Water
Drinking water or potable water is water safe enough to be consumed by humans or used with low risk of immediate or long term harm. In most developed countries, the water supplied to households, commerce and industry meets drinking water standards, even though only a very small proportion is actually consumed or used in food preparation. Typical uses (for other than potable purposes) include toilet flushing, washing and landscape irrigation. The word potable came into English from the Late Latin potabilis meaning drinkable.Over large parts of the world, humans have inadequate access to potable water and use sources contaminated with disease vectors, pathogens or unacceptable levels of toxins or suspended solids. Drinking or using such water in food preparation leads to widespread acute and chronic illnesses and is a major cause of death and misery in many countries. Reduction of waterborne diseases is a major public health goal in developing countries.
- Text and Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_water
- Text and Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_water
Popular methods for purifying water, especially for local private supplies are listed below.
- Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distillation
- Distillation involves boiling the water to produce water vapour. The vapour contacts a cool surface where it condenses as a liquid. Because the solutes are not normally vaporised, they remain in the boiling solution. Even distillation does not completely purify water, because of contaminants with similar boiling points and droplets of unvapourised liquid carried with the steam. However, 99.9% pure water can be obtained by distillation.
- Reverse osmosis: Mechanical pressure is applied to an impure solution to force pure water through a semi-permeable membrane. Reverse osmosis is theoretically the most thorough method of large scale water purification available, although perfect semi-permeable membranes are difficult to create. Unless membranes are well-maintained, algae and other life forms can colonize the membranes.
- Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distillation
Greywater or sullage is defined as wastewater generated from wash hand basins, showers and baths, which can be recycled on-site for uses such as WC flushing, landscape irrigation and constructed wetlands. Greywater often includes discharge from laundry, dishwashers and kitchen sinks. It differs from the discharge of WC's which is designated sewage or blackwater to indicate it contains human waste.
- Text and Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greywater
- Text and Image from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greywater
The Water Project, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization unlocking human potential by providing sustainable water projects to communities in sub-Saharan Africa who suffer needlessly from a lack of access to clean water and proper sanitation.
For over seven years, we have been helping communities gain access to clean, safe water by providing training, expertise and financial support for water project construction through our staff and implementing partners. We grow and learn by...
For over seven years, we have been helping communities gain access to clean, safe water by providing training, expertise and financial support for water project construction through our staff and implementing partners. We grow and learn by...
- Going and Doing - We don't just write checks. We are deeply involved in the hard work of providing water.
- Taking Risks - We invest in new and growing partners whose contributions are crucial to solving the water crisis.
- Making Mistakes - Risks and mistakes go hand in hand. It happens. We learn. We share our experience so others won't repeat them.
- Always Listening - There is much to glean from our neighbors. We drink it all in.
Mission: Our Water Commons seeks to transform societal decision making for water stewardship, towards participatory, democratic, community-centered systems that value equity and sustainability as a strategy. Our work is based on a set of ten water commons principles. History: Our Water Commons is a collaborative program of On the Commons, an organization formed in 2001 to advance commons-based solutions that will help achieve environmental restoration, social justice, global cooperation and a brighter future for all. The Our Water Commons initiative was born out of a three day working meeting held in May 2008 with leaders from the Council on Canadians, the Blue Planet Project, Vermont Law school, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS), Food and Water Watch, Grassroots International, On the Commons, the Centre for Human Rights and Law (India), and the Red Vida (Latin America’s largest water justice network). We invite you to join us. Water Commons Principles We base our work on the following principles:
- Affirm water as a commons, that is, it belongs to everyone and no one, passed onto future generations in sufficient volume and quality
- Ensure that the earth and all of its ecosystems enjoy rights to water for their survival – indeed it is on those ecosystems that human life depends
- Conserve water as society’s first course of action (enforced by law), including suggesting drastic changes to industrial and agricultural practices
- Treat watersheds – the source of water - as a common as well and not simply the water itself
- Encourage local, community management while legally binding communities to respect upstream and downstream neighbors’ rights
- Forge or affirm trans-boundary agreements that respect water sovereignty for both communities and nations
- Provide water as a basic principle of justice, not as an act of charity
- Ensure public delivery and fair pricing of water
- Promote enshrining the right to water in nation-state constitutions, laws and a UN covenant
- Employ innovative legal tools to protect water and manage water as a commons, including through public and community trusts