Sun, 8 November 2009
A century and a quarter after a cutler set out to supply Swiss soldiers with a survival tool, the Swiss Army knife adapts to the urban jungle.
Read Jessica of Swisstory's adventure in obtaining her Swiss driver's licence, with helpful checklist.
Expatica reader Carolyn Moncel searches for the best salons in Paris and Switzerland serving black women.
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From a loo to you: the human body could be the perfect water filter system. But would you drink it?To a corps of hydrologists, the only way that parched regions of the world can meet the surging demand for water is to recycle -- and use -- the stuff that has already been through the human body.
Rather than throwing away water that results from treating urine, faeces and bathwater, the valuable liquid can be harnessed once more, they say.
It could go not just for farm irrigation or industry -- as is already widely the case in many countries -- but also for drinking water.
Presentations at the World Water Forum have been pressing the argument that "used" water, also called rather more gracefully "grey" water, should comprise a percentage of what comes out of our taps.
But specialists also caution that overcoming human repugnance -- could it be called a gut response? -- is a far greater challenge than the engineering.
"People hate the idea of drinking something that could have been sewage," said Gerard Payen, a member of the UN's consultative committee on water and sanitation, which reports to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
"There's a major psychological block. But it will go away bit by bit."
Windhoek, the capital of the arid southern African country of Namibia, has been using a "toilets-to-taps" system with success for many years.
But it's a rare example of public acceptance to date.
In Australia, inhabitants of the Queensland town of Toowoomba voted out of introducing such a scheme in a referendum three years ago. In other parts of the drought-wracked country, the idea encounters a shake of the head, but is at least being taken seriously as an option.
Having been involved with water treatment with plants such as Windhoek and Pomona, it is easy to produce water that meets two of the three criteria for drinking water, i.e. it must be wholesome and palatable. The third criteria is for it to be "safe". This is where advanced treatments come in to remove trace elements such as pesticides and herbicides if the water has seen land run-off, or , more importantly, remove pharmaceutical residues from drugs taken that pass out of the body into the municipal waste cycle. Such things as contraception and other frequently used medications can remain in recycled waters, albeit in very small measure.
This becomes a very complicated situation, which the major water companies have been addressing for years, and treatment is regularly available and affordable.
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