Health

Who Do You Buy Your Clothing From?

HydrateLife Environment, Health, Studies, Water Pollution No Comments

Are the companies that make your clothes environmentally friendly?  For a lot of us the answer is no.  Yesterday I stumbled onto a new report released by the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs on water pollution from the textile/apparel industry in China.  This report, titled Cleaning up the Fashion Industry, quoted a 2010 report as saying the textile industry in China ranked 4th in wastewater COD emissions and 3rd for overall wastewater discharge out of its 39 industries.  Althoughcontinue reading

Ecotact’s IkoToilet

HydrateLife Health, Sanitation, Water Products 2 Comments

The Iko Toilet is a great idea that has changed the lives of many people around Narobi, Kenya.  It all started with one man, David Kuria, and his mission to change how people think about toilets and ultimately the way people live.  Iko Toilet, which translates to “there is a toilet” is a product made by Ecotact which was started in 2007 as a social enterprise working to find innovative ways to help solve sanitation problems in Africa.  In thecontinue reading

Water Heroes: Kellogg Schwab

HydrateLife Health, Sustainable Practices, Water Heroes No Comments

Welcome to another edition of Water Heroes.  Today I’m writing about Kellogg Schwab who is a Professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and Director the JHU Center for Water and Health.  He also went on to start the JHU Global Water Program which combines several disciplines from the school to address issues with water.  Their goal is to find sustainable and accessible solutions to water needs throughout thecontinue reading

The Problems with Mining: Acid Mine Drainage

HydrateLife Environment, Health, Water Pollution No Comments

When I started reading about mining and its environmental impacts I soon realized that I would have a number of different topics to pick from, but I had to narrow it to one so today I’m going to be talking about acid mine drainage, or AMD.  AMD is a byproduct of the mining process (usually from abandoned mines) and is polluting groundwater and waterways world wide and at the same time turning them orange.  It occurs when mineral deposits containingcontinue reading

Cool Water Products: Puralytic’s SolarBag 3L

HydrateLife Health, Water Products, Water Treatment 2 Comments

Puralytic’s SolarBag 3L is a great invention that I stumbled upon while researching another project.  This product, which is basically a thick plastic bag with a filter and nanotechnology coated mesh insert, will get rid of bacteria, viruses, pesticides, herbicides, pharmaceuticals, arsenic, lead, and mercury among other things.  They used a number of organizations to do third party testing and the results are all very positive.  Here’s the report if you’d like to take a look www.puralytics.com/files/solarBagTestReport.pdf.  It’s also verycontinue reading

Water Contamination in Bangladesh

HydrateLife Health, Water Pollution 2 Comments

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

Afghanistan’s Water Crisis

HydrateLife Health, WASH, Water Pollution 47 Comments

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

HydrateLife Health, Water Heroes, Water Treatment No Comments

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

World Toilet Crisis

HydrateLife Health, Sanitation, WASH, Water Pollution No Comments

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

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