Earth Beat, 22 April 2011. The wet stuff and how our dependence on it can land us in hot water. From building houses out of water bottles and swimming the world’s biggest rivers to seriously cutting back on it, we examine our increasingly fraught relationship with H2O. Photo - long-distance swimmer Martin Strel.

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The dangers of dihydrogen monoxide
It’s the chemical that gets everywhere, from factories to food. It’s used to heat things up and cool them down, and is inhaling it can be fatal. So why have most people never heard of dihydrogen monoxide?
Lars Norpchen has, and more than 20 years ago he set out with a couple of friends to tell the world about it, thus launching a campaign to ban something that’s everywhere.
Link - dihydrogen monoxide FAQ at DHMO.org
View DHMO's Contamination Warning poster
 
Water poverty in Jordan
The borderline for water poverty is 1,000 cubic metres per person, per year. The per capita water supply in Jordan is less than 150 cubic metres. Host Marnie Chesterton speaks with Hannah Evans, a former urban planner with the city of Amman, about Jordan’s lack of an essential resource.
 
Web extra - drinking pond water
Ever heard of a self-hydrating drink pouch? It’s a flat plastic envelope, about the size of a postcard, filled with some orange powder. They’re supposed to give you clean water anywhere. Just leave it in any muddy puddle, or similarly dodgy water source and it ingeniously sucks in just the water, not the dirt, viruses, parasites or bacteria, useful in the aftermath of a disaster, when water sources are often contaminated. Marnie gave the Hydropack a try in the scummy pond right next door to the RNW studios:
 

 
The land of extremes
Devastating floods may have hit parts of Australia recently, but the real picture over the past few years has been a lot drier. Much of the country has experienced severe drought and it's led to a re-appraisal of how water is used. Asa Wahlquist is Australia’s leading writer on water issues and she tells Marnie how the average Australian has come to see water as a precious resource that can't just be flushed down the toilet.    
 
Dehydrating Kevin
The average American may use more than 300 litres of it a day – but a quarter of the world has no access to clean water. In a bid to tackle what he sees as reckless consumption of the stuff, Kevin Freedman has limited himself to using just 25 litres a day for a whole month. It means no showers, and makes public toilets tricky business.
 
So, how much is 25 litres? 25 litres weighs about 25 kilograms (55 pounds) and would fit in your dresser drawer. It is also the amount of water you would get if you ran your bathroom tap for about three minutes, your shower for about two-and-a-half or the water used in two average toilet flushes.
Link - take the challenge at How low flow can you go?
 
Water bottle houses
Uganda is working out how to deal with the explosion in the use of mineral water bottles. Cities and towns are littered with millions of plastic bottles – clogging sewerage systems, filling ditches and creating a huge litter problem. But in Gulu, a town in northern Uganda, Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe has come up with a solution. She’s using those water bottles to build houses for her school (pictures below).
Links - water bottle houses around the world - Inspiration Green
Tree of Wisdom
St. Monica Girls’ Tailoring Centre
 
Swimming the Amazon
Long-distance swimmer Martin Strel talks to Marnie about the biggest gamble of his life: swimming the Amazon. In 2007, Martin added the Amazon to an impressive list of rivers that he has swum from end-to-end including the Mississippi, the Danube and the world’s most polluted river, the Yangtze.
Link - Strel Swimming Adventures
Click image for slideshow