Category — Water - Greywater

Host-Pathogen interactions, Malaria Infection cell biology. See complete image here.

Published in Malaria Journal, 4 August 2008
By Eveline Klinkenberg, PJ McCall, Michael D Wilson, Felix P Amerasinghe and Martin J Donnelly

To investigate the impact of urban agriculture on malaria transmission risk in urban Accra larval and adult stage mosquito surveys, were performed.

There has been a resurgence of interest in the problem of urban malaria in sub-Saharan Africa in recent years. Urban malaria is likely to increase in importance as rapid urbanization will result in the majority of Africa’s population living in cities in the near future. It is commonly assumed that urbanization leads to a decrease in malaria prevalence because it results in fewer Anopheles breeding sites, reduced biting rates due to the higher ratio of humans to mosquitoes, better access to treatment and better (mosquito-proof) housing.

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“During summer one Melbourne gardener, Marika Wagner, was struggling to look after her vegie patch under the somewhat arbitrary water restriction regime in Victoria - two watering windows a week is simply not enough to keep vegetables alive during a Melbourne summer!

“Like many others Marika rents her inner suburban home. For such people, those on a low income or for those who have a community garden plot, it is particularly difficult to grow vegies during summer.  For them systems such as water tanks are either out of reach financially or not worthwhile installing in a temporary situation.

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Tasha talks to Mike about natural lawn care at City Farmer. A push mower makes no noise, uses no gasoline and does not pollute the atmosphere. See what else you can do to become a green ‘Lawnranger’.

Visitors learn about alternatives to lawns at the Vancouver Compost Demonstration Garden. How about a waterwise native plant garden or replacing your lawn with a variety of classy ground covers?

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Photo from ‘Cowfiles African Gardens’.

From: ‘Ideas that will catch on here.’
July 12, 2008, BBC

“Another fantastic idea I picked up - which could make its way onto my allotment before long - is the keyhole veg bed. This is a raised bed with bells on: it’s about 1m (3′6″) high, and the outer bed, where the vegetables are growing, slopes down from a central hollow column. There’s an access path to the column (giving the bed a “keyhole” shape viewed from above) and inside it is what amounts to a compost bin, held in with hessian: you fill it with kitchen waste, stable manure, grass clippings - whatever you’d put on your compost heap.

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Video: Rethinking Water: Greywater Guerillas Workshop

Petaluma home is first in the county (Sonoma) with a permitted system that uses old wash water for irrigation.

By COREY YOUNG
ARGUS-COURIER STAFF
May 8, 2008

When it goes online, the system should funnel 36,000 gallons of water a year into the back yard, Heckman said. The average four-person household in Petaluma uses more than 100,000 gallons of potable water a year, so the savings from a greywater system can be significant, he said.

Once cleaned, the water will be distributed to three locations in Heckman’s back yard, where the roots of berry bushes, shade trees and other plants will soak up it up. Heckman is growing pomegranates, blackberries, raspberries, edible flowers and more as part of a more sustainable lifestyle. “Tens of thousands of gallons of water, instead of going away, is being used to grow your food and shade your house,” Heckman said.

Link to article, “Going green with greywater”.