Nepal - Where Is Our Development Headed?

...................The current technology development mode has taken a wrong path in many respects. Let’s take example of water treatment. Preposterous treatment practices such as the addition of chlorine to ‘purify’; the use of toxic chemicals (soap) to get rid of dirt (the most potent natural cleaning agent on earth); the use of glycol (very toxic) for freezing or drying (getting rid of water) a product; use of chemical CO2 to render water into dehydrating agent (opposite to what is promoted as ‘refreshing’), then again demineralization followed by the addition of extra oxygen and ozone to ‘vitalize’ water. The list never ends. To make the situation worse, many western cities continues to promote fluoride addition to water (original intention was to grow better teeth) even when fluoride-free tooth paste make brisk sales. Chlorine treatment of water is common in the west and is synonymous with civilization. As various studies have shown that the residual chlorine in water produces by products such as trihalomethanes that causes cancers, there are some other chemicals such as sodium thiosulphate added to ‘dechlorinate’ the water. It has already been proved that ‘sodium thiosulphate’ is also not risk free and it seems that there is a need to remove this chemical from water by probably adding another chemical, hence the addition of chemicals continue forever making the quality of water the worst possible. More recent so called ‘innovations’ in water treatment such as Ozone, artificial UV and even H2O2 are proving to be worse than any other technology ever discovered. Despite such disastrous outcomes, developing countries like Nepal are engaged in taking pride in introducing these technologies, often paid with borrowed (at very high interest rate) money from World Bank or IMF, much of which is spent for hiring consultants from ‘donors’ themselves. Hence, chemical treatment technique promoted as water purification has taken a down turn. This modus operandi can only have the most profound devastation to the whole human civilization. ..................

A long read and a bit bit depressing