Shop for bathroom and kitchen fixtures responsibly. Ask your retailer the right questions. Be sure that the fixtures you select comply with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines for water conservation.

Not sure where to begin with decorating responsibly? Always surf the website of your retailer and search for key words like “corporate social responsibility”, or “sustainability reports”.

Make every home purchase worth it with fittings that are good for the environment. If you’re searching for stylish new fittings for your bathroom, but can’t find a company with a good corporate social responsibility plan, start at ROHL.

Style and sustainability are two sides of the same coin with luxury kitchen and bath fittings from ROHL. ROHL designs showerheads that are sync with EPA guidelines for water use. ROHL also markets low-flow water saving aerators for your kitchen and bath.

Marketing water saving devices is not the only facet in selling high-end faucets, or other quality fixtures. ROHL has committed to reducing pollution in the world’s oceans by supporting Oceana, a non-profit headed by Ted Danson to save the world’s oceans.

Agreeing on the right look for your bathroom and kitchen is hard enough, especially if you’re arguing with a significant other about what finish to choose. Details like make and model are debatable. But, eco-friendly purchases are not.

Design your home with fittings worthy of a stamp of sustainability. Shop from retailers that don’t compromise on corporate social responsibility. Start your kitchen and bathroom on sturdy ground with quality bathroom fittings that you can feel good about.

The road to sustainable use of water resources is paved with seemingly small decisions from consumers, retailers, and end users like you. Make a difference and invest in water saving appliances for your kitchen and bath.

If anything, it’s a good story for your house warming.

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The city of Stockholm is a great inspirational town and host of the water event considering that wetlands such as the Lake of Malaren are a centre pillar to the live of the citizens. People swim and fish in the very centre of the city without any risks to their health, thanks to an efficient system of wastewater treatment.  According to the SIWI website, only a couple of decades ago these same waters where highly polluted and toxic. This serves as an inspirational example, emblematic of the need to turn around the water crisis situation that has taken over most countries. During this special week, the event tries to foster analyze the interconnected problems of water related to the sphere of the environment, society, and economics in order to develop a concrete plan of action based on the concrete cases of the past showcases developed at the Water Week events from the past.

Each year, the event covers a specific theme in order to explore with a great depth a particular facet of a water-related issue.

In order to be coherent with the goal and mission of the week, the Stockholm International Institute is working hard at making the World Water Week a sustainable event, offering participants concrete ways to reduce their own impact on the environment. For the 2010 event, the green initiatives will include encouraging people to drink local tap water since “drinking water fountains will be located around the venue for participants to refill reusable water bottles that are included in the conference bags free of charge” (Source: http://www.worldwaterweek.org/green). The town wants to promote its own potable tap water that is of high quality and come directly from the nearby lake Mälaren. In addition, participants are strongly encouraged to calculate their own carbon emissions and are provided with a set of link that present efficient carbon offsetting programs. In addition, all participants will receive a free public transportation pass for the entire week, in order to diminish dependence on cars and taxis and to try convincing people that buses are just as convenient and less harmful to the environment. Another important green initiative launched with the event organizers is the ecolabeled hotels that will be making sure to pamper all the guests with a touch of green attitude. Partner hotels to the conference have obtained “certification to Swan Ecolabel and ISO 14000, Swan is the official Nordic Ecolabel-its stringent standards ensure that a particular product has minimized its environmental impact” (Source: http://www.worldwaterweek.org/green). More concretely, this implies that the hotels give priority to renewable energy sources, sort waste, try to minimize energy consumption, use eco-friendly cleaning substances and pick suppliers with environmental friendly attitudes. While the theme changes every year, each theme is part of a larger issue that is covered for a couple of years. For instance, from 2009 to 2012, the larger theme is “Responding to Global Changes” with a specific outlook at the water quality challenge for the year 2010.  Every country of the world faces water pollution problems with an estimated “two million tonnes of human waste being disposed in watercourses” (Source: http://www.worldwaterweek.org/sa/node.asp?node=472).

According to the website, it is important to identify the source and level of water pollution in order to fully assess the situation and come up with a plan of action. Preventing water pollution is a complicated challenged that needs to cover all the different types of water pollution in order to deepen the understanding of the situation with the hopes to stimulate discussion and change in the mind of decision-makers, business owners and citizens. This world event deserves a world coverage insofar it promises to tackled down one of the most avoidable crisis situations of our era.

In 1993, Deckers Outdoor Corporation acquired Simple Shoes: shoes for a happy planet, founded by Eric Meyer.  Aware of the need to protect the environment, this company is working hard at combining business prerogatives with the creation of shoes using recycled materials. They are strong believers in the fact that business can be done in a sustainable way, on their website the company declares: “HOW we make our shoes is just as important as WHY we make them. That means finding more sustainable ways of doing business so we can make a gazillion more” (Source: http://www.deckers.com/Brands/simpleshoes.aspx). This company seems to declare the need to be coherent by putting into practices the environmental friendly they pretend to embody. The Simple Shoes brand was born in 1991, as a response to a generation of  “over-hyped, over-marketed, and over-teched sneakers” (Source: http://www.simpleshoes.com/info/history.aspx?g=info). After having launched the Green Toe collection, shoes made of natural materials, the company realized that working with raw materials wasn’t enough considering all the waste and pollution that was out there.  For this reason, in 2007, the company decided to introduce recycled products such as plastic bottles and care tires in the manufacturing process of their shoes. In 2008, Simple Shoes decided to introduce brand new materials like hemp, recycled bicycle tires and car tire inner tubes.

The company’s website as a list of all the materials they use for they making of their simple shoes. They use PET (polyethylene terephthalate) the plastic used for water bottles, in order to make some of their shoelaces and in order to make the wrapping around the latex elastic. With a single used care tire they manage to “make the outsoles for six pairs of men’s size 9 shoes, by using recycled car tires” (Source: http://www.simpleshoes.com/info/materials.aspx?g=info). This is an innovative way to give a new life to materials and resources that are considered “dead” and are harmful for the environment. Moreover, the cotton they used is herbicides, pesticides and or chemical fertilizers free. They are proud to use cotton that hasn’t been sprayed with chemicals substances that too often end up in the water that citizens use for their daily choirs and even more dangerously the water they drink. One of their most innovative materials they use for their shoes is bamboo, one of the fastest growing plants on the face of earth.

These eco-green shoes are working and sales seem to demonstrate it. Yet, according to Brad Little, national sales manager, seems to think that there is much more than eco-friendly materials behind the company’s success. Brad Little says that “only 10% to 15% of its customers are green buyers” and adds that the shoes are “sufficiently good-looking that customers will pull them off a store shelf to begin with” (Source: http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/sep2009/id20090928_302174.htm). The shoes are competing against standard shoes that are over-marketed over-technological and often anything but simple. Being green, has become a trend in most States, yet the shoes sell also thanks to their young and fresh esthetics and their comfort value. The timing is perfect, Simple Shoes has started to get noticed at a time where there is a growing important share in the fashion market for eco-friendly clothing and accessories.

Part of its 2010 collection, Simple has also launched bold new bags, sporty and made of Recycled PET ripstop nylon. The bags are light, ready for a life on the go, they also have a custom made space for your mp3 player or ipod. The latest shoe collection has introduced the trendiest styles with leopard prints and light pastel colors in order to catch the heart and the eye of even the trendiest customers.

Reviews have been great and the shoes seem to be a crowd pleaser amongst customers from all ages. In 2005, eco-friendly fashion debuted at the New York fashion week. This marked the beginning of a new era and signaled the need to stop ignoring environmental problems. Fashion designers launch clothing trends and lifestyles that are followed by thousands. Mixing style, elegance and innovation with recycled materials and a greener lifestyle is a trend that will and needs to come back every season.

According to the company’s official website, the Poland Spring Brand history goes back        13 000 years ago when a glacier retreated in what is today the region of Maine. Their water is collected from several spring water sources in Maine, water that has been in the homes of Americans through the great depressions, the passing of war and the hippy movement. This bottled water’s marketing strategy stands strong on its historical longevity, following the country and the passing of generations. This notion of time evolution and continuity of the bottle renders this element indispensable to the eyes of its buyers.  Citizens have even forgotten to ask themselves how truly essential is that water plastic bottle. It seems like this brand has managed to transform an essential good, water into a product, a commodity, a beverage that is to be requested with precision by costumers.  On the Poland Spring Water website, the company adopts a proactive approach with a page entitled “Please Recycle” that is a message directed to their customers. The corporation tackles the problems of plastic pollution directly by stating that: “the Container Recycling Institute estimates that 75 to 80% of plastic bottles end up in landfills or incinerators. We want to be part of the solution” (Source: http://www.polandspring.com/KnowH2O/Be-Green.aspx). They expose their concrete effort by producing bottles with less plastic and a smaller label in order to save trees.  It appears to be that their website is not only about promoting their green initiatives but they have also decided to inform readers about environmental facts like reminding us that “ it takes 6 trees to make one ton of paper” (Source: http://www.polandspring.com/KnowH2O/Be-Green.aspx). By informing customers about environmental issues and statistics, it appears that the company is trying to give us the impression that they stand on the side of environmentalist groups and green NGOs.  In addition their website has a special section entitled “Be healthy”, a section that gives general tips about being healthy and staying hydrated.

Their newest bottle, the Eco-Shape bottle is “lighter than most half-liter beverage bottles because it contains an average of 30% less plastic.” (Source: http://www.polandspring.com/KnowH2O/Be-Green.aspx).  The company also reminds us that in the last ten years they have saved about 30% for every liter produced, saving around 245 million pounds of plastic resin.  Yet, on the corporate citizenship section of their website, on the category of “Recycling” it seems that the company has a pretty scarce strategy or informative text as they simple say “we encourage you to recycle all of our products” (Source: http://www.polandspring.com/DoingOurPart/WhatWereDoing.aspx).

A few years back Poland water faced a controversy as it was accused of bottling water that did not come directly from the spring. “When Perrier took over the Poland spring site, it was drawing water not from the original spring at the top of Ricker Hill but from boreholes a couple of thousand feet away, near a pond base on the hill” (Source: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2004/02/09/360105/index.htm).  This controversy was somewhat concluded with the fact that the springs were somewhat linked to the borehole. This was the loophole that permitted Poland water to continue marketing their bottles as “spring water”.

On their website the company tells us that they believe that “the greatest impact we can have today to protect our environment is to design lighter bottles that use less plastic” (Source: http://www.polandspring.com/KnowH2O/Be-Green.aspx). This seems like a somewhat light and superficial statement considering the amount of plastic that is dumped in nature running the natural habitat of animals and human beings. The United States has the privilege of having access to free tap water, individuals are uphold at the potential privatization of water as they argue it should be a fundamental human right. Yet, paradoxically they fell to be coherent with their arguments since most citizens after arguing against water privatization, frown at tap water and go out and buy bottled water. This is something worth reflecting upon.

Washington’s lakes and water streams are so polluted that citizens and local fish restaurants are having problems to find the needed supply from their own water streams.  For many individuals, especially native people and tribes, fish is at the core of their daily diet: “for the Swinomish of La Conner and other tribes in Washington, local game and seafood are an integral part of every funeral, birthday celebration or other family gathering” (Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012448836_tribalfish26m.html ). In 2002, this tribe received a considerable grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in order to finance a research study for selfish and crabs. The alarming results presented a large quantity of carcinogens like dioxins and PCBs. Toxins dumped in the sea have reached the organs of the fish that now contain a dangerous amount of mercury’ trout are contaminated with alarming level of DDT while shellfish infected with PCBs. The situation is so that there is enough quality fish in the waters for people in the state to have only one portion of fish every month. “Because toxic contaminants accumulate in fish tissue, part of the federal Clean water Act requires that state waters be clean enough for local residents to safely consume certain amounts of fish: The greater the amount eaten, the cleaner the water must be” (Source: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2012448836_tribalfish26m.html). If federal states fail to determine the average quantity of fish eaten by their population, the EPA imposes a representative quality of 6.5 grams of fish daily.

The problem with mercury is that there is no way to see it or smell it, therefore a fisherman has no way to determine the quality of the resources. Even the smallest amount of mercury can damage the brain of younger children and leave them with long going learning disabilities. In larger amounts mercury also harms older adults causing numbness or change in vision. It is impossible to clean the fish from the mercury since it gets directly into the flesh of the animal. “By removing the skin and cutting away other fatty areas of the fish, you may reduce other types of contaminants (Such as PCBs and dioxins) that can be in fatty tissue” (Source: http://des.nh.gov/organization/divisions/water/wmb/swqa/2008/documents/appendix_27).

The ocean is a precious resource for humankind and the source of life of many communities who live by the sea side. Fishing is crucial to the world’s economy. The lakes of America are starting to be so polluted that fishermen and restaurants are starting to feel threatened. Fish contain an alarming quantity of mercury, a dose that is dangerous to human beings. If rigorous  measures aren’t taken rapidly the situation could get worst, millions of people could lose their jobs and others could get intoxicated by fish poising. Nature and its oceans demand and deserve respect for everything they provide to us in exchange.

Most of people don’t know that an important portion of the world’s oxygen comes from the ocean, a key player to the carbon cycle. Yet, most of us also don’t know or fail to realize that “only a mere 0.5% of the oceans are protected!” (Source: http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/east_african_coast/publications/?21432/Marine-Protected-Areas-providing-a-future-for-fish-and-people). Today, our world’s ocean is under great stress due to overfishing, pollution, degradation, and overuse of marine and coastal resources. Even the 0.5% of the oceans that are under official protection are nonetheless open to fishing and to tourism. In most regions where MPAs are already efficiently in place fishing activities have been more prolific. In those areas, it appears to be that fishers seem to move their activities closer to the protected boundaries; “such fishing-the-line allows fishers to benefit from spillover of animals from inside the closed area” (source: http://assets.panda.org/downloads/marineprotectedareas.pdf). Most fish have floating larvae or eggs that often drift out of the protected zone and therefore nurturing unprotected distant fishing grounds. As the stock increases inside the protected area, mature fish move out in order to populate foreign patches. Fishermen can then safely collected their harvest.

A concrete example of this beneficial result is the case of the Apo Island Reserve in the Philippines. Since the implementation of the marine protected areas, catches in this region have increased ten times more and have been stable for the last 15 years. In addition, MPAs have the ability to function on a large scale with the same positive results. In the Georges Bank region off Maine, after lowering maximum number of fish caught annually and banning gear that could accidentally harm other species, fish stocks have increased and so have the variety of attractive species. “By protecting spawning grounds and areas where juvenile fish spend their time growing up, fish can be spared until they reach maturity and have already given rise to offspring before being caught” (Source: http://assets.panda.org/downloads/marineprotectedareas.pdf). Protecting fish by allowing them to live longer, grow and multiply has beneficial consequences for the fauna e marine ecosystem but also for the economy.

Close to 40% of the world population lives in the vicinity of a coast and most of these people depend on the resources of the sea for their survival. As poverty becomes an acute problem in many of those regions, this phenomenon often goes hand in hand with overfishing and the over use of natural resources. This overuse is unsustainable resources on the long term, creating a vicious circle. For instance, “the artisanal reef fishery on Zanzibar, Tanzania, is crucial to approximately 60, 000 fishers and contributes to over 60% of protein to local communities” (Source: http://assets.panda.org/downloads/marineprotectedareas.pdf). In order to secure the future of such communities the increase number of marine protected areas is fundamental.

Few people realize that poverty is a serious cause of the diminution of biodiversity.  Environmental initiatives need to collaborate with NGOs and other organizations that work to fight poverty in order to establish a common plan of action. Communicating this to local communities while having them directly involve in such long-term sustainability projects is crucial to the success of MPAs.

The lake suffers from a low productivity and therefore cannot support a fish population as large as the other lakes. “Its small watershed relative to its size and depth, geological youth (only roughly 10, 000 years old since the last ice age), and lack of well-developed soils all contribute to its low productivity” (Source: http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/superior/overview). The ecosystem of the lake suffers from contaminants and abusive land uses. Contaminants like mercury or toxaphere are damaging and polluting the water of the lake. In addition, the cold temperature of the Lake is also partly responsible for the lack of nutrients found in the water, causing the natural food chain on this lake very fragile.

The Lake Superior Binational Forum

The Lake Superior Binational forum is composed of Canadians and Americans working in carious fields from tourism, to health or academics. The goal of this association is to serve as a platform forum for constructive debates, discussions and project creation all directed towards the safeguarding of Lake Superior. This forum is part of a larger program called the Lake Superior Binational Program to Restore and Protect the Lake Superior Basin in agreements with the Canadian and American government. “The program is focused on the entire ecosystem of Lake Superior, its air, land water, human life and wild life” (Source: http://www.superiorforum.org/). Environment Canada and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provide the funding for all these conservation activities.

Bacteria and Microbial Contaminants

At various occasion, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has had to post advisories at more than one occasion at the Lake Superior’s Minnesota beaches because of an alarming level of bacteria in the water. Thanks to funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the MPCA started monitoring the bacteria level of these beaches since 2003. “The vast majority of bacteria in streams and lakes are ‘good’ bacteria. The do no cause diseases and are necessary for healthy ecosystems to function properly”(Source: http://www.lakesuperiorstreams.org/understanding/impact_bacteria.html).  Yet, some of the bacteria can cause serious disease or illness and when the amount of such problematic bacteria rises human beings should avoid all contact with the water of the lake. In most cases, the disease causing organism, or pathogens, are consequences of untreated human waste or feces. Two of the most famous bacteria are coliforms and E. coli, that live in the intestines of animals and humans. The American Environmental Protection Agency has established a comprehensive guide of standards in order to monitor beaches and to implement regular water testing.

Fresh waters all over the world are a golden mine heritage that needs to be preserved, “if trends in human demands for water remain unaltered and species losses continue at current rates, the opportunity to conserve much of the remaining biodiversity in fresh water will vanish before the decades end in 2015” (Source: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=434899). Often those precious wetlands are highly disputed by various stakeholders with contrasting interests that often fail to remember that this precious fresh water is NOT unlimited and before they come up with business schemes to exploit natural resources, they should figure out a long-term conservation plan for lakes such as the Lake Superior.

Rainwater harvesting systems embody the diversity of the world’s variety of societies, climates, and regions. Systems can be designed quite differently, use a variety of materials, satisfy a variety of performance requirements, and have different cultural impacts.

Today, rainwater is harvested by both traditional technologies and optimally engineered facilities. Traditional rainwater harvesting systems include a rooftop and adjacent cistern. Improved systems include paved hillsides, airport runways, subterranean reservoirs, disinfection, and automated monitoring.

Common Components of Harvesting Systems

Regardless of their sophistication, rainwater harvesting systems generally have four common components:

• A catchment part for precipitation interception
• A cistern for rainwater storage space
• A conveyance between the catchment and reservoir
• Some technique to draw upon the storage for consumptive use

Catchments

A rooftop is the most ordinary rainfall catchment. A 100 square-meter (930 square-foot) roof can intercept1 meter (3.28 feet) of rainfall.

Rainwater harvesting can help better the lives of women and children in traditional societies where the domestic water supply often demands daily dangerous travels of long hours to the neares well or stream.  This would save them a considerable amount of time, children good focus on other choirs and perhaps have more time for school or leisure.

A rain barrel is a simple method of collecting rainfall pouring from a downspout. The stored rainfall can then be drawn out and redirected to specific uses.

“In one year, this technique provides an average, 274 liters (71.2 gallons) of water per day. This amount is roughly 75 percent of a typical North American person’s domestic consumption, 180 percent of a French person’s average, and nearly seven times the per capita average in some developing regions. Alternatives to roof catchments include airport runways in the Pacific Islands, paved hillsides in the Caribbean, and earthen courtyards in China” (Source: http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Po-Re/Rainwater-Harvesting.html ) .

Cisterns.

The cistern, whether  they are made out of clay or reinforced concrete provide the rainwater system the ability to function through droughts. The less uniformly that rainfall occurs over a year, the greater the required storage volume. It is not uncommon for cisterns to be sized to hold a 30-day water supply. Cisterns in Australia can store a half-year’s supply accumulated in the monsoon season. Cisterns of only a week’s capacity may be sufficient in the tropics. Because droughts are unpredictable, rainfall harvesting always carries with it some degree of risk.

Catchment-Cistern Conveyances.

Roof gutters are the most common conveyances between catchment and cistern. Rainwater harvesting often fails to achieve its potential yield because an adequate catchment is linked to an adequate cistern by an inadequate water trough that is undersized or poorly maintained.

Withdrawal Methods.

Cisterns from which water is hand-drawn by a dipper are prone to human contamination . Better systems are elevated so that water may be drawn down to the user by gravity. Urban Singapore has systems in which rainwater is pumped into an elevated tank for pressurized distribution.

“Where drinkable water is available from another source, but in limited quantity, rainwater can be employed as greywater: a separate rain-fed pipe network service for toilets, laundry facilities, and lawn irrigation” (Source: http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Po-Re/Rainwater-Harvesting.html).

Quality of Harvested Rainwater

Water quality issues change with each rainwater harvesting system component. Some harvesting systems are biologically contaminated on the catchment surface, particularly at the “first flush” of a storm runoff. Moreover, no effective shield can be a protection against occasional bird droppings. Yes, it is fair to admit that harvest rainwater may violate some quality norms for our modern society, yet the quality of the water is rarely disease causing and is definitely less of a health hazard than the pollution in local surface waters.

If pollution does occur, it most likely originates in the cistern. It is important to have regulation norms in regards to reservoirs since if they are left open they can foster algae or mosquitoes. In rare instances, minerals may leach from cistern walls.

In as much as a high-quality water supply is a challenge to every society, rainwater harvesting is experiencing revitalization in the economically developed world. Public agencies are progressively promoting construction standards and water quality criteria in order to appropriately utilize rainwater as an additional water resource. For now this remains an underground process for the outside world and public; yet for sustainable development in underdeveloped areas it is a valid a positive alternative to be implemented.