WARNER SPRINGS, Calif. — A boil water order was issued Monday for the Warner Unified School District due to recent findings of Coliform and E. Coli bacteria in the water, campus officials announced.

The State Water Resources Control Board and Division of Drinking Water advises all its customers to only use boiled tap water or bottled water for drinking and cooking purposes as a safety precaution to avoid stomach or intestinal illness, according to school officials.

20-year-old attacked with a machete in South Bay

“With this said I do want to remind you that all students are already given bottled water because of our existing arsenic issue. This only affects our cafeteria which is following all safety protocols,” Warner Unified School District stated on their website.

Warner Unified School Campus is the impacted area, but not the Resource Center nor ball fields across the street from the main campus, school officials confirmed.

The school district said they will inform the campus when the water is safe to drink.

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Michigan cities rich and poor, big and small have spent decades delaying maintenance on water systems. Now, the bills are coming due.

J. Carl Ganter

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Circle of Blue

Kaleb Danndels directs an excavator during a water main replacement project in Pontiac, Michigan.

Six years after a panel of experts concluded that the state’s public works were in “a state of disrepair,” the quality of Michigan’s water infrastructure and the consequences of failure are no longer being ignored.

J. Carl Ganter

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Circle of Blue

Damon Collins, an underground laborer, works for Pamar Enterprises, Inc., the project contractor for a water main replacement.

The challenge is immense. And playing catch-up after all these years will be costly. But this Water’s True Cost project from the Great Lakes News Collaborative found that the pieces of a new quilt in Michigan, one that reverses the infrastructure decline of recent decades, are starting to align.

J. Carl Ganter

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Circle of Blue

Officials in Cadillac, Michigan have installed three new wells at East 44 Road. The city is also building new maintenance facilities and water department offices.The city received a $9.8 million low-interest loan from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund to finance the project.

Michigan will receive more than $1 billion in federal funds over the next five years, giving the state an opportunity to reinvest in essential public works at little to no cost for residents.

J. Carl Ganter

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Circle of Blue

Cecily McClellan is co-founder of We the People of Detroit and directs the “water works” program, which provides water to Detroit area residents who can’t afford it. “When people can’t afford water, it becomes a health issue,” she said, “that affects the most vulnerable, especially young mothers.”

Nonetheless, water rates are rising across Michigan. These are necessary investments for the state’s future that nonetheless are exposing low-income households to financial stress.

Leaders and activists are taking notice.

J. Carl Ganter

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Circle of Blue

Port Huron City Manager James Freed feels frustration about the fact that while his city’s water plant has plenty of excess capacity to take on new users, neighboring Marysville has opted to reinvest millions in its water plant rather than joining Port Huron.

Once the infrastructure is replaced, the next step is civic repair. Rebuilding community trust, after years of inadequate service or foul tap water, is just as difficult, perhaps more so, than the engineering work. Nonetheless, Michigan’s greatest opportunity for renewal in decades has arrived.

Michigan cities rich and poor, big and small have spent decades delaying maintenance on water systems. Now, the bills are coming due.

A behemoth along the Saint Clair River, the Port Huron water filtration plant is capable of purifying 30 million gallons a day — enough to serve the entire population of St. Clair County, and then some.

J. Carl Ganter

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Circle of Blue

At the Port Huron Water Filtration Plant, workers keep tabs on the water traveling through the plant on a bank of computer monitors.

Port Huron City Manager James Freed feels frustration about the fact that while his city’s water plant has plenty of excess capacity to take on new users, neighboring Marysville has opted to reinvest millions in its water plant rather than joining Port Huron.

It’s true that customers get cheaper, cleaner water when communities share the cost of infrastructure. But while partnerships often make sense on paper Michigan’s experience shows how political conflicts and logistical challenges can complicate the math.

J. Carl Ganter

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Circle of Blue

Alex Houston, maintenance supervisor at the Port Huron Water Filtration Plant, stands among the pipes that deliver water to residents and businesses in the city and surrounding townships.

Once infrastructure is replaced, the next step is civic repair. Rebuilding community trust, after years of inadequate service or foul tap water, is just as difficult, perhaps more so, than the engineering work. Nonetheless, Michigan’s greatest opportunity for renewal in decades has arrived.

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Those savings reduce the amount of water available for recycling, local officials noted.

Californians could further reduce urban water use by 30% to 48% by steps such as replacing inefficient appliances and installing low-water use landscaping, according to a Pacific Institute report last month.

The major constraint for more local water recycling is Santa Rosa’s collaboration with Houston-based Calpine Corp., the nation’s largest geothermal power producer, which operates 13 power plants at The Geysers, straddling the Sonoma-Lake county line in the Mayacamas Mountains.

Steam wells, some deeper than 2 miles, tap superheated steam from water in contact with hot, porous and permeable rock. At the surface, steam runs through pipes to the power plants, spinning turbines that generate 725 megawatts of green energy around the clock.

Under a contract with Calpine that runs until 2037, Santa Rosa is required to provide 90% of the targeted 4.6 billion gallons of recycled water a year or pay penalties.

Reduced deliveries are allowed for natural catastrophes, such as wildfire and earthquake damage, but current drought conditions would not trigger that provision because there is enough water to fulfill the contract, said Jennifer Burke, director of Santa Rosa Water.

“The Geysers provides a critically important piece of our wastewater treatment system,” she said. “We need it to dispose of our wastewater.”

Even if the city could curtail water delivery to The Geysers, it is prohibited from spraying more recycled water on farmland than the crops require, Burke said.

Calpine has so far shown no interest in renegotiating the contract, she said.

Officials ponder recycling costs, options

Santa Rosa’s last look at the prospects for expanding water recycling said it did not pencil out — “not cost effective for the foreseeable future,” according to the city’s 2020 Urban Water Management Plan.

Burke said it would cost tens to hundreds of millions of dollars to install the necessary pipes, painted purple to distinguish them from ordinary potable water pipes.

Even at its current historically low level for this time of year, 2,700-acre Lake Sonoma west of Cloverdale, the North Bay’s largest reservoir, holds a two- to three-year supply of water, she said. It has helped the region support growth while withstanding several droughts over the past four decades.

But city and county officials and water authorities are not downplaying the prospect of running low on drinking water around the North Bay, which has no connections to the state and federal water systems. Rainwater runoff into the Russian River watershed, along with groundwater, constitute the main supplies.

“We’re always looking at our options,” Burke said, noting that conservation, surface water, groundwater and recycled water are in play. “We’re planning for the future with additional dry years,” she said.

There are opportunities for expanded water recycling in the county’s northern reaches, including Healdsburg, Cloverdale, Dry Creek Valley and Alexander Valley, said Grant Davis, general manager of Sonoma Water, the dominant water wholesaler and a key player in recycling efforts over the past two decades.

“As (potable) water becomes more constrained, you have to look further, you have to be more innovative,” he said. “You need to work hard to make these projects pencil out,” including the prospect of tapping ratepayers for support.

Adding a fourth step to the wastewater treatment process to transform sewage into potable water is an option, Davis and Burke said, noting that it is already happening in the state.

“Everything is on the table.” Burke said.

Southern California program leads way

Orange County’s $481 million Groundwater Replenishment System, in operation since 2008, produces 100 million gallons of recycled water per day through an advanced purification process that includes microfiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light with hydrogen peroxide.

Two-thirds of the treated water is piped to recharge basins in Anaheim, replenishing groundwater that provides 75% of the water for more than 2.5 million Orange County residents — a system known as indirect potable water reuse.

Billed as the world’s largest potable water purification facility, Orange County’s system uses one-third of the energy required to desalinate seawater and half the energy needed to import water from Northern California.

No agency is currently allowed to produce recycled water for direct potable use, but the Water Resources Control Board is required by law to develop regulations for direct potable use — putting it into public water supplies — by the end of 2023.

The regulations will provide options to California communities “working to diversify their water supply portfolios in the face of recurring drought and climate change,” Rebecca Greenwood, a water board engineering geologist, said in an email.

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Clinton Township, Warren and Harrison Township will be receiving a portion of more than $7.3 million in newly announced grants issued under the MI Clean Water Plan, created to ensure clean and reliable drinking water for residents.

“Every Michigander in every community deserves access to safe drinking water,” Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a news release. “Today’s grants will help 15 communities upgrade their water infrastructure, replace lead service lines, and tackle PFAS and other toxic contaminants. Since I took office, Michigan has invested more in our water infrastructure than the previous eight years. Thanks to bipartisan investments in water infrastructure through the MI Clean Water Plan, we have created jobs, protected public health, and lowered costs for Michigan families. We will keep getting things done on the kitchen-table issues and ensuring working families have access to clean water.” 

In Macomb County the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) awarded Drinking Water Asset Management (DWAM) grants included $328,116 for water system enhancements through Distribution System Materials Inventory work and Asset Management Plan updates in Harrison Township. 

“We are excited to receive this DWAM (Drinking Water Asset Management) Grant. This will help us make technological improvements to our drinking water distribution system. These funds will be used primarily to locate and record system assets such as shut off valves, fire hydrants, and service lines (the smaller diameter pipes that run from the water main to an individual home or business),” said Harrison Township Supervisor Ken Verkest. “We currently have notes and paper records of these assets, but once completed, we will have everything located by GPS. A virtual model of our system will be created and it will be accessible from anywhere, which will help our field personnel.

As with many municipalities Harrison Township’s water system has more than 1,000 valves and over 1100 hydrants, along with over 8400 service lines.

Verkest said this information will not only help troubleshoot problems in the field, but also help to identify key parts of our infrastructure that need to be replaced and in what order or priority.

“Another part of the grant will pay to expose and identify approximately 30 service lines for which we have limited data. We have located and replaced lead service lines but there are approximately 30 service lines that we do not have records that show what material the line is made of,” Verkest said. “This grant will pay to expose these lines to ensure that they are not lead lines. Some of the work for this project will be performed by township personnel, and some parts of the work will be performed by contractors.”

Other grants in Macomb County include:

City of Warren  

• $413,840 for water system enhancement through Distribution System Materials Inventory development. 

Clinton Charter Township  

• $336,376 for water system enhancement through Distribution System Materials Inventory development and Asset Management Plan updates. 

DWAM is a one-time, $36.5 million grant program developed by EGLE under the Clean Water Plan. It helps drinking water suppliers develop and update asset management plans, and/or develop a Distribution System Materials Inventory to identify materials that are part of the distribution system, such as lead service lines, as defined in Michigan’s revised Lead and Copper Rule. Some allocations under DWAM are still being determined, although grant applications have closed. 

Whitmer announced the $500 million MI Clean Water Plan in 2020 to rebuild the state’s water infrastructure to help provide clean, affordable water to Michiganders through investments in communities. It addresses Michigan water infrastructure issues such as lead-laden water service    lines, toxic contamination like PFAS, undersized sewers, failing septic systems, unaffordable water rates, and constrained local budgets.  

The drinking water quality portion of this historic investment includes $102.1 million in federal dollars for lead service line replacement in low-income communities, along with $105 million for General Fund programs that address PFAS or other contaminants, planning and/or rate studies, asset management plan development, and lead service line identification. 

 EGLE invests more than half of its budget in Michigan communities in the form of financial assistance to address water infrastructure and other efforts to protect the environment and health. 

For more information and an interactive dashboard on EGLE grants and loans, visit the Grants and Financing webpage.

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EPA Announces $221 Million Loan to Modernize Water Infrastructure for Approximately Six Million New Jersey Residents

Nationally, 84 WIFIA loans are financing $32 billion in water infrastructure upgrades, creating 96,000 jobs

 

WASHINGTON (May 20, 2022)— Today, at an event with New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette and other local officials, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox announced a $221 million Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (WIFIA) loan to the New Jersey Infrastructure I-Bank. With this loan, the New Jersey State Revolving Fund (SRF) Program, a partnership between the NJDEP and the I-Bank, is investing in 28 water infrastructure projects to modernize water systems to protect public health and the environment for over 5.8 million people in the State.

“EPA is proud to partner with New Jersey to innovatively invest WIFIA funding and benefit many communities by removing dangerous lead service lines, strengthening drinking water systems, safely returning wastewater to the environment, and uplifting low-income communities and communities of color,” said EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Radhika Fox. “EPA is working to ensure that all Americans have clean and safe water—through the WIFIA program and by investing $50 billion in water through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.”

This WIFIA funding, combined with New Jersey SRF monies, will support $588 million in infrastructure for New Jersey communities that will advance public health, save money, and create local jobs. The New Jersey Infrastructure Bank’s pool of SRF projects include 26 drinking water projects that address local challenges, including removing contaminants, preventing leaks, improving system resiliency, and replacing lead service lines. Two wastewater projects will also receive funding. These projects will improve treatment capacity and provide higher a level of treatment at wastewater treatment facilities. The entities receiving this financing serve over 5.8 million people. This includes six disadvantaged communities that will receive approximately $360 million in financing or 61% of the total.

“Thanks to the EPA’s support, these critical investments will together benefit more than half of the state’s population, including New Jerseyans in communities most at risk of flooding, contaminated drinking water, and inadequate wastewater infrastructure,” said New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. “In New Jersey, we recognize that the state of our economy is inextricably linked to the health of our residents and our environment. By generating jobs and maintaining water affordability, these projects will not only advance public health and sustainability but stimulate economic growth as well.”

“Four years ago, I worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to expand access to WIFIA loans in order to address the backlog of long-overdue water infrastructure projects in America,” said Senator Cory Booker. “I am encouraged to see New Jersey partner with the EPA and use these loans to fund critical initiatives that will upgrade water systems, ensure the safety of drinking water, and protect the health and safety of communities across our state.”

“Modernizing drinking water and wastewater infrastructure is a matter of public health, environmental safety, and racial and economic justice,” said Senator Robert Menendez.  “New Jersey is home to some of the oldest towns and cities in America, and many are grappling with aging water infrastructure, including lead pipes and outdated wastewater and stormwater systems. This federal and state partnership will put people to work replacing lead water lines, upgrading sewer systems, and reducing wastewater pollution, with a renewed emphasis on underserved communities that too often bear the brunt of our environmental crises.”

“The bipartisan infrastructure law was always more than just an investment in new, good paying jobs and fixing roads and bridges,” said Congressman Andy Kim (NJ-03). “Every American deserves the comfort of knowing the water coming into their house is safe to drink. I’m proud to have voted for the bipartisan infrastructure law that reauthorized the WIFIA loan program and am even happier that Brick and Moorestown – two townships in my district – are about to see major investments in their water infrastructure. These projects are crucial for health and safety, and I look forward to more projects coming to New Jersey in the coming months.”

“Today’s announcement is great news for our state and our residents, all of whom have a basic human right to safe drinking water and deserve to be able to trust the water coming out of their tap,” said Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr., Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee (NJ-06). “These federal funds will help restore that trust by making critical upgrades to our local water systems by improving reliability, removing contamination, replacing toxic lead services lines, and protecting New Jerseyans from unsafe drinking water. I’m thrilled to know our communities will be kept safer by this funding and will keep fighting to build on this progress and improve more of our state’s critical infrastructure.”

“Since day one, I’ve been fighting for clean drinking water for our kids, free of lead and forever chemicals,” said Congressman Josh Gottheimer (NJ-05). “This new investment will directly address the concerns that I regularly hear from parents — that the water their children are drinking may not be safe.”

“Every family, school, and business in South Jersey deserves safe drinking water. That’s why I fought to pass the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which is delivering hundreds of millions of dollars for water projects that will protect our health and create good jobs,” said Congressman Donald Norcross (NJ-01).

“Much of the water infrastructure in our district is aging and badly in need of repair,” said Congressman Tom Malinowski (NJ-07). “This assistance from the EPA will modernize our deteriorating systems, and ensure residents of Hunterdon, Somerset, and Morris Counties have access to clean and safe water.”

“This announcement is excellent news for both our district in North Jersey and our entire great state,” said Congressman Bill Pascrell (NJ-09). “As New Jersey continues to grow, aggressively funding these infrastructure projects is essential to ensuring our state has the resources in place for the next generation. The Water Bank and its work is a critical piece of that puzzle. Government works best when our federal and state leaders work together to bring results to our communities. I thank the Biden and Murphy administrations for their collaboration on behalf of Garden Staters.”

“Today’s announcement opens the door for many critical water infrastructure projects across my district and the State to be completed,” said Congressman Donald Payne, Jr. (NJ-10). “This funding will go toward financing projects such as lead pipe replacement in Newark, water main replacements in Jersey City, and water main replacements in East Orange. I am proud to be continuing the work in Congress to upgrade the nation’s water infrastructure and am grateful to the Biden administration for its efforts to prioritize infrastructure investment in underserved communities.”

“We are very grateful to the EPA for this loan. Modernizing our water infrastructure and doing so wisely is a high priority for the Murphy Administration,” said New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn LaTourette. “By bringing this infrastructure up to date, we will be ensuring the highest standards of protection for public health and the environment, such as the important improvements at this Moorestown water treatment plant, and we will be creating jobs and economic growth. This WIFIA loan will result in some 1,800 jobs and save the state approximately $51 million in NJ State Revolving Funds, allowing the I-Bank to finance more projects without costing borrowers or the state one dime.”

For more information about the WIFIA program, visit https://www.epa.gov/wifia.

Background

Established by the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act of 2014, the WIFIA program is a federal loan and guarantee program administered by EPA. WIFIA’s aim is to accelerate investment in the nation’s water infrastructure by providing long-term, low-cost supplemental credit assistance for regionally and nationally significant projects. The WIFIA program has an active pipeline of pending applications for projects that will result in billions of dollars in water infrastructure investment and thousands of jobs. The WIFIA program will prioritize projects that help achieve the goals of President Biden’s Justice40 initiative, which aims to ensure that federal agencies deliver at least 40% of benefits from certain investments to underserved communities.

With this WIFIA loan closing, EPA has announced 84 WIFIA loans that are providing $15 billion in credit assistance to help finance approximately $32 billion for water infrastructure while creating approximately 96,000 jobs and saving ratepayers over $5 billion.

For more information about the WIFIA program’s accomplishments through 2022, visit: https://www.epa.gov/wifia/wifia-annual-report.

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FAIRVIEW, Okla. — A drinking water warning has been issued for the city of Fairview due to high levels of nitrate in the city’s water supply.

According to a notice issued by City Manager Chris Gdanski, the greatest danger is to infants under 6 months old. 

“Infants below the age of six months who drink water containing nitrate in excess of the MCL could become seriously ill and, if untreated, may die,” the release states. “Symptoms include shortness of breath and blue baby syndrome.”

A water sample collected May 6 showed the nitrate level in Fairview water was 11 mg/L. That is above the maximum contaminant level (MCL) of 10 mg/L.

Blue baby syndrome is indicated by blueness of the skin, and symptoms can develop rapidly. Medical attention should be sought immediately, according to the release.

Water, juice or formula should not be prepared with tap water for children under 6 months of age, the release states. Bottled water or other water low in nitrates should be used until further notice.

Boiling city water will not help, according to the release, and could increase the nitrate concentration as water evaporates. Freezing, filtering or letting water stand also does not help.

Adults and children older than 6 months can drink tap water, according to the release, because their bodies process nitrate differently than infants. Pregnant women and those with specific health concerns may consult their doctors, the release states.

Fairview officials are evaluating the situation for corrective action, according to the release and will provide updates.

Nitrate in water can come from natural, industrial and agricultural sources, according to the release, and levels can vary.

Anyone with questions is asked to contact Gdanski at (580) 227-4416.

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In Indonesia, more than 90 percent of the population currently has access to proper drinking water.

However, only 11 percent of people have access to safe drinking water.

Meanwhile, currently, around 80 percent of the population has proper sanitation access, but new safe sanitation is only available to 7 percent of Indonesians.

This is despite the fact that according to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), the provision of safe drinking water and sanitation determine the quality of people’s life.

Currently, around two million people in the world do not have proper access to safe drinking water and more than three million people do not have access to safe sanitation.

This is unfortunate given that the two basic needs can reduce the disease index by 0.39 percent. Without safe sanitation and water, children become vulnerable to stunting, Indonesian Vice President Ma’ruf Amin said during the Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) 2022 Sector Ministers Meeting (SMM)

Safe sanitation and drinking water have also become important requirements for ensuring the transition to a green and eco-friendly economy so that the people’s prosperity and life quality can continue to improve, the Vice President added.

Related news: Availability of clean water, proper sanitation can reduce poverty: VP

Moreover, the UN General Assembly in 2010 acknowledged access to safe sanitation and drinking water as a basic human right, he highlighted.

To this end, “Ensure Availability and Sustainable Management of Water and Sanitation for All” is one of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) that must be achieved by 2030, Amin emphasized.

Hence, every country must make a clear work plan with measured indicators and implement it through a holistic and integrated approach, he opined.

He called for the creation of a global partnership for realizing access to sanitation and safe drinking water, which are currently only available to a section of the global population.

“We have to continue to bolster global partnerships in handling this multidimensional problem,” he remarked.

At the Sector Ministers Meeting, the vice president conveyed three points. First, he invited all parties to strengthen their joint commitment to increasing public access to sanitation and safe drinking water globally.

According to Amin, strong commitment from political leaders will encourage the mobilization of the necessary resources.

Second, the Vice President invited all parties to use the forum as a place to learn from each other and exchange information about the best practices in their country or region so that they can be emulated by others.

Third, he invited all parties to use the forum to develop networks and collaborations because a government’s success is also determined by the involvement of the business world, philanthropic organizations, professional organizations, academics, media, and non-governmental organizations.

Related news: Increasing clean water access, sanitation facilities reduce stunting

Meanwhile, Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said that Indonesia has continued to encourage the acceleration and expansion of access to clean water and safe sanitation through various programs.

Expanding access to clean water and safe sanitation are key to reducing poverty, he added.

“Indonesia has made good progress in accelerating efforts to improve access to water, sanitation, and hygiene,” he noted.

He emphasized that Indonesia is pushing to strengthen political commitment to expedite the realization of the goal of safe drinking water and sanitation to support efforts to reduce stunting and extreme poverty, especially in rural areas.

Moreover, the Indonesian government is committed to reducing extreme poverty to zero percent by 2024 from 4 percent in 2021, he highlighted.

“The strategy to achieve this is through a cross-sectoral development approach in several priority areas. In 2021, poverty alleviation programs had been implemented in 35 priority districts,” he said.

The programs were related to water, sanitation, and housing and focused on large areas and strengthening community capacity, he informed.

Related news: Indonesia continues improving access to clean water, safe sanitation

Meanwhile, UNICEF Representative Robert Gass said that safe sanitation is life-changing for children and puts them on the path to reaching their full potential.

However, far too many children are living in communities impacted by unsafe sanitation, which is endangering every aspect of their development, he added in a statement.

Although Indonesia has made significant progress in improving basic sanitation, less than 8 percent of households have a toilet connected to a sealed septic tank and received desludging services at least once in the past five years.

This has led to the poor management of fecal matter, causing it to seep into surrounding environments and nearby water sources.

Low community awareness of the public health risks of inadequate management of septic tanks as well as insufficient household demand for desludging services are among the main challenges to increasing access to safe sanitation, with many families not understanding the need to connect toilets to a piped sewerage system or sealed septic tanks that are periodically emptied.

The government of Indonesia is currently developing a national road map to accelerate access to safely managed sanitation, with support from UNICEF and other partners.

Later this year, a high-level Sanitation and Water for All conference will take place in Jakarta in May, when ministers responsible for water, sanitation, health, environment, and the economy from across the world will come together to discuss accelerating access to water, sanitation, and hygiene.

“The pandemic has brought greater attention to the importance of living in a clean environment,” said Gass.

Poorly managed sanitation can weaken children’s immune systems and cause irreversible harm, or even death. Through this initiative, it is hoped that more communities across the country will take a greater role in managing their household sanitation to improve the health and well-being of children and their families, he said.

Related news: Bali selected to host 2024 World Water Forum: ministry
Related news: Indonesia strives for sustainable management of clean water: VP

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Some of my fondest memories from childhood in Charsadda are playing cricket in the street outside our house and, when thirsty, run inside the house to drink fresh water directly from the hose. Everytime our relatives and friends from Islamabad and Lahore visited us, they would fill up bottles and gallons with our sweet Charsadda water for consumption later. Today, drinking water directly from the hose sounds like a fictional idea from another life. The water is not so clean and not so sweet anymore. And that is still therapeutic compared to what is ahead of us: a world where clean drinkable water is so scarce that it would become a tradable commodity.

Gold or Bitcoin, both are tradable for cash and lots of other products because of their limited supply in the world. When water becomes a scarce commodity, it may not surprise many of us that someday not too distant in the future it would be traded for other items and services. Instead of transferring Bitcoin to a digital wallet or swiping your credit card, you might as well be pouring some clean drinking water in exchange for an iPhone.

Many of us know about the Netflix superhit show Squid Game. That is indeed a great show targeting the issue of inequality. However, there is another South Korean show on Netflix called The Silent Sea. If I can share my personal opinion of the show, I’d say that it is the best and the most important show I have seen in the entire last year. It depicts a future scenario where human activity such as climate change has caused desertification and drinkable water has dried up. The result is a draconian measure installed by the government of the time to avoid a situation where there is no water left at all. People with access, money, power and good overall standing have access to clean drinking water. The rest are left to their own devices. Spoiler Alert: If you have not seen the show yet, then skip the next paragraph.

There is a space crew that goes to the moon to retrieve a mysterious sample, which can potentially help in generating the cleanest water mankind can use. That is the only panacea left for humanity to survive and the mission must do whatever it takes to bring the sample back to earth from a deserted station on the moon called Balhae station.

While that is an entertaining fictional work on Netflix, that scenario is not too much in the distant future. We will see it in our lives, I promise. I remember from school days we used to read what was called the anomalous expansion of water where water expanded instead of contracting when frozen. There is another anomaly related to water in the age of climate change: the hotter the planet gets, the more glaciers melt and sea level rise due to excess water but it doesn’t mean more water for humanity to consume. It rather means more water for humanity to drown in and less water to consume because clean water resources will evaporate due to excessive heat, extreme weather events, prolonged drought, wildfires, drying wells, dwindling biodiversity resulting in less and less water that can support life, and so forth.

Just as nobody was crazy about buying Bitcoin back in 2010 and even before, to say that we must buy up water now and preserve it for selling it for a higher price later would be ridiculed too. On a more moral level, calls for investing in technologies to combat climate change and the preservation of clean water are also falling on deaf ears. Try telling people to consume less water in the shower or pour only enough to drink to avoid waste and you will understand from their reaction why water being scarce today is a crazier idea than Bitcoin was in 2009. We must save the water; from us and for us.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 22nd, 2022.

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Ghana’s Inflation On Utilities Surges Up

The 4Ward Development West Africa, a private water utility service provider, has earmarked 10 communities in the Upper West and Savannah regions to supply safe and sustainable water to them, this year.

The intervention, which was estimated to cost US$700,000.00, would benefit about 25,000 people in the 10 communities.

The communities are Nyoli, Poyentanga, Ga and Kendeu in the Wa West District; Loggu in the Wa East District, and Boli in the Wa Municipality for the Upper West Region, and Blema, Tuna, Gindabuor and Kulmasa in the Sawla-Tuna-Kalba District of the Savannah Region.

Mr Ahmed Yekini, the Regional Director of 4Ward Development West Africa (4WardWA) made this known at Nyoli in the Wa West District when the organisation commissioned a water system for the community, the first of its kind in the area.

Plans were also advanced to invest another US$1,500,000.00 in the water infrastructure next year, which had also been estimated to reach about 45,000 people, he said.

The intervention would be in partnership with Water4, another water supply entity, USAID, Global Communities and Helmsley Trust of USA, under the “Enhancing WASH” project.

“The community water infrastructure we build are designed to provide safe water delivery options tailored to consumer demands,” Mr Yekini said.

“These include walk-up public fetch stations operated by vendors and private connections for households, clinics, schools and businesses.”

He said the water was tapped from underground, treated and distributed to the people, with 40 households in the Nyoli Community connecting it to their homes.

The initiative was to complement government’s efforts in providing potable water to the citizenry towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal Six, which sought to “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030,” he said.

“Our lives should not begin on our mothers’ backs as they haul 30 kilometers of dirty water only to, at the end of our lives, find ourselves made sick and frail from hauling and drinking that same water”, Mr Matt Hangen, the Chief Executive Officer of Water4 and 4WardWA, said.

He said the water intervention would not only alleviate the plight of the people, particularly women and children in accessing water, but also provide over 170 job opportunities for the community.

Mr Hangen expressed gratitude to the stakeholders, including the district and municipal assemblies, for believing in 4WardWA’s ability to provide what the people needed the most.

Naa Braimah Sunkari, the Chief of Nyoli, thanked the benefactors for the intervention and said it would save women at the community from the drudgery they go through in search of water.

He said the community used to depend on dugouts for water, resulting in water borne diseases such as typhoid, which also dried up during the dry season.

Madam Vida Diorotey, the Wa West District Chief Executive, said the intervention would save the district its meager resources to provide water for the smaller communities.

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There is water on the moon, frozen solid in the form of ice sheets scattered around its surface. The ice has probably been there for billions of years but currently, scientists don’t know much about its distribution or abundance. They also don’t know where the water came from originally. What they do know is that the moon’s surface is marked with craters and permanently shadowed regions near the poles where the temperatures are low enough to allow water ice to remain stable over long periods of time. 

The search for the presence of lunar water has attracted considerable attention and motivated several recent lunar missions, largely because of water’s usefulness in rendering long-term lunar habitation feasible. Not only would astronauts be able to supply their own needs from such deposits of ice, but water could also be used as a source of hydrogen for producing rocket fuel and for fueling habitations on the moon.

New research from scientists at CU Boulder now proposes that the volcanic eruptions that broke loose on the moon billions of years ago, and blanketed hundreds of thousands of square miles of the orb’s surface in hot lava, may have left an additional, more subtle effect. Water vapor that accompanied these eruptions may have condensed and then frozen on the surface, like layers of frost. 

The researchers used computer simulations to try and recreate conditions on the moon long before complex life arose on Earth. They focused on understanding what would have happened to the gases that spewed out of erupting volcanoes and carried volatile substances from the lunar interior. In their paper, the experts state that water vapor amongst these gases could have condensed, settled on the lunar surface and then frozen, forming sheets of ice dozens or even hundreds of feet thick. 

According to the authors, these sheets of ice may still be present in the lunar craters, particularly those towards the poles and those that are in shadow, as the temperatures would be extremely cold in these locations. The fact that massive, exposed ice deposits are not observed on the moon today means that, if they do exist, they must be buried or mixed with regolith, the surface layer of broken rock and dust.

“We envision it as a frost on the moon that built up over time,” said study lead author Andrew Wilcoski. In fact, their model suggests that about 41 percent of the total mass of water erupted during the time of peak volcanic activity on the moon could have condensed and been deposited as ice sheets that extend down several hundred meters below the surface. 

The new study adds more support to the theory that the moon may be awash in a lot more water than scientists once believed. In a 2020 study, Professor Paul Hayne and his colleagues estimated that nearly 6,000 square miles of the lunar surface could be capable of trapping and hanging onto ice – mostly near the moon’s north and south poles. 

The researchers of the current study feel that this water could have been introduced as a result of volcanic action. Hayne, also a co-author on the current study, explained that between 2 and 4 billion years ago, the moon was a chaotic place. Tens of thousands of volcanoes erupted across its surface during this period, generating huge rivers and lakes of lava, not unlike the features you might see in Hawaii today – only much more immense. “They dwarf almost all of the eruptions on Earth,” said Professor Hayne. 

The fact that the moon has no atmosphere and a very small gravitational field means that, under normal circumstances, gaseous water would not be able to hang around and condense into liquid – it would disappear off into space very rapidly. However, recent research from scientists at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston shows that these volcanoes likely ejected towering clouds of carbon monoxide along with water vapor, and these clouds may have swirled around the moon, creating thin and short-lived atmospheres. Under such circumstances it is possible that water vapor could condense, settle to the surface and then freeze.

This finding got Hayne and Wilcoski wondering: Could that same atmosphere have left ice on the lunar surface, a bit like frost forming on the ground after a chilly fall night?

Together with Margaret Landis, a research associate at LASP, they set out to recreate these conditions on the surface of the moon, billions of years ago. Their computer simulations estimated that, at its peak, the moon experienced one eruption every 22,000 years, on average. They then tracked how volcanic gases may have swirled around the moon, escaping into space over time. They discovered that conditions for condensation and ice formation may indeed have existed. “The atmospheres escaped over about 1,000 years, so there was plenty of time for ice to form,” Wilcoski said.

The researchers calculated that about 18 quadrillion pounds of water from volcanic eruptions could have settled as ice on the moon during that period. This is more water than is currently present in Lake Michigan, and it likely formed a sheen of frost as well as thick polar ice caps that would have been visible from the Earth, had anyone been looking. And the research hints that much of that lunar water may still be present today, even if it is buried under several feet of lunar dust and rock.

The researchers feel that there is potentially a very useful source of water for future moon explorers, just below the moon’s surface. “It’s possible that 5 or 10 meters below the surface, you have big sheets of ice,” said Hayne. He emphasized that it is really important that people or robots head back to the moon as soon as possible and begin digging to find out whether this predicted scenario is true. “We really need to drill down and look for it.”

The study is published in The Planetary Science Journal.

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By Alison Bosman, Earth.com Staff Writer

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