How Low Can We Go?
Stewart Flink
Author |Managing Partner of NextView Global Water Technology Fund | Expert: Global Freshwater Issues | Pollution | Water Skirmishes; Dillon Capital; | Board member for innovative public and private companies.
I just read a disturbing article about water theft in California- $25 million worth of water. In my book, “For All the Water,” I did predict this trend would rear its ugly head, but not for another twenty years or so. The only good news is this person who is an ex-official in the state of California who used to head a w regional water district, got caught and pled guilty.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/28/california-water-theft-heist-official-guilty
And then there’s Mexico City in the midst of a water crisis. Some experts have predicted the metropolitan region, which boasts the highest population of any metro area in North America at nearly 22 million people, may start to run out of water as early as June, described as “Day Zero.”?
The Four New Food (and Water) Groups
Welcome to the 21st century of food, water, and air. Due to our continued destructive activities, allow me to introduce you to the new categories. They are mercilessly having a deleterious effect on our collective health, wellness, and longevity. Do I dare say caveat emptor?
Plastics (micro and nano) are eating their way into our health in a way that we’ve only recently begun to understand. Thanks to Nestle’s Pure Life Water division, Coca Cola, Pepsi, and Gatorade, to name a few we are now ingesting them from our food that we eat, water that we drink, and the air that we breathe. I want to thank Nestle’s for putting 50 billion plastic bottles of water into the global environment a year; Coca Cola, for the production of 120 billion single use plastic bottles a year, and least but not least, Pepsi Co for using 2.3 million metric tons of plastic on an annual basis. And just in case you’re looking for other culprits to blame for the current state regarding plastic pollution, consider Procter & Gamble, and Unilever, and any fast-food companies and grocery stores that wrap their food in plastic.
What are these behemoth polluters of plastic pollution doing to ameliorate the situation? They are moving to recycled plastics, which based on the research, are more deadly than not recycling them at all. The recycling process releases enormous amounts of toxins into the environment that are contained in plastics. Is it possible that recycling plastics is worse than letting them be?
According to a report issued by Asian Scientists Magazine concerning recycled plastics, they often contain higher levels of chemicals such as toxic flame retardants, benzene and other carcinogens, environmental pollutants including brominated and chlorinated dioxins, and endocrine disruptors that can cause changes to the body’s natural hormone levels.” More frightening is that when researchers did a study of 100 placentas did they find that 100% of the placentas contained micro and nano plastics! The article went on to state that micro and nano plastics do pass through the placentas into unborn babies.
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PFAS (Forever Chemicals) There are over 15,000 different types of forever chemicals. Some things to consider include ?One recent government study detected PFAS chemicals?in over half of the nation’s tap water. A global study of more than 45,000 water samples around the world found that about 31 percent of tested groundwater samples contamination?had PFAS levels considered harmful?to human health. Hence, the practice of irrigation, whether with reclaimed or contaminated non-reclaimed water, as well as the application of fertilizers such as biosolids, can contribute to additional pathways of PFAS contamination in soil, leading to the uptake of PFAS by plants, including crops, and organisms like earthworms, with varying uptake and translocation rate in different plant species.
Excess Agriculture Fertilizer?Excess nitrogen and phosphorus can be washed from farm fields and into waterways during rain events and when snow melts and can also leach through the soil and into groundwater over time. High levels of nitrogen and phosphorus can cause eutrophication of water bodies. Eutrophication can lead to hypoxia (“dead zones”), causing fish kills and a decrease in aquatic life. Excess nutrients can cause harmful algal blooms (HABs) in freshwater systems, which not only disrupt wildlife but also produce toxins harmful to humans.
We need to change the game, and quickly. In my book, “For All the Water,” I wrote that in twenty years all fish on restaurant menus will be tested for micro plastics and PFAS, like what we see as gluten free items on menus today. This would force all suppliers of fish and produce to test on their end, and perhaps push down the costs of testing to the industrial farms. Imagine the following scenario: “Can I have my organic salad topped with farm-raised salmon and a glass of water without nano plastics and PFAS please?”
ACC which does not stand for the Atlantic Coast Conference but rather Arsenic, Chromium and Cyanide. Changes in geochemistry from the natural breakdown of petroleum hydrocarbons?in groundwater promote mobilization of naturally occurring arsenic from aquifer sediments into groundwater. This geochemical change can result in potentially significant and overlooked arsenic groundwater contamination.
Equally troubling is the release of cancer-causing metal called hexavalent chromium from forest fires, which are now commonplace in California, Canada and other states and countries. Arsenic can also be released into the atmosphere because of forest fires and can end up contaminating both the groundwater and the air. And the piece de resistance is that some firefighting foams are laced with PFAS, which can seep into water and soil when using certain foams to put out fires.
Cyanide is a completely different animal yet can also be released into the air or water from forest fires, and by industrial processes involving cyanide, eating food and/or water containing cyanide, or breathing smoke-filled air from a fire. Cyanide in fruits and vegetables?is in the form of cyanogenic glycosides (cyanoglycosides). Sugars attach to these compounds through the process of glycosylation, forming free hydrogen cyanide. Even seemingly harmless almonds?can contain amygdalin, a naturally occurring chemical that breaks down into cyanide when ingested. However,?only bitter almonds represent danger, with sweet almonds being completely safe to eat unprocessed. The bitter varieties are often required by law to be carefully processed to remove the toxic compounds.