Top 19 Solutions to the Global Freshwater Crisis

Water for Humans is employing the latest technologies and working closely with local communities to bring fresh and safe drinking water to communities like the ones described in this important report. Water for Humans fully intends to leverage its expertise in creating sustainable clean-water solutions to under-served populations. We are also committed to convincing governments around the world that clean water is not a commodity to exploit but is a precious resource that must remain available to everyone.

1) Educate to Change Consumption and Lifestyles

In the end, changing the face of this crisis involves education to motivate new behaviors. Coping with the coming era of water scarcity will require major overhaul of all forms of consumption, from individual use to the supply chains of major corporations, like GE. Some regions led by India, Australia and the Southwest U.S., are already facing the freshwater crisis. The most critical task is making sure the problem is much better understood worldwide.

2. Invent New Water Conservation Technologies

In areas where aquifers are drying up and rainwater is increasingly unpredictable, innovation is needed. But as we attempt to cope with freshwater scarcity and develop conservation technologies, energy consumption is an important consideration.

3. Recycle Wastewater

In March, 2010, World Water Day panelists urged a new mindset for wastewater treatment. Some countries, like Singapore, are trying to recycle to cut water imports and become more self-sufficient. The rich East Asian republic is a leader in developing advanced technology that cleanses wastewater for other uses, including drinking.

4. Improve Irrigation and Agricultural Practices

Some 70 percent of the world’s freshwater is used for agriculture. Improving irrigation can help close supply and demand gaps. In certain cases profligate irrigation practices meant for an earlier era has weakened the ability of farmers to provide food and fiber to a growing world. Examples include the Murray-Darling basin in Australia, Central Asia’s Aral Sea, and the American Southwest. Although new technology has become an appealing solution, global water experts like Peter Gleick note that in some cases, such as the agricultural systems in California, success stories can happen by improving what’s already in place.

Find out the other 15 solutions here

SOURCE: Circle of Blue WaterNews – Reporting the Global Water Crisis

The Earth is in Water Crisis--More than 1 Billion Lives are at Stake

Water for Humans is leveraging the latest sustainable technologies to fight to save lives. By working closely and seamlessly with local communities, non-governmental organizations, and government entities, Water for Humans is working hard to ensure that everyone--particularly under-served populations, have access to clean, safe drinking water. This video, entitled, "Earth in Crisis," illustrates how high the stakes are in this worldwide effort. Produced by the World Health Organization and other similar groups, this video points out that construction of waste-water treatment plants, such as the sewage treatment system Water for Humans is building in Mexico, is a critical part of the solution to this worldwide crisis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lqg--tUzBNI

Unclean Water Kills 4,000 Children Daily: World Bank

Children are too often the victims of contaminated water, especially in under-developed regions in the world. Water for Humans is working to save lives by implementing its sustainable clean-water solutions—focusing on under-served populations like the ones highlighted in this article.

SURABAYA - More than 4,000 children die every day across the globe due to lack of sanitation and access to clean water, the World Bank said recently.

The bank’s communication officer Chrishtopher M. Walsh said most of the deaths occurred in the developing world, Xinhua reported.

”About 4,000 children die every day due to lack of access to clean water and sanitation. Most of them are in the developing countries in Africa, East Asia, South Asia and Latin America,” he said at a workshop on Evidence-Based Advocacy for Millennium Development Goals organized by the bank.

Although some progress has been made in implementing sanitation projects, there are worldwide still over 2.6 billion people who don’t have access to clean water and sanitation, said Walsh.

In Indonesia, over 50,000 children under five die every year of diarrhea and other water related diseases, the bank’s communication officer for Southeast Asia Yosa Yuliarsa said.

Reported: April 27, 2010

EXAMPLES OF SUSTAINABILITY IN THE WORLD.

KOREA.
South Korea is, in many ways, a model of reforestation for the rest of the world.  When the Korean War ended, half a

century ago, the mountainous country was quite deforested.  Since 1960, under the dedicated direction of President Park

Chung Hee, the South Korean government put into effect a national reforestation effort.  Basing itself on the formation of

rural cooperatives, hundreds of thousands of people mobilized themselves to dig irrigation ditches and create terraces to

help the trees in the arid mountains.  Today, the forests cover 65 percent of the country, an area that comes to

approximately 6 million hectares.  When I drove through South Korea in November of 2000, I found it gratifying to see the

abundance of trees covering the mountains, which a generation ago were naked. 
www.ecogaia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=306:recuperar-los-bosques-con-elcambio-de-habitos&catid=3:noticias-y-articulos&Itemid=4

NIGERIA.

In Nigeria, the farmers who encountered a serious drought and the desertification of the 1980s, began, while they were

preparing the land for their crops, to allow some acacia shoots that grew in their fields to emerge.  When those trees

matured, they reduced the wind velocity, and with that, soil erosion.  Acacia, a pulse, fixes enriched nitrogen into the soil

and contributes to increased crop yield.  During the dry season, the leaves and the pods supply forage for livestock.  The

trees also provide the farmers with firewood.  This act of allowing 20-150 shoots per hectare to grow to maturity over

about 3 million hectares has revitalized the agricultural community of Nigeria.


DIFFERENT PLACES IN THE USA.
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/las-10-tendencias-mas-prometedoras/1480

ONE-EYED ARGENTINE DEER.

COSTA RICA AND THE IRIS.
www.tendencias21.net/innovacion/Papel-de-lirio-un-ejemplo-de-innovacion-para-la-sostenibilidadosustentabilidad_a16.html

USING THE IRIS
http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2007/10/18/index.php?section=sociedad&article=045n1soc


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www.yesmagazine.org/.../ 33/6_Gaviotas_wind.jpg
www.revistavirtualpro.com/.../ ejemplo.jpg
www.smartcommunities.ncat.org/espanol/buildings/gbsstoc.shtml
www.encolombia.com/medicina/materialdeconsulta/Admon_Salud/Hospital_Autosuficiente.htm