via Co.Exist:
 
Managing water resources in a rapidly-growing city can be problematic. Floods give much-needed water, but too much rain at one time can overwhelm a system. Meanwhile, droughts leave people with no water at all, and keeping water clean is always an issue. In Mexico City, poor management threatens to leave 22 million people without water in the near future. Leaky pipes alone account for a 40% loss of water that is pumped from nearby mountains. Already, more than a third of households lack adequate access to water.

 Isla Urbana is trying to change this with inexpensive, sustainable rainwater harvesting systems. The project was conceived while two Mexican-American students, Enrique Lomnitz and Renata Fenton, were studying industrial design at the Rhode Island School of Design. “We repeatedly encountered the subject of water scarcity and became inspired to design rainwater harvesting systems for these communities,” says Lomnitz.

 They began physically installing systems in 2009, in the Ajusco Medio region of Mexico City, “because we met people there who were very interested in the system, and because the region combines extraordinary rainfall with chronic and widespread water shortages, making it ideal for rainwater harvesting,” says Lomnitz. Rainwater harvesting is pretty simple: the system captures water off the roof of a building. Then the water passes through a bypass that diverts the first rains of the season through a large first flush that separates the first 100 to 200 liters of rain from each storm. Only the later, cleaner waters of a rain event go into the cistern, says Lomnitz. The water generally gets stored in the building’s existing cistern, though sometimes a plastic tank is installed when a cistern is not available. The water is chlorinated, and goes through a sediments filter and an active carbon filter.

 Isla Urbana uses materials from local stores and trains local personnel to construct and install the systems--giving work as well as a way to gather and store water. The cost for each system is only about $350. Isla Urbana is a joint project between an NGO, theInternational Renewable Resources Institute and a small business called Solución Pluvial. Development and sale of rainwater harvesting systems is done by the business, and education, training, and subsidy models are done by the NGO. Isla Urbana’s rainwater harvesting is meant to complement the conventional water supply, not replace it “The water is then clean enough for all domestic uses, though we generally do not recommend it for direct drinking, unless additional filters are installed,” says Lomnitz.

In a drought, families can rely more on the conventional system, while during a wet year, the rain will displace more conventional water, he says. If rainwater harvesting were properly implemented throughout the city, Isla Urbana says that it could provide 50% of the city’s water supply. So far, the organization has harvested 29,300,000 liters of rainwater and installed 725 systems. In the future it hopes to develop better and more accessible systems that provide increasingly high quality and low maintenance water, something that will help everyone have a better life.

Amazing Brace for Rooney On The Weekend

In a game where Manchester United never looked unsettled, Wayne Rooney had a typical striker's game with a poacher's finish and an un-saveable penalty against West Bromwich Albion:

'Kony 2012' by Invisible Children

Easily the most important 30 minutes of content you'll watch all year.

KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.

HOW TO HELP:
Donate to Invisible Children: causes.com/donatekony2012 
Purchase KONY 2012 products: invisiblechildrenstore.myshopify.com/ 
Sign the Pledge: causes.com/konypledge


KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

Mario Balotelli Went To A Strip Club Because He Can

Mario Balotelli was caught at a Liverpool strip club early last Friday morning ahead of Man City's home match against Bolton on Saturday. And though Balotelli started and scored a goal in the 2-0 win for his side, he was still reportedly fined £250,000 for breaking the club's curfew policy.

Mario now realizes that he made a mistake that night, but more because he would've been angry if his girlfriend went to a strip club than because he violated curfew.

From the Players Association:
"I didn't do anything wrong at the [strip] club," he told Gazzetta dello Sport. "But I understand that if she [his girlfriend Raffaella Fico] had gone with her friends to a strip club, I would have been very angry. "If you love a woman, you can avoid causing that pain. That was my first mistake. The second was to go two days before a game." On whether he has received a £250,000 fine by City for breaking the curfew, Balotelli said: "I still don't know. I must talk with [the manager Roberto] Mancini."

So, to clarify, the fact that Raffaella Fico was one of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's "bunga bunga girls" and that she reportedly tried to auction off her virginity for €1 million doesn't seem all that upsetting to Balotelli (or Fico for that matter), but going to a strip club with friends is something to get very angry about.

Full story:
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/soccer-dirty-tackle/mario-balotelli-sorry-breaking-man-city-curfew-mostly-170144843.html