Health

Nudge, Don’t Shove: A Case for Reflexive WASH Behavioral Change, Part I

HydrateLife Health, Sanitation, WASH No Comments

About the author: Stephanie Tam specializes in behavioral approaches to sanitation and hygiene in international development, with a focus on how cultural practices mediate the impact of technology in operations and maintenance. A graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Design, she has been working on human behavior through the lenses of performance studies and behavioral economics, and thanks Dilip Soman at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto for support on this current project. She is deeplycontinue reading

Water Heroes – Dr. Peter Morgan: 2013 Stockholm Water Prize Winner

HydrateLife Environment, Health, Sanitation, Sustainable Practices, WASH, Water Heroes, Water Technology 4 Comments
Water Heroes – Dr. Peter Morgan: 2013 Stockholm Water Prize Winner

There are a lot of good people in the world that are making great efforts to bring clean water and improved sanitation facilities to those who need it throughout the world, and their efforts are paying off.  Between 1990 and 2010 two billion people gained access to clean water and 1.8 billion people gained access to improved sanitation facilities according to the World Health Organization.  Even with these encouraging figures, there are still a lot of people in the worldcontinue reading

A DIFFERENT APPROACH: SCHOOL-LED TOTAL SANITATION – PART 2

HydrateLife Health, Sanitation, WASH 5 Comments

In part 1 I gave a brief introduction into what SLTS is and its objectives as well as talking about the different components of SLTS.  If you missed part 1 you can read it here.  Today I’m going to write about the strategy used for SLTS. One thing that I wanted to say, and that I may have mentioned last time, is that I’m not entirely in agreement about some of the strategy used with SLTS.  Basically, the SLTS strategycontinue reading

A Different Approach: School-Led Total Sanitation – Part 1

HydrateLife Health, Sanitation, WASH 4 Comments

As of 2011, sanitation coverage worldwide was at 64%.  With a worldwide population of just over seven billion this means that two and a half billion people still do not have access to improved sanitation facilities.  Of these people, just over one billion still practice open defecation.  Lack of proper sanitation and hygiene often leads to poor health and polluted water, which in turn leads to less production, less time in school, and many deaths worldwide. One methodology that iscontinue reading

Stealing Water from the Sky: Fog Catching

HydrateLife Health, Sustainable Practices, WASH, Water Technology 12 Comments
Stealing Water from the Sky: Fog Catching

Growing up near San Francisco, California (and now living there) I have always had to deal with the inevitable fog that rolls in from the ocean seemingly every day.  Everyone is always complaining about the fog ruining their day and the depression of weeks on weeks of endless fog.  Needless to say, I have never been very fond of the stuff.   Because the people living in the San Francisco area are very fortunate and don’t have to worry about watercontinue reading

Celebrating World Water Day 2013

HydrateLife Dams, Environment, Facts/Statistics, Health, Sanitation, Studies, Sustainable Practices, WASH 7 Comments

In honor of World Water Day on March 22 I wanted to give you a brief history on World Water Day.  Before I do that let’s look at some facts about water and the worldwide water (and sanitation) crisis: If you look at all the water in the world you’d find that: 97.5% of it is saltwater and therefore cannot be used for drinking water (it could be desalinated, but this is costly and takes a lot of energy, pluscontinue reading

Gaza’s Water Woes

HydrateLife Facts/Statistics, Health, WASH, Water Pollution 1 Comment
Gaza’s Water Woes

Let me start off by saying that I am aware that the situation in Gaza is a very touchy subject to a lot of people and with that in mind I will do my best to keep my personal views out of what I’m about to write.    However, I would ask that whatever your views may be please try to read this with an open mind and think about the innocent people and children that are living in this situation.continue reading

3 Products for Clean Water

HydrateLife Health, Water Products, Water Technology 9 Comments

It’s been a while since I’ve written about water related products, so today I’m going to take a quick look at three simple products that provide clean water.  These products are not appropriate for all situations, but they’re all intended for developing countries.  Let’s take a look and see whether they’re actually a good fit to provide lasting solutions. Hydraid BioSand Water Filter As the name would imply this is a water filter that uses sand to filter out thecontinue reading

Water Heroes : Anjali Sarker and Toilet+

HydrateLife Health, Sanitation, Water Heroes 6 Comments
Water Heroes : Anjali Sarker and Toilet+

Is there a monster under my bed?  Or maybe something lurking in my closet?  Probably not, but for a child growing up in a developed country these are the kinds of fears that can rule their bedtime.  Silly? Yes, and as a child grows up they will realize that it was all in their mind.  Anjali Sarker had a different fear growing up, and one that was actually based in reality.  While growing up in a rural Bangladeshi village Anjali’scontinue reading

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