liters Archives - usatoday24

We have been telling ourselves since 1945 that we should drink “two liters of water a day.” Science is clear that this is not the case.

January 22, 2026 by usatoday24

One of the most popular rules in popular health culturewithout a doubt it is in the amount of water you have to drink per day. An amount that is located in eight glasses a day or what is the same: the immovable figure of two literss. We see it in fitness applications, in influencers’ advice and we hear it repeated like a mantra, but the reality is that there is quite a myth behind this. We are different people. A very common phrase within medicine is precisely “there are no equal people”, and not only because of the external physique, but because of everything that is inside. This forces the medicine Focus towards a more individualized idea in your medical advice that have to be given, included in nutrition or water consumption. This forces us to have to personalize the amount of water that each person should consume, because a person who is 2 meters tall and weighs 100 kg with a large amount of muscle is not the same as an elderly person who has a much slower metabolism. Logically, the two liters of water mantra cannot be established here. The origin of the error. To understand why we drink (or think we should drink) so much, you have to travel back to 1945. According to key review by Dr. Heinz Valtin in it American Journal of Physiology 2002, the myth of the “8×8” rule, that is, 8 8-ounce glasses to have almost 2 liters of water, probably comes from a misinterpretation of a guide from the Food and Nutrition Board. A guide that indicated that it was always recommended to have an adequate intake of 2.5 liters of fluids per day. But most people ignored the accompanying sentence that said, “most of this amount is in prepared foods.” What the institutions say. So the question is quite clear: how much should we drink per day? In this case there are different official figures, but they have fine print. We have one of the examples in the European Food Safety Authority Panel 2010 established adequate water intake at 2 liters per day for women and 2.5 liters per day for men. But here’s the key: the EFSA specifies that this refers to total water, that is, the sum of drinks plus food. And there are many dishes that have a large amount of water, such as soup, although fruits also have a lot of water inside. Even in the United States. If we move to the recommendations made in the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the USA from 2005, suggests that the total water figures should be 2.7 liters per day for women and 3.7 liters per day for men. But again, it includes all the dietary intake that is made per day and not just glasses of tap water. The latest science. If we come more to the present, we also have scientific studies that have sought to dismantle a universal fixed figure set at two liters per day. One of the most important is the one published in Science in 2022 that used isotopes to measure water exchange in 5,604 people, and that showed that real needs vary enormously between people. One of the conclusions they addressed was that for most people in temperate climates and with sedentary lives, the real water intake needs are between 1.5 and 1.8 liters per day, far from the demands of wellness marketing. And it is reinforced. It is not a study that is isolated, but also in 2022 the magazine Scientific Reports, published research where this idea was reinforced: they predict necessary beverage intakes of about 1.6 L for women and 2.0 L for men, always depending on factors such as age, sex and body composition. Is more water better? One of the most repeated arguments by proponents of hyperhydration is that we should drink “before we are thirsty.” modern physiology, backed by scientific reviews and analysis of urinary osmolarity, refutes this fear that we may have. Specifically, the human body has an extremely sensitive osmoregulation system. When the concentration of solutes in the blood increases by only 2%well below clinical dehydration, the brain already activates the sensation of being thirsty and releases the necessary hormone to begin conserving water so that it does not ‘leave’ in the urine. There are exceptions. Unless you are an elderly person (whose thirst sensation is attenuated) or a high-performance athlete in the midst of intense effort, drinking when thirsty is the most accurate and scientifically validated strategy for maintaining water balance. When you should drink more water. That the “mandatory two liters” are a myth does not mean that water is not logically vital. The most recent systematic reviews and other clinical means confirm that increasing water intake has clear therapeutic benefits in very specific cases that are not universal. These can be the following: Having a kidney stone: here the “more, the better” applies since increasing urinary flow is key to preventing the recurrence of this disease. Urinary infections: a problem that mainly affects women, and that requires ‘overhydration’ to reduce risk of new episodes. Weight loss: Although the evidence is mixed, drinking water may help with satiety and, marginally, energy expenditure. Although it is not a magic solution against obesity. More common sense. The obsession with two liters is a perfect example of how an old and misinterpreted scientific recommendation becomes a cultural dogma. The reality, supported by decades of studies from Valtin to the latest isotopic analyses, is that we are not machines that need a fixed tank filling every 24 hours. In this way, our body’s water needs are dynamic. Water needs are dynamic. If you eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, work in an air-conditioned office, and don’t run marathons every day, forcing yourself to drink 2 liters of extra water will probably only do one thing: interrupting your work to go to the bathroom more times. The situation. In this way we can understand that … Read more

Someone stole 56 million liters of water during the last 18 months in Murcia. It’s just the tip of the iceberg

January 3, 2026 by usatoday24

A pendulum and a couple of wooden sticks are the only tools that dowsers need to, supposedlydetect the magnetic flows of water currents to find underground water. Actually, a dowser is not much use, but it is the name with which SEPRONA baptized a surveillance cycle to catch the water thieves. One of the last cases It is that of the 50 million liters looted by two businessmen in a period of 18 months. But it is neither an isolated case nor something that shows signs of stopping. Louvres. One of the latest SEPRONA operations have taken place in Puerto Lumbreras, in the Region of Murcia, where agents have opened proceedings against two businessmen as alleged perpetrators of a crime against natural resources and the environment. It is estimated that they carried out well exploitation activities for decades, but to be specific, in the last 18 months alone, 56 million liters of groundwater were allegedly stolen. Those investigated used a clandestine well without a volumetric meter that was hidden in one of the companies and was not water that they used to irrigate their own crops (something that is usually common in this type of activity), but to sell. Pirate hydrological. They were capable of extracting more than 100,000 liters a day, which they sold and distributed through their own tanker trucks. Its use? Intensive livestock pig farms. Sale to other companies. Sale to individuals for filling swimming pools. Fine or “operational cost”? SEPRONA began the investigation after a complaint signed by 128 residents of Zarzalico who detected an illegal pipeline of several kilometers built to supply feedlots, and it is estimated that the two businessmen invoiced about 275,000 euros during the 18 months already mentioned. The curious thing about the matter is that, as we say, it has only been investigated for a year and a half, so the figure could be astronomical if the estimate that the activity was carried out for decades is true. Water theft is not something new, far from it, and in fact there are studies which suggest that, for more than a century, it was a practice that occurred in the Spanish southeast. It makes complete sense if we take into account that the area, with Almería or Murcia, being the “orchard of Europe”, is not exactly in which the most rainfall is recordedbut where it is most needed for the cultivation of fruits and vegetables. In fact, this is called “virtual water” that these areas export in tomatoes, lettuce or avocados. This theft of water has been taken as a “survival mechanism”, something necessary to maintain activity during droughts, and there is also studies which point out that the administrative fines received by those who commit the infraction are lower than the economic benefit obtained from the stolen water. Illegal wells in southern Spain in the Andalusia region Devastating. The problem is that the accounts don’t add up where it matters most: in nature. The systematic depletion of aquifers due to illegal well activities has led to the depletion of some of the most important wetlands in our geography. Doñana is the clear examplero, since the national park has been, and is being, drained by hundreds of illegal wells for cultivation. But you don’t have to go far from Puerto Lumbreras to see the effects, and the Mar Menor is another example. Fresh underground water is looted and, sometimes, used to irrigate agricultural fields in which nitrate fertilizers are used that, due to runoff, filter into the soil or end up directly in the sea. This causes the water to have less oxygen than it should, and when it ends up in the lagoon, the fish die from anoxia. Add and continue. Unfortunately, as we say, it is not even a problem new… neither isolated. These last years We have been talking about dozens of people investigated, detained and convicted. The Malaga water company, in fact, has even hired private detectives to monitor employees, suppliers and customers. According to WWFthere are more than 500,000 illegal wells in Spain, the benefits offset the administrative fines and fevers like avocado fever They don’t help at all. Images | Greenpeace, Niriho khoka In Xataka | Andalusia has become a hostile land for the avocado. So an unexpected region is taking over: Galicia

To batteries, it does not need to recharge and save millions of liters of diesel

June 26, 2025 by usatoday24

While Europe looks with sweet eyes on Hydrogen train and In Argentina they already presume their solar trainAustralia boasts of her brand new electric train. Wait, how “electric train” when that exists for decades and It is called Ave? Because the Australian train has an important nuance: it works with batteries and is not connected to the catenary. The result? An “infinite train” manufactured with racing technology. And with a mission: save a lot of money in diesel. The ‘Infinity Train’. Mining in Australia is a huge business And companies invest to improve their infrastructure, thus being more competitive and efficient in every way. Fortescue (how difficult it is not to write “Fortesque” as in ‘Medievil‘) is one of those companies, and just announce who have completed the pilot trip of their “intinifo train.” Driven only by its battery system and without being connected to the current, this ‘Intinity Train’ has completed a trip of about 1,100 kilometers, and the most impressive thing is that it will have to do another 1,100 kilometers back without having to recharge. In fact, the idea is to make constant round trips without going through a plug. His trick is not called Solar panels Not anything like that: it’s called regenerative braking. Formula braking 1 AND. In 2022, Fortescue acquired 100% of Williams Advanced Engineering, a British company founded as a split of the Williams team of Formula 1, but focused on the creation of High performance batteries for formula E. The purchase was closed for 223 million dollars and the objective was Accelerate decarbonization in the company’s mining operations. One of the keys to Formula E, which also applies to the Formula 1 battery system, is the generation of electric power thanks to braking. It is like a dynamo that generates electricity with the engine in reverse, and in the case of ‘Infinity Train’, it is a tremendously magnified process. A huge asterisk. Because here the trick is that the round trip from Perth to the Pilbara region makes it loaded with materials, increasing the weight of the train and maximizing regeneration in braking. But, in addition, it is a route with a slope down. The slope on the road to the mines to the port is 600 meters, so the train has more than 1,000 kilometers to, with up to 34,000 tons of iron from the mines, generating electricity that compensates for the expense it can do. The return path makes it downloaded and ‘strip’ of that energy that has filled the batteries so as not to need an external load nor the support of the catenaries. And start again: they return to load the train, go downhill up loading their batteries and then climb the energy generated. The matter of money. In a huge continent and with the complicated terrain to install catenaries, it is a solution that has all the way, but the limitation is more than evident: the technology of this train can only be applied in situations as specific as that of long journeys in which the phase of being loaded with materials is done downhill. In other situations, it seems more complicated. But well, the company’s intention is to electrify its more than 50 transport trains for 2030 with the aim of reducing its emissions and, in addition, saving What Diesel costs. It is difficult to get the idea of magnitude, but They speak to cut 82 million liters of fuel per year and reduce 11% of its annual CO₂ emissions if they electrify the train network. Electrifying the mines. From the company they affirm that this technology can be exported to everyone, and in the end it is another step in the MODERNIZATION OF MINES. It is precisely in this work environment that the electrification It seems very necessary not only to reduce emissions and that companies meet their objectives, but to improve the health of workers. In recent years we are seeing Betting for electric trucks and even automatedand the ‘infinite train’ adds to the trend, but with the great point against that it is a possible vehicle in extremely concrete situations. Image | Fortescue In Xataka | France has thousands of kilometers of unused train tracks. So you are covering them with solar panels

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