Kuala Lumpur: A Malaysian company has invented a machine it says will help Muslims purify themselves before prayers without excessively wasting water.
The ornate, green-coloured machine comes with automatic sensors and basins to curb water usage during wudu, an Arabic word used to describe the act of washing the face, arms and legs before prayers.
The wudu, or ablution, rite preceeds the five daily prayers Muslims are obligated to perform. There are more than 1.7 billion Muslims in the world, with the majority in Africa and the Middle East where water supplies are scarce.
Inventors AACE Technologies is counting on rich countries in these two regions to snap up the machines that will be available in the next six months and will cost $3,000-$4,000 a piece.
“Saving water is a motivation for people to adopt this system rather than the conventional methods, where there’s a lot of water wastage”, AACE chairman Anthony Gomez said while launching the product in the Malaysian capital.
The device, which also emits recorded Koranic verses, is 5 ft 5in tall. It only uses 1.3 litres of water compared to the conventional methods, which usually involve leaving faucets running for the duration of the washing ritual, which can last
for several minutes.
“During the Haj, two million people used 50 million litres water a day for wudu. If they introduce this machine they are saving 40 million litres per day”, he said.
The Gulf city of Dubai has shown interest in acquiring the product for its airport, Gomez said, adding that the machine took two years to develop at the cost of $2.5 million.
AACE also wants to target mosques and offices with wallmountable models. “The idea is good and it is built in line with Islamic teachings. But water here is cheap, so it is not worthwhile to have this machine”, an office worker, Aminuddin, said. REUTERS
Source: TOI, 2nd Feb, 2010
Showing posts with label water pollution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water pollution. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Yamuna... Drain or River???
New Delhi: We all know Yamuna water is not fit for bathing, let alone drinking. But the latest report from the Central Pollution Control Board, sure to raise a stink before the Commonwealth Games in the capital, says the river is so full of excreta that its water resembles that of a drain.
According to stipulated standards, water can be made potable with treatment if faecal coliform is less than 500 per 100ml and it’s fit for bathing if the number is less than 5,000 per 100ml. According to CPCB’s 10-month-long monitoring of the Yamuna at Nizamuddin, the lowest level of faecal coliform in the water was 4.4 lakh per 100ml, on May 4, 2009. That’s almost 100 times above the level considered safe for bathing.
Faecal coliform are bacteria that originate in excreta. Coliform levels reached as high as 1.79 crore per 100ml on February 3. Drinking water without conventional treatment but after use of disinfectant should not have a coliform count in excess of 50 per 100ml and must have a minimum DO of 6mg per litre.
Worse, the dissolved oxygen (DO) content of Yamuna water was “nil’’ on all the testing dates, though the water at Palla on all these days had a DO level of over 4 milligrams per litre, which is the standard. Palla is where the river enters Delhi, embarking on its most polluted 22-km stretch.
The monitoring took place between January 6 and October 6 last year, according to the latest report submitted to the Supreme Court by CPCB through counsel Vijay Panjwani.
Even at Palla the water quality could not be termed potable because of the high level of faecal coliform. Except for September 2, 2009, when the faecal coliform was 2,900 per 100ml, in all other months it was above the stipulated 5,000 level. The highest coliform count at Palla was 43,000, on July 7.
The alarming rise in faecal coliform content by the time it reaches Nizamuddin was mainly because of the number of drains that join it, throwing in untreated sewage and industrial effluent. “The total pollution load discharged through 25 drains in river Yamuna during the ten rounds of monitoring from January to October was between 174 tonnes per day to 330 tonnes per day,’’ CPCB said.
CPCB is monitoring the river water quality at five locations – Palla, Madanpur Khadar, Okhla, the meeting point of Shahadra drain and Nizamuddin – along with 25 drains, in compliance with a Supreme Court order and has submitted results of monitoring since 1999.
How Unclean Is Delhi’s Pride
Water can be made safe for drinking if faecal coliform is less than 5,000 per 100 ml. The lowest level on the Yamuna was 4.4 lakh per 100 ml last May
Dissolved oxygen content was nil all testing days, but at Palla, where the river enters Delhi, it was 4 mg per litre, which is the standard
Even at Palla faecal coliform content was above the stipulated 5,000 level
Source: TOI, 2nd Feb, 2010
According to stipulated standards, water can be made potable with treatment if faecal coliform is less than 500 per 100ml and it’s fit for bathing if the number is less than 5,000 per 100ml. According to CPCB’s 10-month-long monitoring of the Yamuna at Nizamuddin, the lowest level of faecal coliform in the water was 4.4 lakh per 100ml, on May 4, 2009. That’s almost 100 times above the level considered safe for bathing.
Faecal coliform are bacteria that originate in excreta. Coliform levels reached as high as 1.79 crore per 100ml on February 3. Drinking water without conventional treatment but after use of disinfectant should not have a coliform count in excess of 50 per 100ml and must have a minimum DO of 6mg per litre.
Worse, the dissolved oxygen (DO) content of Yamuna water was “nil’’ on all the testing dates, though the water at Palla on all these days had a DO level of over 4 milligrams per litre, which is the standard. Palla is where the river enters Delhi, embarking on its most polluted 22-km stretch.
The monitoring took place between January 6 and October 6 last year, according to the latest report submitted to the Supreme Court by CPCB through counsel Vijay Panjwani.
Even at Palla the water quality could not be termed potable because of the high level of faecal coliform. Except for September 2, 2009, when the faecal coliform was 2,900 per 100ml, in all other months it was above the stipulated 5,000 level. The highest coliform count at Palla was 43,000, on July 7.
The alarming rise in faecal coliform content by the time it reaches Nizamuddin was mainly because of the number of drains that join it, throwing in untreated sewage and industrial effluent. “The total pollution load discharged through 25 drains in river Yamuna during the ten rounds of monitoring from January to October was between 174 tonnes per day to 330 tonnes per day,’’ CPCB said.
CPCB is monitoring the river water quality at five locations – Palla, Madanpur Khadar, Okhla, the meeting point of Shahadra drain and Nizamuddin – along with 25 drains, in compliance with a Supreme Court order and has submitted results of monitoring since 1999.
How Unclean Is Delhi’s Pride
Water can be made safe for drinking if faecal coliform is less than 5,000 per 100 ml. The lowest level on the Yamuna was 4.4 lakh per 100 ml last May
Dissolved oxygen content was nil all testing days, but at Palla, where the river enters Delhi, it was 4 mg per litre, which is the standard
Even at Palla faecal coliform content was above the stipulated 5,000 level
Source: TOI, 2nd Feb, 2010
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Oceans becoming nosier thanks to pollution: Report
PARIS: The world's oceans are becoming noisier thanks to pollution, with potentially harmful effects for whales, dolphins and other marine life,
US scientists said in a study published Sunday.
Low-frequency sound in the ocean is produced by natural phenomena such as rain, waves and marine life, and by human activities such as sonar systems, shipping and construction.
The sound is absorbed mainly through the viscosity of the water and the presence of certain dissolved chemicals, said the report published in the science journal Nature.
But the concentration of chemicals that absorb sound in the oceans has declined as a result of ocean acidification, in turn caused by rising concentrations of carbon dioxide.
Rising levels of carbon dioxide come from human activity such as shipping, with the number of ships roughly doubling over the past 40 years, the scientists said.
This was in turn increasing the acidity of the ocean, shown by a lowering of its pH levels, they said.
Using model simulations, the scientists found that increases in acidity could reduce seawater sound absorption by as much as 60 percent by 2100 in high latitude oceans.
Concern about the negative effect of the sea's increased acidity had previously been concentrated on the reduced rate of calcification, such as in coral reefs.
"However, a less anticipated consequence of ocean acidification is its effect on underwater sound absorption," the authors said.
"A decrease in seawater pH lowers sound absorption in the low-frequency range and, as a result, leads to increasing sound transmission."
Future global warming due to an accumulation of greenhouse gases may further decrease the ocean's sound absorption capacity at certain frequencies, the study said.
"High levels of low-frequency sound have a number of behavioural and biological effects on marine life," it added.
This included tissue damage, mass stranding of mammals such as whales and temporary loss of hearing in dolphins associated with military tests using intense mid-frequency sonar, the report said.
Marine species had adapted to varying levels of noise but the consequences of the sea's decreased ability to absorb sound were uncertain and required further research, the scientists said.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/environment/pollution/Oceans-becoming-nosier-thanks-to-pollution-Report-/articleshow/5360546.cms
US scientists said in a study published Sunday.
Low-frequency sound in the ocean is produced by natural phenomena such as rain, waves and marine life, and by human activities such as sonar systems, shipping and construction.
The sound is absorbed mainly through the viscosity of the water and the presence of certain dissolved chemicals, said the report published in the science journal Nature.
But the concentration of chemicals that absorb sound in the oceans has declined as a result of ocean acidification, in turn caused by rising concentrations of carbon dioxide.
Rising levels of carbon dioxide come from human activity such as shipping, with the number of ships roughly doubling over the past 40 years, the scientists said.
This was in turn increasing the acidity of the ocean, shown by a lowering of its pH levels, they said.
Using model simulations, the scientists found that increases in acidity could reduce seawater sound absorption by as much as 60 percent by 2100 in high latitude oceans.
Concern about the negative effect of the sea's increased acidity had previously been concentrated on the reduced rate of calcification, such as in coral reefs.
"However, a less anticipated consequence of ocean acidification is its effect on underwater sound absorption," the authors said.
"A decrease in seawater pH lowers sound absorption in the low-frequency range and, as a result, leads to increasing sound transmission."
Future global warming due to an accumulation of greenhouse gases may further decrease the ocean's sound absorption capacity at certain frequencies, the study said.
"High levels of low-frequency sound have a number of behavioural and biological effects on marine life," it added.
This included tissue damage, mass stranding of mammals such as whales and temporary loss of hearing in dolphins associated with military tests using intense mid-frequency sonar, the report said.
Marine species had adapted to varying levels of noise but the consequences of the sea's decreased ability to absorb sound were uncertain and required further research, the scientists said.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/environment/pollution/Oceans-becoming-nosier-thanks-to-pollution-Report-/articleshow/5360546.cms
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