Starbucks Wasting More Than 6 Million Gallons of Water a Day
October 14, 2008 by admin
Filed under World's Water
American coffee giant Starbucks became the target of conservationists today after an investigation by the U.K. newspaper The Sun estimated that the company wasted up to 6 million gallons of water every day, enough to quell the thirst of a small African nation.
As part of a company policy aimed at preventing germ buildup in its taps, Starbucks stores are directed to keep water running constantly into a sink, called a dipper well, to clean utensils and wash away food residue, The Sun reported.
As a result of running water all day, every day at each of the company’s 10,000 worldwide coffee emporiums, Starbucks wastes water in an amount The Sun estimated to be “enough daily water for the entire 2 million strong population of drought-hit Namibia in Africa or fill an Olympic pool every 83 minutes.”
The investigation was launched after a couple who spotted a running tap at a U.K. Starbucks were told by a store employee that it was left on to clean the pipes. They contacted Starbucks head office to find out more and later received a letter confirming that it was company policy to keep water constantly running into the dipper wells.
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Source: ABC News
Waste water crops are feeding millions
August 21, 2008 by admin
Filed under World's Water
STOCKHOLM-Vegetables, rice and other cereals in at least 53 cities in Asia, Africa and Latin America may someday come with warning labels that read “this is a byproduct of raw sewage”.
Against the backdrop of rising food prices and a shortage of drinking water worldwide, urban farmers are being forced to use either untreated waste water or polluted river water both for their agricultural needs and for their economic survival.
A 53-city survey finds the practice most common in some of the world’s poorest nations where waste water use is critical both to farmer’s incomes and urban food security while simultaneously raising critical health risks.
The study conducted by the Sri Lanka-based International Water Management Institute (IWMI) — and released to coincide with World Water Week in the Swedish capital of Stockholm — indicates that about 80 per cent of the cities surveyed are using untreated or partially treated waste-water for agriculture.
In over 70 per cent of the cities studied, more than half of urban agricultural land is irrigated with waste water that is either raw or diluted in streams.
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Source: Business Daily
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