 |
Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 28 July 2011 Ninety out of 175 rivers in the Durban area have very good or fair water quality, eThekwini’s water and sanitation department says. The Umgeni River, plunging down the Howick Falls for 365 feet, [...] Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 15 July 2011 The decline of large predators and other “apex consumers” at the top of the food chain has disrupted ecosystems across the planet.  The removal of predators like sea otters has consequences for all of us The finding is reported by an international team of scientists in a paper in this week’s issue of the journal Science. The study looked at research results from a wide range of terrestrial, freshwater and marine ecosystems and concluded ”the loss of apex consumers is arguably humankind’s most pervasive influence on the natural world.” According to lead author James Estes, a marine ecologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, large animals were once ubiquitous across the globe. They shaped the structure and dynamics of ecosystems. Their decline, largely caused by humans through hunting and habitat fragmentation, has far-reaching and often surprising consequences, including changes in vegetation, wildfire frequency, infectious diseases, invasive species, water quality and nutrient cycles. Plummeting numbers of apex consumers are most pronounced among the big predators, such as wolves on land, sharks in the oceans, and large fish in freshwater ecosystems. There also are dramatic declines in populations of many large herbivores, such as elephants and bison. The loss of apex consumers from an ecosystem triggers an ecological phenomenon known as a “trophic cascade,” a chain of effects moving down through lower levels of the food chain. Continue reading Global ecosystems disrupted by decline of large predators Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 11 July 2011 Boosting cooperation between countries sharing the waters of the Amu Darya, Central Asia’s longest river, could be key to future peace and security in the region a new report launched today by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says.  The Aral Sea, which relies in part from water from the Amu Darya, remains severely degraded. Estimates indicate that "the volume and surface area of the sea have decreased tenfold" Big hydropower projects planned upstream, demand for irrigated agriculture downstream and growing concern that climate change is shifting weather patterns are emerging as major natural resource challenges for the four main nations involved – Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The new report, prepared by UNEP on behalf of partners in the Environment and Security Initiative (ENVSEC), points out that water resources in the region are already impacted by decades of often unsustainable development dating back to the era of the Soviet Union. Large-scale engineering projects dammed and diverted substantial flows from the Amu Darya river basin into activities such as cotton, wheat and fodder farming in arid and desert regions. Such projects have also contributed to increased land degradation and damage to soils. The Aral Sea, which relies in part from water from the Amu Darya, remains severely degraded with the report’s estimates indicating that “the volume and surface area of the sea have now decreased tenfold”. Water levels in the southern part have dropped by 26 meters and the shoreline there has now receded by several hundred kilometers, says the report Environment and Security in the Amu Darya Basin. Across the Amu Darya basin there is growing concern over declining water quality with and implications for human health including increased incidence of kidney, thyroid and liver diseases. This is being linked with chemicals run off from cultivated land and the washing of soils in the winter to reduce salt levels. Continue reading Peace in Central Asia may depend on shared water resources Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 04 July 2011 The Guidelines are regarded globally as the most authoritative framework on drinking-water quality Every year, two million people die from waterborne diseases and billions more suffer illness. But much of this ill-health and [...] Posted by: Saving Water SA (Cape Town, South Africa) – partnered with Water Rhapsody conservation systems – 15 June 2011 By: Sarah Wild – guest of Royal Dutch Shell in Wyoming Having seen a natural gas extraction facility that works — and, despite its problems, Shell’s onshore natural gas development in Pinedale, Wyoming, works — it is not certain whether natural gas extraction will be the holy grail of energy and the employment cash cow that SA expects it to be.  Wyoming’s Pinedale anticline raises new concerns about natural gas extraction The country has been divided since it became public that Shell and several other energy companies had fixed their gaze on the Karoo and the shale gas reserves far beneath its surface. Some have argued that it will solve SA’s energy crisis, ensuring a fuel supply for about 200 years; help the country move away from its dependence on coal; and create “unprecedented” employment. According to the US Energy Information Administration, SA has technically recoverable shale gas resources of 13,7-trillion cubic metres, which could allow it to be energy independent. The 1,1-trillion cubic metres of natural gas from the Pinedale Anticline can supply 10-million homes with electricity for more than 30 years. Others have said natural gas would simply reinforce SA’s dependence on fossil fuels and cause irreparable environmental damage to an area with world- renowned biodiversity. The Pinedale facility debunks a number of the myths but raises new concerns about natural gas extraction, including the contentious technique of hydraulic fracturing or “fracking”. Continue reading Working frack site raises new concerns about natural gas extraction |
 Water Tanks
Jojo and Martin Nel Water Tanks |
|
Copyright © 2012 savingwater.co.za - All Rights Reserved |
||