Water Wars: Impending Water Wars: The U.S. ........ Nigeria: The Elusive Clean Water Dream December 2013

http://www.africanexecutive.com/modules/magazine/articles.php?article=7594&magazine=470




PERSPECTIVES

Nigeria: The Elusive Clean Water Dream

A Nigerian woman draws water                P. Courtesy

In the United States of America, the public water supply system is not listed on the stock exchange. However, water bottling companies are, but they obtain their water from public sources. Municipal water authorities run for and on operating cost with reserve allowance, and never for profit. They are revenue center for their cities but money generated is plugged back into the system.

Digging water boreholes is not water supply system. No city in Nigeria outside a small section of Abuja, has a sewer system, and wastewater component is annoyingly absent. The ‘shit’ of 160m Nigerians floats in open gutters, streams and creeks and in places that add to the stench. No one cares. The entire country is on septic tank, a public health hazard that adds to her challenges.

Nigeria has no system that accounts for junior water and senior water, classes of water considered in how to manage their flow. Therefore the borehole water and septic liquids are in tango. That is partly the reason why cholera cases are high in Nigeria. Prove me wrong. Were Nigeria to address her water needs in a system wide format, 60 to 70% of its public health challenges will go away or become manageable.

It takes 5 gallons of water to process a chicken. If a major chicken plant wants to consider Nigeria and has a daily chicken processing capacity of 1m, where will they get the water? Texas Instruments, a major micro-chip manufacturer headquartered in Dallas, uses 1.6b gallons of water annually; about 4.4m gallons daily.  Were they to consider Nigeria for a small plant, apart from power challenges, where would they get the water?

Yes, individuals have money in Nigeria but that will never rival institutional money which is the backbone of economic development. PIMP scenarios – “Put-In-My-Pocket” culture!! Even if every Nigerian is to be rewarded with their own oil well and handed $1m, chances are, it will not be a great country. It is not about the money, but structures, rule of law and master plan suited to address recurring challenges.

Of all the so called money bags in Nigeria, show me a village that is well developed as a result of their resource? None. Even Dangote, has no corporate headquarters worthy of mention. His village and state, may have mansions to show he is from there, but then what? Richard Akinloye, then NPN chair during Shagari, was first Nigerian since war ended that announced making/having a Billion Naira then, worth nearly $2b, in 1982. What happened to that money? Plenty of consumer wealth with no longevity often celebrated in less than a generation or decade. Ojukwu’s father, Sir Louis Odumegwu Ojukwu, was first West African noted as a ‘Millionaire.’ Today, where is proof?

Earning money is different from making money. Nigerians are happy making money and they do, but they hardly earn money. There is a world of economic difference between earning and making money, a subject of a doctoral studies.

I am available for extended and expanded commitment to enhance the franchise; God endorsing the plan. Failure even when it happens will be a prompt to do it again.

By Ejike E. Okpa II

Dallas, Texas.

Climate Change: Philippines plea: 'stop this climate madness' November 2013

Read More: http://www.unisdr.org/archive/35439

Philippines plea: 'stop this climate madness'

The devastation from super typhoon Haiyan has been both intense and widespread. Photo credit: OCHA

 

GENEVA, 11 November 2013 – The Philippines’ lead negotiator at the UN Climate Change Convention, whose home town was devastated by super typhoon Haiyan, told today’s conference opening that “disasters are never natural”. 

“We must stop calling events like these as natural disasters,” Mr Yeb Sano said in his address to the Convention's 19th Conference of the Parties in Warsaw. 

“It is not natural when people continue to struggle to eradicate poverty and pursue development and get battered by the onslaught of a monster storm. 

“Disasters are never natural. They are the intersection of factors other than physical. They are the accumulation of the constant breach of economic, social and environmental thresholds. 

“Most of the time disasters are a result of inequity and the poorest people of the world are at greatest risk because of their vulnerability and decades of maldevelopment.” 

Mr Sano said that super typhoon Haiyan was “a force too powerful” and was something that “perhaps no country has ever experienced before”. 

“The initial assessment shows that Haiyan left a wake of massive devastation that is unprecedented, unthinkable and horrific, affecting two-thirds of the Philippines,” Mr Sano told the Conference. 

“About half a million people are rendered homeless and there are scenes reminiscent of the aftermath of a tsunami, with a vast wasteland of mud and debris and dead bodies.” 

Mr Sano issued a stern challenge to skeptics: “To anyone who continues to deny the reality that is climate change, I dare you to get off your ivory tower and away from the comfort of your armchair. 

“Science tells us that simply climate change will mean more intense tropical storms. As the earth warms up, that would include the oceans. The energy that is stored in the waters off the Philippines will increase the intensity of typhoons and the trend we now see is that more destructive storms will be the new norm.” 

Mr Sano called for urgent action: “We may ask: ‘If not us, then who?’, ‘If not now, then when?’, ‘If not here in Warsaw, where?’ 

“What my country is going through as a result of this extreme climate event is madness. The climate crisis is madness. We can stop this madness. Right here in Warsaw.” 
Super typhoon Haiyan comes less than a year after typhoon Bopha, the Philippines’ previous costliest disaster and the one that had affected the most people.

Date:

11 Nov 2013

Sources:

• United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction - Regional Office for Asia and Pacific (UNISDR AP)

Water Wars: Slingshot. Water Vapor Distillation System September 2013

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slingshot_%28water_vapor_distillation_system%29

Slingshot (water vapor distillation system)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Slingshot is a water purification device created by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway PT.^[1] Powered by a stirling engine running on a combustible fuel source, it claims to be able to produce clean water from almost any source.^[2]

Kamen came to develop the device on the basis of statistics that showed lack of access to clean water as a key public health issue. Statistics from the World Health Organization show that there are 900 million people worldwide without a readily available supply of drinking water and that some 3.5 million people die annually because of diseases resulting from the consumption of unsanitary water. Despite the fact that over two-thirds of the Earth's surface is covered with water, only 1% of it is potable.^[3]

Kamen sought to develop a technology that would transform the 97% of water that is undrinkable into water that can be used and consumed on the spot, readily and inexpensively. The device takes contaminated water and runs it through a vapor compression distiller that produces clean water, producing 250 gallons daily (~946 litres), enough for 100 people. The test devices have been used with "anything that looks wet", including polluted river water, saline ocean water and raw sewage.^[3] In a demonstration at a technology conference in October 2004, Kamen ran his own urine through the machine and drank the clean water that came out.^[4]

By the end of 2000, a team of 200 at DEKA had produced 30 units, each the size of a compact refrigerator.^[4] A pair of Slingshot devices ran successfully for a month in a village in Honduras during the summer of 2006. While the initial devices cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, Kamen hopes that increased economies of scale will allow production machines to be made available for $2,000 each.^[3]

The Slingshot process operates by means of vapor compression distillation, requires no filters, and can operate using cow dung as fuel. In addition to producing drinkable water, the Slingshot also generates enough electricity to light 70 energy-efficient light bulbs.

Kamen hopes to seed thousands of the units with local village entrepreneurs, in much the same way independent cell phone businesses have thrived and gradually changed the face of many impoverished areas around the globe. Future target price for the device is in the $1,000 to $2,000 range. ^[5]

See also

• LifeStraw, designed by Vestergaard Frandsen
• LifeSaver bottle, designed by Michael Pritchard
• Tata Swach

References

1.      ^ Ulanoff, Lance. "Dean Kamen Honored by Popular Mechanics", PC Magazine, October 9, 2009. Accessed October 20, 2009.

2.      ^ Malnson, Donald. "Dean Kamen aims to clean water, generate electricity with Slingshot machine", Engadget, April 23, 2008. Accessed October 20, 2009.

3.      ^ ^{a b c} Bergeron, Ryan. "Segway inventor takes aim at thirst with Slingshot", CNN, September 11, 2009. Accessed October 18, 2009.

4.      ^ ^{a b} Pearson, Ryan. "Segway inventor drinks his own pee (really): Dean Kamen uses drama to test water-filter system.", Orange County Register, December 15, 2005. Accessed October 18, 2009.

5.      ^ Dean Kamen Unveils Slingshot, The Ultimate Water Regenerator, Impact Lab, April 22, 2008.

External links

• [1]
• Segway Creator Unveils His Next Act
• US Patent Application 2004/0159536
• Dean Kamen’s Slingshot water purifier and Stirling generator tech - low cost water and power for the developing world
• Thursday Mar 20 2008 Interview - Dean Kamen Episode: #04039
• To Build a Better World
• Segway inventor takes aim at thirst with Slingshot

Water Wars: Refreshing Partnership: Coca-Cola Teams Up With Slingshot to Deliver Clean Water

http://www.washdiplomat.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8935&Itemid=514

Refreshing Partnership: Coca-Cola Teams
Up With Slingshot to Deliver Clean Water

by Anna Gawel

Coca-Cola is taking its mission to quench the world’s thirst to a whole new level, supporting technology that could turn raw sewage into clean drinking water.

The world’s largest beverage company is teaming up with DEKA Research and Development and its president, Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway scooter, to bring Kamen’s “Slingshot” water purification system to developing communities that lack access to potable water.

The partnership is part of Coca-Cola’s larger sustainability push, which includes a goal to replenish 100 percent of the water used in its beverages and their production by 2020.

An intriguing partnership of a different kind brought the story of Slingshot to the diplomatic community in Washington, D.C.

Turkish Ambassador Namik Tan opened up his stately residence for a presentation on the project, co-hosted by Monaco’s ambassador, Gilles Noghès. Monaco supports various water initiatives through the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, which aims to protect the environment and encourage sustainable development.

In a testament to the power of personal connections, Tan learned about Slingshot from Noghès’s wife Ellen, who’s active in supporting breast cancer awareness and other causes (also see “Monaco’s Ellen Noghès Forms Cancer Support Group for Diplomatic Spouses” in the November 2012 issue of The Washington Diplomat).

“When I first heard about this great invention called Slingshot from my friend Ellen, I couldn’t believe it was possible to turn dirty water into clean drinking water and I had to see it for myself,” Tan told guests at the Dec. 5 reception. “So I invited my dear friend Muhtar to participate by hosting this event.”

Muhtar would be Muhtar Kent, the Turkish-American chairman and CEO of the Coca-Cola Co., who told the group through a video message that he believed Slingshot would be “transformational in improving the health and quality of life of people around the world.”

“Water is becoming a scarce, valuable commodity. Today, more than 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water,” Kent said. “Water is the lifeblood of our business and our commitment is to ensure we’re doing our part to replenish the water we use and give it back to communities around the world.”

To that end, Beatriz Perez, Coca-Cola’s first-ever chief sustainability officer and a 16-year veteran of the company, was on hand to explain how the iconic brand was working to promote “water, women and well being.”

For instance, one initiative, called 5by20, seeks to empower 5 million women entrepreneurs by 2020, joining forces with UN Women and numerous government and private sector partners on three continents. Since 2005, Coca-Cola has also conducted nearly 400 community water projects in more than 90 countries, working hand in hand with partners such as the World Wildlife Fund, USAID and CARE.

Likewise, Slingshot is a multi-pronged collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank Group, Africare and, of course, Kamen’s research company.

Though the match between Kamen’s water purification system and the beverage giant seems like a natural fit, it took years for the pieces to come together. “I think I brought it to Coke after I exhausted every other possibility,” Kamen joked.

In fact, the prolific American inventor — who, in addition to the Segway scooter, is the brainchild behind the insulin pump and portable dialysis machine — didn’t even set out to create a water purifying system.

His original intention a decade ago was to create a kidney dialysis machine that could sit at the home bedside of patients with renal failure to improve their quality of life. Such machines though need highly sterilized, medical-grade water every day to operate.

So Kamen set about constructing a machine that could turn tap water into medical-grade water — and soon realized that his innovation had much broader applications.

“Besides helping a few thousand people have a better quality of life, it could help a few billion people dying of [waterborne] diseases,” Kamen said.

But he still faced the problem of how to deliver this technology to the remote, rural parts of the world that needed it the most.

Kamen explained that many of his traditional corporate partners operated in countries that could afford sophisticated medical products — where safe drinking water was not an issue.

He finally, and fortuitously, stumbled onto Coca-Cola, which was eager to raise its environmental profile and, more importantly, had a presence in more than 200 nations around the world.

Kamen explained that Slingshot derives its name from the simple but effective weapon that David used to defeat Goliath. “It’s a little machine you can put anywhere and it can turn any kind of water into clean, safe drinking water,” he said.

Slingshot boils and evaporates any dirty water source — ocean water, river water, raw sewage, even arsenic-tainted water — and, through vapor-compression distillation, allows the pure water to condense and then be collected.

According to a Coca-Cola press release, one machine can purify up to 300,000 liters of water a year — enough daily drinking water for roughly 300 people — producing 10 gallons of clean water an hour while consuming less than one kilowatt of electricity, less than the amount of power needed for a handheld hairdryer.

Technology to convert unusable water into safe water has been the gold standard in addressing the looming water scarcity crisis. Kamen says his portable, low-energy machine — one of many variants on the market — is not a panacea. It is targeted for people with limited access to water and not intended to take the place of major water plants or other infrastructure. And although it only requires a small amount of energy to run, it still requires electricity, whether plugged into a local grid or powered by some other source — something not all communities have.

Kamen is also working with the communities to ensure that locals — not foreigners — are able to operate the machines. And he’s been working with Coca-Cola to scale up the technology while lowering its costs.

“For years we looked for a partner who could help us get the Slingshot machine into production, scale it up, bring down the cost curve, and deliver and operate the units in the places where the need is greatest,” Kamen said. “Now we have that partner with Coca-Cola, which brings unparalleled knowledge of working, operating and partnering in the most remote places of the world.”

In 2011, the company held a successful field trial of Slingshot at five schools outside Accra, Ghana, generating 140,000 liters of clean drinking water for 1,500 school children over a six-month span.

In 2013, the plan is to deliver millions of liters of clean drinking water to schools, health clinics and community centers in rural regions of Africa and Latin America — with the ultimate goal of adding more than half a billion liters of clean drinking water to the global water supply each year.

Though Slingshot is still in the early stages of mass distribution, hopes are high that the little machine can put a dent in a huge crisis.

Even though more than two-thirds of the Earth’s surface is covered in water, only 1 percent of it is ready to drink, according to the World Health Organization, which estimates that more than 3.4 million people die each year from water, sanitation and hygiene-related causes.

In fact, almost one fifth of the world’s population (about 1.2 billion people) live in areas where water is physically scarce. One quarter of the global population also live in developing countries that face water shortages due to a lack of infrastructure to fetch water from rivers and aquifers, according to WHO.

The problem will only get worse with the unpredictable weather patterns spawned by climate change. The State Department predicts that by 2025, nearly two-thirds of the world’s population will be living under water-stressed conditions, including roughly 2 billion people who will face absolute water scarcity.

Water scarcity touches on everything from international relations — conflicts typically erupt over access to resources — to women’s rights, because it’s often women and girls who spend hours each day collecting water, foregoing other economic and education opportunities.

Tackling water scarcity will require imagination and collective action, according to Coca-Cola’s chief. “Our sustainability initiatives have reinforced over and over again our belief in the power of collaboration,” Kent said. “Global challenges like water scarcity are bigger than any one company or organization and require us to think and partner beyond our own circles. Only through collective action and innovation will we achieve results where it’s most important.”

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About the Author

Anna Gawel is the managing editor for The Washington Diplomat and a contributing writer for the Diplomatic Pouch. 

Water Wars. More precious then....... February 2013

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2013/02/25/the-coming-water-wars/?hpt=hp_bn2

February 25th, 2013

08:52 AM ET

The coming water wars?

For more What in the World, watch GPS on Sundays at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. ET.

By Global Public Square staff

Imagine a large body of water – about the size of the Dead Sea – simply disappearing. It sounds like a science fiction movie. But it’s not. It’s happening in real life – and we've only just found out.

A pioneering study from NASA and the University of California Irvine shows how the Middle East is losing its fresh water reserves. As you can see from the satellite imagery in the video, we’re going from blues and greens, to yellows and reds: that’s 144 cubic kilometers of lost water between 2003 and 2009. What do we mean by “lost water”? Most of it comes from below the Earth’s surface, from water trapped in rocks. In times of drought, we tend to drill for water by constructing wells and pumps. But the Earth has a finite supply. NASA’s scientists say pumping for water is the equivalent of using up your bank savings. And that bank account is dwindling.

This could have serious implications. Conflicts over water are as old as the story of Noah – in 3,000 BC. The Pacific Institute lists 225 such conflicts through history. What’s fascinating is that nearly half of those conflicts took place in the last two decades. Are we going to see a new era of wars fought over water?

Consider that NASA’s study is of one of the most volatile regions in the world. We tend to think of the Middle East and its upheavals as defined by oil. Perhaps in the future it will be defined by water. We often talk of a world of nuclear haves and have-nots, but a world of water haves and have-nots could be even more dangerous.

Part of the problem is that the world’s needs have changed. Look at the population boom. We’ve gone from 4 billion people in 1975, to around 7 billion today. The United Nations projects we will hit 9 billion by 2050. Meanwhile, as India, China, and Africa continue to add millions to their middle classes, global demand for all kinds of food and products will increase. All of those products cost money – except for water, which we like to think of as abundant and free. Yet water is the resource we need to worry most about. According to the World Health Organization, more than 780 million people – that’s two-and-a-half times the population of the United States – lack access to clean water. More than 3 million people die every year from this shortage. As our needs expand, so will the shortfall.

What can be done? Most of our water is actually wasted – and the United States is actually one of the worst culprits. We can change that. Singapore already treats sewage water to convert it into clean drinking water. We need to consider large-scale desalinization, where the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are world leaders. And remember, agriculture uses up as much as 70 percent of water. We need to fund research into more effective crops. A village in India reportedly set a world record this month for rice produced in a single hectare. How? Simply by changing when the seedlings were planted, a process which saves water.

Perhaps most simple and effective would be to put some kind of a price on water – so that people use it with a greater sense of efficiency and care.

All kinds of innovations are underway.

Next month the United Nations will mark World Water Day and the international year of water cooperation. It’s a good time to start thinking about big global measures to regulate the world’s most important resource.

Post by:CNN's Jason Miks