Special anniversary edition: Top 30 infographics on water and fracking issues illustrated.Please allow 15 seconds to load Groundwater contamination: Classroom infographic presentation for K1-5:Classroom Infographic presentation for K1-5Right click on image and view image to enlarge If used on educational site please give following credit: Save the Water™, DILOS™ program. STEM science education 2013 - |
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Global drinking water news: India
Tata faces crisis as $20 billion spent on water – corporate India.
By Rakteem Katakey & Archana Chaudhary - www.bloomberg.com India, the world’s second-most populous nation, is doubling spending on water management to a record as conglomerates from the Tatas to Adani face shortages that the United Nations calls an impending crisis. The federal and state governments have set aside 1.1 trillion rupees ($20 billion) for sewage treatment, irrigation and recycling for the five-year period ending March 2017, G. Mohan Kumar, special secretary in the Ministry of Water Resources, said in an interview. The nation with 1.2 billion people, which treats only 20 percent of its sewage, is pouring more money as inadequate clean water is threatening to stunt growth in industrial and farm output. Tata Steel Ltd., India’s biggest maker of the alloy, is setting annual targets to cut water usage as two-thirds of the country faces a scarcity. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg Disputes with farmers demanding rights to their irrigated land have stalled about $80 billion of investment by companies including Posco (005490) and ArcelorMittal (MT) as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeks to revive an economy growing at the slowest pace in a decade. Tata Steel Ltd. (TATA), India’s biggest maker of the alloy, is setting annual targets to cut water usage as two-thirds of the country faces a scarcity, H.M. Nerurkar, managing director said in an April 11 interview. “Water availability is a very big issue and in the coming days this will be a far bigger issue,” A.P. Choudhary, chairman of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. (RINL), India’s second-biggest state-run steelmaker, said in an interview. “Water is critical for the steel industry’s growth and no company is comfortably placed.” Industrial Demand India has 18 percent of the world’s population and four percent of the globe’s water resources, President Pranab Mukherjee said at an April 8 conference in New Delhi. About 80 percent of the water available is used for farming and less than 10 percent by factories, water ministry’s Kumar said. Industrial water demand in India may surge 57 percent by 2025, with the Asian country being the most water-stressed among the Group of 20 nations, which also includes China, according to estimates by HSBC Holdings Plc. Water availability in India per person dropped by 15 percent to 1,545 cubic liters in a decade, according to a 2011 census. India’s demand for clean water by 2030 may exceed supply by 50 percent while pollution is making what’s available unfit for human consumption, industrial or farm use, according to McKinsey & Co. forecasts and a government report. “This five-year plan devotes far more space to water and it is clear that there is more political agreement on India’s water crisis,” said Srinivasan Iyer, assistant country director at the United Nations Development Program. ‘Extremely Rich’ Still, the planned spending on water projects accounts for just 2 percent of the $1 trillion Prime Minister Singh says is needed to build infrastructure in the five years ending March 2017 to revive economic growth that slowed to an estimated 5 percent in the year ended March 31, the least since 2003. Jim Rogers, the investor who foresaw the start of a commodity rally in 1999, said he is “extremely optimistic” about investing in water amid scarce supply in countries from India to the U.S. “If you can find ways to invest in water, you will be extremely rich because we do have a serious water problem in many parts of the world like India, China, the southwestern part of the U.S., and west of the Red Sea,” Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, told reporters in Singapore on April 15. Beating Gold Shares of water-treatment companies are beating those of gold and oil explorers as governments from China to India boost spending on basic infrastructure to avert shortages threatening economic growth and political stability. The S&P Global Water Index (SPGTAQD) of 50 companies has surged 162 percent since Nov. 30, 2001, when Bloomberg began compiling the measure. In comparison, the S&P Global Oil Index (SPGOGUP) has risen 137 percent in the same period and the S&P/TSX Global Gold Sector Index (SPTSGD) has climbed about 40 percent. Suez Environment, Europe’s third-largest water company by market value, won 41 million euros ($54 million) of contracts to build and operate water-treatment units in New Delhi, a city of 17 million people, and Bangalore, according to a March 13 statement. Thermax Ltd. (TMX), a Pune-based company that produces water-recycling equipment, has climbed 31 percent in the past year, compared with the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex’s 10 percent advance. VA Tech Wabag Ltd. (VATW), the nation’s biggest builder of water-treatment plants, has risen 12 percent in the same period. Work including sewage treatment and waste water management will help boost revenue as much as four-fold for VA Tech and double it for Thermax in five years, according to the companies’ chief executive officers. Acquisition Plan “We will participate in projects where there’s need for technology to treat water,” M.S. Unnikrishnan, CEO of Thermax, said in an April 9 interview. “Sewage treatment is getting increasing importance from the government.” VA Tech plans to spend as much as 50 million euros to buy two companies in Europe to help it gain access to new markets and technology, Managing Director Rajiv Mittal said in an interview on April 17. Thermax’s revenue from its environment business, which includes water, rose to a record 11.7 billion rupees in the year ended March 31, 2012. VA Tech Wabag’s net income climbed 36 percent to 751.2 million rupees in the 12 months and sales rose to 10 billion rupees, both an all-time high. Pretax profit margin in the quarter ended Dec. 31 was 11.18 percent compared with 10.24 percent a year earlier. Farmer Suicides Parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka, states that together account for 45 percent of India’s sugar production, have faced drought in the past two years. Output in India, the world’s top producer after Brazil, is set to decline for a second year, according to a survey compiled by Bloomberg. Farmers, unable to repay their debtNearly a 1,000 farmers, unable to repay their debt after dry weather cut their incomes, committed suicide in one region of Maharashtra in 2012, India Today said in an article dated Jan. 21, a number the local administration disputes. Plans by Posco (005490), the world’s biggest steelmaker by value, to build a $12 billion mill in the eastern state of Odisha have stalled for eight years as the South Korean company failed to persuade farmers to move. ArcelorMittal (MT), the world’s largest steelmaker by output, faces delays for a $10 billion plant in Odisha and in Jharkhand state. “We don’t have the luxury to use water the way we want,” said Devendra Amin, vice-president and spokesman for Adani Group, which is controlled by billionaire Gautam Adani. “Water cannot be taken for granted the way industries set up in the decades gone by used to.” Adani has businesses in mining, power and ports. To contact the reporters on this story: Rakteem Katakey in New Delhi at rkatakey@bloomberg.net; Archana Chaudhary in New Delhi at achaudhary2@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jason Rogers at jrogers73@bloomberg.net Parched throats here have nothing to ‘tap’ into.The water contamination at Vivekananda Colony threatens to make a Bholakpur of the place, what with locals desisting from collecting water from taps for fear of falling sick. Is Vivekananda Colony going the Bholakpur way? Given the level of water contamination here, residents here are facing a precarious situation. Since the last few days they have stopped collecting water from taps for fear of falling sick. With the HMWSSB failing to provide safe water, residents are forced to depend on private water tankers to quench their thirst and for domestic needs. Black and foul-smelling “It’s been 10 days since we got water. Last time we were supplied water which was black and foul smelling. Forget consuming it, most would not even believe it to be water,” fumes G.S. Kailasam, president of Vivekananda Colony Residents Welfare Association. Over 2,000 people live in the colonyOver 2,000 people live in the colony, which is behind Mehdipatnam Rythu Bazar and replete with educational institutes, residential apartments and other organisations. “It has been the case since August 2012. I complained five times, including during the Dial Your MD programme and yet the problem persists,” says Mohammed Omair, pointing to a bottle filled with contaminated water. Many residents, particularly the elderly and children, are falling sick due to water contamination, adds Mateen, another resident. The problem lies in the pipeline network which was laid in 1962. Both drainage pipelines and drinking water lines are laid very close to each other. Drainage lines Admitting the problem, local Corporator B. Prakash alleges that hotels dotted along the Mehdipatnam bus stop road discharge all the wastes directly into the drainage lines. Most hotels here use vanaspati for cooking dishes and after use dump the oil directly into the drainage, resulting in blocking of pipes, he explains. HWMSSB Division III General Manager P. Ravi says repair works are already being taken up. Efforts are on to shift drinking water pipelines and ensure a gap between drainage pipelines and drinking water pipes. Works would be completed in another 10 days and till then water would be supplied through tankers. This apart, all hotels dumping trash into drainage pipelines are being served with notices, he adds. Keywords: Water management, Bholakpur, Vivekananda Colony, HMWSSB, Richard Branson – Water crisis – How do we save the water?WHOLE WORLD Water seeks to prove that economic, social, and environmental progress are not mutually exclusive. Developed to end the global water and sanitation crisis, WHOLE WORLD Water works to engage the hospitality and tourism industry to filter, bottle, and sell its own water, and contribute 10% of the proceeds to the WHOLE WORLD Water Fund. 100% of the proceeds will go directly to clean and safe water initiatives worldwide.
Water news archives – 700 articles-March 2012~April 2013: updated daily – click here Support Save the Water™ click here. Supporting the water research and education programs of Save the Water™
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Vol. V
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Water education news
Evolution of water filtration: Part 1
–Right click and view to enlarge Water Cycle Best viewed using Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari web browsers. The following articles are written by Sure Aqua
www.sureaqua.com / to see more: Environment
Water filtration was initially introduced to better the living standard of mankind. This came in the form of the first water catchment and treatment plants. In more recent times, natural disasters and increased urbanization have jeopardized the quality of our drinking water. Now it is recommended that we take extra precautions, further filtering our water using personal water filters. As mentioned in our ‘Water and Your Diet’ article, water is vital to our every day life. There is evidence that water filtration was practiced by civilizations dating back to as early as the ancient Egyptians. During the third and fourth centuries they experimented with sand filtering and boiling water over a fire. Centuries later the Greeks further added to the above, deducing that purity of water was largely dependent on taste and smell of the water. After criticism of the quality of the water in their famous Aqueducts, they began to experiment with passing water through cloth after boiling in order to achieve purity. Over the centuries that followed humans were able to take more control of their water resources. We began to record and track rainfall patterns, we learned how to transport water, we learned how to divert the course of a river and create a damn. This further established water as one of the central factors in any economical, political and social structure. However in this vital development of what became known as the ‘water catchment process’, we ironically destroyed the natural filtration process of water. As discussed in our article, ‘The Water Treatment Process’, water follows a natural cycle. Water evaporates, condensates in the Earth’s atmosphere and then precipitates, otherwise known as rain. When the water falls it filters through the land and though natural aquifers, flowing back into water sources like rivers and lakes. 
— Right click and view to enlarge Micrographia Through the introduction of the water catchment process i.e. damming, we greatly effected this natural process where by water was able to cleanse itself. The result was and still is a change in the pathway of the water, that comes to us dirty, impure and contaminated. Water treatment, or the modern day metropolitan filtration process was eventually introduced to combat this issue. The Discovery of ‘Life’ in Water In 1590, during what is known as the Age of Discovery, a vital invention was made in the Netherlands. The microscope came into existence, something that would eventually play a vital role in liberating the world from waterborne diseases that had overwhelmed nations across the globe, including powers such as Europe and the United States of America. It was not until the late 16th Century that microscopy branched out from it’s initial discovery and became quintessential tool in the history of water filters. Previously urban water catchments and supplies had been presumed to be clean, but when scientists evaluated samples under a microscope they discovered tiny, living particles present in the water. Not knowing that these particles were mostly bacteria and waterborne diseases, water supplies were previously presumed to be clean. The Age of Discovery grew into the Age of Enlightenment during the 16th to 18th Centuries. It was during this period that health issues in communities due to cholera break outs were linked to dirty water or water contamination. Philosophers questioned the meaning of the discoveries made under the site of the microscope and the issues they were facing. The result was the beginning of the wage for mankind’s right to clean, pure drinking water. The path to the modern day water filtration process began in Scotland during in 1804. The first water treatment plant was installed in Paisley using sand filtration. This water treatment plant provided clean drinking water to all households, but was only widely accepted and implemented in 1829 when introduced in London. Further developments were made to the water treatment process such as method introduced to increase the supply of water. It was found that by passing water through the filters more rapidly, the filters were cleansed by the torrents and a greater amount of water was able to be supplied in a shorted period. Now, with only man standing in the way of a future of clean water, the next symbolic water filtration development came in 1972. Following previous legislation passed in the early 19th Century and mind 1940′s enforcing safe drinking standards, The ‘Clean Water Act of 1972′ was passed in the United States of America. This vital, new legislation took action to rule out industrial activity that was causing large amounts of pollution in our water resources. Similar legislation can now be found world wide, protecting our water supplies from ourselves. 
-Right click and view to enlarge Where does our water filtration stand today? Regardless of the introduction of regulations and the advancement of the modern day water treatment process, risks still exist in consuming our drinking water. Water plants handle heavily contaminated water, and in some cases such as floods or over supply of water, the treatment does not meet safe drinking standards. The water is contaminated with pathogenic microorganisms, chemicals and pesticides from the land, and is then treated with copious amounts of filtration chemicals such as chlorine and fluoride, which can be detrimental to your health over a long term. As mentioned in the introduction, household and personal water filters are recommended to protect yourself from risks. Look out for the ‘History of Water Filtration Part 2′ for a full run down of what water filtration devices are available to you and what is best. The evolution of water filtration Part 2:The portable water filterDefined by the organization, Facts About Water, a water filter is any device that reduces impurities from a water supply. In the United States there are no federal laws regulating the quality of water filters and very few states imply any standards enforcing requirements to be met. When you google the term ‘Water Filter’ you are bombarded with 89,100,000 hits. If you search for ‘Water Filter’ videos on Youtube you will have the pick of 244,000 results. In a market overwhelmed with numerous options, alternatives and varying types, how do you go about choosing the right personal portable filter for you and your family? The Different Methods of Filtration 
– Right click and view to enlarge When it comes down to the difference between filtered and unfiltered, there are several different methods that have been developed over the history of water filtration. Today’s available range of water filters brands have all based their designs and functionality of one of the following methods of filtration: Distillation Being one of the oldest methods of filtration, distillation is also one of the most time consuming and takes up the most space. Water is boiled causing vapor to rise. When the vapor condenses and liquifies it is left to cool and then is stored. Not only does distillation hold the risk of not filtering out all contaminants, but it is also criticized for taking away healthy and essential nutrients from water. Ion Exchange The ion-exchange process involves water filtering gradually through ion-exchange resins which are bead shaped. When passing over the surface of the ‘beads’, the ions in the water are replaced by ions in the resin. 
Right click and view to enlarge Ion Exchange is used to either soften water (a pretreatment that comes before the process of reverse osmosis). Water softeners use resin beads that specifically exchange sodium ions with magnesium or calcium ions removed from the water. While it is inexpensive to set up, Ion Exchange does not remove pathogenic microorganisms, and can also host bacteria cultures on the resin beads. Carbon Adsorption This method is regarded for its ability to removes bad tastes and smells as well as excess chlorine. There are two types of carbon filters: Granular Activated Carbon and Solid Carbon. We will be discussing Activated Carbon as it is mostly used in household water filters. Activated Carbon is like a barrier that water must pass through. Made up of a few different carbon materials, Activated Carbon is used at high temperatures, which creates what could be called a matrix of microscopic pores. Particles and molecules in the water can’t pass through the pores and become trapped. Depending on the type of carbon used and the size of the pores, will decide whether pathogenic microorganisms will be filtered out of the water in the process. It is recommended that this type of filtration is used with another type in a process rather than a stand alone means to filter water. Microporous Basic Filtration This method of filtration is based on three different kinds of Microporous filters. To summarize the functionality of the three, they act as sieves, each serving to block and entrap particles from passing through the filters. The three different type namely, Depth, Screen and Surface, each serve to entrap different size particles. The result is a method of filtering that requires one of the least amounts of effort. The only downfall is that Microporous Filters will not filter out dissolved chemicals and other inorganics in the water. Reverse Osmosis 
– Right click and view to enlarge The process of reverse osmosis involves forcing highly concentrated water across a membrane. The membrane acts as a barrier and traps any contaminants, particles and chemicals that may be present in the water. The main downfall is that the process itself uses a lot of water and Reverse Osmosis system is expensive and has to be installed into your kitchen sink or what ever tap you wish to use it with. However, the membrane used in Reverse Osmosis is much tighter than that of other methods and therefore is capable of rejecting practically all particles, micro-organics The actual process itself is quite complicated. Concentrated water is diluted with less concentrated water when flushed through a membrane using hydraulic pressure. The pressure drives the water through the membrane. The membrane restricts the flow of water so the Reverse Osmosis system is made up of a number of water tanks to keep a reasonable flow going. Reverse Osmosis is renowned for its ability to remove impurities from water including lead and other heavy metals, radium and many dissolved solids and pathogenic microorganisms. Ultraviolet Radiation Water is exposed to ultraviolet radiation via the use of a UV stick that is placed in the water for a period of time. When exposed to the UV raise DNA and proteins in the cells of the molecules or particles, result in inactivation. Even though the water is sanitized Ultraviolet Radiation does not remove particles or chemicals. To read more about SureAqua Richard Branson – Water crisis – How do we save the water?WHOLE WORLD Water seeks to prove that economic, social, and environmental progress are not mutually exclusive. Developed to end the global water and sanitation crisis, WHOLE WORLD Water works to engage the hospitality and tourism industry to filter, bottle, and sell its own water, and contribute 10% of the proceeds to the WHOLE WORLD Water Fund. 100% of the proceeds will go directly to clean and safe water initiatives worldwide.
Water news archives – 700 articles-March 2012~April 2013: updated daily – click here Support Save the Water™ click here. Supporting the water research and education programs of Save the Water™
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Global water news: India
Parched India harvesting dew.Best viewed using Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari web browsers. NEW DELHI: The film grabbed one’s attention. It showed a billboard spouting water out of thin air. It seemed just the answer to the drought in India’s western regions. Though this was a recent advertising gimmick by the University of Engineering and Technology in Lima and Mayo Peru DraftFCB, can such innovative ideas solve our water crisis? The billboard, located in Bujama village, Peru, has condensers inside it which generate water from humid air. This is filtered, stored in tanks and dispensed through taps. In just a few months, it has produced over 9,000 litres of drinking water. The cost? $1,200. India, too, is experimenting with technology to generate water. One innovation extracts water from air without the use of expensive electricity. And surprisingly, dew is the magic source of this precious commodity. Dew harvesting is being used in arid Kutch. “Coastal areas are ideal places for collecting dew as it occurs more frequently and in large quantities there,” says Prof Girja Sharan, a former IIM-A professor and the first Indian to harvest dew. “From a 300 sqm roof, we can generate 30 litres of water daily,” he says. An individual, incidentally, needs four litres of drinking water daily. He saw dew formation in April-May on plants in the Kutch and was surprised as it normally occurs in winter. A four-year R&D programme by him led to large dew harvesting systems being erected on roofs and the ground. Dew is extracted using non-toxic plastic condensers installed on frames. They cool rapidly at night and the dew thus formed is collected in bottles. It’s also used to harvest rain. What’s more, Latin America and Gulf states are evincing interest in this technology. Meanwhile, in some 1,000 villages in Saurashtra, Kutch and the Gulf of Khambhat, Kharash Vistaarotthan Yojana (KVY), an initiative of Sir Ratan Tata Trust, is working to reverse the salinity in sea water which causes immense hardship. These efforts fructified in Junagadh where roof rainwater harvesting structures (RRWHS) have been installed. These include a domestic rainwater capture component and an underground tanka which can store water for a year. “The first shower is used to clean overhead tanks and then from the second shower, water is collected. Some 60,000 tankas have been constructed in Saurashtra,” says Tushaar Shah, senior fellow at the International Water Management Institute. “Over 1,400 households were given funds to build tankas of up to 20,000 litres capacity. Having a RRWHS can save a woman 35-40 days a year in drinking water procurement for the family,” he says. In some coastal areas, cement-concrete barriers are also used in wells to segregate sea water and freshwater. Farmers found that their wells could yield fresh water up to a certain ‘critical depth’, digging beyond which would result in mixing of the two. KVY helped them in sealing their wells by creating a cement-concrete barrier. Water yields are low, but it is fresh water. Every drop counts, after all. Water desalination has big potential in India – says a firm.By Indo Asian News Service | IANS Chennai, April 2 (IANS) Water treatment company Va Tech Wabag is confident that water desalination will be a big business in the near future and it is gearing up to have a sizeable share of that pie. “The Indian desalination water market is growing at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30 percent over a period of five years from 2013 to 2018. The desalination capacity in India is seen at 5,350 million litres per day (MLD) by 2018,” Rajiv Mittal, managing director, told reporters here Tuesday. He said the company in consortium with Cadagua of Spain and Gaifar of Oman would be executing a 192 MLD desalination water project at a total outlay of around $250 million at Al Gubrah, Oman. According to Mittal, the Oman project is one of the many ongoing large-scale joint initiatives with Sumitomo Corporation of Japan. He said it is a myth that desalinated water is costly as the cost is only four or five paise per litre. “The input-output ratio has improved now. We now get 45 percent clean drinking water while processing the sea water,” Mittal said. Va Tech Wabag has recently commissioned the 100 MLD desalination water project near here for the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, commonly known as Chennai Metro Water. “The order is in two parts – design and construction of the plant, and operation and maintenance of the plant for seven years. We have been paid by Chennai Metro Water around 70 percent of Rs.580 crore, the cost of first phase,” Mittal said. He said the operation and maintenance revenue for the seven years will be around Rs.70-72 crore per year. The multinational is targeting the water markets in Latin America, Sri Lanka, Russia and Saudi Arabia. Desalination definedFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about removing salt from water. For soil desalination, see Soil salinity control.
Salt water is desalinated to produce fresh water suitable for human consumption or irrigation. One potential byproduct of desalination is salt. Desalination is used on many seagoing ships and submarines. Most of the modern interest in desalination is focused on developing cost-effective ways of providing fresh water for human use. Along with recycled wastewater, this is one of the few rainfall-independent water sources. Large-scale desalination typically uses large amounts of energy and specialized, expensive infrastructure, making it more expensive than fresh water from conventional sources, such as rivers or groundwater.[3] Desalination is particularly relevant to countries such as Australia, which traditionally have relied on collecting rainfall behind dams to provide their drinking water supplies. According to the International Desalination Association, in 2009, 14,451 desalination plants operated worldwide, producing 59.9 million cubic meters per day, a year-on-year increase of 12.3%.[4] The production was 68 million m3 in 2010, and expected to reach 120 million m3 by 2020; some 40 million m3 is planned for the Middle East.[5] The world’s largest desalination plant is the Jebel Ali Desalination Plant (Phase 2) in the United Arab Emirates. References ^ “Desalination” (definition), The American Heritage Science Dictionary, Houghton Mifflin Company, via dictionary.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
Richard Branson – Water crisis – How do we save the water?WHOLE WORLD Water seeks to prove that economic, social, and environmental progress are not mutually exclusive. Developed to end the global water and sanitation crisis, WHOLE WORLD Water works to engage the hospitality and tourism industry to filter, bottle, and sell its own water, and contribute 10% of the proceeds to the WHOLE WORLD Water Fund. 100% of the proceeds will go directly to clean and safe water initiatives worldwide.
Water news archives – 600 articles-March 2012~Feb 2013: updated daily – click here Support Save the Water™ click here. Supporting the water research and education programs of Save the Water™ |
Vol. V
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Water science research and education resourcesSTEM water science education
You will find 1,980 links to organizations that provide valuable information about water science, research, education and sanitation. The educational resource is extensive, it has been divided into categories so you can navigate to pertinent information according to your needs. (You can click on header or image to navigate) Whether you use these resources for research or education, we hope you become part of the solution that will bring clean healthy water for all people regardless of their social or economic status.
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Water contamination news
Amid debate – Falls Water Board used lobbyist to explore fracking in Albany.By Justin Sondel / Niagara Gazette / February 11, 2013
Niagara Gazette — The Niagara Falls Water Board hired a professional lobbyist in Albany to help it explore the possibility of treating wastewater from natural gas drilling sites while the debate was playing out in the public. The water board’s lobbyist deal with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office, the New York State Legislature and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation on natural gas drilling and water treatment matters, according to reports filed with the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics, a state entity that oversees lobbying activities. The board hired e3communications, a buffalo lobbying and public relations firm, from January 2011 to April of 2012, when the board voted to discontinue its relationship with the company, according to the documents. The process of high-volume hydraulic fracturing, commonly referred to as fracking, creates thousands of gallons of waste water at each well. That water — which contains chemicals, traces of radioactive material and other toxins picked up from deep below the earth’s surface — needs to be treated before being returned to the water table. And so New York state’s decision on whether to allow fracking in the gas-rich Marcellus shale — an underground rock formation that runs across southern New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and West — could present an opportunity for the water board. Even if Niagara Falls City Council members voted unanimously in March to ban hydrofracking-related activities, including “fracking” waste, within city limits. Water board officials announced last year that they were considering the possibility of treating wastewater created during the drilling process at the Falls water treatment facility as a way to generate additional revenue for the water board and to cut costs for ratepayers in the city. Paul Drof, the executive director of the utility, said the board’s decision to work with a lobbyist was not an indication that the board supports fracking, but rather an effort to explore and better understand the issues surrounding the controversial process. “We’re neither for nor against fracking, but if it happens we wanted to investigate what does mean to the waste industry as a whole,” Drof said. If the practice of hydraulic fracturing or the treatment of the wastewater were to be allowed in New York state the utility would need to know whether the facility was capable of treating the fluids and what would need to be done — and at what cost — to be able to safely handle the waste, Drof said. “Until we know what the treatment goals are, we can’t really predict that right now,” he added. The utility treats about half the amount of water that it did when running at capacity, is dealing with constant infrastructure repairs and upgrade needs and has to cope with rising legacy costs from retired workers’ pensions, water board officials maintain. This year the utility will reach the end of a 20-year agreement with Occidental Chemical that brought the utility $64.5 million over that period. With the key revenue source drying up, the board will have to make up a $1.3 million gap in the budget. Drof said the utility needs to explore any possible revenue sources to try to offset the many fiscal challenges it is facing. Drof said he understands the public’s hesitation in accepting fracking waste, especially considering the community’s history of environmental issues. But, he noted, the utility would be subject to stringent regulations and monitoring from the DEC and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should it ever get into the frack water treatment business. “We just can’t unilaterally decide to accept something,” he said. And the plant already accepts a variety of chemical waste products for treatment, he added. Wastewater from hydrofracking would be subject to the same scrutiny from government agencies as other waste already being hauled to the facility. “It’s no different than what we’ve been doing from when we were part of the city until now,” Drof said. “We do take in hauled waste.” Fracking has been a touchy issue for the Cuomo administration with environmental advocates demanding that the practice be banned, while industry insiders and land owners hoping to sell to the companies are urging the state to allow the practice under strict regulations. A series of recently released polls from the Sienna Research Institute and Quinnipac University suggest public opinion on the fracking ban is narrowly split. The DEC and New York State Department of Health have been studying the impact of gas drilling for more than four years in an effort to determine whether the practice will be allowed in New York as Cuomo tries to placate constituents and interests on both sides of the issue Environmental advocates say that even if the ban is lifted, the DEC cannot ensure that hydrofracking wastewater treated in the Falls, which would be discharged into the river after it is processed, would be safe. Anne Rabe, a campaign coordinator for the Center for Health, Environment and Justice, said that even if the treatment plant is able to clean the majority of toxins out of the fracking fluid, it cannot get them all. And the trace amounts of radium that are infused into the water deep underground cannot be extracted, she said. “Over time, that’s going to reduce the efficacy of the treatment plant,” Rabe said. “Wastewater treatment facilities are not built to deal with the treatment of a mixture of chemicals and radioactive materials.” Sandra Steingraber, a distinguished scholar in residence with Ithaca College’s Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences, sits on the advisory committee for the anti-fracking coalition New Yorkers Against Fracking. Regulations: not nearly stringent enough to protect the publicShe said laws and regulations now in place at both the state and federal level are not nearly stringent enough to protect the public. For example, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 contains a provision that excludes the gas drilling industry from providing lists of the chemicals contained in the fracking fluid being sent to wastewater treatment facilities as is required by the Safe Drinking Water Act. Additionally, the Safe Drinking Water Act lists 90 chemicals that utilities are required to test. Most fracking water contains over 100 chemicals, Steingraber said. “If we don’t know what’s in the mix, it’s impossible to test whether we even have the means to clean it,” Steingraber said. Ted Janese III, the chairman of the water board, said with no end to the natural gas drilling debate in sight it was no longer fiscally responsible to continue to do business with the lobbyist from e3. “We don’t know what the state’s going to say and we don’t want to spend thousands of dollars until we know,” Janese said. The decision to discontinue the relationship between the board and the company came on the heels of a city council resolution placing a ban on the practice of natural gas drilling and the treatment of waste water inside city limits. Janese said the city ban did play a role in the decision to stop the lobbying activities, but only because there was no confidence that the state would make a determination on the practice in the near future. The board had considered suing the city over the ban — something Janese supports revisiting if the state allows for the treatment of waste water. Until there is certainty on the subject, there is no point in spending money to litigate the issue, he said. “It’s not a fight worth taking up at this point in time,” Janese said. Water news archives – 600 articles-March 2012~Feb 2013: updated daily – click here -How to navigate STW ™ postings:
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Water science research and education resourcesSTEM water science education
You will find 1,980 links to organizations that provide valuable information about water science, research, education and sanitation. This educational resource is extensive so it has been divided into categories listed below in order that you can navigate to pertinent information according to your needs. (You can click on header or image to navigate) Whether you use these resources for research or education, we hope that you become part of the solution that will bring clean healthy water for all people regardless of their social or economic status.
Water news archives – 450 articles-March~January 2013: click here
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Save the Water™
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Water contamination news: Fracking
Fracking with bad water.James Conca, Contributor / 2/04/2013 @ 2:21AM |www.forbes.com
So, you have a dwindling supply of fresh water for drinking and for wildlife, you have large amounts of contaminated water from old mining operations that we don’t know what to do with and are really expensive to clean-up, and you have the need for large amounts of water for the dramatic increase in fracking operations that don’t need to use fresh or potable water but are presently using both fresh and potable water from these very dwindling supplies. This looks to be an opportunity too good to pass up. Let’s use the mine water for fracking and stop using the precious fresh water. Sounds easy. And the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) is trying to do just that.
It remains to be seen if the policy is supported by environmental organizations and the Oil & Gas industry, but it should succeed as long as we can sort out the liability issues. MIW is a huge legacy problem from the mining industry. MIW includes either water contained in a mine pool or a surface discharge of water caused by mining activities and is known by many names: mine drainage water (MDW), acid mine drainage (AMD) or acid rock drainage (ARD). Although occasionally not acidic when flowing through and over carbonate rocks, mine waters are generally highly acidic. Most rock being mined has abundant iron sulfide minerals which oxidize when exposed to air and water. This liberates hydrogen ions for the acidity, turns insoluble sulfide into very soluble sulfate, and creates rust from reduced iron, a fascinating, if annoying, chemical process. There are many types of sulfide minerals, but pyrite and marcasite, the two structural forms of FeS2 that are especially common in coal regions, are the major acid-producers. Upon exposure to water and oxygen, these minerals oxidize to form acid-, iron- and sulfate-rich drainage. It becomes very hard to reverse this process and lock the metals up again, although it can be done. Pennsylvania’s en There are lots of abandoned coal mines. In the 1950s and 60s, companies just walked away from them, leaving behind a mess. Some mines caught on fire while others filled up with water that overflowed into streams and rivers. Coal waste mountains exposed to air started churning out acidic water, polluting groundwater and streams. According to the PADEP, over 300 million gallons of mine-polluted water flow into the State’s rivers and streams every day, resulting in more than 4,000 miles of biologically dead rivers and streams (StateImpact/NPR). Encouraging drillers to use this water to frack natural gas wells brings obvious environmental benefit. Last year, drillers in the U.S. used 40 billion gallons of fresh water to frack. This is almost half of the acid mine drainage generated each year. Pennsylvania is the second largest user behind Texas, so this policy would make a real difference. But it’s all about liability. No one wants to get sued for trying to do the right thing. So how to convince the drillers that they will not incur a major environmental liability?
As expected, drilling companies have been slow in taking up this method because they only need this water temporarily. Getting 50 years of liability for two weeks of water seems risky. Addressing this liability issue was the purpose of Pennsylvania’s Environmental Good Samaritan Act, which provides protection from civil liability for projects involving MIW. While not perfect, it is: “intended to encourage the improvement of land and water adversely affected by mining and oil and gas extraction, to aid in the protection of wildlife, to decrease soil erosion, to aid in the prevention and abatement of the pollution of rivers and streams, to protect and improve the environmental values of this Commonwealth and to eliminate or abate hazards to health and safety. It is the intent of the General Assembly to encourage voluntary reclamation of lands adversely affected by mining or oil or gas extraction. The purpose of this chapter is to improve water quality and to control and eliminate water pollution resulting from mining or oil or gas extraction or exploration by limiting the liability which could arise as a result of the voluntary reclamation of abandoned lands or the reduction and abatement of water pollution.” Meaning, the problem of MIW is so extensive and so intractable, that the State welcomes any attempts at helping even if they are not perfect, as long as they don’t make the problem worse. This is a practical approach that needs to be expanded on all fronts in all States so that “the perfect does not become the enemy of the good.” On the other hand, this Act is not intended to shield parties already responsible for treatment and clean-up of MIW or its sites, or who are held liable for other reasons. If you think the Environmental Good Samaritan Act isn’t safe enough, the driller can obtain a Consent Order and Agreement with PADEP under which PADEP would agree not to hold the user liable for long-term treatment obligations, so long as the user meets specific conditions spelled out ahead of time. These can be requirements for sampling and characterization of the water, as well as specific plans on how the water would be transported and stored. The Consent Order and Agreement would theoretically limit the user’s liability to the state, but would not address civil liability to third parties, like a landowner. Maybe a combination of the Act and the Agreement together would be sufficient. The best way for drillers to use this water is to estimate on the low side and make up the rest with other water that is not contaminated, such as storm water drainage or fresh water. Because most of the water actually used for fracking stays underground in what is already non-potable deep formation water, then if the driller does not use an access of water, there should be no significant liability. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Subcommittee on Shale Gas Production shares the prevailing view that the risk of fracturing fluid leakage into drinking water sources through fractures made in deep shale reservoirs is remote (DOE Shale Gas). As long as care is taken to properly drill and seal wells (A Good Cement Job), there should be no significant environmental impact from using MIW for the fracking. In addition, we have new technologies now for treating MIW, particularly new chemical filtering methods using natural materials in permeable reactive barriers that intersect the flow paths of MIW (Applied Geochemistry). Since the greatest difficulty in treatment is getting the contaminated water to the treatment system, collecting the water for fracking is half the battle. If it does pose a problem, it can be more easily treated at one point after use. This white paper is an excellent first step by a State to address environmental issues stemming from both MIW and fracking. In the end, however, States need to issue a general permit covering the use of MIW for fracking, perhaps even rewriting their Oil & Gas regulations completely to include these types of innovative methods directly. We need to encourage all beneficial strategies for correcting the mistakes of the past. Water news archives – 550 articles-March~January 2013: updated daily – click here - Supporting the water research and education programs of Save the Water™ is vital to our future generation’s health, your funding is needed today.
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Vol. V
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Water science research and education resourcesSTEM water science education
You will find 1,980 links to organizations that provide valuable information about water science, research, education and sanitation. This educational resource is extensive so it has been divided into categories listed below in order that you can navigate to pertinent information according to your needs. (You can click on header or image to navigate) Whether you use these resources for research or education, we hope that you become part of the solution that will bring clean healthy water for all people regardless of their social or economic status.
Water news archives – 450 articles-March~January 2013: click here
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Save the Water™
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Drinking water news – California
Drinking water experts to address contaminants found in water.California-Nevada Section – American Water Works Association news release / January 23, 2013
Best viewed using Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari web browsers (not Internet Explorer). Inorganic Contaminants Symposium to address drinking water treatment and analysis techniques. Drinking water experts will convene at the Sacramento Convention Center, Feb. 5 to 6 for a symposium focused on inorganic contaminants found in water. The Inorganic Contaminants Symposium will feature presentations and seminars led by renowned U.S. and international experts. Topics include: new techniques for treatment and analysis of drinking water, new challenges and risk assessment affecting the drinking water community. The event is hosted by the California-Nevada Section of the American Water Works Association (CA-NV AWWA).
“Some of the best research on water quality issues is happening here in California and we’re thrilled to host this international exchange of knowledge and information,” said Dr. Timothy Worley, executive director of CA-NV AWWA. “Water quality, research and treatment professionals are encouraged to attend and will find the diverse subject-matter timely and relevant to their everyday positions.” Symposium Chair John Consolvo, Philadelphia Water Department, added that while the section will manage all the logistics of the event, presenters will be drawn from across the U.S., Canada, Russia and the Netherlands. “The international scope of this conference remains unchanged, and the broad coverage of inorganic substances affecting different parts of the continent will continue to be a significant part of the program,” Consolvo said. The Water Research Foundation is coordinating with the CA-NV AWWA in planning a technical workshop the day prior to the symposium to make public the results of several related studies on hexavalent chromium, a widely occurring substance that will be regulated by the California Department of Public Health later in 2013. Worley praised the foundation for funding extensive research that will aid state and federal water quality regulators’ efforts to ensure the safety of drinking water. Registration is now open and discounts are available for regulators, professors and students. Water professionals are eligible to earn contact hours for their participation. For more information about registration, visit the CA-NV AWWA website. Source: CA-NV AWWA More Like This
Water education:Online Training
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Vol. V
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Water science research and education resources
You will find 1,980 links to organizations that provide valuable information about water science, research, education and sanitation. This educational resource is extensive so it has been divided into categories listed below in order that you can navigate to pertinent information according to your needs. (You can click on header or image to navigate) Whether you use these resources for research or education, we hope that you become part of the solution that will bring clean healthy water for all people regardless of their social or economic status.
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Global water news – education
Protecting global water sources.
Jan. 18–A report released this week finds that more countries are turning to environmental services programs to protect sensitive water sources. Facing increasing water scarcity, many countries are turning to environmental service payments to help mitigate the effects of climate change and pollution. A study released this week by research group Ecosystem Marketplace, titled “State of Water Resource Protection 2012,” noted that 80 percent of the world’s countries are facing issues related to threatened water security. “We are witnessing the first stages of a global response that could transform the ways in which we value and manage the world’s hydrologic resources,” said Michael Jenkins, CEO of Forest Trends, a conservation group that manages Ecosystem Marketplace. According to Marta Echavarria, a member of Ecosystem Marketplace’s advisory committee, Costa Rica is a pioneer of environmental service payment programs, established in the 1990s with the creation of the National Forestry Financing Fund, which provides landowners with financial incentives to protect forested areas. Other countries in the region, including Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil and Bolivia, have created similar programs, sometimes offering non-financial incentives. In Bolivia, for example, more than 500 families receive bee farms, fruit trees or other productive input in exchange for efforts to protect water sources. Ecuador pays farmers and indigenous communities to protect their hydrologic resources. From 2008 to 2011, initiatives to protect and restore forests, wetlands and other important ecosystems have doubled in number. The report covers 205 programs around the world, 21 of them in Latin America. Globally, the number of programs has increased by 100 in three years, totaling $8.2 billion in investment, a significantly greater amount than in 2008. Ecosystem Marketplace analysts noted that investing in programs to protect water at the source, rather than spending on treatment, could result in considerable savings for governments. It also helps to guarantee water security and provide environmental and social benefits to communities. “[These programs] definitely curb costs. If we don’t look for natural alternatives, eventually we’re going to have to invest heavily in building large water treatment plants or in transporting potable water long distances,” Echavarria told The Tico Times. Another problem Latin Americans face is a general lack of water treatment infrastructure. Coupled with the effects of pollution and climate change, the lack of treatment facilities is converting a region rich in hydrologic resources into one that is highly vulnerable to problems with accessing potable water. The study notes that China is a global leader in investing in programs to protect hydrologic resources at the source. The Asian giant accounts for 91 percent of global investments in environmental services programs protecting water. Chinese officials, for example, offer new health service benefits for residents in mountainous communities in exchange for better groundwater management, which they say will help improve potable water access. “The lack of secure water sources likely represents the greatest threat for continued economic growth [in China],” the report noted. In the United States, officials in New York chose not to invest heavily in new water treatment facilities, opting instead to implement compensation programs for farmers in the Catskills who agreed to work to reduce pollution in regional lakes, rivers and streams that provide New York City with potable water. Thanks to these efforts, New York had enough drinking water to make it through the recent Hurricane Sandy. The study also notes that 68 other environmental services programs operate in all of North America. “The benefits of these hydrologic programs extend well beyond water; they support biodiversity, reduce emissions and provide income to rural families,” said Genevieve Bennett, the report’s lead author. But private-sector participation in these types of programs remains limited, despite the fact that many companies have reported problems related to water availability. Most of these types of programs are operated by nongovernmental organizations or by governments. “It could very well be that many companies are taking a wait-and-see approach to see if these programs can be improved upon,” Bennett said. But Bennett believes that the market for hydrologic services investment is on the verge of considerable growth, particularly if the global economy begins to improve. “The best part of this report is that it tells us that these types of investments are real, they’re growing, and they don’t follow ideological lines. Countries with a neoliberal philosophy are implementing them along with capitalist countries and communist countries like China. We all have to protect our water sources,” Echavarria said. (c)2013 The Tico Times (San José, CRI) / Visit The Tico Times (San José, CRI) / Distributed by MCT Information Services / A service of YellowBrix, Inc.
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Water science research and education resources
You will find 1,980 links to organizations that provide valuable information about water science, research, education and sanitation. This educational resource is extensive so it has been divided into categories listed below in order that you can navigate to pertinent information according to your needs. (You can click on header or image to navigate) Whether you use these resources for research or education, we hope that you become part of the solution that will bring clean healthy water for all people regardless of their social or economic status.
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Drinking water contamination
St. Clair drops the ball on drinking water monitoring.Monday, December 31, 2012 / By Jim Bloch / Voice Reporter / Voice News Former St. Clair City Superintendent Scott Adkins said last year that St. Clair would continue to monitor river water coming into its water plant for chemical contamination even though the city quit the Drinking Water Monitoring System. But the monitoring equipment was removed, leaving residents and downstream communities vulnerable to chemical spills into the St. Clair River. Adkins took the city manager’s job in Roseville last February. (Photo by JIM BLOCH)St. Clair’s decision a year ago to discontinue its drinking water monitoring program created the biggest data gap in the Huron to Erie Drinking Water Monitoring System, effectively putting not only its own residents at increased risk, but also all of the residents downstream of city. “There was no federal money for monitoring and St. Clair chose not to come to the table,” said Bari Wrubel, supervisor of the Marysville Water and Wastewater Plants and chairman of the drinking water monitoring system. St. Clair provided the front line of defense in the event of a spill from any one of Sarnia’s four dozen plants in Chemical Valley, the source of more than 700 spills since 1986. “The US Geological Survey told us that, based on flow charts, St. Clair would be the first city that could detect a spill,” said Doug Martz, former head of the Macomb County Water Quality Board, who was the prime mover behind setting up the original network in 2006. “That’s my understanding, too,” said Wrubel. In other words, toxic spills from Chemical Valley first come ashore in St. Clair. If the water plant has no method of detecting the chemical contamination, it flows into the plant’s intake system and is distributed to residential users. Downstream plants are not notified of a spill because St. Clair cannot detect one. “Marysville can’t be the frontline because it’s directly across from the chemical plants on a river with a seven mile an hour current,” said Martz. St. Clair was the only water plant in the network that ran all four monitoring devices. It was the only city that used the expensive gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer, generally held to be the Cadillac of monitoring tools because it can detect specific chemicals – 27 in all. “All four were taken off line because of the cost,” said Annette DeMaria, engineer with Environmental Consultants and Technology, who helped set up the network and maintain the equipment. The city paid about $30,000 per year to maintain three devices and the web-based data system that linked the 13 plants and allowed them to notify each other of spills or anomalies in their readings. The three devices were a multi-parameter probe, a total organic carbon analyzer and a fluorometer. The GC/MS cost about $30,000 per year to operate and maintain, paid for by the federal grant that bought all of the equipment for the participating plants and paid to maintain it through 2010. Facing an ongoing budget crunch, St. Clair dropped out of the network about a year ago. Scott Adkins, the city superintendent who left for Roseville in February 2012, suggested the city would continue to monitor, even though it was not in the system. “We have not opted into the larger Macomb County consortium based on cost,” said Adkins at the Dec. 19, 2011, city council meeting. “Our estimated contribution was $30,000 just for the consultant.” Technically, the consortium stretched from Port Huron to Wyandotte and was not solely a Macomb County operation. The city council never voted on the issue. “The city of St. Clair continues to do water monitoring,” said Adkins. “We will continue to do so.” A month later, Adkins addressed the issue again. “There’s been a lot of concern and confusion about the water monitoring system,” said Adkins at the Jan. 15, 2012 city council meeting. “We are still participating in the regional water monitoring system. We still monitor the water on a real time basis. The portion we’re not participating in is the hiring of the consultant that was done through Macomb County, who is primarily handling the maintenance and calibration of the equipment in the system. What we’ve opted to do is to look at a local consultant who can do that calibration at a reduced cost and train our employees who we already have in-house to do that.” None of that happened. Adkins said while he cannot be held accountable for what the council did after his departure, he stands by the fact that it was the consultant group that they were not in favor of, for monetary purposes. He also said some of the equipment for the water monitoring system hadn’t been used for some time. We never discounted the importance of this“We never discounted the importance of this,” he said of the water monitoring system. ECT initially trained plant operators to maintain their own equipment, but St. Clair apparently did not take advantage of it. Wrubel said Marysville saves as much as $6,000 per year maintaining its two pieces of monitoring equipment. There is no question that money was tight in St. Clair last year and will be again this year. However, the city spent $9,874 last year to provide hanging flower baskets for many of the city’s lampposts and flower boxes for the M-29 drawbridge. Alternatively, a small addition to water bills could fund the equipment, which is what happens in Marine City. Interim City Superintendent Mike Booth did not return a phone call and e-mails about the situation in St. Clair, including whether the council would reconsider joining the network. When St. Clair left the network, its monitoring equipment was removed from the water plant. ECT’s DeMaria said the unused equipment is being stored in Mount Clemens. Marysville later acquired St. Clair’s fluorometer. One of Wrubel’s goals for the network in the near future is to work with Great Lakes Observatory System to perform updated modeling of spills in the river. Ideally, Wrubel would like to see a GIS map that would be able to help predict when a spill would reach a specific water plant. But in order to do that, plants have to know that a spill has occurred. With no equipment in St. Clair, the first point at which a Chemical Valley spill would reach the U.S., a spill could occur and no one would know about it until it affected the drinking water. Jim Bloch is a freelance writer. Contact him at bloch.jim@gmail.com. The Voice (voicenews.com)
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Contaminated drinking water crisis
Officials: flood waters could be health risk.Jocelyn Maminta / Updated: Tuesday, 30 Oct 2012, 7:11 PM EDT / (WTNH) News 8 Save the Water™ provides detailed information by leading health organizations on how to avoid serious health risks due to severe flooding contaminating drinking water sources. (WTNH) — State environmental and health officials are putting out a warning to state residents: flood waters from Sandy could be a health risk. The problem is that raw sewage discharge from treatment plants and pumping stations. The pumping station in West Haven on Beach Street was flooded by Sandy. It was closed down for a while Tuesday, but it is back up again. A second one caught on fire that too is operating again. The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection says flooding and power outages led to the raw sewage to flow into Long Island Sound and other waterways. Deputy Fire Chief Scott Schwartz is the Emergency Management Director of West Haven. “What’s the basic health risk for people,” asked News 8′s Jocelyn Maminta. “Just the contaminated sewage that would be leaking in there so they’d want to stay away from that water in their basement,” Schwartz said. “There’s a lot of other contaminants down there, but that would be the one that we would not want the bacteria to be leaching into anything.” Health experts say raw sewage gets diluted in large bodies of water so there are usually no cleanup plans. The bottom line is to stay away from flood waters and assume they are contaminated. To help out, especially private well owners who do not have access to clean, safe water, the Connecticut Water Company is setting up free water filling stations in communities with widespread power outages along the shoreline and in the eastern part of the state. It will be self service and open 24 hours. For more information and a list of the free water filling stations visit the Connecticut Water website . After a Flood: General advice from the UK on what to do after a flood has happened.
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