I've been inspired to start my blog as I prepare for a trip of my lifetime. Over the last few weeks, it has become increasingly more real and I'm starting to feel the affects of travel anxiety. Something I'm not quite used to. I have three major legs of the trip - Malawi, Germany, Italy.
The Water for People folks contacted the group of us going on the tour with country information and to get some of us acquainted. Two of the tour participants reached out to me, so I sort of feel like I already know a few people going on this trip. I'm really looking forward to seeing - in person - how this organization and I though this organization make a difference. The simplest of all things that we take for granted, turning on our tap and having clean water come out of it is something foreign to where I'm going. I'm not sure how to comprehend that. I've seen photos and read stories, but I'm not sure what to expect and I feel like I shouldn't try to expect anything and instead just be ready to learn from the journey.
In the meantime, I've been preparing with vaccinations, stocking up on supplies, trying to figure out how I'm going to fit 4 weeks of stuff into carry-on luggage (not for any other reason than I don't want it to get lost). In any case, in 5 weeks I'll be on a plane to Africa - and that is just crazy to me.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Friday, September 19, 2008
no more water?
i was forwarded this article related to a water crisis. Few things come to mind...
in my circle of geeky water treatment engineers, we have been talking about things like this for years. particularly the bit about transferring water between watersheds. it's a gigantic problem. i'll attempt to describe this clearly. the water we drink comes from basically either groundwater (wells) or surface water (reservoirs). the large majority of water we discharge goes to rivers with a small percentage going to groundwater recharge. the problem with this is complex, but we are essentially transferring non-saline water to sources that ultimately discharge to the oceans; thereby contaminating our fresh water supply. this is particularly true for coastal resources. the problem with this is that it is exponentially more expensive to treat saline water than fresh water. this is due to the energy requirements required to physically separate the salt molecule from the water molecule. we, together with water purveyors and treatment authorities need to come up with a way to take better care of protecting our fresh water. reuse comes to mind, tertiary wastewater treatment plants that convert wastewater to drinking water. unfortunately, this isn't very accepted among the masses and is generally referred to as "toilet to tap." i guarentee, it's a lot cheaper than desalination.
conserve.
in my circle of geeky water treatment engineers, we have been talking about things like this for years. particularly the bit about transferring water between watersheds. it's a gigantic problem. i'll attempt to describe this clearly. the water we drink comes from basically either groundwater (wells) or surface water (reservoirs). the large majority of water we discharge goes to rivers with a small percentage going to groundwater recharge. the problem with this is complex, but we are essentially transferring non-saline water to sources that ultimately discharge to the oceans; thereby contaminating our fresh water supply. this is particularly true for coastal resources. the problem with this is that it is exponentially more expensive to treat saline water than fresh water. this is due to the energy requirements required to physically separate the salt molecule from the water molecule. we, together with water purveyors and treatment authorities need to come up with a way to take better care of protecting our fresh water. reuse comes to mind, tertiary wastewater treatment plants that convert wastewater to drinking water. unfortunately, this isn't very accepted among the masses and is generally referred to as "toilet to tap." i guarentee, it's a lot cheaper than desalination.
conserve.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Things you don't hear every day...
there are just some things that you don't hear every day. Things like - "wow, great job!" or "Happy Birthday!" But there is something that I never thought I would hear someone say to me...
"You have won a trip to Malawi"
Aside from the pure stun that I won something, a trip, my first words were "Great! Umm.. where exactly is Malawi?"
It wasn't totally out of the blue. A few months ago, I was helping a campaign for Water for People through work. Water for People is a great organization that helps people in developing countries by supporting the locally sustainable sanitary water supplies. My work published a contest through on-line donations and one person was going to get chosen to go on a Water for People country tour. I made my donation, as I did in years past, and briefly (for about 3 seconds) wondered what it would be like to go on a tour of these facilities. I quickly dismissed the idea, I never win anything. Well, I can't say that anymore and I'm sincerely looking forward to the opportunity to see how clean drinking water can change a person's life.
~me
"You have won a trip to Malawi"
Aside from the pure stun that I won something, a trip, my first words were "Great! Umm.. where exactly is Malawi?"
It wasn't totally out of the blue. A few months ago, I was helping a campaign for Water for People through work. Water for People is a great organization that helps people in developing countries by supporting the locally sustainable sanitary water supplies. My work published a contest through on-line donations and one person was going to get chosen to go on a Water for People country tour. I made my donation, as I did in years past, and briefly (for about 3 seconds) wondered what it would be like to go on a tour of these facilities. I quickly dismissed the idea, I never win anything. Well, I can't say that anymore and I'm sincerely looking forward to the opportunity to see how clean drinking water can change a person's life.
~me
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