Clube de Inglês: PLP

Sunday, March 21, 2010

22nd March: WORLD WATER DAY

The Portuguese have already proved they are deeply concerned about the environment especially now after PLP - an ambitious clean-up project that took place on the 20th March. Congratulations, really, first to the coordinators of the project and second to all the 100,000 volunteers who gathered to collect over 70 thousand tonnes of garbage spread around the country. Let's hope we can keep the forests clean for a long time...

Now (?!) it's WATER / WASSER / ÁGUA / EAU / H20 that needs everybody's involvement - not only for a day but every single day!

Life on earth is based on water. The quality of life directly depends on water quality. Healthy ecosystems are sustained by good water quality, which leads to improved human well-being. On the contrary, poor water quality affects the environment and human well-being. With waterborne diseases causing the death of more than 1.5 million children every year and 2 million tons of sewage and other effluents draining into the world’s waters every day, we ALL need to be more aware of what water quality is all about.
It's important that we all do our part to make the best use of the resources we have, which means finding ways to reuse water and reduce our daily consumption. I am sure that most of you already follow some of these tips but it's never too much to remember...some simple steps to save water:

Fix what's broken. Check on all the faucets and toilets in the house, and if you notice a leak, break out your wrench, or call up a plumber.

Install aerators that work by mixing air into the water stream, which gives you a nice even pressure, even though you're using a fraction of the water.

DIY (do it yourself) low-flow toilet. Again, if you worry about the water we waste in our daily hygiene rituals, introduce a bottle of water in your toilet tank which will prevent wasting so much potable water every time you flush the toilet.
Install rain catchment systems on your roof or rain barrels around your home and this way you can use this precious liquid to water plants, to wash,...