The Complexity Of NYC's Water System

Most city people don't think about the water they use every day. But how water is actually able to even flow from a faucet is quite a feat, considering where it starts out from. NYC's water supply system is one of the most extensive municipal systems in the world. This complex system relies on a combination of tunnels, aqueducts and reservoirs. It draws from three separate systems; the Croton Reservoir, The Catskill Aqueduct and from the Delaware River.

How it actually gets to us is though the flow of our money into three additional systems that enable it to ultimately remain clean and clear enough for us to drink. Those three systems are The Dept. of Environmental Protection, The Municipal Water Finance Authority and the Water Board. Now that today's economy has mirrored back to us humanity's long term corrupt behavior with regards to money handling, perhaps each of us on an individual basis should seriously examine just who's hands we're placing our daily health in. After all, the human body is made up of 55% to 78% water!

Peru Indians & The Water Privatization Protest

Let's stretch our reality to another part of the globe for a moment, to reflect on how other humans are treating our planet's precious water. U.S. Water News Online recently reported that in Lima, Peru; Ashaninka and Yines Indians are blocking an airport in the central Peruvian town of Atalaya, as well as two stations on a northern oil pipeline. They are protesting laws that threaten their ancestral land and resources. 15,000 Indians have been protesting since April 9 and plan to start taking over oil and gas rigs. Apparently, laws passed in December opened the door to privatization of water resources and jungle land used by the Indians. Such protests reported are similar to 11 days of disruptions last August that saw Indians block roads and clash with police. That unrest led Peru's government to repeal two laws designed to make it easier to sell tribal lands. How is it that humans, no matter where located in the world; can muck up with greed something so vital and precious to the very physical survival of all? Perhaps all mega corporate executives should try balancing a water bucket on THEIR heads for one day.

The Nuclear Power of Swim Diapers

CBS News this week, tooted the dangers of summer swimming and no; this year it’s not floating garbage from nearby tankers. Apparently, it’s water-resistant diapers! Scientists from the University of North Carolina-Charlotte reported at the Swim Pool & Spa Intn’l Conference in London, (March 2009) that swim diapers are a scary new concern. Crypto is spread when swimmers ingest some water that has been contaminated by diarrhea from infected people.
To ingest via a swimming pool = drink, suck up, snort down, etc. A baby’s fecal accident contains a billion disease-causing Crypto oocysts, which equals hundreds of millions Crypto’s in the water in minutes. Crypto is a parasite that causes severe diarrhea and dehydration. This germ is highly resistant to chlorine. Water-resistant diapers do not mean water PROOF. The next time you sense a mushroom type nuclear explosion has occurred in your girlfriend’s child’s swim diapers – don’t be polite. You might want to mention it OUT LOUD before y’all get into that pool together!

We’re All Connected Via Water!

At the 5th World Water Forum, the International Groundwater Resources Assessment Centre (IGRAC) presented an updated version of the Trans Boundary Aquifers of the World Map. Globally, the vast majority of countries share aquifer systems with their neighbors. Lack of coordinated human management can lead to undesired changes in groundwater flow, volume and dissolved substances.

That means, we’re all connected whether we want to be or not. If the oceans we swim in & the water we drink and wash with is held entirely in the safety of ‘other human hands’, wouldn't it be nice if we all got a little more neighborly toward one another? After all, how much unprocessed human pee is in the backyard pool & oceanfront water anyway? Happy swimming & drinking this summer, y’all.

Hollywood Producers…All Dried Up For Ideas?

The camera pans across a happy, pappy little farm community. Children are joyfully playing in the oddly vacant streets. An elderly couple spray waters their rose bush while birds tweet nearby. A happy husband whistles as he clips his hedges. Suddenly whoosh! A raging river swoops down like an island bred tsunami.

Par for Hollywood; all are rescued, even the dog. The houses are rebuilt and the community slowly comes back. All is well…all is well. But wait! Suddenly people start popping off like corn in a piping hot microwave bag. What gives? NO ONE considered the invisible killer microbes that bred in the water...all along! Don’t be the victim of another blockbuster movie! Go bottleless!