WATER

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Permalink Reply by carolyn westlake on August 13, 2010 at 12:21

"humanure"!! Have never heard that word before. Sounds fascinating! I look forward to finding out more about water issues. I'm interested to learn about the state of the rivers that flow through Hertford. I believe the Mimram is in a sorry state for example. Anyone else know any more?

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Permalink Reply by Alex Cornish on August 13, 2010 at 12:40

You could say fascinating, or you could say "What a load of old $#!@"

carolyn westlake said:

"humanure"!! Have never heard that word before. Sounds fascinating! I look forward to finding out more about water issues.

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Permalink Reply by don carlin on August 13, 2010 at 17:57

Hello Alex - great subject yes - A major resource issue at local, regional, national and global level - we already have water wars in Africa and they will not long be confined to that continent (nor solely to water, many of the planet's resources are either running out or have been poisoned by our actions) so any discussion and or agreed action here would be a move forward. The water crisis is a supreme example of our ignorance and the bad unthinking habits of individuals and businesses - industry - and, as is often the case, an undermanned inspectorate and lack of adequate enforcement of regulations. It is after all the only resource on the planet which doesn't diminish in any way whatsoever. What's here today was here when water was first generated by long gone processes. I shall follow this interest group with some anticipation - regards - don

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Permalink Reply by don carlin on August 13, 2010 at 22:06

I thought this short synopsis from my research might help the picture

Of all the water on our planet less than three percent is water that we and most of our animals and plants can use! Most of that 3% is locked up at the Earth's Poles, in Greenland and in phenomena such as fogs and mists (and those massive polar icecaps are rapidly melting into our salt water seas!)

The end result is that only 1% of that 3% is available and usable by us! That 1% of the clean water is a constant, it's always been there since water first appeared on our planet. The water we drink today is the water our predecessors drank, that the dinosaurs and the Dodo drank! There are many descriptions of how to envisage that 1% of that 3%, but I think this next gives the closest picture.

“Imagine you have a bucket (and that it's filled with water) This is all the water on our planet. You cup your hands and scoop out a tiny fraction, which now sits in your reservoir of flesh. That is all the fresh water on the planet. The vast majority of Blue Gold is salty;97% is undrinkable.

With your hands full, you have the 3% that is fresh. You hold both life and civilisation. To have an idea of how much water is available to humans, you must open your hands and let the water fall. Now shake your hands, blow on them a bit – and the dampness that is left, the glistening traces of water in the crease of your skin?

That is all the fresh water accessible to humans.”

Alexander Bell – Peak Water – Luath Press Limited, Edinburgh.

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Permalink Reply by Alex Cornish on August 14, 2010 at 11:42

Hi Don,

What do you mean that the amount of fresh water is a constant? Surely fresh water rivers flow out to the sea and are salinized and then water evaporates off the sea and is desalinized; if we straighten rivers we speed fresh water back to the sea, if we build dams or resevoirs then fresh water lakes are formed which increases the stock of fresh water before it returns to the sea, if we cover the land in nice absorbant humus this will slow the water flow, and something impermeable to water like tarmac will speed it up.... no?

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Permalink Reply by Alex Cornish on August 20, 2010 at 7:10

Don... I think I love you!

A
xx

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Permalink Reply by don carlin on August 21, 2010 at 8:42

ah . . lightning strikes . . don't ya just love that yea - reminds me of when I go (still) to an occasional overground rave and watch the changing perceptions of my presence . .

:-)

just caught your link to window farms btw - - fabulous - cheers for that yes

*smiles and scatters flowers and hugs all around TTHI*

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Permalink Reply by don carlin on August 21, 2010 at 10:42

small correction to original attached file hence this updated attachment of an overview of the global, national and regional problems with this most valuable resource with some case histories, hopefully as an informative backdrop to the more important local and localised actions that this interest group will consider and inform us about
cheers
don

Attachments:

• Intro and Title Page.odt, 16 KB
• Water.odt, 685 KB

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Permalink Reply by carolyn westlake on August 23, 2010 at 17:37

Hi Alex

Just back from Sunrise-Off Grid and many experiences of humanure in those festival toilets!Have to say, even whilst gritting my teeth, holding my breath etc etc I did wonder at the amount of potential fertilizer we all could donate though it was interesting that the farm the festival was on was allegedly not all that keen on female urine due to the high levels of various hormones. I think this could be a fascinating topic to discuss.... anyone else?.. I'd love to learn more
carolyn westlake said:

"humanure"!! Have never heard that word before. Sounds fascinating! I look forward to finding out more about water issues. I'm interested to learn about the state of the rivers that flow through Hertford. I believe the Mimram is in a sorry state for example. Anyone else know any more?

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Permalink Reply by carolyn westlake on August 23, 2010 at 17:42

Hi Don

Why are you hoping the interest group will consider and inform about? Are you excluding yourself and if so why? It seems you have lots of knowledge that could be really helpful...: )
don carlin said:

small correction to original attached file hence this updated attachment of an overview of the global, national and regional problems with this most valuable resource with some case histories, hopefully as an informative backdrop to the more important local and localised actions that this interest group will consider and inform us about
cheers
don

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Permalink Reply by don carlin on August 25, 2010 at 9:31

Hi Carolyn :-)
wow no no not meant to exclude myself (though I see it can read that way) very much the opposite - as an example atm and intermittent with my own work I decided to find and download the humanure handbook, cleaning the files up (so to speak lol) converting the americanese into our mother tongue and feeding the resultant files to Alex via email - I'd attach them here but there's a lot of them (example - chapter 3 has 15 different files, and it's by no means alone in that) so think Alex might best decide what and how to use their information dispersal in the forum - but of course I can just as easily email them to anyone interested in reading them, so anyone so interested just send me yr email addy yes . . hope the Badger watch is great btw - always a lovely and uplifting experience watching wild life at play and doing their thing - and in the meantime I keep on doing that Churchill KBO thing innit :-) xx

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Permalink Reply by Alex Cornish on August 25, 2010 at 9:53

I also can forward this to people. I might even print it out once I've got all the files! It is worth noting that although Don is very kindly contributing to this discussion he is doing so from Kent, so he may be a more with us in spirit than actually with us! Please keep up the E-presence though Don! Your contributions are very much appreciated.

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