Water, Sewage & Effluent November-December 2016 | Page 10

World Russia to fund Iran’ s water projects
Russia has opened a USD5-billion credit line to invest in Iran’ s plans to develop its water resources, Iran’ s semi-official Mehr news agency reports.
The two countries have been cooperating on projects to explore and exploit deep-water resources in the country, and an earlier agreement on the projects included the allocation of a credit line by Russia.
A portion of the credit line will be utilised for joint exploration activities in the deep waters of Iran, with the exploration project expected to cost USD250-million.
Iran and Australia also recently signed a memorandum of understanding on water management and optimal utilisation of water resources. Iran signed a similar agreement with South Africa in April to co-operate on water resources management.
A recent study by the World Resources Institute ranks Iran as the world’ s 24th most water-stressed nation. u
Dubai Water Canal nears completion
The Dubai Water Canal— one of the city’ s biggest projects— is expected to be completed in November, says Dubai’ s transport authority.
According to the Roads and Transport Authority, final touches to the USD545-million project are under way in preparation for its official opening.
Once completed, the Dubai Water Canal will be 6m deep and will be crossed by 8m-high bridges, with new public places and facilities surrounding the canal. It will also boast a shopping centre, four hotels, 45 restaurants, luxury housing, walkways and cycle paths. Modern water transport will serve the waterfront, resulting in improved quality of water in the Dubai Creek. u
Water and environment library shelf campaign unveiled
The Water Research Commission( WRC) recently partnered with the Outlook Foundation to launch a campaign aimed at raising awareness about the water and environmental issues that affect most communities.
The partnership entails sharing the latest water research studies with South Africa’ s municipal libraries and Thusong Centres, offering specific information relevant to the towns, cities and catchments in which these information centres are situated. This campaign aims to feed community centre shelves continually with water and environment knowledge resources.
The need for this resource has become more urgent as South Africa faces severe water shortages, which are further exacerbated by extreme weather events associated with climate change, such as droughts and floods. Through this intervention, knowledge generated by current water research will be made easily accessible for the benefit of communities and decision-making authorities.
Dr Curtis Mabena, director of transformation at the Department of Water and Sanitation, notes,“ We forget that we are drinking water that comes from our sewage systems. If you see people dumping rubbish in our rivers, dams and drainage systems, you should be concerned because you are going to drink that water one day.”
Mabena further stresses that people are disposing hazardous objects such as soiled baby nappies, sanitary products, dead animals, human excrements and foetuses within the environment, unaware that the very same water will be processed, chemically cleaned, and returned for reuse, including human consumption. u
Hundreds of thousands take part in clean-up
Hundreds of thousands of volunteers around the world recently participated in Ocean Conservancy’ s 31st International Coastal Cleanup to stem the tide of trash entering the ocean.
“ Marine debris is a serious concern for the health of our ocean,” says Allison Schutes, senior manager for Ocean Conservancy’ s Trash Free Seas Programme.“ Fortunately, this is a problem that we can solve, and through our International Coastal Cleanup we get a glimpse of the impact of this global community that is working for a future of trash free seas.”
The International Coastal Cleanup is the world’ s largest single-day volunteer effort to remove trash from local waterways, beaches, lakes and rivers. This year, volunteers used Ocean Conservancy’ s Clean Swell app( available for free download from the App Store and Google Play) to document every piece of trash collected for the Ocean Trash Index: the world’ s largest database on marine debris. In the past three decades, more than 225 million items of trash have been logged and removed from our beaches and waterways by more than 11.5 million volunteers.
Marine debris is harmful to marine environments and wildlife, especially marine plastic debris, which has been documented as harming nearly 700 species of wildlife. Every year, an estimated eight-million tonnes of plastic waste flows into the ocean, and at least 80 % of ocean plastic originates from land-based sources. Without concerted global action, there could be 1t of plastic for every 3t of finned fish by 2025, leading to significant environmental, economic and health issues. u
8 Water Sewage & Effluent November / December 2016