Rocky Mount, VA: Water Conservation is now MANDATORY! | Water Conservation News -NUPRANA

Rocky Mount, VA: Water Conservation is now MANDATORY! | Water Conservation News -NUPRANA: "ROCKY MOUNT, VA - The city of Rocky Mount institutes a mandatory water conservation Monday morning in an effort to slow water use in response to severe drought.

All water customers will receive a notice in the mail Tuesday to immediately begin mandatory conservation.

Town Manager James Ervin says, “Continued drought, little rainfall and steady water use all mean that our lack of water has become more critical, and so I call upon you as citizens and good neighbors to do everything you can to reduce water use in your household and at work.”

The August rain deficit dictates that mandatory conservation to go into effect until the Blackwater River returns to better flow.

The Blackwater River has reached lows worse than the 2002 drought.

Ervin says, “Our water levels on the Blackwater are lower than at any other point since the town water plant was constructed. This is an urgent need that requires the immediate and ongoing attention of all our residents, businesses and industries.”

Helge: There is the Water Festival in Stockholm this week. I've sensitized myself to issues concerning water.

The Stockholm Water Festival is a major event in Sweden. The Swedes have an annual holiday period from the beginning of July till the middle of August when almost everyone takes holidays and business, especially heavy industries and construction, comes to a virtual standstill. The water festival is timed to take advantage of this and draws crowds from all over Sweden, Norway, Finland and other parts of Europe and the UK.

Most of the downtown core is closed to vehicle traffic with massive stages being erected in parks and waterfront parking lots where many famous names perform nightly.

The streets and bridges are lined with vendor tents where once can sample exotic foods from around the globe, buy clothing, pins, flags, trinkets toys or even take a scuba diving lesson in a floating swimming pool. Barges are towed in and converted to floating restaurants and bars where you can enjoy a meal or drinks while bobbing gently on the water.

World Water Week in Stockholm, August 17 - 23, 2008

The World Water Week will be organized in Stockholm, August 17 - 23, 2008. The world community of water and development will meet once again in Stockholm. Topics related to the list below will be on the agenda:

1. agriculture
2. biodiversity
3. sanitation
4. climate change
5. drinking water
6. economics
7. ecosystems
8. finance
9. governance
10. pollution
11. poverty reduction
12. stakeholder involvement
13. technology and water resources management

For a staggering 2,6 billion people, lack of access to adequate sanitation is a major and daily threat to their health and well-being. This bears tremendous social and environmental costs, of which premature deaths, degradation of living quarters and the environment, and reduced access to education are but a few.

Biofuels and Water

The good, bad and the ugly has to be considered about bioenergy solutions, though what's good for our cars and factories may not be for our stomachs or wallets.

Biofuels may wean us off our fossil fuel addiction, but at a cost: water (and land) that would be available for food production will be diverted to growing crops for biofuels. This has consequences.

One, governements and other actors will have to consider the broader biofuel / food / ecosystem / water implications.

Two, tradeoffs will have to be made, as competition for water will scarcity will have to be balanced with clean energy, increased efficieny in agriculture, greater farm income, and so on.

This complex issue is here to saty, and more needs to be known.

Water is essential for life, good health and economic development

Over one billion people lack access to clean water

Water is essential for life, good health and economic development - yet more than one billion people lack access to clean water. Each year, millions are embroiled in conflicts over its scarce availability.

Mercy Corps' work fulfills the water needs of vulnerable populations, from piping drinking water to rural communities to solving resource-based conflicts to ensuring that people have access to drinking water in the most devastating emergencies.

Helge: We're experiencing a water supply problem in the City of Nokia, close to Tampere. The problem started more than a week ago. 400 000 liters of technical water was pumbed into the household water. The dirty water has caused thousands of people getting sick.

In many crisis areas clean water is sold to poor people by water dealers who are taking out the maximum price for clean drinking and household water.

vermicon - solutions for microbiology

Helge: News about water shortage in Atlanta, Ga. Need to read more about it.

vermicon - solutions for microbiology: "Water is the most valuable resource on the planet. Yet the bacterial contamination of water can cause serious health problems. The reliability of VIT allows us to trust the water we use in our everyday lives.

One of the most dangerous pathogens in water are bacteria species belonging to the genus Legionella, and in particular L. pneumophila which causes Legionnaires' disease. This disease is a lung infection whereby 15% of all reported cases are fatal. In Germany more than 1500 people die every year due to infection with Legionella .

Legionella live in water habitats such as rivers, streams and lakes. The most dangerous threats for humans are showers, cooling towers and swimming pools, where Legionella enters the lungs when the aerosols are directly inhaled.

Once they are in the lungs they can cause pneumonia. Drinking contaminated water on the other hand is not so dangerous. Strong smokers however have an increased risk of infection as the process of preventing bacteria from entering the lungs through the respiratory tract is inhibited.

The incubation period of Legionella is 2 – 10 days. Thus if a contamination of water is quickly identified, counteractive measures can prevent a deadly course of disease. New studies have also shown that only about 85% of all infections are caused by L. pneumophila. "

Campylobacter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Kuopiossa 20.9.2007 Ari Jääskeläinen Savonia-ammattikorkeakoulu study discusses the risk management of drinking and household water.

Campylobacter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "The genus Campylobacter are Gram-negative, spiral, microaerophilic bacteria. Motile, with either uni- or bi-polar flagella, the organisms have a somewhat curved, rod-like appearance, and are oxidase-positive.

Campylobacter jejuni is now recognised as one of the main causes of bacterial food borne disease in many developed countries. At least a dozen species of Campylobacter have been implicated in human disease, with C. jejuni and C. coli the most common.

C. fetus is a cause of spontaneous abortions in cattle and sheep, as well as an opportunisitic pathogen in humans. The genomes of several Campylobacter species have been sequenced, providing insights into their mechanisms of pathogenesis."

Water Risk Management in Finnish

There is a paper published in Finnish covering drinking water risk management... I'll blog this in more detail soon. The pdf is in FINNISH.

I'll write some details in English later. Thanks Ari for the SMS-mesage. Decided to blog about this publication. Do you also have a powerpoint presentation from the seminar. Would you like to link to the PPT?

Talousveden riskienhallinnan
kustannus-hyötyvertailu

ALKUSANAT | Tämän selvityksen tavoitteena on piirtää kuvaa siitä, millaisia taloudellisia vaikutuksia toteutuneilla talousveden hygieniariskeillä on sekä millä menetelmillä ja kustannuksilla näitä voidaan ennaltaehkäistä.

Selvityksen tuloksia esiteltiin Veden Vaarat III -seminaarissa Kuopiossa 23.8.2007. Haluan lausua lämpimät kiitokset kaikille, jotka ovat tavalla tai toisella edesauttaneet selvityksen tekemistä.

Alkuperäisen idean tämän tyyppisestä selvityksestä antoi FT, MMM Elias Hakalehto, joka on tehnyt uraauurtavaa työtä mikrobimääritysketjun kehittämiseksi. Tutkimuspäällikkö Eero Antikainen Savonia-ammattikorkeakoulusta sekä erikoistutkija Ilkka Miettinen Kansanterveyslaitokselta auttoivat täsmentämään selvityksen tavoitteita ja toteutusta. Maa- ja Vesitekniikan Tuki ry myönsi hankkeelle apurahaa, joka käytännössä mahdollisti selvityksen toteuttamisen.

Esimerkkipaikkakuntien terveystarkastajat, vesihuollon vastuuhenkilöt ja muut selvitykseen tietoja kaivaneet henkilöt olivat luonnollisesti avainasemassa. Tutkija Jari Haapasalmi Elinkeinoelämän Keskusliitosta antoi merkittävää apua sairaspoissaolojen työnantajakustannusten arviointiin. Ympäristötekniikan insinööriopiskelijat Paulus Lepistö, Olli Nissinen ja Janne Pakarinen toteuttivat selvityksen yhden keskeisen
osa-alueen opintoihinsa kuuluvana projektityönään.

Tarpeellisia neuvoja ja tietoa sain myös useammilta henkilöiltä ympäristöhallinnosta, Stakesista ja Kansanterveyslaitokselta.

Kuopiossa 20.9.2007
Ari Jääskeläinen
Savonia-ammattikorkeakoulu


SMS-message from Ari Jääskeläinen: "Hei, se talousveden riskienhallintaselvitys on nyt netissä julkaisuna osoitteessa http://www.savonia-amk.fi/julkaisut/tekniikka/ ja painetaan lähiaikoina. Hyvää päivän jatkoa! Toivoo Ari.

Talousveden riskienhallinnan kustannus-hyötyvertailu Esiselvity Juomaveden tulisi aina olla käyttäjilleen turvallista. Vaikka suurin osa Suomessa jaettavasta juomavedestä täyttää kaikki laatuvaatimukset, on meilläkin esiintynyt juomaveden välityksellä leviäviä epidemioita. Tämän selvityksen tavoitteena on piirtää kuvaa siitä, millaisia taloudellisia vaikutuksia toteutuneilla talousveden hygieniariskeillä on.

Kolmen esimerkkitapauksen avulla kuvataan, millaisia vaikutuksia ja kustannuksia vesiepidemioista on aiheutunut kyseisen paikkakunnan eri toimijoille. Edelleen kartoitetaan veden desinfioinnin yleisimpiä vaihtoehtoja ja näiden kustannuksia. Myös talousveden valvonnan kustannuksia selvitetään ja tässä yhteydessä tuodaan esille uusi menetelmä mikrobinäytteenottoon. Lopuksi tehdään alustavaa kustannusvertailua hygieniariskien toteutumisen ja niiden ennaltaehkäisyn välillä.

Clean Water and Biotech

2007.04.01 02.27
Clean Water

Clean water is something that many of us take for granted, but Dr Mark Booth from Cambridge University describes how in many parts of the world dirty water can lead to life-threatening disease and parasitic infections.

To talk about the current strategies in place to supply clean water we're joined by Dr Alex McKie from Surrey University, and Professor Colin Humphreys from Cambridge University explains how high-energy UV LEDs could help provide clean water in the future.

CLEAN WATER

Dow Chemicals: Clean water supply across the globe. Access to clean water is important. 1, 2 billion people don’t have access to clean water.

• Prosperity and decent life
• One of those meetings that will find solutions on a long term
• To get the private sector involved
• Clean water is a business proposition for the global private sector
• Water and sanitation affordabliy to the worlds population
• Evry dollar invested provides 4 to 34 dollars in economic return
• The world is getting water short and water scarce
• There is a huge challenge for the developing countries
• The beginning of something very big