News

Recent research published in the magazine, Environmental Science & Technology, has found that the water supply in the small Wyoming town of Pavillion to be contaminated by a nearby fracking operation.   Fracking, which is a mining technique involving the injection of water and chemicals into the ground in order to release gas or oil, has been considered controversial due to the risks it poses to water sanitation.   Following complaints from residents about the taste and smell of their drinking water, researchers Robert Jackson and Dominic Digiulio began investigating the fracking operation and sanitary levels of Pavillion’s water supply....

In the small Nova Scotia First Nation’s community of Potlotek, high levels of iron and manganese has turned household drinking water into a brown, foul-smelling sludge. Water testing conducted by Health Canada has deemed the water safe to drink, despite containing more than 25 times the amount of manganese recommended in the Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water. After ample protests by the community, the government has reduced the timeframe for installing a new treatment system from 3-5 years, to 2 years. For the people of Potlotek, that means 2 more years without water to cook, clean or drink. Inhabitants of Potlotek...

We have all heard the popular notion that human beings require 8 glasses of water per day to stay healthy. However, a recent study has found a far simpler rule for drinking the optimal amount of water.  “Only drink water when thirsty,” the study simply concludes.  According to the study, when not thirsty, the body actively makes swallowing extra water more difficult. The brain has to override this inhibition in order to intake more water.  “If we just do what our body demands us to we’ll probably get it right – just drink according to thirst rather than an elaborate...