LEARN[4] - Water Security

It is wonderful to be able to address issues related to access by all peoples to clean drinking water. During my childhood, I would go with my father to each of the waste water treatment plants in his district. These large water purification sites were used to analyze water, then the right amount of treatments are added, filteration takes place to remove large particulates, then aeriation and exposure to light were used to reuse water that came from sewers that brought back the community waste water.

During my school years, one of my projects was to demonstrate the 'closed water system' that we live within here on the Earth. This project and my father's work made a hugh impact on my own respect for access to clean water. While living in Southern California with my children, during the last 7-year drought, my household used the minimum water and wasted very little. There were little things that we did that helped such as; using a special shower sprayer that drew and used 1/10th of the amount of water for a 5 minute shower. We used water from our clothes washing to flush the toilets. The rinse water from the same clothes was used to clean the bathroom sink and toilet. Our community set up a watering cycle so that if your last name began with the letter "D" for instance, you could water you lawn,and gardens on Monday only and for approximately two minutes. These steps are designed to be used in cities and communities that have public water and sewer systems.

While generating an application doc**ent for a position as Sr. Health Advisor in Nigeria in 2008/9 for USAID, included in plans to reduce Under 5 Mortality Rate (U5MR) and the Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) were recommendation to provide a local access point to distribute individual passive water filtration bottles to each member of the family. I researched vendors for the best, most affordable bottles and the replacement filters through a personal professional business contact, Roger Johnsrud. It was my firm belief that this simple act of creating a regular accessible device that was simple, affordable for World Bank funding to address through partnership with USAID, would significantly lower both statistics.Of course, there is the visible waste material of these bottles when they are discarded so a durable bottle was chosen.

Additionally, a local small business could be created [empowering a local entrepreneur] in many of the areas where usage prevailed, therefore, I introduced MicroPlace, a micro-lending organization that can be used exclusively online, thereby eliminated the need for postage, transportation, and other costly business and money managment matters. Microplace has historically made small business startup, and growth loans to local peoples throughout the world.

Also, there is a push to privitize water globally, since it is now considered a commodity, representing power to the owner. While I have reservation about how this will be administer legally with regard to indivudual property water rights, only time will tell us if this will become an issue. Here is a link to a very well written doc**ent addressing this concern and mentioning the 'Big Three' companies who are buying up water and water rights, worldwide. Knowledge is power, even greater when used with wisdom. Here is the link FYI - http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/whose-water/the-battle-for-water