Celebrating UN World Water Day - 22 March 2013 : caring about our food, our water, our soil

March 22, 2013 is the 20th anniversary of World Water Day. In honor of this important anniversary, this week we are highlighting 7 Strategies for Reducing Water Waste. Please visit the Food Tank website each day over the next week for posts focused on innovations around water.  Although the earth has 1.4 billion cubic kilometers of water, only 0.001 percent of that is accessible for human consumption and use. And 70 percent of water is used for agricultural purposes. In 2012, the United States experienced the most severe drought in at least 25 years which, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), affected 80 percent of agricultural land in the country. Couple that with recent droughts in other parts of the world, most notably in the African Sahel, and the urgency for action to safeguard water resources is clear. As water supplies face mounting pressures from growing populations, climate change, and an already troubled food system, analyses of “water wealth” and “water security” are laying the groundwork for future cooperation and stability. In order to meet all municipal, agricultural, and ecological needs for water, it is crucial to develop innovative water saving systems for the future of food production. Here are seven strategies for reducing water waste in the food system: 1. Eating Less Meat According to Sandra Postel of the Global Water Policy Project, it takes roughly 3,000 liters of water to meet one person’s daily dietary needs, or approximately 1 liter per calorie. The amount of water needed to produce one kilogram of red meat can range from 13,000 to 43,000 liters of water; poultry requires about 3,500 liters of water; and pork needs about 6,000 liters. Eating more meatless meals, even one or two days a week, can help conserve water resources.  2. Using intercropping, agroforestry, and cover crops Soil health is critical to water conservation. Diversifying farms by including cover crops, planting trees on farms, and intercropping can help keep nutrients and water in the soil, protecting plants from drought and making sure that every drop of water delivered by rainfall or irrigation can be utilized. 3. Implementing micro-irrigation Approximately 60 percent of water used for irrigation is wasted. Drip irrigation methods can be more expensive to install, but can also be 33 percent to 40 percent more efficient, carrying water or fertilizers directly to plants’ roots.  4. Improving Rainwater Harvesting Since the 1980s, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute, farmers in Burkina Faso have been modifying traditional planting pits known as zai, making them deeper and wider and adding organic materials. As a result, the pits retain rainwater longer, helping farmers to increase yields even in years of low rainfall. 5. Using mobile technology to save water Santosh Ostwal is an innovator and entrepreneur in India who has developed a system that allows farmers to use mobile phones to turn their irrigation systems on and off remotely. This helps reduce the amount of water and electricity wasted on watering fields that are already saturated. 6. Planting perennial crops Perennial crops protect the soil for a greater length of time than annual crops, which reduces water loss from runoff. According to a report from the Land Institute, "annual grain crops can lose five times as much water and 35 times as much nitrate as perennial crops." 7. Practicing Soil Conservation Soil conservation techniques, including no-till farming, can help farmers to better utilize the water they have available. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), studies have shown that no-till techniques improve water-retention capacity and improve water use efficiency in crops. Be sure to visit the official World Water Day website for more details about the day’s events, including activities in your community and tips for reducing your water footprint. You can also learn more about water issues from the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition, the Global Water Policy Project, Food and Water Watch, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). What do YOU think? What are the best ideas, studies, and on-the-ground innovations helping to conserve water?  Check out some of our newsletter articles below, reply to this email or call me, and please join the conversation on our website, on Facebook, on Twitter, on Pinterest, on Google+, and on YouTube All the Best, Danielle Nierenberg Co-Founder, Food Tank: The Food Think Tank www.FoodTank.org Please connect with us on Facebook,  Twitter, and Pinterest

Blog Action Day on WATER : Global Handwashing day - The Wiggles & Nelson Mandela

To-day, as you can see, Tucker Lovers, from the post below is Blog Action Day and the theme for this year is WATER. I am trying to kill two birds with one stone so I am combining the Water theme of Blog Action Day with a little soap because to-day is Global Handwashing Day. A little water and a little soap can make a huge difference in saving lives and helping us to ward off disease.  I love the emphasis on the kids because we want them to grow up strong and resilient, don't we.

The first Global Handwashing Day was in 2008.

Our very own Wiggles wrote a special tune.

It is catchy and easy to teach to your kids.

And here is the video for 2010

Please value water.

It is our life.

Please support the human right to water and its understanding.

Article 31

In Australia, water was unbundled from land

by a COAG Agreement in 1994.

This made water a tradeable commodity -

when once it was part of the Commons -

it belonged to all of us.

This definition of water rights comes from Wiserearth:

Definition: Water rights are the legal rights that define ownership of water and water sources (surface and subsurface), the use of water and the priority of water use. Water rights allocate water to different users and can be contentious in areas where water supplies are insufficient for the demands upon the supply, and where people are denied or deprived of access to water. The right to water is increasingly considered as a basic human right that has to be reconciled with legal water rights already in existence.  Unfortunately, privatization and commodification of water often undermine this right by cutting off supply to those who cannot afford to pay.

Coal v Food v Water - on the Liverpool Plains of New South Wales

Fiona Simson

From Pauline Roberts of the Caroona Coal Action Group, via Networker Denis Wilson of The Nature of Robertson:

Dear All

We were delighted to welcome Lee Rhiannon MLC and Tony Windsor MP to our 1 Year Blockade Anniversary Thanksgiving Party today. Yes, we have kept this community-based blockade on the Duddy's property "Rossmar Park" going for one year preventing access for further damaging coal "exploration" on Prime Agricultural Land.

We held a multi-denominational service of thanksgiving today in the glorious sunshine, thankful for our productive land, our critical above-ground and aquifer supplies and our strong and resilient community. 130 people attended this great day with an open fire, enjoying mulled wine, hearty stew and damper and sticky date pudding laid on by the SOS Liverpool Plains girls. We were very pleased to find Graham Brown and Lance Batey in our midst and are grateful for the pledges of support from other similarly affected communities on the Darling Downs, like Felton.

Whilst we wait for a proper Water Study to begin, we are as committed as ever to preventing coal and gas mining on Australia's scarce Prime Agricultural Land, so this Blockade continues.

This Monday 20th July at 8.30pm, Four Corners will be running a story about our area: "The Good Earth" [www.abc.net.au/4corners] on ABC1. (It is repeated 11.35pm on Tuesday 21st) We hope you will be able to watch and that it has a positive result for those of us who believe food and water security is important.

Our thanks to Coal Communities for your continued support and good wishes.

Kind regards

Pauline Roberts

www.ccag.org.au

CCAG & SOS Liverpool Plains

~~~~~~~~

There is an excerpt of the transcript on the ABC website here.

~~~~~~~~

If you watched The Good Earth on Four Corners last night, you will have confronted one of the major issues facing us in Australia. What is happening on the Liverpool Plains, as Mrs Duddy so emotively pointed out, goes to the heart of our identity as Australians.

The Liverpool Plains is rich agricultural country - with its own underground aquifers. George Clift pointed out that in his seventy years of farming, he had suffered only one crop failure. On the dryest inhabited continent on earth, that is a boast that can seldom be made.

Under the ground is not only water, but coal which two separate companies, BHP Billiton and Shenua, have exploration rights for which they have spent stratospheric amounts of money to the cash-strapped New South Wales (NSW) government.

The Liverpool Plains is not the only place in Australia or the world in which this is occurring. I recently posted on the situation on that other place of great fertility, the Darling Downs in Queensland.

The essence is that one resource is being played off against another and against another: coal -v- food -v- water. What seems to have been forgotten by both miners and government is that we, in Australia, can survive without coal. We cannot survive without clean water and quality food.

Socially and politically, the protests and blockade on the Liverpool Plains is interesting.

The situation has the landed gentry whose huge agricultural holdings date back several generations and whose traditional political allegiance is to the conservative National Party resourcing the blockade and treating with The Greens as well as the local independent of National Party origins, Tony Windsor.

The Nationals are angry as can well be seen in the persons of Queensland Nationals, Barnaby Joyce (Senate Leader) and Ron Boswell. In fact, the anger, the action and re-action of The Nationals brought back memories of a similar response to the in-roads made into The Nationals vote by Pauline Hanson. It brings a smile, because decades - and a couple of generations of politicians - ago, Jack McEwan, Minister for Trade, did his best to provide an insurance policy for The Nationals who are reliant on a declining agricultural electoral base still by orienting his party to the mining industry.

Now, on Four Corners, is displayed Barnaby & Co on the horns of a dilemma for The Nationals: miners -v- agriculture; Australians -v- Chinese; Australians -v- international conglomerate pretending to be Australian.

So that gives one an idea of the politics and the economics involved. Then there is the personal, the social. Farmers on the blockade are promising not to succumb to financial blandishments from the miners. George Clift says that it won't happen with him. He will go out in a box first, he says. The much younger Chris Howarth has sold to Shenhua.

Chris is not the only one - but he, commendablyl, came to the camera and explained. And who can blame him. This is a man in his middle years with a wife and a young family. Shenhua are offering farmers more than the value of their property. Chris says that if he stayed, the situation of his property in relation to the geography of Shenhua's rights is such that his family would be living next door to an open-cut mine. How could one live with that? Lifestyle gone; livelihood jeopardised; property declining in value and the opportunity to underwrite the family's future. Surely, a no-brainer?

What is needed here is a clear-thinking response from government. Government must break the nexus of the clash of rights and resources. Government must stop behaving like an addict with its hand in the till and prostituting itself for every dollar it can get while selling the birthright of Australians - to food security - for the Biblical mess of pottage.

It is also high time that the electorate became able to see politicians withstanding the "winning ways" of international corporates and high-flying lobbyists, many of whom have long-standing personal and political connections to the government which happens to be in power at the time which means corporations frequently have a choice of political attractive lobbyists depending upon who is in power.

So we wait to hear what happens next?

• Will the agricultural interests of the Liverpool Plains be successful in the latest round of Court proceedings?
• Will the farmers of the Liverpool Plains remain entrenched within the National Party (my own prediction given the disciplined nature of the National Party vote) or defect to The Greens?
• Will the major and far-reaching environmental issues facing Australia transcend political, factional and social boundaries to establish cross-party support for intelligent and sensible policies on resource management?
• Will the miners be checked now that their behaviour has been aired on television?
• Will governments begin to look and act as if they represent the interests of Australians?
• Will governments take a tack away from the cynical and self-serving glad-handing of corporates and lobbyists and desist from forelock-tugging?

Water: it's a no-brainer

If you click on the pictures below,

they will be enlarged and

you can read their vital message.

If there is one thing

more important to species on this planet

- and that includes human beings -

than food,

IT IS WATER.

Water is shaping up to be the activism issue of 2009.

In Victoria,

three water focussed groups,

Clean Ocean Foundation;

Watershed Victoria;

Plug the Pipe,

have coalesced into the

Victorian Water Forum.

In NSW,

people are beavering away

to establish a nationwide organisation,

The Australian Water Network.

Ordinary people are looking on in amazement

at how governments are managing water.

They wonder how

their communities and their livelihoods will fare.

Insufficient consultation is a glaring deficiency.

We are left to wonder, in some instances, whether

corporations or individual post-politics careers

are influencing decisions -

not communities.

There is no clear indication that

either the Victorian or Australian governments

recognise WATER as part of The Commons.

There is little indication that

decisions are being made on water as a human right.

In Victoria,

activism on water has been a regional affair -

with visits to Melbourne

to rally outside Parliament in Spring Street.

Melbournians have been

installing water tanks and solar panels,

growing their own veges,

and harvesting grey water.

Their is much good will

which the Victorian government is not building on.

In 2009, the Victorian Government

might awaken one day

to find that

the activism of the bush and the surf has come to town.

The Sustainable Renter

This is my galvanised iron washtub full of oregano.

Oregano has been growing in this tub - outdoors in Melbourne - for four years.

Winter sees it die back somewhat but it comes to life in Spring.

This year it went to seed.  I cut it back to the dirt.

And it has come back beautifully to this.

This houshold of next-of-kin independent adults are renters. We have just moved house from one rented property to another. I am into growing my own herbs and vegetables and when moving into an established garden which is all roses and camellias everywhere there are difficulties.

What's the solution? Pots, pots and more pots. We were in situ in our previous property for four years and half-way through that time I decided I would dig up some ground for the stuff that was not best in pots - the broad beans, the silver beet, the cabbages, the caulies and the pumpkin. But we have had to move house in spring and leave much behind - but some has been able to come with me. All the herbs - and some vegies: leeks, schallots, choko, kipfler potatoes - because it was all in pots.

Back in spring I also revitalised my hanging baskets - renewing, replacing and adding pansies, petunias, and alyssum - which was a good idea because the courtyard at the back of the new house as well as the front verandah are just the thing for hanging baskets.

So it is quite clear that thoughtful and determined renters can grow food and flowers - and take them when they go. Water is a major consideration and a lot of the water saving and harvesting methods used by those who own their own homes are not so available to renters. However, help is on the way from the people of Sustainable Gardening Australia. They have published a whole section on water in The Renters Guide to Sustainable Gardening.

Thanks SGA for leading the way.

Now if the Victorian Government made tanks compulsory -

renters could save even more water.

We are what we eat? And our food eats what...?

A new phrase for the vocabulary. CSA - community supported agriculture. Does anyone know of anyone doing this here? Here at The Trad Pad, we are familiar with Aussie Farmers Direct. And great as this is, it doesn't give a personal relationship with the person who produces the food. Do we think it matters if there is a personal relationship? But then if I don't know the farmer, how can I be sure of land practices, etc. And if land practices are an issue - and think salination of the soil in Australia, not to mention erosion and then the land 'development' where we place MacMansions and BogunVillas on prime agricultural land - and there is a personal relationship, a knowledgable and concerned consumer may be able to influence, may be able to exercise valuable decisionmaking at some point in the journey from land to plate. Land degradation can have a direct affect on food security - not only in this rich, developed country but in some of the poorest, underdeveloped nations on earth. Food security is an issue: a slow burn for us in Australia, a fast burn and possibly a big bang for those in poor countries. Figures just released by the FAO, show that there were 50 million more people hungry last year. Not 50 million - but 50 million more, in addition, plus what there was before. Australia, the driest inhabited continent on earth, has been facing - courtesy of the longest and most extreme drought in living memory - the water issue. The release of the Draft Report of the Garnaut Review on Climate Change now extends our focus to climate. Emissions trading is well and truly on the agenda - and one of the biggest questions is whether agriculture will be included. We have yet to consider how all this might affect our own food security and cause us to question whether we are self-sufficient and secure in our food production.

Water for beer but it's a drought in the garden

I reckon Miss Eagle can say without fear of contradiction that Denise Gadd is hopping mad. Denise blogs at The Age where she is also the gardening editor. Now the blog is in a bit of a hiatus for the silly season. Denise burst into the Opinion Pages of The Age with this piece to-day. Almost a year ago to the day, Denise was having her say with this piece. You will have noted, dear Reader, that Miss Eagle is promoting the petition, to which Denise refers, on her blogs. Go for it Denise, I say. Anyway can we send Tim Holding a ticket to a Permaculture design course for a New Year pressie? He clearly is not a gardener and has no sympathy for those who garden. I get mad when I think of all the water that it takes to make beer - and I don't drink a drop. I presume that Tim drinks his fair share - so how about giving me some leeway with my veges, Tim!

Water, water everywhere in the Outer East.

The previous post was talking about our lack of water and water restrictions. Clearly, a day is a long time in weather and climate. This afternoon, there was no shortage of water in the Outer Eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Huge downpours this afternoon and flash flooding all over the place. For the first time in three years, the creek in front of our house is full and flowing: flowing fast, in fact.

Water, edibles and the elderly in the vege patch

Here is some of Miss Eagle's vege patch & pots.

Water is at a premium in Australia - and Victoria is no exception.

This morning we got a very welcome drop of rain.

But water is an issue with veges.

We are warned that there will some food shortages this summer along with higher prices for fruit and vegetables.

So it makes a lot of sense to grow your own.

You can eliminate the chemicals. Go organic. Plant permaculture.

And get a lot of pleasure and good nutrition all at the same time.

But water is an issue and Marika Wagner wants us to join her in lobbying the government about our needs. Marika knows what she is talking about. She works at the marvellous Bulleen Art and Garden here in Melbourne.

Marika says:

Produce gardens provide us with the very fruit, vegetables and herbs we eat, and many of us have worked hard to create these gardens with much of our own time and money.

It's understood that keeping higher water use ornamental gardens and lawns can be seen as luxury items in times of water shortage, but forcing us to let our produce gardens become unproductive and/or die is an outrage. Only being able to water on two pre-specified days of the week is not the most efficient way to keep a garden alive and productive and can lead to stressed and unproductive plants, defeating the purpose of this type of garden. Produce gardens should be allowed efficient, mindful watering, when required.

Education to efficient water use, is the key to saving water for Victoria, not forcing gardens to dwindle & perhaps perish.

To be able to grow our own food:- 1) Saves water for Victoria, according to a study done by David Holmgren, co-founder of ‘Permaculture’, (Holmgren Design Services), efficient backyard growers can use only one fifth of the water compared to commercial growers per $ value of produce.

2) Saves up to 25% of greenhouse gases by eliminating ‘food miles’, this means our fruit and vegetables don’t use excess energies of ; being machine harvested, transported to sorting sheds, stored in cool rooms, transported to market, then to supermarket, lit up by fluorescent lights and then transported again to homes to be then stored again in the fridge, whilst losing vitality and freshness along the way.

3) Reduces the overall Australia wide use of biocides like herbicides, pesticides and fungicides. This is because home produce gardens are naturally quite biodiverse, therefore resilient, and easy to apply natural pest control methods to.

4) Brings people and families together outdoors to gain healthy organic produce, fresh air, exercise and an awareness to our connection with nature.I believe that it is our right to grow and monitor our own fresh, healthy, chemical free food in our backyards. I am asking for an exemption from current water restrictions or for introduction of more appropriate water rules for our important produce gardens.

So, dear Reader, please pop across here and sign Marika's petition. And then, when you have done that, please let all your friends know and get them to sign too. Let's make Tim Holding and the Victorian Labor Government sit up and take notice. Otherwise, civil disobedience?

Miss E also supports Kevin Walsh's idea for a new E level of restriction: for the elderly and edibles. How sensible.