WaterManBlog.com - Water News, Views and Muse

What were they thinking? The village officials of Crestwood, IL have some splaining to do.

The Chicago Tribune covered the story ...

Like every town across the nation, south suburban Crestwood tucks a notice into utility bills each summer reassuring residents their drinking water is safe. Village leaders also trumpet the claim in their monthly newsletter, while boasting they offer the cheapest water rates in Cook County.

Pinching pennies makes for bad water policy.

As village officials were building a national reputation for pinching pennies, and sending out fliers proclaiming Crestwood water was "Good to taste but not to waste!," state and village records obtained by the newspaper show they secretly were drawing water from a contaminated well, apparently to save money.

But those pronouncements hide a troubling reality: For more than two decades, the 11,000 or so residents in this working-class community unknowingly drank tap water contaminated with toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems, a Tribune investigation found.

What were these chemicals?

The well water is polluted with two chemicals related to perchloroethylene, or PCE, a dry-cleaning solvent linked to cancer, liver damage and neurological problems.

But no worries, my friends - Crestwood Mayor hired a PR company to clean up the mess - Oh, really?

In response to a Tribune investigation that revealed Crestwood's secret use of a well polluted with cancer-causing chemicals, Mayor Robert Stranczek has hired a public relations firm and prepared to send letters to every village resident and business.

Will the public relations consultants dress in hazmat uniforms?

In one of the more egregious uses of the english phrase - stretching the truth ... Mayor Robert Stranczek wrote the following ..."Despite the issues with the well," he wrote, "there is no evidence that the drinking water that flowed from our kitchen taps contained any hazardous substances beyond what the law allows."

Of course not, bozo - because you did not knowingly test the water ... But mayor, mayor, what about this ...

The Illinois EPA found vinyl chloride in the well at levels up to 5.41 parts per billion, more than twice the legal limit. The state also told Crestwood in 1986 that tests had found the well was tainted.

Oh noooooo, Mr. Mayor - you are in a heap of trouble, plus your daddy too - who was mayor for 4 decades before you. Better ditch the PR company and hire a really good lawyer.

What is the moral of the story? - Never mess with people's water. Plus, impeach the bums.

Wake up to your water before its too late.

Resources:

• Environmental Working Group Tap Water Website - This site tells you about what is in your water supply - a little dated but comprehensive.
• Camp Lejuene Contaminated Water Website - Highlights the 4 decade saga of water contamination at the home of the Marines. With similar chemicals no doubt. Call in the Marines.
• Village Of Crestwood, IL Website - Unofficial website put together by citizen activists of Crestwood, IL.

Regardless of the recent Thai goverment meltdown, the show must go on.

Despite political turmoil Songkran, aka The Thai New Year, is being celebrated on April 13, 14 and 15.

Songkran is commonly known as the "water festival" as public water fights are enjoyed throughout the country during this period. Water, a symbol of renewal, is believed to cleanse and wash away the sorrows from the previous year. People are encouraged to throw water on each other and it often becomes a nationwide free-for-all.

Sounds fun, get the super-soaker, But, there is much more to it as well.

The origins of Thai New Year combine Buddhist belief, ancient astrology, and the solar calendar. Songkran, which means the shift of the sun from one side of the zodiac to the other, is celebrated when the sun moves from Pisces to Aries, beginning a new astrological year.

Songkran consists of four days. On the first day (Wan Sungkharn Long), houses are cleaned and swept. Wan Nao, the second day, involves the preparation of food to be offered to monks the next day. The third day is New Year's Day (Wan Payawan), celebrated by visiting the temple, presenting food and clothing to the monks, bathing the Buddha image with jasmine-scented water, and taking part in one of the many rituals believed to bring good luck. On the last day, Wan Parg-bpee, homage is paid to ancestors and elders. Water is gently poured over the hands or shoulders of an elder while they recite blessings and good wishes for the new year.

Happy New Year H2O.

They started from this Western Port aboard a plastic ship ...

So what does David de Rothschild, an environmentalist with connections to the Rothschild banking clan, do with all the extra plastic bottles in the trash bins of America?

Good question.

He builds the Plastiki and decides to set sail in April 2009, to raise awareness for the epidemic of plastic waste, and, on the flip side, for focusing attention on how to recycle and reuse plastic. Helping them on their awareness tour, The Plastiki will definitely be passing by the famed "Plastic Soup."

Explorer, environmentalist, and British celebrity David de Rothschild will set out on a 11,000-mile (17,703-kilometer) journey across the Pacific Ocean at the end of April in a boat made of plastic bottles.

Created from a special composite of recycled plastic, de Rothschild's boat is a 60-foot (18-meter) catamaran. De Rothschild will steer the fiberglass-like frame, made buoyant by the addition of 12,000 two-liter plastic bottles along the hulls, from San Francisco to Sydney—with several island stops—on an exploration of plastic litter—the most common in the type of ocean pollution.

Due to set sail, in April 2009, from San Francisco's Pier 31, Rothschild was not, as a few would believe, inspired by Gilligan and the Skipper from the SS Minnow.

Inspired by the legendary Norwegian explorer and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl's epic journey from South America to Polynesia on a balsa wood raft called Kontiki, Rothschild's Plastiki will carry several scientists who will gather data on the tremendous amount of plastic waste floating in the middle of the Pacific. Reports say the waste is twice the size of Texas and continues to grow daily. They expect the journey to take over 100 days and will stop in Hawaii, Tuvalu, and Fiji before reaching Sydney's famous harbor.

Yes, chlorine kills bacteria - But at what cost?

Yes, chlorine kills organic matter - But we are organic matter too. 

A recently released medical study, from the January 2007 issue of the American Journal Of Epidemiology, directly links chlorinated water to increased risks of cancer. Its time to free ourselves from our addiction to chlorine.

According to the study conducted by Dr. Cristina M. Villanueva of the Municipal Institute of Medical Research in Barcelona, Spain, drinking, bathing or swimming in chlorinated water may increase the risk of bladder cancer by as much as 57%.

Actually the findings are the first to suggest that these chemicals can be harmful when they are inhaled or absorbed through the skin, as well as when they are ingested. 

When THM is absorbed through the skin or lungs, Villanueva and her team note, it may have a more powerful carcinogenic effect because it does not undergo detoxification via the liver. 

But it means we have some work to do. We need to start finding and discovering alternatives to chlorine, which has been the staple for H2O disinfection and general disinfection for quite some time. We must find ways of getting chlorine out of our lives and the lives of our children.

But it was used in so many ways - from a chemical war weapon to use in making medicines. Click here for a complete Wikipedia rundown of the uses of chlorine in our everyday lives. 

But now, with this information out, its use and sale of chlorine can be considered negligent, given the health effects.

No worries, there are alternatives, especially in water disinfection - such as ozone and solar.

Remember, buy a shower filter - or a bath filter or be a filter.

Carbon Shmarbon.

Just think - if you are American and make 75 Grand a year - your yearly h2o footprint is 3,235 cubic meters of water per year. If you made the same amount of money in let us say, Albania, your yearly water footprint would be 2,165 cubic meters.

Jus think ... 

1. The production of one kilogram of beef requires 16 thousand litres of water.
2. To produce one cup of coffee we need 140 litres of water.
3. The water footprint of China is about 700 cubic meter per year per capita. Only about 7% of the Chinese water footprint falls outside China.
4. Japan with a footprint of 1150 cubic meter per year per capita, has about 65% of its total water footprint outside the borders of the country.
5. The USA water footprint is 2500 cubic meter per year per capita.

What we eat, what we do for a living make a difference in how much water we use.

Calculate your own simple water footprint here and a more detailed one here.  

 

Oh My God.

Millions of people in Mexico's capital city cut off from water supplies, due to historic drought and pipeline leaks.

According to BBC News ...

Mexico City officials have shut down a main pipeline providing fresh water to millions of residents because reserves have fallen to record low levels.

The closure, due to last 36 hours, will affect five million people, or a quarter of the city's population. Unusually low rainfall last year and major leakage are blamed for leaving reservoirs less than half full. Hundreds of water trucks have been deployed in the areas worst affected by the cuts.

The local government says it will carry out emergency repairs to the water supply network. 

Emergency repairs, it is about time. Did you know that 50% of the water that runs through the water infrastructure of Mexico City is lost to leakage.

More than 50% of the water carried by the pipeline leaks out before it reaches its destination.

This is the third time the capital has faced such a drastic form of water rationing this year, the BBC's Stephen Gibbs in Mexico City reports.

According to BBC reports the water cutoff and the coinciding emergency repairs has been deliberately timed to coincide with Easter weekend. when many residents, or at least those who can afford to, leave the city.

But the sad truth is ...

Mexico City was once a floating city, built on a spectacular chain of volcanic lakes, and flooding used to be its main environmental threat.

But since the lakes were finally drained in the 1960s, the city has been struggling with its water supply.

At least they will get the water back after 36 hours, Saturday April 11, 2009 - they hope.

Its Pushback Time.

After decades of a European Commission pushing for privatized water, it seems that civil society in Europe is calling for the end of water privatization.

The first-ever pan-European civil society coalition against water privatisation was launched recently during the European Social Forum in the Swedish city Malmö. Including citizens groups from Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Turkey and a dozen other countries across Europe, the European Network for Public Water will insist on major changes in EU policies towards water management, away from the current pro-privatisation approach.

Providing water and basic water services for people has been one of the most basic jobs of any functioning government, has been on rise. Water resources and basic water infrastructure has been sold to the lowest bidder.

Water privatization, Call it crazy, call it a sell out of basic public responsibility, which it is.