Lemons have a plethora of positive health benefits. They are packed with vitamin C, B-complex vitamins, potassium, iron, calcium and magnesium. To reap the health benefits of lemons simply add them to your water. Lemon juice can potentially wear down tooth enamel. In order to avoid this problem, simply dilute the lemon juice with lukewarm water.

Lose weight

One reason to add lemon juice to you water is to lose weight. Pectin fiber, present in lemons, helps fight hunger cravings. Lemon juice is also a digestive aid. It encourages the production of bile, which is what breaks down food during digestion. Drinking lemon water can also help keep your liver clean. This is important because the liver metabolizes fat and secretes bile. Together, these small advantages can help you lose weight over time. Read more

The publication of the latest Water Security Risk Index from Maplecroft has shown that many oil producing countries are rated ‘extreme risk’ when it comes to the stability of their water supplies.

The Water Security Risk Index is an annual report produced by Maplecroft that measures the future stability of water supplies across 162 countries and this year, six OPEC countries: Kuwait, Egypt, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Libya were rated ‘extreme risk’, while Iran and Qatar were rated ‘high risk’.

The danger is that disruption to water supplies could, in turn, lead to higher oil prices, as high volumes of water are needed in the oil production process. Huge quantities of ‘lift water’ are often used to force oil from wells with insufficient geological pressure to bring the oil to the surface. If sufficient water is unavailable, then this could result in interruptions in production, oil shortages and inevitable hikes in the cost of a barrel of oil. Read more

Agriculture is one of the most insatiable consumers of dwindling water resources around the world. And food production will need to increase by about 70% over the next 35 years to meet the needs of a growing population. Crops aren’t creating the only demands; agriculture will face competition for water from cities, industries, and recreation.

With limited water and the increasing number of people depending on it, water security is tenuous. But integrated water management plans using “blue,” “green,” and “gray” water can increase water security. What do these colors mean and why are these waters vital? Read more

A new ultra-sensitive, low-cost and portable system for detecting mercury in environmental water has been developed by University of Adelaide researchers.

Published in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, the research team outlined its innovative optical sensing system suitable for detecting low levels of mercury at the site of interest.

“Mercury has been accumulating in the natural environment since the start of industrialization and there are worldwide concerns about potential human health and environmental effects,” says project leader Dr Abel Santos, Australian Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow with the University’s School of Chemical Engineering.

“Recently, these concerns have seen the introduction of a global convention aimed at controlling, monitoring and reducing mercury pollution at a world scale.

“There are current systems capable of monitoring mercury at trace levels, but they are huge machines that can’t be easily moved, are very expensive and complicated to use and require comprehensive training. Samples also require chemical treatment before analysis.
“Our system is very cost-competitive, only as big as a mobile phone and easy to use. With very basic training, someone could take it to a river or lake and do a mercury reading on the spot.” Read more

Given the rising prices at the pumps, odds are most people have wished at one time or another that they could create gasoline out of thin air. Now, one British firm claims to have done just that.

According to Reuters reporter Alice Baghdjian, engineers at Air Fuel Synthesis (AFS) in Teesside, England said that they have managed to produce synthetic gasoline using carbon dioxide extracted from air and hydrogen extracted from water. Read more