Staff Reporter

KOS to solve water supply problem in Kazan — RealnoeVremya.com

February 14, 2022 by Staff Reporter

The residential complex will be connected to Tatarstan’s unique unit created by Kazanorgsintez

Photo: Kazanorgsintez PJSC

Kazan faces water supply problems more often. Networks get older and become obsolete. Their replacement, moreover, the launch of new water supply facilities don’t keep up with the development of the city. Collapses under main water pipelines and accidents late last year are evidence of this. In this tough situation, large enterprises creating their own water supply systems take up a part of the burden. Kazanorgsintez became such a water donor for Salavat Kupere. The project of a new water treatment unit turned out to be unique for Tatarstan both due to its scheme and the eco-friendly water treatment system.

Second in Russia, first in Tatarstan

A new water treatment unit is due to be launched in Kazan in March. The autonomous unit with a capacity of 40,000 cubic metres of water a day with its own treated water reservoir for 8,000 cubic metres is a unique facility for Tatarstan. The scheme of the facility itself is its first peculiarity. Nowadays just only one similar water treatment unit created according to a project of Lenvodokanalproyekt institute operates in Russia. It is located in Kaliningrad.

The layout of the underground reservoir of clean water at the stage of construction. Photo: Kazanorgsintez PJSC

“All structures needed to be built on a limited area. A scheme with the reservoir placed underground and treatment facilities above it, the building was higher was chosen. In a usual scheme, all facilities are scattered on the area,” explained shop foreman of Treatment Facilities and Water Network of Kazanorgsintez Rashid Mulekhov.Kazanorgsintez PJSC (a part of SIBUR) built the new complex only with its own money but it will supply water to not only the production but also the residential complex Salavat Kupere.

The high-rise scheme the new water treatment unit at KOS was built has been used only in one place in Russia, in Kaliningrad. Photo: Kazanorgsintez PJSC

“That area doesn’t have other sources of potable water of due quality nearby. Network laying by Vodokanal water supply service would need a lot of money, which was recognised unfeasible with the existing capacities of Kazanorgsintez PJSC,” the choice of precisely KOS as drinking water supplier for the microdistrict was explained in the Kazan Executive Committee.

Ecologists: “The system of Kazanorgsintez is very promising and necessary”

A two-step treatment technology was chosen for the necessary water quality:

“Water from the waterbody comes to the faucets where coagulants and flocculants (Editor’s note: non-organic salts binding particles of sediment in a liquid) are added, then water is clarified with a layer of weighed sediment, goes for treatment to filters loaded with sand and hydro-antracite, a special fraction coal,” Mulekhov explained.

Room of clarifiers and high capacity filters. Photo: Kazanorgsintez PJSC

Not dangerous liquid chloride is used to disinfect water in the enterprise (Editor’s note: second class danger) but safer sodium hypochloride. Moreover, it is added only at the final treatment stage. This is another peculiarity of the water treatment unit. Such a treatment system had been tested in Kazanorgsintez’s operating plants, in a unit consisting of two water treatment sections with a capacity of 50,000 cubic metres a day each. In 2017, the enterprise built a sodium hypochloride preparation pant. Low-concentrate hypochloride solution is made there via electrolyse based on food salt.

Director of the Institute of Environment and Nature Use of Kazan Federal University, Doctor of Biological Studies, Professor Svetlana Selivanovskaya considers such a water treatment scheme promising:

“Talking about chloride compounds that are used in water disinfection, chloride added to the water that wasn’t removed organic compounds acts with these organic compounds creating chlorinated organic, which is much more dangerous than chloride itself. And it is not only chloroforms but also much more complex compounds. So the system of Kazanorgsintez uses all available possibilities of effective water treatment that are available today, including the replacement of chloride, it is very promising and necessary. But only if the technology is followed,” she commented on the choice of KOS for Realnoe Vremya.

Svetlana Selivanovskaya: “The new water treatment system of Kazanorgsintez is promising and necessary.” Photo: media.kpfu.ru

The operation of the scheme in the first units illustrated that the amount of impurities in the water treated this way is below the allowed content.

“The water quality is controlled by certified laboratories according to current norms and rules. Russia’s consumer rights protection watchdog and other authorised agencies oversee it. The quality of water complies with all existing norms and requirements for drinking water,” the Executive Committee of Kazan confirmed the absence of any complaints about the quality of water supplied by KOS for Realnoe Vremya.

Kazan’s water supply infrastructure needs 65 billion

The new water treatment unit of Kazan came in handy. Problems with the city’s water supply are growing. The annual water supply of Kazan already totals 100 million cubic metres. Moreover, another 2,755 square metres of housing plans to be delivered in Tatarstan in 2022 alone. A considerable part of new builds are i Kazan. If the situation isn’t critical, it is very close to be so.

Andrey Yegorov: “By preliminary estimates, approximately over 65 billion rubles are needed to restore the water supply infrastructure in the Tatarstan capital.” Photo: Maxim Platonov

At a recent meeting of the republic’s Committee for Tariffs, Director of Vodokanal Andrey Yegorov talked about the problems of the city’s water supply system. He noted that more than 70% of networks belonged to the enterprise, they are old and in emergency state. By preliminary estimates, approximately over 65 billion rubles are needed to restore the water supply infrastructure in the Tatarstan capital, of which 40 are needed just to replace the networks. Only 200 km of thousands of kilometres of pipelines have been replaced in the last 10 years.

Of course, new residential complexes also have problems, they are often built on an empty field.

Sergey Mironov: “The new water treatment unit will allow providing more than 30,000 people with good and clean water.” Photo: Realnoe Vremya

“Salavat Kupere is a young and developing district that annually welcomes new residents. In the last few years, new blocks of flats have been built, social infrastructure has grown, 8 new kindergartens, two lyceums and a school have appeared. Besides infrastructure, it is very important to provide the residents with resources for a comfortable life, first of all, good drinking water. It is great that such a water treatment unit will appear in our district. It will allow providing more than 30,000 people with good and clean water,” head of the administration of Kirovsky and Moskovsky Districts of Kazan Sergey Mironov.

Investments in water and environment

The cost of the new treatment unit of Kazanorgsintez is assessed at 735 million rubles of KOS’s own money. The works began in 2018. They ended in 2022, while the unit is ready for launch. The company explains that it is just one clause of a big programme and the general environmental policy.

Galina Khristoforova: “The project implemented by KOS fully complies with the ESG strategy of SIBUR’s development” Photo:rbk.ru

“The development vector of Kazanorgsintez is designed to modernise existing and launch new production capacities with the simultaneous reduction of the environmental impact. This fully complies with the ESG strategy that is in the foundation of SIBUR’s development. The new water treatment complex not only meets the highest environmental standards but also plays an important social role providing the residents with clean drinking water,” Galina Khristoforova who is responsible for environment at SIBUR expressed her opinion.

After the project ends and the new part of water treatment is launched, Kazanorgsintez can start modernising its existing capacities. Each of two sections is given two years. With the general installed capacity, the fully updated production will be put into operation again by 2025. It is planned to use all the latest technologies that have already been used in the new unit.

Arseny Favstritsky

Tatarstan

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Building green: Put residents at the center of your strategy – Guest Columns

February 14, 2022 by Staff Reporter

The benefits of building green can be abundant — from water and energy efficiencies, to improved indoor air quality, less maintenance and increased real-estate value. Even more important are the positive effects on the environment and community at large.

In industries such as senior living that demand a constant draw on energy resources, costs and operational conveniences can pose a significant barrier to taking on more sustainable approaches, causing many organizations to put those efforts on the back burner, at least for now.

Although we may not be able to tackle every green building technique out of the gate, senior living leaders can begin to take small steps to take to move us in the right direction.

1. Put residents at the center of your approach. Always start with the question, “What’s best for my residents?” or “What matters to residents most?” Doing so will help you home in on your priorities and ensure that you gain the support of both current and potential residents as you move forward with changes related to building green. Some of these shared values might include:

Incorporating large outdoor spaces and surrounding your community with green life. The pandemic has further increased the value of having access to safe, outdoor spaces to enjoy fresh air and natural sunlight, keys for better health. When we build, we inevitably remove some plant life. We can make sure this is not only replaced but added to, ensuring lush surroundings for our communities and helping us do our part to give back.

Bringing green elements indoors. By using biophilic design, such as living plants and water features, indoor spaces can feel alive, and research shows that sch design also has a positive effect on well-being.

Ensuring plenty of natural light, which encourages less electricity usage.

Enhancing ventilation to improve air quality. Adding plants and trees also can naturally help purify the air.

Choosing non-toxic, low emission building supplies for the safety of residents and the environment. We can think about paints and using more materials, such as natural stone and wood, that emit little to no toxins and have fewer pollutants.

2. Consider what will have the most operational benefit. Solar energy is a change that all of us in senior living should be moving toward. It is approachable, and you can increase the lifespan of your building by adding it and experience the cost-saving benefits over time. Lighting is another important and impactful area. LED lights offer lower consumption and the bulbs last six-times longer than their non-LED counterparts. Better windows contribute to less energy loss, as do more efficient appliances for main areas and resident apartments. Those things add up to efficiencies that positively affect operations, your bottom line and your environmental impact.

3. Get creative. For organizations that have more capital to invest in sustainable changes, explore other avenues to make an impact. For example, harvesting rainwater and/or recycling water (graywater). The former is water that is lightly used, often recycled from bathroom sinks and showers and washers. At two of our communities (Aegis Lake Union and Aegis Greenwood), graywater makes up 60% of total water consumption on the properties. There often are opportunities to re-use and recycle materials onsite, from practical approaches with reusing furniture in new spaces to even creating beautiful artwork with scrap materials.

Although we might not expect senior living companies to replace buildings with all LEED-certified properties next month or even next year, we all can keep in mind incremental changes that can make a big impact in supporting resident wellness and the community and environment at large. Those changes may even bring an unexpected operational benefit. Making them, however, requires company-wide commitment, ingenuity and patience to keep exploring and trying what works.

Through the process, more of us can bring lessons learned to make these steps easier and knowledge to better advocate on behalf of the industry to gain support of local and national governments.

Walter Braun is chief development officer for Aegis Living.

The opinions expressed in each McKnight’s Senior Living guest column are those of the author and are not necessarily those of McKnight’s Senior Living.

Have a column idea? See our submission guidelines here.

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This London Building Tells the Story of a Century’s Worth of Disease and Epidemics | History

February 14, 2022 by Staff Reporter

Clothing and soft furnishings were cleaned with machines that used high-pressure steam and formaldehyde to kill germs and vermin.
Hackney Archives, Libraries and Heritage Services

Coming down with an infectious disease in early 1900s London would have been a pretty unsettling experience. Not only were effective treatments hard to come by, but the municipality had the legal right to enter your home and disinfect it. City workers could seize your belongings and take them away for steam cleaning, all in the name of public health. Yet these precautions were not draconian or even heartless: If this process rendered you homeless, you would be offered overnight accommodation in a comfortable, modern one-bedroom apartment alongside the building where your possessions were being sanitized.

Measures to contain today’s pandemic, such as stay-at-home orders and compulsory mask wearing, may feel to some like an unwelcome intrusion by the state into their daily lives. At the Hackney Borough Council Disinfecting Station, however, anti-disease actions were more of a public amenity, a way to keep the public healthy and a cohesive unit

The local government that oversaw the disinfecting station, the Metropolitan Borough of Hackney (MBH) in northeast London, came into being in 1899 as part of the London Government Act. The culmination of a series of legislative changes that began in 1855, the law brought a major reorganization and standardization to local government in the British capital. Formerly a civic parish in Middlesex, a county bordering the City of London (an area with its own jurisdiction), Hackney’s ancient boundaries did not change much when it became a metropolitan borough of the new ‘County of London’. But the way the area was governed did, reflecting the expansion of the capital into what were once its leafy suburbs.

Home to a largely working-class population living in often terribly overcrowded dwellings, Hackney was subject during this period to frequent outbreaks of infectious diseases such as smallpox, diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles and whooping cough. Though public health outcomes were much improved by 19th-century investment in sanitation infrastructure and hygiene procedures, Britons were still dying from infectious diseases in high numbers, with children at particular risk. In 1899, the year the MBH was created, 116 Hackney residents died of the measles, 115 of them children under the age of 15. All 47 of the borough’s whooping cough deaths were in children, and a further 252 died from diphtheria. Infant mortality (deaths of children under the age of 1) was 165 per 1,000 live births. To put this context, in 2018, the figure was 4 per 1,000.

Public health disinfecting station on Millfields Row, circa 1912

Hackney Archives, Libraries and Heritage Services

“If you survived, it was very common for you to have had at least one of those diseases in your childhood. And as much as the mortality that’s important, it’s also the morbidity. There was a lot of sickness around,” says Graham Mooney, a historian of medicine at Johns Hopkins University. “They were fairly common diseases but it doesn’t mean to say they weren’t devastating, or they didn’t actually have a big emotional and practical toll on people’s lives, because they did.”

Local authorities had been disinfecting domestic premises and articles of clothing and bedding in England since at least 1866, when the government introduced a law that required them to administer disinfection equipment. The practice was widespread across the country but provisions varied widely and Hackney’s operation was a modest one. By 1892, a municipal sanitary committee denounced it as “thoroughly and dangerously inefficient for the requirements of the District.”

A dedicated facility opened in 1893, complete with modern steam disinfecting equipment, but Hackney’s medical officer for health, John King Warry, didn’t stop there. Backed up by new national legislation that permitted his team to spend what it liked to cleanse people and premises “infested with vermin”, he campaigned for the creation of a state-of-the-art disinfecting and disinfesting station that included accommodation for whoever required it.

The result of King Warry’s efforts, a three-building complex completed in 1901 at a cost of just under £10,000 (around £1.25 million today), was used for decades. A groundplan of the building held by Hackney Archives, the official repository for the historic records of the MBH and its successor, Hackney London Borough Council, shows ‘Infected’ and ‘Disinfected’ rooms connected by a large boiler, a workshop, bathrooms for men and women, a laundry, ironing room and drying room, as well as stables and cart sheds. Infected people and their possessions would enter the station from one side, move through the process of steam disinfection and exit out the other side. Metal hoppers in which people would have placed their infested clothes before taking a sulphur bath to treat their scabies could be found in the men’s and women’s bathrooms.

“One of the concerns was that if people were ill with infection, in order to make sure that they didn’t pass on the infection, cleaning and disinfecting and cleansing, both where they lived, and the things that they owned and had contact with, was a way of eradicating germs,” says Mooney.

“So a lot of health authorities, as well as having isolation hospitals, they would build these disinfection stations that perform that disinfecting ritual. These sorts of places were really common and they were a very important part of how Victorian and Edwardian local authorities responded to outbreaks,” he adds.

Disinfection killed the germs associated with diseases, as well as common vermin like lice, fleas, bed bugs and cockroaches.

Hackney Archives, Libraries and Heritage Services

Changes to the station over the years track advances in public health strategy.

Sending teams of government employees out to disinfect and disinfest homes across the borough was always a significant part of local medical officers’ work. In 1902, the station’s first full year of its operation, 2,838 rooms were fumigated, with 1,009 of these having their walls stripped of paper and washed with carbolic solution. That same year, 24,226 articles of furniture, bedding and clothing were disinfected at the station, all according to the annual report of Hackney’s health department, available online as part of the digital archives of the Wellcome Collection.

The shelter house itself was little used, despite the busyness of the rest of the complex. In 1902, only 97 people stayed overnight, and by 1905 the borough was having to advertise the existence of the apartments. From the 1930s onward, demand was so low that the shelter house was turned into staff accommodation for people working in the department of the medical officer of health. In all likelihood, says Tim Walder, a conservation and design officer at Hackney Council, who studied the station in 2015, its schedule of disinfection and disinfestation rendered overnight stays mostly unnecessary. After all, even the most comprehensive fumigation process only takes a couple of hours.

One might expect the station to have been in greater demand than usual during the 1918 flu pandemic, but this was not the case. Though 698 people died of flu in Hackney that year, up from just 28 in 1917, the number of rooms fumigated and items disinfected actually fell, from 1,988 and 12,626 respectively in 1917 to 1,347 and 11,491 the following year. The reason interventions by the station fell rather than rose, suggests Andrea Tanner in her article “The Spanish Lady Comes to London: the Influenza Pandemic 1918–1919,” is that the government of the day encouraged local authorities to “concentrate their activities on providing nursing services and home helps” rather than disinfection measures. It did so, Tanner suggests, because experience from the prior flu pandemic of 1889-92 showed that sanitary measures were largely ineffective. In addition to that, the war effort meant that many of the staff that would have been required for disinfection had been called up for military or civilian service.

In the 1930s, as infectious diseases became less virulent and more treatable thanks to a combination of vaccines and antibiotics, the complex shifted to house citizens displaced by clearing out slums. A film produced by the borough’s public health department in 1935 on its slum clearance and re-housing program shows tightly packed terraces of run-down homes with rickety rear additions and broken windows and fences. Inside, rooms are narrow and low ceilinged, and mold proliferates. Later in the film, footage reveals the new apartment blocks that the local authority built to replace the slums: Towering above the older housing stock around them, they are tidy, with large windows and balconies.

“You were removed from your slum, which the council was demolishing to build lovely new [government] housing, and they wanted to make sure that you didn’t take your vermin with you,” says Walder. In 1934, the local authority built a drive-in fumigation and airing shed at the Hackney station with a capacity of 3,400 cubic feet, large enough to fit an entire removal truck containing the “holding the effects of one to three families”, according to the 1936 report. Fitted with an enormous sliding door lined with zinc, the chamber had a roof of reinforced concrete covered with asphalt.

The shed still survives today, its utilitarian design at odds with the pleasing aesthetics of the earlier architecture. It’s here where the story takes on a disquieting tone. Large enough to disinfest entire trucks loaded up with furniture, the sheds used Zyklon B to produce hydrogen cyanide gas, the same chemical used by the Nazis in their death camps. As Walder wrote in his report on the building, “the use of Zyklon B in 1930s Hackney was for genuine, if paternalistic, public health reasons (to destroy vermin).

“This innocent use of the chemical was widespread on contemporary continental Europe. The evil came when this innocent use was perverted for sinister purposes through a political process which equated certain groups of people with vermin.”

A worker sprays disinfectant and prepares to remove bedding for steam disinfection at the Millfields Station in 1951.

Hackney Archives, Libraries and Heritage Services

The disinfecting station’s other roles over the years included disinfecting library books (as many as 4,348 a year in the 1960s) to help prevent outbreaks of disease between households and, during World War II, treating civil defense personnel suffering with scabies.

The station continued operations until 1984, disinfecting second-hand clothing prior to export sales abroad on the one hand, and treating headlice on the other. Its decline was inevitable, says Martin Gorsky, a professor in the history of public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, a consequence of vastly improved health outcomes—“vaccines were in, infant mortality was solved”—and the founding of the National Health Service in 1948, which took power away from local authorities. “The modern safe public health hygienic environment was in place,” he says.

Today, it can be found tucked between a waste depot and an electricity substation close to Hackney’s eastern boundary. Out of use since the mid-1980s, the “rare and complete survival of a purpose-built disinfecting station” has long been deemed at-risk by Historic England, the public body charged with protecting the country’s historic buildings.

Walder was asked to report on the state of the disinfecting station soon after taking on the role of principal conservation and design officer for Hackney Council. “Some of the doors hadn’t been opened for a very long time. I had to get a man with a crowbar to open some of them,” says Walder.

As Walder wandered through the loosely Arts and Crafts-style building, he came upon disinfection and fumigation machinery dating from throughout the life of the station. A control panel located between two disinfectors bears a plaque from an engineering company more than 120 miles away in Nottingham.

It took quite some time to get to the bottom of it all, he says. “Some of it was old and we didn’t really know what we were looking at. Also the building’s been altered – it wasn’t always clear what was original or later, what was interesting and what was less interesting.”

Walder pieced it together after poring over documents held by Hackney Archives, Wellcome Collection, London Metropolitan Archives and the library of the Royal Institute of British Architects, as well as consulting with experts at groups including Historic England, the Victorian Society and the Greater London Industrial Archaeology Society.

Across the yard from the station sit a three-bedroom Caretaker’s Lodge and a Shelter House, which comprises four almost identical one-bedroom apartments. Now the headquarters of a literacy charity and home to live-in guardians, respectively, these buildings remained in fairly good condition.

The same can’t be said of the disinfectant station itself, unfortunately, unsurprising given that it had been out of use for nearly 40 years. That said, the scale and ambition of the place are still clear to see. Compared to other disinfecting stations built during this period, mostly alongside hospitals, orphanages and the like (none of which survive today, as far as Walder can gather), the Hackney site was “particularly big and elaborate and expensive”, says the officer.

“You might expect something industrial and plain but it’s not: it’s got ornamental leadwork and rather fancy Portland stone,” says Walder.

The site has its roots in late Victorian municipal
concerns about the health and hygiene of Hackney’s
population.

Hackney Archives, Libraries and Heritage Services

In the fall of 2020, Hackney Council announced, based on Walder’s report, that it would be mothballing the station in the hope of safeguarding it for the future. The roof and guttering will be repaired to stop any more water getting in, the windows and doors will be boarded up and any internal pipes that once held noxious chemicals will be drained.

Walder’s hunch is that the site was a “prestige project” for the borough, “a kind of municipal showing off” in the form of what looks to be the first public building built since creation of the MBH in 1899. King Warry’s annual report for 1900, in which he states that, “Hackney will be the most completely equipped district in London for dealing with infectious and contagious disease,” certainly supports Walder’s theory.

“Public health, because it was part of local governments, became part of local government politics as well,” says Gorsky. “It was an area of tax and spend. There were things that were put on the agenda because electorates might like them.”

Grand public baths, for people who didn’t have bathing facilities at home, were another example of this type of spending by municipalities serving economically disadvantaged communities, adds Gorsky. The Hackney Disinfecting Station would have served a similar purpose.

Walder would one day like to see the Disinfecting Station turned into workshops or offices, along with a foyer display to illustrate the history of the site. “I can’t see a situation where it became the National Museum of Disinfecting Stations because there’s only one and it’s in such an out of the way place,” he adds with a smile.

When Walder was writing his report on the building for the council, he recalls that “it felt terribly abstract, like something from another age.” The events of the last year have changed all that: “Now it really feels close to home.”

British History

COVID-19

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Health

The CDC’s COVID-19 Cleaning Guidelines Now Say You Can Take It Easy With the Disinfectants

February 13, 2022 by Staff Reporter

Regularly cleaning your home is a great way to remove bacteria and viruses that may be hanging out on various surfaces. And when it comes to COVID-19 cleaning at home, most people don’t need to do much more than cleaning with regular soap or detergent and water, according to updated recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), meaning we can skip harsh disinfectants in many situations.

Since the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have started deep cleaning their homes with disinfectant products, such as familiar products from Clorox, Lysol, and Purell. (While cleaning products remove dirt and some pathogens, disinfectants actually kill germs.) The idea was well-intentioned because, at that time, it seemed like the coronavirus frequently spread through surfaces. But at this point, experts recognize that the virus actually spreads mainly through respiratory droplets. Although transmission through surfaces (fomite transmission) is still possible, it’s less of a worry than droplet and airborne transmission, which is why face masks, social distancing, and ventilation have become so important in our efforts to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Now the CDC says that, in order to protect against COVID-19, regularly cleaning with basic products or just soap and water is enough for most people. Focus on cleaning surfaces that are frequently touched (such as doorknobs, countertops, tables, and light switches) regularly and after you have visitors in your home. As for other surfaces, you can clean them as needed or when they’re visibly dirty, the CDC says. Under these circumstances, you likely don’t need to use disinfecting products.

But if you or someone else in your household is sick or tests positive for COVID-19, that’s when it’s time to bring out the disinfectants for an extra layer of safety; there are specific detailed CDC guidelines for how to do that safely. If someone in your household has a higher risk for severe COVID-19 symptoms (due to their age or an underlying health condition, for instance), you may want to disinfect regularly as well.

Disinfectants actually kill viruses and bacteria, but not all of them are effective against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. So it’s important to use disinfectants that are on the EPA’s List N, which ensures that they are actually effective against this virus.

And if you’re going to use disinfectants in your home, it’s crucial to use them safely and according to the product label instructions. These products can be irritating, so in many cases you may want to wear gloves or other personal protective equipment when using them. Disinfectants can be particularly irritating for people with asthma, the EPA says, so if you or someone else in your household has asthma, take precautions to have them avoid the area you’re cleaning or to keep it well ventilated.

Along with other public health tools like washing your hands, getting vaccinated when possible, and wearing a mask in public, regularly cleaning your home is one way to help keep yourself and those around you safe from COVID-19. But now that we’ve learned more about the way this virus is most likely to spread, the CDC says we can take a step back on frequently using home disinfectants—and save them for more high-risk situations.

Related:

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Alternative safe drinking water now available at Methven and Mt Somers

February 13, 2022 by Staff Reporter

Ashburton District Council has arranged alternative safe drinking water supplies at Methven and Mt Somers while temporary boil water notices are in place on the community schemes following last weekend’s rain.

A water tank is on the village green at Mt Somers and an ACL water tanker and smaller tank is stationed at Methven, near the Methven Medical Centre. Smaller portable tanks have also been set up at Methven schools, pre-schools and Methven House.

Council Infrastructure Services Group Manager Neil McCann said the tanker at Methven was mobile and continuously topping the portable tanks up.

“People can go to the main street site with their clean containers and fill up at any time. These alternative water sources will be operational in Methven and Mt Somers until Council gives the all clear.”

Monitoring equipment at the Mt Somers and the Methven water treatment facilities detected high levels of turbidity during the weekend’s heavy rain. Although the treatment equipment is working correctly, it is less effective during periods of high turbidity.

The boil water notices were issued as a precaution.

People connected to the schemes were advised to boil their drinking water, and water used in food preparation and for hygiene purposes, for at least three minutes before consumption.

Mr McCann said water in the tankers did not need to be boiled and was safe for use. The tanker would stay as long as it was needed.

“We are continuously monitoring water coming through the treatment plants and will lift the boil water notices as soon as we can.”

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Senior living community introduces technologies | Local Business News

February 13, 2022 by Staff Reporter

Lumenant Director of Technology, Rob Swiers, teaches community leadership how to use and monitor their new air purification system.

SUBMITTED PHOTO

HICKORY — Springs of Catawba residents will now benefit from the use of both air purification and light therapy technologies.

The community’s air purification system cleans the air and filters airborne contaminants, and the light therapy system aides in the natural sleep and wake pattern of seniors. Both of these technologies, which are provided by Lumenant, support a healthy and clean lifestyle for residents.

Light Therapy is a lighting system that mimics natural day and night cycles. This system can significantly improve both the mood and the health of seniors, as well as staff, who spend most of their days indoors. This lighting has been shown to improve sleep cycles, reduce anxiety and agitated behavior, and increase engagement in daytime activities. In clinical settings, adding light therapy technology can even allow for significant reduction in psychotropic and sleep medications for memory care patients.

“Every light in the system is individually programmable to allow each room to wake or sleep at a different time, giving residents a choice in their daily routines,” said Lumenant Director of Technology, Rob Swiers. “A healthy sleep cycle allows our brains to repair our bodies as well as our minds, and is associated with improved long-term health.”

The community also features an air purification system that uses dielectric barrier discharge bipolar ionization technology.

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Are you frond of ferns? | Chesapeake Challenge

February 13, 2022 by Staff Reporter

New York fern (Wasp32/CC BY-SA 4.0)

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s 83-page guide, Native Plants for Wildlife Habitat and Conservation Landscaping: Chesapeake Bay Watershed, recommends 19 fern species for planting. Here are descriptions of four of these species.

Cinnamon fern: One of the first ferns to appear each spring, this plant gets its name from its woolly (in wet areas), reddish-brown, fertile fronds. In the wild, this 2– to 5-foot drought-tolerant fern is found in woods, marshes, swamps and along streams. It was long ago eaten by Native Americans but has since been found to potentially cause cancer. Ruffed grouse eat its fiddleheads. Yellow warblers and hummingbirds line their nests with the downy wool from its fronds. Brown thrashers and veeries use the whole plant, nesting in the center of it.

Hay-scented fern: This is a yellowish green fern, 1–3 feet tall, with feathery fronds that give off a scent of crushed hay in late summer. Found in meadows and sunny openings in the forest canopy, it turns golden yellow in the fall. White-tailed deer apparently do not relish this fern, in part because its foliage is covered with tiny hairs that excrete a sticky substance. This allows hay-scented ferns to form dense colonies in the forest understory, in some cases shading out tree seedlings. Common throughout northeastern and central North America, it is considered a “native invasive” because of its ability to dominate a forest floor under some conditions. It proliferates in acidic soils, giving it an advantage in the Northeast, where soils have become increasingly acidic over the past 60 years.

Sensitive fern: This fern’s common name is derived from its early sensitivity to frost. Its stalks are said to have a decorative, “beaded” appearance, lending the plant one of its common alternative names, bead fern. Salamanders and frogs will take shelter underneath the foliage and in the cool soil, and its fertile fronds produce a feast of spores for birds. Sensitive fern is poisonous to horses if eaten in large amounts. Deer like to nibble on the infertile fronds, but usually not to ill effect. The sensitive fern has broad, almost triangular fronds, which contrast with the lacy appearance of many ferns. Its fiddleheads, which emerge in the spring, are a pale red.

Hay-scented fern (Jaknouse/CC BY-SA 3.0)

New York fern: Found in forested wetlands, dry to damp woods and thickets, the New York fern is drought tolerant and often grows in colonies of hundreds of plants. It is a soft, deciduous, yellow-green fern that stands 1–2 feet high. It grows in clumps and its fronds, up to 4 inches wide, are distinctive as they taper sharply at both the base and the tip. It can spread rapidly but is relatively easy to control. It is found throughout the eastern United States and Canada but is most concentrated within Appalachia and the Atlantic Northeast.

Fronds are the feathery leaves of ferns, which are non-flowering, seedless plants. They can be found in moist areas: forests, fields, swamps and near streams. Ferns can survive in various climates and at many altitudes. How wide-ranging is your knowledge of ferns? Answers are below.

1. The study of ferns comes from the Greek name for the plant. What is it?

A. Brackenology

B. Fernitology

C. Pteridology

D. Sporanatilology

Cinnamon fern (Antepenultimate/CC BY-SA 4.0)

2. Ferns have been around for at least 360 million years and have been found in fossil records all over the Earth. They were an important part of herbivorous dinosaurs’ diets. Which of these dinosaurs ate ferns? (More than one answer.)

A. Ankylosaurus

B. Diplodocus

C. Stegosaurus

D. Triceratops

3. There are at least 12,000 species of ferns in the world (441 in North America). During their prehistoric heyday, before the appearance of flowering plants, they were even more diverse. For every known modern species of fern, how many more species have been found in the fossil record?

A. 3

B. 5

C. 7

D. 9

4. The water fern grows so quickly that some scientists are exploring its potential as a tool in fighting climate change. (During photosynthesis, plants take in carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, from the air and release oxygen.) Brake fern absorbs arsenic and has been planted in areas to decontaminate soil. Boston fern fights indoor air pollution, removing formaldehyde from the air better than any other plant. It also removes xylene, toluene and benzene. What is the term for the process in which plants are used to remove pollution in the air, soil and water? (Note: The ferns used as examples here are not native to the Bay watershed.)

A. Biotranspiration

B. Phytoremediation

C. Plant therapy

D. Verdurepurification

5. How many feet can the tallest fern grow?

A. 15

B. 30

C. 45

D. 60

Sensitive fern (peganum/CC BY-SA 2.0)

6. Ferns reproduce by means of spores, powdery masses of single-cell “seeds” released from capsules under the fronds. Spores can be which of these colors? (More than one answer.)

A. Blackish

B. Brownish

C. Reddish

D. Yellowish

7. Long ago, in some cultures, it was believed that eating ferns would allow someone to:

A. Become invisible

B. Fly

C. Read minds

D. Talk to animals

Answers

1. Pteridology

2. Ankylosaurus, diplodocus, stegosaurus, triceratops

3. Nine

4. Phytoremediation

5. Thirty

6. Blackish, brownish, reddish, yellowish

7. Become invisible

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Originally Appeared Here

Untreated water at center of flap between Blaine and Lexington

February 13, 2022 by Staff Reporter

Mediation could be the next step for two north metro cities that share an interconnected water system and are sparring over water-quality issues.

Blaine and its much smaller neighbor Lexington have been locked in a battle for nearly two years, unable to agree on a plan to operate the distribution system that has been jointly owned by both cities for more than 50 years.

Blaine in recent years has spent $40 million to improve water quality, including opening a fourth water treatment facility last summer. Officials in Lexington, which does not have treated water, claim Blaine simply took over and made changes to the joint system without consulting them, and accuse the city of installing valves to control the amount of water flowing into Lexington.

“They spent lots of money to build it and they should have done that collaboratively with Lexington,” said Lexington City Attorney Kurt Glaser. “They forget they have to work with their neighbor.”

The dispute took on a new tone last week, when the Lexington City Council passed a resolution stating Blaine “exceeded its authority by implementing recent changes to the joint water system” and the council would authorize changes to the system only if they provided for a safe, adequate and reliable water supply equal to that provided to Blaine residents. The resolution also said any changes in “operation, maintenance and planning related to the system must occur in a cooperative manner.”

The resolution states splitting the system into two parts would cost up to $10 million and take Lexington three to five years to build infrastructure that is already in place in the joint system. If Blaine separates and operates the system, there would be decreased water capacity to fight fires in Lexington, Glaser said.

Blaine supplies water to Lexington most of the year, but Lexington turns on its wells during the summer months and sends water back to Blaine “to pay us back,” said Blaine Mayor Tim Sanders. But Lexington’s water is inferior to that of Blaine’s, the mayor said, and Blaine no longer wants Lexington’s untreated water mixing with its treated water.

“We have the goal of providing the highest quality of water at the lowest cost to Blaine businesses and residents,” Sanders said. “We are committed in that we are not going to have water quality issues in Blaine. We remain steadfast and unapologetic in that.”

Sanders said Blaine has offered to sell water to Lexington at a wholesale rate, something Glaser disputes as a price has never been agreed on. Sanders also would like to see meters installed to track how much water is flowing into Lexington.

Lexington City Council’s resolution states it wants to “be a good neighbor” by working with Blaine on proposed changes. Sanders said getting back to the table to talk face to face would be a good start.

No talks are imminent, and if the disagreement between the cities persists, “there is the potential for mediation,” Glaser said. “The best thing for the taxpayers is to work this out. We are going to work this out.”

Nobody will lose water service as the flap continues, but “there has to be a solution that works. We just want resolution,” Sanders said.

Glaser said Lexington has contacted Rep. Donald Raleigh, R-Circle Pines, to secure some federal infrastructure money.

“If we had treated water, we could end this,” Glaser said.

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Originally Appeared Here

LA County’s COVID Hospitalizations Drop By 125 to 2,086 – NBC Los Angeles

February 13, 2022 by Staff Reporter

The number of COVID-positive hospital patients continues to plunge in Los Angeles County, declining by 125 people to 2,086, according to the latest state figures released Sunday.

The number of those patients in intensive care was 439, down from 461 a day earlier.

Hospitalizations had climbed to over 4,800 in mid-January at the height of the Omicron-fueled winter surge in cases.

Under guidelines announced this month by county Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, if the hospitalization number stays below 2,500 for seven consecutive days, the county will consider itself to be entering a “post-surge” phase, and will lift its mask mandate for outdoor “mega-events” and outdoors at schools and childcare centers. Saturday marked the third day of sub-2,500 hospitalizations.

Ferrer said last week that absent a sudden increase in hospitalizations, the outdoor mask mandate could be lifted as early as this Wednesday.

The latest numbers came as the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health reported 4,889 new positive COVID tests and another 58 virus-related deaths. Those numbers — which officials said likely reflect reporting delays over the weekend — brought the county’s totals to 2,761,870 cases and 29,902 fatalities since the pandemic began.

More than 11.2 million individuals have been tested, with 22% of those people testing positive, the health department said.

Ferrer cautioned people planning to watch Sunday’s Super Bowl in person, at area bars or restaurants or at private parties to follow several common-sense guidelines, including:

Getting a COVID test as close to the start of the game as possible and after the game if you had possible exposures;
Keeping gatherings small and outdoors, or if that’s not an option, improving indoor air flow;
Keeping your hands clean and keeping your distance while eating;
Wearing a well-fitted high-quality mask.

“As people prepare to watch the game either at SoFi Stadium, at a restaurant or bar, or at home with friends and family, please remember the sensible public health measures that protect us all,” Ferrer said Saturday.

“LA County believes in taking care of each other, and I know we can take care of one another and enjoy the game at the same time. Please be safe, have the best time ever, and go Rams!”

On Friday, Ferrer again urged vaccinated residents to obtain booster shots, noting that the effectiveness of vaccines wanes over time, and saying the additional dose is the best defense against a trip to a hospital due to the virus.

“Given the evidence of waning protection over time from the COVID vaccines, eligible residents and workers should get boosted as soon as possible,” she said in a statement. “As we think about the ‘post-surge’ strategies, increasing the number of people optimally protected from COVID infection helps us decrease the number of people who become seriously ill and die from COVID. Appropriate actions that allow us to live with this virus without major disruptions to our lives will need to include strategies that reduce the impact of the virus on those most vulnerable.”

While the county’s outdoor masking requirements could be lifted this week, the indoor masking mandate will remain in place until much stricter criteria are met. That’s in spite of the state planning to lift its indoor mask requirement for vaccinated people next week.

According to Ferrer, the county’s indoor mask rule will not be lifted until the county’s virus-transmission rate falls to the “moderate” level as defined by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for two straight weeks, or until COVID vaccines have been available to children under 5 years old for eight weeks.

Reaching the CDC’s “moderate” designation requires the county to have a cumulative, seven-day new case rate of less than 50 per 100,000 residents. According to the CDC’s website, the county’s rate was 518 per 100,000 as of Friday. That’s down from 622 per 100,000 residents on Thursday.

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Originally Appeared Here

Best Surface Cleaners, Wipes, and Disinfectants

February 13, 2022 by Staff Reporter

You can also make an effective homemade disinfectant from a mixture of water and bleach, which you may already have on hand. It’s equally important to know how to use a disinfectant properly—that means allowing enough time for a disinfectant to do its job, which can be as much as 10 minutes. If you use a household cleaner that’s not among our picks and want to know whether it’s an effective coronavirus disinfectant, search for it on the EPA’s List N, the definitive and frequently updated resource.

Our pick

Clorox Disinfecting Wipes

Effective, EPA-approved, and (usually) easy to find, these presoaked wipes need only four minutes of contact time to neutralize the coronavirus.

Buying Options

*At the time of publishing, the price was $5.

Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, like the other picks in this guide, are not necessarily better than the other options; our advice is to get any of our picks that you can find, first of all. In non-pandemic times, Clorox’s bleach-free wipes are usually sold in single canisters or in four-packs at a range of retailers. These wipes can eliminate the coronavirus on hard surfaces in your home—countertops, bathroom fixtures, doorknobs, light switches, and tile and some wood floors—but not on fabric and other soft materials.

Our pick

Lysol Disinfecting Wipes

Another widely sold wipe, these are EPA-approved too, but they take 10 minutes to disinfect.

Buying Options

*At the time of publishing, the price was $10.

Lysol Disinfecting Wipes are also EPA-approved to disinfect hard surfaces, and are also (usually) widely available, either in a single canister or a six-pack. They employ the same non-bleach disinfectant as the Clorox wipes but take longer to work: 10 minutes versus four. That means more waiting around while they work, but if you find them, get them.

Our pick

Lysol Disinfectant Spray

This non-bleach aerosol spray works in 10 minutes. It’s fabric-safe but guaranteed to eliminate the virus only on hard surfaces.

Lysol Disinfectant Spray uses quaternary ammonium (quats) instead of bleach. It’s safe on hard surfaces and most fabrics, and it’s gentler on skin than bleach and produces fewer harsh fumes. It eliminates the coronavirus in 10 minutes on hard surfaces but only sanitizes (kills most but not all pathogens) on soft surfaces. Look for it also sold as a two-pack or three-pack.

Our pick

Lysol Disinfectant Max Cover Mist

This aerosol also works in 10 minutes and is fabric-safe, but again, it’s guaranteed to eliminate the virus only on hard surfaces.

Like the similar Lysol Disinfecting Spray, Lysol Max Cover Mist is quats based and safe on both hard surfaces and fabrics, but is guaranteed to eliminate the coronavirus only on hard surfaces, taking 10 minutes to do the job.

Our pick

Clorox Multi-Surface Cleaner + Bleach

This bleach-based cleaner works in one minute but will damage fabrics, and the fumes are harsh.

Buying Options

*At the time of publishing, the price was $4.

Clorox Multi-Surface Cleaner + Bleach eliminates the coronavirus in one minute on hard surfaces, such as you find in kitchens and bathrooms—sinks, faucets, toilets, tile, and synthetic countertops. Any bleach-based spray like this is for use only on hard surfaces. It will damage fabrics, feel harsh on skin, and produce fumes that can irritate mucous membranes. Take basic precautions such as ventilating the room and wearing gloves.

Our pick

Clorox Clean-Up Cleaner + Bleach

Another bleach-based cleaner from Clorox, this one works in five minutes, and its fumes are also strong.

Buying Options

*At the time of publishing, the price was $3.

This bleach-based spray eliminates the coronavirus in five minutes on hard surfaces and is for use on bathroom and kitchen surfaces. No fabrics. Wear gloves. Ventilate the room.

Our pick

Lysol Kitchen Pro Antibacterial Cleaner

This spray is based on a non-bleach disinfectant, so it’s safe on fabrics but guaranteed to eliminate the coronavirus only on hard surfaces.

Buying Options

*At the time of publishing, the price was $3.

Unlike the other spray-bottle options on our list, this one is fabric-safe because it uses quaternary ammonium (“quats”) instead of bleach. It eliminates the coronavirus in two minutes on hard surfaces, whereas on soft materials it may sanitize—that is, kill most viruses and other pathogens present—but is not guaranteed to fully disinfect. It’s less harsh on the skin and produces less-noxious fumes than bleach-based products.

Our pick

Clorox Bleach (121 ounces)

Diluted in water, bleach is the key ingredient to a homemade disinfectant that’s as effective as it is noxious. Research how to safely handle and work with bleach if you’re new to this.

Buying Options

*At the time of publishing, the price was $4.

Like you, we couldn’t find many of these ready-to-use products for sale online in 2020. But one thing has been consistently available: Bleach. Clorox recommends a half cup of bleach per gallon of water to make a disinfectant solution; we’ve found the CDC recommending a more diluted version, and other experts use a more concentrated mix. Before you concoct any bleach-based disinfectants, please learn how to do it safely and effectively. Start with our section on how to make a homemade disinfectant for coronavirus.

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Originally Appeared Here