Providing quality drinking water for all Fijians remains a priority of the Government, says Rural Development Minister Inia Seruiratu.

In commissioning the water project in Coqeloa and Wailoaloa outside Labasa Town yesterday, Mr Seruiratu said the $3463.90 benefitted 20 families who have depended on untreated water.

“Water is a basic need and I am glad that women and children who are also here will benefit too as they are the ones who always feel the difficulties when we do not have sufficient or poor quality water,” he said.

“That will be a thing of the past, particularly with this project that we are going to commission today (yesterday) and I’d like to thank the community water committee for their commitment.

“Members of the community will make use of this assistance from the Government and I know you will definitely benefit in so many ways.” Water, Mr Seruiratu said, was a basic need for daily subsistence.

“For housing chores women are engaged in, they need water and hope it will bring a lot of relief to our women in our community and most importantly health and hygiene,” he said.

“We have not only provided drinking water but quality drinking water and that is one of the focus of Government to ensure no one is left behind.

“We ensure quality drinking water as all Fijians deserve clean drinking water.”

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

Long Island water providers will receive $48.7 million in state grants to treat several contaminants in drinking water, a move that suppliers say will not only help clean the water but lessen the costs to ratepayers of these projects.

The state grants, announced Friday, will benefit nine Island water providers addressing three “emerging contaminants” — 1,4-dioxane, perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, or PFOS, and perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA. They are referred to as “forever chemicals” because they break down slowly in water and soil, and accumulate and persist in the human body.

“It’s unbelievably welcome news,” said Dennis Kelleher, chairman of the public relations committee for the Long Island Water Conference, a trade group of local water suppliers. “We’ve been fighting a battle to remove these contaminants for some time. This will help keep the costs down.”

More than two years have passed since New York implemented limits on the three pollutants, which are the result of decades of industrial, commercial, agricultural and residential contaminants.

Long Island suppliers say that, despite the presence of these hazardous chemicals in certain wells, they are providing safe drinking water. But local advocates say these chemicals are damaging, and there is an urgency to scrub them from the drinking water.

“This funding will help prevent serious health issues,” said Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment, a nonprofit advocacy group based in Farmingdale. “The grants will be widely distributed on Long Island, from Hempstead to Port Washington to Southampton. It illustrates that this is a Long Island problem, not just isolated to any community.”

Long Island has some 50 public water providers and all depend on water from underground aquifers. Many have been building systems to treat the contaminants. These water treatment projects mark one of the most expensive and labor-intensive infrastructure undertakings on Long Island, with total costs expected to exceed $1.5 billion, according to the water conference.

Water suppliers say they expect water bills will increase due to the work, though the state money will help lessen the impact. Current costs only include building the treatment systems; operating them also will be expensive.

The projects in the latest funding include $8.1 million to enhance treatment at two wells in the Town of Hempstead, which were so polluted with these emerging contaminants, they had to be shut down recently, according to state officials.

The Long Island funding is part of nearly $300 million in state grants for water infrastructure improvements announced Friday. Island water providers also received $250 million in similar water grants in April.

The Suffolk County Water Authority, the largest Island water provider serving 1.2 million residents, will receive a total of $5.98 million for systems to treat 1,4-dioxane in wells, as well as extend its service to Southampton, the state said.

Testing has found 1,4-dioxane — an industrial chemical in paint strippers, dyes and some deodorants and shampoos — in more than 70% of public water wells on Long Island. Long-term exposure has been linked to kidney and liver damage and cancer, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The new funding also provides $5 million to treat a Carle Place well containing 1,4-dioxane; $6.8 million for a Jericho water well containing 1,4 dioxane and PFOA; $5 million for a Mineola well with emerging contaminants; and $6.4 million for two Plainview water plants with emerging contaminants; $5 million to treat contaminants in two Port Washington wells; and $5 million for treatment at two Westbury wells, the state said.

Plainview Water District chairman Marc Laykind said in a prepared statement: “This funding will allow us to keep investing in our treatment facilities that provide high quality drinking water to the Plainview-Old Bethpage community without the monetary burden falling on our residents’ shoulders.”

PFOS and PFOA — chemicals used in nonstick and stain-resistant materials and firefighting foam — have been found in hundreds of public and private wells on the Island. Exposure to PFOS or PFOA can damage the immune system, the cardiovascular system, human development and can cause cancer, the EPA said.

Gov. Kathy Hochul said the grants represent the state’s commitment to providing clean water.

“We are proud to support municipalities with a historic level of funding for water infrastructure improvements,” she said.

Craig Schneider is a Long Island native and Stony Brook University alumnus. He joined Newsday as a general assignment reporter in January 2018 after 20 years at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee

Kolkata: More than 50 lakh households in rural West Bengal now get drinking water through piped connections, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Saturday.

Congratulating those involved in the project, Banerjee said her government is dedicated to serving the people and ensuring their welfare.

“I’m delighted to announce that more than 50 lakh rural households in Bengal now have access to clean potable water through tap water connections,” she tweeted.

The West Bengal government has provided over 23.37 lakh tap water connections in this fiscal, officials said.

Subscribe us on
[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

Farmers and other ratepayers in Fallbrook and Rainbow could see an average saving on their water bills of more than $20 a month by joining the Eastern Municipal Water District in Riverside County, according to a new report.

However, the move may increase the cost of water for other San Diegans by more than $2 a month on average, according to the findings from the Local Agency Formation Commission, or LAFCO.

The San Diego County Water Authority has been hostile to the idea of losing two of its 24 member agencies. The wholesaler has seen its water sales plummet by more than 40 percent since 2007, largely as a result of unanticipated drought conservation.

Amid declining revenue, the agency has had to more than double its rates to cover myriad fixed costs, from debt payments on reservoir, canal and other infrastructure projects to painstakingly negotiated long-term contracts for water.

“LAFCO proposes that everyone else in San Diego County pay more so Rainbow and Fallbrook customers can supposedly save $20 a month,” the water authority said in a statement. “This isn’t a defensible or sustainable way to set policy for our most important natural resource.”

Water managers in Fallbrook and Rainbow have been trying to cut ties for a couple years with the water authority. They’ve argued the agency’s soaring rates — driven in part by an increasingly expensive desalination plant in Carlsbad — have crushed their agricultural sectors.

Tensions rose last winter when the wholesaler proposed building a $5 billion pipeline through the Anza-Borrego desert to transport Colorado River water. Proponents said it could save ratepayers billions of dollars by the end of the century. Detractors called it a potential boondoggle.

The water authority’s aggressive efforts to shield residents from mandatory drought cuts aren’t worth the cost for many rural ratepayers, said Tom Kennedy, general manager of the Rainbow Municipal Water District.

“When you consider an urban area with biotech and tourism and high-density communities, their relationship between price and reliability is different than farmers,” he said. “If you’ve gone out of business because the cost of water is too high, then it doesn’t make a difference how reliable that water is.”

The San Diego County Farm Bureau has declined to take a stance, saying its constituents are divided over the issue.

“We have members that are passionate on both sides of this,” said bureau President Mary Matava.

LAFCO is currently drafting the terms by which Rainbow and Fallbrook could leave the water authority to join Eastern. To help offset any impacts to the water authority’s remaining ratepayers, the agency has proposed an “exit fee” of about $63 million over five years. Neither side was pleased with the number.

Meanwhile, many local officials have expressed concern about the ripple effects of losing the two North County agencies.

“What’s clear is that detachment will have a considerable impact to the region,” said Nick Serrano, deputy chief of staff to San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria. “Ultimately, the city’s position will be about what is in the best interest of the people of San Diego.”

However, Fallbrook and Rainbow aren’t the only agencies looking to ratchet down their purchases from the water authority. Recycling projects such as San Diego’s Pure Water, as well as similar efforts in East County and Oceanside, will also mean declining revenue for the wholesaler.

While the water authority could lose roughly 20,000 acre feet a year if Fallbrook and Rainbow join Eastern, its sales are expected to drop by as much as 60,000 acre feet a year over the next decade as a result of local recycling efforts. (An acre foot is enough water to cover an acre a foot deep or 325,851 gallons.)

The water authority is projected to lose nearly $100,000 in revenue for every lost acre foot, according to a recent analysis by longtime environmental economist Michael Hanemann, who called the situation “quite serious.”

Charging the North County agencies an exit fee in order to stop buying supplies from the water authority seems like a double standard to Jack Bebee, general manager of the Fallbrook Public Utility District.

“What LAFCO has proposed is essentially making us make everyone else whole for a period of five years,” he said. “It’s something no other agency has when they develop their own water supplies and roll off the water authority.”

LAFCO’s 13-member commission, currently chaired by county Supervisor Jim Desmond, is expected to vote on the issue in February. Its decision could be subject to legal challenges, particularly from the water authority. The issue would ultimately require a public vote in Fallbrook’s and Rainbow’s service territories.

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

How the state and its localities manage precious water resources will play a central role in determining the fate and future of California.

The extended drought, the slow drying of the Colorado River and its reservoirs, diminishing snow packs and the overpumping of groundwater have collectively placed a new emphasis on water districts and their elected boards across the state.

Thanks to the local watersheds and underground reservoirs, Santa Cruz County doesn’t have to worry in the same way as other jurisdictions; we’re not dependent on the flow of the Colorado River or the amount of snow in Northern California. Yet, the county has its own pressing issues, highlighted by two local water district elections on Tuesday’s ballot. And, in a moment where local city council elections are increasingly drawing no challengers, both elections are competitive.

The Soquel Creek Water District serves more than 40,000 people across Aptos, La Selva Beach, Opal Cliffs, Rio Del Mar, Seascape, Soquel, and portions of Capitola. Three seats on the five-member board are up for election. Three incumbents — Bruce Jaffe, Rachel Lather and Carla Christensen — are seeking re-election. The race has also drawn two challengers, Kris Kirby and Corrie Kates.

The Soquel Creek Water District is in the midst of a defining project that could reinforce the district’s water supply for years to come. Pure Water Soquel will divert wastewater from the system, recycle and filter it, and put it back in the system as clean drinking water. Bruce Jaffe, one of the incumbent directors up for re-election, estimates Pure Water Soquel will be in operation within the next two years. The project is expected to cost $145 million, $93 million of which is funded through grants.

Soquel Creek Water District gets all of its water from two underground freshwater reservoirs called aquifers. Drought, combined with historic overdrafting of those aquifers, has created a situation where the aquifers have begun to replenish themselves with saltwater from the ocean instead of rain. Saltwater intrusion into a single well can shut that well down; too much saltwater in an aquifer can disable the water source and create a crisis for those who rely on it.

The saltwater intrusion isn’t yet forcing the aquifers into as tenuous a scenario as the one facing communities with a dominant agricultural presence. However, the state still labeled the aquifers as “critically over drafted” as more water is being pumped out than is being naturally replenished through rainfall.

Incumbents Jaffe, Lather and Christensen favor the project and want to see it completed. However, the cost of the project and its yuck factor — despite the proven technology and its use around the state and globe, recycled sewage flowing through sink taps isn’t necessarily an easy sell — has drawn hesitation from some in the community, including challengers Kirby and Kates.

Kirby, an Aptos resident, wants to see the board be open to other solutions, such as a rain capture, new reservoirs or, at least, a commitment to only use recycled water for irrigation. She criticized the directors for not considering other avenues before signing off on an expensive project that she says, at first blush, feels unsanitary. Kates did not respond to Lookout’s request for comment.

SLV’s post-CZU issues

Further up the Santa Cruz mountains, the San Lorenzo Valley Water District is in the midst of its own competitive board of directors election while still picking up the pieces from the 2020 CZU fire.

Three out of the four candidates in that race listed the same top priority—replacing five miles of surface intake pipes that burned during the destructive wildfire. The pipes drew in surface water from creeks above Boulder Creek. According to incumbent candidate, Jeff Hill, before the CZU fire, the surface water from the San Lorenzo River watershed provided 62% of the district’s water, a “vast majority coming from the pipes that burned.”

Despite being an incumbent, the race is Hill’s first brush with electoral politics, as he seeks election to the seat he was appointed to earlier this spring. Hill is running alongside other incumbents Mark Smolley, a 2020 appointee, and Bob Fultz, who was elected to the board in 2018. Alina Layng, a member of the board’s environmental and engineering committee, is the incumbents’ lone challenger.

Laing, an environmental scientist, says the board needs a sharper environmental perspective instead of a purely business-minded one. Fultz is the lone incumbent who still works a full time job; he is the CEO of a communication accessibility company and sees the issues facing the district through a dollars and sense lens. Hill, who has a tech business background, and Smolley, a former manager of large scale construction projects, are both retired.

Since the fire, the district has heavily relied on groundwater from an already over-drafted aquifer. The replacement of the pipes is urgent, but is estimated to cost more than $65 million, an exorbitant cost for a district that manages only 8,000 connections in communities along Hwy 9 between Felton and the San Mateo County line.

Beyond cost, the pipe replacement poses other major questions. What material should they be? The previous pipes were a certain type of plastic that easily burned but was flexible and easier to lay. The district board has also tossed around iron as an alternative. Although it wouldn’t disintegrate in a fire, iron is more costly and difficult to lay in the steep, wooded terrain of the Santa Cruz mountains. The board also must decide whether to bury the pipes underground — it would offer further protection against another wildfire but would add another $3 to $5 million to the cost.

The district is also brushing up against a potential water rights battle with the city of Santa Cruz.

As part of a drought resilience measure, the San Lorenzo Valley Water District wants to activate what’s called a conjunctive use strategy for its system. When one part of the district is seeing excess creek flows, a conjunctive use permit would allow the district to draw in that excess water supply and send it to another part of the district where the aren’t flowing as strongly.

The district’s water infrastructure already has this capability and is allowed to activate it during emergencies. (It has been using it since 2020 to send groundwater from one part of the district to the areas that relied on those burned up pipes.) However, state law doesn’t allow it as a regular practice. The district sees this as critical to a drought-resilient system and has begun applying for permits. The city of Santa Cruz has pushed back against these efforts.

The issue, according to Smolley, is that any excess water flowing in an especially wet creek in the San Lorenzo River watershed eventually flows into the San Lorenzo River, Santa Cruz’s central water source. For the San Lorenzo Valley to take that excess water for itself means Santa Cruz doesn’t get it.

“We battle with the city often,” Smolley, an incumbent who was appointed in 2020, said. “It’s often about how we use our water and how they want us to change the way we’re using our water.”

Smolley said he expects some significant battles with Santa Cruz over water rights in the coming years.

“And I’m up for that,” Smolley said.

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

(ROCKY FORD, Colo.) — A product made in Rocky Ford is changing the game for safe drinking water in places that need it most.

The Sunspring Hybrid, made by Innovative Water Technologies, was recently named the Coolest Thing Made in Colorado by the Colorado Chamber of Commerce.

The Sunspring Hybrid is a portable, water purification system that runs completely off solar and wind.

This water purification system stems from Rocky Ford but the impacts stretch across the globe. 38 countries rely on this for clean water for entire communities, schools, hospitals and more.

“From our little factory here in Rocky ford, Colorado we’ve produced over 100 billion liters of safe drinking water around the world,” said Jack Barker, President of Innovative Water Technologies.

“Just seeing the kids around the world, they actually play in the water. They’ve never seen water that clean or that fresh. Then knowing it’s going to make them healthier is really rewarding. We all have a passion for what we’re doing.”

The Sunspring Hybrid produces 20,000 liters of clean water per day. That’s equivalent to 40,000 plastic water bottles.

“Around the world 90% of the water-borne disease is microbiological. We can pull water from a lake, a river, a pond, unsafe municipal water. And every drop that comes out is bacteriologically safe to drink,” said Barker.

This Sunspring Hybrid can be 200 yards away from a water source and tap into well water 100 feet deep.

Innovative Water Technologies partners with organizations and nonprofits to connect communities with this life-changing technology.

“Our goal is just to help as many people around the world as we can. It’s nice to be in small town Colorado making an impact around the world,” said Barker.

They also developed a Sunspring Mini, which is being used by military and first responders for disaster relief and other remote operations.

Accepted for use in US Public Drinking Water Systems, the SunSpring Hybrid is designed to be used where power is at best unreliable.

The SunSpring also acts as a reliable power station offering three 12 VDC plugs for charging devices during an emergency, for a small business, or for everyday use.

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

EL RENO, Okla. (KFOR) – Some El Reno residents sent in photos of their bath water to KFOR, showing discoloration and fog.

The city said it’s temporary, but the water may not go back to normal until next year.

State election board secretary & lawmakers say Oklahoma elections are secure

Katelyn Shriver lived in El Reno for about a year and a half.

Recently, as she was drawing a bath, she noticed the water didn’t look right.

“A light green, darkish green, reddish brown,” said Shriver to describe the color of a typical bath.

Katelyn Shriver’s apartment bath water. Photo courtesy of Katelyn Shriver.

The water is foggy, discolored, and you can hardly see her feet through it in the photo above.

“But every once in a while, it was really clear, but very rarely,” said Shriver.

Shriver added the water was also harsh, drying out her hair so much she had to chop most of it off.

She claims her skin is already sensitive and the water only made her acne worse as well.

“I asked my landlord when I first moved into my apartment and she said, ‘Oh, that’s just El Reno water.’ I was like, ‘Oh, that’s great.’ I didn’t know that before I moved in or I would not have moved to El Reno. I was kind of stuck in a lease,” explained Shriver.

She said the water not only ruined her hair and skin, but “messed up my mental health.”

Shriver said she moved out of El Reno in June when her lease was up specifically because of the water.

“When I left, it [the water] was still the same,” said Shriver.

OCC holds hearing on OG&E fuel cost fees

Another current El Reno resident said she and her family have recently moved in and she noticed her bath water was light yellow.

She declined an interview, but shared footage of her water.

A current El Reno resident’s bath water as of Wednesday.

When asked if her water was any better on Thursday, she told KFOR it wasn’t.

She shared a photo with News 4 showing a clear glass of water.

Not only did the photo reveal more discolored water, but it also showed tiny particles floating throughout.

A current El Reno resident’s tap water.

The City of El Reno City Manager, Matt Sandidge told KFOR the reason behind the water discoloration is an ongoing $7 million water plant project.

“That’s caused us to shut the water down occasionally throughout this time period. When the water gets shut down, once it starts back up, it may disrupt some of the iron deposits that are within the lines and cause isolated pockets of discolored water,” said Sandidge.

A project of this size hasn’t happened since the early 2000s, according to Sandidge.

He said this will only affect a “small area” of residents though.

The project started within the last year, but the plant just started occasionally shutting off within the last several weeks, according to Sandidge.

“Now, we’ve also installed a new valve that would allow us to shut the plant down without disrupting water service to our customers and that was as of yesterday [Thursday], so this problem should be subsiding,” stated Sandidge.

The project is meant to increase the capacity of the city’s water plant.

“We’ll be able to produce more water. Currently, we produce the majority of our water, but we also supplement our water supply with Oklahoma City water. This will allow us to produce even more water. Also, it’s just some quality upgrades as far as paint and exterior improvements and those kinds of things as well,” said Sandidge.

Feb. 2021: El Reno going into day 8 of water crisis as parts of city remains without water

Residents say they didn’t receive notice of such a project, so one took to Facebook and has received nearly 100 comments; some of those comments claiming the water discoloration is nothing new.

“Welcome to El Reno,” said one Facebook user.

Another saying, “Tell me you’re new to El Reno without telling me you’re new to El Reno.”

Some Facebook users going as far to say this has been an ongoing issue since they were a young child.

“That’s not true. I’d say the majority of of El Reno never experiences any type of discolored water. Now, when we are flowing hydrants, the fire department goes out and flows hydrants, or maybe we have a water main break and water has to be shut off, turned back on that might temporarily disrupt those iron deposits inside those older lines,” said Sandidge in reference to the Facebook comments.

Over the last 10-15 years, the City of El Reno has replaced many water lines throughout the city that has drastically reduced discolored water, according to Sandidge.

The city’s ongoing water plant project is slated to be completed in the spring of 2023.

In the meantime, Sandidge said, “I would say run the water for a little while and see if it’ll clear up. Report it to city hall, because that would allow us the opportunity to maybe go flush some hydrants to get that discolored water out and that would help clear up the water quicker.”

The city also has packets of Red Be Gone that residents can pick up at city hall.

Sandidge said it’ll supposedly take the any iron color out of such things like clothing affected by discolored water.

Close Modal

Suggest a Correction

Suggest a Correction

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

Daria Dilparic is combining her love of chemistry, water quality and public health as a graduate student in environmental engineering – and in a position as a student operator at Ames Water and Pollution Control Department. Daria’s commitment to protecting the environment and her community inspires her to use analytical chemistry methods to solve drinking water contamination problems.

Working for the Ames Water and Pollution Control Department has been my most rewarding and fulfilling professional experience yet. There is something so special about providing a service to your community, and I am honored and proud to use my engineering skills in this way.

I started as a student operator at Ames Water as an undergrad, interned for the department for about a year, and now I’m conducting research for the water treatment plant as a graduate student.

My goal is to contribute to the department’s mission of providing exceptional water for the Ames community by determining the sources of PFAS contamination in the Ames aquifer.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of manmade chemicals that have been used in many nonstick, water-proof, and oil-resistant applications over the last few decades.

The prevalence of PFAS in many consumer items, building materials, and aqueous firefighting foams has contributed to the contamination of most water systems.

So, working with Joseph Charbonnet, assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering, I am conducting a PFAS fingerprint profile of the Ames groundwater. I’m using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry methods to determine the presence and quantity of various PFAS species in raw water samples.

PFAS have been linked to several chronic health outcomes and are a contaminant of emerging concern, so it’s really important we learn how to mitigate them whether it is selecting different water sources or applying appropriate treatment technologies.

I’m lucky to be part of a great research team both on campus and off. Environmental engineering faculty like Dr. Charbonnet and Tim Ellis and chemistry professor Jared Anderson have supported me academically by helping me design my analytical methods. Additionally, retired professor emeritus of geological and atmospheric sciences Bill Simpkins, along with Claire Hruby and Matt Graesch from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, have all shared their technical expertise with me.

At Ames Water and Pollution Control, Lyle Hammes, Neil Weiss, and John Dunn have given me every opportunity to be involved in a wide variety of projects that have strengthened my motivation to work in the public sector water industry just like they do. I am very grateful for their tremendous support on my research project and professional development.

At the heart of Iowa State’s environmental engineering program is genuine care for the well-being of people and the land and water around us. The water we drink and the air we breathe are vital to our health, and it is our responsibility as engineers to protect it.

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

Donna Dickerson’s heart would sink every time she’d wake up, turn on the faucet in her mobile home and hear the pipes gurgling.

Sometimes it would happen on a day when her mother, who is 86 and has dementia, had a doctor’s appointment and needed to bathe. Sometimes it would be on Thanksgiving or Christmas when family had come to stay.

“It was sickening, literally a headache and it disrupted everything,” she said. “Out of nowhere, the water would be gone, and we’d have no idea when it’d be back.”

While failures of big city water systems attract the attention, it’s small communities like Keystone, West Virginia that more often are left unprotected by destitute and unmaintained water providers. Small providers rack up roughly twice as many health violations as big cities on average, an analysis of thousands of records over the last three years by the Associated Press shows. In that time, small water providers violated the Safe Drinking Water Act’s health standards nearly 9,000 times. They were also frequently the worst performers. Federal law allows authorities to force changes on water utilities, but they rarely do, even for the worst offenders.

“We’re talking about things that we’ve known in drinking water for a century, that we have an expectation in this country that everybody should be afforded,” said Chad Seidel, president of a water consulting company.

The worst water providers can have such severe problems that residents are told they can’t drink the water. For ten solid years Dickerson and 175 neighbors in the tiny, majority Black community had to boil all their water. That length of time is nearly unheard of — such warnings usually last only for days.

The Safe Drinking Water Act was signed into law in 1974 and initially protected Americans against 22 contaminants, including arsenic. Nearly half a century later, evolving science has broadened the coverage to more than 90 substances, and strengthened standards.

The miracle is that most water systems keep up — 94% of them comply with health standards.

After years of problems, Keystone finally got hooked up to a new water system last December, McDowell Public Service District, which focuses on upgrading systems in coal communities. Deteriorating water mains were replaced. A non-proft called DigDeep helped pay to connect homes to the new infrastructure.

When a water utility doesn’t treat water properly or has high levels of a contaminant, states are supposed to enforce the law. They usually give communities time to fix problems, and often they do. If there is intransigence or delay, a state authority can escalate action and impose fines. Yet in many towns, that doesn’t go well; there is no money to pay the fines. Some places struggle year after year.

The EPA stresses the vast majority of systems do provide safe water. For those having trouble, the agency has increased technical assistance, inspections and enforcement. Those efforts have decreased the number of systems consistently committing health violations, according to Carol King, an attorney in the EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.

The top concern of the water industry itself is funding for infrastructure, according to a survey.

Recruitment of professionals to run small water systems is one main issue. The largely white, male workforce is aging.

Earlier in his career, Tim Wilson, a water manager, spent time running the treatment plant in Wahpeton, Iowa, a community of just over 400 that expands when vacationers rush in during the summertime.

Small, rural communities have a “ridiculously hard” time recruiting certified operators, he said. Once they are trained, they can be lured away by better pay and benefits elsewhere.

The job demands can be heavy: in Wahpeton, Wilson not only ran the treatment plant, he plowed snow and testified as a zoning expert at local government meetings.

People in Ferriday, Louisiana had to get their water from the National Guard for four months back in 1999. The town’s water treatment plant, which had struggled to keep the water from turning brown, had completely failed. Those four months left a mark.

“I haven’t drunk the water since,” said Jameel Green, 42, who has lived in Ferriday most of his life. He now makes sure his two girls, ages 16 and eight, don’t drink the water either.

A new water treatment plant was supposed to fix Ferriday’s issues. But staff at the new plant struggled to find the right mix of chemicals, according to Rev. James Smith Sr., who was brought in to help with the issue. The state fined the town $455,265. No payment has been made. Rev. Smith said the water has improved significantly with increased testing and pilot studies.

Without a lot more money and more aggressive intervention in the worst places, experts say many Americans will continue to endure an expensive search for drinkable water, or else they’ll drink water that is potentially unsafe.

“In my view, this is a desperate problem,” said Manny Teodoro, a professor at the University of Wisconsin who focuses on public policy and water.

___

Phillis reported from Ferriday, Louisiana, and St. Louis. Fassett reported from Seattle.

___

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment

Sign up for the Fortune Features email list so you don’t miss our biggest features, exclusive interviews, and investigations.

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

A drinking water supply project will soon be launched in Benin. It concerns the construction of 26 multi-village hydraulic systems in the departments of Borgou and Alibori. On 2 November 2022, the project was approved by the Council of Ministers. Its implementation is entrusted to the National Agency for Rural Water Supply (ANAEPMR), which will have to improve the service to the populations of the two departments by 2023.

The 26 new drinking water supply systems will be the first of a series of 95 systems to be built throughout Benin over the next few years. After Borgou and Alibori, the project will be extended to the divisions of Atacora, Donga and Collines where 24 water systems will be built.

Villages in the divisions of Zou, Couffo and Mono will also benefit from the drinking water project. According to the Beninese authorities, these three divisions will benefit from 26 drinking water supply systems. The other 10 water supply systems will be distributed among the divisions of Atlantique, Oueme and Plateau.

Read also – AFRICA: Water and sanitation security today, a necessity!

The drinking water supply systems will be made up of boreholes, raised reinforced concrete water towers with a capacity greater than or equal to 200 m3 for storage, pipes for at least 10 km, with a diameter greater than or equal to 160 mm for the transport and distribution of drinking water. All the works are in line with Benin’s National Development Plan 2018-2025. This policy aims to increase the rate of access to drinking water in this West African country. In Benin, barely 30% of the population has access to drinking water in rural areas, and 57% in urban areas, according to the World Bank.

Inès Magoum

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here