tagged w/ Water purification
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TOKYO, Japan, March 23, 2011 (ENS) - Environment News Service...
Japanese health authorities are warning Tokyo residents not to allow babies less than a year old to drink tap water, following detection of high radiation levels in the water.
Tokyo is roughly 200 kilometers south of Fukushima prefecture where Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant has been emitting radiation since it was struck by the earthquake and tsunami on March 11 and continuing aftershocks. High levels of radiation have been measured in air, seawater and soil near the damaged plant.
Radiation has been released since the nuclear fuel rods at reactor Units 1, 2, 3 were damaged by exposure to air when outside power to cooling systems was lost. A fire in Unit 4's spent fuel pool added to the radioactive release. In addition, workers have drilled holes in roofs of the reactor buildings at Units 5 and 6, to prevent hydrogen gas from accumulating within the buildings and causing further explosions.
These 10-month old Tokyo residents would receive too much radiation if they are given tap water. (Photo by B. Hollar)
The Prime Minister's Office said Wednesday that radioactive iodine more than two times the limit for infants was detected in water at a purification plant in Tokyo.
The Tokyo Metropolitan government said 210 becquerels of iodine-131 were detected on Tuesday in one liter of water at one of its purification plants in northern Tokyo. A sampling Wednesday showed 190 becquerels per liter.
These levels are below the 210-becquerel per liter limit for children and lower than the 300-becquerel per liter limit for adults, but they are far above the 100-becquerel limit for infants.
As a result, parents of infants in Tokyo's 23 wards and five other nearby cities are directed not to give their babies tap water.
The Tokyo Metropolitan government is also urging firms and facilities, including child daycare centers in these areas, not to use tap water when making drinks or baby food for infants.
"Even if people other than infants drink water that exceeds the legal limit temporarily, it would be very unlikely to affect human health. There is no problem with drinking the water in question in case you have no other drinkable water," the PMO's office advised.
Tap water in a Tokyo kitchen (Photo by Mathias Berg)
Many Tokyo residents are in panic mode and are trying to buy bottled water, which is in short supply. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said in a news conference today that the government is trying to help.
"Some people began panic buying drinking water since the radioactive iodine exceeding the provisional standard values was detected in tap water," Edano said. "The government is making utmost efforts to send bottles of drinking water as much as possible to the quake-hit areas. I would like to call on people in Tokyo to avoid panic buying of water."
The Metropolitan government plans to provide more water to families of infants and is asking mineral water bottlers to increase production.
Washing hands and bathing with Tokyo tap water is "no problem," authorities said.
Across Fukushima prefecture, four other cities tested iodine levels above the 100-becquerel per liter safety limit for infants as of Monday.
The Water Supply Division of Japan's Health Service Bureau also said Monday that high radiation levels have been measured in Iitate-mura village and seven other locations, including the town of Kawamata-machi, where levels are so high the government has advised residents to avoid intake of local food and beverages if possible.
Japan's science ministry has been monitoring radiation levels in all 47 prefectures, and prefectural governments in Niigata, Kanagawa, Ibaraki and Gunma have been taking their own measurements. But none have reported radiation levels above the government safety limit.
The health ministry ordered all prefectural governments on Sunday to test their tap water.TOKYO, Japan, March 23, 2011 (ENS) - Environment News Service...
Japanese health... more
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The trick the researchers use to boost the cleansing action of ultraviolet is to add a light-activated catalyst to the effluent. They have come up with two sorts, one for heavily polluted water and one for water that is only lightly polluted.
For water containing serious industrial contaminants, like that at Lampoldshausen, they use iron sulphate as the catalyst and add a small amount of hydrogen peroxide and sulfuric acid to assist the process. Thus treated, the water is pumped through arrays of transparent glass tubes in a 49 meter-long solar reactor. In a complex series of reactions, one of which is promoted by ultraviolet light, the iron reacts with both the hydrogen peroxide and some of the water itself to produce powerful oxidizing agents known as hydroxyl radicals. These destroy the polluting molecules. Once the water has been cleaned, the acid is neutralized, causing the iron to become insoluble. It precipitates out as iron oxide and can then be recovered and recycled, leaving water pure enough to discharge into a river.
For less heavily polluted water, similar equipment is used, except that the glass tubes are coated with titanium dioxide. This substance is a semiconductor, meaning that when electrons (which are negatively charged) are knocked free from its crystal structure, the result is a positively charged “hole” that can move around inside the crystal. This hole is also a powerful oxidizer. One of the ways a hole can be created is for the electron to be displaced by ultraviolet light. A titanium-dioxide system, which is still in development, could purify water to the point where it was suitable not merely for discharge, but for drinking.
http://www.economist.com/science-technology/technology-monitor/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15570635The trick the researchers use to boost the cleansing action of ultraviolet is to add a... more
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A low-cost water purification technique published in Current Protocols in Microbiology could help drastically reduce the incidence of waterborne disease in the developing world.
The procedure, which uses seeds from the Moringa oleifera tree, can produce a 90.00% to 99.99% bacterial reduction in previously untreated water, and has been made free to download as part of access programs under John Wiley and Sons' Corporate Citizenship Initiative.
A billion people across Asia, Africa, and Latin America are estimated to rely on untreated surface water sources for their daily water needs. Of these, some two million are thought to die from diseases caught from contaminated water every year, with the majority of these deaths occurring among children under five years of age.
Michael Lea, a Current Protocols author and a researcher at Clearinghouse, a Canadian organisation dedicated to investigating and implementing low-cost water purification technologies, believes the Moringa oleifera tree could go a long way to providing a solution.
"Moringa oleifera is a vegetable tree which is grown in Africa, Central and South America, the Indian subcontinent, and South East Asia. It could be considered to be one of the world's most useful trees," said Lea.
"Not only is it drought resistant, it also yields cooking and lighting oil, soil fertilizer, as well as highly nutritious food in the form of its pods, leaves, seeds and flowers. Perhaps most importantly, its seeds can be used to purify drinking water at virtually no cost."
Moringa tree seeds, when crushed into powder, can be used as a water-soluble extract in suspension, resulting in an effective natural clarification agent for highly turbid and untreated pathogenic surface water. As well as improving drinkability, this technique reduces water turbidity (cloudiness) making the result aesthetically as well as microbiologically more acceptable for human consumption.
Despite its live-saving potential, the technique is still not widely known, even in areas where the Moringa is routinely cultivated. It is therefore Lea's hope that the publication of this technique in a freely available protocol format, a first, will make it easier to disseminate the procedure to the communities that need it.
cont.A low-cost water purification technique published in Current Protocols in Microbiology... more
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Your $100 Will Give Water to 15,000 Haitians Today.
We need your help right now in Port-au-Prince!
The earthquake knocked out many neighborhood water tanks, but 28 have survived. However, no water is coming to these tanks from the local water agency (CAMEP).
So Dalebrun Esther – our Haitian Director – has designed a system to supply water.
Two big pumps – in Cite Soleil and Tabal – are producing hundreds of thousands of gallons of water. Dalebrun is renting 10 water trucks each day to take water from these two pumps to surviving water tanks.
He pays each trucker $100 a day to make 5 trips to water tanks in poor neighborhoods. Each truck holds 3000 gallons and 5 loads make 15,000 gallons per day for each truck.
With 10 trucks, Dalebrun is delivering 150,000 gallons to poor neighborhoods in the city each day. And, he is restricting each person to 1 gallon per day.
We are sending more money to Dalebrun to hire more trucks for this effort.
Every $100 can hire one truck per day for 15,000 people.
Before the quake there were some 200 water trucks in the city. We are not sure how many survived, but we will encourage Dalebrun to hire as many as he can. In the first three days after the quake, Dalebrun himself delivered 20,000 gallons using our small truck.
But, it is far more effective to rent the trucks of 3000 gallons all day long. With your help, we will fill the surviving tanks, reach neighborhoods with no water access, and even supply schools.
As soon as possible, we will shift to rebuilding the damaged tanks and making new 1600 gallon tanks in our fiberglass factory which we are shipping to Port-au-Prince.
With appreciation for your help,
Lidnsay Mattison and Youngmin Chang
Relief Efforts are Only Beginning - Jan. 21, 2010
As of yesterday, Dalebrun had obtained 2 truckers. Today, there were 10 truckers made available (We hope for 14 tomorrow). Dalebrun has continued to make trips, serving nearly 35,000-40,000 Haitians with one gallon of water or less per person. Other water areas, such as MAC, are providing minimal water even with plastic bags.
The Haitians are grateful for the water, but also remain agitated. The dilapidated jail has allowed for many criminals to escape making it difficult to maintain order. Additionally, Dalebrun has found it imperative to acquire staff for protection purposes. Although he is still negotiating the salary, he said he might spend $1,700-$1,600 on the new staff. We went through the list of water tanks and he told us which ones are broken but function, which ones are totally broken, and which ones are undamaged.
Your help can greatly support our efforts.
Updated News: Shipping to Haiti - Jan. 20, 2010
Getting any resources to Haiti in this time of need is still difficult, as most ports, airports, and banks remain closed. We have been able to successfully send money to our Haitian staff using CAM money transfer. We are very grateful to the Dominican Republic Red Cross and INAPA who are coordinating to help us with shipping a truck and water tanks to Haiti. Clinton Global Intiative has also volunteered to help us coordinate shipping and allow resources to get into Haiti as quickly as possible.
Updated News from our Haitian staff - Jan. 19, 2010
Our Haitian director, Dalebrun Esther, is busy distributing water to as many neighborhoods as possible. Dalebrun says that CAMEP officials would be willing to assist in his effort to distribute water to the population, along with truckers from privatized companies.
He knows of two water sources that are working and has identified 28 public water tanks that are in good enough shape to hold water. He has hired additional workers and is tirelessly working to get water to as many people as possible.
During these desperate times, International Action has collaborated with other officials to support this worldwide effort. Arch Chemicals, a chlorine and biocides manufacturer, has been working with IA to transfer water purification supplies to desperate areas.
Your help and generous donations will help our staff and suppliers to provide clean water to the victims of the Earthquake in Haiti. Please support this work.Your $100 Will Give Water to 15,000 Haitians Today.
We need your help right now in... more
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The Zuvo Water Purator uses five separate cleansing technologies to purify tap water. Ozonation, UV Lights and particulate filtering, are some of the techniques that improve the quality of your water.
Up to 5% of company profit will go to water purification programs in developing counties, and the retail price starts at $200 (approx. £120).The Zuvo Water Purator uses five separate cleansing technologies to purify tap water.... more
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Replaced our #bottledwater service, no plastic, toxics, costs less & tastes great http://digg.com/u39Lfi http://yfrog.com/6wc21bjReplaced our #bottledwater service, no plastic, toxics, costs less & tastes great... more
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What's the best drinking water between tap, purified or bottled ?
EcoStiletto's Rachel Sarnoff finds out as she takes the Go Green Drinking Water Challenge and tests for us the best way to drink our daily dose of H2O.What's the best drinking water between tap, purified or bottled ?... more
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Over 1.1 billion people in the world don't have access to clean drinking water. When I heard of a water purifier that uses nanotechnology to purify water even from fecal matter contaminated water sources, I couldn't help but test it out the "uncultured" way.Over 1.1 billion people in the world don't have access to clean drinking water.... more
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