Category: Water
The world’s fresh water supplies are almost fully exploited.Almost al, 97 per cent, of the world’s water is salt. Of the fresh water in the world, two thirds is locked up as ice and snow (the cryosphere – to you and me, kid!). Globally, three quarters of the water that is used is used by agriculture. India, China and the United States, use more fresh water than is available. The water level in those nation’s aquifers is falling as a result.The current food crisis has come about largely as a result as the shortfall in available water begins to impact on the cost of irrigation.Â
admin /11 April, 2008
Halima Shaban and Fred Ouma, New Vision (Kampala)
EVERY morning, Mama Benah, a mother of six and a resident of Ntebetebe village in Bweyogerere, makes sure her children’s lunch box has juice. But with no tap water in a radius of three kilometres, she has to collect water from a nearby spring.
But with 90% of the springs in the central region declared contaminated and with one out of every six people having no access to safe water, it is important that for Mama Benah’s children to remain healthy, she has to boil the water every time to prepare the juice and to protect them from water borne diseases.
With the introduction of Life Straw, a family product used to purify water, all Mama Berna’s woos will be history.
admin /9 April, 2008
Hundreds of residents and visitors to Australia’s most Easterly point, Cape Byron, attended the Australian premiere of Sharkwater on Saturday March 3rd. The crowd was addressed by the Generator’s Giovanni Ebono, underwater filmmaker David Hannan and Australian Seabird Rescue’s Rochelle Ferris.
The crowd lingered after the film for questions and answers and expressed an overwhelming desire to take immediate action. The passion of the audience was to ban long line fishing in Australian waters as well as the sale of all sharkfin products.
The Generator will air the issue over coming weeks to guage the best course of action. Many campaigns toward this end already exist.
admin /5 April, 2008
* * * * * Japanese designers and engineers have earned a reputation for improving products invented by others, allowing them to become saleable, desirable and popular. Consider the videotape recorder, for example. Invented by AMPEX in the mid-1950s, the concept was taken to its logical extension by Japanese electronics giant JVC and introduced Continue Reading →
admin /19 March, 2008
By Peter Williams –
Sun Herald ONE of the world’s leading economic think tanks has said Australians must start paying more for water.
The OECD’s Environmental Performance Review of Australia says water is being wasted because it is too cheap. It says the move would help conserve water and encourage investment in alternative supplies.
The recommendation is one of 45 made by the OECD’s Environment Directorate in the first such report about Australia in a decade.
"Water prices for urban consumers remain low and thus do not encourage conservation or investment in new sources of supply," the report says.
"The potential for water reuse and recycling has yet to be fully exploited."
admin /15 March, 2008
From ABC online Water experts are paying tribute to Professor Peter Cullen, one of Australia’s leaders in the field. The 65-year-old founding member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists died overnight at his home near Canberra. Professor Cullen was active in advising governments on how to address dwindling water supplies. He retired in Continue Reading →
admin /7 March, 2008
The Australian Conservation Foundation has welcomed the suggestion by Treasury Secretary Ken Henry that water pricing should reflect water scarcity. “Pricing is a critical part of managing demand for water,” said ACF’s Sustainable Australia Program Manager Monica Richter. “Any pricing regime should take account of social and environmental concerns. “A block tariff – where the Continue Reading →
