ICRC TV News Footage Iraq: millions at risk from contaminated water

After decades of war and neglect, Iraq's health care, water and sanitation services are in a dire state, failing to meet the basic needs of a large part of the population. Despite an improvement in security in some areas, basic services in many places are inadequate.

The ICRC says that the situation has not significantly improved since March 2008 when it published a wide ranging report, "Iraq: no let-up in the humanitarian crisis" that called Iraq's humanitarian situation among the most critical in the world.
Since then, the water supply has continued to deteriorate, with millions of people relying on insufficient and poor quality supplies due to poorly maintained water and sewage systems and a shortage of sanitation engineers.

Millions of people are at serious risk of water-borne diseases, with children particularly vulnerable. Cholera cases peaked in a number of provinces during the hottest months of August and September.

"Iraqis urgently need access to clean water. They try to get it from rivers and wells but these sources are contaminated throughout the country so many people become ill, " says Patrick Yussef, Head of the ICRC sub delegation in Baghdad.

Most of Iraq's water comes from its two main rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates, which are heavily polluted by household waste and litter, further contaminating the water supply. In the poorer areas of Baghdad, the streets are flooded with sewage, which seeps into the walls and under the floors of people's houses causing them to collapse.

At 500 dinars (half a US dollar) a bottle, many Iraqis cannot afford to buy bottled water and have to drink untreated water from the polluted rivers, at considerable risk to their health.

Under-resourced hospitals with depleted medical supplies are struggling to cope with the numbers of sick. At Al Sadr General Hospital in Amara, doctors sometimes have to supplement the medical supplies from the Ministry of Health with those they buy themselves at the market.

To help hospitals maintain basic health care services, the ICRC provides medicines and surgical dressings. It also supplies plastic bags of drinking water to families in cholera-prone areas. At Abu Ghraib General Hospital the ICRC has installed new water storage tanks, repaired toilets and improved the sewage system.

But the hospitals will continue to have a high case load of people suffering from water-borne diseases as long as people drink from the contaminated rivers.

ICRC water and sanitation experts are working with the Iraqi authorities to repair and maintain pumping stations across Iraq, including Al Wethba and Al Sanak near Baghdad, and along the East Tigris, securing the water supply for millions of people.

The Al Wethba pumping station has been newly renovated by the ICRC, almost doubling the amount of water supplied by the station. It now provides 12700 cubic metres of water a day to some 850,000 people in Baghdad including the city's main hospital.
Key Facts & Figures:

In 2007 more than more than 3 million people (more than 50% of those women and 30% children) were direct beneficiaries of ICRC water, habitat and sanitation activities which included the repair, rehabilitation and sometimes the upgrading of water storage systems and distribution networks

144 projects completed countrywide to either refurbish or respond to emergencies, to restore health infrastructure, water treatment plants/compact units and sewage lifting stations throughout Iraq, including areas most affected by the conflict such as 41 in Baghdad, 18 in Diyala, 14 in Anbar and 17 in Ninawa
more than 32,000 people, including IDPs, had their water supply ensured through emergency ICRC water and sanitation projects
25 primary health care centres in Anbar, Babel, Baghdad, Diwaniya, Karbala, Salah Al Deen and Wasit provinces serving an average of more than 3,820 patients per day had their sanitation facilities and vital electro-mechanical components repaired or upgraded
13 hospitals, with a combined capacity to treat around 2,862 inpatients, had their water and/or sanitation systems restored
More than 1.5 million litre plastic bags of drinking water produced and delivered to Iraqis in need.

In 2008, it is estimated that over 4 million Iraqis have benefited from the ICRC's emergency repairs, and renovation to the water and sanitation system as well as the rebuilding of clinics and hospitals.


Shotlist:
Date and Location: 6 to 15 October 2008. Baghdad governorate and Amara in southern Iraq
Sound: Natural with English and Arabic
Duration 10'
Camera: Omar Saad
Producer: Hicham Hassan, Jan Powell
Source: ICRC – Access all
Ref: V F CR-F-01010-A, please credit ICRC

00:00 Streets in Baghdad flooded with sewage water.

Men walking in flooded streets.

00:24 Soundbite: Passer by (Arabic)

"You see the sewage system is destroyed. This is not only a problem for the children but also for adults as they contract skin diseases, rashes and cholera. They get all of these diseases because the sewage water is mixed up with the drinking water".

00:32 Soundbite: Passer by (Arabic)

"Sometimes people turn on their taps and dirty water comes out. Even the ice we buy in summer is contaminated. When you look in the fridge you can see that the ice is contaminated so this has meant many people have got sick".

01:09 Children in the street.

Ruined and collapsed house

01:45 Soundbite: Old woman (Arabic) in the ruins of the house.

"There is a big gaping hole behind our house that is full of waste water. The water is seeping into the walls and floors and the foundations are crumbling. The walls are falling down one by one and on top of that we have to walk through all this waste water every day.

02:08 Old woman washing up.

Little boy sucking water out of a pipe.
Woman drinking water from a water cooler.
Exterior and sign of Al Sadr hospital, Amara. Southern Iraq
Patients outside and inside hospital

03:04 Soundbite: Dr Ali (Arabic)

"As well as the medical supplies we receive from the Ministry of Health, we also urgently need anaesthetics, medicines, bandages, and sterile surgical dressings. Sometimes we have to buy them in the market, but most of what we need we get from the ICRC sub delegation in Basra".

03:43 Sick children

Road from Basra to Baghdad.
Maternity Patients at Abu Ghraib General Hospital

04:16 Soundbite: Dr Ibrahim (Arabic)

"The hospital used to suffer from regular water shortages and we had to transfer some of our patients to Baghdad city. But now the ICRC has installed water tanks and so we are much better off. When cholera broke out the ICRC supplied us with 25,000 plastic bags of drinking water that we distributed to families in the area and the number of cholera cases dropped".

04:52 Dr Ibrahim with two sick children

05:02 Soundbite: woman with daughter in hospital (Arabic)

"My daughter is here because she drank dirty water. We have no clean water at home. We have no running water and the only water we get is from the river".

05:19 Trash and garbage along the river Tigris

Fishermen and children swimming

06:45 Soundbite: Fisherman (Arabic)

"All the pollution comes from the waste water dumped here, as well as from trash, plastic bags, other household waste. People throw everything into the river, even petrol."

07:06 Children by the river

07:14 Soundbite: Patrick Yussef Head of ICRC Baghdad sub-delegation

"it is clear that Iraqis urgently need access to clean water. They try to get it from rivers and wells but these sources are contaminated throughout the country so many people become ill".

07:49 ICRC vehicle in front of Baghad delegation office

08:10 Soundbite: Patrick Yussef Head of ICRC Baghdad sub-delegation

"Regarding certain governorates, there has been improvement in security. People could now, in certain areas, move from freely, stay out late more than was the case before. However, in other governorates, the security situation forces people to go back to their homes earlier. We can not say that the situation has improved everywhere. But our presence today in Iraq shows that the ICRC wants to share the concerns of the Iraqis and to support them as well as to support the institutions, ministries and departments".

09:14 Al Wethba pumping stations, Baghdad. ICRC technicians working at Al Wethba pumping station. Women and children in the street.


10:00 END

For further information, please contact:
Dorothea Krimitsas, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 25 90 or +41 79 251 93 18
Hicham Hassan, ICRC Iraq, tel: +962 777 399 614
Jan Powell, TV Producer, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 25 11 or +41 79 251 93 14

World's cheapest car an 'environmental disaster' for India

Something akin to a motoring revolution has been unveiled in India - a compact car that will sell for a little over $2,500 when it hits the market later this year.

The makers of the Nano believe it will revolutionise how India's 1.1 billion people get around, but critics say it will be an environmental disaster in a country already plagued by chronic air and noise pollution.

The theme from Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey played as the Nano was unveiled at the annual Delhi car show by Ratan Tata, the head of India's industrial giant Tata Industries.

"We are very pleased to present these cars to you today," he said.

"They are not concept cars, they are not prototypes. They are the production cars that will roll out of the single plant later this year."

At three metres long, 1.6 metres high and 1.5 metres wide, the Nano lives up to its compact name.

It is a four-door, rear-wheel drive with a two-cylinder gasoline engine that claims to offer 20 kilometres per litre.

But the biggest attraction is not performance, it is price - 100,000 rupees - a little over $2,500 before on-road costs.

The target market is the many million of Indians who currently use a motorbike for family transport.

Environmental concerns

Still, many months before the car becomes available, potential buyers on the streets of New Delhi seem easily sold on the idea.

"Those people who are riding motorcycles these days can drive a car and they will find it easier to drive a car in the streets," one Indian man said.

"Everyone can afford this car."

The prospect of the Nano's popularity scares environmental campaigners in India, Centre for Science and Environment spokeswoman Anumita Roychowdhury said.

"There is just no room left for more cars in Delhi. If you really look at the city, the roads are already congested," she said.

"Data shows that we have even gone beyond the designed capacity of the roads.

"The traffic speed has come down drastically from 35 to 40kph to 12 to five kph [at] the peak traffic volume.

"Now that clearly brings out the fact that it is a crisis that we need to deal with, because [of] both the congestion and pollution impact.

"This cheap motorisation that is now going to explode in Indian cities, we are not prepared for it at all."

The Nano is the brainchild of Mr Tata, the 70-year-old head of the family company. And the old man bristles at criticism the car may not be eco-friendly.

"We may as well come to grips with the fact that all the things that you ask for may not be in a one-lakh (100,000 rupees) car and all the things that might be there in an eco car, may not be possible for one lakh," he said.

"Take it as it is. It's a car that's affordable, provides transport, meets all safety laws, meets all emission laws present and future.

"[It] will be a reliable form of transport which will provide Indian families an all-weather means of safe transport."

But it is not just the Nano for India. In two or three years' time, Mr Tata wants to roll out export version of the Nano to developing countries around the world.

Wisconsin considers expanding herbicide ban

MADISON, Wis. - Some southern Wisconsin farmers may have to find news ways to control weeds in their corn fields as the state seeks to extend a ban on a common herbicide.

The Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection has proposed adding about 1,830 acres in Columbia County to the area where atrazine is banned.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says high levels of the chemical can produce health problems including heart, lung and kidney congestion and long-term exposure can lead to cancer.

DATCP says tests on drinking water wells indicated continued use of atrazine would add to groundwater contamination.

Farmers and others can comment on the proposal at a public hearing Oct. 23 in Poynette or by mail until Nov. 7.

Source: AP

NIH Names First Grants for Human Microbiome Project

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The National Institutes of Health today named the first awards, totaling up to $21.2 million, for its Human Microbiome Project, which aims to create a foundation for understanding the microbes that interact with humans and affect health.

This phase of the HMP, a five-year effort launched last year under the NIH’s Roadmap for Medical Research, will support the development of technologies, computational tools, coordination and data analysis, and examination of the ethical, legal, and social implications of human microbiome studies.

NIH Director Elias Zerhouni said in a statement that the initial phase of the program “marks the beginning of efforts by researchers to put in place the framework for understanding how microorganisms interact with our bodies and affect health and disease. Developing new and more cost-effective technologies will be essential to applying knowledge about the human microbiome to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of a wide array of conditions.”

Researchers in the HMP first plan to sequence 600 microbial genomes, which will complete a collection totaling 1,000 genomes. This information will be used to characterize human microbial communities from five areas of the human body: the digestive tract, the mouth, the skin, the nose, and the vagina.

“The development of new tools and technologies is central to our ability to meet the goals of the Human Microbiome Project,” said Alan Krensky, who is director of the Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives at NIH. “An exceptional amount of information will be generated by this project and we need robust technologies and analytical tools that are equal to the task.”

Much of the work funded in the HMP’s first round will focus on improving and refining the identification of microbes that constitute the microbiome, and computational tools will be developed to optimize assembly of sequence data to infer the location and function of genes and to classify microbial species.

Grantees supported under this round of funding include Eugene Chang of the University of Chicago Medical Center, who will receive $410,000 over two years; Andre Marziali of Boreal Genomics, who will get $770,000 over two years; David Relman of Stanford University, who receives $1.6 million over three years; Thomas Schmidt of Michigan State University and Vincent Young of the University of Michigan, who receive $1.3 million over three years; Kun Zhang and Yu-Hwa Lo of the University of California, San Diego will get $1.8 million over three years; Daniel Haft of the J. Craig Venter Institute will receive $1.6 million over three years; Robin Knight of the University of Colorado at Boulder was granted $1.1 million over three years; Mihai Pop of the University of Maryland will receive $780,000 over three years; and Yuzhen Ye of Indiana University will receive $770,000 over three years.

NIH also granted $9.9 million over five years to establish the Human Microbiome Project Data Analysis and Coordination Center, which will be run by Owen White of the University of Maryland’s School of Medicine, Baltimore.

HMP data will be deposited in the Data Analysis and Coordination Center and in other public databases, including those supported by the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

The HMP also has awarded $1.2 million over three years to Richard Sharp and Ruth Farrell of the Cleveland Clinic, who will examine the ethical, social, and legal implications of human microbiome research.

Manitoba backs nine-state lawsuit against U.S. agency

WINNIPEG - Manitoba is backing nine states in suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over an administrative ruling they claim could hurt fisheries and contaminate drinking water.

A spokesperson for the province said Thursday that Manitoba is involved in the case because of its ongoing dispute with North Dakota over the Devils Lake water outlet.

The states contend Washington has created a loophole that could allow the transfer of polluted or contaminated water by ship from one water body to another where it could do harm. At stake is state control over water issues that affect them.

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo claims salt water from the ocean could be dumped in the Great Lakes under the June federal decision.

Cuomo also said the EPA's administrative ruling is illegal.

Besides Manitoba and New York, those suing the Bush administration over the issue are Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri and Washington.

There was no immediate comment from the EPA.

Manitoba has argued North Dakota is violating the provisions of its permit to operate the Devils Lake outlet, which drains into the nearby Sheyenne River, which joins the Red River near Fargo and flows north into Manitoba's Lake Winnipeg.

That permit, says Manitoba, prohibits the state from running the outlet before May 1 of each year. This year it began operating April 21 in a limited capacity.

Manitoba argues the 22-kilometre-long outlet, which was built in 2005 to stop rising waters and chronic flooding on Devils Lake, poses a threat to the province's water.

Source: Winnipeg Free Press

Where did the water go?

United Republic of Tanzania

"We did have a good rice crop this year. It had nothing to do with the rains; there was plenty of it but the floods came when the crop was producing flowers so all of them were washed away by the water.

This is happening more often now than I can recall," explained a farmer in Kilomero district.

The area is famous for rice production and fishing but over the years production has been dwindling and fish stocks have been depleted as a result of climatic changes which locals cannot comprehend.

Yet what is happening in the district is actually happening elsewhere in the country and indeed throughout the world.

The natural environment is changing fast and with it, a number of questions which a decade or so ago were rarely asked have now become familiar.

Why has the rainy season not started? Why is it so hot this summer? Why is the drought so long and severe?

These are some of the frequently asked questions the answers to which are also varied. There are people who say that these ``events`` are part of a cycle so they will go the way they came. There is no need to worry about them.

Another group comprising religious leaders and their staunch followers attribute these changes to God, arguing that man has become wayward and offended Him and these changes are part of the punishment.

So man should repent and live according to God�s ways in order for things to go back to normal.

But a more serious group, I think, is the one which attributes these changes to man`s mishandling of the universe, a situation which has disrupted the natural cycle phenomenon, sending things in disarray.

In his quest for development man has consumed a lot of fossil fuels which has in turn led to unusual emission of greenhouse gases.

As commerce and business grows, countries have erected a lot of factories and industries which have also increased greenhouse gas emissions and as these gasses have increased in the atmosphere, the earth has become warmer, disrupting the climate cycle. That is climate change as we now know it today.

Yet scientists are sometimes a lousy lot; they would keep arguing about an obvious case. Take the issue of the melting snowcap on Mt Kilimanjaro, for example.

Some scientists had earlier said that the snowcap will never disappear, rebuffing research findings of their comrades.

But now we know for sure that it is going and soon it will be gone.

At the current rate, some scientists predict that there won�t be a speck of snow on the mountain come 2020, but again another group has come up to contest this finding.

``There is no way the snowcap can vanish from the mountain,`` they say. However while the scientists keep arguing, all of us can see that the snowcap is shrinking.

May be these people should now be discussing how to stop the process and may be reverse it so that the ice builds up again and the mountain regains its beauty.

There is no point of further argument whether the snow cap will disappear or not or what is causing the changes when the effects are clear. ``Absence of evidence is not absence of effect,`` says Prof.Paul V. Desanker of Penn State University, in one of the papers he presented at a training workshop for journalists on reporting climate change.

There may be no evidence of climate change or man�s hand in it but the effects are there for all of us to see and feel. Should we continue to argue instead of taking action?

``The climate debate has become a series of disconnected discussions. It is odd how intelligent people can continue to argue like this in the face of such stark evidence,`` says UNEP Executive Director, Achim Steiner.

He adds that climate and environmental changes have become critical global issues that call for everyone to be involved in taking action, more so because droughts and floods, rising sea levels, melting ice, degrading ecosystems, loss of biodiversity and other impacts of climate change pose the potential for problems on a global scale.

But of course what we are experiencing now is just part of a bigger story; the dramatic fall out may happen in future.

Right now the impact of climate change is being felt on agricultural production, on health and on water availability, among other things.

In January 2001, for example, a group of journalists from Eastern Africa visited the source of the Nile in Jinja, Uganda.

They noticed some concrete structures which were remnants of a landing stage for boats.

These structures were completely submerged in water and they could only be seen because the water was very clear, unpolluted and in its natural colour.

More than seven years later, in August this year, some of the journalists who took part in the 2001 tour visited the place again only to find that the structures were more than a meter above the water level. ``God! What the hell is this? Where did the water go?`` exclaimed one of them.

Of course the situation had little to do with Uganda taking more than its fair share of water from Lake Victoria and neither has it anything to do with the allegedly secret dealings between Uganda and Egypt regarding the use of water from the Lake but this is the scaring evidence that climate change is here and its effects are devastating.

``This is the reality of climate change. By seeing situations like this, you feel the effects of climate change better than if you read them from publications or hear from workshops,`` explained Gaster Kiyingi from Global Water Partnership, Eastern Africa Region, who had accompanied the journalists.

He said that the media should see the effects of climate change on the ground so as to send a better and realistic message to the public.

On his part, Gerard Tenywa , a member of African Network of Environmental Journalists (ANEJ) from Uganda who was also in the team said that the situation had actually improved. �Early this year the structures were not less than two and half meters above the water level.

I think the amount of water has slightly increased,`` he explained. ``But the truth is that with climate change the water supply is diminishing in many parts of Eastern Africa,� he added.

The situation on the Nile is more or less similar to the one that Iringa Region experienced a couple of years ago. The region is still facing the same situation.

By April, which is the peak of the rainy season, the rains are gone and the dry season had already started.

A group of journalists who had traveled between Iringa and Mtera, counted 15 big and small rivers that had dried up, all of which used to pour their water into the Great Ruaha River which flows into the Mtera Dam. Where did the water go?

What we see here is the impact of climate change on water and the subsequent multiplier effect which has a telling effect on the energy sector, food security and poverty alleviation.

Food production has been reduced due to increased temperatures, droughts and floods in Tanzania and indeed in many parts of the East Africa region.

The once famous food baskets- Rukwa, Iringa, Mbeya and Ruvuma regions can no longer claim that title.

Scientists have also said that species of plants and animals are becoming extinct at a rate of 1,000 to 10,000 times greater that the natural rate.

This is an alarming situation which calls for conceited efforts to deal with climate change since combating climate change contributes to sustainable development and both developed and developing economies stand to benefit by working together to take mitigation and adaptation measures.

But as leaders continue to debate what action to take to combat climate change and as scientists still argue about what is right and what is not right about climate change, perhaps the most frightening idea is the time that has been left for us to correct things.

If we cannot act now then we are doomed!

These apart, new generations are coming in, new developments are being made to the extent that what is now being promoted as the most environmentally friendly behaviour will still take an incredibly long time to establish as common practice, more so because millions of children are becoming adults without much understanding of the state we are in, the danger we are facing and what should be done.

A generation ago, for example, the idea that man`s progress was endangering our planet was widely ridiculed; today, however it is generally agreed that the factories, motor vehicles, aero planes, deforestation for whatever purpose and the use of fossil fuels has brought us the climate change catastrophe.

But climate change is not about food and water and agriculture or droughts, floods and diseases.

Since the repercussions have become life �threatening for many people particularly in developing countries and the islands, climate change has become more and more a security problem.

``For instance I am greatly worried by the danger of global migratory flows owing to water shortages. UNEP estimates that in 20 years` time 1.8 billion people could be at risk of absolute water shortages,`` says German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a recent interview with Our Planet magazine.

She adds that the world can only meet the climate challenge if nations are prepared to work together through international cooperation.

Indeed climate change is the defining issue of the moment and the media should articulate the on going debate as their contribution to keep our planet more habitable.

People have to know the truth about climate change.

SOURCE: Guardian

Ozone Controls Failing To Protect Human Health And The Environment, Warns The Royal Society

Existing controls are failing to reduce the air pollutant ground level ozone to a level that protects human health and the environment, and climate change will make the challenge harder, warns a major new report from the Royal Society(1) - the UK national academy of science - today (6 October 2008).

The report Ground-level ozone in the 21st century(2) highlights that in the UK and other parts of the Northern Hemisphere, background concentrations of ozone have increased by six per cent (two parts per billion in the atmosphere) per decade, since the 1980s(3).

Policies in the EU, Japan and America have successfully reduced the occurrence of very high peaks of ozone in these regions, which occur for short periods under hot, sunny, stagnant weather conditions. During these episodes ozone concentrations can be particularly dangerous, exceeding 100 parts per billion (ppb).

However, ozone is now believed to have an effect on health, food crops and the environment at the background levels currently experienced by people in the UK, and most industrialized countries of the world, on a daily basis (35 - 40ppb).

Professor David Fowler, Chair of the Royal Society's ground level ozone working group (4), said: "Ozone is a global traveller and one of the most pervasive of air pollutants. Weather systems and jet streams transport ozone, and the pollutants that lead to its formation, often far from their point of origin. Here in the UK, for example, we receive most of our ozone from outside of Europe.

"Until we have a globally coordinated approach that addresses the international nature of the problem, national and even regional level controls are unlikely to deliver the kind of reductions that are necessary to protect human health and the environment."

Ozone is formed when sunlight reacts with pollutants and naturally occurring chemicals(5) in the air. These chemicals come from sources such as vehicle exhaust fumes and forest fires. International shipping is a growing source of these pollutants and the sector currently has poor emission controls.

Children, the elderly and asthmatics are particularly vulnerable to ozone which affects the lungs, nose and eyes. In 2003 an estimated 1582 UK deaths were attributed to ozone. Taking future emissions of pollutants and climate change into account, this is projected to rise by 51 per cent to 2391 in 2020(6). However, these figures are based on an assumption that ozone has an impact on health only above 35 ppb and so are considered to be conservative because ozone is now known to have an effect below this level(4).

Ozone can reduce the yield and affect the nutritional quality of major crop species including wheat, rice and soybean. With current concentrations of ozone, significant impacts to crops in Europe and North America have been observed. In the EU in 2000 an estimated €6.7 billion was lost due to impacts on arable crops.

Crop losses due to ground level ozone are likely to increase over the next two to three decades. In some rapidly developing regions such as South Asia the impact of ozone on the production of staple crops such as wheat and rice may present a significant threat to regional food security. Modelling studies have estimated that crop yield losses for India in 2000 were about 13 per cent for wheat, 6 per cent for rice and 19 per cent for soya bean. Experimental data suggest these figures are significant underestimates.

The report highlights that climate change will make it harder to reduce levels of ground level ozone. This is because the changes in climate increase ozone production in the polluted regions of the world.

Furthermore, increased levels of ozone will exacerbate climate change because it is the third most important greenhouse gas contributing to global warming after carbon dioxide and methane. Ozone also reduces the ability of plants to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which may lead to further increases in the levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Professor Fowler said: "Ozone has become a global pollutant, with direct effects on human health, crop production, ecosystems and climate, yet control strategies are country or region based. A coordinated global strategy bringing ozone into international frameworks for controlling air pollutants and greenhouse gases is required. The reduction of methane emissions would for example contribute both to the reduction of climate change and ozone pollution, and all of the associated ecological and human health effects."

When ozone occurs high within the atmosphere, in the stratosphere, it acts as a protective sunscreen that shields the earth from high levels of ultraviolet radiation from the sun. However, in the lower atmosphere - the troposphere - and at ground level ozone it is a major pollutant.

The Royal Society is an independent academy promoting the natural and applied sciences. Founded in 1660, the Society has three roles, as the UK academy of science, as a learned Society, and as a funding agency. It responds to individual demand with selection by merit, not by field. As we prepare for our 350th anniversary in 2010, we are working to achieve five strategic priorities, to:

- Invest in future scientific leaders and in innovation
- Influence policymaking with the best scientific advice
- Invigorate science and mathematics education
- Increase access to the best science internationally
- Inspire an interest in the joy, wonder and excitement of scientific discovery

Concentrations of ozone in the atmosphere have been increasing due to increases in polluting human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels since the industrial revolution

The members of the working group involved in producing the report are: Professor David Fowler, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology; Dr Markus Amann International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria; Professor Ross Anderson, St George's Hospital University of London; Professor Mike Ashmore, University of York; Professor Peter Cox, University of Exeter; Professor Michael Depledge, Peninsula Medical School (Universities of Exeter and Plymouth); Professor Dick Derwent, rdscientific; Professor Peringe Grennfelt, Swedish Environmental Research Institute; Professor Nick Hewitt, Lancaster University; Professor Oystein Hov, Norwegian Meteorological Institute; Dr Mike Jenkin, Imperial College; Professor Frank Kelly, Kings College London; Professor Peter Liss, University of East Anglia; Professor Mike Pilling, University of Leeds; Professor John Pyle, University of Cambridge; Professor Julia Slingo, University of Reading; Dr David Stevenson, University of Edinburgh

Ground level ozone is formed in the atmosphere by the reaction of nitrogen oxides with volatile organic compounds in the presence of sunlight.

Taken from Department of Health report on the Health Impact of Climate Change and Air Pollution in the UK which modelled future ground level ozone concentrations using emissions and weather data. The figures provided are based on an assumption of impact only above 35 ppb and so are considered to be conservative. If no threshold is assumed, the increase in estimated annual ozone concentrations between 2003 and 2020 results in a 15 per cent increase in deaths (from 11 272 to12 930)

The Royal Society
6-9 Carlton House Terrace
London SW1Y 5AG
Registered Charity No 207043


Source: Medical News Today

Starbucks 'wastes 23 million litres of water each day'

The American coffee shop chain Starbucks has been accused of wasting more than 23 million litres of water each day because staff are told to leave taps running non-stop.

The bizarre policy, which is aimed at preventing germs developing in the taps in its 10,000 stores worldwide, has outraged environmental groups.

Every Starbucks branch has a cold tap behind the counter providing water for a sink called a "dipper well" used for washing spoons and utensils and the staff are banned from turning the water off under "health and safety rules", an investigation claims.

In a letter to a customer who complained about the waste, a Starbucks executive revealed that a constant flow stops breeding in the taps.

It means that 23.4 million litres of water - enough to fill an Olympic swimming pool every 83 minutes or sustain the population of drought-hit Namibia - is wasted every day.

In the UK alone, where there are 698 branches open for 13 hours a day, it counts for around 1.63 million litres of water wasted.

It raises questions about the Seattle-based company's much-hyped environmental credentials and will embarrass its legion of celebrity patrons.

Water firms say the policy harms the environment, while hygiene experts dismissed the health and safety-motivated policy as "nonsense" and "bonkers".

A spokesman for UK Water, which represents water companies, said it was "wasteful and unnecessary".

"There is absolutely no need to keep taps running," he said.

Peter Robinson, of Waste Watch, the environmental charity, said: "Leaving taps running all day is a shocking waste of precious water. And to claim you are doing it for health and safety reasons is bonkers.

"Tap water comes from rivers and groundwater and wasting it can cause great harm to the environment and wildlife. Big companies should set an example."

Jacob Tompkins, of Water Wise, said that provided the firm was undertaking all the usual cleaning processes, such a step was unnecessary.

"The chance of a build-up in the spout is extremely remote," he said. "And if there is one, they're not cleaning the tap properly."

A spokesman for Starbucks said the company’s water usage adhered to the World Health Organization, United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the European Union directives.

She said: “The dipper well system currently in use ensures that we meet or exceed our own and local health standards.

“Dipper wells use a stream of continuous cold fresh-running water to rinse away food residue, help keep utensils clean and prevent bacterial growth.”

However, she added: “We recognise the opportunity exists to reduce our total water usage. Starbucks’ challenge is to balance water conservation with the need for customer safety.”

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

C.difficile rates in hospitals

In Ontario, numbers for August show there were 319 cases of C.difficile, a deadly form of infectious diarrhea, found among the 228 hospital sites in Ontario. The provincial C.diff rate was 0.39 per 1,000 patient days.

Information from patientsafetyontario.net.

Listeria reporting rule dropped before crisis

October 06, 2008

Four months before the Maple Leaf outbreak started claiming lives, Canada's food safety agency quietly dropped its rule requiring meat-processing companies to alert the agency about listeria-tainted meat, a Toronto Star/CBC investigation has found.

Twenty people died as a result of the outbreak this past summer, and federal meat inspectors and their union say this rule change likely made the country's listeria outbreak far worse than it had to be.

Before April 1, if a company preparing meat for sale to the public had a positive test showing listeria it "would have had to have been, not only brought to the (federal) inspector's attention, but the inspector would have been involved in overseeing the cleanup," says Bob Kingston, head of the union that represents Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) inspectors.

Kingston and four veteran inspectors interviewed for this story fear the change, part of the deregulation of Canada's food safety net, continues to pose a public health threat.

The inspection agency confirmed to the Star/CBC that there is currently no onus on companies to alert inspectors about positive bacterial results. The change came as part of a federal decision to allow companies to write their own food safety plans, with federal approval.

"If I walk in as an inspector, the plant doesn't come up to me and say we had positive tests today," said Tom Graham, the safety agency's national inspection manager. But he says the rule likely will be reinstated as a result of the federal investigation into the outbreak.

"That will happen. It's definitely ... on the table. There are a number of recommendations that will come from this," Graham said.

Neither Maple Leaf nor the safety agency will release to the public the specifics of the listeria outbreak at the plant, located on Bartor Rd. near Sheppard Ave. W. and Highway 400, so it is not possible to determine how the reporting rule would have affected the case.

The first of the 20 deaths attributable to the listeriosis outbreak happened in July, officials have said.

One Toronto inspector said there had been a "trend" in positive listeria tests leading up to the outbreak that was never reported by the plant to federal inspectors. The inspector, and three others across the country, spoke on condition of anonymity because they fear disciplinary action if they spoke publicly. "There's something wrong, that an inspector isn't aware of a trend in their own plant," the inspector said.

Inspectors and their union say the rule changes, part of the new Compliance Verification System at the safety agency, have reduced their role to paper auditors, checking the results of company tests when they visit the plant. Under current rules, the inspectors only review bacterial test results twice a month.

Maple Leaf spokesperson Linda Smith said her company makes all of its paperwork and testing available to inspectors but doesn't alert them to positive test results.

"As per the regulations, there is no requirement to inform the CFIA about any listeria test result," she said. "The protocol Maple Leaf had in place was if they found a positive, they would sanitize the area and then you'd need to find three negatives in a row to leave that area alone. In (the Maple Leaf plant from which the outbreak was traced), there were occasional positives. ... They would sanitize and test three subsequent times and in all of those cases, they did not find another positive in that area."

During the outbreak, Maple Leaf president Michael McCain said the company tests the Toronto plant's surfaces 3,000 times a year.

"Positive results for listeria inside a food plant are common," he told reporters at the time, adding that "there was nothing out of the norm" leading up to the outbreak.

Asked for the listeria test results leading up to the outbreak, Smith said last week the company would not release them publicly.

At the union representing federal inspectors, national president Kingston said he has been pushing to have the reporting rule reinstated for the past month.

If inspectors had known about the positive listeria tests, "the CFIA would have been doing their own testing to validate the success of the cleanup," Kingston said, adding after April 1, no rules required inspectors be told of any cleanup activities or repeated positives.


A Toronto-area inspector said that if Maple Leaf had been required to report the listeria test results, alarms would have gone off at the federal food safety agency.

"Bells and whistles would have been sounding if (Maple Leaf officials) had to report positive test findings to an inspector."

"We're seeing (20) people dead. We might not have had anybody dead (if company officials were still obligated to report positive listeria findings). ... It's terrible. My dad eats this stuff all the time. I eat it," the inspector said.

A veteran inspector in the Vancouver area said the safety agency needs to go back to being more hands-on in plants. "(The new system) isn't working. Let's go back to basics, get the inspector back in the plant, spending more time there."

Dr. Vinita Dubey, Toronto's associate medical officer of health, said the reporting change is "absolutely a concern. This may be a perfect example of how self-regulation may not be appropriate."

In the aftermath of the outbreak, Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz publicly defended the new inspection regime, saying about 50 per cent of an inspector's time is on the floor of plants and "the other 50 per cent is overseeing paperwork, most of it scientific in nature, test results and the like."

Not so, say inspectors, estimating their time on plant floors is down to between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of their day. "We shouldn't be called inspectors anymore," says one inspector in Vancouver. "We should be called auditors. I think the public wants inspectors on the floor, sleeves rolled up."

Another Toronto inspector says she and her colleagues used to be aware of everything happening in a plant. "Things have changed now. We're more the oversight and they run their own show. The problem ... is, it can all look good on paper, but you've got to be out there to see what's going on."

One inspector was startled to find no reference to mandatory reporting in the safety plans of plants he inspects. "There's nowhere in (the new system) that tells them they have to inform you of a high bacterial load."

That lost oversight, he says, had to play a role in the outbreak.

"I think it would have prevented a preventable situation like the listeria (outbreak). It has alarmed me and it's disappointing. It's a travesty for the department and a shakeup the CFIA needs to get grassroots feedback about what works and what doesn't. (This) isn't working."

But the agency's Graham said the system still protects the public.

"Are we missing things? It's unfortunate what's happened here with the outbreak. There's no doubt about that. None of us are happy about that. But is our system a good system? Yes, it is."

Source: thestar.com - Robert Cribb

Sarah Palin’s record on climate change

When comparing the U.S. presidential candidates' green credentials, both contenders support greater action to address climate change through a cap on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. While Republican candidate John McCain's reduction targets are more modest than the promises of Democrat Barack Obama, either candidate should offer a significant shift from the largely stalled policies of the current administration. Among the vice presidential candidates, however, the choices offer significant contrasts in ideology and policy. Democrat Joe Biden supports action that reflects the stance taken by Senator Obama. Meanwhile, Republican nominee Sarah Palin has stated that she does not believe global warming to be human-caused - a stark difference from her running mate Senator McCain.

As the country's second-in-command and president of the Senate, the next U.S. vice president could become a crucial player in attempts to pass a sweeping climate change bill through the Congress and reach a diplomatic solution on a new international climate change agreement. During her two years as Alaska's governor, Palin has moved forward efforts to assess the impact of climate change on her state, yet reports indicate that she has resisted, and at times subverted, scientific evidence that would support increased environmental protection in response to climate change.

Palin's stance on climate change is summarized in an August interview with conservative magazine Newsmax. In response to a question about her 'take on global warming,' Palin said, 'A changing environment will affect Alaska more than any other state, because of our location. I'm not one, though, who would attribute it to being man-made.' Neither Palin's communications director nor the McCain campaign responded to requests for clarity on her views of whether recent climate change is human-caused - a trend that has been affirmed by international scientific consensus.

Despite her reported questioning of the human hand behind climate change, Palin did establish a Climate Change Subcabinet last year to review potential adaptation and mitigation strategies for Alaska. 'Some scientists tell us to expect more changes in the future. We must begin to prepare for those changes now,' Palin said when establishing the subcabinet.

While Alaska has passed no legislation to reduce its emissions, Palin has authorized $13 million to relocate or improve erosion control for six indigenous communities in areas most vulnerable to coastal erosion caused by melting permafrost and rising sea levels. Erosion and flooding affect about 86 percent of 213 Alaska Native villages, according to a 2003 U.S. Government Accountability Office report [PDF].

Michael Black, co-chair of the subcabinet and deputy commissioner for Alaska's commerce department, said Palin's personal views have not influenced the activities of the subcabinet. 'I never heard her address that issue in front of any of these gatherings,' he said. 'Whether [climate change] is related to carbon emissions or a natural phenomenon is less relevant that what its impacts are.'

Larry Hartig serves as Alaska's environmental conservation commissioner and oversees the subcabinet. He previously worked as a lawyer securing environmental permits for industry groups, including his former employer Alyeska Pipeline Service Company. He was unavailable for comment.

Palin's most controversial environmental action as governor has been her opposition to listing the polar bear on the U.S. Endangered Species list. Officially designating the polar bear as 'threatened' would create significant legal hurdles for oil and gas development in Arctic Alaska and could restrict Native subsistence hunting. Alaska's budget is supported largely by revenues from energy development in the state.

Last month, the Palin administration sued the U.S. Department of Interior to overturn its May preliminary ruling to list the species as threatened. In response to nine U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) studies [PDF] predicting that two-thirds of the world's polar bear species - and all of Alaska's - will disappear by mid-century due to ice loss, Palin described the studies as 'highly speculative and questionable' and insisted that U.S. polar bear populations are stable. In a JanuaryNew York Times op-ed, she wrote, 'My decision is based on a comprehensive review by state wildlife officials of scientific information from a broad range of climate, ice and polar bear experts.'

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game's lead biologist for marine mammals, Robert Small, and two other state biologists also reviewed the USGS studies. Their analysis differed significantly from the Palin administration's. 'Overall, we believe that the methods and analytical approaches used to examine the currently available information supports the primary conclusions and inferences stated in these nine reports,' Small wrote in an e-mail.

The e-mail was uncovered by University of Alaska marine conservation professor Rick Steiner through a federal Freedom of Information request. Steiner says the message reveals that Palin opposed the polar bear listing even before she reviewed the science. 'She came into office and a few days later she opposed federal listing of the polar bears. Obviously they want to protect oil and gas revenues in the state budget,' Steiner said. 'I think that bodes pretty poorly about how science will be reviewed if the McCain/Palin ticket were to prevail.'

Since Palin entered the presidential campaign last month, she has contributed to Republican calls for additional drilling in the Arctic Ocean and in the Alaska-based Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). McCain has long opposed drilling in ANWR, and his selection of Palin has led some commentators to suggest he may change his mind.

But on issues from climate change to drilling, campaign energy advisor James Woolsey insists McCain will not budge. 'On a number of issues, such as climate change, John McCain has had well developed views over the years... I see no reason why that would be departed from,' said Woolsey, the former director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

Other climate change-related measures by the Palin administration have included joining the Western Climate Initiative, a regional cap-and-trade program, as an observer, and opposing a multi-state lawsuit against the Bush administrationthat sought to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.

Source: Environmental News Network

Revealing hidden meanings to resolve environmental conflict

September 28, 2008

Implementing environmental policy can be difficult when various stakeholders have opposing views. Ecological researchers have suggested that using content analysis to examine the language used by different groups could help reveal the underlying values of all the interested parties and find common ground to manage such conflicts.

In the field of applied ecology, one of the aims is to recommend how policy makers can put scientific research into practice when managing natural resources. But some environmental issues can be controversial, and disagreements between different stakeholders on how to implement policy decisions can cause delays, extra costs and poor publicity. One way to appreciate all viewpoints in an environmental issue is to analyse the language used in the texts produced by these interested groups. Content analysis is a technique used to classify words into categories, which can then help identify and define the issues and values in an environmental debate.

The researchers applied computer-aided content analysis to documents produced by thirteen stakeholder groups and individuals during the proposed cull of hedgehogs on three islands off the Scottish mainland, between 2002 and 2005. Media coverage of the story was also analysed. Hedgehogs had been introduced onto one island to control garden pests, but had spread to the other two islands, multiplied and become invasive. Survival of native wading birds was threatened, as the hedgehogs ate their eggs. The decision to cull the hedgehogs, instead of relocating them back to the mainland, split stakeholder groups into two factions: pro-hedgehog and pro-bird.

Analysis of all the stakeholder documents and 466 media reports showed that the style and vocabulary of the prohedgehog group was emotive, informal and concentrated on animal welfare and the killing of the hedgehogs. Pro-bird texts, by comparison, focused on conserving the birds and wildlife on the islands to protect the ecosystem and used more scientific language. The researchers found that media reports mirrored the pro-hedgehog stance and placed greater emphasis on killing the hedgehogs, the economics of the cull and on animal welfare. This coverage was considered to be unhelpful and contributed to prolonging the conflict.

In addition, the research showed that when the economics of the situation was discussed, the pro-hedgehog groups stressed the cost of the cull, while the pro-bird groups focused on the economic importance of maintaining biodiversity by saving the shore birds or just plainly stated the costs.

Content analysis can, however, only be used once text, such as media coverage, has been produced. It is therefore useful when a debate is ongoing, rather than as a tool to anticipate potential conflicts. The method is a useful approach to monitor progress during mediation to track whether opposing groups are moving together.

The researchers suggest this case highlights some common issues in managing the environment, where greater value is placed on saving individual animals rather than preserving populations or species. It also demonstrates the role that experts, governments and the media play in shaping environmental conflicts.

Source: European Commission, Environment DG

Study claims sea level rises will be less than predicted

September 08 - USA - Research from the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Montana and the Scripps Institute suggests global sea levels may be lower by 2100 than is being predicted by some scientists because, the major research institutes note, their projections are not physically possible under the most likely conditions. The work, released in the journal Science, says that that a rise of much more than 2m is not realistic. A total sea-level rise of as little as 0.8m by 2100 is the most plausible scenario, the research notes. Rather than trying to add up individual sources of ice and water discharge from glaciers, their experiment calculated how much ice and water from Greenland and Antarctica it would take to raise the oceans by 2m, and how fast glaciers would need to move to achieve this. The findings showed that a 2m rise would require significantly faster ice speeds than have ever been reported.

Call for posters for membrane bioreactor workshop

September 08 - Germany - The two European research projects Amedeus and Eurombra will present their salient outcomes in a workshop on 31 March and 1 April 2009 in Berlin, Germany. The two-day event, supported by the International Water Association, will be hosted by the international trade fair and exhibition on water and wastewater treatment Wasser Berlin 2009. A call for posters is open for any company or institution involved in the field of membrane bioreactor technology. A prize of €1000 ($1418) will be awarded by an international jury to the best student poster. The deadline for two-page abstract submission is 30 September 2008 and more information on workshop and submission procedure is available at www.kompetenz-wasser.de. Full workshop programme and workshop pre-registration will be available early November on the workshop website.

Green report focuses on Adelaide supply alternatives

September 08 - Australia - A new report from environmental consultants on behalf of Australia’s Greens party claims that the city of Adelaide could have an adequate water supply if it invested in stormwater harvesting and demand management without relying on the river Murray or a desalination plant. The study calls for the state government to change its priorities accordingly, and claims that the alternatives proposed could provide a larger quantity of water, faster and more cheaply than the proposed desal plant and reservoir extension. Aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) would be a key element of the city’s supply under the proposals. The report claims 64gigalitres of water per year could be saved with improved water management, with stormwater harvesting adding a further 60 gigalitres. Existing catchments could provide 82 gigalitres, and recycling and greater use of domestic rainwater tanks a further 21 gigalitres – 227 gigalitres a year, more than the city’s 216 gigalitre use.

Researchers warn of Pyrenees glacier melt

September 08 Spain- Spanish researchers have warned that climate change will melt the remaining 21 glaciers in the Pyrenees mountains before 2050. The University of Cantabria led the study, which notes that high mountain areas are particularly sensitive to changes in the climate and environment.

CSIRO finds climate change link to south Australian storms

September 08 - Australia - New research from CSIRO has found a link between climate change and more extreme weather patterns in southern Australia. The federal government-funded report found that an increase in storms off the southern coastline is linked to tropical monsoon weather patterns in the north. It predicts an increase in waves of 3m or higher reaching the coastline. Climate change minister Penny Wong said the research would help planners to improve the country’s coastal developments.

UK donates to new climate change fund

September 08 - Bangladesh - The launch of a new Bangladesh fund has seen a promise from the UK to provide at least £50 million ($88.2 million) to help the country to adapt to climate change. Other European countries such as Denmark and The Netherlands, as well as the World Bank, are also expected to contribute. Bangladesh has pledged £25 million ($44.1 million) to the fund every year, with a target of attracting nearly £100 million ($176.5 million) within three years.

AfDB pledges drinking water and sanitation funds

September 08 - Madagascar - Within the framework of the AfDB’s rural water supply and sanitation initiative the bank has provided UA 51 million ($74.97 million) to help Madagascar to attain its short-term objective of sustainably providing safe drinking water and sanitation services to rural communities in eight regions. The initiative seeks to provide 1250 boreholes, 1000 of which will use standard pumps and 250 solar energy pumps. Work on the boreholes started on 31 July, 2008, in Sambava, the main city for the Sava region in the north of the country.

ADB and Japan help with disaster preparation funding

September 08 - TAJIKISTAN: -Japan and the ADB are helping communities in south west Tajikistan to be prepared for floods and other disasters. The Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction, through ADB, will provide a $3 million grant to enable 130 flood-prone villages in Khatlon province to anticipate and cope with floods and other disasters. The villages are situated in the five districts of Farkhor, Hamadoni, Vose, Pyandzh, and Shuroabad.

SERAS urges water companies to spell out supply plans

September 08 - The UK’s South East England Regional Assembly’s Planning Committee has responded to water company consultations on their long-term plans by saying that government must ensure water company plans set out how they will supply water to meet the growth targets in the area’s 20-year plan. The body also observed that Ofwat should only fund new resource projects if companies agree to share supplies where necessary to guarantee supplies across the region. More ambitious targets for metering should be set, it added.

EPA issues 'How To' Guides

September 08 - USA:- The US EPA has issued a ‘how to’ guide for homeowners with wells, noting that they need to take special precautions and actions in the aftermath of hurricanes to ensure a safe return to water well operation. It warns that after flooding and because of the speed and direction of groundwater flows, wells may not be safe sources of water for many months afterwards. Long-range precautions will be needed, including repeated testing. Problems could include wastewater from malfunctioning septic tanks, large debris loosening well hardware, coarse sediment eroding pump components, and contamination by floodwaters if the well is not tightly capped. A similar ‘how to’ guide has been issued for septic tank owners.

USA & Mexico pledge further environmental initiatives

Sept. 08 - USA- Borders meeting pledges further water and sanitation aid
In a ceremony to conclude this year’s Border 2012 National Coordinators meeting in Mexico, the US and Mexico pledged to continue going forward with various environmental initiatives including provision of additional water and sanitation. Successes highlighted at the meeting included bringing potable water and sanitation to over four million people, and providing 8100 homes with safe drinking water or basic sanitation through the US Tribal Border infrastructure programme.

Report highlights Guangdong coastal pollution

september 08-China - A Chinese government report has found that around 20% of the coastal waters near the country’s southern Guangdong province are polluted by industrial and domestic wastewaters. The ocean environment quality report found that 9300km2 of the shore was polluted to some degree – 18.6% of the total inshore area of the province. The heavily-developed Pearl River delta was found to be the worst affected. The report also noted that there had been progress in treating pollution.