From Channel 19: A Global Social Media Network. Get a glimpse of sanitation in India.

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Two icebergs are now drifting off Antarctica’s coast. One of them is 23 years old and is named B9B. The other just came into existence because B9B smacked into the Mertz Glacier and broke off a chunk. Any ideas for names of this second iceberg? We can’t let this chunk of ice have as dull a name as its companion B9B?

B9B is 97 kilometers long, which puts it at the size of the country of Luxembourg. Hop on it, declare yourself the ice king or queen, and you can stand ruler over any penguins and seals that jump on.

This second iceberg (Ms. Newberg, perhaps?) is 78 kilometers long. How big is that? It holds about a fifth of the water usage of the world!

For the full story:
2 Huge Icebergs Let Loose Off Antarctica’s Coast

This story, from Inside the Bottle, highlights action taken by students on campuses in Ontario, Canada.

February 22, 2010, OTTAWA –Campus organizers from across Ontario are racing to see whose campus can go bottled water free first. The Ontario Bottled Water Free Campus Challenge is a challenge initiated by more than 20 Ontario campuses that are actively working to restrict bottled water while promoting accessible public water infrastructure on campus.

Over the last 12 months three Canadian campuses—The University of Winnipeg (Manitoba), Memorial University (Newfoundland & Labrador) and Brandon University (Manitoba)—all signed water declarations to end the sale and distribution of bottled water and promote public water on campus. To date no Ontario campus has banned bottled water.

For the rest of the story, go to the Inside the Bottle website.

Kohler—the plumbing fixture company—has pledged to give Habitat for Humanity $1 in products for every quiz taken on its Save Water America site. So far, they’ve donated over $1.5 million dollars worth of water-saving products.

Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit group whose goal is to end poverty housing and homelessness. They build houses in all parts of the world, including the USA. They build and rehab houses which they then sell to partner families for NO profit.

Take the quiz now and help Habitat!

A Twitter update from one of Katie Spotz’s friend’s:

“Just had a chat with Katie on the sat-phone. She’s great, but we were rudely interrupted by a fish hitting her face! [Sam]”

Katie has been rowing from Africa to South America for more than 52 days. Her cause: To raise money for Blue Planet Run Foundation and to raise awareness of the need for clean drinking water in many parts of the world.

I’ve been following her blog. This is a strong woman, both physically and mentally. Can you imagine living in a high-tech row boat? She has a few conveniences, like solar power so she can blog and get fresh water. Of course, she has fresh fish flying all around her!

Encourage Katie by leaving a comment on her blog. She’ll reach land in 28 days at the soonest. But it could be much more if she encounters strong currents, winds, or a big storm.

More than 40% of the people who live in Yemen don’t have access to clean drinking water. People often use scarves to filter out large pieces of debris, without realizing that the real dangers in the water slip right through. Those are the microbes that cause debilitating diarrhea.

The Silver Filter Company recently introduced silver-clay filters that kill microbes. The filters sort of look like clay pots you’d use for planting. They are that simple. Yet the silver kills the microbes in the water on contact. (Small amounts of silver are used; they don’t affect health.) These filters are improving lives for children and adults alike. For the complete story, see Silver Filters: Providing Clean Water to All.

HPA is a group of Harry Potter fans who whose purpose is to help address pressing concerns of the real world. They have raised money for Darfur and Burma, donated books to developing countries, fought for gay marriage rights in Maine, fought against genocide, trained student leaders, and, more recently, raised money to help Haiti.

Pretty impressive list of activities. But they are wizards!

Check out their website. Volunteer to be a wizard.

Shigella is a bacteria that thrives where basic sanitation and clean drinking water are not. Right now, that’s Haiti. People who lost their homes are living in tent cities. Waste is accumulating. Water is hard to find.

The New York Times reports:

The problem has become impossible to overlook in many districts of Port-au-Prince, with the stench of decomposing bodies replaced by that of excrement. Children in some camps that are still lacking latrines and portable toilets play in open areas scattered with the waste. The light rains here this week caused some donated latrines in the camps to overflow, illustrating how the problem would grow more acute as the rainy season intensified in the months ahead.

The earthquakes may be over, but Haiti still needs help. In fact, the place was in need of severe help before the earthquake. Stand With Haiti, donate to Partners in Health. They’ve been on the scene for many years and are still there.

This story from WaterAid:

Seven year old Punam Kumari Shaha brushes her teeth before going to school in Malahanma, Nepal. Her community worked with WaterAid’s partner NEWAH to build their own water supply and she is now able to use clean, safe water from a pump that is near her house.

As part of the project her community is also learning about hygiene education and Punam has been attending health education classes at school once a week. She has an older sister and they now teach each other and their family about good hygiene practices.

By educating people about good hygiene and the links between poor water, poor sanitation and disease communities can gain the full benefits from their new water and sanitation projects.

Donate to WaterAid to help other children like Punam.

The distance from Loch Lomond, Scotland to the Sahara desert is 4,000 miles. On March 22, Mark Spriggs plans to start that trek. He was drawn to take action after he learned about the lack of water in developing countries. This is his personal call to action to raise money and awareness for this worthy cause.

According to my map, there is a body of water between the U.K. and the continent. How does Mark plan to cross it? You can find out the details of his route by visiting the Walking 4 Water website. Contact him if you want to walk with him.

The money Mark raises will go to Pump Aid. This agency specializes in low-cost solutions that require community support and maintenance.