Residents of four communities around the landfill site in the Sagnarigu Municipality of the Northern Region say sewage from the site is contaminating their source of drinking water.

They allege that water from the site moves into a stream and finds its way into their wells and dams.

The communities of Gbalahi, Santugu Kontaliga and Kula are situated down the hill from the landfill site which makes it possible for elements from the site to easily get into these communities.

The people say the situation is heightened during the rainy season.

According to them, diarrhoea, cholera and typhoid are the most common illnesses in the area.

A farmer within the enclave, Yamba Salifu, said during the rainy season faecal matter overflows and runs into their water bodies.

He said farmers who have their farms around the area are forced to carry water from home anytime they go to the farm.

“You see that I am carrying my pure water. We the farmers know the toilet runs into the water so we can’t drink it,” Mr Yamba stressed.

He said it is an age-long problem that has been left unsolved.

A resident of Kontalga, one of the communities affected, said cholera is a common illness in the area.

He appealed to the government to intervene.

“We do not have potable water here. The only water is from the dam which is polluted; making us sick all the time. We also do not have a clinic, so you see the difficulty?” he added.

The Chief Linguist of Santugu said it is a huge problem facing the community but they have no option. According to him, most residents have been in and out of the hospital, especially this year.  

Afa Abukari said the people most affected are women and children.

On her part, a midwife at the Kula CHIPS compound, Isaiah Swad, confirmed that diarrhoea, typhoid and cholera are top cases they record in children under five.

“The most common sickness is diarrhoea and vomiting and it is always among children,” she said.

Madam Swad added that typhoid is also common among the adult population.

She attributed these sicknesses to the contamination of the water the people drink.

Meanwhile, an Engineer at the Tamale Metro Assembly, the department that manages the landfill site, Demedeme Emmanuel, said the site was established after due process.

He said per their assessment and by the design, there shouldn’t be residues running into waterbodies; adding that pipes were laid to convey the water into the wastewater treatment facility.

Mr Demedeme explained that what is happening could be excess water or rainfall that has saturated around the premises of the landfill site running into the stream and not from the landfill site.

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Originally Appeared Here

LAWRENCE, KANSAS – The word “plumber” comes from the Latin word for the metal “lead.”

But lead coupled with pipes that transport drinking water makes a terrible combination … and one which resulted in the Flint water crisis, among other similar public health hazards.

“Lead is a neurotoxicant that builds up in the body over long-term exposure, with children especially vulnerable to its negative effects,” said David Slusky, a professor of economics at the University of Kansas.

“Too often, parents and care providers do not learn of such an exposure until a child receives a lead test showing elevated levels of lead in blood. Early-in-life lead testing together with remediation of potential lead contaminations allows early detection of exposure and prevents further harm.”

Slusky’s new article titled “Blood Lead Testing in Flint Before and After Water Contamination” reveals how, despite a highly publicized lead advisory, children in Flint, Michigan, who were enrolled in Medicaid received lead tests earlier but the proportion of Medicaid-eligible children who were tested did not change. His research advocates focusing on primary prevention to reduce lead exposure. It appears in Pediatrics.

Such exposure can introduce cardiovascular problems, high blood pressure and developmental impairment affecting sexual maturity and the nervous system. Evidence suggests eliminating lead pipes would yield benefits for generations.

Co-written by Derek Jenkins of Rice University, Daniel Grossman of West Virginia University and Shooshan Danagoulian of Wayne State University, Slusky’s study uses the complete set of Medicaid claims data for individuals born in Michigan between 2013 and 2015, linked to their birth record data containing maternal census block of residence during pregnancy. The data allowed the researchers to identify children who did not have any lead test claims. The resulting data set tracked 206,001 children.

“While the particular circumstances of this study are specific to Michigan, lead is present in homes across the nation, especially in older homes and cities with older infrastructure,” said Slusky, who also has an appointment in the Department of Population Health in the KU School of Medicine.

He explained that at the time of the Flint water crisis, an investigation found approximately 3,000 localities across the U.S. with lead poisoning rates more than double those in Flint. Although the benefits of lead testing are universal (and required for those enrolled in most Medicaid programs at ages 12 and 24 months), compliance is low. Nearly half of children on Medicaid have not received a test by age 13 months.

However, once news of the crisis broke, parents in Flint were galvanized into action. The percentage of children on Medicaid receiving a lead test in the months after September 2015 jumped from a baseline of about 3% to about 5% after the announcement by Flint officials, and to a high of about 13% when former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder declared a state of emergency in January 2016.

“What surprised us most was that these higher rates of testing did not persist after these announcements,” Slusky said. “It’s really hard to make long-term changes in behavior. All the changes we measure came from kids getting their first lead test earlier, and not kids getting a test who wouldn’t have otherwise received it.”

A KU faculty member since 2015, Slusky specializes in health economics and labor economics. He has written extensively on this current subject, including the pieces “Impacts of Lead Exposure on Health, Fertility and Education” and “The Impact of the Flint Water Crisis on Fertility.”

Is it inevitable that we will witness another lead-related crisis like the one in Flint?

“We already have,” Slusky said, citing Newark, New Jersey, in 2016 and Jackson, Mississippi, this year.

“While the $15 billion in the 2021 infrastructure bill to replace lead service lines will help, it is probably not enough to replace all the lines in the country. Nor will it address other sources of lead in the home such as traces of old lead paint,” he said. “Focusing on prevention and mitigation of lead outbreaks can therefore make a big difference in reducing both the scale of future crises and the level of harm to exposed children.”

/Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) may be of a point-in-time nature, edited for clarity, style and length. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s).View in full here.
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Express News Service

BENGALURU: The state government plans to provide safe drinking water on taps to households in urban local bodies, town panchayats, town municipal corporations and city civic bodies in all 224 constituencies, which has not been officially announced.  

The plan will be realised through a network of water pipes for the water supply. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the project on 11 November during his visit to the state. With six months to go for the state polls, this is expected to be a game changer because of the huge demand from the people for safe drinking water to homes. There have been reports that drinking water had to led to hospitalisations and even deaths.

When contacted, Urban Development Minister Byrathi Basavaraj said that the funds will be provided through Amrut 2-Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban transformation. The project cost is expected to be about Rs 7,300 crore.   

Responding to the announcement, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said, ‘’No PM has till now dared to cover all households, especially in smaller areas, with safe drinking water.’’ KPCC president DK Shivakumar said, “A survey is needed to see if the project will only benefit contractors and bureaucrats.’’

Former CM HD Kumaraswamy said, “This ambitious plan will remain only on paper. Remember when they promised to give Rs 1 lakh to the next of kin of those who died due to Covid, and check how many have actually got it.”

BENGALURU: The state government plans to provide safe drinking water on taps to households in urban local bodies, town panchayats, town municipal corporations and city civic bodies in all 224 constituencies, which has not been officially announced.  

The plan will be realised through a network of water pipes for the water supply. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the project on 11 November during his visit to the state. With six months to go for the state polls, this is expected to be a game changer because of the huge demand from the people for safe drinking water to homes. There have been reports that drinking water had to led to hospitalisations and even deaths.

When contacted, Urban Development Minister Byrathi Basavaraj said that the funds will be provided through Amrut 2-Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban transformation. The project cost is expected to be about Rs 7,300 crore.   

Responding to the announcement, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said, ‘’No PM has till now dared to cover all households, especially in smaller areas, with safe drinking water.’’ KPCC president DK Shivakumar said, “A survey is needed to see if the project will only benefit contractors and bureaucrats.’’

Former CM HD Kumaraswamy said, “This ambitious plan will remain only on paper. Remember when they promised to give Rs 1 lakh to the next of kin of those who died due to Covid, and check how many have actually got it.”

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Officials from state and federal Environmental Protection Agencies tour the water treatment plant in Keyes, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. The drinking water system for Keyes is getting $20.4 million from the federal infrastructure bill for water treatment projects.

Andy Alfaro

[email protected]

Keyes is getting $20.4 million of the $609 million announced Wednesday for clean-water projects in California.

The money comes from the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill signed nearly a year ago by President Joe Biden. It will go to projects that remove pollutants from water, many of them in largely low-income places like Keyes.

Officials gathered at a plant that already filters arsenic from wells supplying the 1,500 or so customers of the Keyes Community Services District. The new funding includes a $10.4 million grant that pays off a state loan that had funded the project, completed in 2019.

Another $10 million grant will add treatment of a chemical called 1,2,3-trichloropropane, a relic of pesticide use in the Keyes area. It is scheduled to be in place by 2024, district General Manager Ernie Garza said.

The event included Yana Garcia, environmental protection secretary for Gov. Gavin Newsom, and Martha Guzman, regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“We’re here at the Keyes Community Services District because it is a great example of the kind of projects that we should be investing in,” Garcia said.

Garza said his customers would have faced sharp water rate increases without the grants.

Yana Garcia, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, speaks to guests during a press conference at the Keyes Community Services District water treatment plant in Keyes, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. The drinking water system for Keyes is getting $20.4 million from the federal infrastructure bill for water treatment projects. Andy Alfaro [email protected]

Other projects to be announced

The $609 million will be distributed by the State Water Resources Control Board. It has not yet announced where the money will go besides Keyes.

The bipartisan infrastructure act will provide funding over five years for transportation, water, broadband, energy, forestry and other efforts. California is adding substantial funding thanks to its $97 billion budget surplus.

Arsenic occurs naturally in groundwater but at high levels can cause cancer and problems with skin and blood circulation, according to the state board. It said 1,2,3-trichloropropane is a carcinogen.

Five outlying water users

The plant was built on Jessup Road, just west of Highway 99. The project included the town of Keyes, four mobile home parks in the area, and the Faith Home Ranch addiction treatment center. These outlying sites have private wells that were connected to the plant with 2.5 miles of pipeline.

“We’ve been on board for three years now, and we’re happy to see this additional treatment,” said Margo Ely, recently retired operations supervisor for Faith Home.

The other outlying connections were to Mobile Plaza Park, Countryside Mobile Home Park, Green Run Mobile Estates and Orchard Village Mobile Home Park.

Mike Jones, maintenance operations director for the Keyes Community Services District, right, gives officials, including, Yana Garcia, California Environmental Protection Agency secretary, middle, and Martha Guzman, regional administrator for the U.S. EPA, left, at tour of the district’s system for filtering out arsenic from wells supplying drinking water to the residents of Keyes, Calif. Photographed Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. The drinking water system for Keyes is getting $20.4 million from the federal infrastructure bill for water treatment projects. Andy Alfaro [email protected] Officials from state and federal Environmental Protection Agencies tour the water treatment plant in Keyes, Calif., Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2022. The drinking water system for Keyes is getting $20.4 million from the federal infrastructure bill for water treatment projects. Andy Alfaro [email protected]

Related stories from Modesto Bee

John Holland covers agriculture, transportation and general assignment news. He has been with The Modesto Bee since 2000 and previously worked at newspapers in Sonora and Visalia. He was born and raised in San Francisco and has a journalism degree from UC Berkeley.

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On Oct. 27, Gov. Andy Beshear announced $217,200,881 in funding to support 408 projects that will provide clean drinking water and improve water infrastructure across 102 counties in Kentucky. Among these projects, two are in Perry County.

According to a statement from the governor’s office, the funding comes from the second round of Beshear’s Cleaner Water Program. Approximately 1,500 unserved and 38,000 under served homes will benefit from the water and sewer line projects alone. This does not include the Kentuckians who will benefit from projects like water and sewer treatment plant projects or water tank projects.

“Since the start of my administration, I’ve prioritized upgrading Kentucky’s critical infrastructure and making our state a better place for our people,” Gov. Beshear said. “With this announcement, we’re investing more than $200 million in projects across the state. Once we allocate all the Cleaner Water funds from this round, every county will have funding to help improve their water infrastructure.”

A few projects the funding will benefit include:

Perry County:

The City of Hazard will use $238,521 for their Napier Ridge Waterline Improvements Project.

The Perry County Fiscal Court will use $1,491,062 for the Sanitary Sewer Extension on Upper second Creek Phase 1 Project.

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SCOTTSDALE, AZ — Scottsdale Water has partnered with several local breweries to educate people on recycled water and building sustainability during the One Water Brewing Showcase this weekend.

The challenge the city utility gave to the breweries was to create a beer using ultra-purified, recycled water. In its final form, beer is more than 90% water.

Walter Station Brewery in South Phoenix came up with an American-style pale ale.

“We wanted to make the beer very light because we wanted to showcase the quality of the water,” said owner Jim Erickson. “We didn’t want to make a big, heavy, or dark beer.”

Scottsdale Water Public Information Officer Valerie Schneider explained the extensive process the city’s wastewater goes through to become drinkable.

“We purify this to an A-plus standard and then we go even several steps farther and we do things like ultra-purification, UV,” Schneider said. “We take this water and we purify it so much that the brewers have to add in elements to it.”

After recycled water is treated, it undergoes several more purifying processes: ozonation, membrane ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, and ultraviolet photolysis. The final product results in a water quality that exceeds even bottled water.

Scottsdale Water is the only facility in the state to offer this water resource, although right now they can only use it for sampling or beverage event purposes.

Eventually, the city’s goal is to use recycled water for tap water.

“It’s a really great water to make beer with,” said Erickson.

Scott Kauskowski over at Uncle Bear’s Brewery in Scottsdale agrees. His brewery came up with a hibiscus-infused traditional west coast style IPA for the showcase.

“We just thought with the hibiscus, Scottsdale being real flowery and pretty, we kind of figured we’d go with a color there, kind of give it that pink hue,” Kauskowski said.

Taste and style aside, there is a bigger concern here looming over these breweries.

“It is of paramount importance for any brewery right now to get involved in water conservation and sustainability practices in any way that they can,” said Erickson.

“We’re going to have supply shortages here with water, so why are we not taking what we have here available and reusing it,” said Kauskowski.

While both brewers said customers have been mostly accepting of the idea of drinking reused water, all they ask of skeptics is: don’t knock it until you try it.

“Once they taste the beer, we make believers out of them right away,” said Erickson. “It doesn’t take long.”

Partnering breweries for the event include:

• AZ Wilderness Brewing Co.
• Desert Monks Brewing Co.
• Fate Brewing Co.
• Four Peaks Brewing Co.
• Goldwater Brewing Co.
• North Mountain Brewing
• O.H.S.O. Brewery
• Uncle Bear’s Brewery
• Walter Station Brewery

The showcase runs Nov. 4 and 5 starting at 6 p.m. each night.

It will be at the Soleri Bridge on the Scottsdale Waterfront during Canal Convergence.

It is free to attend, but there is an option to buy samples.

Up to five breweries will be participating each night.

RELATED: Here’s what you need to know about the 2022 ‘Canal Convergence’ in Scottsdale

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LUCKNOW : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that tap water would be available in every household in Bundelkhand by December this year.

“The Namami Gange project has restored cleanliness and the unobstructed, continuous flow of water in the Ganga. Work to provide tap water connections in the dry and arid areas of the Vindhyas and Bundelkhand is taking place on a war footing under the ‘Har Ghar Nal Yojana’ and the exercise will be completed in December this year, ” he added.

According to the government spokesman, there has been a marked improvement in the quality of the Ganga water, mainly due to the Namami Gange project.

The Chief Minister said that the most critical point of the river in Kanpur, the Sisamau sewer line, have been converted into a selfie point while in Varanasi, where the water was not even fit for consumption, Gangetic dolphins who had left the area due to pollution in the river, have finally returned.

He also claimed that more than 60 rivers had been revived in the state in the past few years.

He added that Uttar Pradesh had adequate water resources and availability of water and areas like Vindhyas and Bundelkhand, which were considered to be water scarce and where rainwater harvesting was barely implemented, had now changed over the past few years.

The Chief Minister said that water conservation was a primary concern of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and “the outcome of his resolve was visible for everyone”.

Claiming that more than 60 rivers had been revived in the state over the past few years, Adityanath added that a large area of the state is covered by rivers originating from the Himalayas which carry silt with them, due to which many were on the verge of extinction.

“We revived them and gave them a new life. So far, more than 60 rivers have been revived in the state. The Kumbh in Prayagraj took place on the banks of the Ganga, where devotees and seers realised for the first time after decades that the water was fit for consumption.”

He also spoke about the Amrit Sarovar project, saying that efforts were being made at different levels for water conservation.

“Pure drinking water is the biggest need to save lives today. Keeping this in mind, we have started the Amrit Sarovar project and so far, work has been completed in 58 gram panchayats and the remaining are being completed on a war footing, ” he said.

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More than a year of ongoing water problems at Meadowlark Community mobile home park has pushed residents to file a lawsuit against the park’s owner, Utah-based Havenpark Communities.

“The water is terrible,” said resident John McDonald. “You can’t shower in it, you can’t wash your dishes in it, you can’t wash your clothes. We won’t even give our pets this water.”

Last winter, Meadowlark residents turned on their taps and found brown and black water pouring out. Montana Department of Environmental Quality investigated and found the minerals iron and manganese in the water — generally considered safe but unpalatable, according to DEQ.

People are also reading…

Discolored water fills the bathtub at the McDonald’s home at Meadowlark in Yellowstone County on Wednesday.

MIKE CLARK, Billings Gazette

The lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday afternoon in Yellowstone County District Court, seeks to suspend Havenpark from collecting rent from residents until it fixes the water system. It also seeks damages for the disruption caused by having no ready access to clean water and for the money spent by residents to bring in their own clean water. 

Resident Gary Deveraux said the water issues have been ongoing for almost two years, stretching back to the fall of 2020 when residents first noticed discolored water. But really, the issues stretch back more than two decades and to the park’s previous owner, the Blains, who were sued in 2000 to fix the park’s water system, Deveraux said. 

For most of its existence, Meadowlark Community was Blains Mobile Home Court, situated between the Yellowstone River and the Billings Regional Landfill just off South Billings Boulevard. In 2020, the Blains sold to Havenpark Communities, which christened it Meadowlark.

The new owners have spent the last year trying to fix the problems. Havenpark has acknowledged that Meadowlark has had ongoing water issues, but maintains the water was always safe to drink, despite the color.

Joyce McDonald fills plastic jugs with water at Casey’s Corner along Blue Creek Road in Yellowstone County on Wednesday.

MIKE CLARK, Billings Gazette

The park runs on well water and much of the discoloration in the water has been caused by old pipes and a broken filtration system, parts for which were supposed to arrive at the park last spring. 

“A lot of people are worried out here,” Deveraux said. “A lot of people are concerned.”

Residents are buying drinking water and filling jugs at the gas station on South Billings Boulevard near the park, something that can get expensive quickly. Many have been washing their clothes with the purchased water in their bathtubs or taking their laundry to laundromats. 

One couple set up a portable camp shower in their tub in order to bathe with water they’ve brought in. Residents who have washed in Meadowlark’s water complain about rashes and blistering on their skin. 

“I just whipped cancer here three years ago,” McDonald said. “I don’t want something in this water to give it back to me.”

Solids are visible after settling out of tap water at the McDonald’s home at Meadowlark in Yellowstone County on Wednesday.

MIKE CLARK, Billings Gazette

What’s been galling for residents is that for much of the last two years they’d paid their monthly fees to Havenpark that cover water service and water usage, all for water that they can’t use.

Residents have also seen a handful of rent increases since Havenpark took ownership. 

Jane Colglazier carries water jugs after filling them at Casey’s Corner along Blue Creek Road in Yellowstone County on Wednesday.

MIKE CLARK, Billings Gazette

“And they’re gonna raise the rent again (in January) and we can’t even use the water,” said McDonald. 

Deveraux has spent much of the last year organizing residents and getting them to speak out about the issues they’ve encountered. He convinced nine of his fellow residents to file the lawsuit and he hopes it will be given class action status by the judge to include all residents at the park. 

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Originally Appeared Here

This week, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded part of its investigation into the water crisis afflicting the more than 150,000 residents of Jackson, Mississippi, announcing that water from the city’s two water treatment plants have been cleared for safe consumption.

Jackson residents and supporters hold signs as they march with members of the Poor People’s Campaign of Mississippi to the Governor’s Mansion in Jackson, Miss., to protest the ongoing water issues, poverty and other social ills, on Oct. 10, 2022. [AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis]

The announcement comes just over two months after Jackson’s residents were plunged into a major social crisis after the cresting of the Pearl River flooded the city’s water treatment plants and damaged much of the decades-neglected, aged and brittle piping. As the city’s water-and-sewer infrastructure was being mended, the city continued its boil-water advisory from the month prior, followed by Republican Governor Tate Reeves declaring a state of emergency on August 30, which he recently extended to run through to November 22.

Jackson’s Democratic Mayor, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, said Monday that the EPA determined the city is now in compliance with the Safe Water Drinking Act, which regulates public drinking water standards. He said the update was “welcome news.” Lumumba’s words are hollow and remain uncritical of the fact that the EPA will not be reporting its findings on copper and lead levels in the water util mid-November.

The EPA’s determination follows the premature lifting of the boil-water advisory on September 15 accompanying the city’s resumption of water service, despite reports of coffee-brown and cloudy water coming from the taps.

Boil-water notices have been a general staple of life for Jackson’s residents in recent years. Years of decay, mismanagement and corporate looting has left the city’s plants and pipes vulnerable to leaks, breaks and contamination. “[I]t’s not a matter of if these systems will fail, but when these systems will fail,” Lumumba fatalistically noted in September.

The abysmal state of the water and sewer system in Mississippi’s capital city is a prime examples of malign neglect by the state, local and federal governments towards the health and safety of the working class and the most vulnerable in society—the most notable example being their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lumumba told reporters Monday that the city is actively working to secure a private firm to control operations and maintenance at the O.B. Curtis Water Plant, the plant hit hardest by the flooding. “In the meantime, we are working closely with the Department of Justice and the EPA to ensure our treatment facility continues to function,” Lumumba said.

On Twitter, using the hashtag #JxnWaterCrisis, residents are reporting dirty water coming from their faucets—as recently as October 28—while still dealing with “sky-high water bills,” one tweeted. Another tweeted the water “Looks like acid,” and that they “Can’t believe this is allowed to happen in this day and age.” Another tweeted, “Everyone needs to stop paying,” followed by another writing, “Why is anyone paying the water bill[?] You’re paying for poison they owe you a refund.” 

As the city remains under a state of emergency, Reeves explained the extension will permit management of the O.B. Curtis plant a five-day transition period from the state to the private operator chosen by the city, with his office saying more than $13 million has been put toward plant restoration, maintenance, and water distribution. The Democratic and Republican response to the crisis is the same, offloading the burden to a third party, absolving either party of any responsibility for future breakdowns in the system.

On October 14, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) issued requests for a third-party company to assume management of Jackson’s two water treatment plants, well water facilities, and elevated storage tanks, seeking firms for a one-year management contract. Days later, the Jackson city government issued its own request, with Lumumba telling the press his administration did not have a say in the state’s request for quote. Responses to the proposals are due November 7.

This move towards the privatization of the public water system sparked a furor among the residents in the city, particularly among the poor and working class. It also provoked a rally outside the governor’s mansion demanding access to clean drinking water, with people chanting the slogan, “Free the land; clear the water and keep it public!”

In response to Reeves’ statements, the EPA said, “The people of Jackson, Mississippi, deserve access to clean and safe water, and EPA is committed to working with state and local authorities to make that a reality—in the near and long-terms.” 

On October 20, the EPA responded to complaints filed by the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) alleging racially-motivated civil rights violations. The EPA announced it would investigate whether the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) “discriminated against the majority Black population of the City of Jackson on the basis of race in the funding of water infrastructure and treatment programs and activities.”

Meanwhile, the EPA has declared the water safe for consumption before getting the test results determining the level of lead contamination which was detected following the flood, and issuing no demands for an overhaul of the decades-old, deteriorating infrastructure.

“At that point, the State of Emergency must, by statute, end as the water system can be managed solely by local control, as has been insisted upon by the City of Jackson,” the governor’s office stated. “The State of Emergency must only exist when a situation is beyond local control and the City of Jackson has demanded local control.” However, it remains unclear whether the city will secure a firm to handle operations come November 22. “That’s the plan,” said Jackson Director of Communications Melissa Payne. “It remains to be seen whether we will or we won’t.”

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MONTEREY — Pure Water Monterey, the Monterey Peninsula’s recycled potable water project, was one of 11 projects receiving a national award for outstanding engineering achievement — a project heralded as a key part of the state’s portfolio of water supply projects.

“To be recognized alongside high-profile national projects is truly a great honor,” said Mary Ann Carbone, the chair of Monterey One Water’s board of directors and the mayor of Sand City, in a news release.

The Oct. 25 award was from the American Society of Civil Engineers, which has been recognizing nationwide projects with its Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement award for the past six decades. Pure Water Monterey, the first such project in Northern California, was the only project in the state to receive the award.

“This prestigious award honors the project that best illustrates superior civil engineering skills and represents a significant contribution to civil engineering progress and society,” reads a description of the awards on the Society of Civil Engineers’ website.

The engineer of record is Todd Reynolds of Kennedy/Jenks Consultants Inc., which has offices in Santa Clara and San Francisco.

The Pure Water Monterey project itself is described by the engineers’ group as a $130 million groundwater replenishment program providing 3,500 acre feet a year of new water supply. The project includes new source water facilities, an advanced water purification facility, purified water conveyance and groundwater injection facilities.

“(Pure Water Monterey) is the first potable reuse project to purify unused municipal effluent, food industry wash water, agricultural drainage water and urban stormwater,” the award entry reads.

Christopher Stevens, the assistant deputy director of the finance division of the State Water Quality Control Board, also called the Water Boards, said on Wednesday that the type of project like Pure Water Monterey is increasingly becoming an important part of the state’s portfolio of water projects.

Pure Water Monterey is called an indirect potable water project because it takes as its source water effluent, agricultural runoff and stormwater and runs it through a state-of-the-art advanced purification system and then injects it down through underground strata.

As the water meanders down through layers of sand and rock into the Seaside Groundwater Basin it becomes no different from freshwater pumped into households. It is then pumped out and distributed to water users along the Peninsula.

Stevens noted that the Water Boards is working on a new set of regulations that in the future will govern purification systems that can take wastewater and purify it to such a high degree that it can be pumped directly into households. This type of recycled supply is called direct potable water.

These types of projects that are designed to offset over-drafted aquifers in the state are continuing to gain momentum. Stevens’ division covers a portion of the cost to construct recycling facilities statewide.

“Our Legislature and regulatory agencies have prioritized recycled water policies to help increase its use statewide,” wrote Jennifer West, the managing director of WateResue, a nonprofit trade association that promotes water recycling, in an article for CalMatters.

“The state uses approximately 728,000 acre-feet a year in recycled water, but this amount is expected to at least double in coming years, primarily due to the expansion of ‘potable reuse,’ that is, using treated wastewater for drinking water,” she wrote.

One such project the state is helping to fund is Pure Water Soquel in Santa Cruz County. The state has determined that the Mid-County Groundwater Basin that provides water to residents in Soquel, Aptos and a portion of Capitola is critically over-drafted. So the Soquel Creek Water District is constructing a facility similar to Pure Water Monterey, which is expected to come online in 2024.

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Originally Appeared Here