Bill Gates funds toilet on tap

Bill Gates is funding a new contraption that filters toilet waste back into 'drinkable' water.

Yes, that's right, the new invention, funded by Bill Gates, plans to turn used toilet water into drinking water.

Manchester University’s Sarah Haigh (above photo) is an expert in nanotechnology - the science of manipulating atoms in matter - and she claims, it could make waste water from toilets safe to drink. 

A mixture of bacteria and tiny metal nano-particles will react with the nasty water to extract useful hydrogen, with the remainder filtered again to produce clean water.

The project which has been funded by billionaire Bill Gates has the possibility to transform a range of materials that could extract energy from human waste.

Sarah Haigh says, "I get a lot of comments about the research I do. I don’t mind people making jokes as long as they’re clean ones."

"There has been a lot of research into biofuels. There is a lot of energy already present in human waste. Nano-scale materials mean that you can harvest the hydrogen and turn it into hydrozene - which is basically rocket fuel."

She believes that a scaffold device holding a mixture of bacteria and tiny metal nano-particles will react with the water to extract useful hydrogen, with the remainder filtered again to produce clean water.

Dr Haigh, who working with scientists at Imperial College London and Durham University, was given an initial $100,000 (£63,000) from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

And the group stand to receive $1million from the Gates next year if they show how the chemical reactions they propose can actually work.

The researchers plan to have a prototype ready to demonstrate by 2013.

They plan on turning this essential everyday outing into an investment by developing materials that convert natural waste into a useable resource.

Is Japan's Fukushima Water safe?

A Japanese politician drank a glass of water taken from the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant to prove everything was safe.
Yasuhiro Sonoda seemed somewhat unsure as he swallowed the water, which had been scooped up from a puddle inside one of the damaged reactors.
"Just because I drank the water does not mean that its safety has been confirmed, so there is no significance to the act. I drank it because a request had been made.”

The parliamentary secretary for the Japanese cabinet office said he decided to drink the water after being constantly asked to "prove" the area around the plant was safe.
The Fukushima plant has been the hotbed of radioactive contamination fears after the reactor meltdowns.
A 20km (12 mile) no-go zone is still enforced around the plant, yet, Mr.Yasuhiro Sonoda drank water from that puddle.


(above photo shows steel tanks used to store radioactive wastewater that is accumulating at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant)

Contaminated Water and the Lawsuit

Former Camp Lejeune residents are suing base after drinking contaminated water for years.

The lawsuit states that the United States Government, through agents within the Department of Defense, knowingly exposed hundreds of thousands of Marines, sailors, their family members, and civilian employees to highly contaminated drinking water on the base at Camp Lejeune, while at the same time actively disseminating disinformation to those exposed in an effort to minimize the significance of the exposure.

Many scientists have called the drinking water contamination at Camp Lejeune the worst in the nation's history. The contaminated drinking water was consumed by an estimated one million people.

The lawsuit claims that exposure to the toxins caused numerous health problems including cancers, reproductive disorders and birth defects, among other maladies.

Carcinogen hexavalent chromium found in drinking water of 31 U.S. cities

An environmental group analyzed the drinking water in 35 cities across the United States,discovering that most contained hexavalent chromium, a carcinogen that was made famous by the movie "Erin Brockovich."

The results of the study, by the Environmental Working Group, is the first nationwide analysis of hexavalent chromium in drinking water to be made public.

This is being released as the Environmental Protection Agency is deciding whether to set a limit for hexavalent chromium in tap water.

Back in the early 1990s Hexavalent chromium was a commonly used industrial chemical and is still used in some industries, such as in chrome plating and the manufacturing of plastics and dyes.

The concern is, the chemical can leach into groundwater from natural ores.

The new study found hexavalent chromium in the tap water of 31 out of 35 cities sampled.

"This chemical has been so widely used by so many industries across the U.S. that this doesn't surprise me," said Erin Brockovich, (above photo) who fought on behalf of the residents of Hinkley, Calif., against Pacific Gas & Electric.  In that case, PG&E was accused of leaking hexavalent chromium into the town's groundwater for more than 30 years. The company paid $333 million in damages to more than 600 people and pledged to clean up the contamination.

"Our municipal water supplies are in danger all over the U.S.," Brockovich said. "This is a chemical that should be regulated."

Max Costa, with the department of environmental medicine at New York University's School of Medicine and is an expert in hexavalent chromium, called the new findings "disturbing."

"At this point, we should strive to not have any hexavalent chromium in drinking water" or at least limit the amounts to the level proposed by California, Costa wrote in an e-mail.

Hexavalent chromium has long been known to cause lung cancer when inhaled, but scientists only recently found evidence that it causes cancer in laboratory animals when ingested. It has been linked in animals to liver and kidney damage as well as leukemia, stomach cancer and other cancers.

Brendan Gilfillan, an EPA spokesman, said that the agency was aware of the new study by the Environmental Working Group and that the findings will be considered as the agency reviews total chromium in drinking water, work that is expected to be completed next year.

Ken Cook president of the Environmental Working Group, said that water utilities across the country are resistant to the regulation.

"It's not their fault. They didn't cause the contamination. But if a limit is set, it's going to be extraordinarily expensive for them to clean this up," Cook said. "The problem in all of this is that we lose sight of the water drinkers, of the people at the end of the tap. There is tremendous push-back from polluters and from water utilities. The real focus has to be on public health."

The report will be available Monday at www.ewg.org

Here are the cities:

1. Norman, Oklahoma
2. Honolulu, Hawaii
3. Riverside, California
4. Madison, Wisconsin
5. San Jose, California
6. Tallahasse

­e, Florida
7. Omaha, Nebraska
8. Albuquerqu­e, New Mexico
9. Pittsburgh­, Pennsylvan­ia
10. Bend, Oregon
11. Salt Lake City, Utah
12. Ann Arbor, Michigan
13. Atlanta, Georgia
14. Los Angeles, California
15. Bethesda, Maryland
16. Phoenix, Arizona
17. Washington­, D.C.
18. Chicago, Illinois
19. Milwaukee, Wisconsin
20. Villanova, Pennsylvan­ia
21. Sacramento­, California
22. Louisville­, Kentucky
23. Syracuse, New York
24. New Haven, Connecticu­t
25. Buffalo, New York
26. Las Vegas, Nevada
27. New York, New York
28. Scottsdale­, Arizona
29. Miami, Florida
30. Boston, Massachuse­tts
31. Cincinnati­, Ohio

But We Like Bottled Water

There was a four year study of 103 brands of bottled water where one-third contained levels of bacteria or carcinogens that exceeded purity guidelines, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) reported.
"Bottled waters do not generally pose a major public health threat", said study author Erik Olson, "most water is free of contaminants."
The suggestion here is, water in a bottle doesn't mean it is any safer, purer or better than water that comes out of your tap.
A lot of us have believed that bottled water contains no chlorine or harmful chemicals, the study found that fluoride, phthalate, trihalomethanes and arsenic, a known carcinogen, can be found in some bottled waters.
There is some concern about the presence of bacteria in bottled water that might pose health concerns with some infants, the frail elderly, some chemotherapy patients and others with weakened immune systems.
As a food product, bottled water is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration and required to show nutrition information and ingredients on its labels. Municipal water is under the control of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The two agencies have similar standards for water quality, but the FDA has less authority to enforce them. water.

The FDA has yet to set standards for DEHP, one of several chemicals known as phthalates that are found in many household products, while the EPA limits the presence of phthalates in tap water.
Community water systems must distribute annual reports about their water's source, contaminants and possible health concerns.

After all is said and done we probably will continue to drink bottled water, simply because it tastes better.

Astronauts Drink Their Own Recycled Pee

Astronauts Drink Their Own Recycled Pee Oh boy…On Wednesday, astronauts aboard the international space station got their first taste of drinking water recycled from their own urine.As they toasted one another, American astronaut Michael Barratt marveled, “The taste is great.”
WATCH THE ACTION
After watching the video might we ask,“what was everyone at mission control drinking?” This takes Food & Beverage to a brand new level, cheers!