Blog action day: blog about water

Hey Blog Action Day bloggers, Since our announcement last week, more than 1600 bloggers from 100 countries have registered to participate in Blog Action Day 2010, focused on the issue of water. If you haven't signed up yet, you can register here. Many of you have asked us how you can get more involved. Here are three ways you can help make Blog Action Day 2010 a success, and be part of the effort to save the 3800 children who die each day from unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation facilities: Embed an action widget: Together with US Fund for UNICEF, we're helping to build a movement of people across the world calling on UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon to accelerate the UN's work to supply clean, safe drinking water to the world's poorest populations. You can help this movement by grabbing our interactive action widget and embedding it on your blog, empowering your readers to join the cause. Raise funds for water: We've partnered with leading organizations to enable you to raise money to provide clean drinking water to those in need. Among these is charity: water, which allows you to create a fundraising page to raise money to build wells in Africa. You can also directly donate through Water.org, an organization co-founded by Matt Damon. Just $25 provides clean water for a lifetime for one person. Spread the Word: We need your help to spread the word about Blog Action Day 2010 across the web. Take a moment to tell your friends to sign up via email, Facebook and Twitter. The more voices we have involved in the conversation, the greater our collective impact. Blog Action Day 2010 is shaping up to be the biggest online day of action around water to date. But we need your help to make it even more successful. By registering your blog, embedding an action widget, fundraising for clean water and spreading the word, you're helping shed light on an often over-looked, yet incredibly important issue. We'll keep you updated with any Blog Action Day developments as we get closer to the 15th, but in the meantime don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Experts say urinating in the shower will save water

Experts say urinating in the shower is not so bad from a health and safety standpoint. - STLtoday.com: "save water — by urinating in the shower.

The group, SOS Mata Atlantica, estimates that each household in Brazil could conserve 1,157 gallons of water annually by avoiding one flush a day.

The humorous spots, which are narrated by children, feature cartoon drawings of people from all walks of life — a basketball player, trapeze artist and even an alien — urinating in the shower.

The ads wrap with: 'Pee in the shower! Save the Atlantic rainforest!'"

South African Water Action - The Petition Site

The gold mining industry in South Africa is proposing a water treatment plant that will take mine water contaminated with heavy metals, radioactivity and sulphates, treat it and then sell it on to consumers as part of their environmental management planning to terminate their future liabilities. The public participation phase of the Environmental Impact Assessment is currently underway and will close on Tuesday 14 July 2009, after which a decision will be made to proceed or not to proceed with the project. It is vital that all members of the public in the Gauteng region of South Africa be made aware of this proposed project, because it may affect them directly after the water is delivered to their service provider for onward delivery as drinking water. Now is the time to become acquainted with the proposal in order that you can make an informed decision. Please consult the documentation and send your comments in writing to the Public Participation Practitioner listed therein. If you believe this is important then please pass it along to your friends and family.

South African Water Action - The Petition Site:

Question: Are you willing to drink water that was previously mine effluent contaminated with heavy metals, radioactivity and sulphates that has been treated with a technology, not yet tested?

Question: Are you aware that an Environmental Impact Assessment is currently underway and will close on Tuesday 14 July 2009 after which a decision will be made to proceed or not to proceed with the project. If this continues it may impact on your health Are you aware that you can raise your concern in this regard?

Hat tip to Andries Louw of NextChurch.

Please sign the petition!

Dying crocodiles

The deaths of hundreds of crocodiles in the Kruger National Park’s Olifants River this year seems to indicate South Africa’s heavily polluted river systems have reached a ‘tipping point,’ explains Danie Pienaar, the head of scientific services at SANParks.

This tantalising snippet appeared on The Times home page, but will probably disappear as the page is updated.

There was a link to an audio clip, which was useless to me, as my computer doesn't have speakers, and there didn't appear to be any link to a print version of the story. Nevertheless, the story adds to the concern about South Africa's water resources, and puts the sacking of Dr Andrew Turton from the CSIR in an even more serious light.