From PBS: A Journey to Confront Our Aging Water Systems

Posted on January 18, 2013 by

I came across this video while catching up on email and wanted to share it here because it ties directly into the main goal of this blog: improving water literacy.

PBS described the video perfectly so I won’t try to outdo them: “As clean water regulations become tougher and sewer systems and water treatment plants become outdated, cities are struggling to stay compliant and safe. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien goes underground to discover the many ways America’s sewer systems could be revamped to conserve water and save money.”

Here’s the link to the video. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to watch and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Stay engaged.

Posted in Water Literacy | Tagged , | 4 Comments

New Job!

Posted on November 19, 2012 by

Note: This post is from September 4th, but didn’t get posted until today November 19th…oops!

Greetings from Ann Arbor, MI!

I’ve just started a new job as Program Coordinator for Outreach and Communications at the the Great Lakes Observing System.

The past few month have been full of interviews, and apartment hunting, and moving, so thank you for your patience with the long break since my last post.

Today is literally my first day, so I’m on a steep learning-curve figuring out my strategic priorities, as well as how to get the phone to work.

I look forward to giving you a more detailed update after I’ve settled in a bit more.

Posted in Water Literacy | 1 Comment

We’re all downstream of someone.

Posted on May 31, 2012 by

The idea of using recycled or reused water as a municipal water supply source grosses a lot of people out. But we have to remember that we’re all downstream of someone, both spatially and temporally. As the author of  ”The Big Thirst” so eloquently put it: we’re all drinking dinosaur pee.

Go ahead…let that sink in for a minute.

The fact is that no new water has been created since the earth was formed, none. To emphasize that point check out this illustration of the different reservoirs of water on Earth: http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/2010/gallery/global-water-volume.html. And yes, that little blue speck is the amount of freshwater that we have access to.

One segment in the film “Last Call at the Oasis” discussed the concept of the fixed amount of water on earth and the fact that all the water on earth is recycled. A few marketers were asked to come up with a name for recycled water that would appeal to people who consume bottled water and need to be convinced that recycled water is just as good, if not better. The brand name they came up with? “Porcelain Springs.” And the spokesperson was none other than the delightfully ridiculous Jack Black. Check out the segment here:
http://www.movieweb.com/movie/last-call-at-the-oasis-2012/porcelain-springs

As an environmental chemist, my beef with recycled/reused water as a source of potable water is the higher concentration of personal care products (e.g. prescription and over-the-counter drugs) found in directly reused water. When we draw drinking water from natural sources we are benefiting from the dilution effect that we don’t get when we take water directly from the wastewater treatment plant and send it to the drinking water treatment facility.

One environmental engineer working on these questions is Alba Torrents, who I recently heard speak at the Water Awareness Symposium. One of the key questions discussed during the symposium was where to find new sources of water for our growing cities. Water recycling was discussed as a proposed solution and its challenges were discussed. Dr. Torrents described the work her lab is doing to determine what organic pollutants (derived from personal care products) are in treated sewage water, and how these pollutants can be removed. She discussed the fact that there are numerous opportunities for smart, dedicated young people to perform exciting, impactful work in this field. She also indicated that based on the caliber of students she works with, and meets at conferences regularly, she is confident that we will develop solutions to water recycling issues in short order.

I plan to discuss other issues brought up during the symposium in a future post, including the cost of water infrastructure, and the lack of public awareness about where their water comes from, and where it goes after they use it.

Do you know what water body your water comes from? Any idea what water body eventually receives the water that flows down your drain? Either way, I hope you’ll leave a comment to let me know what you think.

Stay engaged.

Posted in Water Literacy | Tagged , | 10 Comments

US Water Partnership

Posted on April 19, 2012 by

The US Water Partnership was announced on March 21st by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

This initiative is in the ramp-up phase, and I’m working on finding out exactly what it will entail. I’m very interested in the work the different partners will be engaged in, and look forward to sharing that information with you when I uncover it. In the meantime, here are a few links to information on the impetus for the US Water Partnership, as well as information about the Partnership itself:

The official US Water Partnership website: http://uswaterpartnership.org/. The site is still under development, but the “Partners” page gives you an idea of the wide-range of organizations involved in this effort.

Circle of Blue’s analysis of the National Security Assessment that was part of the impetus for the US Water Partnership. If you want an overview and history of the US position on global water issues, this is one-stop shopping. I highly recommend that you give this is a read to gain valuable perspective.

The National Security Assessment report referenced above: “Global Water Security.” The report is not very long and contains some very powerful graphics in the first few pages, so it’s definitely worth at least a glance.

“Water Scarcity Leads to More Peace than War“: an interview with the director of the Environmental Change and Security Program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars by Tafline Laylin of the Green Prophet blog.

Those are the links I have so far. Look out for a future post with more information, and if you have any additional info about the US Water Partnership, please leave a comment, or send me an email at Marvourneen AT eloquentscientist.com. Thanks!

Stay Engaged.

Posted in Climate Change, Water Literacy | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Are more people getting safe drinking water?

Posted on March 22, 2012 by

This is the title of an informative Al Jazeera article (and video interview) on the UN report that they are 5 years ahead of schedule for achieving one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Namely, “Halve, by 2015, the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation.”

The issue with the UN’s assessment is that it all depends on how you measure success. Is the presence of a pump a measure of access to drinking water? What if the pump hasn’t worked for years? Does it still count?

The article and video interview present a stark view of how little progress the world has made on providing the most basic rights of access to clean drinking water and basic sanitation (which does not have to follow the current model of using copious amounts of drinkable water to flush away waste; but that’s a whole other topic which we’ll discuss in a future post). As a species, we’ve invented things like the iPad, but we can’t figure out how to make sure that no-one is literally living in and effectively eating their own waste?

I’m not sure I can really wrap my head around how pathetic that is.

I think the first step to getting past this unacceptable state is becoming informed about the world today. And I’m not talking about watching the nightly news, or reading the big national papers. I’m talking about being truly informed. Finding sources of real-world information that are as minimally filtered through corporate interests as possible. (I say minimally because, let’s face it, there’s no way to get around them entirely.)

Speaking of information, let’s go back to the Al Jazeera article and video, here are two great quotes from the interview:

“What is being measured is basically the type of improved technology that people are supposed to be accessing like a hand-pump or a tap in the house. What’s not being measured is whether it works, the quality, how far people have to walk to get to that water.”

- Patrick Moriarty, the International Water and Sanitation Centre

“Our biggest issue [in Pakistan] is treating wastewater and unfortunately we are not doing it except for a little in Islamabad and Karachi. Both industrial and domestic wastewaters are going to our freshwater and groundwater sources on the farms outside the city.”

- Muhammad Jahangir, the founder of Better Tomorrow

Give the article a read, even if you can’t spare the 20 or so minutes to watch the video, and let me know what you think.

Please note: The issue being discussed here is one target of the Ensure Environmental Sustainability MDG. The other seven MDGs are:

  1. Eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger
  2. Achieve Universal Primary Education
  3. Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
  4. Reduce Child Mortality
  5. Improve Maternal Health
  6. Combat HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Other Diseases
  7. Develop a Global Partnership for Development

On a related note today, March 22, is World Water Day. A day, not for celebration, but for becoming more informed about the world’s water issues. In that spirit, head on over to Circle of Blue for in-depth articles and engaging infographics on the global water crisis.

Stay Engaged.

Posted in Environmental Issue, Environmental Justice, Water Literacy | Tagged , | Leave a comment

The DC Environmental Film Festival: what films are you planning to see?

Posted on March 18, 2012 by

The DC Environmental Film Festival is in progress right now: March 13-25, so try to catch one of the many great films if you can.

A number of the screenings are free with no registration required. They are also easily accessible by Metro, since most of the films are being shown at various museums on the National Mall, the Carnegie Institution for Science near Dupont Circle, and the AFI theater in downtown Silver Spring.
Here’s the website for more information:http://www.dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org/films.

Of particular interest for us here at Water Literacy+ is the free Water Shorts Program being screened today at 1:00 PM at Carnegie, 1530 P St NW. The shorts being screened are: Aral: The Lost Sea, Carbon for Water, Extinction, and Mission of Mermaids. The screenings will be followed by a discussion with the Carbon for Water filmmakers and a senior scientist from Oceana.

A really neat feature of the website is the Search box on the right which allows you to search for films by topic area. There are a large number of very interesting movies being shown, so this can help to narrow down options.  This is how I’ve narrowed down my list of what I’m planning to see in addition to the Water Shorts Program: Last Call at the Oasis, The Man Who Stopped the Desert, A Fierce Green Fire, and possibly Semper Fi: Always Faithful, and The Dust Bowl.

I would also have really loved to attend the screening and panel discussion on March 21, to mark World Water Day, March 22: Natural Resources/Unnatural Results: Access, Exploitation, and Accountability.
Unfortunately, it conflicts with Last Call at the Oasis which discusses the urgency of the looming water crisis and the need to increase people’s knowledge of this fact i.e. increase their water literacy. How could I miss that?

Hope to see you at one of the screenings, and in the meantime,

Stay Engaged.

Posted in Environmental Issue, Environmental Justice, Water Literacy | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Water Canary

Posted on February 14, 2012 by

We all know about the canary in the coal mine right? Those poor birds served an honorable purpose: letting miners know when the concentration of lethal, mostly odorless gases, was about to get too high for the miners to stay in the mines safely.

Well, I came across a TED video discussing a new technology called Water Canary. The idea behind this technology is that testing water to make sure it is safe to drink takes too much time, expertise and specialized equipment for it to be done as often as necessary. The devastating cholera outbreak in Haiti in late 2010 was one of the situations that motivated them. So these ingenious folks came up with Water Canary – simple, easy to use with barely any training, and extremely quick by any standards, but especially in the realm of analytical chemistry (which I know a thing or two about :) ).

I plan to keep an eye on the team behind this great innovation to see how they progress and what else they come up with.

Stay Engaged.

Posted in Environmental Issue, Environmental Justice, Water Literacy | Tagged , | 2 Comments