johnleesandiego

Suburban Solutions

3/29/09

by: johnleesandiego

Here in the suburbs of New York City it is very easy to feel helpless about the issue of fresh water - the problems of which are a world away. Fresh water is so abundant here, and cheap. Being from California I was shocked that my 3 month water bill here was less than a month in San Diego, but that's another story altogether.

In much of the United States there is a great deal of education and awareness of what is downstream. By now just about everyone has at least heard of the dangers to water supplies, both fresh and nearby oceans, from storm water runoff. Trash in the steets, dog waste, oils and other drippings from cars make their way to rivers, lakes, estuaries and the ocean by way of storm drains. We don't however give much thought to where all that storm water comes from.

With the massive amounts of paving across the United States, water that normally would have percolated into the soil and find its way to aquifers if making its way into the storm drain system. So what can I do?

In the past few weeks, and as the weather gets a bit warmer in the coming weeks, I will be redirecting the downspouts on my house so that the rainwater that was being directed toward the street will now find its way into the gardens. An area of my front lawn is scheduled to be dug out just a little, creating a depression, to collect some of the water so that it has a better chance to percolate into the soil.

Even though I have gardened organically for years, and despite not watering the lawns have always had the greenest most lush lawn in the neighborhood, I realized that the run off from my property while not toxic does contribute to erosion river banks during storms, and anything eroded from the Third River and Passaic River evenually finds its way into New York Harbor - so I do have a global impact.

My little effort isn't going to change the world, but if, like Earth Hour, a few people catch on, and a few more do it a bit later, real change can occur in our own back yards.

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  • World Water Day

    http://www.unwater.org/worldwa…

    On March 22, 2011 - World Water Day - lend your voice and Blogs, and join the Global advocacy for access to clean water.

    International World Water Day is held annually on 22 March as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. An international day to celebrate freshwater was recommended at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). The United Nations General Assembly responded by designating 22 March 1993 as the first World Water Day. March 2005 - March 2015 has been designated by the United Nations as an International decade for bringing global attention to the increasing water crisis. The theme for the decade is - "Celebrating Water for Life: the International Decade for Action 2005-2015". For more information, please download the official PDF document from the World Health Organization (WHO) at this link: http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/en/2005advocacyguide.pdf This year, March 22 2011, the theme will be "Water For Cities : Responding To The Urban Challenge". It is sometimes taken for granted that only rural areas face a water crisis. Thus this year's theme should clear up that misconception and increase awareness to the grave water challenges faced in urban centers. In 2010, the theme was "Clean Water For A Healthy World". The focus of that particular theme was to help broaden knowledge that the curing or managing the treatment of the world's major diseases, and sustaining good health in general is impossible without clean water. In 2009, the theme for World Water Day was "Shared Water - Shared Opportunities". Special focus was placed on transboundary waters. Nurturing the opportunities for cooperation in transboundary water management can help build mutual respect, understanding and trust among countries and promote peace, security and sustainable economic growth. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) leads the activities of the World Water Day 2009 with the support of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).