Back in March, replyforall featured a blog post entitled “The Next World War: Water” and for good reason. As clean water becomes increasingly unavailable, and 3.575 million people die each year from water-related diseases, we feel motivated to do something to protect our water systems from pollution and overuse.
Let’s start from the beginning– water shortages and water pollution are two different but converging problems. Rerouting waterways to supply large cities, like the Navajo experience on reservations in Arizona, is a problem of water shortage. For those of you in California, you may remember a big uproar about delta smelt, an endangered fish about the size of your index finger. That back and forth over the protection of marine ecosystems versus human industry started with water shortages in the San Joaquin Valley.
The Toxic Water series in the New York Times brought up a different issue– toxic chemicals found in the water we drink, mostly coming from industries like energy and animal production. And studies have found the effects go anywhere from dental ailments to toxic blood transferred to a mother’s womb causing birth and mental defects.
Of course, one does lead to the other. Water shortages lead to reduced and, most times, brackish groundwater. And certainly polluted groundwater leads to a shortage of clean water. What happened to the Clean Water Act of 1972? And what can be done?
We’ll cover these issues in upcoming replyforall blogs, as well as what’s being done around the world to use water as locally and sustainably as possible. If all this talk has perked your interest, be sure to install the replyforall signature to your emails to support clean water initiatives. Our nonprofit partners, Student Movement for Real Change, and Partners in Health, are working to provide clean water from a holistic approach.
And if you know of something going on around clean water, be sure to email me or leave a comment on the blog!
Fight the Good Fight,
Johanna Hudgens
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Related articles to check out!
- EPA May Fine Port of LA Company Over Pollution Water Laws (laist.com)
- Health Ills Abound as Farm Runoff Fouls Wells (nytimes.com)
- Neglected Clean Water Laws = Higher Human Suffering (themoderatevoice.com)
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Tags: Arizona, California, clean water, Environment, Johanna Hudgens, New York Times, PIH, Replyforall, San Joaquin Valley, SMRC, Water, Water pollution, Water Resources
To Flush or Not to Flush, That is the Question.
Green movements are growing and thriving across the country. Active efforts to preserve the environment involve aggressive recycling, lowering thermostats, using low flow faucets, and using low energy light bulbs, to mention only a few. Now is the time to step up and deal with an issue that remains problematic, an issue that has been hard to confront because people are traditionally reluctant to hold a public discussion on what goes down the toilet drain.
Please Do Not Flush! You may have seen the signs in public restrooms. The reasons behind them are:
Used personal care products clog up the plumbing and cost the establishment mucho bucks in repair bills
No one loves the icky experience of wading through a contaminated overflow.
It is extremely inconvenient to find a toilet out of order when you really need to go.
These issues alone might direct your throwing arm to the wastebasket; however, there is more to the story. Our current plumbing and sewage systems were designed only to handle human waste and toilet paper. Everything else can combine with grease and root invasion to impede sewage flow through the system causing blockages, clogged sewage pumps and sewage backups. Used sanitary products and other plastic items can escape the waste stream and pollute fresh water, especially in the northeast, where storm sewers and sanitary sewers have a connected system. Large storms can send the raw sewage through the storm drain outlet and into waterways and onto beaches. In the US, beach cleaning efforts by Beach Watch report an average of 14 tampon applicators per beach kilometer.
Marine debris washed up on our beaches is a real danger to sea turtles, birds, and fish. These coastal dwellers cannot tell the difference between trash and their natural prey, and so they swallow anything that resembles in color or shape what they normally eat. When ingested, this non- organic debris may stay in their digestive tract, causing blockages, damage to organs, or a false sense of fullness that leads to malnutrition. So you see, these items dont just disappear with the whoosh of a toilet handle.
Here is a handy list to post in public, business or home bathrooms outlining items that should be placed in the trash, not flushed down the toilet or sink
Tampons
Tampon applicators
Mini and maxi pads.
Band-aids and bandage wrappers
Personal care wipes
Condoms
Cotton balls
Q-tips
Dental floss and whitening strips
Hair
Kitty litter
Expired and unused medications
*Check with your local pharmacist for proper procedure for disposing of medications.
Old habits may be hard to change but new habits are comforting when they involve taking positive action to preserve our dwindling natural resources
Check out http://www.scensiblesource.com for new biodegradable personal disposal bags that make
discarding sanitary items easy, clean and discreet.
It’s easy to forget there are water crises affecting every second of millions of people’s lives when one’s whole country is a lovely shade of blue (in pretty statistical diagrams). But I know of someone who hasn’t! There’s a great documentary in the making about global water issues, focused in New Delhi. The brilliant girls behind it are taking a really awesome approach; their final product will be a guaranteed perfect balance of in depth personal accounts and inventions, a broad range of pertinent information, hopefulness and a sense of humor. They’re working extremely hard and I know they’d appreciate any collaboration/support/ideas from anyone interested.
They’ve got some great blogs and a very clear statement and goal: http://WWW.GROUNDWATERUP.COM
Like what you did. Wishing you a very happy and prosperous new year !