#Drinking water

[morelanaxu]

#soft aesthetic #soft black women #spiritualgrowth #black beauty #drinking water #healthyliving #spiritual healing #black girl luxury #black girl magic #black women #water timely reminder #water #drink water #black love #gorgeous women #black woman appreciation #beautiful women #women #wellness #health and wellness #mental health

[themirokai]

now I wanna know- why isn't drinking water free in the US?

Hi there friend! Thanks very much for taking the bait from this post. Buckle up, this is a long one.

If you want to put out a cistern and collect rainwater and use that, congratulations! Your water is free! Plus the cost of maintaining your cistern and keeping it clean. If you’re lucky enough to live somewhere with a high enough water table to have a well, then your water is also free + the cost of the well and well maintenance.

But if you want water to come out of your tap on demand and you can’t or don’t want to maintain a cistern and you can’t or don’t want to have a well… you need public water!

How do we get public water? Well, a government entity (usually. there are some private utilities, but that’s a different post. I have strong feelings) has rights to take water out of a river or a lake, or they have a reservoir, or they have access to an aquifer. Then they have to transport the water out of the source. This generally requires aqueducts or massive pipes, which are expensive and need to be maintained, which is also expensive. The pipe leading out of one of my utility’s reservoirs is 12 feet in diameter.

Does the water go directly from the source to your home? Nope! It gets piped to a water filtration plant! The process of modern water filtration is complicated but it involves both physical and chemical treatment to make sure the water isn’t carrying any parasites, harmful bacteria, or pollutants and it has the right pH. Not only are these filtration plants extremely expensive to build and maintain but the process of operating them is extremely expensive, both in terms of hiring skilled staff and having appropriate materials for the filters and chemical treatment.

After the treated water (called “finished water” in the biz) is ready it does get piped to your house.

If you use public water, do you know where your local water filtration plant is? No? That probably means it’s not in your immediate neighborhood, which probably means it’s several miles or more away. To get to your house, the water needs to travel through an extensive pipe network. These pipes are smaller but they have to remain pressurized so that no contaminants can get into the water on its way to your house. But pipes break! Especially if you live somewhere with a freeze/thaw cycle. Maintaining this pipe network is, you guessed it, expensive! It requires materials and extremely skilled workers who perform in very very difficult conditions. Plus lots of engineering to keep the whole system pressurized even when one part of it breaks. Oh, and you know what lots of pipes were made out of in the early 20th century? Lead! So all around the country utilities need to make extensive and costly infrastructure upgrades because now we know lead pipes are really freaking bad.

Okay, so you get the basic picture. And I haven’t even gotten into Safe Drinking Water Act compliance, but most of that happens at the filtration plant. Oo! Or desalinization because some utilities pull their water from the sea and need to take the salt out. I know basically nothing about this except that it is likely complicated and expensive to do at scale.

This is essentially why I get frustrated by people who argue “why should we pay for something that falls out of the sky?” Because finished water doesn’t fall from the sky and it sure as hell doesn’t fall from the sky into your faucet. (Side note: as a public utility official I have been screamed at by the “it falls from the sky” people. A thing I like about the private sector is that people scream at me a lot less.)

Now, there is a very strong argument to be made that because water is necessary for human life, it should be provided by the government for free to everyone. And just like the costs of roads or public education, this should be part of the public budget and paid for by taxes and no one should have a water bill. I don’t disagree with this. I’m sure that’s how it’s done in some countries.

I don’t have a well-researched answer on the history of water utilities but I do have some facts and some (very) educated conjectures. Water rights in the US are complicated (another separate post!) but they’re based on private ownership. Ever since white people came to this country people have been claiming ownership over water and charging each other money for taking water out of rivers or lakes or the ground. You can measure how much of it someone uses and charge them for it. Water is treated like a commodity because unlike other public goods, it *can* be treated like a commodity and then, you know, capitalism. Again, I’m not saying that’s right.

But as a society, if we believe that no one should have a water bill, then we need to figure out how to pay for all the very expensive steps in the process I outlined at the top. Could that just be taxes? Sure, if you have a system that supports taxes at that level. Do I believe that public funding of water infrastructure would be a fuckton better than a lot of things we use taxes for now? Absolutely! But that requires massive institutional change and this isn’t generally an issue that people know enough about to demand change.

If you read this far, congratulations! You now know more stuff about drinking water!

#hey if you enjoyed reading this consider reblogging it #it took me a while to write up #and I love educating people about this stuff #also if you have follow up questions please send them along #miro does asks #miro irl #drinking water #public utilities #water utilities #public water #long post

[awesomecooperlove]

☣️☢️☣️

#poisoning #humanity #drinking water #danger #warning #health hazards #health care #what is in our drinking water #crimes against humanity #the deep state’s plan to eliminate 8 billion people #these people are evil #speaktruth #fight for justice #standup #speak up #truth #please share #wwg1wga

[m4rc3y]

Horrible quality photo for the win😻🙏

#joey jordison #joeyjordison #slipknot #masked men #drinking water #i dont even know #murderdolls #backstage #grainy #terrible quality

[reasonsforhope]

gahh, are there any big recent good news stories❔everything i can find seems so . small. which is ok and good but gahhhhhhhhh mental health explode my brain aaaaa

Oh yeah, 100%

Do your mental health a favor and read some of this. It's a giant compilation of good news newsletters that is very good at finding big stories and has a very large-scale and international focus: https://futurecrunch.com/goodnews/

Future Crunch's top story from two weeks ago, for example:

"Humanity has made astonishing progress on access to water, sanitation and hygiene in this century. Between 2000 and 2022, 2.1 billion people gained access to safe drinking water, 2.5 billion gained access to safely managed sanitation, the number of people using unimproved facilities has been halved, from 1.1 billion to 545 million, and the number practising open defecation has fallen by more than two thirds, from 1.3 billion to 419 million. Source: WHO"

#Anonymous #ask #me #drinking water #clean water #sanitation #hygiene #mental health #world health organization #good news #hope #hope posting #progress

[m0tiv8me]

💦Thirsty Thursday!💦

Cheers! What’s everyone drinking today? Pile on with your favorite drink of choice and let’s get the good vibes flowing! 💧☕️🍷🍺🥤🧃🧋🍸🍹🥃🧉🥛🫖

@marine-corps-strong @bigbruthag @fitnessgeekandcoffeefreak @belovedgoofball @labrat-to-gymrat @shrinking-but-shining @runnersandheels @packbetawolves @nails-by-zai @eli-ironcheeks @fight-forabetter-you @nerdgasmsfoodpornprogress @healthymist @fitgothgirl @the-curvy-crossfitter @becoming-her-beast @cam-strong @healthyfitprincess @hard-n-fit @whatyoustand4 @coolrunnerguy @ladyluck29 @maturelymuscled @plastiquefruit @thisismetryingx @justhiitit @samatonin @ashtons-world @emmasternerradley @run-like-a-zombie @rubyr3dd @yogipeach @the-owly-lady @stressedspidergirlsfitnessblog @love2bfit @yoginiinprogress @thisgingersnapped50 @meredith30x30 @make-dreams-happen @wantabbs @castlewolfcolder @qrfit @tri-ingagain @nicaliciousxo

Participation always optional, no worries if you see this late it’s just for fun.

#thirsty thursday #water for me today #drinks #beverage #hydrate #drinking water #m0tiv8me #water #coffee #beer #wine #liquor #fitblr #me

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Faith Eagle is one of many inmates in Saskatchewan who are protesting for better conditions in the province’s correctional institutions. Eagle, who is serving 18 months at Pine Grove Correctional Centre outside of Prince Albert, is hoping to hold the government accountable. “For equality of rights are drinking water quality, food quality, the way we’re treated, sexual harassment, (and) racism,” said Eagle, in a phone interview with Global News. “We keep on putting complaints because the water smells dirty. It smells like a sewer. It smells musty.” Eagle started the hunger strike end of October with four other female inmates and says they are also joined in solidarity with several male inmates at Saskatoon Correctional Centre who are protesting for the same reasons. “(We) want (the government) to know that we won’t tolerate (it anymore). We will not tolerate discrimination. We will not tolerate our rights being infringed upon,” said Eagle. “We’re still citizens of Canada, and we will not be treated less than. We want better quality in our water.”

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

#Prison strike #Hunger strike #Human Rights #Prison #saskatchewan #Water #Drinking water

[mapsontheweb]

Difficulties in accessing drinking water

by LegendesCarto

#maps #LegendesCarto #twsourced #water #drinking water

[thatdumbgoth]

@that-fruitier-emo I had a cup of water!!

#rubys random thoughts #im silly #self care #drinking water

[mindblowingscience]

In a unique study carried out in drinking water pipes in Sweden, researchers from Lund University and the local water company tested what would happen if chlorine was omitted from drinking water. The result? An increase in bacteria, of course, but after a while something surprising happened: a harmless predatory bacteria grew in numbers and ate most of the other bacteria. The study suggests that chlorine is not always needed if the filtration is efficient—and that predatory bacteria could perhaps be used to purify water in the future. Just as human intestines contain a rich bacterial flora, many types of bacteria thrive in our drinking water and the pipes that transport them. On the inside of pipe walls is a thin, slippery coating, called a biofilm, which protects and supports bacteria. These bacteria have adapted to life in the presence of chlorine, which otherwise has the primary task to kill bacteria, particularity bacteria that can make humans sick.

Continue Reading

#science #stem #microbiology #drinking water #chlorine

[morelanaxu]

#meditation #spiritualgrowth #water timely reminder #drinking water #black beauty #spiritual awakening #black girl luxury #spiritual healing #spiritual development #healthyliving #black girl magic #black women #gorgeous women #beautiful women #black love #spirtualjourney #women #black woman appreciation #water

[louisupdates]

Thirsty Louis Tomlinson in FITFWT24: Brisbane. [30.1.2024]

#louis tomlinson #fitfwt24: brisbane #30.1.2024 #drinking water #thirsty

[thefreethoughtprojectcom]

Studies have shown that prolonged exposure to PFAS in water may lead to cancer, decreased fertility, developmental delays in children, immune system suppression and other adverse health effects.

Read More: https://thefreethoughtproject.com/health/over-60-million-americans-exposed-to-toxic-drinking-water-as-epa-refuses-to-act

#the free thought project #tftp #epa #water #water quality #pollution #fail #toxic #drinking water #tap water

[thesocklesswonder]

Arizona is being forced to cut nearly 25% of its water sourced from the Colorado River. We're in an extreme drought. Drinking water is essential for human and animal life.

While the golf course industry uses graphs and charts to show that they don't use that much water and they bring in big bucks to the economy, I propose they try upping their game instead.

Rather than using up our precious drinking water (every drop counts) on grass for playing golf, why don't they go hard core and learn to play on hard pan dirt. I mean, it's a sport and sport is about challenges, right?

Golfers, challenge yourself and leave the water for drinking!

#drought #arizona drought #colorado river #climate change #drinking water #golf #golfing industry #save water #environment #this goes for other nonessential uses of drinking water #in this hi-tech age why aren't they using astroturf or something #you can't drink money

[mizar113]

Filtering and purifying water

#filtering water #purifying water #water #drinking water #survival #bushcraft #camping #camp #campsite #camplife #campout #outdoors #nature #wilderness #discover #adventure #explore

[bettie-may-page]

Bettie of the river

#bettie page #bettiepage #sexy #long hair #beautiful smile #long legs #betty page #beautiful face #beautiful eyes #high heels #leopard swimsuit #jungle #river #knife #drinking water