Archive for March 26, 2009

Erkin | March 26, 2009
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Facts and figures about estuaries

An estuary is a body of water partially surrounded by land, where fresh water from a river mixes with ocean water.

Estuary habitats include salt marshes, mangroves, seagrasses, coastal forests and beaches.

Estuaries may form under a number of circumstances: at drowned river mouths, within steep glacially eroded fjords, within barrier islands or a barrier spit parallel to the coast, or within coastal indentations formed by faulting or local subsidence.

estuary

Tides define estuaries. Estuaries are washed either daily or twice daily with seawater. At high tide the salinity of the estuary will rise as sea water (20-35 parts per thousand of salt dissolved in the water) enters the estuary mixing with freshwater (0-0.5 parts per thousand) coming downstream. Estuary salinity can thus vary from 0-35 parts per thousand depending on the tide and amount of freshwater input.
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Category: Facts and figures |
Erkin | March 26, 2009
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Facts and figures about water and health

The state of human health is inextricably linked to a range of water-related conditions: safe drinking water, adequate sanitation, minimized burden of water-related disease and healthy freshwater ecosystems.

Globally, diarrhoeal diseases and malaria accounted for 1.8 and 1.3 million deaths respectively in the year 2002.

Substantial progress has been made in reducing deaths associated with diarrhoeal disease: 2.9 million people died of diarrhoea in 1990, compared to 1.8 million in 2002, a decline of 37%.

Diarrhoeal diseases remain the leading cause of death from water-related diseases in children, accounting for 21% of all deaths of children under 5 in developing countries.
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Category: Facts and figures |