DuPont Won't Help Army Dispose Of Wastewater

Expecting a contentious regulatory process, DuPont Co. said today that it will not participate in the Army's plan to dispose of millions of gallons of wastewater from the destruction a deadly nerve agent.

DuPont has been working with Army officials for several years on a plan to ship the byproduct of neutralized VX nerve agent from a chemical weapons depot in Indiana to Deepwater, where it would be treated at DuPont's Chamber Works facility and dumped into the Delaware River.

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Nearly Two Million Children Die of Water Scarcity in Africa

A growing water and sanitation crisis cause nearly two million child deaths every year in Africa and other developing countries, a report by the United Nations in 2006 has said. The report is captioned by the Human development group as "Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water scarcity", cuts across most of the developing world, especially Africa.

"Across much of the developing world, unclean water is an immeasurably greater threat to human security than violent conflict. Each year, the authors report, 1.8 million children die from diarrhoea diseases that could be prevented with access to clean water and a toilet; 443 million school days are lost to water-related illnesses; and almost 50 percent of all people in developing countries are suffering at any given time from at least one health problem caused by a lack of water and sanitation.

For more information, please visit: AllAfrica.com

India To Begin Construction Of Advanced Heavy Water Reactor

India will begin construction of the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) this year, marking launch of stage III of the country's nuclear programme.

"We will start the construction on the AHWR sometime this year," Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar said in a presentation at a theme session on Energy Security at the Indian Science Congress in Chidambaram.

He said the thorium-based AHWR was currently undergoing pre-licensing review by the Atomic Energry Regulatory Board.

For more information, please visit: Hindustan Times

Avian Flu Virus Unlikely To Spread Through Wastewater And Drinking Water Treatment Systems

A close relative of the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus (H5N1) can be eliminated by waste and drinking water treatments, including chlorination, ultraviolet (UV) radiation and bacterial digesters. The virus is harmless to humans but provides a study case of the pathways by which the influenza could spread to human populations.

Cornell researchers studied the related virus, called H5N2, to see whether a hypothetical mutated form of H5N1 could infect people through drinking and wastewater systems. Researchers at Cornell and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point collaborated on the study, published in a recent issue of Environmental Engineering Science.

For more information, please visit: Cornell University

Diners Urged To Demand Free Tap Water

DINERS should insist on getting free tap water in restaurants, according to a consumer champion.

It is "hundreds of times" cheaper than bottled water and creates less waste, the Consumer Council for Water (CCWater) said.

Dame Yve Buckland, chair of CCWater, urged people not to feel embarrassed about ordering tap water instead of paying for bottled water when eating out.

For more information, please visit: Manchester Evening News