Water treatment and storage

another one for the file: Scandinavian water technologies http://www.scan-water.com/home.php

They make portable water treatment, storage and distribution systems.  the one that caught my eye, giant water beds (they call them pillow tanks), for storing potable water, one model for stationary storage, another to be loaded on a flatbed truck.

I've been looking at the pool in the back yard, and thinking that would be a cheap way to have a cistern/water storage tank... similar system could be used for irrigation water as well.

got there via this link

Support systems...

Here's an article recently published in the ontario society for professional engineers news letter. (link) It talks about how important it is for the local system to be in place to support infrastructure development.  Things like management, construction standards, accounting systems must be in place for large infrastructure systems to work.  Even for relatively small systems, if the support structures are not there, the projects will eventually fail.  This means its not just the technology, its the people and how they relate, the responsibility and social structures that are as important as the tools....

another man to watch: Al Hammond

Working in rural india, but planning to scale much larger, Al Hammond is developing a way to make affordable medical care in remote areas.  Local staff trained to run equipment and tests, tele-connected to doctors in urban areas, they can provide doctors visits or diagnostic tests for $1.  The local clinics also provide clean water at a reasonable price $1.50 for a month's supply.

Fast company article

Youtube video describing and demonstrating how it works.

Association for agriculture and rural development - Ghana

http://www.ecasard.org/

Africa: Just ask

Here's a well written article from Worldwatch Institute: Thinking Big by Starting Small. It talks about listening to farmers on the ground to find out what they need to provide food and a living for themselves.

I've been a fan of Vinay Gupta since i first ran into his Reykjavik breifing a while back.  Here's another briefing he gave to another group in the US government.

http://files.howtolivewiki.com/star_tides_ndu_briefing_8_apr_08/

It includes lots of links.  Alot of the focus is on disaster relief, but Vinay throughout and particularly at the end links the two concepts of disaster relief and development to the same fundamental issues of protecting life and building infrastructure.

Launch ideas on Sustainability

Here's another interesting article:


LAUNCH (warning, auto-play video) is an organization from the US, including NASA, the State Department and Nike, looking into ideas about sustaining life on the planet...

First area of concern: Water

Ideas:
semipermiable pipe to irrigate plants using salt water...
floating sensors for water quality and flow measurement, particularly during disasters
solar powered UV light and sand filters for purifying water in Rwanda...

other areas to be tackled in future: energy, food, air...