The city of Oceanside celebrated World Water Day on Tuesday with a ribbon cutting ceremony for the first advanced water purification facility in San Diego County.

Pure Water Oceanside will locally supply water that was once imported from hundreds of miles away.

It is the first facility of its kind to go online in San Diego County. It uses advanced technology to turn recycled water into locally sourced clean and safe drinking water.

Cari Dale, the water utilities director for the City of Oceanside said, “Today we made history by moving one step closer to achieving the goal of greater water independence for not only our city, residents and businesses, but also the region as a whole.”

RELATED: California reduces supplies to water agencies amid drought

The $70 million project uses advanced technology, including ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis and advanced oxidation to provide 3 million gallons per day or more than 20% of the City of Oceanside’s drinking water supply — and 600 new jobs.

The source of the recycled water to create the purified water is the city’s own San Luis Rey Water Reclamation Facility.

The launching of Pure Water Oceanside coincides with a larger movement for the region as a whole to create sustainable water supplies in San Diego County.

In addition to Pure Water Oceanside, two other water reuse projects are planned for the region: the East County Advanced Water Purification Program and Pure Water San Diego.

“These projects, along with Pure Water Oceanside, supplement our local water supply, increase the reliability and improve sustainability in our region,” said Sanchez.

Congressman Mike Levin, a supporter of the project, said the facility is an investment for future generations and industries.

“We simply lack the natural rainfall to support the population that we have, not to mention future generations, like industries like biotech, manufacturing, craft brewing, because we know that our water demands will only continue in the years ahead,” he said.

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

The ‘Top Job Tuesday’ featured employer this week is Columbia Water.

Columbia Water is the drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater utility owned and operated by the City of Columbia. Staff maintains the city’s drinking water supply, collects and treats the city’s wastewater, designs and oversees construction of many city’s construction projects, and monitors stormwater drainage and water quality throughout the City of Columbia.

Clint Shealy, assistant city manager of Columbia Water, said right now, the critical ‘top jobs’ are anything from a maintenance assistant, garbage collector, heavy equipment operator. The city is also looking to hire ground maintenance staff, tree trimmers, kennel workers. He said most of the positions require a high school education or GED. He added that the city has a great public work training program that provides associates with a commercial driver’s license in advance.

According to Shealy, working for the city is a career with a purpose and a big perk is that there are opportunities to move up and grow.

“I really view this as an opportunity for public service. If we don’t pick up the garbage, if we don’t provide safe, clean drinking water, if we don’t manage the wastewater properly, society as we know it deteriorates pretty quickly.”

Those interested in applying for a job with Columbia Water or other positions with the City of Columbia can visit columbiasc.gov/employment. The city is also hosting a career fair Tuesday, April 26, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center.

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

Nonprofit works with partners around the world to provide safe, clean water

OKLAHOMA CITY, March 22, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Many Americans take clean water for granted, but nearly one-third of people – nearly 2.2 billion – around the world don’t have access to safe drinking water. While groundwater only provides 25 percent of the fresh water used in the United States, around the world, 2.5 billion people depend solely on this underground resource to satisfy their daily drinking and domestic water needs.

That’s why Feed the Children is celebrating World Water Day in hope of bringing awareness to this critical issue. The nonprofit recognizes the importance of access to clean water and works with corporate and community partners around the world to help maintain access to this vital resource. 

While groundwater is invisible, its impact is visible everywhere. More than 30 percent of all freshwater on Earth is groundwater. As climate change progresses, researchers believe groundwater will become more and more critical.

Last year, Feed the Children drilled more than 100 boreholes to increase access to safe drinking water for more than 250,000 households. Throughout the countries where it works, nearly 320,000 households gained access to safe drinking water in 2021 alone.

Aisha, an 11-year-old in Tanzania, has seen first-hand the importance of this resource. Her district, Kisarawe, has suffered land degradation due to deforestation because of the high demand for charcoal and timber in neighboring cities. These changes have made the land very dry, and water resources have become scarce.

Before Feed the Children installed water catchment tanks, young girls and women walked long distances to collect water. Now they can collect rainwater and treat it with purifiers to make sure it’s safe to drink.

“Water tanks and hand washing stations have been a big help to us because now we don’t have to walk for a long distance in search of water,” Aisha said. “Feed the Children provided water tanks and rain harvesting technology which help to store water for school use. We can now focus more on our studies.”

Feed the Children’s Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) interventions in communities across El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, Malawi, the Philippines, Tanzania and Uganda are crucial in protecting children and their families from the illnesses caused by waterborne diseases, which can often be fatal – especially for children under the age of five. The nonprofit focuses on improving access to safe and clean water for parents and children and encourages the adoption of WASH practices through child-focused community development programs.

With help from corporate partner P&G, the nonprofit distributed 4 million point-of-use water purification packets last year. These were used to help maintain access to clean, safe water in international communities where it isn’t always readily available.

In the U.S., Feed the Children works with partners such as Niagara Bottling to ensure families have access to clean water following both man-made and natural disasters. In 2021, Niagara Bottling donated nearly 4,000 tons of its bottled water to aid the nonprofit’s disaster relief efforts. Other partners who supply water for Feed the Children’s work in the U.S. include Nestle Waters, Hint Water, Safeway, Waiakea Water, CVS and Taste Nirvana.

While Feed the Children’s work to support vulnerable children and families continues, it cannot be done alone. To learn how you can help make a difference, visit feedthechildren.org.

About Feed the Children

At Feed the Children, we feed hungry kids. We envision a world where no child goes to bed hungry. In the U.S. and internationally, we are dedicated to helping families and communities achieve stable lives and to reducing the need for help tomorrow, while providing food and resources to help them today. We distribute product donations from corporate donors to local community partners, we provide support for teachers and students, and we mobilize resources quickly to aid recovery efforts when natural disasters strike. Internationally, we manage child-focused community development programs in eight countries. We welcome partnerships because we know our work would not be possible without collaborative relationships. Every dollar given goes eight times as far to provide food, hope, dignity and comfort.

For more information, visit feedthechildren.org 

SOURCE Feed the Children

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

DEPUTY President David Mabuza has called on municipalities to ensure that the quality of drinking water remains compliant with minimum standards.

Mabuza made the comments last week at the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).

“We urge municipalities to continue with ensuring that our country’s drinking water remains compliant with the set standards, while also fast-tracking efforts of improving the levels of access to water. With all these measures in place, we should not worry about the possibility of contamination of our drinking water,” he said.

Related story: Municipalities urged to conduct drinking water analysis amid typhoid cases

The deputy president said the Water and Sanitation Department has confirmed the country’s water quality remains compliant with the minimum standards for drinking water, as specified by the South African National Standards.

He said this has been further confirmed in the recent announcement by the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) on reported cases of typhoid in different municipalities in parts of the country.

“The NICD has clarified that the detection of typhoid, between December 2021 and February of this year, was not linked to contaminated municipal water. Whereas there were reported cases of typhoid in the North West, Western Cape and Eastern Cape, the quality of water in these areas was found to be compliant with the national drinking water standards.”

Read Also: Satellite leak detector will address water challenges, says City

The deputy president said as an ongoing measure, the Department of Water and Sanitation will continue to monitor the processes that Water Services Authorities implement, and it will engage them where non-compliance is detected.

 

* Notice: Coronavirus reporting at Caxton Local Media aims to combat fake news

 

Dear reader, As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19. Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green ([email protected]) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff ([email protected]).

 

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

Wading ankle deep into the Conestoga River, Todd Umstead bent over and placed an electronic device into the water, recording its chemistry before later scrawling the results into a handwritten spreadsheet.

Just feet away, beakers, vials and other scientific equipment sat scattered across a pebble-covered shore where the river passes near Windolph Landing Park in Lancaster Township.

All of those items, he said, are necessary — used to record conditions in the waterway as part of an effort to monitor its overall health.

But Umstead isn’t a scientist. He’s a volunteer, one of about five dozen conservation-minded residents who help track the quality of countywide rivers and creeks for the Lancaster County Conservation District.

“I love to fish. Fishing is my passion. And fish need clean water to live,” Umstead said, explaining why he got involved with the program, which tracks impairment in rivers and their tributaries.

It’s work that’s become increasingly important as county officials and conservation organizations strive to meet federal mandates, which demand the reduction of steam-impairing pollutants — harmful sediment and nutrients, specifically nitrogen and phosphorus — to clean local waterways.

Early this year, state figures showed that 89.4% of 1,432 assessed stream miles in Lancaster County are considered impaired, according to the Department of Environmental Protection’s draft 2022 Pennsylvania Integrated Water Quality Report. There are 1,438 total stream miles in the county.

That high percentage stood out earlier this month to Matthew Kofroth, a Conservation District watershed specialist who oversees the volunteer monitoring program, called the Water Quality Volunteer Coalition.

The goal of the program, Kofroth said, is to keep a running record of those impairments, as well as hoped-for improvements as environmental restoration work takes place throughout the county’s watersheds.

“The idea of this group, as it kind of always has been, is to gather baseline water quality data, kind of citizen science-based data,” Kofroth said.

Todd Umstead, a member of the Conestoga River Club, tests the pH level of water in the Conestoga River, near Windolph Landing Park in Lancaster Township Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022.

BLAINE SHAHAN | Staff Photographer

50 to 60 volunteers

On the Conestoga’s pebble-covered riverbank, Umstead showed off that process, collecting water samples and using all of that scientific equipment to record water-quality indicators — acidity, temperature, flow rate, clarity, oxygen levels and other factors, including the concentration of certain pollutants like nitrates and phosphates.

The pollutants impair both local waterways, and those downstream, including the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay.

And that sampling work is in addition to volunteers’ biennial collection of pollution-sensitive aquatic insects, like mayflies and caddisflies, whose presence is a positive indicator of good stream health.

Umstead is just one of 50 to 60 volunteers collecting data from about three dozen monitoring sites, Kofroth said.

Ideally, those samplers will return to the same exact spots in their chosen waterways every month, recording a continuum of data that would show changes overtime, Kofroth said. It’s unlikely that drastic improvements or setbacks would be recorded from one month to the next, he said.

“You are not going to see that. It took hundreds of years to degrade, and it’s going to take a long time to improve. We are kind of ‘The Tortoise and the Hare,’” Kofroth said. “It’s ‘slow and steady wins the race.’”

Currently, volunteers are allowed to pick their own sites, as long as the streams they sample are within Lancaster County, Kofroth said, explaining that district officials would like to track watersheds countywide.

But increasingly, he said, DEP officials have urged program leaders to direct samplers to waterways near areas where restoration work — like streambank repairs, legacy sediment removal and riverside tree and shrub planting — has been implemented in an attempt to meet pollution reduction mandates.

Kofroth guessed that request stems from a hope that sampling results might prove that restoration projects have been successful in reducing impairment by capturing pollutants, which are often carried to streams form urban and agricultural land by stormwater.

By itself, data collected by the volunteers isn’t enough to have a river or stream added or removed from the state’s list of impaired streams, but if results show continued changes, when submitted, they could draw attention from state and federal regulators, Kofroth said.

“No, we are not delisting a stream, but in essence we are because we are providing water quality data that’s out there, and then, we … pass that along to those that are legally able to take it off of that list,” he said. “From a citizen science standpoint, that’s what we’re doing.”

Todd Umstead, a member of the Conestoga River Club, tests the pH level of water in the Conestoga River near Windolph Landing Park in Lancaster Township Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2022.

BLAINE SHAHAN | Staff Photographer

Something like a social club

Still, the work is not always so serious, Kofroth said, describing the program also as something like a social club.

That was clear earlier this month during a Water Quality Volunteer Coalition meeting at the Farm and Home Center in Lancaster, where a small group of samplers spoke about their work and shared funny stories about testing trips gone awry.

There, they also heard from Kofroth, who showed off newly purchased sampling kits full of scientific equipment that will add to and replace older kits, many of which haven’t been updated for at least 15 years, he said.

“They have been taking very good care of it, but it does wear,” Kofroth said, applauding volunteers. “It was time to upgrade.”

Those new kits came at a price of about $20,000, Kofroth said, explaining the cost was covered with state funding.

All told, the group now has about 10 kits, which are shared among volunteers, he said.

Speaking for the volunteers, Kofroth said many of them are like-minded, environment-conscious county residents who are attracted to the opportunity to get outside and possibly contribute to the stream improvements.

Among them is Mary Kay Phillips of the Octoraro Watershed Association, which is responsible for testing numerous sites, most surrounding the Octoraro Reservoir, she said.

“A lot of them are just tiny, little feeder streams,” she said, adding that there is ample room for growth. “We are trying to expand the number of sites we are working in.”

Increased interest in the outdoors following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to an uptick in participating volunteers, Kofroth said, noting recent partnerships with recreation and conservation groups like the Conestoga River Club, of which Umstead is a member.

Still, he said, newcomers are welcome.

Those interested in the program, including sampling results, can visit lancasterwatersheds.org/volunteer-water-quality-monitoring/, officials said.

Success! An email has been sent with a link to confirm list signup.

Error! There was an error processing your request.

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

BROOKLINE, Pa. (KDKA) — Some neighbors in the South Hills have questions about a recent change in the look and taste of their drinking water.

They reached out to KDKA investigator Meghan Schiller and asked, “What’s going on with the water?”

READ MORE: Fight In Ohio GOP Senate Debate Leads To Demand For Apology

Forget about the taste, Tammy Garvin said she can’t stand the smell.

“I don’t trust it. Even though they said it’s ok, you just don’t trust it,” said Garvin.

She’s a Brookline grandmother who said she won’t even give the water to her grandchildren. She joined the conversation about the water on her neighborhood’s Facebook page, keeping her comment short and sweet;

“I just wrote on there, ‘Yeah, it sucks,’” she said.

Turns out, she’s not imagining things. She simply somehow missed the notice from Pennsylvania American Water.

READ MORE: Washington County Drug Bust Leads To 3 Arrests

The company told KDKA it temporarily changed the disinfectant from chloramine to chlorine. The different taste and smell will last until April 25 for customers across southern Allegheny, Washington and portions of Beaver and Fayette counties. The change started on March 14.

Another Brookline resident took out chlorine test strips that he uses for his swimming pool, saying the chlorine measures too high for his liking. He’s buying bottled water for now, but not all residents noticed a change. Theresa King uses a filter and didn’t taste or smell any difference.

“I’ll still use it and still brush my teeth and wash my hands and I’m still going to drink from the filter,” said King.

Pennsylvania American Water wants its customers to know it’s safe, adding:

“The process is done to clean our water distribution system and improve water quality. This annual maintenance program is typical for water systems across the Commonwealth and the country that generally use chloramine.”

MORE NEWS: Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey Prepared To Tackle Gun Violence Issue Head On

The full statement can be found below:

We understand that a change in the aesthetics of your drinking water can be concerning and want to assure our customers that their drinking meets or surpasses all federal drinking water standards.

To maintain this high level of quality, the company annually conducts system maintenance, which is responsible for this temporary change in their drinking water. This maintenance program has been enacted bi-yearly since the company transitioned to chloramines in 2012.

Per the alert you shared, Pennsylvania American Water has temporarily switched the disinfectant in our drinking water for customers in southern Allegheny, Washington, and portions of our Beaver and Fayette County drinking water systems from chloramine to chlorine.

This maintenance program began on March 14 and will conclude on April 25. During this time, our customers may notice a slight change in the taste and smell of their drinking water. The process is done to clean our water distribution system and improve water quality. This annual maintenance program is typical for water systems across the Commonwealth and the country that generally use chloramine.

Pennsylvania American Water also continues to monitor and routinely collects and tests water samples to monitor for chloramine and chlorine levels throughout our systems during this change.

To reduce the taste or smell of chlorine, Pennsylvania American Water recommends refrigerating cold tap water in an open pitcher. Within a few hours, the chlorine taste and odor will disappear.

We thank our customers for their patience and understanding throughout this process and take their concerns seriously.

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

Legislators and residents in rural parts of Connecticut are calling on the state Department of Public Health to improve the quality of water for people who rely on private wells – but there is no agreement on who should bear the costs.

State Rep. Tammy Nuccio, R-Tolland, told the public health committee that over the last decade, the state has seen an uptick in the number of complaints regarding sodium chloride, the same chemical used to salt roads during the winter. 

Nuccio said that her town, Tolland, had 68 wells contaminated with sodium chloride, the highest concentration of well contamination in the state. She said there are people in her who have 600 times the recommended level of sodium in their wells.

“It’s more salinated — their water is — than the ocean,” said Nuccio.

The committee is proposing two bills to address well water contamination. 

Repair or Replace

One gives the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection the ability to require municipalities to “repair or replace” contaminated wells. 

Betsy Gara, executive director of the Connecticut Council of Small Towns, testified against that bill, saying that the cost to municipalities to repair the wells would be high and that it was difficult to determine who was to blame for contaminated well water.

Although the legislation would allow municipalities to apply for state grants to cover the costs of well repair and replacement, Gara said such grants would not cover the full cost. 

Gara instead recommended increasing funding to allow the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to test well water and increasing funding to extend water mains to connect people with contaminated well water to a public water system. 

Katie Dykes, Commissioner of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection also testified against the bill, arguing that in many cases contamination could be addressed through treatment rather than replacing a well. 

Existing law allows the department to require municipalities to provide clean drinking water to residents with contaminated well water. Yet Nuccio pointed out that bottled drinking water wasn’t enough for people to use to do their laundry or shower. She said this can cause its own health problems.

“Their grandkids come over, they give them a bath, and they come out with really red, rashy skin,” she said of some residents in her district. 

Khristine Hall, a New Fairfield Resident, also testified in support of the bill, saying she felt it would “provide recourse for residents whose wells have been damaged by the acts of others, including the State.” Hall, who shares a private well with three of her neighbors, said she attributed the water’s chloride levels to the state Department of Transportation’s use of road salt. 

“The high levels of chloride have cost me and my neighbors quite a bit of money. I have had to replace the hot water heater in my home three times in the last six years,” Hall wrote in her testimony. “I have spent well over $10,000 in the last six years to try to maintain safe water in my home.”

Nuccio said she felt the parties responsible for the contaminated drinking water — including the state — needed to assist residents with paying for the cost of fixing the wells. 

“If we’re causing it, then we have to find a way to remediate it,” she said. 

Testing the Waters 

A second bill, which has met broader agreement,, would require private wells to be tested for contaminants at the time of a property transfer. Lori Mathieu, the Department of Public Health’s 

public health section chief, said that many of the 322,000 private wells in the state have never been tested, or have only been tested once. 

The department would test for total coliform, nitrate, nitrate, sodium chloride, iron manganese, lead, arsenic, and uranium – among other potential contaminants.

Mathieu said these requirements are not as stringent as in some other states, which require annual testing of well water. She added that having well water tested in advance would give property owners better knowledge about the water quality before buying the property. 

“We’ve run into many situations where … a homeowner who just purchased a home for hundreds of thousands of dollars didn’t realize what the water quality was or what the treatment needs are,” said Mathieu. 

Mathieu said the bill would result in the testing of about 10,000 private wells per year. 

State Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, raised concerns about PFAS, sometimes called “forever chemicals” because of the length of time they require to break down.  

Mathieu said the state is receiving about $40 million over the next five years from the federal Infrastructure and Investment in Jobs Act to address PFAS in a limited array of water systems, including those used in schools and in municipal buildings. She said that 725 water systems in the state will be eligible for the PFAS remediation through the Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund. 

State Sen. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor, also raised concerns about the department’s staffing. 

Manisha Juthani, Commissioner of the state Department of Public Health, said she was working on a workforce development plan that could serve not only the Department of Public Health but also local health departments to oversee drinking water in the state. 

“That people can turn on the tap and feel comfort that they’re getting safe drinking water is such an essential, important aspect of an industrialized society,” said Juthani. 

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

WASHINGTON (FOX 5 DC) – Have you noticed a change in the taste and smell of your drinking water in D.C.? You’re not alone.

Download the FOX 5 DC News App for Local Breaking News and Weather

According to DC Water, from March 21 through May 9, the disinfectant in drinking water will temporarily switch from chloramine to chlorine. During this time, residents may notice a slight change in the taste and smell of their drinking water.

DC Water purchases treated drinking water from the Washington Aqueduct. Each year, the aqueduct switches disinfectants from chloramine back to chlorine to clean their water distribution system and improve water quality.

During the temporary switch, DC Water will also conduct system-wide hydrant flushing to enhance water quality. This program is a common practice for many U.S. water systems that normally use chloramine throughout the year. The Washington Aqueduct will continue to add a corrosion control inhibitor during this temporary switch to prevent lead release.

READ MORE: DC sues Grubhub for charging hidden fees, using deceptive marketing during COVID-19 pandemic

DC Water routinely collects and tests water samples to monitor for chloramine and chlorine levels throughout the city and will continue to do so during this period. You can view the latest test results here. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the safe use of chlorine and chloramine.

To reduce the taste or smell of chlorine, DC Water recommends:

– Run the cold water tap for two minutes.  Run it for five to 10 minutes when water is not used for several hours.

– Refrigerate cold tap water in an open pitcher. Within a few hours, the chlorine taste and odor will disappear.

– Some filters may reduce the chlorine taste and smell. DC Water recommends using devices that are installed at your faucet tap or pitcher-style filters. Use a filter certified to meet NSF standards and replace the filter as recommended by the manufacturer.

SUBSCRIBE TO FOX 5 DC ON YOUTUBE

For more information, click here.

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

AMARAVATI: Andhra Pradesh State Municipal Minister Botsa Satyanarayana on Monday, urged the people of the state to take tap water connections in an authorized manner. Addressing the press from the Assembly media point, he said it was the endeavour of the AP Government to provide drinking water tap connections to every household, either through the central or state government schemes or using the Municipal funds and resources,  to ensure that every house has a tap connection.

Speaking further the Minister said that people should go through the regular process of applying for tap connections. He requested people to complain to the local bodies if tap connection rates are high in their places. While talking about fake reports in the media, he stated that the media articles should not be written in a way that confuses people.

Forfeiture has always been the norm if taxes are not paid and this is nothing new, he said. It has never been the intention of the government to harass and confiscate people’s property. Should not the people pay taxes regularly in order for the local bodies to function properly, the Minister asked.

Many such incidents of where properties were seized due to nonpayment of taxes happened even under the previous governments. Then why were such news reports not written at that time by the Eenadu paper, he questioned. He clarified that the government has nowhere ordered the collection of taxes in a forcible manner.

Also Read: New Liquor Brands Approved During TDP’s Regime, Says YSRCP Leader Karmuru Venkatareddy

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here

Dakar/Geneva (ICRC) – Access to drinking water is a major problem around the world. The situation has grown worse for hundreds of millions of people living in areas affected by armed conflict or violence.

“With more conflicts and urban warfare around the world, access to water is now one of the main humanitarian issues and is being exacerbated by the impact of climate change. We need to innovate and develop new partnerships to respond,” said Gilles Carbonnier, vice-president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) at the ninth World Water Forum in Dakar.

In addition to struggling with the consequences of armed violence, affected people suffer as essential services deteriorate. For instance, more than ten years of conflict in Syria has seriously damaged the water-supply network, reducing supply by between 30 and 40 per cent. In the Sahel, climate change – which is partly behind the increasing scarcity of water – has made living conditions even tougher for millions of people caught up in conflict.

Water crisis in towns and cities

The trend towards urban warfare is stark, as we see in Ukraine. In Mariupol and other cities, people are trapped by heavy combat and are sheltering in unheated basements. With no running water, some have turned to melting snow or to using the water from radiators.

When war moves into urban areas, the risk that critical civilian infrastructure will be damaged or destroyed increases dramatically, in particular when explosive weapons with a wide impact area are used. Whether such infrastructure is damaged or destroyed intentionally or unintentionally, the ICRC untiringly reminds parties to a conflict to avoid the use of such weapons in populated areas on account of the high probability of causing indiscriminate harm or damage, which is prohibited under international humanitarian law (IHL).

Restricting access to water, threatening civilians

In some countries, parties to a conflict take control of water and agricultural resources. Restricting access to water as a tactic of war – or damaging facilities that supply water, treat wastewater or provide electricity – has a negative impact both immediately and in the long term on the health of already very vulnerable people. The lack of drinking water is one of the major causes of forced displacement.

Must we remind people that IHL prohibits indiscriminate attacks and attacks that target civilian objects, including the natural environment? Whatever the belligerents’ purported motive, attacking, destroying, removing or rendering useless “objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population” is never justified and remains a grave breach of IHL.

The burden of climate change

Of the 25 countries deemed most vulnerable and least ready to adapt to climate change, 14 are embroiled in conflict.

Although in our experience access to water is never the direct cause of an armed conflict, the absence of institutions or mechanisms capable of mediating between conflicting interests and managing water resources fairly can help shape the dynamic of violence and profoundly change the social fabric.

In the Sahel, the deterioration and scarcity of resources, exacerbated by climate change, has sparked tensions between communities over access to water and arable and pastureland. In fact, pastureland is shrinking at an alarming rate as a result of climbing temperatures and weaker rainfall. In addition, the presence of many armed groups has made using transhumance corridors more difficult.

Naturally, the weakness, if not the total absence, of public investment in essential infrastructure helps to maintain the flagrant disparities and dangerous tensions that exist between communities. To calm or even forestall these tensions, how water is treated and distributed in countries heavily affected by both climate change and armed conflict must be regarded as a priority.

Protect the natural environment at all times

The issue of access to water is a central concern of the ICRC’s. The number of people in need and the sense of emergency is palpable: between now and 2050, global demand for water is expected to rise by 30 per cent.
In 2021, we helped meet the urgent water needs of 37 million people by supporting the bodies responsible for water and sanitation in areas affected by protracted conflict and the effects of climate change.

It is clear that only humanitarian organizations have the capacity to meet the needs of the ever-growing numbers of people who require help. Faced with the crucial issue of the water crisis in areas affected by conflict, the ICRC makes three requests of states and the international community:

Respect international humanitarian law. Armed conflicts often harm the natural environment, including the water resources on which populations depend for their survival. IHL protects the natural environment, including water sources, by virtue of its civilian character and protects objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as water treatment plants. Respect for IHL may also limit the impact of armed conflicts on the natural environment and reduce the risks to which affected communities are exposed, in particular with regard to access to water.

Prioritize and support effective partnerships between sectors to ensure that water-supply networks remain resilient in the face of conflicts and other challenges, including climate change. Governments, local authorities, international financial institutions, the private sector and the humanitarian and development communities must work together to strengthen the resilience of these essential networks and their service providers in times of crisis.

Strengthen climate action and finance in fragile states and countries affected by conflict. Despite the reduced resilience of and the disproportionate impact on communities in countries affected by conflict, climate action has been weak because of the difficulties of working in fragile environments. States and international actors must ramp up their support for adaptation and anticipatory action in fragile states, which would strengthen the resilience of local populations facing climate change. Climate funds and bilateral donors must accept a certain level of risk to make up for the funding gap between conflict-affected and stable countries, and ensure that their funding reaches the most vulnerable communities in a country and the most isolated states involved in a conflict.
For more information, please contact:

Fiona Barnaby, ICRC Dakar, tel: +221 77 529 71 45
[email protected]
Halimatou Amadou, ICRC Dakar, tel : +211 78 186 46 87
[email protected]

[ad_2]

Originally Appeared Here