LBN-INVESTIGATES: Tap Water

LBN-INVESTIGATES: Tap Water 

4/18/14

1. The average African family uses about 5 gallons (23 liters) of water a day. The average American family uses more than 250 gallons (946 liters) a day.

2. One billion people worldwide do not have access to safe drinking water.

3. According to the World Water Development Report (WWDR), many girls in developing countries cannot attend school because they are responsible for gathering domestic water. Additionally, schools lack separate toilet facilities.

4. Every 8 seconds, a child dies from contaminated water.

5. Twenty-five million people die each year from contaminated water. That is the entire population of Canada.

6. Impure or contaminated water is the leading cause of epidemics in developing countries.

7. Contaminants in tap water, such as lead, can increase the risk of learning disorders.

8. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that Americans annually take 40 trillion gallons of water from the ground, and the rate of use is increasing 25% per decade. Scientists argue that ground water is being polluted and used at a rate that far outstrips nature’s ability to cope.

9. In Bellevue, Ohio, public and private wastes were dumped into sinkholes and wells beginning in 1872. Over 120 years later, those wastes still show up in drinking water. In some wells, raw sewage from that era, including un-decomposed toilet tissue, can still be found.

10. The EPA’s Safe Drinking Water Act (1974) regulates only 91 of the over 60,000 chemicals used in the United States. Even low levels of hundreds of legally allowed contaminants have been associated with a wide range of diseases, including cancer.

11. Widespread city infrastructures are decaying at a rapid rate, which increases the types of dangerous pollutants in the water.

12. The tap water of at least 41 million Americans has been found to contain a wide range of pharmaceuticals, including sex hormones and anti-seizure medicine.

13. A random study by the EPA revealed that employees of bottled water companies are not tested for disease, nor are they required to avoid the bottling area if they are sneezing from colds or have open cuts or infections on their hands.

14. Efforts to tighten drinking water standards that would regulate and restrict common drinking water contaminants such as perchlorate (a rocket fuel additive), tricholoethylene (a degreaser used in manufacturing), and perchloroethylene (a cleaning solvent) have been blocked by industrial and military lobbyists.

15. In the United States, a massive amount of new toxins totaling nearly 18 billion pounds are released into the groundwater, soil, and atmosphere annually.

16. Americans empty 2.5 million plastic water bottles an hour. Each one takes 500 years to decompose.

17. More than 62 million Americans since 2004 have been exposed to substandard tap water. This exposure has lasted for years for some people.

18. Scientists report that the severely outdated Safe Drinking Water Act (1974) cannot adequately prevent Americans from being exposed to serious health dangers in their drinking water.

19. Toxins in tap water can accumulate in the body for years, increasing the risk for developing cancer and all types of diseases.

20. An average water molecule will spend 9 days in the atmosphere, 2 weeks in a river, 10 years in a large lake, 3,000 to 5,000 years in an ocean, 10,000-100,000+ years underground, and 10,000 to 1,000,000+ years in an Antarctic ice cap.

Help save the Yamuna River

About the Yamuna

The Yamuna flows through many of India’s most significant attractions, including the capital New Delhi, with a population of almost fourteen million; Vrindavan, an international pilgrimage site visited by tens of millions annually; and the Taj Mahal, a World Heritage site and one of the Seven Wonders of the World.

Over fifty million people rely on the Yamuna for their daily needs, using the water for religious observances, agricultural needs, and bathing, washing, and cooking. In addition to benefiting the human population, the Yamuna has supported a vast ecosystem of wildlife, such as fish, turtles, crocodiles, river dolphins, and aquatic plants.

Aside from agricultural, ecological, and domestic uses, the Yamuna River has long been regarded as a cultural icon and defining symbol of India. Ancient scriptures, traditional and contemporary art, music, festivals, and even the Indian National Anthem, demonstrate the reverence in which the river is held.

Basic Facts

• The Yamuna River is the largest tributary of the Ganges River, with a catchment area (345,848 sq km / 133,533 sq m) that constitutes 40 percent of the total Ganga River Basin.
• The river is 1,376 km (855 miles) long and passes through seven Indian states.
• The Yamuna is water source for 57 million people.
• 97 percent of the river’s water is directed away from the riverbed not far from its source. The balance dries up within a few kilometers. None of the original river water flows beyond that point north of Delhi.
• Whatever little water reaches New Delhi does so through various canals entering the riverbed. A Central Pollution Control Board of India report in 2006 stated that there is “almost no fresh water in the river” beyond New Delhi. The report declared that for 580 km (360 m) south of Delhi, the river is “critically polluted.” A subsequent report in 2009 states that, “There is no doubt that the river is a cesspool for Delhi’s waste.”
• The levels of pollution in the water flowing through and out of Delhi are so high that even bathing in the water is dangerous. The water from the river is also replenishing groundwater in the area, resulting in highly polluted well water, which threatens the health of millions of people.
• Many accounts of severe illness and death have been attributed to the toxic state of the river’s water quality downstream of New Delhi.

You can help by joining the Yamuna Network's efforts. Follow them on Facebook and learn more at their website, www.yamunanetwork.com.

The Yamuna Network is a nonprofit coalition of like-minded organizations and individuals whose sole purpose is to stop Yamuna River's waters from being diverted and prevent industrial and municipal waste from entering her waters, restoring the river to her past glory.

National Water Quality Month

If you drink bottled water or filtered water you know there's a big difference between the water you consume and the water that comes from the tap. What about the water quality in other parts of the world?

Blue Planet Run highlights the vital contributions of nonprofits around the world, including the groundbreaking work of the Blue Planet Run Foundation, which seeks to provide safe drinking water to 200 million people by 2027.

You can learn more about Blue Planet Run by joining their Blue Planet Network online or by picking up a copy of the book which provides readers with a fascinating and thought-provoking look at the water problems facing humanity on every continent, as well as some of the hopeful solutions and courageous "water heroes" focused on alleviating this crisis.

One hundred percent of the royalties from this book will be used to provide clean drinking water to people around the world who desperately need it.

Yoga and Vegetarianism

What does yoga have to do with vegetarianism? 

Drawing upon her studies of Vedic traditions, author Sharon Gannon explores how the practices of yoga are historically and structurally tied to an ethical vegetarian lifestyle.

"The yogi strives to live in harmony with Mother Nature...Eating a vegetarian diet can contribute more to saving ourselves and the planet than any other single effort."

Some facts:

1. Global Warming: Raising animals for food creates more greenhouse as emissions than all the transportation in the world.
2. Water Pollution: In the US, raising animals for food causes more water pollution than any other industry.
3. Water Use: More than half the water consumed in the US is used to raise animals for food.
4. Oceans: Most of the fish and other sea creatures caught annually are not eaten directly by humans but are fed to livestock.
5. Land: 45% of the total landmass in the US is used to raise animals for food and the crops to feed them.
6. Deforestation: An acre of land disappears every eight seconds, cleared to grow crops to feed confined animals in factory farms.
7. Crops: 80% of the corn and more than 95% of the oats grown in the US are fed to animals raised for food.
8. Fossil fuel depletion: Over 1/3 of all fossil fuels in the US go to raise animals for food.

"Our meat-eating culture not only affects the animals that are tortured and killed but also causes tremendous worldwide environmental devastation - which scientists loudly proclaim will have catastrophic effects on the planet."

Both yoga and vegetarianism form a framework for physical and spiritual attunement, and when practiced as a whole, provide the path not only to physical health, but to spiritual enlightenment.


To learn more about Yoga and Vegetarianism, pick up a copy of Sharon Gannon's book where she shares a 21-day cleansing diet and yoga poses to add to your daily routine.