Celebrating Wetlands!

 The 2nd of February was World Wetlands Day. 

This is a day set to celebrate and appreciate the beautiful habitats. It also serves to remind us that we need to conserve and protect this vital natural resource. 

So, what exactly is a wetland?

According to UNESCO, "wetlands are ecosystems seasonally or permanently saturated with water. This can include all lakes and rivers, underground aquifers, swamps and marshes, wet grasslands, peatlands, oases, estuaries, deltas and tidal flats, mangroves and other coastal areas, coral reefs, and all human-made sites such as fish ponds, rice paddies, reservoirs and salt pans". 

What is the value of wetlands?

• Promote biodiversity - wetlands are home to many plant, fish and wildlife species.
• Water purification - wetlands plants remove pollutants through sediment trapping, nutrient removal and chemical detoxification. 
• Water storage- wetlands are often referred to as natural sponges because of their ability to soak up water during high runoff periods and release it slowly into the ground. This helps control the severity of floods and erosion.
• Their ability to recharge groundwater helps in addressing water scarcity issues.
• Wetlands may reduce risk to public safety and damage to property due to flood water or stormwater runoff.
• They offer recreational and economic benefits through hiking, boat rides, fishing, bird watching, canoeing and photography. 
• Provide products for home use and crafts, including fuelwood for cooking, fish, wild rice and fruits for food,  reeds for weaving baskets and mats,  thatch for roofing, fibres for textiles and papermaking, and timber for building. Medicines can be extracted from tree barks, leaves, and fruits, and the plants also provide tannins and dyes. 
• The diverse and abundant vegetation and animal species give wetlands a high aesthetic value. These visually rich environments usually attract people to see wildlife, have picnics and capture nature's beauty through the camera lenses. 
• Wetlands provide opportunities for education, research and innovation. Researchers can study the historical changes in climate and vegetation over thousands of years, which can help develop future solutions. Also, by studying and understanding the functioning of wetlands, new solutions to engineering and design can be drawn, e.g. through biomimicry.  

How can we conserve wetlands?

Wetlands are often under threat from many human activities, and it takes everyone's effort to ensure that the wetlands are safe and protected. This can be done by:

• Not dumping waste in wetlands
• Not cultivating in wetlands
• Not building and settling in wetlands
• Adopting a wetland stream as a community or school and closely monitor and protect it 
• Raising awareness in your community, school and university
• Guard and being vigilant against any element that could threaten the existence and functionality of wetlands
• Avoid overutilization of wetland resources

World Toilet Day 2020

 Today is World Toilet Day.

This is a day marked by the United Nations' to celebrate and raise awareness on sustainable sanitation. Sustainable Development Goal 6 calls for "clean water and sanitation for all", with SDG 6.2 particularly focusing on "Sanitation and hygiene". 

Why?

It is estimated that approximately 4.2 billion people lack access to safe sanitation globally, and of these, 673 million practice open defecation. This is a great cause for concern, given how sanitation is linked to our health and dignity. Poor sanitation is associated with the transmission and spread of water-borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A and Polio. Recent experiences from Covid-19 have also shown the world the importance of good sanitation facilities for preventing the spread of infectious diseases. In addition, poor sanitation may result in loss of education, especially for girls; and increase the risk of sexual assault.  

Image of a dry diversion toilet showcased at the Sustainable sanitation, waste and water management conference 2018 in Cape Town.

This Year's Theme

The theme of World Toilet Day 2020 is "Sustainable sanitation and climate change". A proper toilet is connected to a sanitation system that collects, transports and treats human waste. Most countries use combined sewer systems to collect wastewater from residential/ industrial/commercial areas to the water treatment plants. These systems are under threat from climate change, such as flooding, drought and rising sea levels. These events are becoming more frequent and more extreme, posing a high risk to the functioning of different parts of the sanitation system. Toilets, sewer pipes and tanks, treatment plant can easily be damaged, which may lead to overflows of raw sewage into wells, rivers and food crops, posing a public health hazard. There is, therefore, an urgent need for building resilient sanitation systems. 

What Role Can you play?

1. Smart Innovations: 

A sustainable sanitation system means providing a  reliable system that can safely collect the faeces,  dispose of and treat them, and facilitate safe reuse. 

• Water-efficient: Toilets use a lot of water for flushing. A regular toilet can use between 5 and 15 litres of water (usually potable) per flush. A sustainable and smart sanitation innovation means a toilet that uses as little water as possible to flush out the waste. Since toilet flushing doesn't require high-quality potable water, there is a need to invest in a water reuse system or connect the toilet to a rainwater harvesting system. Recent smart sanitation innovations are trying to separate urine and faeces using a urine diversion dry toilet. However, more work needs to be done to make it financially sustainable and socially acceptable.
• Energy efficiency: Most sanitation systems are energy-intensive: therefore, a smart innovation will focus on building an energy-efficient system and lowering greenhouse gas emissions. There is also a possibility of using biogas from human waste to produce greener energy.

2. Rethink, Reduce, Reuse & Recycle

There are different processes involved in the sanitation cycle, all providing an opportunity for rethinking, reducing, reusing, or recycling. 

• Rethink before practising open defecation or defecating on the floor. Do your part to keep the sanitation facilities clean. Also, Rethink before ignoring a burst sewer pipe in your neighbourhood; report it to the suitable authorities as soon as possible.
• Reduce unnecessary flushing and the amount of water you use for toilet flushing. Invest in a low-flush toilet or a dual flush system. During the rain season, harvest some rainwater and use it to flush the toilet. 
• Reuse: Collect water from the dishwasher or washing machine and re-use it to flush the toilet. You can also connect your washbasin to the toilet water tank so that water can be collected and used for flushing after someone has used the washbasin.
• Recycle: at a bigger scale, biogas from human waste can be captured and used to produce energy. Recent studies have also been looking at producing charcoal briquettes using human waste. On the other hand, urine is reported to have a lot of nutritional benefits. Where urine diversion toilets are used, urine has been used to produce liquid fertilizer, and it is reported to provide an excellent source of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium to plants. The options are limitless!

3. Invest and support sanitation initiatives

This could be through raising awareness in your community or provide funding for research purposes etc. 

From the points highlighted above, it is clear that everyone has a role to play in the sanitation game. Let us come together and pledge ourselves to create more solutions for a better future.

SANITATION FOR ALL BY 2030!

$5 Emergency NanoCarbon Water Filter - DIY Build Instructions

DIY LOW COST WATER TREATMENT TECHNOLOGIES

Water quality is a big concern in many areas. Many users are increasingly relying on water from hand dug wells or surface rivers, which is of poor quality. It is always advisable to treat your water before use. Above is a link to a Youtube  video that shows how to make a three bucket filter and purifier for making almost any water safe to drink, using no to low cost materials and basic tools. 

It's rain season Southern Africa- HARVEST as much water as you can!

Hooray, Southern Africa! The regional climate experts have reported that “normal to-above-normal” rainfall is expected across most of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) for the 2020/1 rainfall season  (between October 2020 and March 2021). This is really good news, considering the drought spells the region has been experiencing over the past years. Of course, this is music to the farmers' ears, as they can expect good harvests for the coming agricultural season. 

Also, 

this is wonderful news for your pocket as you can save up on your water bill. All you need to do is harvest the FREE rainwater. Yes, it is that simple. Rainwater harvesting is an ancient method that can be best described as the collection of water that originates as rainfall for later use for domestic or agricultural purposes. This post will focus on domestic use only (I will do a separate post on rainwater harvesting for agricultural purposes).

Water usage can be divided into two: that is, either potable or non-potable use. Potable water refers to water that is fit for human consumption (e.g. water used for drinking or cooking purposes), whilst non-potable water is water that does not meet drinking quality standards. However, it may still be used for many other purposes such as toilet flushing, car wash, air conditioning, laundry, cleaning pavements, watering gardens etc.  It is estimated that an average South African uses only 6%  of total water in the kitchen, 22% for toilet flushing, 22% for laundry, 20% bath, and the rest for other non-potable uses. This means that most of the water used is non-potable.

As the rainy season has just started, why not harvest some rainwater and use it to meet your non-potable demands, such as toilet flushing, laundry, car wash etc. Imagine how much you would save!

All you need to start harvesting your water is:

1. Catchment area:  this can either be your roof or pavement. However, note that  roof water is of better quality and doesn't need any pre-treatment (depending on intended usage),

2. A storage unit: this is where you store the collected water in. It can range from 20L buckets to large volume tanks (e.g. 5000L water tank or larger). Another option is constructing an underground tank. It all depends on what you can afford,  the available space and city by-laws.  It is important to note that the more water you harvest and store, the more water you will have for use even after the rain event or season. 

3. Accessories: depending on the type of system, you may also need some PVC pipes, a first flush kit and a filter (optional but recommended).

Below are some tips on how you can improvise on storage, including using what you might already have:

BATHTUB: All you need to do is collect rainwater using smaller 20L buckets and fill your bathtub and/or other bid water basins (those plastic or enamel ones) you might have. A standard tub can hold up to 300L of water. This can last you up to a week, depending on your family size and usage.

STEEL DRUMS: Normally found in 200L. In Zimbabwe, you can get these from Mbare or industrial sites. These can be used as a temporary measure whilst saving to buy a big tank. 

SWIMMING POOL/ FISH PONDS: for those houses, schools and commercial properties etc., with swimming pools/ fish ponds that are no longer in use, you can use those storage facilities. Depending on the pool size and water usage, this can last you through winter. 

Picture: Go green guys

SAVE FOR A WATER TANK. On average, a 5000L water tank cost approx. USD 400 (ZWL 37,646.46) in Zimbabwe, and ZAR 5000 in South Africa. It might worth saving up for a year or 2 towards buying a tank. Considering the reduction in water bill and having water readily available for use during water rationing periods, I think it's a sacrifice worth making. It is a lifetime investment after all!

Underground tanks: If you are worried about space and aesthetics, these are for you! Underground tanks can be constructed from a variety of materials: polyethylene, steel, fibreglass or concrete. You can have your garage, pavement or other structures on top of the tank, saving you space (for this, you will probably need a concrete tank that is stronger and more durable). Make sure to use a professional installer and to size your tank correctly.  

Look out for a post on how you can make your harvested water last for longer (I will post it soon).