clean water
Water is the most valuable resource on Earth. Without water, life could not exist. Because three-quarters of the planet is covered with water, most people do not realize how little fresh water we actually have. Ninety-seven percent of the water on Earth is salt water. Of the remaining three percent, 2.5% is contained in ice. This leaves only 0.5 percent available for other purposes… like drinking water, agriculture, sanitation, industry, and fresh water recreational activities. As the world population grows, so do demands on global water resources. Cleaning degraded surface waters in Florida, the United States and around the world is a social and economic imperative for the 21st Century. How serious is the global water problem? Read what the National Academy of Engineering (National Academies of Science) had to say in 2008:
“Lack of clean water is responsible for more deaths in the world than war. About 1 out of every 6 people living today do not have adequate access to water, and more than double that number lack basic sanitation, for which water is needed. In some countries, half the population does not have access to safe drinking water, and hence is afflicted with poor health. By some estimates, each day nearly 5,000 children worldwide die from diarrhea-related diseases, a toll that would drop dramatically if sufficient water for sanitation was available.”
In Florida and throughout the United States, nonpoint source pollution is the major source of water pollution. What is nonpoint source pollution? Unlike pollution from industrial and sewage treatment plants, nonpoint source pollution comes from many diffuse sources. Atmospheric deposition is one source of nonpoint source pollution. It is also caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human-made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters, and even our underground sources of drinking water. These pollutants include:
- Excess fertilizers, herbicides, and insecticides from agricultural lands and residential areas;
- Oil, grease, and toxic chemicals from urban runoff and energy production;
- Sediment from improperly managed construction sites, crop and forest lands, and eroding stream banks;
- Salt from irrigation practices and acid drainage from abandoned mines;
- Bacteria and nutrients from livestock, pet wastes, and faulty septic systems;
Blue green algae bloom in
St. Johns RIver
The impacts of nonpoint source pollution are profound. In aquatic ecosystems, over-enrichment with nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen causes a wide range of water quality problems. These include toxic algal blooms, loss of oxygen, fish kills, loss of seagrass beds and other aquatic vegetation, degradation of coral reefs, “dead zones” in coastal waters, and loss of biological diversity (including species of economic importance). Nutrient fouling seriously degrades our marine and freshwater resources and impairs their use for industry, agriculture, recreation, drinking water, and other purposes.
In 2008, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection reported that poor water quality (for all causes except mercury) was found in 28% of Florida’s river and stream miles, 25% of the lake acres, and 59% of the square miles of estuaries (of those surface waters evaluated). This threatens Florida’s environment, economy and quality of life. Local governments and industries in Florida face immense challenges to provide enough clean water for everyone. Florida must take steps now to restore its lakes, rivers, streams, ponds and coastal waters.
AquaFiber spent years developing a system that can restore polluted water bodies and make the water suitable for irrigation, swimming and fishing. At Lake Apopka (one of the most polluted lakes in Florida) we were able to convert lake water to potable grade water. AquaFiber has been very careful to make sure that our technology leaves no byproduct and no unwanted chemicals in the water column. Our advanced, tested and proven water treatment technology is capable of producing potable- and reuse-quality water, using less land and monies than traditional approaches.
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aqualutions™
Patent pending technology that removes phosphorus, nitrogen, carbon, and other harmful pollutants from surface waters.
aquaknight™
A mobile water treatment unit that can be delivered to field locations.
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