Water!

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Permalink Reply by jack-of-all-thumbs on March 10, 2008 at 1:45pm

Thanks for the tip on the Maude Barlow interview. I normally start my morning by listening to the previous day's Democracy Now! podcast in my car on the way into work. But I fell behind a couple of days and had erased that episode without ever knowing about the interview. I look forward to hearing it.

'AfriendofB' was kind enough to mention my blog on this thread earlier today, which I appreciate. My wife and I have spent the last several months transitioning from wellwater to rainwater for all our needs. And although using a cistern for potable water is not legally sanctioned by my southeastern state, it was something I felt we should do, not only for ourselves, but to serve to push our local and state government to come to grips with the need to consider alternative water sources.

I look forward to learning from this community.

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Permalink Reply by Afriendof B on March 12, 2008 at 4:10pm

Jack,

Did you get the plumbing hooked up to you house yet? Can't wait to here.
What about issues like acid rain and bird born pathogens? Problems?
Is this viable for an urban family? I know we have some community members in Albuquerque where water is an issue.

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Permalink Reply by jack-of-all-thumbs on March 13, 2008 at 8:18am

Haven't hooked up completely, since we're doing OK with the well for now. Once I switch, it would be difficult to go back to well water if I have to shut down to fix any problems. So, I plan to doing some tweaking and make sure everything is straight before the complete switch.

As for acid rain, it isn't an issue in our area. Our prevailing winds come over a substantial range of countryside before reaching us without passing over large industrial or metropolitan areas. My old galvanized roofing (not part of the collection system) has gone for twenty years without notable issues. As for an urban area I think that it would depend on the air quality. Switching to this in an urban area would result in the added benefit of reducing storm water runoff, thus taking load off of water treatment facilities. My understanding is that that is a major reason for its popularity in parts of Europe.

As for pathogens, rainwater should contain far, far fewer than surface water or groundwater. I'm sure that I get the occasional splat on the roof from birds flying overhead, but I've never seen one perched on the metal roof. Regardless, the combination of the biofilm in the cistern, the filtration and most importantly the ultraviolet disinfection unit should ensure that the water is pathogen-free. (My day job is medical microbiology, so hopefully I'm a little bit better read than average on that topic.)

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Permalink Reply by Luigi - Speak for the Trees on March 14, 2008 at 4:13pm

The fresh water in North America, has yet another enemy. The pharmaceuticals companies who have to devise a method of claiming the unused and unwanted drugs, the pump people with. The Associated Press reported that the presence of prescription drugs in our drinking water is heightening worries among scientists of long-term consequences to human health. In response to scientific studies published between 2002 and 2006 revealing that pharmaceuticals are being found in measurable quantities, The Teleosis Institute in Berkeley, California has initiated the Green Pharmacy Program, and working with local pharmacies to avoid medicines to enter the water system. Please do not dump your old medications down the drain, take them back! thank you.

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Permalink Reply by Carolyn Scott on March 15, 2008 at 8:11am

I think water IS the critical environmental issue of our time.
I know Maude has a film in the works and distributing that effectively
would help in educating people about the issue.

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Permalink Reply by Luigi - Speak for the Trees on March 17, 2008 at 8:46am

I agree, I think the solution is conservation, using less water to shower, washing dishes, etc. Not to extreme of what Paul is suggesting ;-) because there are also side effects he is excluding to mention. Bottom line, I personally don't care what method is implemented, but conservation is the solution.

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Permalink Reply by jack-of-all-thumbs on March 17, 2008 at 9:20am

Sorry, but my 'perfect water' is hardly that. It is a solution of toxins, filtered from the blood by my kidneys, with as much water as my body can spare used to flush them out. I suppose that it is possible to re-ingest a small percentage of the toxins for a period of time, but I'm completely unaware of any advantage in doing so. If someone can provide me with a medical (as opposed to a spiritual) advantage, I'd be happy to listen.

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Permalink Reply by Afriendof B on March 17, 2008 at 9:42am

Thanks Jack,

With so many ways we could be conserving and recycling water that we haven't even tapped, it seems that drinking pee is a bit extreme as well a being unhealthy. If we get to the point that drinking pee is our only option then I guess we are pretty much S.O.L. From a purely technical p.o.v. we lose water in so many other ways that even recycling 100% of our urine wouldn't provide the water we need for vary long, even with out the potential health issues.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa MoonGoddess on March 17, 2008 at 11:08am

I agree with Jack, Luigi and A friend of B... This is a radical departure, and I know of no other mammals that reingest their urine.

As we know, urine has a very high urea content (a toxin when taken internally) that in itself is a high nitrogen source. I recently read an article about using one's urine as a garden plant fertilizer. It's not too far off the tack of having a composting toilet, or "kybo" as we call them at Farm & Wilderness Camp in Vermont, and digging them out once or twice a year and spreading that on our gardens.

Direct ingestion is not for me, or for most folk, outside of dire situations when one is in the desert without water (see Dead in Their Tracks, by John Annerino who looks at the (likely) hundreds of Mexicans who have died trying to cross the Sonoran Desert in AZ to get to the U.S.). Utilizing it in ways that benefits the wider web of life and then comes back to us. You bet.

This is a definite tangent to the much more important issue of fresh water use, access, availability, and potability (which brings up contamination and pollution issues) around the world. And as Maude Barlow brings up in her work Blue Gold (c) 2002, there's the whole corporatization of water as a commodity "charging-as-much-as-they-can-for-what-should-be-a-common-right-to-all" issue. What can we do to honor the sacredness of water that is a common/universal right for all creatures and which empowers us to create systems for democratizing fresh/healthy water access????

Oh, and as I discovered in my research for my class, South Africa is the only country in the world that has the right to access to fresh water written into their constitution!

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Permalink Reply by Afriendof B on March 17, 2008 at 11:26am

Thanks for getting us back on track.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa MoonGoddess on March 17, 2008 at 11:54am

Here's a link to the Flow: For Love of Water film directed by Irena Salina that Maude Barlow has been talking about in her interviews.

http://flowthefilm.com/about.php

This is also World Water Week, and Saturday is World Water Day as designated by the U.N. Unfortunately, as Maude points out, the U.N. is falling for some of the corporate control tricks of water commodification and needs to be looked at carefully. For example, in all of their literature for The TapProject, which will be ongoing at restaurants primarily in NYC, but also throughout the U.S. this week, only once is BOTTLED WATER mentioned. And their comment is not even in connection with it as a corporate usurpation of what people pay pennies for at the tap. They're obviously assiduously trying to avoid that politically charged issue. Bottled water is now a U.S. $22 Billion industry!! And bottled water that is transported across state lines in the U.S. is the only bottled water that is inspected and regulated. The FDA has ONE... ONLY ONE inspector to oversee the quality and purity/safety of ALL THE BOTTLED WATER IN THE U.S. Tap water is more highly regulated. Enough for now... more later...

Thanks for being here, and for being with us as we work to take the earth back from those who want to put it all up for sale to the highest bidder. And yes, I put the much vaunted concept of ecosystem services in that category -- very much my personal opinion. But ... that is a digression and another whole discussion to tackle in another thread.

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Permalink Reply by Envirophylax on March 21, 2008 at 6:20pm

We will be sold technological solutions to the impending water crises, e.g. dams, water-grids, desalination plants, etc. These solutions will require investments of capital and returns on those investments. A market for water will develop and water will become a commodity.

No doubt governments will create social programs to meet the needs of those too poor to buy water at market prices.

Just an idea.

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