Is drinking water in danger after the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima?

The recent nuclear accident caused by the earthquake in Japan has sent rippling aftershocks into drinking water.

The partial meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant has caused water contamination in the surrounding community. Parents in Japan have also been warned that infants should not be drinking water from the taps. The mixed message that has been conveyed as that children under the age of one should not be drinking tapwater, however people are beginning to question what would happen to their two and three year olds.

The disaster has already had its effects on the food chain, where milk found 20 miles from the plant has shown traces of contamination.

The United Kingdom is also sending emergency water supplies to the stricken areas where many supermarkets have empty shelves, previously filled with bottled water.

In Boston, Massachussets, traces of the dangerous compound radioiodine-131 has been found in rainwater which is said to be very low, and not dangerous, but it demonstrates how far the pollution has the ability to travel.

There are fortunately solutions to treat water for uranium, and other radioactive materials so that the contaminated drinking water can become clean drinking water once again. Read our about our treatment of contaminated drinking water.

Summing up the World Water Week 2011

As many of you know, last week was World Water Week. Around the world different activities were undertaken to create more awareness about water, and the global water crisis.

Here are some of the most impressive intiatives:

The Levi's Water Tank application on Facebook that lets Fans complete simple challenges to unlock water donations to places without clean drinking water. Link to App

UNICEF's program Tap Project motivated restaurants to get $1 donations for the tap water that they usually offer for free, and according to UNICEF, one dollar = forty days of safe clean water for a child.

A more cheeky approach has been a celebrity tap campaign, also by UNICEF, is stabbing at the bottled water brands. It works in the way that people can donate $5 and have the chance to win 4 bottles of water from the taps of famous people such as Rihanna and Taylor Swift.

See more on the Tap Project here: Link

The river Seine in Paris was dyed green to mark the World Water Day: Link to Image