World Water Monitoring Day (WWMD) is celebrated on 18 September each year.

The South African Department of Water and Sanitation, under the slogan; “Enhancing accountability and sustainability for every drop!” says that World Water Monitoring Day is an international education and outreach program that builds public awareness of the importance of protecting water resources around the world by engaging with people to conduct basic monitoring of their local water bodies.

Straton Water Monitors say; “Along with monitoring and management of our water resources we would say that measurement of our water usage is the first step and of paramount importance as, simply, if you cannot measure you cannot manage or monitor!”

• Are you able to tell on a weekly, daily or even hourly basis just how much water your household consumes?
• Are you able to be alerted of any drastic changes in water usage patterns?
• Do you know if you have a leak?
• Are you in a water extraction restricted area?
• Do you you have tenanted properties and need to bill for water usage?

The addition of a simple IoT Water Monitor device from Straton Water Monitor will certainly assist you in the above with management at your fingertips via an Android App or online.

If you take these three facts into consideration: (1) Household leaks can waste more than 3.8 trillion liters annually nationwide. That’s equal to the annual household water use of more than 11 million homes. (2) Ten percent of homes have leaks that waste 340 liters or more per day and (3) A leaky tap that drips at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 11 400 liters per year – then it will become clear that managing water properly can lead to massive savings – not only of water but also of money leaking back down the drain!

The Straton Water Monitor is the first step in takling back control. This IoT Device simply plugs into the ‘probe hole’ on most meters, is self powered and communicates to any IoT enabled ‘tower’ as it communicates your water usage to an Android App or online browser. Exceptions are reported and leaks can be diagnosed long before they become a major problem.

“Our first installation of the Straton Water Monitor was in a self owned rental premises currently being used as a private school. On the first weekend after installation we were alerted to high water usage from what should have been an unoccupied building. Immediate investigation revealed a leaking toilet cistern that, if left unattended to, would have led to the loss of tens of thousands of liters of water which we would have paid hundreds of rands to the local municipality for,” says Straton.

World Water Monitoring Day is officially celebrated on September 18 annually, but monitoring and educational events can take place any time between March 22 and December 31 annually. During this time, people of all ages throughout the world community have an opportunity to monitor the quality of their local watersheds and enter the results of their efforts into an international database. Water boards and stakeholders also use this period to educate and create awareness on natural water resource monitoring targeting professionals and managers in the sector, across different disciplines and end users.

The SA Government Department’s Surface and Groundwater directorate (SGWI) engages in a wide variety of data collection and analysis activities such as specialised springs, transboundary aquifer and Acid Mine Drainage monitoring, surface and groundwater quality and level monitoring including rainfall station, in support of the public’s needs and in support of decision making processes. This is in line with adhering to the South African National Water Act (NWA, 36 of 1998) to protect and ensure all natural water resources are used and managed sustainably, and the public has reliable, affordable, accessible and good quality water on daily basis for domestic and economic use.

Monitoring these water resources and ensuring environmental sustainability further contributes towards the progress of achieving SDG goal(s) namely Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6);

• Target 6.3: By 2030, improve water quality by reducing pollution, eliminating dumping and minimizing release of hazardous chemicals and materials, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse globally
• Target 6.5: By 2030, implement integrated water resources management at all levels, including through transboundary cooperation as appropriate
• Target 6.6: By 2020, protect and restore water-related ecosystems, including mountains, forests, wetlands, rivers, aquifers and lakes
• WWMD activities are aligned with ensuring progress towards Target 6.B: Support and strengthen the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management

World Water Monitoring Day was established in 2003 by America’s Clean Water Foundation (ACWF) as a global educational outreach program. The program, subsequently named the “World Water Monitoring Challenge” and “EarthEcho Water Challenge,” aims to build public awareness and involvement in protecting water resources around the world by empowering citizens to carry out basic monitoring of their local water bodies. Roberta (Robbi) Savage, ACWF’s president and CEO created WWMD, and Edward Moyer was the first WWMD Coordinator.

A simple test kit enables everyone, children and adults, to sample local water bodies for a set of water quality parameters including temperature, acidity (pH), clarity (turbidity) and dissolved oxygen (DO). Information on purchasing low-cost test kits is available from the current sponsoring organization, EarthEcho International, and the results of monitoring events are then shared with participating communities around the globe on the sponsor’s website.

In South Africa:

• School-aged girls spend several hours a day trekking to and from deep water boreholes (wells).
• Women often walk 10-15 kilometers per day to carry 15 liters on their heads for the long trek home.
• Typically, 15 liters of water typically lasts a family for only a day or two.

Here is why we need to conserve water:

• Earths water supply is limited – we only have the water that we have now
• 97 Percent of all the water on the earth is salt water and hence, it is not suitable for drinking
• Out of the three percent fresh water, only one percent is available for drinking
• The other two percent is sealed in glaciers
• Every one of us relies on that one percent water for survival, so it should be one of our responsibilities to preserve and conserve water
• Saving water helps in preserving our environment. It reduces the energy required to process and deliver water, which helps in reducing pollution and in conserving fuel resources
• Saving water will make water available in the future
• It helps in building a better defence against future drought years
• We use water for many other and important reasons like making electricity, cleaning, cooking, irrigating, etc
• We need to conserve water so that our trees and plants can have life
• It is also needed for the survival of some endangered species.
• The water amount stays the same: Because of its cyclical nature, the amount of water that has ever been present on earth has remained the same since the beginning of time.
• Water is a sign of life: If scientists wish to search for life in dark unexplored corners of the earth or space, they will look for water as all the species known to humankind are dependent on water in one way or another.
• Water is good for temperature regulation: Your body’s temperature as well as the earth’s temperature is regulated by water.
• Water defies gravity: Unlike many other liquids, water can defy gravity, and a prime example of this is how water travels up a plant’s roots and through its inner vessels.

Water is Life – More Reasons Why:

Read on to find out why you could be drinking water that once passed though a dinosaur!

• The freezing point of water lowers as the amount of salt dissolved in at increases. With average levels of salt, seawater freezes at -2 °C (28.4 °F).
• About 6,800 gallons of water is required to grow a day’s food for a family of four.
• To create one pint of beer it takes 20 gallons of water.
• 780 million people lack access to an improved water source.
• In just one day, 200 million work hours are consumed by women collecting water for their families.
• 1/3 what the world spends on bottled water in one year could pay for projects providing water to everyone in need.
• Unsafe water kills 200 children every hour.
• It takes 454 liters of water for one egg.
• A jellyfish and a cucumber are each 95% water.
• 70% of the human brain is water.
• 80% of all illness in the developing world is water related.
• Up to 50% of water is lost through leaks in cities in the developing world.
• In Nairobi urban poor pay 10 times more for water than in New York.
• In some countries, less than half the population has access to clean water.
• $ 260 billion is the estimated annual economic loss from poor water and sanitation in developing countries.
• 40 billion hours are spent collecting water in Africa alone.
• A person can live about a month without food, but only about a week without water.
• Water expands by 9% when it freezes.
• There is about the same amount of water on Earth now as there was millions of years ago.
• 85% of the world population lives in the driest half of the planet.
• Agriculture accounts for ~70% of global freshwater withdrawals (up to 90% in some fast-growing economies).
• Various estimates indicate that, based on business as usual, ~3.5 planets Earth would be needed to sustain a global population achieving the current lifestyle of the average European or North American.
• 300 tons of water are required to manufacture 1 ton of steel.
• It takes about 145 liters per day to sustain a human (this figure takes into account all uses for water, like drinking, sanitation and food production).
• Each day, we also lose a little more than a cup of water (237 ml) when we exhale it.
• By 2025, water withdrawals are predicted to increase by 50 percent in developing countries and 18 percent in developed countries.
• By 2025 half the world’s people will live in countries with high water stress.
• A water-efficient dishwasher uses as little as 15 liters per cycle but hand washing dishes uses 56 liters of water.
• The average family of four uses 681 liters of water per day outdoors. It is estimated that over 50% is wasted from evaporation, wind, or overwatering.
• It takes more than twice the amount of water to produce coffee than it does tea.
• Chicken and goat are the least water intensive meats to consume.
• There have been 265 recorded incidences of water conflicts from 3000 BC to 2012.21
• Hot water can freeze faster than cold water under some conditions (commonly known as the Mpemba effect).
• If the entire world’s water were fit into a 4 liter jug, the fresh water available for us would equal only about one tablespoon.
• Over 90% of the world’s supply of fresh water is located in Antarctica.
• On average, 38 liters per day of your water footprint (or 14% of your indoor use) is lost to leaks.
• The average pool takes 83 000 liters of water to fill.
• It takes about 265 liters of water to fill a bathtub.
• Water use has grown at more than twice the rate of population increase in the last century.
• Only 0.007 percent of the planet’s water is available to fuel and feed its 6.8 billion people.
• A swimming pool naturally loses about 3 785 liters a month to evaporation.
• Producing a 3.79 liters of corn ethanol consumes 644 liters of water in total, from irrigation to final processing. On the other hand, the water requirement to make a gallon of regular gasoline is just 19 liters.
• 40% of freshwater withdrawals in the United States are used for agriculture.
• 65% of freshwater withdrawals in China are used for agriculture.
• Freshwater withdrawals for agriculture exceed 90% in many countries: Cambodia 94%, Pakistan 94%, Vietnam 95%, Madagascar 97%, Iran 92%, Ecuador 92%.29
• An acre of corn will give off 15 000 liters of water per day in evaporation.
• In a 100-year period, a water molecule spends 98 years in the ocean, 20 months as ice, about 2 weeks in lakes and rivers, and less than a week in the atmosphere.
• Water is the most common substance found on earth.
• Water makes up about 66 percent of the human body.
• There are no scientific studies that support the recommendation to drink 8 glasses of water per day.
• Drinking too much water can be fatal (known as water intoxication).
• There is more fresh water in the atmosphere than in all of the rivers on the planet combined.
• If all of the water vapor in the Earth’s atmosphere fell at once, distributed evenly, it would only cover the earth with about an inch of water.
• 263 rivers either cross or demarcate international political boundaries.
• Of the estimated 1.4 billion hectares of crop land worldwide, around 80 percent is rainfed and accounts for about 60 percent of global agricultural output (the other 40% of output is from irrigated crop land).
• Each cubic foot of Martian soil contains around two pints of liquid water, though the molecules are not freely accessible, but rather bound to other minerals in the soil.
• There is an estimated 1234 million trillion gallons of water on earth.
• NASA has discovered water in the form of ice on the moon.
• A 2.6 billion year old pocket of water was discovered in a mine, 2 miles below the earth’s surface.
• Two-thirds of the world’s population is projected to face water scarcity by 2025, according to the United Nations.
• 1 kilogram of beef requires 15 000 liters of water.
• 1 kilogram of wine requires 8 400 liters of water.
• A 14o gram burger requires 5 500 liters of water.
• 1 slice of bread requires 41.6 liters of water.
• 1 apple requires 68 liters of water.
• 1 pound of chocolate requires 26 500 liters of water.43
• 500 sheets of paper requires 11 000 liters of water.
• Ground water occurs almost everywhere beneath the land surface. The widespread occurrence of potable ground water is the reason that it is used as a source of water supply by about one-half the population of the United States.
• Hydrologists estimate, according to the National Geographic Society, U.S. groundwater reserves to be at least 33,000 trillion gallons — equal to the amount discharged into the Gulf of Mexico by the Mississippi River in the past 200 years.
• At any given moment, groundwater is 20 to 30 times greater than the amount in all the lakes, streams, and rivers of the United States.
• About 27 trillion gallons of groundwater are withdrawn for use in the U.S. each year.

Boilerplate and Editor’s Notes.
More Info on You Could Be Drinking Water That Once Passed Through a Dinosaur – And Other Interesting Facts here:

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Read the full article by Alan Straton here: MyPR