How Air Conditioners Increase the Flow of the Colorado River

Posted July 31st, 2013
Energy, Environmental

Tides, Energy, and the Colorado River

by Elizabeth Cutright

Water News in a Nutshell.

 

In a Nutshell: John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, said that if you tug on one thing in nature you find it attached to the rest of the world.  With that in mind, it makes perfect sense that when a man in an apartment in Phoenix, AZ turns on his air conditioner,   flow in the Colorado River increases.  This will make sense after you read Elizabeth Cutright’s article.

In a lyrical piece written for The Nation, author William deBuys (A Great Aridness: Climate Change and the Future of the American Southwest) describes his time spent rafting down the Colorado River. As he details the changing landscape and the effects climate change and demand management (or mismanagement) have on this interstate tributary, deBuys also manages to address one of the most pressing issues facing water resource management today: the water-energy nexus.

The Colorado is “a tidal river” explains deBuys, going on to note, “these days, the tides of the Colorado are not lunar but Phoenician.” As demand rises from Phoenix, AZ, water levels dip and ebb in response.

“On this April night, when the air conditioners in America’s least sustainable city merely hum, Glen Canyon Dam, immediately upstream from the canyon, will run about 6,500 cubic feet of water through its turbines every second,” writes deBuys. He goes on to illustrate the interdependent relationship between the city’s energy needs and its water resources:

“Tomorrow, as the sun begins its daily broiling of Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, Tempe, and the rest of central Arizona, the engineers at Glen Canyon will crank the dam’s maw wider until it sucks down 11,000 cubic feet per second (cfs). That boost in flow will enable its hydroelectric generators to deliver ‘peaking power’ to several million air conditioners and cooling plants in Phoenix’s Valley of the Sun. And the flow of the river will therefore nearly double.”

Of course, as the heat intensifies in that urban oasis, Phoenix residents will crank up the AC with little thought to effects those watts will have on the Southwest’s water resources.

For deBuys, the connections are clear and significant.

“By mid-summer, temperatures in Phoenix will routinely soar above 110 degrees Fahrenheit, and power demands will rise to monstrous heights, day and night. The dam will respond: 10,000 cfs will gush through the generators by the light of the moon, 18,000 while an implacable sun rules the sky. Such are the cycles—driven by heat, comfort, and human necessity—of the river at the bottom of the continent’s grandest canyon.”

Despite the drastic and significant effects of the energy and water needs of some of the region’s largest cities, few laymen ever make the connection.

“The subsequent story of the West can indeed be read as an unending duel between society’s thirst and the dryness of the land, but in downtown Phoenix, Las Vegas, or Los Angeles, you’d hardly know it,” writes deBuys.

In truth, the impact of this use (who some would undoubtedly label misuse or perhaps even abuse) of the Colorado has tendrils that stretch far and wide beyond green lawns in a desert-scape, or nonstop air conditioning during the hottest part of the day. As deBuys details, harnessing the power of one of “the West’s great waterways,” results in:

* Water for 40 million people
* Irrigation for 5.5 million acres of farmland
* The gradual (and perhaps irreparable) erosion of natural beaches and sandbars as a result of the hydroelectric tides
* Changing water temperatures—resulting from dam releases—aid nonnative species (like trout) to the detriment of indigenous populations of fish—some on the verge of extinction (and many protected under the Endangered Species Act).


The Colorado


The entire article is worth reading, as deBuys goes over the finer points of water rights, court decrees, and the eternal rain dance between supply, demand, and conservation.

One question deBuys asks at the beginning of his essay stuck with me to the end, “The crucial question for Phoenix, for the Colorado, and for the greater part of the American West is this: How long will the water hold out?”


Source: Water Efficiency.

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Fluoride Prevents Cavities but Causes 1800 Cancer Cases Per Year?

Posted July 31st, 2013
Arsenic, Fluoride, Politics of Water

Arsenic in Drinking Water: Costly Change Could Lower Levels

By Douglas Main

Water News in a Nutshell.

 

Gazette’s Summary:  Let’s see.  Undiluted  fluorsilicic acid can eat through glass. When added to tap water it leaches lead out of water pipes. It adds both lead and arsenic to water. Using it causes an estimated 1800 cancers per year.  Not putting it into drinking water supplies would reduce arsenic in drinking water by 99 percent. But we will likely keep adding it because selling a manufacturing by-product is very profitable for the phosphate fertilizer industry.  This will be a tough decision for the EPA.

In early August, the Environmental Protection Agency is set to decide on a petition to change the source of fluoride in U.S. drinking water.Currently, the source of fluoride in most public water supplies is fluorosilicic acid, according to government records. The petition calls for the EPA to instead require the use of pharmaceutical-grade sodium fluoride in water fluoridation, which is the addition of fluoride to drinking water for the purpose of preventing cavities.

Fluorosilicic acid is often contaminated with arsenic, and recent research has linked the arsenic from fluorosilicic acid in drinking water to as many as 1,800 extra cases of cancer yearly in the United States, said William Hirzy, a chemistry researcher American University in Washington, D.C. Hirzy, who worked at the EPA for 27 years, submitted the petition. (more…)

Reasons to Drink Water, Volume 386.

Posted July 28th, 2013
Water and Health

6 Reasons to Drink Water

It’s no magic bullet, but the benefits of water are many.

by Kathleen Zelman

Introductory Note:  We don’t know why his article has only 6 reasons to drink water, since most of the thousands of articles that tell  you to drink water have at least 10.  Likewise,  it has only 5 tips to help you drink more water, while many articles have fifteen or more.  Since they are good reasons and good tips, though, we decided to offer it. Although recommending the drinking of water should fall into the same category as the breathing of air, it is surprising that many people drink little if any water.  These are usually high consumers of soft drinks.  They should read all six reasons and all five tips. –Hardly Waite.

Americans seem to carry bottled water everywhere they go these days. In fact, it has become the second most popular drink (behind soft drinks). But water lovers got a jolt recently when we heard that a new report had found that the benefits of drinking water may have been oversold. Apparently, the old suggestion to drink eight glasses a day was nothing more than a guideline, not based on scientific evidence.

But don’t put your water bottle or glass down just yet. While we may not need eight glasses, there are plenty of reasons to drink water. In fact, drinking water (either plain or in the form of other fluids or foods) is essential to your health.

This man is only half full and clearly needs to drink more water.

“Think of water as a nutrient your body needs that is present in liquids, plain water, and foods. All of these are essential daily to replace the large amounts of water lost each day,” says Joan Koelemay, RD, dietitian for the Beverage Institute, an industry group.

Kaiser Permanente nephrologist Steven Guest, MD, agrees: “Fluid losses occur continuously, from skin evaporation, breathing, urine, and stool, and these losses must be replaced daily for good health,” he says.

When your water intake does not equal your output, you can become dehydrated. Fluid losses are accentuated in warmer climates, during strenuous exercise, in high altitudes, and in older adults, whose sense of thirst may not be as sharp.

Here are six reasons to make sure you’re drinking enough water or other fluids every day:

1. Drinking Water Helps Maintain the Balance of Body Fluids. Your body is composed of about 60% water. The functions of these bodily fluids include digestion, absorption, circulation, creation of saliva, transportation of nutrients, and maintenance of body temperature.

“Through the posterior pituitary gland, your brain communicates with your kidneys and tells it how much water to excrete as urine or hold onto for reserves,” says Guest, who is also an adjunct professor of medicine at Stanford University.

When you’re low on fluids, the brain triggers the body’s thirst mechanism. And unless you are taking medications that make you thirsty, Guest says, you should listen to those cues and get yourself a drink of water, juice, milk, coffee — anything but alcohol.

“Alcohol interferes with the brain and kidney communication and causes excess excretion of fluids which can then lead to dehydration,” he says.

2. Water Can Help Control Calories. For years, dieters have been drinking lots of water as a weight loss strategy. While water doesn’t have any magical effect onweight loss, substituting it for higher calorie beverages can certainly help.

“What works with weight loss is if you choose water or a non-caloric beverage over a caloric beverage and/or eat a diet higher in water-rich foods that are healthier, more filling, and help you trim calorie intake,” says Penn State researcher Barbara Rolls, PhD, author of The Volumetrics Weight Control Plan.

Food with high water content tends to look larger, its higher volume requires more chewing, and it is absorbed more slowly by the body, which helps you feel full. Water-rich foods include fruits, vegetables, broth-based soups, oatmeal, and beans.

3. Water Helps Energize Muscles. Cells that don’t maintain their balance of fluids and electrolytes shrivel, which can result in muscle fatigue. “When muscle cells don’t have adequate fluids, they don’t work as well and performance can suffer,” says Guest.

Drinking enough fluids is important when exercising. Follow the American College of Sports Medicine guidelines for fluid intake before and during physical activity. These guidelines recommend that people drink about 17 ounces of fluid about two hours before exercise. During exercise, they recommend that people start drinking fluids early, and drink them at regular intervals to replace fluids lost by sweating.

4. Water Helps Keep Skin Looking Good. Your skin contains plenty of water, and functions as a protective barrier to prevent excess fluid loss. But don’t expect over-hydration to erase wrinkles or fine lines, says Atlanta dermatologist Kenneth Ellner, MD.

“Dehydration makes your skin look more dry and wrinkled, which can be improved with proper hydration,” he says. “But once you are adequately hydrated, the kidneys take over and excrete excess fluids.”

You can also help “lock” moisture into your skin by using moisturizer, which creates a physical barrier to keep moisture in.

5. Water Helps Your Kidneys. Body fluids transport waste products in and out of cells. The main toxin in the body is blood urea nitrogen, a water-soluble waste that is able to pass through the kidneys to be excreted in the urine, explains Guest. “Your kidneys do an amazing job of cleansing and ridding your body of toxins as long as your intake of fluids is adequate,” he says.

When you’re getting enough fluids, urine flows freely, is light in color and free of odor. When your body is not getting enough fluids, urine concentration, color, and odor increases because the kidneys trap extra fluid for bodily functions.

If you chronically drink too little, you may be at higher risk for kidney stones, especially in warm climates, Guest warns.

6. Water Helps Maintain Normal Bowel Function. Adequate hydration keeps things flowing along your gastrointestinal tract and prevents constipation. When you don’t get enough fluid, the colon pulls water from stools to maintain hydration — and the result is constipation.

“Adequate fluid and fiber is the perfect combination, because the fluid pumps up the fiber and acts like a broom to keep your bowel functioning properly,” says Koelemay.

5 Tips to Help You Drink More

If you think you need to be drinking more, here are some tips to increase your fluid intake and reap the benefits of water:

  1. Have a beverage with every snack and meal.
  2. Choose beverages you enjoy; you’re likely to drink more liquids if you like the way they taste.
  3. Eat more fruits and vegetables. Their high water content will add to your hydration. About 20% of our fluid intake comes from foods.
  4. Keep a bottle of water with you in your car, at your desk, or in your bag.
  5. Choose beverages that meet your individual needs. If you’re watching calories, go for non-caloric beverages or water.

Article Source:  WebMd.

Pure Water Gazette Fair Use Statement

North Texas Study Shows Elevated Metals in Water Near Fracking Sites

Posted July 28th, 2013
Arsenic, Environmental

Researchers find elevated levels of heavy metals in North Texas fracking areas

Editor’s Note:  The AP Report below is one of many we could print that make a circumstantial link between hydraulic fracturing and water contamination.  How long are we going to go on reporting the damage and recommending “more studies?”  –Hardly Waite. 

ARLINGTON — Researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington say there are elevated levels of arsenic and other heavy metals close to natural gas extraction sites in the Barnett Shale area of North Texas, according to a news release from the school on July 26, 2013.

Several scenarios — including disturbances from fracking, lower water tables from drought, removal of water used for fracking or industrial accidents such as faulty gas well casings — could release the dangerous compounds into shallow groundwater. “This study alone can’t conclusively identify the exact causes of elevated levels of contaminants in areas near natural gas drilling, but it does provide a powerful argument for continued research,” Brian Fontenot, the lead author on the new paper, said.

Arsenic, barium, strontium and selenium occur naturally at low levels in groundwater. But the release says fracking activities could elevate their levels. The results from the peer-reviewed study were published online by the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Elevated levels for most of the metals were not found outside active drilling areas or outside the shale.

Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, uses chemicals along with water under high pressure to crack open rock formations and release oil and natural gas. Samples were gathered from 100 private water wells of varying depths within a 13-county area in or near the Barnett Shale during four months in summer and fall of 2011.

Additionally, the paper recommended further research on methanol and ethanol levels in water wells after 29 of the 100 wells in the study contained methanol. The highest concentrations were in the areas of fracking activity. The samples were compared to historical data on water wells from the Texas Water Development Board groundwater database for 1989-1999, before natural gas drilling activity ramped up.

Article Source:  Amarillo Globe News.

Pure Water Gazette Fair Use Statement

 

Is Our Whole Understanding of Water Contamination a Bogus Science?

Posted July 27th, 2013
Religion and Philosophy, Water and Health

 

BPA Plastics Study Yields Yet Another Disturbing “Less Is More” Finding

by Gene Franks

A recent Environmental Health News report on BPA plastic begins:

Baby mice exposed in the womb to low doses – but not high doses – of bisphenol A were fatter and had metabolic changes linked to obesity and diabetes, according to a new study published today. Building on previous studies that link the hormone-altering chemical to changes in body weight and glucose tolerance, the new research fuels an ongoing controversy over whether federal testing of chemicals is adequate to protect people from low doses. “What’s scary is that we found effects at levels that the government not only says is safe, but that they don’t bother to test,” said Frederick vom Saal, a University of Missouri, Columbia, professor and senior author of the study. Many of the effects were reported in the mice fed daily doses – just during pregnancy – that were one-tenth of the amount that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says is safe for daily exposure throughout life. Used in polycarbonate plastics, canned food liners and some thermal receipts, BPA is found in almost everyone’s body. Some earlier studies have linked it to obesity and diabetes in people.

The report goes on to explain that current water regulatory practices are carried out under the assumption that high doses are more potent than low doses, so if a chemical does not prove harmful at a dosage of 5 parts per billion, there is no reason to test it at a concentration of 1 part per billion.

Modern Science, like all belief systems, holds certain principles to be sacred and beyond challenge.  One of these is the idea that when a substance is present in a large amount it is more powerful than it would be in a smaller amount.  In other words, more is always more, and less is always less. On the occasions when less seems to be more, as with the current BPA issue,  the scientific establishment simply dismisses the finding as heresy.  If the heretic refuses to recant, he is burned at the stake.  Witness the case of the French scientist Jacques Benveniste, who in 1988 challenged the “more is always more” commandment and was  excommunicated by Orthodox Science.   Benveniste’s sin against scientific orthodoxy was to publish experiments demonstrating that water has the ability to remember substances whose physical presence has been entirely removed from it.  (See The Lost Genitals of Uranus, or How Is an Elephant like a Glass of Water?)

Less is more, of course, is not a revolutionary idea, although orthodox Science treats it like  one.  Less is more is a cornerstone principle of the science of Homeopathy, which calls it the Law of Infinitesimals,   There are countless well documented exceptions to the more is more dogma. The truth seems to be that more is most often more, but sometimes less is more.

Low doses of BPA spurred weight gain and other metabolic changes in baby mice.  Of the doses fed to the pregnant mice – 5, 50, 500, 5,000 and 50,000 micrograms per kilogram – 500 caused the most metabolic changes.  The number of fat cells doubled at the 500 dose. No effects were seen at doses higher than 5,000.

The entire belief system on which modern water treatment practices are based depends on upholding the principal that more is always more.  Without it, there would be chaos. How can we regulate water contaminants if we have to contend with the absurd notion that reducing their quantity may actually be making them more potent threats to human health?  And even it a contaminant is removed to a non-detectable level,  how can we be sure that humans are not being affected by water’s memory of the contaminant?

References: Environmental Health News .

Thanks for the Memory. Experiments Confirm Benveniste’s “Heretical” Research.

Why Is Cheap Tea A Serious Health Threat?

Posted July 25th, 2013
Water and Health

Why is cheap tea a threat to your health? For the same reason that tap water is.

 

Water News in a Nutshell.

 

In a Nutshell:  New British research shows that the tea plant accumulates fluoride as it grows, with mature leaves containing the most fluoride. When tea is harvested, the older leaves are used to produce lower quality, stronger teas such as economy teas. The bud and newer top leaves are used in the  higher grade and specialty tea products. It is suggested that an adult consume no more than three mg of fluoride a day. The new study showed that on average, four cups of cheap supermarket tea provided six mg of the substance. Excessive intake of fluoride can cause a variety of health problems including joint pain, muscle weakness, osteoporosis, brittle teeth, kidney problems. Excessive fluoride has even been linked to cancer.

Adapted from  Could Cheap Tea Bags Make You Ill?  by Fiona Macrae.

Opting for cheap supermarket tea bags over artisan blends could have long-term health consequences, according to new research.

A study has found that cheap tea bags from supermarkets including Asda, Sainsbury’s and Tesco can push a person’s fluoride intake over daily recommended levels and put them at a higher risk of bone and dental disease.

Experts have now called for supermarkets and tea manufacturers to consider stating fluoride concentration as part of the nutritional information found on food packaging.

Levels of fluoride found in 38 tea products were compared by PhD student Laura Chan, Professor Aradhana Mehra and Professor Paul Lynch from the University of Derby.

Using Ion Selective Electrode analysis – which analyses trace elements, such as fluoride, in a liquid – of the dry tea, and of the tea infusions brewed with boiling water for two minutes, the researchers compared the fluoride levels consumed by someone drinking the average intake of four cups or a litre of tea a day.

It is recommended that an adult does not consume more than three to four mg of fluoride per day.

Yet researchers discovered that economy blends of tea contained between 75 per cent and 120 per cent of the recommended daily intake.On average, a litre of cheap supermarket tea contained six mg of fluoride.

They found significant differences in fluoride levels when economy black tea blends from supermarkets Asda, Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s were compared with branded black tea blends such as PG Tips, Twining’s and Typhoo.

They also found significant differences in fluoride levels between green tea blends including Clipper Organic leaf, Green Twining’s bags; pure blends such as Assam, Dilmah and Ceylon; and Oolong and Pu’er blends from India and Sri Lanka.

Economy black tea blends, such as Asda Smartprice, Tesco Value, Morrisons Value, Sainsbury’s Basics, and Waitrose Essential,  were found to have the highest concentration of fluoride – an average of six mg per litre.

Waitrose Essential was significantly lower in fluoride compared to the other economy black blends, however.

Infusions of green tea blends had the next highest concentrations of the substance, followed by branded black blends such as PG Tips, Twining’s and Typhoo, with an average of 3.3 mg per litre, compared to pure blends.

More specialist teas such as oolong and pu’er had the lowest concentrations of fluoride with an average of 0.7 mg per litre.

Excessive intake of fluoride can cause a variety of health problems.

In addition to tea, fluoride can be found in some seafood, fluoride-enriched toothpaste, drinking water in some areas of the country and in processed foods using fluoridated water.

Less seriously dental fluorosis can occur, which causes white and brown spots appear on the enamel of the teeth, and results in an unsightly ‘mottled’ effect.

This can be the first sign that fluoride has poisoned enzymes in the body.

Osteoporosis

But it can also cause skeletal fluorosis, a crippling disease that causes symptoms including bone and joint pain, muscle weakness and gastrointestinal disorders.

This tends to occur in people who have routinely consumed 10 to 20mg of fluoride per day for 10 to 20 years or  2.5 to five mg per day for at least 40 years. In the most severe cases, the spine becomes completely rigid.

Excessive fluoride consumption has also been linked to osteoporosis.

A higher incidence of kidney stones has also been recorded in areas with high fluoride levels in drinking water.

Research has also linked excessive fluoride exposure to bone cancer in young men. A 1992 study found that osteosarcoma rates were three to seven times higher in fluoridated water areas than non-fluoridated areas.

Ms Chan said: ‘The tea plant, Camellia sinensis, is a fluoride accumulator, with mature leaves accumulating most of the fluoride.

‘When tea is harvested, these older leaves may be used to produce lower quality, stronger teas such as economy teas, whereas the bud and newer top leaves are used in the manufacture of higher grade and specialty tea products.

‘Although fluoride is considered an essential micronutrient for human health, in the prevention of tooth decay and promotion of healthy bone growth, excess fluoride in the diet can have detrimental effects.

Dental fluorosis, the mottling of tooth enamel, and skeletal fluorosis, pain and damage to bones and joints through calcification, can occur.

‘People may be drinking excessive volumes of tea in addition to other dietary sources of fluoride and may not realise these potential health implications.

‘Indeed, there have been cases, in both the UK and the USA, of skeletal fluorosis in individuals who drank more than the average amount of economy tea,’ added Ms Chan.

‘All tea products should be considered as a main source of fluoride in the diet, and we would urge supermarkets and manufacturers of tea to consider stating fluoride concentration as part of the nutritional information found on food packaging,’ added Ms Chan.

The study is published in journal Food Research International

Source:  DailyMail.co.uk

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Streamer

Posted July 25th, 2013
Environmental

A New Online Tool from the Department of the Interior called Streamer

The US Department of the Interior has recently released a nifty online tool that they call Streamer.  Depending on your objective, it can be  a valuable research device or a lot of fun.

Streamer’s purpose is simple.  It is an interactive  map that allows you to trace a stream in either direction—upstream to its source or  downstream to where it ultimately empties. It also shows statistics for the  stream, such as its length, the political entities it passes through (states,  counties, and cities), origin elevation, and other information. A more detailed  report also shows all the US Geological Survey’s stream gages for that stream.

Following a stream in its entirety gives new meaning to the term watershed, which is a difficult concept for most of us to grasp.  Below is a Streamer map of the mighty Mississippi, with all its tributaries.  It shows all the 7,000 streams and 1.15 million square miles of surface area that drain into it.

The complete Mississippi

As good as it is, the Streamer is not complete.  McElligot’s Pool, for example, is omitted, and I could not find Cement River, which is what I call the drainage canal that carries a raging torrent near our business on rainy days in spring.

To trace the torturous wanderings of the streams that link with McElligot’s pool, you’ll have to rely on Dr. Seuss’s text.  It isn’t included in Streamer.

Go here to use the Streamer.

 

 

 

New Water Technologies Offer Hope to a Thirsty Planet

Posted July 23rd, 2013
Water Treatment

The new water technologies that could save the planet

by Will Henley

What are the new and emerging technologies that will help business overcome the scarcity of clean, fresh water?

Water News in a Nutshell.

 

In a Nutshell: The well was invented nearly 10,000 years ago–long before the wheel.  Countless subsequent inventions, some brilliant, some frivolous, and some downright fiendish, have changed the way we interact with water. Some of today’s innovative technologies seem to promise hope for the future. This article takes a look at new methods to process, conserve, and recycle water.

The well was a transformative invention, though it is often overlooked. This source of freshwater, vital for the expansion of inland communities, dates back nearly 10,000 years – 3,000 years before the wheel was ever imagined.

The well is but one of a long list of innovations in water technology that have enabled human development to continue apace. Sophisticated pipeline networks and treatment plants today furnish us with this elixir of life and industry. As intense pressure is placed on the planet’s limited water supplies, businesses are again turning to technological innovation. New and emerging inventions should see human civilisation through the 21st century and, with any luck, the next 10,000 years.

Tank from a high-tech British desalination plant.

Nanotechnology in filtration: According to the World Health Organisation, 1.6 million people die each year from diarrhoeal diseases attributable to lack of safe drinking water as well as basic sanitation. Researchers in India have come up with a solution to this perennial problem with a water purification system using nanotechnology.

The technology removes microbes, bacteria and other matter from water using composite nanoparticles, which emit silver ions that destroy contaminants. “Our work can start saving lives,” says Prof Thalappil Pradeep of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. “For just $2.50 a year you can deliver microbially safe water for a family.”

It is a sign that low-cost water purification may finally be round the corner – and be commercially scaleable.

Membrane chemistry: Membranes, through which water passes to be filtered and purified, are integral to modern water treatment processing. The pores of membranes used in ultrafiltration can be just 10 or 20 nanometres across – 3,000 times finer than a human hair.

But while membrane chemistry has been around for several years, it remains a source of intense research and development. “Chemistry significantly contributes to innovative water treatment solutions, such as turning salt water into fresh water suitable for human consumption,” says Yannick Fovet, head of global development for water at chemical company BASF.

Recent breakthroughs have been credited with forcing down the cost of desalinated water from $1 per cubic metre to between $0.80 and $0.50 over five years. New ceramic membranes are helping to make treatment more affordable. “Membrane technology is increasingly important because system integrity, longevity and costs have improved,” explains Paul Street, business development director for engineering firm Black & Veatch.

Seawater desalination: Although holding much promise for the future, seawater desalination is still extremely expensive, with reverse osmosis technology consuming a vast amount of energy: around 4 kilowatt hours of energy for every cubic metre of water.

One solution being explored in Singapore, which opened its first seawater desalination plant in 2005, is biomimicry – mimicking the biological processes by which mangrove plants and euryhaline fish (fish that can live in fresh briny or salt water) extract seawater using minimal energy. Another new approach is to use biomimetic membranes enhanced with aquaporin: proteins embedded in cell membranes that selectively shuttle water in and out of cells while blocking out salts.

Harry Seah, chief technology officer for PUB, Singapore’s national water agency, says: “If science can find a way of effectively mimicking these biological processes, innovative engineering solutions can potentially be derived for seawater desalination. Seawater desalination can then be transformed beyond our wildest imagination.”

Smart monitoring: In developing countries alone, it is estimated that 45m cubic metres are lost every day in distribution networks. Leaks are not only costly for companies, but increase pressure on stretched water resources and raise the likelihood of pollutants infiltrating supplies.

“It does not make commercial sense to invest billions in additional reservoirs and water catchment, treatment plants [and] pumping stations, when as much as 60% of water produced is unaccounted for,” says Dale Hartley, director of business development at SebaKMT, a water leak detection specialist.

New monitoring technologies help companies to ensure the integrity of their vast water supply networks. Electronic instruments, such as pressure and acoustic sensors, connected wirelessly in real time to centralised and cloud-based monitoring systems will allow companies to detect and pinpoint leaks much quicker.

Smart sensors can detect pinhole leaks. Leaks now account for a significant amount of the world’s water usage.

Intelligent irrigation: Approximately 70% of the world’s freshwater is used by the agricultural industry. Applying a more intelligent approach to water management by deploying precision irrigation systemsand computer algorithms and modelling is already beginning to bring benefits to farmers in developed countries.However, while this approach embraces new instrumentation and analytical technologies, innovation comes from a change in mindset that emphasises the importance of measuring and forecasting.

“In the old days there was not so much stress on measuring because we thought we had plenty of water,” says Carey Hidaka, smarter water management expert at IBM. “It’s a bit of a paradigm switch for the water industry, which like others is used to throwing new engineering developments at problems.”

Wastewater processing: Engineering still has its place, however. Many people living in urban areas, even in advanced economies, still do not have their sewage adequately treated and wastewater is often discharged, untreated, into rivers and estuaries or used as irrigation water.

New technologies are promising to transform wastewater into a resource for energy generation and a source of drinking water. Modular hybrid activated sludge digesters, for instance, are now removing nutrients to be used as fertilisers and are, in turn, driving down the energy required for treatment by up to half.

“There is an urgent need for wastewater systems that are more compact, so that new plants can be built in urban areas where land is scarce and for upgrading and expanding extant facilities,” says Dr David Lloyd Owen, an advisor to the board of Bluewater Bio, a specialist in wastewater treatment.
Mobile recycling facilities: An unexpected by product from the explosion of the global hydraulic fracturing industry has been demand for highly mobile water treatment facilities. Investment is being channelled into reverse osmosis units that will allow companies to treat high volumes of water to extract gas and injected into the subsurface.

“There will be knock-on benefits as products [will be developed] with new applications where the price tolerance is much lower,” says Peter Adriaens, professor of environmental engineering and entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan.

Adriaens adds: “As these technologies develop and learn to treat high volumes of water, we will see cheaper, more potable treatment systems and we will start to move away from massive centralised treatment systems.”

Source: The Guardian.

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New Inlet Adapters for Undersink Water Treatment Devices

Posted July 21st, 2013
Water Treatment 101

Getting Water to Undersink Water Filters and Reverse Osmosis Units

 by Gene Franks

The recent rise in popularity of flexible hoses to connect sink faucets has made undersink water filter installation a lot easier. The convenient flexible connectors have replaced rigid copper tubing as the connectors of choice.

For sinks that still have a solid copper pipe that takes water from the undersink shutoff valve up to the sink faucet, the old standby “saddle valve” is still the most frequently used inlet device.  Saddle valves are convenient and relatively easy to install, but they have their long-term disadvantages.

The saddle valve pierces the pipe with a small hole to allow water to flow to the water treatment device, so if you ever decide to remove the saddle valve, you’ll be left with a pipe with a hole in it and you’ll have to replace the pipe.  If you uninstall the water filter, the best solution is to leave the saddle valve in place and cap it. Go here for more saddle valve installation and use information.

Classic Saddle Valve.  The valve is used on solid copper pipe only.  After the valve body is clamped around the pipe and tightened, the red handle is screwed in, piercing the wall of the pipe.  The handle is then screwed out, allowing water to leave the pipe and enter the white tube on its way to the water filter. This type valve should be installed only on the riser going up to the faucet–never on the copper pipe upstream of the shutoff valve.

For installation on faucets with flexible risers (either stainless or plastic), water can be taken from the line by installing a special adapter into either the bottom connection, where the riser attaches to the shutoff valve, or to the top connection, where the riser connects to the stem of the sink faucet.  Although there are exceptions, in most cases the bottom connection is a 3/8” compression fitting and the top connection is a 1/2” pipe thread.

These easily inserted adapters are easily installed and easily removed if you uninstall the water filter.

The “Max Adapter” for installation on the lower end of the flexible riser.   To install, simply remove the 3/8″ compression nut, screw on the adapter, then screw the nut from the riser onto the top of the adapter. The fitting is easy to install, easy to remove. The blue handled valve is the on/off valve for the water filter.   

The inlet kit above is for installation on the top end of flexible risers.  All Pure Water Products undersink filters and reverse osmosis units come with an inlet kit suitable for the customer’s installation.  All kits include and inline valve (blue handle) that serves as the on/off valve for the water filter.   Inlet kits are also sold separately.

Millions of Gallons of Water Are Being Pumped From Aquifers to Add to Phosphate Mining Wastes

Posted July 21st, 2013
Environmental

Phosphate giant Mosaic pumps from Florida’s aquifer to dilute its pollution

by Craig Pittman 

In a Nutshell:  Although this is hard to believe,  some mining companies are allowed to pump millions of gallons of fresh water from aquifers to dilute polluted wastewater from mining operations so it can be dumped into creeks without violating state regulations.  Florida’s Mosaic, the world’s largest phosphate mining company,  is permitted to pull 70,000,000 gallons per day from 250 wells in an area that has no water to waste.


Last year, a state water agency granted the world’s largest phosphate mining company a permit to pump up to 70 million gallons of water a day out of the ground for the next 20 years.Some of those millions of gallons of water — no one can say how much — is being used by the phosphate giant known as Mosaic to dilute polluted waste so it can be dumped into creeks without violating state regulations.The permit allows Mosaic to withdraw water from more than 250 wells in Hillsborough, Manatee, Polk, Hardee and De Soto counties, an area that since 1992 has been under tight restrictions for any new residential and commercial water use.”The water use is crazy,” said John Thomas, a St. Petersburg attorney who challenged the Mosaic permit on behalf of a client who ended up settling. “They’re pulling an awful lot of water out to discharge with their waste.”Odd though it may sound, that’s a standard practice for the phosphate industry, according to Santino Provenzano, Mosaic’s environmental superintendent.It’s allowed under the state Department of Environmental Protection’s rules, said Brian Starford of the Southwest Florida Water Management District, the agency commonly known as Swiftmud. Without that freshwater to dilute it, what Mosaic is discharging would violate the DEP’s limits on a type of pollution called “conductivity,” he explained. That term refers to the solids that are left in the waste after it’s processed.”If they were exceeding the standards, the DEP would not allow the discharge,” explained Starford, whose agency issued the Mosaic permit.

DEP press secretary Patrick Gillespie said using freshwater to dilute a phosphate plant’s discharge “is permissible and used only in closure activities or in storm-related activities in order to meet department water quality standards.”

Mosaic spokesman David Townsend said the company is only using freshwater for dilution with waste from inactive processing plants, which he said complies with DEP rules. He could not provide a list of where those were located or how many there were.

The diluted waste is discharged “usually into a creek or smaller water body that feeds into a larger one at some point,” he said.

The issue of how much water Mosaic pumps out of the ground was explored by a recent environmental impact study on phosphate mining that was commissioned by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The report found that the miners’ water use in some areas could lower the aquifer by up to 10 feet, but contended the aquifer would eventually recover when the pumping stopped.

The same agency that issued Mosaic’s water permit, Swiftmud, declared a 5,100-square-mile area covering all or part of eight counties south of Interstate 4 to be the Southern Water Use Caution Area in 1992. The reason: so much water had been pumped out of the aquifer in that region that the water table had fallen 50 feet.

Mosaic previously had a permit that allowed it to take up to 99 million gallons a day from underground, so the permit issued last year is a reduction. As of last month, the mining giant was pulling only 30 of its allotted 70 million gallons a day out of the ground, Provenzano said.

Half of that was being used in the mining process and the other half was being used at production facilities, he said. He said he could not specify how much was being used to dilute the pollution from some plants, a process the industry prefers to call “blending.”

In approving the Mosaic permit, Swiftmud officials had to rule that the company had offered “reasonable assurances” that its use of the water isn’t wasteful and won’t adversely affect downstream users and the environment.

But Thomas questioned whether Swiftmud or Mosaic have ever considered coming up with a different way to deal with the pollution. By repeatedly pumping millions of gallons of water from underground just for blending, he said, the company will leave behind “a swiss cheese aquifer with pools of groundwater contamination and cascades of diluted gyp stack waste for decades.”

 

Source:  Tampa Bay Times.

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