Water
is life
"Water is not essential to
life. It is life itself," said French author Saint-Exupéry.
Sixty percent of an adult's body weight is made up of water.
Put another way, an adult weighing 80 kilos is made up of
more than 48 litres of water. A part of this water can be
found in the blood which irrigates the body's organs. This
water is said to be circulating. The rest is contained in
the composition of the organs themselves : 90 percent of the
brain, 79 percent of the heart and lungs, 76 percent of the
liver, 22 percent of the bones and (who would have believed
it?) 10 percent of teeth. These figures are enough to demonstrate
the importance of water
in our lives.
Fortunately adults absorb about
2.5 litres of water every day. 1.5 litres in drinks, the other
litre in food. Water allows us to eliminate toxins, to regulate
our body temperature (by perspiration) and to transport vitamins,
nutrients and the other minerals throughout the body. This
explains that while a healthy adult can go without food for
30 days, it is impossible to last three days without water.
Water for People
Water For People (WFP) is a program
that helps people in developing countries improve their quality
of life by supporting sustainable drinking water, sanitation
and hygiene projects. The Western Canada Section of WFP promotes
awareness of the drinking water and sanitation problems in
developing countries and encourages donations and fundraising
activities to support WFP projects that are addressing these
issues.
Chasing technology
Following the recent water contamination
incidents in Walkerton and North Battleford, municipal leaders
and staff have been bombarded with information on the merits
of the numerous water purification technologies on the market.
The challenge is making sense of it all. As a primer, the
table below provides some basic information on which technologies
address which water impurities. The table summarizes only
some of the more common technologies; suppliers should be
asked for more information on what else is available and the
benefits of each type of system. |
