Lessons From Camden Ohio’s Water Emergency
Most residents of the United States take their overall water security as a given; certainly, some in the desert southwest worry that they will need to make choices between which fields to water and which to abandon but very few worry about where they will get their fresh drinking water. Imagine if that changed. For the residents of one small town in western Ohio, it did change; their town’s water supply became so fouled that it was impossible to supply the residents with drinking water and emergency measures had to be put in place. In this, the first of a three part series, H2Bid will examine this catastrophe and its impact on the town of Camden, Ohio.
Is Chloramine a Better Disinfectant for Water Systems?
Water disinfection is critical to supplying clean, safe drinking water; many technologies and chemistries exist to aid water system managers in the task of supplying clean water. Ultraviolet disinfection, ozonation, and filtration are often employed. Additionally, chlorine is widely used; well known for its ability to disinfect water, chlorine was perhaps the most common means of water purification in the last century. One group of chemicals that is gaining in popularity are chloramines; chloramines are a potential alternative to chlorination that have been in use for decades, but some have questioned their use.
Rivers Under Stress
Rivers, one of the greatest sources of freshwater on the planet may be in peril according to a new study recently published in the journal Nature. The study found, among other things, that rivers worldwide are experiencing similar stresses and are being degraded. Rivers most removed from human populations – in the arctic and the tropics – appear to be in the best state.
The symptoms of this degradation are almost as complex as the causes. Agricultural intensification, industrial development and river habitat modification were noted in the majority of the world’s watersheds. No longer limited to the developed world, the damage appears far-flung and crosses many economic and cultural boundaries.
The symptoms of this degradation are almost as complex as the causes. Agricultural intensification, industrial development and river habitat modification were noted in the majority of the world’s watersheds. No longer limited to the developed world, the damage appears far-flung and crosses many economic and cultural boundaries.