Water

U.S: Tracking the virus in wastewater is helping respond to the most recent wave of the coronavirus, but a more coordinated national effort is needed, experts sa

Thu, 2022-01-20 20:07 — mike kraft

As the highly contagious Omicron variant pushes national coronavirus case numbers to record highs and sends hospitals across the country into crisis mode, public health officials are eagerly searching for an indication of how long this surge might last.

The clues are emerging from an unlikely source: sewage.

People who contract the coronavirus shed the virus in their stool, and the virus levels in local wastewater provide a strong, independent signal of how much is circulating in a given community.

The sewage data reveal an Omicron wave that is cresting at different times in different places.

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At least 85 percent of the world’s population has been affected by human-induced climate change-- new study

Tue, 2021-10-12 12:22 — mike kraft

At least 85 percent of the world’s population has been affected by human-induced climate change, new study shows Researchers used machine learning to analyze more than 100,000 studies of weather events and found that four-fifths of the world’s land area has suffered impacts linked to global warming. Washington Post

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Sea-level rise is accelerating to its highest levels in at least 2,000 years across the Northeast, including New York City, Rutgers study

Sun, 2021-03-28 20:05 — mike kraft

Sea-level rise is accelerating to its highest levels in at least 2,000 years across the Northeast, including New York City, study says Along a stretch of the East Coast that includes New York City, sea-level rise has increased at its fastest rate in the prior 100 years compared to the past 2,000 years, according to a new study led by Rutgers University. Jackson Dill and Brandon Miller, CNN CNN

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Earth is losing ice faster today than in the mid-1990s, study suggests

Tue, 2021-01-26 10:05 — mike kraft

Earth is losing ice faster today than in the mid-1990s, study suggests Earth’s ice is melting faster today than in the mid-1990s, new research suggests, as climate change nudges global temperatures ever higher. Yereth Rosen U.S.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Earth’s ice is melting faster today than in the mid-1990s, new research suggests, as climate change nudges global temperatures ever higher.

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Researchers Make Progress Toward High-Performing Water Desalination Membranes

Sat, 2021-01-02 12:47 — mike kraft

http://www.sci-news.com/othersciences/materials/high-performing-water-desalination-membranes-09209.html

Biological membranes can achieve remarkably high permeabilities while maintaining ideal selectivities by relying on homogeneous internal structures in the form of membrane proteins. In new research, a team of scientists led by Penn State University and the University of Texas at Austin applied such design strategies to desalination polyamide membranes.

Dr. Enrique Gomez, Dr. Manish Kumar and their colleagues from Iowa State University, Penn State University, the University of Texas at Austin, DuPont Water Solutions, and Dow Chemical Co. found that creating a uniform membrane density down to the nanoscale of billionths of a meter is crucial for maximizing the performance of reverse-osmosis, water-filtration membranes.

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UB Startup Uses Sunshine to Clean Dirty Water for Disasters, Poor Nations

Mon, 2018-06-25 18:38 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Solar still in water. QIAOQIANG GAN, SUNY BUFFALO

buffalonews.com - by T.J. Pignataro - October 15, 2017

Distilling water using the sun’s rays . . . a University at Buffalo startup has found a quick way to do it . . . and it could transform how potable water gets to people in developing countries or in areas stricken by natural disasters like earthquakes or hurricanes.

The university’s Sunny Clean Water startup said its method is nearly three times as fast as the industry standard . . .

. . . The process uses a floating solar still and a specially-engineered carbon-based cloth to capture, desalinate and purify as much as a liter of water every three hours in a prototype developed by UB associate professor of electrical engineering Qiaoqiang Gan, Singer and other university electrical engineering students.

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ALSO SEE RELATED ARTICLES WITHIN THE LINKS BELOW . . .

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Haiti - Hurricane Matthew - Cholera - News and Information Resources

Fri, 2017-07-07 10:00 — Kathy Gilbeaux

A LIST OF INFORMATION RESOURCES RELATED TO HURRICANE MATTHEW - 2016

CLICK HERE - OCHA - Haiti - ReliefWeb

CLICK HERE - ReliefWeb - Hurricane Matthew - 2016

CLICK HERE - ACAPS - Haiti - Hurricane Matthew

CLICK HERE - UN - OCHA - Haiti - Humanitarian Response

CLICK HERE - PAHO - WHO - Visualizations on the impact of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti

CLICK HERE - NASA - Landsat Image Gallery - Hurricane Matthew’s Aftermath in Haiti

CLICK HERE - CDC - reliefweb - Controlling Cholera in Haiti: No Easy Task

CLICK HERE - Compassion and Resilience in Haiti

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Informal briefing by the Secretary-General on the United Nations' New Approach to Cholera in Haiti

Thu, 2016-12-01 20:39 — Kathy Gilbeaux

webtv.un.org - 1 Dec 2016

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today apologized to the people of Haiti, expressing deep regret for the loss of life and suffering caused by the country’s cholera epidemic, and outlined the way forward including immediate steps to stem the outbreak and long-term support for those affected – while also highlighting the need for adequate funding of the proposal.

CLICK HERE - United Nations News Centre - UN’s Ban apologizes to people of Haiti, outlines new plan to fight cholera epidemic and help communities

CLICK HERE - Secretary-General's remarks to the General Assembly on a New Approach to Address Cholera in Haiti [Trilingual version, as delivered] [scroll down for English]

CLICK HERE - United Nations General Assembly - A new approach to cholera in Haiti - Report by the Secretary-General (16 page .PDF report)

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Dispatches from Haiti - Southwest Haiti - October 27, 2016

Wed, 2016-11-02 18:54 — Kathy Gilbeaux

Photo by John Carroll

blogs.pjstar.com - by John Carroll, MD - November 2, 2016

October 27, 2016

“The surest way to be caught flatfooted by disasters is to not know or understand, or else ignore, the value of the land and people who should have been protected, commensurate with the degree to which others depend on what they produce. This is the case with Haiti’s disregard for the values of the Greater South Region which is basically all that lies below and west of the crossroads of Leogane.”

Stuart Leiderman

————

We left Cayes early this morning and headed south and west. And the further we traveled, Matthew’s wrath and destruction was even more horrific. Coconut and palm trees were snapped or uprooted everywhere. Houses were smashed. Roofs were missing. And debris littered the beach down the entire coast. Police stations, courthouses, and churches were destroyed everywhere.

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Situation Reports via John A. Carroll MD - HaitianHearts.org

Sun, 2016-10-30 08:27 — Kathy Gilbeaux

by John A. Carroll, MD - www.haitianhearts.org

October 29, 2016

Family from Chantal just told me that a zone called LaCotte has much cholera. Five people in same house died. Unable to give exact date.

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October 29, 2016

Port Salut hospital served by two Cuban docs--very nice. Fidel and his brother also supplied the Ringers Lactate for the hospital . . .

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October 29, 2016

On Thursday spent day on Southern coast--Cayes, Torbeck, Port Salut, Coteaux, Damassin, Port a Pigment, Kalapa, Chardonnieres. We were fording some small creeks/rivers in the truck, but Les Anglais River too deep and wide so we stopped. The trucks were very few here cause road in South so horrible. I would imagine Hiroshima like this. Port Salut CTC had 30 patients according to nurse last week but only 3 when I was there. Port Salut is a MSPP hospital and made of cement and seemed structurally sound even though it was right on beach.

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October 29, 2016

The biggest problems I see are lack of food and water for almost 4 weeks now. The roofs are getting patched with tarp or corrugated metal ("toll"). Groups of kids run after the vehicle looking for food.

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October 29, 2016

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