Environment

The pollution is a result of emissions from a plastics manufacturing plant.

Saint-Gobain, a major plastics manufacturer, is blamed for some of the worst drinking water contamination in New Hampshire, a result of pollution from PFAS chemicals disseminated through their stacks. Lane Turner/Globe Staff

About 1,500 residential wells in southern New Hampshire have been found to be polluted with harmful “forever chemicals” as a result of emissions from a nearby plastics plant.

About 1,350 more have been identified as potentially being polluted, but the company responsible is refusing to pay for testing of the wells or for remediation.

The pollution comes from Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, which manufactures everything from radar domes to insulation for special hoses, The Boston Globe reported Sunday. The factory emits PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

PFAS exposure, even when the amount of PFAS is small, has been linked to kidney and testicular cancer, liver disease, high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia during pregnancy, and low infant birth weights, according to the CDC.

PFAS are often called “forever chemicals” because they take a long time to break down in the environment, and never really break down fully. This means they essentially stay in your body permanently if you’re exposed.

The plastics plant has released thousands of pounds of PFAS through its stacks over the years, even before Saint-Gobain took over the plant in 2001, the Globe reported. The chemicals traveled on the wind at least six miles in every direction, getting into groundwater and private wells.

State officials were made aware of the pollution in 2016 after one particular PFAS chemical was found in such high concentrations in the water system in Merrimack that the state shut down two public wells, the Globe reported.

The concentration of PFAS in the Merrimack wells exceeded the concentration levels deemed safe by 10 times, the newspaper wrote. Since then, New Hampshire has enacted even stricter PFAS concentration standards for drinking water.

Saint-Gobain took responsibility for the pollution in a settlement agreement it reached with the state in 2018, the Globe reported. In the agreement, the company promised to alert homeowners in an approximately 65-square-mile area around their plant about possible contamination of their wells, cover the costs of PFAS testing, and provide clean drinking water for many of the contaminated wells.

But, importantly, the newspaper wrote, Saint-Gobain didn’t agree to cover testing and remediation for wells that could have potentially been polluted by another source.

As of April 2022, the Globe reported, Saint-Gobain had identified 3,691 wells that could have been contaminated, of which about 1,000 were found to have higher PFAS concentrations than the state allows.

But there are many more wells that Saint-Gobain will not take responsibility for, including about 700 inside the 65-square-mile zone, and another 650 just outside it, the Globe reported.

Environmental advocates told the Globe they believe there are likely far more wells in the area that are contaminated with PFAS as a result of Saint-Gobain.

Peter Clark, a spokesman for Saint-Gobain, told the Globe that the company should not be held responsible for wells inside the zone that may have been contaminated through other means.

“Given these properties’ proximity to other potential sources of PFAS, including a nearby fire station, our company believes other entities should be involved in sampling efforts in this specific location,” he said.

In a letter to Saint-Gobain last month, state officials urged the company to submit a plan to test the 700 wells the state identified within the 65-square-mile zone, the Globe reported.

In a separate statement, the newspaper reported, state environment officials said many wells outside that zone are located “within inferred areas of impact from Saint-Gobain’s releases.”

“All water supply wells within the [65-square-mile] Outer Boundary are at some level of risk for contamination due to air emissions from the Saint-Gobain facility, and therefore need to be evaluated,” Jeffrey Marts, a Department of Environmental Services official, wrote in the letter.

Saint-Gobain also has yet to test 40% of the wells it claimed responsibility for in 2018, and had only provided bottled water to about a quarter of the residents who are now dependent on bottled water, the Globe reported based on a report the company provided to the state last month.

Saint-Gobain said in the report that it hasn’t been able to reach at least 1,250 of the property owners.

Clark and other company officials told the Globe they are doing everything they can to reach out to homeowners, including mailing, holding public meetings, and providing updates to public officials and on a company website.

When asked why they weren’t knocking on doors, the Globe wrote that Clark didn’t answer directly.

“Our company has taken every reasonable step to ensure residents are informed and kept updated on our work,” he said.

Nearly 1,500 wells have been identified so far that Saint-Gobain has taken responsibility for, the Globe reported.

So far, Clark told the Globe, the company has distributed nearly 500,000 gallons of bottled water and installed more than 15 miles of water lines that have provided potable water to 622 homes.

Saint-Gobain has also spent millions of dollars installing measures to cut down the plant’s PFAS emissions, Clark added, though environmental advocates have questioned the efficacy of these measures and the way the company tests for PFAS.

Last December, the Globe reported, state officials released a report that found that between 2009 and 2018, residents in Merrimack had a 42% higher rate of kidney cancer than residents in the rest of New Hampshire. 

The study also found unusually high rates of myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and bladder, colon, and testicular cancers in Merrimack.

“While this preliminary data does not necessarily indicate the presence of a cancer cluster, any data that points to the possibility of increased illness in our communities warrants closer examination,” Patricia Tilley, a Department of Health and Human Services official, said in a statement accompanying their report in December.

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Safety managed drinking water sources has been a challenge in the country for many and the current sector legislation in The Gambia adds up to the challenges.

On 31st May 2022 the Public Utility and Regulatory Authority (PURA) validated the first Water and Sewage Services Regulations.

Yusupha M. Jobe, director general of PURA said the current National Water Resources Council Act 1979 is not up to date and is barely adequate for the dynamic challenges.

“A sound legal framework is one of the key instruments needed to transform the water and sanitation sector,” DG Jobe said.

He added the existing water stress is likely to continue with severe implications on health and the ecosystems if they fail to take necessary actions to mitigate the impact of climate change, uncontrolled urbanisation, and increased demand for water supply.

He said safe drinking water and sanitation is a fundamental human right and not a privilege.

“In The Gambia, 84.8% of households have access to basic drinking water sources, but only 33.8% of households are using safely managed drinking water sources,” he stated.

The director general further said that his office is proactively contributing to the sector reforms and the transformative process of strengthening the enabling environment.

According to the draft version of the regulations for water supply and sewage services, PURA shall issue licenses for water supply utility licenses (water production, treatment, distribution, and sale).

The authority shall also issue a sewage utility license (sewage collection, conveyance, treatment, and disposal) as well as shall also issue septic trucks transformation license.

Dembo Fatty, a representative of the Ministry of Health said their mandate is to ensure the country has access to quality, sanitation, and hygiene at all levels.

Mr. Fatty added that the statistics in the country where Gambians have access to safely managed drinking water is a concern, adding that the Sustainable Development Goals targets aim at ensuring clean and stable water supply and effective water sanitation for all people by 2030.

Alieu M. Ngum, board chairman of PURA said we need regulations to support the implementation of our policies and laws.

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As part of its mission to provide pure and safe drinking water to children in order to protect them from diseases, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to set up water treatment plants based on ultra-filtration technology in as many as 28,041 schools spread over 14 districts of the state initially under Chief Minister’s RO Drinking Water Scheme. The government plans to set up similar plants all over the state later on to ensure provision of clean drinking water in all the schools.

The main objective behind the Yogi Government’s move to set up water treatment plants in schools is to ensure protection of school children from all diseases caused by contaminated water. Provision of safe drinking water will also go a long way in the prevention of communicable diseases.

It is worth mentioning here that the UP government has increased the budgetary provision under the Jal Jeevan Mission from Rs 15,000 crore in the financial year 2021-22 to 19,500 crore in 2022-23 and aims at providing clean tap water to every household in the state by the year 2024.

CM Yogi Adityanath has been working continuously since his last tenure as CM of the state to provide safe drinking water to all in the state and has done commendable work in this regard in the Bundlekhand region, which has been battling with water crisis for several decades. The state government has always reiterated his commitment to the well-being of children and has taken several initiatives in this regard since he took over as CM of the state for the first time in 2017.

Also Read | UP holds ‘Conference of Panchayat 2022’ to empower local institutions to tackle climate change

The government launched ‘Operation Kayakalp’ way back in 2019 to equip 30,000 secondary schools with smart classrooms, playgrounds, toilets, libraries, computer laboratories, art rooms, and other modern facilities. The initiative also aimed to make pure drinking water available to children in schools.

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On the edge of the Sahara in southern Morocco, where an average of five inches of rain falls per year, scientists have tapped an unlikely and precious source of clean drinking water: fog.

Using vast vertical mesh nets, suspended on the slopes of Mount Boutmezguida, the rural community extracts moisture and water particles from blankets of dense fog, condensing them into a receptacle. A network of pipes takes some 6,300 litres of harvested freshwater daily to the villages below.

It’s an effective system — aptly dubbed cloud fishing or cloud seeding — that leverages familiar scientific principals with modern technology to help bring clean drinking water to one of the driest places on earth.

And it’s not the only innovative idea to help address the world’s fast growing freshwater needs, says a Hamilton-based think-tank.

A new book from United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) lays out how unconventional water resources, from deep underground aquifers to icebergs in the Arctic, can curb the mounting global shortage.

“These unconventional resources are a response to the limitation of conventional water sources, like snowmelt and river runoffs, which are becoming less sufficient,” said Mazoor Qadir, deputy director at the institute and lead editor of the book called “Unconventional Water Resources.”

Qadir said almost half of the countries in the world are expected to experience water scarcity by 2050, and conventional water resources aren’t expected to cope with burgeoning demands, particularly in arid areas.

That makes the need to tap into vastly underused unconventional water resources all the more pressing.

“Unconventional Water Resources,” released in May, lays out the vast potential of different types of unlikely water supplies.Courtesy of Manzoor Qadir

“The time is right now,” he said, adding harnessing the potential of unconventional resources could benefit “billions of people.”

Some such resources are in places you wouldn’t imagine.

At shallow depths of the world’s continental shelves, for example, there are untouched aquifers created millions of years ago that contain vast quantities of water — as many as 500,000 cubic kilometres’ worth, the book notes. Just one cubic kilometre of water equals the volume of 400,000 Olympic swimming pools.

Consider, too, transport ships. All ships in the world of 400 gross tonnage or more are required to have on-board treatment options to desalinate (converting saltwater to freshwater) the ballast water that keeps them from capsizing. When refined, this potable water could be sold to port cities in acutely dry regions, the book suggests.

Other resources highlighted in the book include micro-scale capturing of rain that would otherwise evaporate, reusing municipal wastewater and catching some of the billions of tons of freshwater melted from icebergs.

They stand as creative solutions that could help many of the one in four people in the world who suffer from shortages of water for drinking, sanitation, agriculture and economic development, said Qadir.

The institute’s book — produced over three years in collaboration with the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN University’s Institute for Integrated Management of Material Fluxes and Of Resources — was released May 26.

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“We are confident and particularly reaffirm our position of being in no breach of any required scientific standards,” — Says Bea Mountain Mining Corporation

Bea Mountain Mining Corporation says it categorically rejects and disagrees with the Environmental Protection Agency’s claim that higher than permissible levels of free cyanide with source from the company were responsible for the pollution of the Marvoe Creek and the Mafa River in Grand Cape Mount County.

Cyanide, a chemical used to wash gold but dangerous to human health, allegedly spilled from the facility at the company’s New Liberty Gold Mine in Kinjor and emptied into the rivers villagers used for cooking, fishing, and washing, the EPA said.

“The analysis results showed higher than [the] permissible level of free cyanide (with source from the BMMC tailing storage facility),” a statement from EPA said on Friday. “The presence of excess cyanide led to the contamination of the water sources and the situation has severely disrupted and injured the livelihood of the communities that depend on that water resources. 

“There were deaths to aquatic species including fish, crabs, crawfish, and other fauna inhabitants; and these fatalities were caused by asphyxiation (deprivation of oxygen needed to sustain life underwater). [But] there could be other conditions that led to the death of the fish and that it would require additional investigation.”

However, for Bea Mountain, they are not just categorically rejecting the EPA preliminary findings but the claims being made by the EPA as to the degree and extent of testing conducted “so far are inconclusive and filled with analytical gaps.” 

“We are confident and particularly reaffirm our position of being in no breach of any required scientific standards. We note that the EPA has found no evidence of damage to or any spill or irregular discharge from the TSF [tailing storage facility]. In fact, our TSF is routinely monitored in accordance with international standards by an independent and internationally accredited design company. 

“Our disagreement is further supported by the fact that the EPA itself has called for further investigations (and the EPA’s opinion that its test results for Cyanide are far below what is required to cause fatality),” BMMC said. 

The Cape Mount incident, which occurred a few weeks ago, came to light after villagers in Jikando, Gorma, and Madena in Gola Konneh District, discovered several dead fishes and a dog floating in the Weaju, Varwor, and Mafa River, thereby depriving them of their livelihood as they are forced to walk distances in search of alternative sources of safe drinking water.  

Bea Mountain has however been distributing water to affected villagers and could face a US$50,000 fine or a 20-year prison term in line with the Environmental Protection and Management Law of Liberia if the EPA findings are true.

It would be the second time that Bea Mountain has caused a spillage of cyanide. In 2016, spillage from the company’s waste facility polluted water sources in the area. The company claimed at the time the incident did not affect people but villagers said it caused them rashes.

Also, in February last year, over 10,000 villagers in that region, including Jikando, filed a complaint against German and French banks DEG and Proparco, respectively, for their involvement in the New Liberty Gold Mine. The aggrieved villagers accuse the company of several things, including land-grab and water pollution. The outcome of this case is pending.    

The EPA has however disclosed in its preliminary findings as it relates to the Marvoe Creek and the Mafa River that, at the time of sampling, the level of free cyanide was below the limits scientifically required to cause such fatality as found in the circumstance, a situation which requires further probe, especially “when there are other conditions that could cause this degree of distress and or death of the aquatic fauna.”

Citing the EPA’s call for an additional probe, Bea Mountain said that it welcomes the Agency’s decision to expand the testing by inviting the participation of competent independent “third-party entities and fully commits to  remain cooperative in this effort to establish the facts.” 

“As a responsible corporate citizen, [we] will continue to support the well-being of its host communities by providing alternative sources of protein and water until all doubts are clear by a conclusive investigation into these allegations,” the company said.

Meanwhile, the EPA has advised that until a final determination is made as to full remedial actions and their orderly implementation, all affected communities should desist from using and or consuming anything from the water bodies and or using these contaminated water sources for any purpose. 

In the coming days, the Agency will conduct additional investigation to pinpoint other elements that may have also contributed to the asphyxiation. Where necessary, a third-party, EPA-certified consultant/Laboratory will be called in to assist with these investigations. 

“A detailed assessment of the water streams will be conducted to determine the magnitude and extent of the quality of the water streams and to conduct an aquatic ecological assessment of the riverine systems. Following this additional scientific intervention, a full restoration plan (corrective measures) will be designed and implemented under the supervision of the EPA. 

“The Agency calls on the public to remain calm and non-speculative. The Agency continues this very methodical, rigid, and scientific, but necessary process,” EPA said in a release outlining its preliminary findings.

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Originally Appeared Here

Several Northern New Mexico communities are facing a water crisis in the wake of the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire, and one community near the Taos County-Mora County line was completely without running water on Sunday (June 5). It’s the second time the pipes have gone dry in the unincorporated community of Chacon since evacuated residents were allowed to return to their homes in late May.

When the largest wildfire in the state’s history swept through the mountains outside Chacon in Mora County, it generated enough heat to crack the rock formation of a spring that once flowed into a collection box at a rate of 20 gallons per minute, ultimately supplying water to over 350 residents via 133 household connections.

“The spring got diverted, now it’s coming out about 10-15 feet further down the rock cliff,” said Jerry Martinez, water operator for the Agua Pura Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Association (MDWCA), which supplies domestic water to about 90 percent of all residents in the Chacon area. “We can still tap into it, depending on what the landowner says.”

For now, the bulk of the spring water is flowing past the collection box, and from there it has fed into a downhill storage tank since the 1970s, when the water association was formed. And there’s another problem: The delivery pipe from the collection box to the storage tank was also damaged during the fire. The 7.5 gallons per minute the spring is still producing is further diminished by the time it reaches the storage tank.

“We’re only getting 5 gallons a minute into the storage tank because we have a line break somewhere in the burned area between the tank and the spring,” said Martinez, who spoke to the Taos News at a table inside Rene’s 50s Diner in Mora on Friday (June 3). “We applied through FEMA to get the spring source fixed, and we need a new line. We do have an engineer getting a design done for the repairs; then we need funding to pay for it.

“We got water samples last week, the water is good, but we had to shut it off for two days a week ago and let it build up — so everybody was without water for two days,” Martinez said. He had spent weeks trying to get help implementing the temporary fix from the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and federal agencies assigned to the fire, but he was unsuccessful. 

“I blew my top,” he said. “I told em, ‘Are you actually telling me you guys are the problem solvers, but you don’t have a pump in the whole state of New Mexico?'” 

“We need a minimum of 5,000 gallons a day” added to the storage tank in order to supply the community’s needs,” he said. “They found a 3,000 gallon water truck in Mora but the guy with the truck said it couldn’t pump the water 20 feet up from the truck into the storage tank.”

Meanwhile, Martinez estimated that Chacon would likely have enough water for 24 hours once he allows the storage tank to fill up on the trickle of water still available. After that, “It’s probably going to be 24 hours on, 24 hours off. We won’t know how long exactly until we do it,” he said.

Doug Dahl with Pacific Northwest Incident Management Team 2, which is currently assigned to the North Zone of the wildfire, has been trying to locate a water truck outfitted with a suitable pump for nearly two weeks. Martinez got a call Friday evening: Dahl said a truck that fit the bill had been located in Salt Lake City and was en route.

“It was supposed to be here at 8 p.m. this evening, but the truck broke down on its way here,” Martinez told the Taos News on Saturday (June 4), adding that his next move would be to ask elected state officials to request a water pump from the National Guard.

Fire Information Officer Michael Johnson confirmed to the Taos News that the Salt Lake City truck — which he said was the only such truck available within Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah — was indeed a no-go, and indicated that “national dispatch” in Boise, Idaho, would “broaden its scope” to search for an available truck outside of the Southwest region of the country.

“One issue is it needs to be a pump that can be used for potable water, and it needs to be strong enough,” Johnson said. “A short-term solution to assist with the delivery of potable water to the district has been hampered by the lack of resources available within the southwest. A potable water tanker with a pump capable of supplying the required pressure to get water to the tank was ordered from Utah, but had mechanical issues on the way to the incident. We are working to find a suitable replacement from other regions of the country.”

Last Friday the New Mexico Environment Department lifted water advisories for eight water systems in Mora County and one system in San Miguel County, but Agua Pura wasn’t one of them. 

The environment department issued the initial “precautionary drinking water advisories” on May 12 as a result of power outages or direct effects to drinking water operations caused by the Calf Canyon–Hermits Peak Fire. After evacuation orders were lifted, the state, in coordination with the New Mexico Rural Water Association (NMRWA) and water system representatives began to conduct on-site evaluations of a total of 16 water systems serving about 4,150 people. 

In Holman, Cleveland, Mora, Ledoux and Guadalupita, residents whose water is supplied by community water associations can safely drink, cook, shower and bathe with the water from their faucets, according to a June 3 New Mexico Environment Department press release.

Around 2,000 people, whose water is supplied by the Pendaries MDWCA, Pendaries RV Resort, Camp Blue Haven, El Porvenir Christian Camp, Buena Vista MDWCA, Agua Negra MDWCA and the Agua Pura MDWCA in Chacon are still under a precautionary water advisory as of Friday, according to the environment department.

“Customers of these public water systems should continue using alternate sources of drinking water to ensure the protection of public health,” the environment department release said. “Residents who need assistance receiving free, safe drinking water may contact the Fire Resource Hotline at 1-800-432-2080.”

Martinez said that state and federal officials delivered a 40-foot trailer full of bottled water to Chacon, so residents have sufficient water to drink but not to regularly wash themselves, their clothes, dishes and the like. He added that Agua Pura isn’t the only MDWCA within the perimeter of the fire dealing with water shortages. 

“There’s one here in Buena Vista up the [NM] 518 before you get to Vegas and they’re having problems,” Martinez said. “I’m not sure if it’s because of the fire, but I know they don’t have any water.”

In its press release last week, the environment department said it “continues coordinating closely with water system officials and the NMRWA to assess systems as quickly as possible for potential infrastructure damage that could affect water quality and safety.”

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Originally Appeared Here

The Chronicle

Nqobile Tshili, Chronicle Reporter
BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) will introduce a citywide 24-hour water shedding programme on Monday next week, as the city’s supply dam levels continue to decrease amid increasing demand.

Only Bulawayo city centre, industry and mines are exempted from water shedding.

The planned introduction of the water shedding programme comes as BCC is set to decommission Umzingwane Dam due to low rainfall in the 2021/22 rain season.

Bulawayo draws water from Inyakuni, Insiza, Upper Ncema, Lower Ncema, Mtshabezi and Umzingwane dams as well as Nyamandlovu and Epping Forest aquifers.

Upper ncema

Bulawayo supply dam levels are at 58 percent and the water shedding programme will remind residents of the dreaded period experienced in the 2019/20 when some areas went for over five months without tap water.

In 2019, BCC introduced a 24-hour water shedding programme, which it kept tightening until some areas received water once a week.

The local authority described the situation as its worst water crisis.

Government intervened by allocating resources for the rehabilitation of Nyamandlovu and Epping Forest boreholes that improved water supply to the city.

While the rehabilitation of Nyamandlovu and Epping Forest boreholes was seen as a mid-term solution to the city’s perennial water problem, Government is in the process of constructing Lake Gwayi-Shangani and planned delivery of water to Bulawayo is set to present a permanent solution to the water problems.

Bulawayo Town Clerk Mr Christopher Dube confirmed the development through a statement yesterday.

“The City of Bulawayo would like to advise members of the public that due to the continued deteriorating water situation in the city’s supply dams and projections of the decommissioning of the Umzingwane Dam during the month of June, a 24-hour water shedding programme will be implemented with effect from Monday 13 June 2022,” said Mr Dube.

Bulawayo Town Clerk Mr Christopher Dube

In the latest council report, BCC said the city has recorded increased water consumption compared to last year.

“The total consumption for the month of April 2022 was 4,492,209 m3 with a daily average of 144,909.97 m3 (145ML/day). Average daily consumption for April 2021 last year was 134.3ML/day and these differences in consumption were due to the different shedding regimes in the mentioned periods,” reads the report.

The council said the decommissioning of Umzingwane will destabilise the city’s water supplies worsened by a faulty transformer that was struck by lightning.

“The decommissioning would result in reduced available abstraction from UMzingwane ML/Day thus affecting total available raw water for delivery to Criterion. Whereas Criterion should receive more than 110 ML/Day of raw water and produce an average of 100 ML/Day for the city reservoir levels to be stable and ensure continuous water supply,” reads the report.

BCC encouraged residents to conserve water as demand is higher than its pumping capacity.

According to the proposed schedule, Bellevue, Newtown West, West Somerton, Montrose, Southwold, Sizinda, Tshabalala, Nkulumane 1-5, Nkulumane 10-12, Nketa 6,7 and 8, Mpopoma South, Old Pelandaba and Iminyela will have water cuts from Thursday at 7:30am and restoration will be done the following day at the same time.

Cowdray Park, Gwabalanda and Emakhandeni, Ilanda Romney Park, Paddonhurst, Bradfield, Tegela, Emhlangeni, North End, Sunnyside, Barbourfields, Mzilikazi, Nguboyenja and Makokoba will experience water shedding on Thursday in the morning with supplies being restored the following day.

Hillside, South Riding, Fourwinds, Morningside, Barham Green, Greenhill, Mqabuko Heights, Eloana Park and Burnside, Mbalabala Barracks, Mzinyathini Irrigation Scheme will also experience water cuts on Thursday with supplies being restored on Friday.

Parklands, Kumalo, Queens Park, Suburbs, Mahatshula, Woodville and Kingsdale will experience water shedding on Friday at 7.30AM with restoration on Saturday at the same time.

Nketa 9, Emganwini, Pumula North, Pumula East, Pumula South, Old Pumula, Pelandaba West, Khami, Entumbane, Magwegwe West, Lobengula, Lobengula West, Mabutweni, Matshobane, Njube, Luveve, Mpopoma, Magwegwe North and Magwegwe West will have water cuts on Saturday at 7.30AM to the same time on Sunday.

Harrisvale, Trenance, Richmond and Sauerstown will have water cuts on Saturday morning to Sunday morning.

Lochview, Sunninghill, Marlands, Glencoe, Riverside, Waterford, Manningdale, Wilsgrove, Buenavista, Douglasdale, Fortunes Gate, Selbourne Park and Matsheumhlope will have water shedding on Sunday at 7.30AM to Monday at the same time.

 

The Lake Gwayi-Shangani project

Meanwhile, BCC said although it is in support of the Gwayi-Shangani project as a permanent solution to the city’s water problems, it has raised concerns over plans to establish a water treatment plant in Cowdray Park.

Cowdray Park has been identified as the destination for water to be conveyed into the city from the Gwayi-Shangani-Bulawayo pipeline.

Already 11 contractors are on the ground digging tunnels for the 245KM Gwayi-Shangani-Bulawayo pipeline.

“The Town Clerk advised that council was in support of the Gwayi-Shangani project and were engaging Government with the request that Government involve council in the project, especially on the issue of the location as pumping the water to Criterion could be a quick one as Criterion Plant 2 could be immediately utilised, saving the costs of constructing a new water works. The funds earmarked for the construction of the water works could be used to extend the pipeline to Criterion,” reads the report.

To further augment the city’s water supplies, BCC is in the process of engaging a contractor to duplicate the 11km Umzingwane and Ncema pipeline while also improving water delivery from Insiza Dam. – @nqotshili

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Originally Appeared Here

Project aiming to protect school children from diseases to be launched in 28,041 schools of 14 districts

The Uttar Pradesh government will set up water treatment plants (WTPs) based on ultrafiltration technology in schools, to provide pure and safe drinking water to children to protect them from diseases. Under the Chief Minister’s RO Drinking Water Scheme, water will initially be provided in 28,041 schools spread over 14 districts of the state, a government press release read.

The state government plans to set up similar WTPs all over the state later to ensure the provision of clean drinking water in all schools.

The state government’s objective in setting up WTPs in schools is to protect school children from all diseases caused by contaminated water. The provision of safe drinking water will also go a long way in the prevention of communicable diseases.

The Yogi 2.0 government has increased the budgetary provision under Jal Jeevan Mission from ₹15,000 crore in the financial year 2021-22 to 19,500 crore in 2022-23 and aims at providing clean tap water to every household in the state by the year 2024.

Operation Kayakalp

The government launched Operation Kayakalp way back in 2019 to equip 30,000 secondary schools with smart classrooms, playgrounds, toilets, libraries, computer laboratories, art rooms and other modern facilities. The initiative also aimed to make pure drinking water available to children in schools.

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Originally Appeared Here

Lucknow, June 5 (UNI) As part of its mission to provide pure and safe drinking water to children in order to protect them from diseases, the Uttar Pradesh government has decided to set up water treatment plants based on ultrafiltration technology 28,041 schools spread over 14 districts of the state initially under Chief Minister’s RO Drinking Water Scheme.

The government plans to set up similar plants across the state to ensure clean drinking water in all the schools.

The main objective behind the Yogi government’s move to set up water treatment plants in schools is to ensure protection of school children from all diseases caused by contaminated water. Provision of safe drinking water will also go a long way in the prevention of communicable diseases.

It may be nited that the Yogi 2.0 government has increased the budgetary provision under Jal Jeevan Mission from Rs 15,000 crore in the financial year 2021-22 to 19,500 crore in 2022-23 and aims at providing clean tap water to every household in the state by the year 2024.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been working continuously since his last tenure as CM of the state to provide safe drinking water to all in the state and has done commendable work in this regard in the Bundlekhand region, which has been battling with water crisis for several decades.

The Yogi government has always reiterated his commitment to the well-being of children and has taken several initiatives in this regard since he took over as CM of the state for the first time in 2017.

The government launched Operation Kayakalp in 2019 to equip 30,000 secondary schools with smart classrooms, playgrounds, toilets, libraries, computer laboratories, art rooms and other modern facilities. The initiative also aimed to make pure drinking water available to children in schools.

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QUETTA:

Each day Quetta city requires 50 million gallons of potable water but Water and Sanitation Authority (WASA) is able to provide just 25 million gallons, leaving a huge gap in the demand and supply.

The scarcity of potable water in Quetta district has given birth to a powerful and thriving tanker mafia and the city has been left entirely on its mercy due to the government in action.

Talking to The Express Tribune an official of Irrigation Department Barkath Khan Kakar said that due to 25 million gallons shortage, every household has to order water tankers to meet its requirements.

In Quetta, like much of the province, the underground water level has gone down to 800 feet and sinking a private tube well cost at least Rs1 million but there is no guarantee that this tube well will work permanently so the solution is going even deeper which could push the cost of a tube well, sufficient enough to supply a single household, to Rs5 million.

This is the amount of money not every household can afford.

As per the 2017 census Quetta has a population of 2.3 million but independent sources put it at three millions.

Each passing year, the water level is going down, further complicating an already complicated picture.

The WASA is responsible for water supply in the city but it can’t cope with the increasing demand. Water tankers are there to bridge this gap.

“I pay Rs2,000 for a tanker of water which is sufficient enough for five days,” a resident of Quetta’s Airport Road Ghulam Dastagir said.

Nobody knows if this water is clean or not, he noted.

WASA claims to have 428 operational tube wells in the city. However independent sources dispute this claim.

“Out of 428 only 12 tube wells are non-functional,” the Managing Director WASA Hamid Latif Rana said when contacted.

He said the authority was making all out efforts to provide clean drinking water to the masses.

He said that consumers were reluctant to pay their bills, which is a big problem for his department.

Local residents have their own complaints about WASA.

Another resident of Quetta, Abdul Sattar Mandokhial said that tanker mafia is minting money right under the nose of WASA.

He added that most of the public tube wells are out of order thus leaving people at the mercy of tanker mafia.

WASA has around 2,000 employees which is an entire army in its own right.

Chief Minister Mir Qadoos Bizenjo has declared provision of clean potable water as top priority of his government.

The provincial government has also started work on Mangi Dam in Harnai district.

Barkath Khan Kakar said that with the completion of Mangi Dam, the issue of water scarcity would be addressed to a large degree.

He observed that there were widespread reports of contaminated water being supplied to the households by water tankers.

The water quality should be checked regularly, Kakar said.

In Balochistan the issue of water scarcity is getting serious each passing day and water-borne diseases are widespread.

The outbreak of cholera claimed precious human lives in Dera Bugti because the residents of Pir Koh were provided contaminated water.

Water scarcity issues is also getting serious in Pishin, Killa Abdullah, Kalath, Mastung, Noshki, Chaghi, and other districts of Balochistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 5th, 2022.

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