Health

Moringa – The Tree of Life

HydrateLife Health, Water Treatment 10 Comments

I’m always on the lookout for sustainable and appropriate solutions to water quality problems, especially those that would help rural communities.   A couple of weeks ago I was meandering through the internet and came upon one such solution; the moringa tree.  Depending on where you are in the world you could hear the moringa referred to as “Mother’s best friend” or “never die”.  These names are appropriate considering the number of benefits that this beautiful tree can bring, including watercontinue reading

Bottled Water: Why It’s Bad for You, the Environment, and Water – Part I

HydrateLife Health 11 Comments

Part I: Why Bottled Water is Bad for You July 2017 Amendment- My views on this subject have changed since I wrote this article, and while I still believe that people should not drink bottled water, I am less optimistic about tap water in the US.  I now believe that in most places you should use a filter of some type on your tap water.  You can use this great tool by the Environmental Working Group that will show youcontinue reading

Saving Lives with Community-Led Total Sanitation

HydrateLife Health, Sanitation, WASH, Water Treatment 2 Comments

Without water people cannot survive, but without good sanitation and hygiene practices the water available could become contaminated and lead to disease and death.  Every year 1.5 million people, most of them children, die from complications associated with diarrhea that they picked up from dirty water.  According to the World Health Organization (WHO) 88% of diarrhea cases worldwide are linked to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation or insufficient hygiene.  Diarrhea is caused by bacteria that get into the water system, andcontinue reading

Protecting our Waterways Naturally: Riparian Buffers

HydrateLife Environment, Health, Water Pollution, Water Treatment No Comments

You’re standing on a farm looking out over a huge group of cows to your left.  The smell is pretty bad, and you’re disgusted by the cows walking around in their waste without a care in the world.  You glance over to your right and notice a beautiful stream that runs along the farm and then continues on.  All of the sudden the clouds open up and a downpour hits. As the rain comes down the ground is getting saturatedcontinue reading

Eco-Latrine of the Future: Tiger Toilets

HydrateLife Health, Sanitation, WASH, Water Technology 8 Comments

Sanitation is a huge problem in developing nations.  While the world has made significant progress on providing clean water to those who need it leaders have fallen behind when it comes to sanitation.  The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation put sanitation as a high priority for their organization, and with that in mind they funded the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s Sanitation Ventures project.  Because most people in developing nations don’t have infrastructure to take away the wastecontinue reading

PHAST: Helping People to Help Themselves

HydrateLife Health, Sanitation, WASH 1 Comment

Today I’m going to be talking about a methodology called PHAST that is used by organizations around the world and is based around the idea that for something to be successful you need to get the people it’s supposed to help involved.  PHAST, which stands for Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation, is a participatory method that engages communities and educates them on hygiene and sanitation as well as encouraging them to take responsibility for the management of water and sanitationcontinue reading

Ethiopia’s Lake Koka: The Green Lake

HydrateLife Environment, Health, Water Pollution 2 Comments

Lake Koka in Ethiopia started out as…well, as nothing.  It is a man-made lake that was formed by the damming of the Awash River back in the 1960s.  For many years after the lake was formed it was a place where tourist came to marvel at the beauty and wildlife.  For the thousands of people who live in the area it is used for everything from washing and drinking to irrigation and fishing.  Basically it is the reason that theycontinue reading

Water Heroes: Lynn Henning – Battling Livestock Pollution

HydrateLife Environment, Health, Water Heroes, Water Pollution No Comments

Welcome to this week’s edition of Water Heroes.  This week we’re talking about Lynn Henning who has gained notoriety due to her persistence in fighting for clean water in Michigan.  Since 2000 she has been working to stop water pollution coming from large livestock farms around her home, throughout Michigan, and now in other states in the country.  Her advocacy and hard work has earned her the prestigious Goldman Prize in 2010 and the 2012 Planet Defender Award, and shecontinue reading

Water Heroes: Ma Jun – 2012 Goldman Environmental Prize Winner

HydrateLife Environment, Health, Water Heroes, Water Pollution No Comments

Welcome back for another edition of Water Heroes.  This week I’ll be talking about Ma Jun who has just received the Goldman Environmental Prize for “bringing unprecedented environmental transparency and empowering Chinese citizens to demand justice”.  Ma is no stranger to the environment.  He has been an environmentalist in China for years, and is also a writer, environmental consultant, journalist, and is director of the Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs, or the IPE.  Let’s take a look at somecontinue reading

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