Water Dump

There's been a lot of activity around water - predominately its use and inevitable misuse. In this version of the dump... some choice bits worthy of another look.


:: Big Squirt - image via Treehugger

An interesting ephemeral art-piece, "STREET FOUNTAIN by HELMUT SMITS, 2002: Small water pumps in existing pot-holes in the road surface. When it rains, small fountains appear" (via VULGARE)


:: image via VULGARE

Read about bad stuff in the waters in India (via BLDGBLOG), as well as thinking about what you flush and what the consequences to water quality may be (via INFRASTRUCTURIST): "The list of pharma-contaminants includes carbamazepine, an epilepsy treatment that lowers alcohol tolerance, and estrone, a hormone in birth control pills that causes gender mutation in fish."


:: image via INFRASTRUCTURIST

Or on the flip side, how about: "...growing an entire world's worth of crops in the middle of the dessert with ocean saltwater?" (read more at Treehugger)


:: image via Treehugger

The importance of the role of water in urbanism is not to be taken lightly, as there are some particular form-giving properties that span the gamut of restoration, education, and commerce. The London Rivers Action Plan plans for "...9.3 miles of the city's rivers will be restored to a natural state in the next six years. Of the the 14 waterways to be reclaimed, seven have been buried. Others have been made into channels, originally built to combat flooding. It is hoped that wildlife such as kingfishers, otters and voles will then return to the city shores as well. "


:: image via Treehugger

The suburban 'water banking' will become the norm in areas fed by the Colorado River (via InfraNet Lab):


:: image via InfraNet Lab

And from BLDGBLOG: "As part of their new water-themed issue, the beautifully designed New York Moon has produced this interactive map of the water systems of Manhattan. ...Beneath New York’s lattices of concrete, iron and landfill lie dozens of organic waterways," they write. "Using data from an 1865 sanitation map and contemporary satillite photographs, this projection depicts Manhattan as a vascular organ, whose obscure opperation has had powerful bearing on the fate of the city."


:: Manhattan as a Vascular Organ - image via BLDGBLOG

With this shift towards urbanism, the fear of rising waters and impacts on cities has become omnipresent in our lives - due to such films as An Inconvenient Truth and other of the ubiquitous online scenarios. An interesting artistic interpretation of this comes via Chris Bodle's Watermarks Project (via BLDGBLOG), which traces the water lines in urban Bristol after the melting of the Greenland icecaps.

:: images via BLDGBLOG

With the alarmism, comes the solutions both fanciful and pragmatic. Technology may save us yet... but probably will end up killing us in other ways.

:: The Maeslantkering Storm Surge Barriers - image via InfraNet Lab

:: Flood Houses of the Future - image via WAN


:: Waterpod - image via Dwell

But take heart, in the meantime, at the very least, we can endure the torrent in safety, with umbrellas that light our way or glean liquid from the sky.

:: Rain-Powered Illuminated Umbrella - image via Inhabitat

:: Rainwater Harvesting Umbrella - image via Treehugger