Moringa oleifera Tree Provides Low-Cost Water Purification Method For Developing World

March 3, 2010

A low-cost water purification technique published in Current Protocols in Microbiology could help drastically reduce the incidence of waterborne disease in the developing world. The procedure, which uses seeds from the Moringa oleifera tree, can produce a 90.00% to 99.99% bacterial reduction in previously untreated water, and has been made free to download as part of access programs under John Wiley & Sons’ Corporate Citizenship Initiative.

A billion people across Asia, Africa, and Latin America are estimated to rely on untreated surface water sources for their daily water needs. Of these, some two million are thought to die from diseases caught from contaminated water every year, with the majority of these deaths occurring among children under five years of age. Michael Lea, a Current Protocols author and a researcher at Clearinghouse, a Canadian organisation dedicated to investigating and implementing low-cost water purification technologies, believes the Moringa oleifera tree could go a long way to providing a solution.

“Moringa oleifera is a vegetable tree which is grown in Africa, Central and South America, the Indian subcontinent, and South East Asia. It could be considered to be one of the world’s most useful trees,” said Lea. “Not only is it drought resistant, it also yields cooking and lighting oil, soil fertilizer, as well as highly nutritious food in the form of its pods, leaves, seeds and flowers. Perhaps most importantly, its seeds can be used to purify drinking water at virtually no cost.”

Moringa tree seeds, when crushed into powder, can be used as a water-soluble extract in suspension, resulting in an effective natural clarification agent for highly turbid and untreated pathogenic surface water. As well as improving drinkability, this technique reduces water turbidity (cloudiness) making the result aesthetically as well as microbiologically more acceptable for human consumption.

Despite its live-saving potential, the technique is still not widely known, even in areas where the Moringa is routinely cultivated. It is therefore Lea’s hope that the publication of this technique in a freely available protocol format, a first, will make it easier to disseminate the procedure to the communities that need it.

“This technique does not represent a total solution to the threat of waterborne disease,” concluded Lea. “However, given that the cultivation and use of the Moringa tree can bring benefits in the shape of nutrition and income as well as of far purer water, there is the possibility that thousands of 21st century families could find themselves liberated from what should now be universally seen as19th century causes of death and disease. This is an amazing prospect, and one in which a huge amount of human potential could be released. This is particularly mind-boggling when you think it might all come down to one incredibly useful tree.”

SOURCE: Wiley-Blackwell

DWR Announces Third Snow Survey Results Of 2009-2010 Winter Season

SACRAMENTO – Manual and electronic readings today indicate that water content in California’s mountain snowpack is 107 percent of normal for the date. This time last year, snow water content statewide was 80 percent of normal. “Today’s readings boost our hope that we will be able to increase the State Water Project allocation by this spring to deliver more water to our cities and farms,” said Department of Water Resources (DWR) Director Mark Cowin. “But we must remember that even a wet winter will not fully offset three consecutive dry years or pumping restrictions to protect Delta fish so we must continue to conserve and protect our water resources.”Lake Oroville, the State Water Project’s principal storage reservoir, is recovering slowly after three dry years. Despite recent storms, its storage level today is only 55 percent average for this time of year. It is also expected that dry soil conditions will absorb much of the snowpack’s water content that otherwise would help to replenish streams and reservoirs during the spring and early summer melt.

On February 26, the State Water Project allocation was increased from 5 to 15 percent of requested amounts. If wet weather continues, the final allocation this spring likely will be in the range of 35-45 percent of requested amounts. The figure will partially be determined by how the fishery agency restrictions on pumping are applied, which will determine how much flexibility DWR has to export water from the Delta.

In 2009, the State Water Project delivered 40 percent of customer requests. The federal Central Valley Project in 2009 was only able to deliver 10 percent of contracted amounts to some agricultural areas in the San Joaquin Valley. The reduced deliveries were due both to dry weather and fishery agency pumping  restrictions to protect fish species; principally Delta smelt, salmon, and longfin smelt.

The average of final State Water Project allocations over the past 10 years has been 68 percent of the amount requested by the 29 public agencies with long-term contracts to purchase SWP water.

Results of today’s manual snow survey by the Department of Water resources off Highway 50 near Echo Summit are as follows:
Location        Elevation        Snow Depth     Water Content  % of Long Term Average
Alpha                   7,600 feet      74.3 inches      26.2 inches        94
Phillips Station      6,800 feet      76.3 inches      25.1 inches        102
Lyons Creek          6,700 feet      79.4 inches      26.9 inches        105
Tamarack Flat       6,500 feet      77.8 inches      26.2 inches        112

Electronic sensor readings show northern Sierra snow water equivalents at 126 percent of normal for the date, central Sierra at 93 percent, and southern Sierra  at 109 percent. The sensor readings are posted at http://cdec.water.ca.gov/cgiprogs/snow/DLYSWEQ.

Importance of Snow Surveying
Snow water content is important in determining water supply. The measurements   help hydrologists prepare water supply forecasts as well as provide others, such as hydroelectric power companies and the recreation industry, with needed data. Monitoring is coordinated by the Department of Water Resources as part of the multi-agency California Cooperative Snow Surveys Program. Surveyors from  more than 50 agencies and utilities visit hundreds of snow measurement courses in California’s mountains to gauge the amount of water in the snowpack.

The Department of Water Resources operates and maintains the State Water Project, provides dam safety and flood control and inspection services, assists local water districts in water management and water conservation planning, and plans for future statewide water needs. Contact the DWR Public Affairs Office for more information about DWR’s water activities.

I have been a proponent of water conservation for 25 years and am more active than ever in promoting the proper use of irrigation in our community.  I have found that most people are conscious of the need to be conservative water users, but there really is no incentive for many others not to save water.  In these cases, stricter restrictions may be necessary.  However, those of us that have been saving water for years, should not be penalized for not being able to save more than is reasonable.  The City of Los Angeles is proposing a law that would require us to save more water when it is raining than nature itself can.

Los Angeles may require storm water recapture beginning in 2011, but the proposed law may have gone to the extreme.

The fairly new approach to managing storm water and urban runoff is designed to mitigate the negative effects of urbanization by controlling runoff at its source, which is parking lots, rooftops, driveways and streets, with small, cost-effective natural systems instead of treatment facilities. These “natural” systems would be rain gardens for small parcels and holding ponds for larger areas.  But  “larger” areas that have no land for holding ponds will have to install not so natural underground holding and or dispersement systems.  And these systems are not small or cost effective.

The proposed law would require new homes, larger developments and some redevelopments in Los Angeles to capture and reuse runoff generated in rainstorms. Reducing this runoff improves water quality and recharges groundwater, which is a great thing.

The proposed ordinance approved in January by the Department of Public Works could go into effect by 2011 and would require such projects to capture, reuse or infiltrate 100 percent of runoff generated in a 3/4 -inch rainstorm or to pay a storm water pollution mitigation fee that would help fund off-site, low-impact public developments.

With a project I am consulting on right now, the developer will be installing a system sized to his water needs.  100% of the water necessary to irrigate his landscape during the dry season will be captured and held for use from the rainfall captured over the course of the entire winter season.  It is not realistically possible, either physically or financially to catch more than this on the available land, nor is there a reason to do so.

I do not understand how we should be forced to capture the 3/4 inch rainfall amount to be mitigated if it is more than nature itself can save.  Runoff in our local foothills can occur with as little as 1/4 inch of rain. And what do you do if you have a 3/4 inch rain event followed closely by a second event?  It is unreasonable to have to trap 1-1 1/2 inches of water under ground until it can infiltrate into the ground or be used.

LA Board of Public Works Commissioner Paula Daniels, who drafted the ordinance last July, said the new requirements would prevent 104 million gallons of polluted urban runoff from ending up in the ocean. Under the ordinance, builders would be required to use rainwater storage tanks, permeable pavement, infiltration swales or curb bump-outs to manage the water where it falls. Builders unable to manage 100 percent of a project’s runoff on site would be required to pay a penalty of $13 a gallon of runoff not handled there—a requirement the Building Industry Assn. has been fighting.

Some building projects, such as those in downtown L.A. or areas where the soil is high in clay, would have difficulty with the 100 percent retention rule and that the $13-a-gallon mitigation fee is too high. A one-acre building on ground where runoff could not be managed on site, Schroeder said, could pay a fee as high as $238,000.

Realistically, storing water for our use during the dry season, installing rain gardens to hold water so that it can infiltrate into the ground naturally and being conservative with the use of our water is what we should be doing now.  Being penalized for mother nature raining ¾ inch at a time is unrealistic.

Homeowners in LA may have to maintain their own trees

Los Angeles’ top budget analyst, Miguel Santana, is urging council members to focus on very bracing financial challenges in the years ahead which would include outsourcing landscape maintenance operations normally done by city workers.

The Los Angeles City Council could vote this week on whether to proceed with the elimination of 1,000 positions to address this year’s $208-million deficit and the city’s dwindling reserve fund. Santana urged city officials to immediately begin seeking private contractors for the convention center, municipal golf courses, city parking garages and the zoo. For example, a proposed pilot program in the parks department would contract out 20 percent of its landscaping duties. And L.A. residents could soon see some unpleasant changes.

Tree trimming may no longer be a service that Angelenos can count on. Because of prior budget cuts, very few of the city’s palm trees will be trimmed this year, according to the report. In the future, the city’s top budget analyst is asking City Council members to consider reducing the costs of street tree trimming “to the bare minimum” and returning “responsibility for street tree maintenance to the abutting property owner,” as was the case before a change to city law in 1931.

Basically, UCI came to the conclusion that urban turf contributes to global warming. Now, I am a user of lawns, vendor of turf maintenance products and we support many companies that maintain turf. But, for over 25 years I have promoted sensible use of all plants in the landscape, including turf grasses. You will not find a single landscape in my portfolio that is wall to wall grass. Therefore, I feel I am unbiased by either the promoters of grass and sod products or those adamant that artificial turf or rock is the way of the future. Come to think of it, the artificial turf product manufacturers should be more wary of this study than the natural grass industry.

First is the rebuttal press release-

Monday, February 22,2010
Error in Turf Study Voids Conclusion

The University of California, Irvine, has acknowledged a computation error in their recently released study entitled, “Carbon Sequestration and Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Urban Turf.” The initial findings blamed common turf grass for contributing to global warming, but the findings were found to be based on incorrect data.

Upon review of the report, various flaws were discovered. The carbon from fuel consumption was multiplied by 12, one too many times, to convert from monthly to annual data. Another significant math error was made in computing the carbon consumed during mowing. When the computations were corrected, it was found that turfgrass actually is a net sequesterer of carbon dioxide, reversing the conclusions of the original report.

“The grass in your backyard is working hard to keep us cool, soak up carbon, capture particulates, produce oxygen, capture rain water and reduce run-off. We need to focus on the right plant in the right place and on management practices that maximize the environmental benefits potential of turfgrass,” said Kris Kiser, executive vice president of Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI).

OPEI also noted that the UCIrvine study did not acknowledge the dramatic reductions of emissions and fuel use profile for today’s gasoline and diesel equipment, nor did the study disclose what model equipment and corresponding fuel use numbers were used.

Here is the original release-

Be careful not to get this erroneous information into the hands of the wrong people.

Urban ‘Green’ Spaces May Contribute To Global Warming, UCI Study Finds

February 22, 2010

Irvine, CA - Dispelling the notion that urban “green” spaces help counteract greenhouse gas emissions, new research has found – in Southern California at least – that total emissions might be lower if lawns did not exist.

Turfgrass lawns help remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and store it as organic carbon in soil, making them important “carbon sinks.” However, greenhouse gas emissions from fertilizer production, mowing, leaf blowing and other lawn management practices are similar to or greater than the amount of carbon stored by ornamental grass in parks, a UC Irvine study shows. These emissions include nitrous oxide released from soil after fertilization. Nitrous oxide is a greenhouse gas that’s 300 times more powerful than carbon dioxide, the Earth’s most problematic climate warmer.

“Lawns look great – they’re nice and green and healthy, and they’re photosynthesizing a lot of organic carbon. But the carbon-storing benefits of lawns can be counteracted by greenhouse gas emissions,” said Amy Townsend-Small, Earth system science postdoctoral researcher and lead author of the study, forthcoming in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The research results are important to greenhouse gas legislation being negotiated. “We need this kind of carbon accounting to help reduce global warming,” Townsend-Small said. “The current trend is to count the carbon sinks and forget about the greenhouse gas emissions, but it clearly isn’t enough.”

Turfgrass is increasingly widespread in urban areas and covers 1.9 percent of land in the continental U.S., making it the most common irrigated crop.

In the study, Townsend-Small and colleague Claudia Czimczik analyzed grass in four parks near Irvine, Calif. Each park contained two types of turf: ornamental lawns (picnic areas) that are largely undisturbed, and athletic fields (soccer and baseball) that are trampled and replanted and aerated frequently.

The researchers evaluated soil samples over time to ascertain carbon storage, or sequestration, and they determined nitrous oxide emissions by sampling air above the turf. Then they calculated carbon dioxide emissions resulting from fuel consumption, irrigation and fertilizer production using information about lawn upkeep from park officials and contractors.

The study showed that nitrous oxide emissions from lawns were comparable to those found in agricultural farms, which are among the largest emitters of nitrous oxide globally.

In ornamental lawns, nitrous oxide emissions from fertilization offset just 10 percent to 30 percent of carbon sequestration. But fossil fuel consumption for management, the researchers calculated, released almost as much or more carbon dioxide than the plots could take up, depending on management intensity. Athletic fields fared even worse, because – due to soil disruption by tilling and resodding – they didn’t trap nearly as much carbon as ornamental grass but required the same emissions-producing care.

“It’s unlikely for these lawns to act as net greenhouse gas sinks because too much energy is used to maintain them,” Townsend-Small concluded.

Previous studies have documented lawns storing carbon, but this research was the first to compare carbon sequestration to nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide emissions from lawn grooming practices.

The UCI study was supported by the Kearney Foundation of Soil Science and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

SOURCE: University of California

So, math errors again factor into the global warming debacle.

What are your thoughts?

Frank

Although very fast growing in season, with little effort, the vines can be kept under control and can be used very nicely as an informal hedge-with some support, or to provide summer shade on an arbor or pergola.  To produce the best fruit and to help reduce mildew, it is best to grow the plants in full sun.

Here is a vine grown for wine production.

Grape Vines In Orchard With Fruit and Foliage

This is the structure of the vine when it is deciduous, or has lost its foliage in the winter.

Grape Vines In Orchard With No Fruit and Foliage Showing Structure

An older vine supported on a wire can add interesting branching structure, try this at home.

Mature Grape Vines In Orchard

Here are example of grapes grown on an overhead wire structure and pergola.

Grape Vines Can Be Grown On an Overhead Wire Structure

Grape Vines on Pergola Can Provide Fruit and Shade

This European city uses  much of its unused area as green space. Young grape vines grow in the median.

Grape Vines Grown in Median of Train Right of Way

I am not against paper, or trees being used to make paper. But the end users of paper have to be conscientious of how trees are used. Be frugal with paper, don’t print everything you find in the office, and recycle, recycle, recycle.

Great ad for paperless billing

The CUDO cube is what our clients selected in both cases.

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We reviewed the products manufactured by-

We looked at the following factors-

• Strength
• Cost of the units
• Ease of assembly
• Freight costs to get the units to us
• Labor to install the units and peripheral items unique to each system
• Other costs to complete the installation such as liner, underlayment, the need for geomembrane, heavy equipment or cranes, etc.
• Access for future maintenance

We found that few products offer features that make them unique, most just copy what is already on the market.  Other than rain caverns and the larger underground tank systems that are more industrial in nature, only the CUDO cube broke away from the common matrix block type of system.  It is also competitively priced and is the only cube system on the market that makes it serviceable.

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The CUDO cube allows you to build an underground reservoir that is serviceable.

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All systems must have pre filters built into them to keep sediment from entering the units. In rain water harvesting, storm water management, gray water catchment systems or potable water storage, a concern is often “How do you clean them out if debris accumulates in them”.  The larger one piece tanks and the CUDO system have access points that allow entry to the underground structures.  The matrix blocks do not allow access.  .

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Most of the systems use what are called matrix blocks. These blocks do not allow access once installation is complete.

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The one piece units have excellent access and are easy to clean out. However, heavy equipment such as cranes or large tractors have to be used to install them.

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One piece underground tanks have access ports built directly into them.

Here is a study done in Adelaide Australia-

Researchers from Monash University’s infectious disease epidemiology unit recruited 300 volunteer households in Adelaide for the test, the first of its kind.

The research was led by Associate Professor Karin Leder from the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine in conjunction with Water Quality Research Australia (previously the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Quality and Treatment).

“This is the first study of its kind. Until now, there has been no prospective randomised study to investigate the health effects of rainwater consumption, either in Australia or internationally,” Associate Professor Leder said.

The study involved three hundred volunteer households in Adelaide that were given a filter to treat their rainwater. Only half of the filters were real while the rest were ’sham’ filters that looked real but did not contain filters.

The householders did not know whether they had a real filter. Families recorded their health over a 12-month period, after which time the health outcomes of the two groups were compared.

“The results showed that rates of gastroenteritis between both groups were very similar. People who drank untreated rainwater displayed no measurable increase in illness compared to those that consumed the filtered rainwater,” Associate Professor Leder said.

This is not to say that there was no illness. Though the households reported 769 episodes of gastroenteritis over the year, there was no statistically significant difference in gastrointestinal illness between ‘real’ versus ’sham’ filter households.

Adelaide was the location chosen for the study as it the city with the highest use of rainwater tanks in Australia.

Associate Professor Leder said some health authorities had doubts about drinking rainwater due to safety concerns, particularly in cities where good quality mains-water is available. The main concern was susceptibility to contamination with micro-organisms and chemicals.

“This study confirms there is a low risk of illness. The results may not be applicable in all situations; nevertheless these findings about the low risk of illness from drinking rainwater certainly imply that it can be used for activities such as showering/bathing where inadvertent or accidental ingestion of small quantities may occur.

“Expanded use of rainwater for many household purposes can be considered and in current times of drought, we want to encourage people to use rainwater as a resource,” she said.

The study was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council and Water Quality Research Australia. And the research will be presented at the American Public Health Association 137th Annual Meeting in Philadelphia on November 11, 2009.