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Bottled water is surely one of the biggest jokes ever played on humanity. With plentiful supplies of clean water, first world countries still spends a horrifying amount of money on boutique water — some sourced from half-way around the globe.

The image above is but a piece of a stunning infographic from Online Education detailing the damaging effects of bottled water on our planet — and wallets. Check out the full image after the jump below:

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A 12-mile-long massive iceberg (twice the size of Hong Kong island) is headed towards Australia in what scientists are calling a “once-in-a-century event.”

The 54 square-mile ice slab known as B17B, is currently about 1,000 miles south of the continent. Initially three times as big, it broke off of the Antarctic about 10 years ago and has been slowly floating around. It’s current path north is unusual — and incredibly rare. “I’m guessing you would probably have to go back to the times of the clipper ships,” one glaciologist told USA Today.

B17B is expected to break up into smaller, but still hazardous chunks as it enters warmer waters and moves closer to Australia. It joins two other large icebergs currently floating down under — as well as several hundred currently infesting the waters around New Zealand.

Researchers warn that as global warming effects the colder regions of our planet, icebergs of this size are likely to occur more often.

Back in June of last year, we dropped the story that harvesting rain water in Colorado was actually an illegal activity. We commented on just how dumb this law was — and over 100 comments later, many of you agreed. Almost a year later, the Colorado legislature has revised the draconian law to give some homeowners rights the water that falls from their roofs. But not everyone will be happy. From the article,

If you live in the city, don’t install a barrel under your gutter spout just yet. The legislation lets residents on wells collect rain and establishes 10 pilot projects for new developments. Residents on municipal water still can’t legally collect rain, and water suppliers are leery of legislation that would let them. “All the water was spoken for here in the Arkansas Basin 100 years ago or more,” said Kevin Lusk, water supply engineer for Colorado Springs Utilities. “If the water falls as rain, that’s water that was going to get to the stream system, and somebody already has dibs on it, and if somebody intercepts that, it’s the same as stealing.”

The same as stealing? Give me a break. If a homeowner owns property, they should have rights to use the water that falls on that parcel. “If you can just use what’s coming out of the sky, it saves energy costs, it saves transportation costs, and ultimately, at the end of the day, it should save us on using forms of water that have to be treated,” said CO State Rep. Marsha Looper, R-Calhan. I agree with her 100%.

Even with the new laws, you’ll still need to fill out a stupid application if you’d like to legally collect rainwater on your property. For more details on how to jump through the hoops, click here.

Back in November, British banking giant HSBC did a clever thing with a swimming pool: they took a picture of New York City from above and applied it to the bottom to make a point about climate change and rising sea levels. The effect is nothing short of amazing. My eyeballs are still having trouble not believing these people aren’t swimming a thousand feet above the NY skyline. Granted, sea levels would never rise that much — and the water probably wouldn’t be crystal clear (or toxin-free) — but, it still makes you think.

via neatorama

Ever forward on my mission to get more people using rain barrels, I wanted to draw some attention today to the beauty of rain chains. Since aesthetics outside the home is often of great importance to some, plastic or metal downspouts can sometimes be less than pleasing going into your rustic rain barrel. Rain chains are a nice alternative if you’re looking for something else to complete the picture. Harvest H20 gives us a great description of how they work:

They are hung from the corners of your roof or canale to guide the flow of water into large barrels to catch the water from the roof for household purposes and gardening. They have been used for hundreds of years in Japan, and are a perfect expression of the Japanese knack for combining aesthetics and practicality. The principle is simple – rain chains do exactly what downspouts do, but they do it in a way that brings visual pleasure and delight. Rain swirls and flows down, creating a mesmerizing sense of motion and tranquility right outside your window. And they are beautiful on dry days too, as over time, copper rain chains develop a rich blue-green patina.

It should be noted that rain chains are not recommended for areas prone to severe rain storms — or where gathering every drop is crucial. Downspouts are most efficient for that type of climate. However, if you’re still contemplating adding a rain barrel to the mix — but want the system to blend a bit better with your home — something like a rain chain might be a great idea. For a good selection, jump here – or try here.

As we saw yesterday, there are plenty of clever ways to go about integrating your rain barrel into something a bit more in tune with nature. This beautiful new concept rain water harvester called CISTA from MOSS SUND and figlforty takes things a step further by essentially combining a vining plant and a vertical rain barrel in one. This grouping gives homes a sort of vertical garden — and its place in urban environments, where space is tight — would certainly be welcome. As Inhabitat writes,

It can collect up to 100 gallons of water at a time, creating enough water pressure to operate a soaker hose housed in a storage compartment at the base of the unit. A climbing plant like ivy is planted at the base and naturally winds its way up into the frame. The LED water-level indicator lets you know if the CISTA needs a little help, the system can be expanded both horizontally and vertically, and thanks to its nesting design it can be efficiently shipped.

What’s intriguing about this design is that it could easily also be done as a Do-It-Yourself project. Sans the LED water-monitoring, integrating a water bladder with a vetical structure conducive to vining plants might be something anyone could try. In fact, the CISTA plans for showing how all of this could come together is readily available in their PDF on the concept. I’m not saying it would be easy, but in terms of saving money, it would probably be worth it.

CISTA will be appearing next at the 2009 Green Living Show in Toronto as part of the Green-Ovations feature display from April 24 – 26 at the Direct Energy Centre.

Please excuse my headline, as it’s not meant to classify all old ladies living throughout the nation as anti-rain barrel, manicured-lawn-loving, nosey individuals. I have just happened to experience such a person in my past — and their reaction to some of my green projects — and couldn’t resist.

But back to the subject — this rain barrel planter from Yardiac is a nice way to disguise your eco-conscious decision to save precious water. It’s also great for those that are less impressed with the hourglass design of most rain catchers and are looking for something a bit “boxier”. Its 55-gallon capacity will certainly fill up quickly — but for watering the flowers or vegetable garden, it should fit the bill. Plus, those flowers will come in handy for appeasing the old lady after you install that wind turbine in your back yard. <grin>.

Available for $235 at Yardiac.

 Susan Carpenter, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer  shares her DIY greywater installation experience:

Check out her original article here.

via: re-nest

Like Colorado, Utah has laws on the books that make it illegal to collect rainwater that falls on one’s property.  A Utah car dealer installed a cistern and rainwater collection system to feed a on-site car wash that has water recycling technology. This was in an attempt to “go green”.  He was thwarted by the state government, and eventually had to work out a deal.  Local residents who collect rainwater will not be bothered at this point because “there are bigger fish to fry”.  Video clip of news report below.

via puppetgov

We all know the effects that storm water runoff has on our local watersheds. When the rain water fills up the gutters along the street it carries with it pollutants right into streams, lakes and our oceans. These pollutants are extremely damaging to the wildlife and flora that make those watersheds home.

Abtech Industires a Scottsdale, AZ company has a solution to help fight the nonpoint pollution at the curb.

AbTech’s Smart Sponge®Plus technology, the only non-toxic, fully recyclable filtration system that destroys bacteria at the street level.

The presence of bacteria in stormwater is a serious problem and poses significant health risks that increasingly result in the contamination of water bodies. Water quality standards for bacteria count are very strictly monitored in most coastal areas and small increases in bacteria counts can trigger beach closures. Nearly 20,000 beach closings and advisories were reported in 2007 alone. The greatest opportunity to reduce this bacterial count is during rain events through the control and treatment of stormwater runoff. This can be achieved either expensively, utilizing heavy equipment, ultraviolet light or chlorine treatment (all of which may be cost prohibitive to most municipalities); or, inexpensively thru the introduction of filtration products such as AbTech’s Ultra-Urban®Filter with Smart Sponge®Plus located in stormwater drain entrances.

This product is being used in several municipalities around the US and is also ideal for use in large commercial situations like airports, marinas, etc. According to AbTech’s site their technology is being used in 36 different states.

Smart Sponge® fully encapsulates recovered oil, resulting in a substantially more effective response that prevents absorbed oil from leaching. It is also capable of removing low levels of oil from water, thereby successfully removing sheen. In addition, the Smart Sponge® remains buoyant in calm or agitated water, permitting it to remain in place until fully saturated and resulting in no wasted product. Once oil is absorbed, the Smart Sponge® transforms the pollutants into a stable solid for easy recycling, providing a closed-loop solution to water pollution.

This seems like a no brainer, install a filter at the collection point of the system and stop the contaminants from entering the system. They are expected to be replaced every 1-3 years depending on just how much of a filtering load they have had to deal with. The spent Smart Sponge has been used as a fuel in waste to energy facilities as well as a fuel in cement kilns.

Check out a Smart Sponge demo video here. And head over the AbTech site to read up on all the technical stuff here.