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Happy World Water Day 2015!
I wanted to wish everyone a happy World Water Day! Today is an important day to think about how important clean water is to the world, and about those that live without it every day. I also wanted to take this opportunity to apologize for my absence the past couple of months. I’m working on some big changes for HydrateLife that have been taking up a lot of my time. Stay tuned in the next couple of months for morecontinue reading
If You Give a Person a Solar Water Pump…
For the past few years solar water pumps have been gaining momentum as the answer for rural villagers’ pumping needs. If you’re a regular reader of articles at HydrateLife you’ll know that I am a huge fan of technologies that are sustainable, simple, and appropriate for the location and users. As solar is seemingly at the opposite spectrum of these simple technologies, I was interested in looking at their feasibility in rural areas of developing countries. Would someone be bettercontinue reading
Recommended Documentaries
These are several documentaries that I’ve watched and enjoyed. They’re really interesting and include a lot of information on various WASH related topics. Enjoy! FLOW – For the Love of Water Irena Salina’s award-winning documentary investigation into what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century – The World Water Crisis. Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world’s dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergencecontinue reading
How Do You Wash Your Hands? A Look at Simple Hand Washing Stations
As we all know, washing our hands is very important. This is especially true when you’re working with food, have just used the toilet, or are caring for children. Washing our hands removes bacteria and pathogens and is a key part of keeping ourselves and our loved ones healthy, especially our children. People all over the world wash their hands, but depending on where you are in the world the experience may be very different. I’m fortunate to live somewherecontinue reading
Water Heroes: Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak – The Million Toilet Man
Open defecation is a huge problem throughout the world. Although the numbers have improved over the past 20 years, over one billion people still practice open defecation. Nowadays, there are a lot of organizations working to eliminate the practice, but few have been working towards this goal as long as Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak. His work started in 1970, when Dr. Pathak invented a pour-flush, compost latrine, and he hasn’t stopped since. His latrine has been used in China, Bangladesh, Pakistan,continue reading
A Few Good Reads
Hey everyone, I’m having a busy week and don’t have time to write anything, but I wanted to get something posted so here are a few of my favorite WASH related books. Book titles occasionally include the term field guide in a euphemistic sense, and such works very rarely are actually used in the trenches. With Field Guide to Environmental Engineering for Development Workers, however, a more literal take is in order. Indeed, on the inside front cover the readercontinue reading
Nothing in the Toilet – Sanitation Coverage in Colombia
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Colombia, and the issues the country faces with water coverage. If you missed the post you can read it here. This week I’ll shift from water, and instead take a look at the state of sanitation in Colombia. First, let me talk about what I saw on a recent trip to the country. Like I said in my post about water in Colombia, as a tourist not there to specifically look intocontinue reading
The Water Situation in Colombia: Both Good and Bad?
Colombia is a beautiful country. I went there a few weeks ago for vacation and was amazed at the natural beauty throughout the country. I experienced everything from lush mountains to beautiful beaches and tropical (but very humid) forests along the way, and was never disappointed. However, Colombia has, and does, have its share of problems. The most known is its issues with drugs, but I’m not really interested in that. I’d like to talk about their issues with water.continue reading
NGO’s Non-Profit and Humanitarian Activities in the Nigeria Water Industry
About the author: Michael Olukunmi Oluwabunmi has been in the Nigerian water industry since 2003. He holds a post-graduate diploma certificate in Applied Geophysics from the Federal University of Technology, Akure in Ondo State, South Western Nigeria. He has been a major player in the water engineering industry in Nigeria, having performed water engineering and other engineering and construction related water works. Further, he has supervised water projects in the all parts of Nigeria and has prepared tender/bidding documents andcontinue reading