Topic 1: Filtration systems: ...such as those sold by Brita and pur owned respectively by Clorox and Procter and Gamble are good at removing highly polar molecules (the ones that make water smell and taste unpleasant) by attracting them to activated charcoal but not so good at removing microorganisms and toxic metals. ...although, pur now has a 3-stage filter where the third stage is a micro-porous filter that removes most (99.9%) of the most common harmful pathogens...
Topic 2: The 32% of Americans that "definitely know" where their water comes from is only slightly lower than our class at the beginning of the semester...
Topic 3: The political "debate" over perchlorate is largely "fueled" by those that use it...
Topic 4: Big Spring- Lexington almost had its own Poland Springs just NE of campus. Nestlé, had taken an option to purchase Big Spring with plans to consider building a major bottling facility in Rockbridge County (RACC- scroll down) back in 2003.
Topic 5: Bottlemania homework- brief discussion...
Topic 6: Reading for today 'How Bad For The Environment Can Throwing Away One Plastic Bottle Be?' 30 Million People Wonder Aside from the additional water that is required to produce bottled water (2-3 liters per liter of bottled water), and the energy that is required in its production (one liter of water requires about 0.25 liters of oil in energy), the another major environmental misdeed on the resume of bottled water is the waste generated by the packaging.
Though bottled water containers are recyclable, the fact is that the rate of recycling is quite low (around 12%). This means that the vast majority of bottles are ending up in landfills or worse. ...and this is aside from issues related to downcycling and a weakening market for recycled goods
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
There were no .ppt slides shown today in lecture.
Showing posts with label Lecture Summary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lecture Summary. Show all posts
Friday, April 9, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Summary for Wednesday April 7
According to the taste test from Monday… Well water was the “least favorite” and water from the fountain water in the science center was the “favorite”.
Today in lecture, we discussed filtration processes behind different tap water sources, possible contaminants in water and how these contaminants are regulated. Drink wisely.
New York City has the largest drinking-water system in the country, providing NYC with the “most delectable water in the civilized world” from its upstate surface water reservoirs. The EPA doesn’t even require NYC to filter their water because it of such good quality and the watershed is so well protected. NYC has over 2,000 sq. mi. of watersheds, 19 reservoirs, 3 controlled lakes and 965 monitoring stations, which are checked 7 days/week for: microorganisms, harmful chemicals.
Kansas City receives water from the end of a river system, with no control over watershed—resulting in “chocolate Yoo-Hoo” water. Yet, Kansas City does a really great job cleaning its water:
1. Add Ferric Sulfate and a cationic polymer (neutralizes sediment electrical charge)
2. Add Potassium Permanganate (counteract bad tastes and smells)
3. Add Chloramine (soften water, raise pH)
4. Softening basin where organics and chemicals combine to form “floaties” of viruses and bacteria
5. CO2 added to absorb Atrazine (harmful contaminant common in KC water)
6. Add Fluoride and send to filter gallery for distribution
Water can be contaminated with atrazine and excess nutrients from fertilizers used for farming. The production of ethanol can result in water with high sulfide, chloride, and iron concentrations. Also, arsenic and perchlorate have become growing threats to safe American drinking water. According to the Environmental Working Group, other unregulated contaminants found in tap water from 42 states do not have safety standards, but have known health effects.
Domestic plumbing issues include: outdated infrastructure (lead solders) and the accumulation of biofilms in water storage tanks, resulting in bacterial colonies.
Public plumbing issues include: 250,000- 300,000 water mains break per year, flooding can contaminate water systems and giant sinkholes from antiquated cast-iron mains.
Bottled water is popular. In 2006, Americans bought nearly $11 billion worth of bottled water, but as sales grow, so does the criticism of bottled water. 17 million barrels of oil per year are used to make US water bottles, which is equivalent to fuel 1.3 million cars for a year. In 2007, Poland Springs alone burned almost a million gallons of diesel fuel. If you add in the transport of 1 billion bottles per week and the energy needed to fill, chill, and dispose—the whole process is equivalent to filling each bottle produced ¼ full of oil.
The EPA monitors tap water:
-Allows certain levels of contaminants
-Required annual reports informing of contaminant presence
-Disinfects and tests for cryptogiardia and viruses
-Tests tap water constantly throughout the year, reports results
The FDA monitors bottled water:
-Allows same levels of contaminants
-Not required disclose contaminant information
-Do not need to test for cryptogiardia and viruses because it comes from “clean” sources
-Bottling plants self-test and can be inspected as rarely as once every 5-10 years
Third Option: Filtered water. Water filters contain charcoal and reduce certain chemicals (chlorine, lead), but do not remove pharmaceuticals or perchlorate. The disposal process of filters can be harmful to the environment because most people don’t return them to filtering companies to be recycled, so filters end up in landfills.
Bottled water is not all bad? The International Bottled Water Association argues that water is a healthy alternative to soda and juice and that bottled water uses just 0.02% of world’s groundwater. Bottled water is also an “Emergency Card” because when tap water isn’t an option, bottled water is the safest fallback.
Reading Assignments for today were:
China is facing widespread water pollution due to industrialization, economic growth, urbanization, and inadequate investment in water infrastructure. Only 5% of municipal wastewater and 17% of industrial discharge is treated, meaning 700 million people are drinking contaminated water.
Charleston, WV has severely contaminated tap water. About 1 in 10 Americans have been exposed to dangerously contaminated drinking water, but less than 3% of water violations are actually punished.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/us/13water.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2
Slides shown in lecture today are available as a .pdf on Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
For our final reading assignment of the term , please read 'How Bad For The Environment Can Throwing Away One Plastic Bottle Be?' 30 Million People Wonder and EPA Didn't Know Anybody Was Still Drinking Water, both from The Onion. If you are unfamiliar with The Onion, ask one of your classmates about it...
Today in lecture, we discussed filtration processes behind different tap water sources, possible contaminants in water and how these contaminants are regulated. Drink wisely.
New York City has the largest drinking-water system in the country, providing NYC with the “most delectable water in the civilized world” from its upstate surface water reservoirs. The EPA doesn’t even require NYC to filter their water because it of such good quality and the watershed is so well protected. NYC has over 2,000 sq. mi. of watersheds, 19 reservoirs, 3 controlled lakes and 965 monitoring stations, which are checked 7 days/week for: microorganisms, harmful chemicals.
Kansas City receives water from the end of a river system, with no control over watershed—resulting in “chocolate Yoo-Hoo” water. Yet, Kansas City does a really great job cleaning its water:
1. Add Ferric Sulfate and a cationic polymer (neutralizes sediment electrical charge)
2. Add Potassium Permanganate (counteract bad tastes and smells)
3. Add Chloramine (soften water, raise pH)
4. Softening basin where organics and chemicals combine to form “floaties” of viruses and bacteria
5. CO2 added to absorb Atrazine (harmful contaminant common in KC water)
6. Add Fluoride and send to filter gallery for distribution
Water can be contaminated with atrazine and excess nutrients from fertilizers used for farming. The production of ethanol can result in water with high sulfide, chloride, and iron concentrations. Also, arsenic and perchlorate have become growing threats to safe American drinking water. According to the Environmental Working Group, other unregulated contaminants found in tap water from 42 states do not have safety standards, but have known health effects.
Domestic plumbing issues include: outdated infrastructure (lead solders) and the accumulation of biofilms in water storage tanks, resulting in bacterial colonies.
Public plumbing issues include: 250,000- 300,000 water mains break per year, flooding can contaminate water systems and giant sinkholes from antiquated cast-iron mains.
Bottled water is popular. In 2006, Americans bought nearly $11 billion worth of bottled water, but as sales grow, so does the criticism of bottled water. 17 million barrels of oil per year are used to make US water bottles, which is equivalent to fuel 1.3 million cars for a year. In 2007, Poland Springs alone burned almost a million gallons of diesel fuel. If you add in the transport of 1 billion bottles per week and the energy needed to fill, chill, and dispose—the whole process is equivalent to filling each bottle produced ¼ full of oil.
The EPA monitors tap water:
-Allows certain levels of contaminants
-Required annual reports informing of contaminant presence
-Disinfects and tests for cryptogiardia and viruses
-Tests tap water constantly throughout the year, reports results
The FDA monitors bottled water:
-Allows same levels of contaminants
-Not required disclose contaminant information
-Do not need to test for cryptogiardia and viruses because it comes from “clean” sources
-Bottling plants self-test and can be inspected as rarely as once every 5-10 years
Third Option: Filtered water. Water filters contain charcoal and reduce certain chemicals (chlorine, lead), but do not remove pharmaceuticals or perchlorate. The disposal process of filters can be harmful to the environment because most people don’t return them to filtering companies to be recycled, so filters end up in landfills.
Bottled water is not all bad? The International Bottled Water Association argues that water is a healthy alternative to soda and juice and that bottled water uses just 0.02% of world’s groundwater. Bottled water is also an “Emergency Card” because when tap water isn’t an option, bottled water is the safest fallback.
Reading Assignments for today were:
China is facing widespread water pollution due to industrialization, economic growth, urbanization, and inadequate investment in water infrastructure. Only 5% of municipal wastewater and 17% of industrial discharge is treated, meaning 700 million people are drinking contaminated water.
Charleston, WV has severely contaminated tap water. About 1 in 10 Americans have been exposed to dangerously contaminated drinking water, but less than 3% of water violations are actually punished.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/us/13water.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2
Slides shown in lecture today are available as a .pdf on Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
For our final reading assignment of the term , please read 'How Bad For The Environment Can Throwing Away One Plastic Bottle Be?' 30 Million People Wonder and EPA Didn't Know Anybody Was Still Drinking Water, both from The Onion. If you are unfamiliar with The Onion, ask one of your classmates about it...
Monday, April 5, 2010
Summary for Monday April 5th
Today we discussed the first few chapters of Elizabeth Royte’s book, “Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It.” Discussing the history of bottled water and current trends in the industry, we gave a brief outline of the basics of the beginning of Royte’s book.
1. The History of Bottled Water
a. Royte emphasizes the fact that “the tap is alien to today’s youth.” Bottled water today is everywhere and everyone appears to be drinking it by the gallon. In fact, US sales of bottled water were 10.8 billion in 2006, a figure that surpasses both sales of beer and milk. Royte predicts soda will be next by 2011.
b. Water diversion has been occurring since the Roman times. By the 1700s water became popular for recreational and supposed medicinal purposes.
c. Royte traces the concept of “water chic” back to Perrier. Working with the British knight Sir Saint-John Harmsworth, Dr. Louis Perrier developed the water into an iconic brand at the end of the 1800s. Harmsworth started marketing the water as chic to British consumers, who appropriate the water as a status symbol. With the invention of the iconic green bottle, Perrier became a marketing wonder and starts the worldwide bottled water market.
2. Bottled water has become a status symbol/ fashion accessory/ and huge money maker
a. Bottled water is also a huge money maker for restaurants. It has the highest markup price of any item on a restaurant menu, and the restaurant industry makes between $200 and $250 million per year on bottled water sales alone.
3. Water Branding
a. In actuality, 44% of bottled water comes from municipal sources (25% according to the NRDC.
b. A new type of sustainable (bottled) water is emerging from Singapore: NEWater. This is reused wastewater. The popularity of this brand is yet to be seen. The success of this brand depends on excellent PR and marketing strategy.
4. The genius of the bottled water industry lies in its PR and marketing teams.
The discussion was then moved to specifically discuss a current water war in Fryeburg, Maine which Royte continuously refers back to in her book.
1. Fryeburg, Maine and the Ward’s Brook Aquifer
a. The Ward’s Brook Aquifer near Fryeburg, Maine can hold 8 billion gallons of water. Town and two commercial extractors pump out approximately 800,000 gallons per day from this aquifer.
b. Royte tells the story of Howard Dearborn, a local man who lives on Lovewell Pond, who accuses Poland Spring (a part of the Nestle corporation) of disrupting the ecosystem of the pond and of reducing the health of the pond. Because so much water is being extracted from the aquifer, there is a reduced amount of water flowing into the pond and this negatively affects the habitat. Hiring a hydrogeologist for his own investigative purposes as well as using his own well as an example, Dearborn crafts an argument against Poland Spring.
c. Local environmental costs are hard to define.
d. Nestle spends a lot of money hiring hydrogeologists to determine how much water can be used for spring water in the area. However, much of their research is based on computer modeling, which has its definite flaws. Nestle also has the money to hire hydrogeologists who will say whatever Nestle tells them to, causing Royte to refer to such hydrogeologists as “hydrostitutes.”
2. The Fryeburg Water Company was started in 1883 to supply the town with spring water. In 1995, the water infrastructure had to be updated and the discovery of the size of the Ward’s Brook aquifer led the heard of the water company to start making money off the aquifer. Starting the dummy company “Pure Mountain Spring,” the owners of the company began selling water to Poland Spring at incredibly high rates.
3. A number of ethical questions are raised: is it right to take a public resource and sell it? What does Nestle leave for the community? Et cetera…
4. Royte uses the situation in Fryeburg as a small example of a worldwide issue. Although the local community of Fryeburg was able to take measures against Nestle, it is still a David versus Goliath story. The privatization of water becomes a democratic issue and Royte insists we need to use stories such as the fight between Fryeburg and Nestle as an example of how large corporations can take advantage of local resources.
5. Royte emphasizes the fact that we need to resume drinking tap water!
We concluded with a small discussion of the assigned reading by Noel Gallagher, “Challenges Piling Up for Poland Spring.” This article reviewed a Maine state law enacted in 2007 which requires a more public review of extraction permit applications, regulates the impact of commercial extraction on the watershed, sets sustainability standards, and starts a new watershed and drinking water management program.
Also included in our presentation was a taste test of various bottled waters, tap water, spring water, and well water. Preliminary conclusions indicate that people notice very little difference between the two. Furthermore, FIJI water was specifically discussed. FIJI water is actually from Fiji, but this presents a sad reality that this expensive water is being extracted from a country with only a 48% rate of access to water sources. To see an example of “green washing” done by this company, just look at www.fijigreen.com.
Slides shown in lecture today are available as a .pdf on Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Please read Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering by Charles Duhigg and Water Pollution and Human Health in China by Wu et al.. for Wednesday.
1. The History of Bottled Water
a. Royte emphasizes the fact that “the tap is alien to today’s youth.” Bottled water today is everywhere and everyone appears to be drinking it by the gallon. In fact, US sales of bottled water were 10.8 billion in 2006, a figure that surpasses both sales of beer and milk. Royte predicts soda will be next by 2011.
b. Water diversion has been occurring since the Roman times. By the 1700s water became popular for recreational and supposed medicinal purposes.
c. Royte traces the concept of “water chic” back to Perrier. Working with the British knight Sir Saint-John Harmsworth, Dr. Louis Perrier developed the water into an iconic brand at the end of the 1800s. Harmsworth started marketing the water as chic to British consumers, who appropriate the water as a status symbol. With the invention of the iconic green bottle, Perrier became a marketing wonder and starts the worldwide bottled water market.
2. Bottled water has become a status symbol/ fashion accessory/ and huge money maker
a. Bottled water is also a huge money maker for restaurants. It has the highest markup price of any item on a restaurant menu, and the restaurant industry makes between $200 and $250 million per year on bottled water sales alone.
3. Water Branding
a. In actuality, 44% of bottled water comes from municipal sources (25% according to the NRDC.
b. A new type of sustainable (bottled) water is emerging from Singapore: NEWater. This is reused wastewater. The popularity of this brand is yet to be seen. The success of this brand depends on excellent PR and marketing strategy.
4. The genius of the bottled water industry lies in its PR and marketing teams.
The discussion was then moved to specifically discuss a current water war in Fryeburg, Maine which Royte continuously refers back to in her book.
1. Fryeburg, Maine and the Ward’s Brook Aquifer
a. The Ward’s Brook Aquifer near Fryeburg, Maine can hold 8 billion gallons of water. Town and two commercial extractors pump out approximately 800,000 gallons per day from this aquifer.
b. Royte tells the story of Howard Dearborn, a local man who lives on Lovewell Pond, who accuses Poland Spring (a part of the Nestle corporation) of disrupting the ecosystem of the pond and of reducing the health of the pond. Because so much water is being extracted from the aquifer, there is a reduced amount of water flowing into the pond and this negatively affects the habitat. Hiring a hydrogeologist for his own investigative purposes as well as using his own well as an example, Dearborn crafts an argument against Poland Spring.
c. Local environmental costs are hard to define.
d. Nestle spends a lot of money hiring hydrogeologists to determine how much water can be used for spring water in the area. However, much of their research is based on computer modeling, which has its definite flaws. Nestle also has the money to hire hydrogeologists who will say whatever Nestle tells them to, causing Royte to refer to such hydrogeologists as “hydrostitutes.”
2. The Fryeburg Water Company was started in 1883 to supply the town with spring water. In 1995, the water infrastructure had to be updated and the discovery of the size of the Ward’s Brook aquifer led the heard of the water company to start making money off the aquifer. Starting the dummy company “Pure Mountain Spring,” the owners of the company began selling water to Poland Spring at incredibly high rates.
3. A number of ethical questions are raised: is it right to take a public resource and sell it? What does Nestle leave for the community? Et cetera…
4. Royte uses the situation in Fryeburg as a small example of a worldwide issue. Although the local community of Fryeburg was able to take measures against Nestle, it is still a David versus Goliath story. The privatization of water becomes a democratic issue and Royte insists we need to use stories such as the fight between Fryeburg and Nestle as an example of how large corporations can take advantage of local resources.
5. Royte emphasizes the fact that we need to resume drinking tap water!
We concluded with a small discussion of the assigned reading by Noel Gallagher, “Challenges Piling Up for Poland Spring.” This article reviewed a Maine state law enacted in 2007 which requires a more public review of extraction permit applications, regulates the impact of commercial extraction on the watershed, sets sustainability standards, and starts a new watershed and drinking water management program.
Also included in our presentation was a taste test of various bottled waters, tap water, spring water, and well water. Preliminary conclusions indicate that people notice very little difference between the two. Furthermore, FIJI water was specifically discussed. FIJI water is actually from Fiji, but this presents a sad reality that this expensive water is being extracted from a country with only a 48% rate of access to water sources. To see an example of “green washing” done by this company, just look at www.fijigreen.com.
Slides shown in lecture today are available as a .pdf on Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Please read Clean Water Laws Are Neglected, at a Cost in Suffering by Charles Duhigg and Water Pollution and Human Health in China by Wu et al.. for Wednesday.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Summary for Friday April 2nd
Topic 1: Blue Covenant HW assignment- We took an extended look at the homework assignment that was due today and learned that:
1. There is no relationship between the renewable water resource per capita in a country and the % of the population that has access to an improved water source.
2. There is a positive correlation between the per capita GDP of a country and the % of the population that has access to an improved water source that levels out such that almost all of the residents of countries with a per capita GDP that is twice that of the world average have access to and improved water source.
3. There is a stronger positive correlation between the per capita GDP of a country and the % of the population that has access to sanitation that levels out slightly later than the rate of access to an improved water source. The most recent numbers for access to sanitation are staggeringly low with 2.6 billion lacking access to regular sanitary services and 1.1 billion currently practicing "open defecation".
4. While there are countries throughout the globe that have 100% access to water, the regions of high water coverage are Anglo-America, Northern and Western Europe. The 30 or so countries with the worst water coverage are also spread throughout the globe but are concentrated largely in Africa with several in Central Asia.
We also looked at one additional plot of % access s to sanitation as a function to something called the corruption perceptions index and found that a score of 6 or more (out of 10 with the USA receiving a 7.5) virtually guarantees universal access to sanitation while sanitation availability in countries receiving a score lower than 6 cannot be correlated reliably with CPI.
Topic 2: …brief discussion on the role of population growth on water stress- particularly when many of the areas of high predicted growth are also areas of present and anticipated water shortage.
Topic 3: Water as a source of international conflict- We looked at why water has such a potential as a source of international conflicts and examined a few examples of past or potential international conflicts involving water around the globe.
Lake Chad (Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon) –draining of the lake due to diversion for irrigation in a very dry part of the world; excellent water-specific tragedy of the commons examples
Jordan River (Israel, Jordan, The West Bank) –excellent example of longitudinal (upstream-downstream) sharing issues
The Euphrates (Turkey, Syria) –another example of longitudinal sharing difficulties with possible biblical connotations
Brahmaputra River (China, India, Bangladesh)- tension over (possible) Chinese plans for diversion.
Okavango River Basin (Angola, Botswana, Namibia)-Proposed Nambian pipeline to divert water from the wet inland to dry coastal areas
Ganges (India, Bangladesh)- tension due to illegal emigration from Bangladesh into India due to seasonal flooding.
Six major international rivers (India and Pakistan)- more longitudinal sharing difficulties…
…and these are just a few of many examples…
Slides shown in lecture today are available as a .pdf on Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Please read The Truth About Water Wars by Maywa Montenegro, a collection of brief comments from water resource researchers about the role of water in conflict and Challenges piling up for Poland Spring by Noel Gallagher (no, not that Noel Gallagher).
1. There is no relationship between the renewable water resource per capita in a country and the % of the population that has access to an improved water source.
2. There is a positive correlation between the per capita GDP of a country and the % of the population that has access to an improved water source that levels out such that almost all of the residents of countries with a per capita GDP that is twice that of the world average have access to and improved water source.
3. There is a stronger positive correlation between the per capita GDP of a country and the % of the population that has access to sanitation that levels out slightly later than the rate of access to an improved water source. The most recent numbers for access to sanitation are staggeringly low with 2.6 billion lacking access to regular sanitary services and 1.1 billion currently practicing "open defecation".
4. While there are countries throughout the globe that have 100% access to water, the regions of high water coverage are Anglo-America, Northern and Western Europe. The 30 or so countries with the worst water coverage are also spread throughout the globe but are concentrated largely in Africa with several in Central Asia.
We also looked at one additional plot of % access s to sanitation as a function to something called the corruption perceptions index and found that a score of 6 or more (out of 10 with the USA receiving a 7.5) virtually guarantees universal access to sanitation while sanitation availability in countries receiving a score lower than 6 cannot be correlated reliably with CPI.
Topic 2: …brief discussion on the role of population growth on water stress- particularly when many of the areas of high predicted growth are also areas of present and anticipated water shortage.
Topic 3: Water as a source of international conflict- We looked at why water has such a potential as a source of international conflicts and examined a few examples of past or potential international conflicts involving water around the globe.
Lake Chad (Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon) –draining of the lake due to diversion for irrigation in a very dry part of the world; excellent water-specific tragedy of the commons examples
Jordan River (Israel, Jordan, The West Bank) –excellent example of longitudinal (upstream-downstream) sharing issues
The Euphrates (Turkey, Syria) –another example of longitudinal sharing difficulties with possible biblical connotations
Brahmaputra River (China, India, Bangladesh)- tension over (possible) Chinese plans for diversion.
Okavango River Basin (Angola, Botswana, Namibia)-Proposed Nambian pipeline to divert water from the wet inland to dry coastal areas
Ganges (India, Bangladesh)- tension due to illegal emigration from Bangladesh into India due to seasonal flooding.
Six major international rivers (India and Pakistan)- more longitudinal sharing difficulties…
…and these are just a few of many examples…
Slides shown in lecture today are available as a .pdf on Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Please read The Truth About Water Wars by Maywa Montenegro, a collection of brief comments from water resource researchers about the role of water in conflict and Challenges piling up for Poland Spring by Noel Gallagher (no, not that Noel Gallagher).
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Summary for Wednesday March 31
Below is a summary of today's lecture provided by Annie K with a few italicized additions and hyperlinks from Prof. Low...
The first topic today was a recap of the reading assignment “Global Water Shortage Looms in New Century.” From here we moved back into Blue Covenant, focusing primarily on chapter 5.
Throughout her book, Barlow argues that water is becoming a growing source of conflict. Some examples given are the Colorado River in the U.S., cloud seeding in China, violent defense of water in Java, domestic violence in Kenya, air strikes on rebels trying to divert water in Sri Lanka, capital punishment for those who contaminate water in Malaysia, and many deaths in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sudan and elsewhere. There are also many conflicts between countries over water resources.
Another issue we looked at was water refugees. BY 2050, 1.7 billion people will live in dire “water poverty” and be forced to relocate. Water is becoming a security issue. Homeland Security is now responsible for protecting our water from terrorism at a price of $548 million a year. Further exacerbating water conflict is the issue of water privatization.
There are three major crises affecting access to water in the world today:
1. Dwindling freshwater supplies
2.Inequitable access to water
3. Corporate control of water is worsening these issues
Barlow does not believe that technology will solve these problems and that we shouldn’t place ourselves too far ahead of nature. She has a great disdain for unrestrained growth. Her three purposed solutions are:
1. Water conservation: a pact between the people and government guaranteeing the right to clean water and implementing practices that will ensure this.
a. This is an alternative to the dwindling water supply
b. We have plenty of workable examples to build from, but we lack the political motivation.
c. Existence of water depends on sustainable management of water
d. We must implement watershed restoration and proper land use
e. Development of green conservation zones in urban development (i.e. Central Park)
f. We need to mitigate chemical farming, the use of pesticides, etc. This will take grass roots, localized movements – keep food local
Here we looked briefly at the results from our water footprint homework: Students are slightly below the national average. This could be because we do not own lawns, wash our cars, etc. The second and third solutions were then presented:
2. Water Justice: a pact between governments of the global north and global south to work on solidarity and equal access to water.
3. Addresses inequitable access to water
-62 countries are heavily burdened by debt and this is hindering their development
-There needs to be substantial allowances for debts, forgiving debt and increasing foreign aid. According to Barlow, the level of aid should be .7% of GDP of giving country – the U.S. now gives only .17%
-Need to address gender inequality – keep policies local and help indigenous peoples
-Water Democracy: pact between all governments and all people guaranteeing fundamental human right of access to clean water
Alternative to corporate control of water:
Working examples are Public Services International, which provides alternatives to private water schemes and PUPs, which supports public water services
Some further examples of solutions were Acequia, an ancient Spanish ditch irrigation system and the International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance.
The presentation concluded that there is a need for a binding law, which would ensure both accountability and visibility. It is essential that we develop and maintain sustainable management and conservation. With these in mind, Barlow proposes a covenant that would entail an obligation to respect and action in the interest of citizens before the state, an obligation to protect, a responsibility to keep out third parties threatening the human right to water, and an obligation to fulfill, forcing governments to take on any additional measures to ensure this right.
The impediments to this covenant exist in water corporations, the northern countries, the World Bank, Green Cross International, and market-based globalization. According to Barlow, if we can assert the primacy of human rights, the need to distribute water publicly and without discrimination and promote water rights efforts on a national level, then we can overcome the problems of water conservation and distribution.
Slides shown in lecture today are available as a .pdf on Sakai.
There will be no reading assignment for Friday.
The first topic today was a recap of the reading assignment “Global Water Shortage Looms in New Century.” From here we moved back into Blue Covenant, focusing primarily on chapter 5.
Throughout her book, Barlow argues that water is becoming a growing source of conflict. Some examples given are the Colorado River in the U.S., cloud seeding in China, violent defense of water in Java, domestic violence in Kenya, air strikes on rebels trying to divert water in Sri Lanka, capital punishment for those who contaminate water in Malaysia, and many deaths in Nepal, Bangladesh, Sudan and elsewhere. There are also many conflicts between countries over water resources.
Another issue we looked at was water refugees. BY 2050, 1.7 billion people will live in dire “water poverty” and be forced to relocate. Water is becoming a security issue. Homeland Security is now responsible for protecting our water from terrorism at a price of $548 million a year. Further exacerbating water conflict is the issue of water privatization.
There are three major crises affecting access to water in the world today:
1. Dwindling freshwater supplies
2.Inequitable access to water
3. Corporate control of water is worsening these issues
Barlow does not believe that technology will solve these problems and that we shouldn’t place ourselves too far ahead of nature. She has a great disdain for unrestrained growth. Her three purposed solutions are:
1. Water conservation: a pact between the people and government guaranteeing the right to clean water and implementing practices that will ensure this.
a. This is an alternative to the dwindling water supply
b. We have plenty of workable examples to build from, but we lack the political motivation.
c. Existence of water depends on sustainable management of water
d. We must implement watershed restoration and proper land use
e. Development of green conservation zones in urban development (i.e. Central Park)
f. We need to mitigate chemical farming, the use of pesticides, etc. This will take grass roots, localized movements – keep food local
Here we looked briefly at the results from our water footprint homework: Students are slightly below the national average. This could be because we do not own lawns, wash our cars, etc. The second and third solutions were then presented:
2. Water Justice: a pact between governments of the global north and global south to work on solidarity and equal access to water.
3. Addresses inequitable access to water
-62 countries are heavily burdened by debt and this is hindering their development
-There needs to be substantial allowances for debts, forgiving debt and increasing foreign aid. According to Barlow, the level of aid should be .7% of GDP of giving country – the U.S. now gives only .17%
-Need to address gender inequality – keep policies local and help indigenous peoples
-Water Democracy: pact between all governments and all people guaranteeing fundamental human right of access to clean water
Alternative to corporate control of water:
Working examples are Public Services International, which provides alternatives to private water schemes and PUPs, which supports public water services
Some further examples of solutions were Acequia, an ancient Spanish ditch irrigation system and the International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance.
The presentation concluded that there is a need for a binding law, which would ensure both accountability and visibility. It is essential that we develop and maintain sustainable management and conservation. With these in mind, Barlow proposes a covenant that would entail an obligation to respect and action in the interest of citizens before the state, an obligation to protect, a responsibility to keep out third parties threatening the human right to water, and an obligation to fulfill, forcing governments to take on any additional measures to ensure this right.
The impediments to this covenant exist in water corporations, the northern countries, the World Bank, Green Cross International, and market-based globalization. According to Barlow, if we can assert the primacy of human rights, the need to distribute water publicly and without discrimination and promote water rights efforts on a national level, then we can overcome the problems of water conservation and distribution.
Slides shown in lecture today are available as a .pdf on Sakai.
There will be no reading assignment for Friday.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Summary for Monday March 29th
Below is a summary of today's lecture provided by Morton and Maya with a few italicized additions and hyperlinks from Prof. Low...
First lecture of The Blue Covenant, by Maude Barlow.
The overuse of water is rapidly decreasing some of the largest aquifers in the world. There are two main types of aquifers – superficial ones which are recharged continuously, and fossil aquifers which are not. The Ogallala aquifer which supplies water to more than one third of American crop irrigation was formed in the last ice age. It is emptied at an alarming rate, and it is not being recharged.
One issue with emptying groundwater reservoirs arises when the void left behind when the water is extracted cannot carry the weight of the ground above, causing the ground to collapse. This leaves large craters behind on the surface. This has happened in several places around the Aral Sea for example (and the video example of extreme water depletion and catastrophic subsidence in South-central Turkey). The Aral Sea is also an example of overuse, since the irresponsible extraction of water from its tributaries lead the lake to shrink to a fraction of its size (10% of what it used to be), leaving formerly vibrant fishing communities stuck in the middle of what is rapidly becoming a desert. What is left of the lake is so saline (21,000 ppm or over 10 times what we decided was drinkable) that most life in it disappeared, since most species are unable to adjust to such an extreme change in environment over only a few decades. In other places, such as Arizona, Northern China and elsewhere, water issues arise because people inhabit arid lands, which cannot support the populations without importing large quantities of water.
Two fifths of the world’s population does not have reliable access to clean water. The WHO estimates that 80% of all illnesses are caused by bad drinking water. In fact, more children die because of water-related issues than any other cause of death for children. This trend is exacerbated by global warming, which is causing increased rates of glacial melt; incidentally, a large quantity of water bodies in the developing world depends on glacial melt. The World Bank, which is the largest developmental aid agency in the world, prefers privatization to deal with water scarcity. However, as Maude Barlow notes, there could be a number of issues with this approach – mainly that for profit companies have a lesser tendency to keep in mind the greater good of the people, which leads to sub-optimal supply. One such example is Cochabamba in Bolivia, but these issues are commonplace all around the world.
Slides shown in lecture today are available as a .pdf on Sakai.
Claire's speaker's notes are available below.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
The reading for Wednesday will be: Global Water Shortage Looms In New Century
First lecture of The Blue Covenant, by Maude Barlow.
The overuse of water is rapidly decreasing some of the largest aquifers in the world. There are two main types of aquifers – superficial ones which are recharged continuously, and fossil aquifers which are not. The Ogallala aquifer which supplies water to more than one third of American crop irrigation was formed in the last ice age. It is emptied at an alarming rate, and it is not being recharged.
One issue with emptying groundwater reservoirs arises when the void left behind when the water is extracted cannot carry the weight of the ground above, causing the ground to collapse. This leaves large craters behind on the surface. This has happened in several places around the Aral Sea for example (and the video example of extreme water depletion and catastrophic subsidence in South-central Turkey). The Aral Sea is also an example of overuse, since the irresponsible extraction of water from its tributaries lead the lake to shrink to a fraction of its size (10% of what it used to be), leaving formerly vibrant fishing communities stuck in the middle of what is rapidly becoming a desert. What is left of the lake is so saline (21,000 ppm or over 10 times what we decided was drinkable) that most life in it disappeared, since most species are unable to adjust to such an extreme change in environment over only a few decades. In other places, such as Arizona, Northern China and elsewhere, water issues arise because people inhabit arid lands, which cannot support the populations without importing large quantities of water.
Two fifths of the world’s population does not have reliable access to clean water. The WHO estimates that 80% of all illnesses are caused by bad drinking water. In fact, more children die because of water-related issues than any other cause of death for children. This trend is exacerbated by global warming, which is causing increased rates of glacial melt; incidentally, a large quantity of water bodies in the developing world depends on glacial melt. The World Bank, which is the largest developmental aid agency in the world, prefers privatization to deal with water scarcity. However, as Maude Barlow notes, there could be a number of issues with this approach – mainly that for profit companies have a lesser tendency to keep in mind the greater good of the people, which leads to sub-optimal supply. One such example is Cochabamba in Bolivia, but these issues are commonplace all around the world.
Slides shown in lecture today are available as a .pdf on Sakai.
Claire's speaker's notes are available below.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
The reading for Wednesday will be: Global Water Shortage Looms In New Century
Privatization of water lecture notes from Claire
Privatization of water
- One of the major issues Barlow discusses in Blue Covenant: privatization, or the corporate control of water.
- Barlow opens her analysis with the following explanation:
“Water, of course, has traditionally been viewed as a public resource. Increasingly, however, freshwater supplies are being privatized in a whole range of ways as a powerful water industry moves to create a cartel resembling the one that now controls every facet of energy, from exploration and production to distribution.”
- It is important to recognize that water has traditionally been viewed as a public resource, and that it wasn’t until about 30 years ago that freshwater supplies began to be privatized and water became viewed as a commodity.
- Barlow stresses that the private sector understands that, in a world running out of clean water, whoever controls that water will be both wealthy and powerful.
- Private, for-profit organizations in countries around the world provide various services and have a multitude of functions, including:
- Municipal services
- Put massive amounts of freshwater in bottles for sale
- Control water used for industrial farming, mining, energy production, computers, cars and other water intensive industries
- Own and operated dams, pipelines, nanotechnology
- Water purification systems and desalination plants
- Overall technological infrastructure
- Control water trade and buy water rights (groundwater and watersheds)
- Other than France, which, since the late 1800s has encouraged the existence of a private water industry, the “Global North” (that’s Europe, North America, Australia, and Japan) has adopted universal public water and sanitation services to protect public health and to promote national economic development.
- With foundations built on a colonial legacy, the “Global South” (consisting of Africa, Asia, and South and Central America) mainly has urban water services only for the elite, with millions of poor urban dwellers having no access to water or sanitation, an issue that has been exacerbated in the past 30 years.
This begs the question…
Q: Why is privatization occurring in so many 3rd world countries?
A: The answer is three-fold:
1) Residents of third-world countries are moving from rural areas to megacities.
2) As population density increases, pollution in surface water also increases.
3) Third-world governments, which are plagued by poverty and consistently increasing debt, cannot meet demands for fresh water.
- By the end of the 1980s, a public model (like that of the “Global North”) for developing nations had been abandoned in favor of a private model that would benefit the private water companies of Europe.
- Barlow says that this was not at all coincidental, but was rather planned and intentionally carried out by some of the most powerful forces in the world.
- She traces this shift from a public to a private model of water services to ideology manifested under Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, in which liberal market economics constituted the one and only choice for the whole world, including the developing world.
- Soon, this Washington Consensus became the guiding mantra for the elite running the global institutions involved in water development, including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and even the United Nations.
- Although privatization had failed in England under Thatcher, this model (and not the far more successful model of public delivery) was exported to the developing countries of the “Global South.”
The World Bank
-The World Bank Group is a family of five international organizations that makes leveraged loans, generally to poor countries. First world countries control the World Bank and have voting power proportional to the amount they invest in it.
- The World Bank uses its power to open markets in the “Global South” for northern corporations.
- Although it had been promoting water privatization as one option several years prior to 1993, in that year, the World Bank adopted the Water Resources Management policy paper, which noted the “unwillingness” of the poor to pay for water services and stated that water should be treated as an economic commodity, with an emphasis on efficiency, financial discipline, and full-cost recovery – a principle that says that corporations can set water prices high enough to not only recover the cost of their investment, but to make profits for their investors.
- Increasingly, loans for public projects were rejected in favor of a private model, and between 1990 and 1996, the World Bank to funded more than 300 private water projects in the developing world.
- There are three basic types of water utility privatization:
1. Concession contracts give a private company a license to run the water system and charge customers to make a profit. The private company is responsible for all investments, including building new pipes and sewers to connect households.
India practices a form of extreme concession whereby whole river systems are leased to the companies who run them for profit without government interference.
2. Leases are contracts under which the company is responsible for running the distribution system and for making the investments necessary to repair and renew the existing assets, but the local government remains responsible for new investment.
3. Management contracts make the private company responsible only for managing the water service but not for any investments.
- Most of the World Bank’s current projects are leases or management contracts.
- Even though the notion of a partnership has the ring of democracy and shared responsibility, these contracts should all be considered privatizations because they all involve profits for the private companies and cutoffs to people who cannot pay for their “product.” What’s more, while those who live in third world communities have no alternative if the so-called partnership fails, the corporate partner will (and does) leave the partnership if the profits “dry up.”
- Using a “carrot and stick” approach, in which the carrot is both debt relief and the actual funds themselves, and the stick is the unspoken threat of the withdrawal of aid, countries are encouraged to adopt a private water services model.
The World Bank Manufactures Global Consensus on Privatization
- It is important that we examine how the World Bank and other global financial institutions came to impose this new model of water delivery on the “Global South”
- Sociologist Michael Goldman of the University of Minnesota has analyzed how the World Bank was able to promote a shift in water policy over a relatively short time, finding that it actively sought the buy-in of non-governmental organizations, think tanks, state agencies, the media and the private sector across the Global North and South.
- Through its Water Policy Capacity Building Program, the World Bank has put thousands of parliamentarians, policymakers, technical specialists, journalists, teachers, students, civil society leaders, and Third World elites through intensive programs on private water management so that they could then return to their respective third-world countries and promote a private model of water delivery to their governments.
- Their consensus is that debt and poverty are not the problem, but rather that the main problem with degraded water services in the Third World is inefficient and corrupt governments whose failure to protect water has led to a culture of wastefulness among the masses. Basically, the World Bank and its private sector colleagues maintain that the poor lack access to water because of their irresponsible governments, and that they are merely on an ethical mission of poverty alleviation.
Cochabamba Protests
- Known as the "Cochabamba Water Wars," these were a series of protests that took place in Cochabamba, Bolivia's third largest city, between January and April 2000 because of the privatization of the municipal water supply.
- In 2000, the World Bank declared it would not "renew" a $25 million loan to Bolivia unless it privatized its water services. According to Jim Shultz, executive director of the Democracy Center in Cochabamba, the World Bank believed that “poor governments are often too plagued by local corruption and too ill equipped to run public water systems efficiently. …[and that the use of private corporations] opens the door to needed investment and skilled management."
- A corporation called “Aguas del Tunari” took control of the water works of Cochabamba, and the government then passed Law 2029 which appeared to give Aguas del Tunari a monopoly over all water services.
- Demonstrations erupted when Aguas del Tunari imposed a large rate increase, reportedly to finance the Misicuni Dam project, a week after taking control of the Cochabamba water supply system. In a country where the minimum wage was less than US$70 per month, most residents were suddenly receiving monthly water bills of $20 or more.
- Protests ensued, with Oscar Olivera leading the Cochabamba people. After months of sometimes-violent protests, the Bolivian government conceded and Olivera signed a concord with the government guaranteeing the removal of Aguas del Tunari and turning Cochabamba’s water works over to La Coordinadora. Detained demonstrators were to be released and eventually Law 2029 was repealed.
Water Privatization Failure
- The only way for this to work is for the private sector to receive public subsidies, which they are meant to relieve. They depend on degrading water quality around the world.
- One of the major issues Barlow discusses in Blue Covenant: privatization, or the corporate control of water.
- Barlow opens her analysis with the following explanation:
“Water, of course, has traditionally been viewed as a public resource. Increasingly, however, freshwater supplies are being privatized in a whole range of ways as a powerful water industry moves to create a cartel resembling the one that now controls every facet of energy, from exploration and production to distribution.”
- It is important to recognize that water has traditionally been viewed as a public resource, and that it wasn’t until about 30 years ago that freshwater supplies began to be privatized and water became viewed as a commodity.
- Barlow stresses that the private sector understands that, in a world running out of clean water, whoever controls that water will be both wealthy and powerful.
- Private, for-profit organizations in countries around the world provide various services and have a multitude of functions, including:
- Municipal services
- Put massive amounts of freshwater in bottles for sale
- Control water used for industrial farming, mining, energy production, computers, cars and other water intensive industries
- Own and operated dams, pipelines, nanotechnology
- Water purification systems and desalination plants
- Overall technological infrastructure
- Control water trade and buy water rights (groundwater and watersheds)
- Other than France, which, since the late 1800s has encouraged the existence of a private water industry, the “Global North” (that’s Europe, North America, Australia, and Japan) has adopted universal public water and sanitation services to protect public health and to promote national economic development.
- With foundations built on a colonial legacy, the “Global South” (consisting of Africa, Asia, and South and Central America) mainly has urban water services only for the elite, with millions of poor urban dwellers having no access to water or sanitation, an issue that has been exacerbated in the past 30 years.
This begs the question…
Q: Why is privatization occurring in so many 3rd world countries?
A: The answer is three-fold:
1) Residents of third-world countries are moving from rural areas to megacities.
2) As population density increases, pollution in surface water also increases.
3) Third-world governments, which are plagued by poverty and consistently increasing debt, cannot meet demands for fresh water.
- By the end of the 1980s, a public model (like that of the “Global North”) for developing nations had been abandoned in favor of a private model that would benefit the private water companies of Europe.
- Barlow says that this was not at all coincidental, but was rather planned and intentionally carried out by some of the most powerful forces in the world.
- She traces this shift from a public to a private model of water services to ideology manifested under Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, in which liberal market economics constituted the one and only choice for the whole world, including the developing world.
- Soon, this Washington Consensus became the guiding mantra for the elite running the global institutions involved in water development, including the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and even the United Nations.
- Although privatization had failed in England under Thatcher, this model (and not the far more successful model of public delivery) was exported to the developing countries of the “Global South.”
The World Bank
-The World Bank Group is a family of five international organizations that makes leveraged loans, generally to poor countries. First world countries control the World Bank and have voting power proportional to the amount they invest in it.
- The World Bank uses its power to open markets in the “Global South” for northern corporations.
- Although it had been promoting water privatization as one option several years prior to 1993, in that year, the World Bank adopted the Water Resources Management policy paper, which noted the “unwillingness” of the poor to pay for water services and stated that water should be treated as an economic commodity, with an emphasis on efficiency, financial discipline, and full-cost recovery – a principle that says that corporations can set water prices high enough to not only recover the cost of their investment, but to make profits for their investors.
- Increasingly, loans for public projects were rejected in favor of a private model, and between 1990 and 1996, the World Bank to funded more than 300 private water projects in the developing world.
- There are three basic types of water utility privatization:
1. Concession contracts give a private company a license to run the water system and charge customers to make a profit. The private company is responsible for all investments, including building new pipes and sewers to connect households.
India practices a form of extreme concession whereby whole river systems are leased to the companies who run them for profit without government interference.
2. Leases are contracts under which the company is responsible for running the distribution system and for making the investments necessary to repair and renew the existing assets, but the local government remains responsible for new investment.
3. Management contracts make the private company responsible only for managing the water service but not for any investments.
- Most of the World Bank’s current projects are leases or management contracts.
- Even though the notion of a partnership has the ring of democracy and shared responsibility, these contracts should all be considered privatizations because they all involve profits for the private companies and cutoffs to people who cannot pay for their “product.” What’s more, while those who live in third world communities have no alternative if the so-called partnership fails, the corporate partner will (and does) leave the partnership if the profits “dry up.”
- Using a “carrot and stick” approach, in which the carrot is both debt relief and the actual funds themselves, and the stick is the unspoken threat of the withdrawal of aid, countries are encouraged to adopt a private water services model.
The World Bank Manufactures Global Consensus on Privatization
- It is important that we examine how the World Bank and other global financial institutions came to impose this new model of water delivery on the “Global South”
- Sociologist Michael Goldman of the University of Minnesota has analyzed how the World Bank was able to promote a shift in water policy over a relatively short time, finding that it actively sought the buy-in of non-governmental organizations, think tanks, state agencies, the media and the private sector across the Global North and South.
- Through its Water Policy Capacity Building Program, the World Bank has put thousands of parliamentarians, policymakers, technical specialists, journalists, teachers, students, civil society leaders, and Third World elites through intensive programs on private water management so that they could then return to their respective third-world countries and promote a private model of water delivery to their governments.
- Their consensus is that debt and poverty are not the problem, but rather that the main problem with degraded water services in the Third World is inefficient and corrupt governments whose failure to protect water has led to a culture of wastefulness among the masses. Basically, the World Bank and its private sector colleagues maintain that the poor lack access to water because of their irresponsible governments, and that they are merely on an ethical mission of poverty alleviation.
Cochabamba Protests
- Known as the "Cochabamba Water Wars," these were a series of protests that took place in Cochabamba, Bolivia's third largest city, between January and April 2000 because of the privatization of the municipal water supply.
- In 2000, the World Bank declared it would not "renew" a $25 million loan to Bolivia unless it privatized its water services. According to Jim Shultz, executive director of the Democracy Center in Cochabamba, the World Bank believed that “poor governments are often too plagued by local corruption and too ill equipped to run public water systems efficiently. …[and that the use of private corporations] opens the door to needed investment and skilled management."
- A corporation called “Aguas del Tunari” took control of the water works of Cochabamba, and the government then passed Law 2029 which appeared to give Aguas del Tunari a monopoly over all water services.
- Demonstrations erupted when Aguas del Tunari imposed a large rate increase, reportedly to finance the Misicuni Dam project, a week after taking control of the Cochabamba water supply system. In a country where the minimum wage was less than US$70 per month, most residents were suddenly receiving monthly water bills of $20 or more.
- Protests ensued, with Oscar Olivera leading the Cochabamba people. After months of sometimes-violent protests, the Bolivian government conceded and Olivera signed a concord with the government guaranteeing the removal of Aguas del Tunari and turning Cochabamba’s water works over to La Coordinadora. Detained demonstrators were to be released and eventually Law 2029 was repealed.
Water Privatization Failure
- The only way for this to work is for the private sector to receive public subsidies, which they are meant to relieve. They depend on degrading water quality around the world.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Summary for Friday March 26th
Since we did not have a formal lecture today, there will be no summary. Your reading for Monday, courtesy of the Blue Covenant Group is an article from the April, 2010 issue of National Geographic: Water is Life.
The reading for Wednesday will be: Global Water Shortage Looms In New Century
The reading for Wednesday will be: Global Water Shortage Looms In New Century
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Summary for Wednesday March 24th
Topic 1: Beer requires lots of water- mostly to grow the barley and hops. We looked at a region of the US where much of this barley is grown (The Snake River Valley of Southern Idaho) and the effects that of the massive withdraws from the Snake River for irrigation in a part of the world that does not receive much rainfall.
Topic 2: Water diversion: the Quabbin Reservoir in Central and Western Massachusetts- we took a look at the "drowning" of the towns of Dana, Enfield, Prescott, and Greenwich though the eyes of Jane Yolen who was looking though the eyes of a young girl growing up in the Swift River Valley. Our look at the controversy surrounding the Quabbin was admittedly very one-sided with a rather unabashed vilification of Boston and its residents. The other side to this story, of course, is that the Boston Metropolitan area has an excellent water source that serves 2.4 million people and that a relatively small number of people had to be removed from portions of the Swift River Valley in order for this to happen.
Our look at the four villages and hundreds of people displaced by the Quabbin should also be be considered in the context of the 1,200 villages and 1.3 to 5.3 million people that will have been "resettled" for the Three Gorges Dam in China by 2020...
There is no reading for Friday (take the opportunity to read or reread sections of BlueC or BottleM).
Slides shown in lecture today are available as a .pdf on Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Topic 2: Water diversion: the Quabbin Reservoir in Central and Western Massachusetts- we took a look at the "drowning" of the towns of Dana, Enfield, Prescott, and Greenwich though the eyes of Jane Yolen who was looking though the eyes of a young girl growing up in the Swift River Valley. Our look at the controversy surrounding the Quabbin was admittedly very one-sided with a rather unabashed vilification of Boston and its residents. The other side to this story, of course, is that the Boston Metropolitan area has an excellent water source that serves 2.4 million people and that a relatively small number of people had to be removed from portions of the Swift River Valley in order for this to happen.
Our look at the four villages and hundreds of people displaced by the Quabbin should also be be considered in the context of the 1,200 villages and 1.3 to 5.3 million people that will have been "resettled" for the Three Gorges Dam in China by 2020...
There is no reading for Friday (take the opportunity to read or reread sections of BlueC or BottleM).
Slides shown in lecture today are available as a .pdf on Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Summary for Monday March 22
Topic 1: Blue Covenant/Bottlemania project discussion. See here for details.
Topic 2: Water footprint of oil shale- Just like the Canadian tar sands that we discussed on Friday, US oil shale is an unconventional source of hydrocarbons that are economically viable at high oil prices and that uses large amount of water (2.6 to 4 units of water for every unit of oil extracted according to the BLM-warning: huge 673 page .pdf) in a part of the world that does not exactly have a great deal of water to spare.
Topic 3: The general concept of water footprint- According to Hoekstra and Chapagain (2007) US per capita water consumption is 1797 gallons/cap/day. Of that total use, 9% is domestic, 59% agricultural, and 32% industrial. You should be able to reproduce these numbers, be able to explain the differences between the different types of uses, and be able to tell where 'virtual' or 'embedded' water is found in these numbers. You should know where the USA ranks in the world in terms of per capita water consumption and why.
Topic 4: The specific water footprint of certain consumer goods- you should have a general idea of the amount of water that is required in the production of some common products. I do not want you to memorize the list that we presented in class this morning but you should have a general idea, for instance, that a can of Coke requires ~250 times the can's volume of water (mostly to grow the sweetener with a little bit to run the factory), and processed food can require way more water than unprocessed, and that corn-fed beef requires a huge amount of water per pound.
If you are interested in reading more about water footprints and what goes into their calculation, the Water footprint manual (Hoekstra et al., 2009) is an excellent (and exhaustive) resource. Also, I mentioned that US water consumption was down according to a recent USGS report (that compared 2005 to 2000 and 1980). A link to that study can be found here.
Slides shown in lecture today are available as a .pdf on Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Topic 2: Water footprint of oil shale- Just like the Canadian tar sands that we discussed on Friday, US oil shale is an unconventional source of hydrocarbons that are economically viable at high oil prices and that uses large amount of water (2.6 to 4 units of water for every unit of oil extracted according to the BLM-warning: huge 673 page .pdf) in a part of the world that does not exactly have a great deal of water to spare.
Topic 3: The general concept of water footprint- According to Hoekstra and Chapagain (2007) US per capita water consumption is 1797 gallons/cap/day. Of that total use, 9% is domestic, 59% agricultural, and 32% industrial. You should be able to reproduce these numbers, be able to explain the differences between the different types of uses, and be able to tell where 'virtual' or 'embedded' water is found in these numbers. You should know where the USA ranks in the world in terms of per capita water consumption and why.
Topic 4: The specific water footprint of certain consumer goods- you should have a general idea of the amount of water that is required in the production of some common products. I do not want you to memorize the list that we presented in class this morning but you should have a general idea, for instance, that a can of Coke requires ~250 times the can's volume of water (mostly to grow the sweetener with a little bit to run the factory), and processed food can require way more water than unprocessed, and that corn-fed beef requires a huge amount of water per pound.
If you are interested in reading more about water footprints and what goes into their calculation, the Water footprint manual (Hoekstra et al., 2009) is an excellent (and exhaustive) resource. Also, I mentioned that US water consumption was down according to a recent USGS report (that compared 2005 to 2000 and 1980). A link to that study can be found here.
Slides shown in lecture today are available as a .pdf on Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Summary for Friday March 19
Topic 1: The Bottlemania and Blue Covenant projects are now underway! Those responsible for teaching Blue Covenant will be doing so during the of March 29 to April 2 and Bottlemania will be teaching from April 5 to 9. I will post instructions later this weekend about the specifics of what these projects will entail.
Topic 2: The role of dams in ecosystem fragmentation, part II- When most people think of the bio/ecological impacts of dams, they usually think of Salmon. Today, I took the opportunity to talk about some of my work as an environmental consultant on the role of dams in the lives of endangered populations of freshwater mussels in New England. Mussels have a two-stage reproductive cycle in which parasitic larvae called glochidia latch onto the gills of a host fish as an evolutionary mechanism for species distribution. Anything (such as dams or even poorly-designed culverts) that prevent the free travel of host fish will have an overall negative impact on mussel populations as well, however, dam impoundments also create excellent habitat for some species such as freshwater mussels. Generally, we think of dam building as being disruptive to habitats, but dam removal can also be disruptive to a small minority of individuals from species that, as a whole are adversely affected by the dam's presence. The presence sensitive species in anthropogenic environments such as impoundments creates obvious ethical issues that need to be considered during dam removal and, if certain protected species are present or suspected to be present there are legal issues as well. Considerations such as this also add to the cost of dam removal (which is tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars for relatively small structures or much more for major works).
Topic 2: We then turned our attention to the largest dam in the world- the Syncrude Tailings Dam in Alberta, CA. The activities of Syncrude, Suncor, and Shell Canada way north of the border touches upon three topics that are relevant to this course:
1. ...largest dam in the world...
2. Water Quality: The extraction of highly viscous hydrocarbons from tar sands requires the use of 2-4.5 units of water for each unit of oil recovered. Even with water recycling programs in place, this means that extraction activities in an area that is producing 1.126 million barrels per day (a barrel contains 42 US gallons) is going to produce a great deal of low quality water- and will have to figure out a way to deal with the implications of this.
3. Water footprint: The vastly higher water requirements for Canadian tar sand oil above and beyond those associated with the extraction of conventional petroleum resources demonstrates that the volume of embedded water that we as individuals and as a society use are dependent not only on what we use and how much of it we use but also on the means of production of the product or resource.
There will be no reading assignment for this weekend... ...with the assumption that you will be getting in the lion's (or lioness') share of your BC/BM reading.
Slides shown in lecture today are available as a .pdf on Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Topic 2: The role of dams in ecosystem fragmentation, part II- When most people think of the bio/ecological impacts of dams, they usually think of Salmon. Today, I took the opportunity to talk about some of my work as an environmental consultant on the role of dams in the lives of endangered populations of freshwater mussels in New England. Mussels have a two-stage reproductive cycle in which parasitic larvae called glochidia latch onto the gills of a host fish as an evolutionary mechanism for species distribution. Anything (such as dams or even poorly-designed culverts) that prevent the free travel of host fish will have an overall negative impact on mussel populations as well, however, dam impoundments also create excellent habitat for some species such as freshwater mussels. Generally, we think of dam building as being disruptive to habitats, but dam removal can also be disruptive to a small minority of individuals from species that, as a whole are adversely affected by the dam's presence. The presence sensitive species in anthropogenic environments such as impoundments creates obvious ethical issues that need to be considered during dam removal and, if certain protected species are present or suspected to be present there are legal issues as well. Considerations such as this also add to the cost of dam removal (which is tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars for relatively small structures or much more for major works).
Topic 2: We then turned our attention to the largest dam in the world- the Syncrude Tailings Dam in Alberta, CA. The activities of Syncrude, Suncor, and Shell Canada way north of the border touches upon three topics that are relevant to this course:
1. ...largest dam in the world...
2. Water Quality: The extraction of highly viscous hydrocarbons from tar sands requires the use of 2-4.5 units of water for each unit of oil recovered. Even with water recycling programs in place, this means that extraction activities in an area that is producing 1.126 million barrels per day (a barrel contains 42 US gallons) is going to produce a great deal of low quality water- and will have to figure out a way to deal with the implications of this.
3. Water footprint: The vastly higher water requirements for Canadian tar sand oil above and beyond those associated with the extraction of conventional petroleum resources demonstrates that the volume of embedded water that we as individuals and as a society use are dependent not only on what we use and how much of it we use but also on the means of production of the product or resource.
There will be no reading assignment for this weekend... ...with the assumption that you will be getting in the lion's (or lioness') share of your BC/BM reading.
Slides shown in lecture today are available as a .pdf on Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Summary for March 15th
Topic 1: Groundwater overuse:
a. saline (or saltwater) intrusion: What is it? Why is it a problem? Where is it a problem?
b. change in local groundwater flow direction: Why does it happen? Why is it a problem?
c. drawdown:What is it? Why does it happen? What additional problems does it create?
d. pore collapse and subsidence: What is it? Why does it happen? Why is it a problem? Where are some examples of chronic subsidence? Where are some examples of catastrophic subsidence?
Topic 2: Induced seismicity- What is it? Why are the specific causes? (what is the role of lithospheric or increasing pore fluid pressure in altering the differential stress required for faulting to occur?) What are some examples of induced seismicity?
On Wednesday, we will continue our discussion of the dams and water resource management in the American West with a look at the Grand Coulee Dam and other large projects around the globe. Please read Chapter 5 (the GO-Go Years) in Cadillac Desert before class and start on Chapters 2 (The Red Queen) and 10 (Chinatown).
Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
a. saline (or saltwater) intrusion: What is it? Why is it a problem? Where is it a problem?
b. change in local groundwater flow direction: Why does it happen? Why is it a problem?
c. drawdown:What is it? Why does it happen? What additional problems does it create?
d. pore collapse and subsidence: What is it? Why does it happen? Why is it a problem? Where are some examples of chronic subsidence? Where are some examples of catastrophic subsidence?
Topic 2: Induced seismicity- What is it? Why are the specific causes? (what is the role of lithospheric or increasing pore fluid pressure in altering the differential stress required for faulting to occur?) What are some examples of induced seismicity?
On Wednesday, we will continue our discussion of the dams and water resource management in the American West with a look at the Grand Coulee Dam and other large projects around the globe. Please read Chapter 5 (the GO-Go Years) in Cadillac Desert before class and start on Chapters 2 (The Red Queen) and 10 (Chinatown).
Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Lecture Summary for Friday March 12
The topic for the day was the physical hydrology of the Colorado River, its importance in providing electricity, irrigation, and drinking water for the American West, its importance by proxy, those of us who eat food from the American West, and the legal division of its water (the 1922 compact). Important concepts from this lecture were: gradient (% grade), siltation, design life, hydro power as renewable energy.
On Monday, we will Continue our discussion of the dams and water resource management in the American West with a further look at groundwater extraction related subsidence, the Grand Coulee Dam. Please read Chapter 5 in Cadillac Desert before class.
Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.
Do not forget to e-mail me (or print and hand in in class on Monday) your calculations for the average annual flow for the CO river over the last several decades. Remember that I want your answer in acre feet per year. I will look over the data on Monday afternoon and we will discuss your finding in lecture on Wednesday.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
On Monday, we will Continue our discussion of the dams and water resource management in the American West with a further look at groundwater extraction related subsidence, the Grand Coulee Dam. Please read Chapter 5 in Cadillac Desert before class.
Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.
Do not forget to e-mail me (or print and hand in in class on Monday) your calculations for the average annual flow for the CO river over the last several decades. Remember that I want your answer in acre feet per year. I will look over the data on Monday afternoon and we will discuss your finding in lecture on Wednesday.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Summary for Wednesday March 10th
Topic 1: Desalination: Why not (Part II)? Desalination is so energy intensive that it requires as much energy to desalination water as it does to pipe it 1600 km (about 1000 miles.) Not counting for gravity, that's from LA to Washington State!
Topic 2: Desalination: Who? The societies that choose to use desalination as part of their water resource management strategy tend to have lots of energy and money. 75% of the world's desalination capacity is in the Middle East and the USA is a major desalinator as well. Also, places like the UAE that receive 3-4 inches of rain per year and have no major rives are faced with desalination as their only option for expansion.
Topic 3: Introduction to Cadillac Desert- Issues addressed:
a. Threshold for growing crops without irrigation = 20 inches/year
b. Threshold for "arguably no place to inhabit at all" = 7 inches/year
c. Salinity of CO river at US-Mexico border = 1500 ppm
d. Salinity a serious problem in San Joaquin Valley of California, the "most productive farming region in the entire world”
e. "Virtually every drop of water in the state (CA) is put to some economic use before being allowed to return to the sea."
f. “In the East, to “waste” water is to use it needlessly or excessively. In the West, to waste water is not to consume it- to let it flow unimpeded and undiverted down rivers.”
g. “The problem in California is that there is absolutely no regulation over groundwater pumping, and, from the looks of things, there won’t be any for many years to come.”- you should be able to discuss the concept of groundwater as a renewable or non-renewable resource, rate of pumping vs. rate of recharge, drawdown, cone of depression, and subsidence in the context of groundwater overuse.
On Friday, we will Continue our discussion of the dams and water resource management in the American West. Please read Chapter 4 in Cadillac Desert before class.
Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Topic 2: Desalination: Who? The societies that choose to use desalination as part of their water resource management strategy tend to have lots of energy and money. 75% of the world's desalination capacity is in the Middle East and the USA is a major desalinator as well. Also, places like the UAE that receive 3-4 inches of rain per year and have no major rives are faced with desalination as their only option for expansion.
Topic 3: Introduction to Cadillac Desert- Issues addressed:
a. Threshold for growing crops without irrigation = 20 inches/year
b. Threshold for "arguably no place to inhabit at all" = 7 inches/year
c. Salinity of CO river at US-Mexico border = 1500 ppm
d. Salinity a serious problem in San Joaquin Valley of California, the "most productive farming region in the entire world”
e. "Virtually every drop of water in the state (CA) is put to some economic use before being allowed to return to the sea."
f. “In the East, to “waste” water is to use it needlessly or excessively. In the West, to waste water is not to consume it- to let it flow unimpeded and undiverted down rivers.”
g. “The problem in California is that there is absolutely no regulation over groundwater pumping, and, from the looks of things, there won’t be any for many years to come.”- you should be able to discuss the concept of groundwater as a renewable or non-renewable resource, rate of pumping vs. rate of recharge, drawdown, cone of depression, and subsidence in the context of groundwater overuse.
On Friday, we will Continue our discussion of the dams and water resource management in the American West. Please read Chapter 4 in Cadillac Desert before class.
Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Summary for Monday March 8th
Topic 1: Septic systems- How do they work? who uses them? Why is an understanding of groundwater flow important? What determines groundwater flow velocity and direction? What are the differences between a WWTP and a septic system?
Topic 2: LUST- Leaky(ing) Underground Storage Tank(s)- What are they? What do they usually contain? How common are they? What are the specific water quality hazards related to LUST? What are BTEX compounds? How can the specific problems of water quality related to LUST be addressed? Our atypical example of a LUST was the massive Greenpoint spill in Brooklyn, New York.
Topic 3: Desalination:
What? -Seawater has 35,000ppm salinity (3.5%). According to our class (n=40), what is the upper salinity limit for salinity in drinking water?
Blue: I can not taste any salt in this sample.
Green: I can taste some salt in this sample; however, I would be able to drink water that tasted like this.
Red: This sample is disgusting and I would only drink it if I was in Haiti or Bangladesh.
Why? -people live near the ocean (remember the 50-50- 50% of US population lives within 50 miles of the ocean) and there is lots of ocean water (97% of total near surface water)
How? -distillation (most = 85-90%) or filtration (reverse osmosis) (you should be able to describe the mechanisms for both techniques...)
Why not? -The big problem with desalination is that it is very energy intensive which means that it is expensive and it exacerbates existing pollution problems from energy. Quite a bit of research and effort is going into figuring out new filtration techniques that are more energy efficient (and cheaper). Other issues include danger to marine biota related to water intake (getting caught in poorly designed intake apparatuses) and discharge of highly saline waste water
On Wednesday, we will finish up with desalination with the "who?" and begin our discussion of dams. Please read the Introduction for Cadillac Desert before class.
Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.
There is an outside lecture opportunity this Thursday.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Topic 2: LUST- Leaky(ing) Underground Storage Tank(s)- What are they? What do they usually contain? How common are they? What are the specific water quality hazards related to LUST? What are BTEX compounds? How can the specific problems of water quality related to LUST be addressed? Our atypical example of a LUST was the massive Greenpoint spill in Brooklyn, New York.
Topic 3: Desalination:
Blue: I can not taste any salt in this sample.
Green: I can taste some salt in this sample; however, I would be able to drink water that tasted like this.
Red: This sample is disgusting and I would only drink it if I was in Haiti or Bangladesh.
Why? -people live near the ocean (remember the 50-50- 50% of US population lives within 50 miles of the ocean) and there is lots of ocean water (97% of total near surface water)
How? -distillation (most = 85-90%) or filtration (reverse osmosis) (you should be able to describe the mechanisms for both techniques...)
Why not? -The big problem with desalination is that it is very energy intensive which means that it is expensive and it exacerbates existing pollution problems from energy. Quite a bit of research and effort is going into figuring out new filtration techniques that are more energy efficient (and cheaper). Other issues include danger to marine biota related to water intake (getting caught in poorly designed intake apparatuses) and discharge of highly saline waste water
On Wednesday, we will finish up with desalination with the "who?" and begin our discussion of dams. Please read the Introduction for Cadillac Desert before class.
Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.
There is an outside lecture opportunity this Thursday.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Summary for Friday March 5th
Topic 1: Importance of conservation of natural areas from a water resource standpoint.
more "natural" area = more areas where water is being cleaned by natural systems = cleaner water & less money that humans ultimately need to pay for treating water.
Topic 2: Sewers: Throughout the world, the use of sewers for the transport and removal of water waste ranges from zero treatment ("pipe into the river") to multi-stage treatment techniques that discharge water that is actually higher quality that the surrounding environmental water.
Topic 3: Though WWTP are like snowflakes in that no two are exactly alike, there are certain key treatments stages that need to be addressed at each facility:
0. Pretreatment: screening (removal) of large object
1. Primary treatment: settling tanks in which solids are removed through gravitational settling
2. Secondary treatment: aerated tanks in which disolved organic compounds are removed through controlled biological reactions involving microbes
3. Tertiary treatment: any post secondary treatment- could involve filtration, removal of P &/or N, et cetera- should involved disinfection in order to kill microbes from the secondary treatment stage and from the original waste.
4. Discharge: into a river, ocean, irrigation recycling program, or pumped into the ground.
Topic 4: Drugging our waters: The four big issues raised by the article were:
1. bioactivity of drugs and hormones or chemicals that mimic hormones
2. synergy between very small amounts of many different drugs in drinking water
3. Since this is a relatively new problem, there is not much research on the effects of ingesting drugs or combination of drugs in very small dosages (and certainly no research on the long term effects).
4. Our current system of treating waste water is inadequate in removing complex compounds such as the the pharmaceutical products and byproducts that were discussed in the article.
5. Removal of these compounds is possible using current technology; but, is would be really expensive.
You should also be familiar with the solutions for the problem of drugs in our waters discussed in the article.
Topic 5: Cocaine in Italy's rivers: According to Zuccato, 2005, the people of the Po river watershed (most of Northern Italy) are using 2.7 times more cocaine that previous (official) estimates. You should be familiar with the methods used in this study, why these sampling methods were important, and what the major implications of the study are.
On Monday, we will talk about LUST, and desalination treatment. Please read:
Water agencies debate desalination a shourt article in the San Fransisco Chronicle from February 15, 2009 by Kelly Zito and
‘Desalination to cover all our water needs by 2011’ a short article on water shortages in Cyprus from March 2, 2010 by Sebastian Heller
Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
more "natural" area = more areas where water is being cleaned by natural systems = cleaner water & less money that humans ultimately need to pay for treating water.
Topic 2: Sewers: Throughout the world, the use of sewers for the transport and removal of water waste ranges from zero treatment ("pipe into the river") to multi-stage treatment techniques that discharge water that is actually higher quality that the surrounding environmental water.
Topic 3: Though WWTP are like snowflakes in that no two are exactly alike, there are certain key treatments stages that need to be addressed at each facility:
0. Pretreatment: screening (removal) of large object
1. Primary treatment: settling tanks in which solids are removed through gravitational settling
2. Secondary treatment: aerated tanks in which disolved organic compounds are removed through controlled biological reactions involving microbes
3. Tertiary treatment: any post secondary treatment- could involve filtration, removal of P &/or N, et cetera- should involved disinfection in order to kill microbes from the secondary treatment stage and from the original waste.
4. Discharge: into a river, ocean, irrigation recycling program, or pumped into the ground.
Topic 4: Drugging our waters: The four big issues raised by the article were:
1. bioactivity of drugs and hormones or chemicals that mimic hormones
2. synergy between very small amounts of many different drugs in drinking water
3. Since this is a relatively new problem, there is not much research on the effects of ingesting drugs or combination of drugs in very small dosages (and certainly no research on the long term effects).
4. Our current system of treating waste water is inadequate in removing complex compounds such as the the pharmaceutical products and byproducts that were discussed in the article.
5. Removal of these compounds is possible using current technology; but, is would be really expensive.
You should also be familiar with the solutions for the problem of drugs in our waters discussed in the article.
Topic 5: Cocaine in Italy's rivers: According to Zuccato, 2005, the people of the Po river watershed (most of Northern Italy) are using 2.7 times more cocaine that previous (official) estimates. You should be familiar with the methods used in this study, why these sampling methods were important, and what the major implications of the study are.
On Monday, we will talk about LUST, and desalination treatment. Please read:
Water agencies debate desalination a shourt article in the San Fransisco Chronicle from February 15, 2009 by Kelly Zito and
‘Desalination to cover all our water needs by 2011’ a short article on water shortages in Cyprus from March 2, 2010 by Sebastian Heller
Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Summary for Wednesday March 3rd
Topic 1: According to the EPA, the US generated 2.6 million tons of E-waste in 2005 (2-4% of total solid waste). About 13% of this was recycled and 50-80% of recycled e-waste is exported- often to countries without the environmental and workers' rights regulations that are present in the US. Export is banned by 32 countries (mostly the EU) through the 1989 Basal Convention which was not ratified by the US of Canada. E-waste is a water quality concern because toxic metals such as Pb, Cd, and Hg are present.
Topic 2: Hg
Topic 3: The RCRA of 1976: what changes did it require for new and existing landfills and why is it so important to water quality?
Topic 4: Pb is highly toxic and has been employed throughout history for an abundance of uses; as a result, there is a lot of lead in our environment. You should know the health effect of lead exposure, the sources of environmental lead, why lead exposure in children is such a problem, the role of Thomas Midgely Jr. and Clair Patterson in the levels of environmental lead in the US, and the implications of the recent study by Reyes (2007) on the impact of childhood Pb exposure on crime. If you are interested in reading about the fascinating history of Pb use, toxicity research, and regulation, there are excellent resources here and here.
I would like for you to read two articles for Friday's class:
Cocaine in surface waters: a new evidence-based tool to monitor community drug abuse by Ettore Zuccato et al. (2005)- a peer-reviewed article from the Journal Environmental Health on the prevalence of cocaine metabolites in the rivers of Northern Italy (.html) (.pdf)
Drugging Our Waters by Elizabeth Royte on the prevalence of prescription drugs and drug metabolites in US waters. (.html) (.pdf)
Do not forget about the outside lecture opportunity double header tomorrow evening...
Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Topic 2: Hg
Topic 3: The RCRA of 1976: what changes did it require for new and existing landfills and why is it so important to water quality?
Topic 4: Pb is highly toxic and has been employed throughout history for an abundance of uses; as a result, there is a lot of lead in our environment. You should know the health effect of lead exposure, the sources of environmental lead, why lead exposure in children is such a problem, the role of Thomas Midgely Jr. and Clair Patterson in the levels of environmental lead in the US, and the implications of the recent study by Reyes (2007) on the impact of childhood Pb exposure on crime. If you are interested in reading about the fascinating history of Pb use, toxicity research, and regulation, there are excellent resources here and here.
I would like for you to read two articles for Friday's class:
Cocaine in surface waters: a new evidence-based tool to monitor community drug abuse by Ettore Zuccato et al. (2005)- a peer-reviewed article from the Journal Environmental Health on the prevalence of cocaine metabolites in the rivers of Northern Italy (.html) (.pdf)
Drugging Our Waters by Elizabeth Royte on the prevalence of prescription drugs and drug metabolites in US waters. (.html) (.pdf)
Do not forget about the outside lecture opportunity double header tomorrow evening...
Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Summary for Monday March 1st
After we finished tasting fresh to brackish (salt) water, we looked at the water quality implications of As in chicken feed, chicken meat, and chicken excrement. The important concepts from our perspective are: (a) if there is more As in our food then maybe there needs to be less As in our water and (b) As supplements in chicken feed may lead to higher As in water passing through/coming from areas fertilized with chicken waste. We then looked at the results of the Superfund sites where you live homework assignment (including the Hanford Site) and some of the inorganic (toxic metals) that are more commonly found at massively polluted sites such as those that make the NPL. We looked specifically at Cu, Cr, Cd, and Ni. On Wednesday, we will continue with inorganic pollutants, landfills (RCRA), water treatment, and organic pollutants.
I would like for you to read two articles for Friday's class:
Cocaine in surface waters: a new evidence-based tool to monitor community drug abuse by Ettore Zuccato et al. (2005)- a peer-reviewed article from the Journal Environmental Health on the prevalence of cocaine metabolites in the rivers of Northern Italy (.html) (.pdf)
Drugging Our Waters by Elizabeth Royte on the prevalence of prescription drugs and drug metabolites in US waters. (.html) (.pdf)
Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
I would like for you to read two articles for Friday's class:
Cocaine in surface waters: a new evidence-based tool to monitor community drug abuse by Ettore Zuccato et al. (2005)- a peer-reviewed article from the Journal Environmental Health on the prevalence of cocaine metabolites in the rivers of Northern Italy (.html) (.pdf)
Drugging Our Waters by Elizabeth Royte on the prevalence of prescription drugs and drug metabolites in US waters. (.html) (.pdf)
Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Summary for Friday February 19th
Today we continued with water quality with a look at the specifics of the hydrogeology behind the Bangladesh As issue and some of the important considerations that need to be addressed during the mitigation of this ongoing crisis. So, the Bangladesh water crisis:
Basic demographics: Bangladesh is a large country (7th most populous in the world) with a very high population density (the highest of the 'real' countries), a very low rate of adult literacy (47.5% = 164/177 world rank), a very low per capita GDP (~$1,500/cap/year), and one of the shortest average lifespans of countries outside of Africa (~62 years).
Water issue 1: Bangladesh still has very high rates of people dying from digestive diseases due largely to the consumption of water that is contaminated with sewer-related bacteria and roto-viruses. This crisis was addressed during the 1960s and 70s by the World Bank and UNICEF with a program that installed millions (8-10) of simply, often hand-pumped, shallow, 'tube' wells.
Water issue 2: The use of groundwater resulted in a 2-3-fold decrease in diarrheal diseases and has saved 10s of millions of lives; however, the uppermost layer of soils (the top 100m or so) in Bangladesh are naturally rich in As. As a result, 28-35 million (17-22%) Bangladeshis drink water that is above 50ppb (the national standard) and 46-57 million (29-37%) Bangladeshis drink water that is above 10ppb (the WHO standard) (numbers from the WHO). If we combine these numbers with our 'acceptable risk' numbers of 1/100 and 1/600, we can anticipate some pretty dire rates of cancer (30 million/100 = 300,000 deaths and 50 million/600 = 83,000 deaths!)
Water issue 2.5: Bangladesh has high rates of As in the soil and in the groundwater that percolates through these soils. The concentration of As in the water, however, is even greater that would be expected given the As content of the soils. This suggests that there are secondary factors that result in a high environmental availability of As (meaning that the water is really good and taking the As from the soil into solution and delivering it to consumers). A recent study out of MIT suggest that water that is artificially high in organic carbon (due to agricultural activities) increases the environmental availability of As. Recent work by the USGS shows that secondary factors such as pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), and time also play important roles in affecting As availability.
Water issue 2.75: Mitigation of As contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh requires inexpensive, low-tech, culturally-sensitive, approaches. We discussed a number of factors including: deeper wells, large-scale high-tech treatment plants vs. smaller scale, low-tech filtration mechanisms, education and communication, deeper wells, cultural and practical implications of sharing (gender issues, perceived insularity), and rice consumption. While I mentioned the importance of inexpensive filtration mechanisms, I forgot to mention the importance of inexpensive water quality testing mechanisms. Getting your water tested for As in NH is a mere (subsidized) $15- not so much of a bargain if you live in a country with a per capita that is 3% that of the USA.
One additional thing that I want to emphasize is that while it might be nice and convenient to group different water quality issues into categories (toxic metals, agricultural runoff, organic chemicals, et cetera), each individual incidence of compromised water quality has its own individual set of physical, chemical, and geological characteristics (its own personality, if you will.) Likewise, the mitigation strategy for each incidence of compromised water quality has its own unique requirements, limitations, and complexities. The better we understand the underlying physical (chemical, geologic, hydrologic, anthropogenic) problems and the economic, geographic, and cultural constrains of action, the better we will be at improving water quality for everyone.
The quiz questions were (as I recall from memory):
1. What is the dilemma Bangladesh has concerning H2O?
Microbial surface water pollution and arsenic groundwater pollution
2. What is the amendment to the Superfund Act?
SARA (Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1980)
3. What is the Chemical Symbol for Arsenic?
As
4. What is the percentage of people in the US who get water from private wells?
15%
5. What is the percentage of people in GEOL 150 who get water from private wells?
22%
Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Basic demographics: Bangladesh is a large country (7th most populous in the world) with a very high population density (the highest of the 'real' countries), a very low rate of adult literacy (47.5% = 164/177 world rank), a very low per capita GDP (~$1,500/cap/year), and one of the shortest average lifespans of countries outside of Africa (~62 years).
Water issue 1: Bangladesh still has very high rates of people dying from digestive diseases due largely to the consumption of water that is contaminated with sewer-related bacteria and roto-viruses. This crisis was addressed during the 1960s and 70s by the World Bank and UNICEF with a program that installed millions (8-10) of simply, often hand-pumped, shallow, 'tube' wells.
Water issue 2: The use of groundwater resulted in a 2-3-fold decrease in diarrheal diseases and has saved 10s of millions of lives; however, the uppermost layer of soils (the top 100m or so) in Bangladesh are naturally rich in As. As a result, 28-35 million (17-22%) Bangladeshis drink water that is above 50ppb (the national standard) and 46-57 million (29-37%) Bangladeshis drink water that is above 10ppb (the WHO standard) (numbers from the WHO). If we combine these numbers with our 'acceptable risk' numbers of 1/100 and 1/600, we can anticipate some pretty dire rates of cancer (30 million/100 = 300,000 deaths and 50 million/600 = 83,000 deaths!)
Water issue 2.5: Bangladesh has high rates of As in the soil and in the groundwater that percolates through these soils. The concentration of As in the water, however, is even greater that would be expected given the As content of the soils. This suggests that there are secondary factors that result in a high environmental availability of As (meaning that the water is really good and taking the As from the soil into solution and delivering it to consumers). A recent study out of MIT suggest that water that is artificially high in organic carbon (due to agricultural activities) increases the environmental availability of As. Recent work by the USGS shows that secondary factors such as pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), and time also play important roles in affecting As availability.
Water issue 2.75: Mitigation of As contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh requires inexpensive, low-tech, culturally-sensitive, approaches. We discussed a number of factors including: deeper wells, large-scale high-tech treatment plants vs. smaller scale, low-tech filtration mechanisms, education and communication, deeper wells, cultural and practical implications of sharing (gender issues, perceived insularity), and rice consumption. While I mentioned the importance of inexpensive filtration mechanisms, I forgot to mention the importance of inexpensive water quality testing mechanisms. Getting your water tested for As in NH is a mere (subsidized) $15- not so much of a bargain if you live in a country with a per capita that is 3% that of the USA.
One additional thing that I want to emphasize is that while it might be nice and convenient to group different water quality issues into categories (toxic metals, agricultural runoff, organic chemicals, et cetera), each individual incidence of compromised water quality has its own individual set of physical, chemical, and geological characteristics (its own personality, if you will.) Likewise, the mitigation strategy for each incidence of compromised water quality has its own unique requirements, limitations, and complexities. The better we understand the underlying physical (chemical, geologic, hydrologic, anthropogenic) problems and the economic, geographic, and cultural constrains of action, the better we will be at improving water quality for everyone.
The quiz questions were (as I recall from memory):
1. What is the dilemma Bangladesh has concerning H2O?
2. What is the amendment to the Superfund Act?
3. What is the Chemical Symbol for Arsenic?
4. What is the percentage of people in the US who get water from private wells?
5. What is the percentage of people in GEOL 150 who get water from private wells?
Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.
The my maps page has been updated with the locations mentioned in today's lecture.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Summary for Wednesday February 17th
Today marked the beginning of material that will be on the final but not the midterm and a continuation of our water quality discussion. We started off with a look at the nitrogen cycle, nitrogen bioavailability, and the role of nitrogen in sustaining life. Nitrogen is the limiting agent in many (all?) agricultural systems and so we use natural gas and atmospheric nitrogen (N2) to make synthetic nitrogenous fertilizers which we then apply to crops in order to increase productivity. The synthetic nitrogenous fertilizer that is not absorbed by plants ends up entering surface and groundwater systems and can result in water quality issues. When this bioavailable nitrogen enters natural systems that are nitrogen limited, algal blooms can occur which create hypoxic conditions that can lead to fish kills. The Gulf of Mexico and the Chesapeake Bay are two locations that are currently experiencing seasonal algal blooms related to nitrogen runoff. Excess bioavailable nitrogen is also responsible for increased rates of eutrophication in surface waters. The human health effects of excess bioavailable nitrogen include decreases oxygen carrying capacity of blood (methemoglobinemia = blue baby syndrome), decreased thyroid gland function, and cancer.
We then spent some time summarizing a recent article in the NY Times (That Tap Water Is Legal but May Be Unhealthy). The two main points of the article are that
the EPA only regulates a small number of the 60,000 chemicals that are used in the USA, and
some of current standards (MCLs) are high enough that you can be drinking water that is unhealthy but does not violate any laws.
Arsenic (As) presents a good example of the second issue posed above. As is a chalcophile (sulfur loving) element that occurs in naturally sulfur-rich rocks. As can also be concentrated anthropogenically through industrial processes and mining (many of the metals that we mine occur as sulfide minerals). The acute toxicity of As has been know for a long time (as little as 100ppm of As is acutely toxic) but more and more research has shown that smaller and smaller doses of As can be unhealthy. In 2001, the the EPA lowered the legal limit for As in drinking water from 50ppb to 10ppb (the new limit did not go into effect until 2006). 50ppb has been linked to rates of cancer at ~1/100. 10ppb has been linked to rates of cancer at ~1/600. Both of these numbers are well below the "acceptable risk" of 1/1 million. Some research even shows negative health effects at 1ppb As. New England, particularly the Seacoast area of New Hampshire is an example of an area with naturally As-rich rocks and there are an estimated 13 million people in this area whose water became illegal with the lowering of the standard from 50 to 10 ppm. Most of the numbers in this paragraph come from the Dartmouth College Toxic Metals Research Program.
Bangladesh is another example of a region with As groundwater problems. Bangladesh is also troubled by surfaces water quality problems and began using groundwater wells a few decades ago- only to discover that their soils are naturally As rich. We will discuss their plight further in class on Friday.
Terms/concepts to know from today's lecture: bioavailability (biologically available), limiting agent (nitrogen limited), eutrophication, acute toxicity, acceptable risk, and ppb.
For lecture on Friday, please read:
Dissolved Arsenic in Bangladesh Drinking Water Is from Human Alteration of Landscape
The abstract for the original paper in Nature Geosciences that is discussed in the article above is here.
Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.
The midterm is due Friday.
I also want to remind people that there is an outside lecture opportunity tomorrow (Thursday) nigh: "Nothing New about NAFTA: North American Connections and Their Historical Lessons" (aka Ecology of US-Mexico Trade) by Sterling Evans, University of Oklahoma; Thursday February 18, 2010 7:00 PM in Northern Auditorium, Leyburn Library.
We then spent some time summarizing a recent article in the NY Times (That Tap Water Is Legal but May Be Unhealthy). The two main points of the article are that
the EPA only regulates a small number of the 60,000 chemicals that are used in the USA, and
some of current standards (MCLs) are high enough that you can be drinking water that is unhealthy but does not violate any laws.
Arsenic (As) presents a good example of the second issue posed above. As is a chalcophile (sulfur loving) element that occurs in naturally sulfur-rich rocks. As can also be concentrated anthropogenically through industrial processes and mining (many of the metals that we mine occur as sulfide minerals). The acute toxicity of As has been know for a long time (as little as 100ppm of As is acutely toxic) but more and more research has shown that smaller and smaller doses of As can be unhealthy. In 2001, the the EPA lowered the legal limit for As in drinking water from 50ppb to 10ppb (the new limit did not go into effect until 2006). 50ppb has been linked to rates of cancer at ~1/100. 10ppb has been linked to rates of cancer at ~1/600. Both of these numbers are well below the "acceptable risk" of 1/1 million. Some research even shows negative health effects at 1ppb As. New England, particularly the Seacoast area of New Hampshire is an example of an area with naturally As-rich rocks and there are an estimated 13 million people in this area whose water became illegal with the lowering of the standard from 50 to 10 ppm. Most of the numbers in this paragraph come from the Dartmouth College Toxic Metals Research Program.
Bangladesh is another example of a region with As groundwater problems. Bangladesh is also troubled by surfaces water quality problems and began using groundwater wells a few decades ago- only to discover that their soils are naturally As rich. We will discuss their plight further in class on Friday.
Terms/concepts to know from today's lecture: bioavailability (biologically available), limiting agent (nitrogen limited), eutrophication, acute toxicity, acceptable risk, and ppb.
For lecture on Friday, please read:
Dissolved Arsenic in Bangladesh Drinking Water Is from Human Alteration of Landscape
The abstract for the original paper in Nature Geosciences that is discussed in the article above is here.
Slides shown in lecture today have been posted as a .pdf to Sakai.
The midterm is due Friday.
I also want to remind people that there is an outside lecture opportunity tomorrow (Thursday) nigh: "Nothing New about NAFTA: North American Connections and Their Historical Lessons" (aka Ecology of US-Mexico Trade) by Sterling Evans, University of Oklahoma; Thursday February 18, 2010 7:00 PM in Northern Auditorium, Leyburn Library.
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