Run for Water
Featured Article
Submitted by Andy Sternberg on 9 March, 2010 - 05:00
Two-time GRAMMY Award-winner and one-time Academy Award winner for Best Song for the Al Gore documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" Melissa Etheridge, and multi-platinum three-time GRAMMY Award-winner Rob Thomas, will perform live at the April 18th Los Angeles and Atlanta events, respectively. The largest worldwide water initiative on record to help combat the global water crisis, the Dow Live Earth Run for Water is a series of 6km run/walks (the average distance many women and children walk every day to get water), culminating with water education villages and live musical performances.
Submitted by Mark Tiele Westra on 17 March, 2010 - 04:41
Ever seen water flow uphill? Without help of petrol or electricity? Meet the hydraulic ram, a robust and simple water-powered water pump. The ram pumps uses the power of water with a height difference flowing in the spring, stream or river to lift a fraction of the water up to 200 meters vertically, and sometimes pump it over a kilometre or two to where it is needed. No fuel or electricity required. The ram pump holds great potential for rural drinking water and irrigation water supply in hilly and mountainous areas, such as Afghanistan, Colombia, Nepal, and the Philippines.
Photo above: Children surrounding a hydraulic ram produced by AIDFI on the island Negros, the Philippines.
Submitted by Thomas M. Kostigen on 12 March, 2010 - 10:44
Water is big business. Just five beverage companies consume enough water over the course of a year to satisfy the daily water needs of every person on the planet. Of course, we may not be able to control how much water is put in a can of soda or a beer (less water, more alcohol, please) or the amount it takes to make paper, but we can control our own use at the workplace and even influence those who manage supplies.
It may not be our nickel that gets spent on the utility bill at work, but the gains are certainly ours when we reduce the corporate water footprint on the planet. Water prices are poised to rise due to increased water stress, and corporate growth is expected to be impeded as resources dwindle. Make no mistake, all of this comes out of our paychecks in one way or another.
Submitted by Andy Sternberg on 11 March, 2010 - 10:37
MORE ARTISTS TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON...
Los Angeles and Atlanta Talent Announced for April 18th
We are excited to announce that two-time GRAMMY Award-winner Melissa Etheridge, and multi-platinum three-time GRAMMY Award-winner Rob Thomas, will perform live at the April 18th Los Angeles and Atlanta events respectively. The largest worldwide water initiative on record to help combat the global water crisis, the Dow Live Earth Run for Water is a series of 6km run/walks (the average distance many women and children walk every day to get water), culminating with water education villages and live musical performances.
Click here for more info and click here to register.
Submitted by Tanvi Nagpal on 8 March, 2010 - 17:01
At this very moment, millions of women are carrying 40 pounds of water on the return leg of their average 3.5-mile daily trek.
So today, on International Women's Day, I want to pay tribute to the resiliency of these women, and highlight the collective possibility they embody -- if freed from the back-breaking and time-consuming burden of collecting water.
Providing women with access to a nearby source of clean water frees up their days to earn an income or engage in other more productive activities – which can help significantly elevate their status in the community.
Submitted by Mark Tiele Westra on 8 March, 2010 - 03:00
Akvo is always looking for ways to assist our partners in realizing water and sanitation projects around the globe. Last year we approached the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU) to see if any of their students would be interested in exploring concepts that could help increase the water awareness of the general public. Five students immediately formed the Design for Water group.
Submitted by jgeeslin on 6 March, 2010 - 09:00
We are proud to continue highlighting the wonderful Friends of Live Earth Run for Water events being planned around the world for April 18, 2010.
Submitted by Thomas M. Kostigen on 5 March, 2010 - 11:00
photo by Beth Harper via Creative Commons.
Outdoors is where we as residents tend to use huge amounts of water. In some parts of the country, mostly out in the arid West, 70 percent or more of residential water is used for lawn irrigation.
Something is seriously wrong with this picture. Pink flamingos and fountains aside, decorative lawns that need lots of care and lots of water are scourges. It may be that suburbia is making the wells run dry. Indeed, homeowners use an average of 120 gallons of water each day for things outside.
Think about that for a second: "things outside" -- where rain should be able to do the job nicely -- if we stick with the vegetation that grows naturally in our locale, that is. Irrigation, my dear water-freak neighbor, was invented to keep our fields of food alive, not your imported turf.
Submitted by Geoff Livingston on 3 March, 2010 - 10:00
I work out a lot and 6k or 3.73 miles doesn't seem like a long distance, but running is a completely different kind of exercise. So I decided to train in advance of Washington, DC's Dow Live Earth Run for Water on April 18.
Why 6K? It's symbolic of the distance Africans traverse every day for fresh water, a major daily task. The Dow/Live Earth effort will benefit a ton of charities working on water issues.
Submitted by Mark Tiele Westra on 3 March, 2010 - 04:26
Around the world, most boreholes are drilled with big, heavy equipment which arrives by truck, makes a lot of noise, and gets the job done in a short time, at a cost of about $5,000 to $20,000 per borehole. But there is a growing interest in doing it in a different way -- drilling by hand. It takes longer, it is heavy work, but it also gets the job done. Why are people getting interested? A hand-drilled borehole costs about $500 or less.
