He's working on a project to distribute low-cost filtered water to poor villages.
Of course, the most efficacious solution to living in a water-poor region is simply to move, which is what de Villiers himself did.
And it compelled him to found his own philanthropic organization, charity: water, which is focused on providing clean, safe water to poor countries.
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To the long list of great ideas gone bad, add the UV Waterworks--a simple, cheap device to purify filthy drinking water in poor countries.
Undoubtedly the crisis is being exacerbated by climate change, which is resulting in increasing water stress in poor communities in many parts of the tropics currently facing water insecurity.
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What we can say is that water efficiency standards are a poor substitute for water prices that better reflect costs.
Their conditions are abject: crowded, short of drinking water and with poor sanitation.
Poor water circulation meant that the organic material was covered before it could decompose, and it was eventually transformed into oil and natural gas.
Neglected Tropical Diseases is an umbrella term for a range of bacterial, parasitic and worm infections which flourish in areas with poor water quality and inadequate sanitation.
But poor water management is also to blame.
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In 2007, we expanded the program significantly with a grant from the World Bank with a clean water program that helps connect poor, rural communities to safe water systems.
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Even relatively water-rich countries of the region, such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Bhutan and Papua New Guinea, now face water supply and quality constraints in their major cities because of population growth, growing water consumption, environmental degredation, damaging agricultural activities, poor management of water catchment areas, industrialization, and groundwater overuse.
First, they considered the possibility that seasonal upwellings of toxic or oxygen-poor bottom water were responsible.
MPs rejected the opposition's proposals to introduce a national social tariff to cut water bills for the poor - by 63 votes.
After surveys of high litter levels and poor bathing water quality in the past, he set up special "beach summits" to try to tackle the problem.
Shadow environment secretary Mary Creagh said Labour did not oppose the bill, but told the House she would call for amendments to cut water costs for the poor.
On the Social Front, Fujimori constructed thousands of miles of roads, and also built schools, rural hospitals and implemented measures to alleviate poverty by bringing running water and electricity to poor communities.
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Manila Water, a utility in the Philippines, reduced the amount of water it was losing, through wastage and illegal tapping, from 63% in 1997 to 12% in 2010 by making water affordable for the poor.
Putting his forecasting abilities to use, Hatzius told Forbes the U.S. will narrowly avoid recession, as the private sector continues to deleverage and the housing sector remains under water (note the poor performance of JPMorgan in its recent earnings and the expectations that Citi and others will disappoint as well). (Read Occupy Wall Street, JPMorgan, And The Fall Of The Banks).
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More broadly, dirty water and air, and poor sanitation, are the biggest preventable causes of death.
Other complaints have forced the government to provide clean water and electricity in some poor areas.
In poor countries drinking water comes out of taps, communal standpipes, the water-seller's cart, wells, boreholes, streams or puddles.
It is estimated that 88% of diarrhoeal diseases worldwide are attributable to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.
Additionally, because of poor drainage, water ponds formed on the VML. These water ponds produced more methane gas, and the subsequent runoff traveled back into the VML and the Speedway Landfill.
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"We are all very mindful of what's going on there, " she said, pointing out that one of the festival's films, Trouble in the Water, is about a poor New Orleans couple dealing with Hurricane Katrina.
According to a study by Frank Rijsberman, director-general of the International Water Management Institute in Colombo, Sri Lanka, improving the delivery of clean water and sanitation to the poor would be a highly cost-effective way to use additional aid to developing countries.
While the source of water currently received by the Hubli-Dharwad Municipal Corporation is filtered, sewage leakage and the poor management of waste often contaminates drinking water on its way into the homes.
When social entrepreneurs deliver power, water, and other goods to poor communities, they create foundations for economic growth, opening frontier markets to other forms of investment.
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Part of the benefit, everyone agrees, is that there are huge benefits to not being dirt-poor: clean drinking water, good medical care and safe housing, to name a few.
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