clean air and water

[fly]

We do still boil the water but it's more of a legacy/traditional thing to have some hot water handy than boiling some every time some there is a hankering for tea or other. Before I got my filter some of the filtration companies promoting their products did some tests on the tap water vs. boiled water vs. filtered water, and even taking those tests with a grain of salt, its quite clear simply boiling won't reduce particulates in the water.

[kombuchakid]

The Boffins on Pollution Slugging it out on Radio 3 this morning

http://www.rthk.org.hk/rthk/radio3/b.../20041026.html

The Govt rep has to be heard to be believed, and even then you might need a ,well , filter to make out what he is,well, saying.

[milly_ho]

concerning the drinking water question, i'm using a healthy water system in my home. it's simply connected to the tap and no electricity required. I was shocked to see what's on the surface of the dirt filter, and its other functions satisfies me.

[Expatriate]

This seems interesting:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...&dopt=Abstract

The lifetime cancer risk and the hazard index of trihalomethanes (THMs) through oral ingestion, dermal absorption, and inhalation exposure from tap water in 19 districts in Hong Kong are estimated. The most dominant THMs are chloroform and bromodichloromethane (BDCM) in Hong Kong tap water.

The chloroform and BDCM are at or above the negligible risk level of 10(-6) by a factor of 10 or more in most districts. Among the 19 districts, people living in Sai Kung have the highest risk of cancer due to the THM exposure through the multipathways, mainly because of the exposure to BDCM and dibromochloromethane (DBCM). The total cancer risk analysis indicates that each year approximately 10 out of the seven million Hong Kong residents could get cancer from the daily intake of water.

Anyway, 10 out of 7,000,000 water drinkers is still quite low compared with 1 out of 7 smokers.

[Ex-Vancouverite]

One of the things that drives me nuts is that the buses have exhaust pipes that aim right at the sidewalks. I mean something as simple as extending these pipes upwards through the roof (as they are doing in the US now) goes a long way to improve the "neck level" air pollution that most people experience every day.

i totally agree! i was standing on the sidewalk today at a bus stop. my bus was behind this other bus, which was stopped. as i waited for my bus, i sucked up a lungful of that black poison.

don't get me started in those bus shelters near the MTR stations...

[Vrindavan]

so called new enviromental friendly bus is mystery to me

the bus exhaust seems to be more problematic than non-air conditioning bus, not just black smoke, when a bus come stop by a bus stop, you can feel its back side is hot like a big oven.

i prefer less emission, open windows buses