Archive for water resources

the plight of Gazaouis in numbers [on 08 Jan 2023]

Posted in Kids with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 12, 2024 by xi'an

Dreadful numbers that reveal the extent of the destruction in Gaza as listed by The Guardian

  • at least 22,835 Palestinians had been killed, with an estimated 70% fraction of women and children
  • one in a hundred of Gaza’s total population has died
  • 250 people are killed per day, out of which at least 160 are civilians, more than any other major conflict of recent years
  • 79 journalists have died
  • 1.9 million people have been displaced, about 85% of the population
  • 1.4 million people are sheltered in UNRWA facilities
  • half a million people have no home to return to
  • 33% of buildings have been destroyed
  • 23 of 36 hospitals have stopped functioning
  • 104 schools have been destroyed and about 70% of school buildings have been damaged
  • water production is about 7% of the prewar level
  • one in four households are already at risk of starvation
  • 577,000 people are facing famine

a particularly unhelpful graph [about UN Water Conferences]

Posted in Books, pictures with tags , , , , , , , , , , on May 1, 2023 by xi'an

toilet issues [infographics]

Posted in Books, pictures, Travel with tags , , , , , , , , on August 25, 2022 by xi'an

As Western Europe is currently gasping under the worst drought in 500 years (?), a few sentences heard on the French public radio, about domestic grey water double-usage, as well as an email from>Nature about the above infographics winning a prize this year, made me re-ponder about the unsustainable way flush toilets process human waste, from wasting insane amounts of drinkable water to requiring energy-greedy processing plants. Not to mention the wipes-induced fatbergs. The above is one of several urine diversion toilets that divert it from the solids and, provided it is processed properly, turn it into a high quality fertilizer. Maybe the current water crisis will push towards new waste management policies, more sustainable.

In the same article, the attitude towards food grown with human fertilizers was shown as highest in France and at first I thought this was unsurprising given that wastewater here was recycled into the water cycle, but this is not at all the case. Only 1% is reused for irrigation (or wasted, since it is for golf courses!).