Sometimes a simple idea is all you need to produce great benefits to people in need. PlayPumps are marry-go-rounds that enable people access to clean water in areas of Africa that previously had none. As children play water is pumped from the ground into a storage tank on a tower at a rate of 370 gallons an hour. Women and girls in many areas in Africa walk an average of 5 miles to fetch 5 gallon containers of water everyday. Obviously this really sucks, and on top of that unsafe water and lack of sanitation are the single largest cause of disease worldwide. Babies and children are sickened everyday from drinking unsafe water causing lost school time and often death. That is why the non-profit PlayPumps International is working to install  access to clean water in areas that need it. So far they have installed more than a thousand of these systems with a goal to have four thousand installed by 2010.

How does it work?

While children have fun spinning on the PlayPump merry-go-round (1), clean water is pumped (2) from underground (3) into a 2,500-liter tank (4), standing seven meters above the ground.

A simple tap (5) makes it easy for adults and children to draw water. Excess water is diverted from the storage tank back down into the borehole (6).

The water storage tank (7) provides a rare opportunity to advertise in outlaying communities.  All four sides of the tank are leased as billboards, with two sides for consumer advertising and the other two sides for health and educational messages. The revenue generated by this unique model pays for pump maintenance.

The design of the PlayPump water system makes it highly effective, easy to operate and very economical, keeping costs and maintenance to an absolute minimum.

Capable of producing up to 1,400 liters of water per hour at 16 rpm from a depth of 40 meters, it is effective up to a depth of 100 meters.

So what other benefits do people get from these water systems?

• Access to clean water promotes better sanitation and hygiene.
• Promote Play, children get a safe maintained place to play which is often not the case in most parts of Africa.
• The pumps are manufactured in Johannesburg and installed by a African group called Roundabout Outdoor. This spurs  job creation, community involvement, and ownership at a local level.
• Billboards on the tower educate about HIV/AIDS helping to reduce the impact of this disease.
• Help reduce barriers to education because many schools do not have access to clean water.
• Increase opportunities to women and girls that previously had to walk 5 miles a day to fetch water.
• Spur Economic Development because less time is spent fetching water and being ill from drinking bad water.

PlayPumps international is looking for donations or any help you can offer, please visit their website for more information.

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1. Have a great clean energy idea? Enter the MIT Clean Energy Prize and Prove it!

A drink company saving water? Sounds crazy but I guess it takes just as much if not more water to bottle the drinks then are in the drinks themselves. Pepsi set a goal to use 20% less water and are so far saving 15% of what they were using before. Listen to the report from Marketplace’s sustainability desk and hear how they are doing things like using ionized air instead of hot water to wash bottles. Click here

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Global Water Resources is a Arizona water utility that operates 16 water and waste water facilities here in Arizona and are huge supporters of using water in a sustainable manner. Their LEED certified silver Global Water Center is just down the street from where I live and this past weekend I had the opportunity to tour it and their sewage treatment facility.

Like an idiot I forgot to take a picture of the outside of the building, so here’s the rendering of it found on Global Water’s website. The real building looks very nice.

LEED Certified Silver

The atrium is open to the public and filled with educational displays about saving water and using reclaimed water.

The Global Water Center uses 83% less Potable water than conventional buildings by using reclaimed water for flushing toilets, landscape watering, etc..

Reclaimed water is always in these purple painted pipes.

Garden grown with reclaimed water.

Reclaimed water is safe to use on plants you eat.

There are quotes about water all over the walls..

Currently the city of Maricopa’s water comes from groundwater and no recharging is going on. Global Water is putting water back into the ground in other parts of Arizona though. They are working on being able to do the same in Maricopa.

Global Water’s water meters are all wireless. The meters transmit usage back every four hours or so. They can use this data to monitor unusual spikes in people’s water use and notify them if they think they may have a broken pipe.

This water retention pond just out side of the Global Water Center is filled with reclaimed water. All the ponds in Maricopa are filled with reclaimed water. Most if not all of the green areas in developments are also watered with reclaimed water. Global Water says they have saved 1.3 billion gallons of drinking water by reusing it for these purposes. Ideally they’d like to see new developments put in dual pipes so residential customers can use reclaimed water for watering their yards and flushing their toilets.

They have some cool technology to monitor what is going on with the water system. This screen shows some information about water pressure, PH, amount of ground water being pumped, amount of potable water being used and stored in tanks. On Saturday morning everyone in the city of Maricopa were collectively using about 4000 gallons of water per minute.

They also have other systems to let customers see their water use and compare it how much their neighbors are using.

This is where all of Maricopa’s sewage flows to and is treated. There isn’t a whole lot to see because pretty much everything happens in sealed tanks underground. This is very close to residential houses and there is very little smell.

This is where the solid bits of sewer are disposed of. They said baby wipes wreak havoc on the machinery.

Water on its way to be treated.

Maricopa, here is your poop. They squeese all the water out of it, put it in giant trash bags and it currently is sent to the landfill.

This machine removes the water from the waste.

After all the sewage is cleaned up and filtered the final stage is disinfection with ultra violet light.

The reclaimed water is now clear and clean.

The reclaimed water is pumped out of the facility via those large orange pipes and heads off to fill the ponds and water the landscaping around Maricopa.

That’s it! If you are ever in Maricopa I’d recommend taking a trip out to the Global Water Center and learn a bit about sustainable use of water.

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We leave town for a few days and the sky is falling.  Two inches of rain in less than two hours! That sounds unheard of but that is typical for our Monsoon storms here in the Valley and elsewhere in Arizona.  Watching these videos and walking around in the subsequent drizzle last night I could only think of the comments made on James’ previous posts on rainwater harvesting.  There will always be naysayers but seriously folks, just think if we had a plan going into this to harvest all of that water instead of just directing it back to the Salt River, along with all of the trash on the highway.

Even if we just applied rain water collection techniques to the Arizona State University Campus, near where the news video was taken it could make a huge difference. Lets figure out what we could have saved.  If we estimate the ASU main campus to be about a square mile and say the rain is falling at about 2 inches per hour (50.88mm) then in one hour we could have collected ~34 million gallons of water! This sounds completely unbelievable, but according to this USGS page it is true. For information on collecting rainwater from your own property take a look at the Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands website.

Apart from thinking of water use I must admit I had a serious case of schadenfreude watching the youtube video. We have only a few poorly distributed storm sewers here in the desert and little to no culverts diverting water under roadways and this leads to flooding of streets on a predictable yearly basis.  It does not take much water or current to not only stop a car but to carry it off coarse stranding the driver.  The best bet is to not drive in flood waters at all, take a break, wait it out. It is still the desert and things run off and soak up within a relatively short amount of time.  I wasn’t the one waiting in that traffic though so I can see the desire if there is no other way and you’re in a hurry.  Admittedly, I kept hoping we would see them get stuck. I know, I know, it is awful for me to think that but really it takes very little to get your car stuck.  If your engine doesn’t cut off from getting wet it is easy to lose traction. A car only needs an inch or two to become buoyant and then even the slightest current can carry it off the road or into another car where it can be stranded while waters potentially continue to rise.  Hence the Stupid Motorist Law where people have to pay for their own rescue.. think this is atypical? Think again.

Here’s a video of what happens when the freeway floods and traffic is stopped dead in its tracks.
http://www.kpho.com/video/16871937/index.html

Video of a wash during this storm.

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The bleaching of the world’s coral reefs has been an increasingly concerning mystery in recent years.  Healthy corals harbor a host of zooxanthelae, colorful algae that live symbiotically within the coral tissue providing energy to the coral.  The coral in turn provides shelter, plenty of carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, nutrients, and protection.  When the corals are “bleached” these necessary algae are expelled leaving only the shell of the coral, its white, bleached skeleton.  Scientists for years have struggled trying to identify a cause for this. Climate change is still a major contender but National Geographic just came out with an article that suggests something else, sunscreen.

“Four commonly found sunscreen ingredients can awaken dormant viruses in the symbiotic algae called zooxanthellae that live inside reef-building coral species.

The chemicals cause the viruses to replicate until their algae hosts explode, spilling viruses into the surrounding seawater, where they can infect neighboring coral communities. “

Those four ingredients are as follows:

1. Parabens
2. Cinnamate
3. Benzophenone
4. “A camphor derivative” (likely methylbenzylidene camphor)

Parabens in particular are in all sorts of other products, even our food.  If they are the culprits in this fiasco we have a lot more to worry about other than just sunscreens. With growing concern around them I suggest reading all of your product labels and seeking out companies that are paraben-free. Even some main stream companies are transitioning over to paraben-free now so it should be getting easier in the near future.

The study is not the end all be all, it is just a step in the direction of possibly understanding this phenomena. It isn’t that hard to find a sunscreen that is made with physical sunblock rather than chemical sunblocks. Look for titanium dioxide or zinc oxide on the ingredient list and avoid the ingredients listed above.  If all else fails put on a long sleeved white shirt and a giant hat.. you may look silly but you won’t get burned and you just might make a difference.

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I’ve seen pictures of downtown Maricopa underwater from what I think was a 100 year flood, but I can seem to find any for this post. If you have any of these pictures, send us links in the comments. According to FEMA maps our house is above the flood plain, but I imagine when Maricopa gets another 100 year flood it is going to do some damage nearby. I’m not sure I’d want to live on the banks of this wash when that happens.

It wouldn’t be a proper flooded wash if someone didn’t cross the road block and cross through it. It doesn’t take much water to get stuck, so be careful, that’s why Arizona has the stupid motorist law.

The “Stupid Motorist Law”, which corresponds to section 28-910 of the Arizona Revised Statutes, states that any motorist who drives around barricades to enter a flooded stretch of roadway may be charged for the cost of his/her rescue.

The need for the law came from the lack of storm sewers in the deserts of the Southwestern United States. Desert rains, usually associated with summer monsoons, and the flooding that comes with them tend to be short-lived. Many desert cities and towns don’t use culverts to channel minor washes (also known by the Spanish name arroyos) beneath the roadway. Only major washes and floodplains have bridges over them. Storm drains are spaced quite far apart when they are present at all. Consequently, during rain storms, storm runoff flows over the roadway. During hard, strong rain storms, the washes, underpasses, and areas around large storm drains can flow fast and deep enough to pick up an automobile and carry it downstream. During particularly strong floods, one might see a motorist stuck in the middle of a wash, sitting on the roof of a dead car submerged to the windows.

In such cases, if public emergency services (such as a fire department, or paramedics) are called to rescue the motorist and tow the vehicle out of danger, the cost of those services can be billed to the motorist.

[Wikipedia]

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Vert is a rain terrace: a rainwater harvester and vertical garden. This project establishes sustainable water practices through the harvesting of rain, and brings the advantages of a living wall to the backyard through vertical gardening. Vert alleviates a homes reliance on public utility systems while beautifying unused vertical space.

More info at the Rocket 2008 page and at Treehugger.com.

Related Post: [Rainwater Harvesting: A beginners guide.]

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This past weekend I saw Brad Lancaster talk about rainwater harvesting at the Green Living Conference in Phoenix and was moved to start making some changes around my own house. He’s from Tucson and has transformed his house from basically an empty dirt lot to a desert oasis. He’s done all this by “planting” the rainwater in his yard and keeping it there for the plants and trees to use. Seeing his yard and what he’s done with his system of catching rainwater in a cistern, using gray water from his sinks, tub, and washing machine it sounds too overwhelming and expensive to do this yourself, and I was thinking “Yeah, if only I had the money.” He had some great advice though, start small and simple. That’s what I’m going to do today.

With one inch of rain there is 600 gallons of water for every 1000 Sq ft of land. I just looked up the Sq ft of my property and it is just over 5000 Sq ft. Where I live in the desert we average about 8 inches of rain a year which means over 24,000 gallons of water fall on our property a year. Unless you live in Yuma Arizona where they average 3 inches a year, you probably get more rain than the 8 inches I get. Lets see if we can make use of some of this and not let it all wash away.

First thing you should do is think about the last time it rained and where rainwater is collecting in your yard already. This should reveal some low spots that could be ideal for planting. In my yard I have one such low spot next to my house where water from the yard and roof drains to. Unsurprisingly this has turned out to be one of the easiest spots to grow anything in our yard. Now there is even catnip, lavender, sunflowers, and a little chamomile that planted themselves and are thriving.

Second take a look around and see what you already have planted. Is water able to flow to them when it rains? Is there a basin the water can fill to water the plant? In my yard I have a grapefruit tree with a little berm around it. This is pretty good to hold in water from the hose, but when it rains it blocks any water from filling it. This probably should have been obvious, but I never really thought about it. The tree also has not really grown much in the two years it’s been there, I think it’s pretty much been stunted. Maybe it hasn’t had enough water? This morning I pulled out the shovel and started digging out the berm and creating a basin instead. Ideally this should have been done when I planted it a couple years ago, but better late than never. I was careful while digging down because I didn’t want to disturb any roots. When you dig out the basin be sure to make it at least as wide as the branches so that it can collect any water dripping off the leaves. I wasn’t super aggressive with the digging out of the basin because I was worried about the roots, so hopefully it’s dug down enough. I’m a beginner myself, so I can’t wait to see how this works. I gave it a test run with the hose and it held dramatically more water than the berm ever did. I’ll have to do this with the rest of plants in the yard.

See! That was easy! Just these two ideas give you a good start at using the rainwater as a resource and reducing your usage of tap water to water your plants. To get more in depth with water harvesting pick up the book Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands by Brad Lancaster. He lives in Tucson Arizona and has done amazing things with his yard and neighborhood all without irrigating with tap water. Check out his website for some great before and after pictures of his yard [here]. You can also attend one of his lectures or classes he teaches on rainwater harvesting to get some hands on experience. A list of his upcomming events can be found on his website as well. [harvestingrainwater.com]

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Phoenix drinking water received a clean bill of health Monday after extensive testing found no pharmaceuticals in the water supply.

Tests conducted by an independent laboratory at each of Phoenix’s six water treatment plants showed no traces of drugs and met all standards of the Environmental Protection Agency, officials said at an afternoon press conference.

“I’m pleased today to report that Phoenix tap water meets all EPA requirements . . . and that no trace of pharmaceuticals were found in any of the tests,” Mayor Phil Gordon said. “Providing safe and healthy water to our residents (is something that) we do very well.”

[azcentral.com]

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[tv.azpm.org]

I still don’t think tap water tastes as good as bottled here in the desert, but we started running it through a charcoal filter that’s built into our fridge and it tastes great. We haven’t bought bottled water since.
Tap water run through Reverse Osmosis systems are great too. It’s inexpensive to get a 5 gallon bottle and fill it up once a week at the grocery store for great tasting drinking water.

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