. Dr. Gadgil started his education with theoretical physics, getting a M.Sc. from IIT, Kanpur in India where he was born. He soon found that he wanted to learn a science that he could use tocontinue reading
Fracking is the process of hydraulically injecting a mixture of fluids into naturally forming veins or dikes in rock in order to release petroleum, natural gas, or coal seam gas. The mixture injected is typically a slurry of water, proppants (including silica sand, resin-coated sand, and man-made ceramics), and chemical additives. Additionally, gels, foams, and compressed gases, including nitrogen, carbon dioxide and air can be injected. Further, sometimes sand containing naturally radioactive materials are used to measure the fracture trace. There are alsocontinue reading
Great episode from Vanguard on the world toilet crisis. It takes you to several countries where they still practice open defecation and explores why this still goes on, the consequences of it, and what is happening to end this practice. Meet several forward thinking people working to change this unsanitary practice. WARNING: if you have a weak stomach be careful. The video doesn’t just talk about open defecation, it shows it. Click here: World Toilet Crisis Leave a comment and letcontinue reading
Let’s start with a couple of statistics: An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than a typical person in a developing country slum uses in a whole day. (2006 United Nations Human Development Report.) The average person in the developing world uses 2.64 gallons of water a day. The average person in the United Kingdom uses 35.66 gallons of water per day. The average person in the United States uses between 100 and 175 gallons every day at home. (https://blueplanetnetwork.org) One toilet flush usescontinue reading
Here are a handful of troubling statistics on the water crisis: 783 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly 11% of the world’s population. (WHO/UNICEF) 2.5 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is about 35% of the world’s population. (WHO/UNICEF) 1.4 million children die every year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. This amounts to around 4,000 deaths a day or one every 20 seconds . (WHO) Hand-washing with soap atcontinue reading