Water-related news from around the world delivered right to you. Two stories about drinking water–one in the USA and the other in Iraq, Australia’s continued efforts to conserve their already scarce water supply, Coke’s success in cutting it’s carbon footprint, and lastly, a laundry in Seattle is saving water and money with a bit of ingenuity. Naturally, if you’ve noticed any other water-related stories this week, don’t keep them a secret, share them by posting a comment below.

time for stricter drinking water standards?

The quality, or lack thereof, of drinking water in America has been put front and center with media coverage such as the New York Time’s Toxic Waters series. Fortunately, the government is listening and today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it’s planning on stepping up drinking water system monitoring and action when a problem is found. The revised rule should reduce the amount of waterborne pathogens that make their way into the fresh water supply causing a variety of ailments from abdominal discomfort to kidney failure to hepatitis. There’s a 60 day pubic comment period, so if you’re concerned about the quality of your water, perhaps you should let the EPA know you support stronger regulations.

the quest for clean drinking water

Now consider for a moment, the plight of the Iraqi people. Despite fact that America has poured billions into the country, Reuter’s Aseel Kami explains that for 7.5 million Iraqis there is no safe, clean drinking water, and it’s certainly not coming out of the kitchen sink. The fact is that the infrastructure is just not there and what is there is broken or heavily damaged. The International Red Cross delivers hundreds of thousands of liters of water each day. Some neighborhoods were even built without being connected to the city’s water system. While the Baghdad government says they’ll end water scarcity in two years, many aren’t so sure.

learning from australia’s never-ending drought

It’s safe to say that Australia’s 12-year drought is one of the worst in the world right now. Lakes have dried up, rivers are always at least 40 percent lower than before, crops are failing, and the forecasts are not optimistic. Water scarcity is now a way of life for folks Down Under. Of course, it’s not like the country is going to pick up and move, so they’re finding ways to manage their water resources. In New South Wales, the most populous state in Australia, they’re investing in water recycling projects. For example, they plan to increase recycled water use in agricultural irrigation. And it’s not like the Aussies aren’t well ahead of other developed nations, they already use 27 billion liters of recycled water for farming, industrial, and households. As water scarcity effects more and more regions, no doubt governments will be looking to Australia to see what’s worked.

coke’s reducing water, using recycled plastic and getting greener

Last year Coca-Cola announced it was making a commitment to reducing its carbon footprint. As one of the largest multinational corporations, and one which often operates in water-scarce areas, Coke’s improvements stand to have a significant impact. This week, Coke has issued an update. Via the company’s Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability (CRS) Report, Coke shows advances in reducing energy use, water use, increased recycling, and an overall drop in the company’s carbon footprint. Of course, we’re always looking at water management, and it now takes 1.67 liters of water to produce a single liter of soda (or any other of their products). That’s down 3.5 percent over two years ago. In addition to their own improved efficiencies, Coke invested invested $12.7 million in a global partnership with U.S. Agency for International Development to support water scarcity and quality in Africa.

keeping linens clean with less water

The Bellingham Herald shares a story of a small business in Washington state used to use 50,000 gallons of water each day to clean and sterilize hospital linens. But Sterile Surgical Systems President Greg Gicewicz wanted to save water and money. Gicewicz installed a $115,000 water treatment and recycling system the company installed in November and recently added a rainwater capture system to his roof. Now, the business only needs 15,000 gallons a day. On top of all the water he’s not paying for, the company’s sewer bills are also lower. Gicewicz expects the systems to pay for itself in only a year. Well done, Sterile Surgical Systems!

photo credits: dirty tap water Jenny Lee Silver/Flickr, dry Murray River Shovelling Son/Flickr

Each day more than a billion people cannot just go to the tap and get a drink of water. They can’t toss a load of dirty clothes into the washer and walk away. Two billion people don’t even have access to a toilet. According to the United Nations, water scarcity is a daily nightmare for one in five people on the planet.

The crazy thing is, that this is a problem the world can solve. While there are no shortage of organizations working to bring safe drinking water and sanitation to everyone, we have a very long way to go. Even now, in 2010, every 15 seconds a child dies from a water-related disease.

A group we’d like you to know about is the British non-governmental organization (NGO) WaterAid. Since 1981, the organization works on both a local level, in areas without clean water or sanitation, and on legislative issues in the U.K.. WaterAid’s vision “is a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation.” Throughout the years, they’ve had some influential help. During the 1990s, Prince Charles became WaterAid’s first president and he continues to support their work today. In 2008/09 they raised about $62.7 million dollars (£43.8 million).

This year they are working on raising awareness of the upcoming world-wide summit reviewing the progress of the Millennium Development Goals. WaterAid want to keep the pressure on international leaders to make real and significant improvements for water quality and sanitation. So, they launched a contest for young filmmakers in association with Cannes Lions and YouTube. Entrants had 48 hours to create a one minute ad to show people why it is important for the Millennium Development Goals to be achieved. The films had to be specifically about water and sanitation.

The winning ad will be announced on May 31, and the lucky filmmakers will win a trip to Cannes. Here is our favorite from the over 500 submissions:

We can’t even imagine a life without clean, abundant water. What do you think it will take to see the Millennium Development Goals make progress? Will we ever have a world where everyone has access to clean water and good sanitation? Post your thoughts below. Oh, and if you thought one of the other videos from the Cannes Lion / YouTube selection is better than our pick, share the link with us in the comments.

Greenpeace’s ongoing efforts to pressure governments and companies to stop pollution paid off. Just last month, Chinese authorities blacklisted 20 factories that were spilling toxins into the Pearl River Delta. In fact, three of the offenders were part of an investigation Greenpeace conducted last year in their Poisoning the Pearl report. Which, no doubt played a role in the government’s action.

One of the companies blacklisted was a textile factory. The Qingyuan Top Dragon Textile Company was, according to the water samples collected by Greenpeace, discharging manganese at levels well above the allowed levels. Manganese exposure can lead to brain damage. In addition to the manganese, the factory was spewing arsenic and a whole slew of other metals and pollutants out with their waste water.

According to Greenpeace, “being blacklisted means greater scrutiny on these companies and their industrial discharges which could in the future translate to deadlines by the government for the companies to stop polluting the Pearl River Delta. This is a warning to the factories and it may also affect the company’s financial status in terms of ability to launch a stock market listing or apply for a loan.”

Of course, punishing these 20 companies is only a drop in the bucket. When over 70 percent of China’s water is polluted, it’s safe to say the government has been slow to set regulations and take action against the untold number of factories dumping millions of gallons of polluted, toxic waste into China’s water.

If anyone knows who contracts with the Qingyuan Top Dragon Textile Company, please leave it in the comments below. It would be very good to know if their garments were ending up on the shelves here in the United States.

The New York Times ran a story yesterday about the abundance of dirty water running through the pipes of American homes. In fact, according to the article, “20 percent of the nation’s water treatment systems have violated key provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act over the last five years.”

Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard about this problem. The Times’ on-going series Toxic Waters has talked about this issue a number of times this year. Earlier this year, Frontline on PBS documentary Poisoned Waters did an excellent job documenting the extent of the problem.

What is clear is that the U.S. government and the Environmental Protection Agency  (EPA) have not put our safety first, despite the enactment of the 1972 Clean Water Act.

While we all have a lot to do, especially at this time of the year, we think it’s worthwhile for you to take a few minutes to do what the EPA doesn’t seem to be willing to do: enforce the clean water standards.

Educate

A good place to start is the EPA’s website which lays out the national drinking water standards.  Another valuable resource is the American Water Resources Association’s May 2007 edition of their Water Resources IMPACT magazine, which they have made available for download. It’s quite intense, but if you’re really into the details, they’ve got them for you.

Verify

Check to see if your own local water system is providing clean, safe drinking water or if they are one of the many violators. Often you can simply pull up your local water company’s website and look for the most recent water quality report. Of course, if you can’t find it online, call!

Act

If you find that you’re an unlucky customer of a violating water treatment system, don’t just sit there. And just buying a water filter isn’t good enough either. Take action.

1. Write a letter to the water company demanding to know what steps they are taking to remove the contaminants from their system. Ask your neighborhoods to sign it as well.
2. Write a letter to the editor of your local paper. Make sure your entire community is aware of the problem. It affects everyone.
3. Join or start a local watershed organization. You can see what’s available in your area using the EPA’s Surf Your Watershed tool.
4. If things are really bad, take legal action. The Poisoned Waters website says:

Leon Billings, former U.S. Senate staff member and the law’s co-author, said the provision is ‘absolutely the single most important provision in clean water and air law in the vast narrative of environmental law enacted since,’ because it introduced accountability to the government — meaning EPA had to implement the congressional mandate. ‘If they failed to do so,’ Billings says, ‘citizens could go to court and force them to do so.’

5. Of course, you should also make sure you’re not polluting the local water system. You can take your car to a car wash, refrain from rinsing off your driveway, stop using toxic chemicals in and outside your home. More tips are in this post.  And those are just the tip of the iceberg.

We’d love to know what you found when you looked up your local water quality measurements. If your water is healthy, great, work to keep it that way. If not, what are you going to do about it?

photo credit: Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District

+ Proof that water conservation works—even in the desert.

+ Designer Jurgen Bey wants you to pull up a trunk and get comfy with his eco-friendly bench:

+ The Cash for Clunkers program gets a much needed infusion from the Senate.

+ The EPA explains why conservation is critical, even with a renewable resource like water.