#water sanitation

[a-typical]

On asking Chat GPT the difference between water management and sanitation between the America and Europe:

While it's true that many Indigenous cultures in the Americas had sophisticated systems for water management and sanitation, it's important to note that these systems were often region-specific and may not have been applicable or feasible in other regions. Additionally, Europeans had a different set of cultural and technological priorities when it came to urban planning and infrastructure development.

In many European cities, the focus was on building large cathedrals, fortifications, and other monumental structures, rather than investing in extensive water supply and sanitation systems. The lack of clean water and sanitation infrastructure in European cities contributed to the spread of disease and poor hygiene practices.

Furthermore, the loss of knowledge and expertise in engineering and infrastructure development after the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE also contributed to the lack of running water in Europe during the medieval period. While some water systems were developed in certain European cities during the Middle Ages, they were often limited in scope and did not reach the wider population.

Overall, the reasons for the lack of running water in Europe during the medieval period are complex and multifaceted, and cannot be solely attributed to climate or cultural differences.

#chat gpt #chat bot #history #europe #america #americas #ok so what has changed TT #Europe was focused on building cathedrals and not water sanitation or management #and thus contributed to the spread of disease and poor hygiene mangement #and most of the religious controls are still focused on the church #and many do not tax the church #it's been 100s of years... #middle ages #water management #water sanitation #anti theist #anti religion #catholic #christian #the church #religion #water #bathing practices #roman #engineering #ancient civilizations #ancient history

[reasonsforhope]

"Namibia is the driest country in Sub-Saharan Africa, and home to two of the world’s most ancient deserts, the Kalahari and the Namib. The capital, Windhoek, is sandwiched between them, 400 miles away from the nearest perennial river and more than 300 miles away from the coast. Water is in short supply.

It’s hard to imagine life thriving in Windhoek, yet 477,000 people call it home, and 99 per cent of them have access to drinking water thanks to technology pioneered 55 years ago on the outskirts of the city. Now, some of the world’s biggest cities are embracing this technology as they adapt to the harshest impacts of climate change. But Namibia leads the way.

How did this come about? In the 1950s, Windhoek’s natural resources struggled to cope with a rapidly growing population, and severe water shortages gripped the city. But disaster forced innovation, and in 1968 the Goreangab Water Reclamation Plant in Windhoek became the first place in the world to produce drinking water directly from sewage, a process known as direct potable reuse (DPR). 

That may sound revolting, but it’s completely safe. Dr Lucas van Vuuren, who was among those who pioneered Windhoek’s reclamation system, once said that “water should not be judged by its history, but by its quality”. And DPR ensures quality. 

This is done using a continuous multi-barrier treatment devised in Windhoek during eight years of pilot studies in the 1960s. This process – which has been upgraded four times since 1968 – eliminates pollutants and safeguards against pathogens by harnessing bacteria to digest the human waste and remove it from the water. This partly mimics what happens when water is recycled in nature, but Windhoek does it all in under 24 hours...

Pictured: These ultrafiltration membranes help to remove bacteria, viruses and pathogens. Image: Margaret Courtney-Clarke

“We know that we have antibiotics in the water, preservatives from cosmetics, anti-corrosion prevention chemicals from the dishwasher,” Honer explains. “We find them and we remove them.”

Honer adds that online instruments monitor the water continuously, and staff ensure that only drinking water that meets World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines is sent to homes. If any inconsistencies are detected, the plant goes into recycle mode and distribution is halted until correct values are restored. 

“The most important rule is, and was, and always will be ‘safety first’,” says Honer.  The facility has never been linked to an outbreak of waterborne disease, and now produces up to 5.5m gallons of drinking water every day – up to 35 per cent of the city’s consumption.

Namibians couldn’t survive without it, and as water shortages grip the planet, Windhoek’s insights and experience are more important than ever.

Interest from superpowers across the globe

In recent years, delegations from the US, France, Germany, India, Australia, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates have visited Windhoek seeking solutions to water shortages in their own countries. 

Megadrought conditions have gripped the US since 2001, and the Colorado River – which provides 40 million people with drinking water – has been running at just 50 per cent of its traditional flow. As a result, several states including Texas, California, Arizona and Colorado are beginning to embrace DPR.

Troy Walker is a water reuse practice leader at Hazen and Sawyer, an environmental engineering firm helping Arizona to develop its DPR regulations. He visited Windhoek last year. “It was about being able to see the success of their system, and then looking at some of the technical details and how that might look in a US facility or an Australian facility,” he said. “[Windhoek] has helped drive a lot of discussion in industry. [Innovation] doesn’t all have to come out of California or Texas.”

Pictured: The internal pipes and workings of Namibia's DPR plant. As water becomes scarcer in some parts, countries are looking to DPR for solutions. Image: Margaret Courtney-Clarke

Namibia has also helped overcome the biggest obstacle to DPR – public acceptance. Disgust is a powerful emotion, and sensationalist ‘toilet to tap’ headlines have dismantled support for water reuse projects in the past. Unfortunately, DPR’s biggest strength is also its biggest weakness, as the speed at which water can re-enter the system makes it especially vulnerable to prejudice, causing regulators to hesitate. “Technology has never been the reason why these projects don’t get built – it’s always public or political opposition,” says Patsy Tennyson, vice president of Katz and Associates, an American firm that specialises in public outreach and communications.

That’s why just a handful of facilities worldwide are currently doing DPR, with Windhoek standing alongside smaller schemes in the Philippines, South Africa and a hybrid facility in Big Spring, Texas. But that’s all changing. Drought and increased water scarcity worldwide are forcing us to change the way we think about water. 

Now, the US is ready to take the plunge, and in 2025, El Paso Water will begin operating the first ‘direct to distribution’ DPR facility in North America, turning up to 10m gallons of wasterwater per day into purified drinking water – twice as much as Windhoek. San Diego, Los Angeles, California, as well as Phoenix, Arizona are also exploring the technology."

Of course, DPR is not a silver bullet in the fight against climate change. It cannot create water out of thin air, and it will not facilitate endless growth. But it does help cities become more climate resilient by reducing their reliance on natural sources, such as the Colorado River. 

As other nations follow in Namibia’s footsteps, Windhoek may no longer take the lead after almost six decades in front.

“But Windhoek was the first,” Honer reminds me. “No one can take that away.”"

-via Positive.News, August 30, 2023

#namibia #africa #desert #water shortage #water conservation #dpr #potable water #water recycling #clean water #drought #united states #colorado river #science and technology #sanitation #good news #hope

[armoralor]

please know that anytime I see you complain about toxic sapphic ships I will make them even more toxic. I want them covered in each other's blood and snarling. I want them filled with rage and hate, seconds away from killing the other. Give me the most toxic fucked up women that make each other worse.

#wolfwren #sabine wren #shin hati #ahsoka #i love soft wholesome ships too so don't get me wrong #but fiction is a sandbox for us to play with complex emotions and relationships #it doesn't have to be watered down or sanitized #it's allowed to be fucked up #please grow up #star wars lesbians #sapphic star wars #star wars wlw

[tweedstoat]

Ok I think im realizing this 5 years too late but in Avengers Endgame how the fuck was society relatively ok after 50% of ppl got snapped. Like I know the "logic" will just be "uhhh superheros and movie magic" but like irl things with 50% death rates (I think the black plague was up there?? Or it was around 30%) fundamentally shift the societies they occur in because they're that devastating

#easily another like 50% of the 50% surviving humans would have probs died too because essential services wouldnt be able to function #i just know they had like 5 seperate cholera epidemics cauee half the water sanitation staff got snapped

[writeshite]

I'm back, back, back, back again *in Alyssa Edwards voice*

I was wondering if you could do a part 2 to Lord Have Mercy, where Thor really backs up his flirtatious ways and he just pounds the male reader into the mattress

Send Me To Heaven

Summary:

“Blessed be I,” Thor mutters on your skin. He held you up against the wall and tracked his mouth along your neck, “To have such divinity in my arms.” You’re still air-headed from the make-out session, but his words cause you to look away; he chuckles, “I look forward to the day we become more intimate.”

Pairings:

Thor x Black Male!Reader

Tags:

Shy Reader | Smut | Flirty Thor | Soft Sex

Words: 1062

Author's Note:

Welcome back, per your request, Thor Odinson smut, for you and all the other Heathens, we need more Thor fanfic 😭

Lunch with Thor was nice; you spent most of it feeling flushed and hiding your face behind your hands. Thor’s arm was a constant around your shoulders, as was the flirting, “I do enjoy seeing you dazed,” he said, thumb wiping off the cream from your cheek. Your dazed stature was caused by his insistence on feeding you desert and then cleaning any mess on your face with his tongue - correction, his mouth. All the messes seemed to be concentrated around your mouth; he licked his lips, the dessert now gone; your hand came up to your lips, softly touching them. There’s a slight buzz around them.

The sky has gotten cloudier, and Thor escorts you back to the office; you are reluctant to see him leave; when you express it, he tilts your chin up. “Not to worry, my prince, we’ll see other again.” He departs with another kiss and a light drizzle.

Your coworkers are very intrigued about you and Thor; you give them a few details and leave it at that; the more nosy ones are left unsatisfied. But you don’t care about that. Thor kept to his word, he returns almost every day, twice in one day if he can, and things escalate. Short kisses become long ones; his touches go further south, as does his mouth. 

“Blessed be I,” Thor mutters on your skin. He held you up against the wall and tracked his mouth along your neck, “To have such divinity in my arms.” You’re still air-headed from the make-out session, but his words cause you to look away; he chuckles, “I look forward to the day we become more intimate.”

“I–I’d say this is already intimate,” you reply, turning back to look at him; his eyes are a deeper shade of blue now; often, in these moments, there is a buzz in the air that tingles your senses. 

“True, but I’d like to experience more.” He pecks your lips again, hand settling on the hem of your shirt, it drifts beneath, and he brushes his thumb on the skin of your hip, “If you’d allow me, my prince.” 

You nod, and he moves away from the wall, still carrying you in his arms; he carries on with the kissing. The world tilts as he lowers you onto the bed; your shirt is tossed aside, Thor’s hands graze your nipples, and he takes one in his mouth, biting it lightly as he twists the other. Your back arches, a mewl erupting from you, Thor’s makes a low snicker, the pads of his thumb charge a little electricity, and you feel it brush against your skin. Your eyes peek open, barely able to do so; your focus zeroes in on his expanded pupils. The soft cold metal of his armbands sends a shiver up your spine as he winds his arm around you; he gently holds your face when he comes back for another kiss. You buck up, and he responds in kind, one leg between yours; he moves accordingly to create friction.

The feel of your pants is too much, and you fumble to take them off too. Thor stops your hands and does it for you; he sheds his attire, and you marvel at the hairy expanse of his torso - hair trailing down to the v-shape peeking from his pants. You feel a breath almost leave you when the pants come off; you assumed Thor was a big man in all aspects; you just didn’t realize how much. He grins, “You needn’t worry,” he assures you, climbing back on the bed; he turns you over, mouth on your back, he mutters, “I am well adept at using my tools.”

He holds you by the waist, elevating your ass and lowering you to your elbows; his mouth travels along your back, and when he reaches the rear, he bites your ass. You glance at him over your shoulder, then lower your head again when he licks your hole. The buzz returns; he spreads your ass, dipping his tongue and grinning at the sound that draws out from you. Thor swirls his tongue around, goes deep, and you nearly buckle at the sensation. He massages your dick, hand stroking lazily from tip to base, sometimes switching to caress your balls. The tingling buzz travels down your legs, and they tremble as Thor eats his fill. His fingers travel deeper than his tongue; they’re huge - one is enough to fill you - but he goes for more; you manage three, but he reduces it to two when you’re well and truly shaking. You cum at that.

“Am I your first sweet thing?” he asks, cock settled in between your asscheeks. You shake your head and hear him chuckle, “Then I shall be your most memorable.” The tip goes in easy, but the rest of him, not so much; the length alone was staggering, but the girth had you whimpering and painting. Halfway in, he paused, leaning over you, “You’ve done so well, sweet thing,” he tells you, rubbing circles on your stomach; he waits until you nod to carry on moving, “Such a good boy.”

You whine in response, hands clutching the bed sheets; when the last of it all goes in, Thor pauses, and you take a moment to bare in your surroundings. Thor moves you down, stretching your legs, “This will be more comfortable for you, my prince.” You turn your head, and he kisses your cheek, hands smoothing your skin, “I’ll start moving now,” he informs you. 

He draws out, moving until the tip is almost out, before going back in. He moves slow, rocking into you without haste; he avoids laying any of his weight on you but hovers close, “Th–Thor….”

“Good boy, taking me in like this,” he kisses the shell of your ear, he puts his arm by your head, and you hide your face in the crook of it; your spine tingles, and the electric energy buzzes in the room, and outside you hear the clap of thunder. The rain is slow, and when Thor comes, a flash of lightning accompanies him. His dick slides out, and you whine at the empty feeling, “There, there, sweet thing, there’ll be plenty of time to fill you up again.” He lies beside you, pulling you close, your back to his chest, “For now, rest.”

End Note:

Sanitize me in holy water 💀 Stay Hydrated

#thor x reader #marvel imagine #shiterequests #side note: I think we need more Thor fanfic #sanitize me in holy water #thor x male reader

[waterday]

Thematic Report to the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly “Water and food nexus: a human rights approach to water management in food systems”.

The Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Pedro Arrojo Agudo, is inviting inputs from States and other stakeholders to inform his thematic report on “Water and food nexus: a human rights approach to water management in food systems”. The report will be presented at the United Nations General Assembly's 79th session in October 2024.

The Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation understands that the dominant systems of large-scale food production and comercialication are harming the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation worldwide. For the Special Rapporteur, under the argument of producing more and more food for a growing world population, the right to food is often used as an argument to justify unsustainable water management, overusing water sources and affecting aquatic systems, resulting in contamination or scarcity of water needed for human use. As reflected in Special Rapporteur´s report A/HRC/54/32 of 2023, guaranteeing the human right to water for the most impoverished requires restoring the good state of the aquatic ecosystems on which they depend for their water supply. In addition, over-exploitation and pollution of aquatic ecosystems often undermine small-scale food production for self-consumption in impoverished rural communities.

In this connection, the Special Rapporteur would like to call member states, non-state actors, civil society, academia, indigenous peoples, individuals, and other relevant stakeholders to send their contributions and experiences related to the sustainability of aquatic ecosystems and freshwater sources and the systems used to produced food. The Special Rapporteur would appreciate receiving inputs on the interlinkages between both rights and the positive and negative experiences on sustainable (or unsustainable) use of water sources by food systems, including court rulings at global, regional, national, and local levels.

The Special Rapporteur wishes to thank States, indigenous peoples, civil society organisations, academic institutions, businesses, international organisations, individuals, and other stakeholders for their continued engagement with this mandate.

Key information sought: To facilitate the reception of inputs, the Special Rapporteur prepared a list of key information which he considers essential for the report. The list could be answered entirely or partially according to the expertise and experience of those actors willing to contribute to the Report. List of topics: English | Français | Español

How inputs will be used

All submissions will be published on the website of the mandate. Non-state actors could request the confidentiality of the submission.

Next Steps

Please send your contributions via email, indicating “Input Water and Food Nexus” in the email subject line. Your contribution should be sent by no later than 15 March 2024

Email address: [email protected] AND to [email protected]. Email subject line: Input water and food nexus Word limit: 2500 words File formats: Word, PDF Accepted languages: English, Spanish, French

#Special Rapporteur on the rights to water and sanitation #sdg6 #water resources #water governance #human rights approach #call for imputs #safe drinking water #OHCHR #Water and Food Nexus #UNGA79 #water management #water goals #member states #non-state actors #civil society #academia #indigenous peoples #individuals #stakeholders

[melon-official]

happy sanitization season

#for a twitter icon. lol #traditional #splatoon oc #sanitized octoling #my ocs #ramen water #dewdles

[cowardlycowboys]

should be able to hold a flame for your skin to disinfect it without like doing damage

#omg kiera no one cares #got poop on my finger and I've washed 5 times under hot as it can get water and used hand sanitizer and it STILL doesnt feel likeit'senough

[ovaruling]

repairman is here and the first thing he does when he comes in is ask to use my bathroom and obviously i say yeah sure but oh my god i can’t tell you how insane it makes me that a completely strange man is in my bathroom using it. the OCD of it is bad enough on me but also just. oh my god

i wish there were female technicians for this i hate this man in my private space. if it was a woman i would be fine no problem like yeah girl use my bathroom!!! but a man???? if u touch my toilet i will kill my self 😭

#i’m panicking i have to sanitize everything in there now oh my godksksdjdhsj #what if he only pretended to wash his hands???? men do that all the time they’ll just run the water and not even wash #oh my goddksnjssnnssj #WHY COULDNT U JUST BE A WOMAN 😭😭😭

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

#human progress #human development #life expectancy #GDP #gross domestic product #education #water #sanitation #child mortality #child death #religion is a mental illness

[incesthemes]

the great tragedy of supernatural is that it has lines it's not allowed to cross. it can't depict textual incest or even too much maladaptive affection; it can't show the reality of prolonged homelessness or food insecurity or the actual dangers of fraud and theft; it can't delve too deep into the lasting effects of abuse and neglect or trauma; it can't talk about political issues in any meaningful way—it can't contain anything too morally objectionable or uncomfortable for viewers. it has to build and maintain a fantasy that lets people ignore what they don't like. and that's a shame because of its roots in horror, so instead of being free to explore the themes and elements that form the show's foundation, a lot of it is left to subtext, to subtle nods, to "if you know you know" moments.

what the show does manage to depict on screen is rich and captivating, but at the end of the day it has an image to maintain that doesn't align with the reality of its own themes. the show is at odds with itself and its executives, and over time it gets progressively scrubbed clean just like the gritty, low saturation, high contrast lighting of early seasons. it departs even further from its horror foundation, relegates more and more of its worldbuilding and characterization to subtext, or even just memories of the past.

i just think it's a shame that despite its (original) genre, it faced so much opposition and so much sanitization that it never really had a chance to go all-in with its world and characters, and that what little it was able to depict was sucked away over time until it became a ghost of the american gothic horror it once was.

#supernatural #rewatching season 1 with a friend has reminded me of what the show used to be. that being completely deranged #like there's so many nods to the actual reality of their lives: food insecurity; isolation; fear; trauma; abuse; legal trouble #etc etc #but even then it's not allowed to explicitly talk about i.e. the stress and trauma of lifelong homelessness #i included incest in this post because incest is a staple of gothic horror and this show being 'the epic love story of sam and dean' #does actually make several nods to the freudian horrors of their maladaptive relationship #this show was built on the back of these horrific themes and tropes and it shows. and then it's watered down and sanitized #and painted with prettier colors for a wider audience to find more palatable #supernatural deserved to be the horror it wanted to be. i'll die on this hill #not that i particularly hate the direction the show went. it's far more complicated than that. but i still lament the loss #you know how it is #.txt #the winchester gospel #spn posting

[reasonsforhope]

gahh, are there any big recent good news stories❔everything i can find seems so . small. which is ok and good but gahhhhhhhhh mental health explode my brain aaaaa

Oh yeah, 100%

Do your mental health a favor and read some of this. It's a giant compilation of good news newsletters that is very good at finding big stories and has a very large-scale and international focus: https://futurecrunch.com/goodnews/

Future Crunch's top story from two weeks ago, for example:

"Humanity has made astonishing progress on access to water, sanitation and hygiene in this century. Between 2000 and 2022, 2.1 billion people gained access to safe drinking water, 2.5 billion gained access to safely managed sanitation, the number of people using unimproved facilities has been halved, from 1.1 billion to 545 million, and the number practising open defecation has fallen by more than two thirds, from 1.3 billion to 419 million. Source: WHO"

#Anonymous #ask #me #drinking water #clean water #sanitation #hygiene #mental health #world health organization #good news #hope #hope posting #progress

[spleen9000]

huh apparently wood cutting boards are fairly antimicrobial due to absorption of moisture by the wood and (depending on your washing & prep practices) can harbor less bacteria than plastic cutting boards

#just saw something saying you shouldn't cut meat on wood cutting boards and thought that seemed fishy with no context and I guess it was #plastic is not a magically more foodsafe material..... #also theoretically you can sand down an old cut up wood board #and in my food service experience those plastic boards get all rough and cut up sooo fast #and like they're put in soapy water and sanitizer so it's fine #but it doesn't seem like it would be an inherently safer food prep surface in any way #people are also cleaning their wooden boards with soap like. how would plastic be any better in the first place #look this up yourself though before telling other people I'm just some guy on the internet not a food safety expert

[orange-orchard-system]

Not terrified of spiders not especially into them but a secret third thing: the kind of mixed apathy and acceptance of their general existence that can only come from continuously waking up to find spiders in your bed

#dead spiders live spiders I've seen it all #spiders love my bedroom for unknown reasons #at least they keep the mosquitoes at bay #bugs #front soup.txt #also as a f.unny addition. a particular incident of this flavor is a core memory from during our questioning/s.yscovery journey lol #woke up. saw spider. couldn't go back to sleep. drank water that tasted like hand sanitizer. #had a conversation in which our now ex-host promised to try to be more open but they were scared #also one of our first times knowingly experiencing co-c.onsciousness #like I said core memory of this journey #things may not have happened in that exact order tho we were tired as fuck

[blujayonthewing]

weird to be a person with anxiety and also, separately, a person with a lifelong fascination with wilderness survival

I feel like people catch wind of my desire to have, like, a backcountry water filter or multiple firemaking methods with me for car camping or day-hiking or whatever else and think I'm catastrophizing and overpreparing because of The Neuroses but I can't emphasize enough that I don't actually have any fears about The Shit Hitting The Fan or whatever preppers are on about, I just really really really like the idea of drinking out of a river or building a little fire

#one time my friend was regaling us with the absolute fucking shitshow of the outdoor music festival she had just SURVIVED #and how among other things people were getting sick because the sanitation situation was Dire and the water was contaminated #and I made some side comment to justin about my backcountry filter #and she was like-- very seriously and emphatically-- 'no it wouldn't have been like this if it wasn't so mismanaged' #and like-- I'm not gonna derail your story to talk about this instead but yeah dude I know #tbh it would never in a million years have occurred to me that a music fest might be a fucking cholera risk #my anxiety is different flavored than that #I just would have been really excited in the same situation to be unaffected because of My Proclivities lmao #everyone around MY little campsite has safe and fresh water because I am a little weirdo 😌 #not 'better bring these things... might have to use them 😰' but 'better bring these things... might have to use them 👀' #about me

[bixiaoshi]

i just saw a big ass spider in my bathroom im burnint this building down

#WHY IS IT ALWAYS ME #i didn't even wash my hands properly 😭 just some water in the kitchen n some hand sanitizer #why cant spiders just. not appear in front if me. dont they know im terrified of them #jo.txt #spider tw