Watersnet.org

Support Renewable Energy Programs to Reduce Water Pollution

admin — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Water is the most important compound to sustaining life on earth. Almost every vital chemical reaction either uses water or produces it. It’s incredibly important that we have a good supply of this precious resource. However, a good supply predicates the healthfulness of the water. Dirty water can be just as devastating, if not more so, than an absence of water. We thus need healthy water, free of contaminants and carcinogenic pollutants. But here we are forced with a tragic dilemma. This kind of water is incredibly rare.

Why Clean Water is Rare

Clean drinking water has always been excessively rare. Less than three percent of the world’s water is desalinated or “fresh.” Of that, less than two thirds are appropriated for drinking. Even less is deemed suitable. We’re looking at less than one percent of the world’s water. This number is shrinking rapidly due to our continued industrialization. The biggest cause is our efforts to collect nonrenewable resources. Drilling and processing the fossil fuels taxes our environment in a number of ways. Switching instead to green energy is a great step forward in making clean water more available.

How Supporting Renewable Energy Will Help Promote Clean Water

You see, nonrenewable energy also relies heavily on water. We can look to offshore drilling as an obvious example. We traverse the oceans for a good spot to drill and then we decimate local ecosystems in the pursuit. In the disastrous cases of oil spills, we also deal a heavy blow to the water itself.

Mining for minerals also uses water to cool drills and to pump out sediment. This causes our extremely limited fresh water supplies to be tainted. If we switched instead to greener initiatives, we could help reduce the harmful impact of fossil fuels on our water systems.

If you can’t afford to install your own renewable energy generation equipment you can still support renewable energy development through purchasing green power from your electric company. Search “New York energy rate comparison” to find the best rates on green energy plans in New York’s deregulated energy market. You can also contact your local utility and inquire about renewable energy options.

Many utilities partner with non-profit organizations to give customers an option to offset their electricity use with “blocks” of green energy purchased from the charitable organization. Often times, your purchase from the non-profit is tax-deductible as a charitable contribution. It’s a win-win situation!

5 Ways To Keep Local Waterways Pure And Clean

admin — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Clean waterways are important to every community. Here are five ways that you can help keep local waterways clean and free from pollution.

PICK UP TRASH
Most storm drains empty into a local stream or creek. Trash that is left on the ground including paper, drink bottles and anything else that can be carried by runoff will eventually end up in a local waterway unless it is collected and disposed properly.

MAINTAIN VEHICLES
Maintaining your personal vehicles can help keep oil, antifreeze and other engine fluids from collecting on driveways and streets where these chemicals can be washed into local streams by storm water runoff.

ENCOURAGE PLANT GROWTH
In addition to making the waterway look more attractive, water plants can help filter the water and keep it clean.

EDUCATE THE COMMUNITY
A campaign to educate your local community about the effects of trash and pollution on stream ecosystems can foster pride in local waterways and go a long way in keeping local creeks and streams clean.

ORGANIZE CLEAN-UP DAYS
Community organizations, local businesses, scout troops, school groups and families are often willing to pitch in and help clean up local waterways. Clean-up days are great ways to get the whole community committed to keeping a local creek or stream pure.

3 Activities In Your Yard That Can Pollute Waterways

admin — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Clean water is an important resource that we need to think about preserving, but it is important to remember how our actions impact the waterways around us. There are many common things that affect our waterways in a very negative manner.

Fertilizers
Fertilizers are very high in nitrates and other compounds that can affect the waterways. When the rain comes down, fertilizers get washed out of your garden and into the sewers, rivers and streams. Pesticides
Pesticides are essentially poisons that you spray into your garden to prevent them from being eaten by insects and other pests. However, when these chemicals get into the waterways, they can harm or kill off the various living parts of the waterways.

Car Washes
When you wash your car, you can put harsh cleaners into the environment. These harsh cleaners will kill off wildlife and delicate aquatic flora. On top of that, washing your car at home will always waste more water than washing your car at a car wash, which will invariably have a gray water recycling system.

When you want to make sure that you are doing your part for the environment, make sure that you consider what you can do for the waterways!

Reducing Local Pollution In The Rainwater

admin — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

With the number of important and potentially catastrophic environmental issues facing the world today, loosing focus on more localized and regional concerns may happen all to easily. Seemingly smaller issues, such as reducing the amount of local pollution that may be impacting the rain water within a region or location can produce immense ecological benefit. Cleaner rainwater can provide a potable source of drinking water for a population and ensure that the surrounding environment is not being overly impacted by the efforts of local industry.

By addressing local ecological concerns, as well as larger global issues, it may be possible to enjoy a greater degree of success when it comes to any efforts involving the creation of a greener and more sustainable civilization. Ignoring the potential benefits that localized and smaller scale changes may be able to produce could be very limiting in terms of creating the more far-reaching change that will be required to arrest the ecological and environmental issues that we are faced with today. Cleaner rainwater can benefit a regional population and make an important contribution to the environment as a whole by helping to rejuvenate and maintain a healthier and more viable local ecology and environment.

3 Practical Tips For Preventing Water Pollution

admin — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

When you are thinking about how you can be more environmentally conscious, you are likely thinking about gas and electricity, but have you thought about water? Water pollution is a serious issue, and you’ll find that there are things that you can do to keep our water as clean as it can be.

1. Do not overuse chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The rain washes these corrosive materials straight into the waterways, where they can affect the life of the rivers, streams and lakes around you.Want more? Click here{{/tag}

2. Don’t throw litter into the river. Just because you no longer see it does not mean that it is not there. In some cases, it gets washed away to other areas, and in other cases, it simply sinks and affects the animals and plants that live in the water. Similarly, do not dump liquids like oils and paints into the water either.

3. Go to the car wash. A car wash uses less water than you would at home because it has a gray water recycling facility, and it also prevent soaps and other harsh chemicals from getting into the environment.

Take a moment to think about everything that you can do to prevent water pollution!

Protecting Waterways For The Local Community

admin — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

If you are someone who is doing everything that they can do to protect the environment, it is important for you to think about the waterways. It is very easy to introduce harmful chemicals into the local waterways all without noticing it, and if you want to make sure that you do your part to keep the local rivers, lakes and streams clear, there are a few things to keep in mind.

First, reduce your use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. These chemicals do kill harmful diseases and help your plants grow, but the problem that the local waterways run into is that they also harm the environment. The pesticides kill off populations of delicate animals, and the fertilizers, which are extremely harsh, can kill off many different plants.

If you want to help the waterways, do your part to prevent erosion. Put in plants that hang on to the topsoil and prevent dirt and soil from washing away into the water. This keeps the local water much clearer than it would otherwise.

Finally, just try to avoid wasting water. Low flush toilets and low flow shower heads can go a long way towards helping reduce the flow of water through your home.

Hello world!

www.watersnet.org — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 20:13:38 +0000

This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!