Tag Archives: water

Kirsten Johnson

Opinion: Water of Life

By Kirsten Johnson | Sun 5th April 2015 - 10:25 am

Today many Christians are celebrating Easter, the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Jesus, whether you view him as historical figure, prophet or messiah, used many images in his teaching. One was water.

John 4:13-14 talks of Jesus’ encounter with the woman of Samaria at the well, and Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But anyone who drinks the water I give them will never be thirsty. In fact, the water I give them will become a spring of water in them. It will flow up into eternal life.”

Water is a precious resource. Just this week there was news of California entering the fourth year of drought. Governor Jerry Brown has introduced strict conservation measures to reduce water usage by 25%. California produces a third of the fresh vegetables consumed by Americans, and prices in shops across the country are already reflecting the drought.

Global warming has brought this on. The snowpack in the Sierra Nevada mountains which supplies the water California needs is at a record low. The water California needs for households, crops and industry is not available. Sacrifices will have to be made.

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Newsmoggie

On Global Handwashing Day, Featherstone launches scheme to give 4 million access to clean water in Democratic Republic of Congo

By Newsmoggie | Wed 16th October 2013 - 2:59 pm

Lynne FeatherstoneIt’s easy to take our access to clean, safe water for granted. Whether it’s water to brush our teeth, drink or wash our hands after we’ve been to the toilet, free availability saves lives.

If you live in sub-Saharan Africa, on average, only 60% of people, not much over half, have access to safe water supplies. In the Democratic Republic of Congo the average is 46%, but in rural areas can be as little as 20%. It’s hardly surprising they’ve recently had a major Cholera epidemic to deal with. This …

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Andrew Wigley

Opinion: Water – time to see it as a national interest?

By Andrew Wigley | Fri 20th January 2012 - 4:01 pm

News that one of China’s leading wealth funds has taken a 9 percent stake in Thames Water is significant. The investment comes quick on the heels of a Gulf sovereign wealth fund taking a similar size stake in Thames Water’s parent company, Kemble.

It’s a measure of confidence in Britain’s infrastructure technology and role in the world as a safe haven for long term investment crows George Osborne. Liberal Democrats may be inclined to take a different view.

What Osborne fails to mention is that because of increased water-scarcity throughout the world – including the UK – water is set …

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Dan Rogerson MP

Dan Rogerson MP writes… Welcoming help with water bills in the South West

By Dan Rogerson MP | Fri 2nd December 2011 - 2:56 pm

This week, as part of the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, details of a Water Bills Rebate Fund were announced, with a £50 rebate to be provided on water bills for households in Cornwall and other South West Water areas from 2013-14. Along with fellow Liberal Democrats, I have long campaigned on getting a fair deal for bill payers in Cornwall after the botched privatisation under the Conservatives in the 1980s left us with the highest water bills in the country, and following 13 years of complacency about the issue under the last Labour government. As such, this rebate is fantastic news …

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Antony Hook

Opinion: A child dies every 20 seconds from lack of clean water

By Antony Hook | Mon 23rd May 2011 - 3:51 pm

On 19 May, the summit of European-Africa-Caribbean-Pacific parliamentarians (the ACP-EU Assembly) at Budapest called for action to alleviate the global crisis in clean water supply.

One in six people in the world have no access to clean water. 2.5 billion are without clean sanitation and 1.5 million die every year from water contamination.

The report presented to the summit found that there are three main causes of water pollution: industry, agriculture and sewage. In developing countries 70% of industrial waste is dumped untreated into water. The most common source of water pollution, however, is faecal matter.

One of the Millennium Development Goals …

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