Cyclone Gita: Bottled water running out in New Plymouth 22 Feb, 2018 11:39am Quick Read New Plymouth shops are running out of bottled water as crews work around the clock to repair a pipe damaged by ex-cyclone Gita.
The New Plymouth District Council is repairing the pipe and investigating alternative water supplies.
Mayor Neil Holdom says it’s a big job because crews are also having to fix a support bridge around the pipe.
He says they’ll be preparing the pipe and welding pieces together, so it should be fixed by tomorrow.
Patients and staff at Taranaki Base Hospital were given clean drinking water last night and a water tanker will be used to maintain a clean supply to the hospital.
District Health Board head Gillian Campbell said services at the hospital were running as normal.
NZ to send $1.5 million to Syria in humanitarian aid 22 Feb, 2018 11:37am Quick Read With civilians continuing to suffer in the on-going crisis in Syria, the New Zealand government says it will send another $1.5 million in humanitarian aid.
"The situation for civilians in Syria remains dire, with more than 13 million people requiring humanitarian assistance to meet their basic needs," he said.
More than half the medical clinics and one in three schools have been destroyed.
Access to safe drinking water is limited for much of the population."

High velocity water flows from fire hydrants necessary to extinguish the fire resulted in brown or cloudy water conditions from sediments from cast iron water pipes.
If the water is not clear, DO NOT DRINK THE WATER, continue to flush until clear.
If you have continued concerns about your drinking water, Western U.P.
Health Department would recommend drinking bottled water until the advisory is lifted.
If you are flushing your pipes, the City of Ironwood recommends taking a reading from your water meter before and after flushing to get a credit on your water bill from the water department.
Bottled water shall be used for drinking, making ice, coffee, pop or other beverages, and preparing food in a food service establishment until further notice.
Instructions are available in English, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese.
A copy can also be faxed or email to you upon request.
It’s estimated that the problem will not be resolved for several days.
If you have questions or concerns regarding water quality, contact the City or Ironwood at 906-932-5050 or Tanya Rule, WUPHD Environmental Health Director, at 906-482-7382.

The bottled water industry has been exposed through research for spending billions on convincing Americans that bottled water is healthier than tap water.
This costs the average American household $16 billion per year.
According to the study “Take Back the Tap” conducted by Food and Water Watch: “Most people also do not realize that the drinking water that they can get from their tap for a fraction of the price of bottled water actually comes with more safeguards than bottled water, since the federal government requires more rigorous safety monitoring of municipal tap water than it does of bottled water.” About 64 percent of the water that comes in plastic bottles comes from sources of tap water.
Not only that, but bottled water is not good for the environment, as it requires plastic.
In 2016 alone, the bottled water industry used 4 billion pounds of plastic, which has the same energy input as 45 million barrels of oil.
This is extremely dangerous for our environment, especially considering the fact that some people throw their used bottled water outside- meaning that it can harm animals.
The study says that "when bottlers are not selling municipal water, they are pumping and selling common water resources that belong to the public, harming the environment, and depleting community water supplies.” Most of the people who are affected are those who do not have as much access to clean water, especially those with a lower socioeconomic status, people of color, and immigrants.
According to the article, “The report urges the passage of the Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability (WATER) Act, which would dedicate federal funds to renovate the nation’s public water infrastructure to ensure renewed public confidence in tap water, and avert a water affordability crisis.
I prefer drinking tap water.
Do you regularly buy water or drink it from the tap?

Bottled water companies have relied on predatory marketing practices and exorbitant lobbying efforts to sell Americans on the inaccurate belief that pre-packaged water is cleaner and safer than tap water—a notion that is costing U.S. households about $16 billion per year.
The bottled water industry has an enormous environmental footprint, using about four billion pounds of plastic for packaging in 2016—which required an energy input equal to at least 45 million barrels of oil.
Though bottled water companies and lobbying groups for the industry like the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) promote their products as healthier than tap water, the study finds that attempts by Americans to avoid pollutants by relying on bottled water are also misguided: Most people also do not realize that the drinking water that they can get from their tap for a fraction of the price of bottled water actually comes with more safeguards than bottled water, since the federal government requires more rigorous safety monitoring of municipal tap water than it does of bottled water.
Bottled water companies including Nestlé and Coca-Cola have succeeded in selling their products through predatory marketing tactics.
The industry frequently targets low-income groups, people of color, and immigrant communities—people who may have lacked or still lack access to safe water—for their marketing campaigns.
In 2014, Nestlé spent upwards of $5 billion advertising its Pure Life brand, with $3.8 billion going to Spanish-language TV ads.
The National Park Service banned bottled water in the nation’s parks in 2011, successfully preventing about two million plastic bottles from entering the waste stream per year until the Trump administration reversed the ban in 2017—after years of increased lobbying expenditures by the industry.
The report urges the passage of the Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity, and Reliability (WATER) Act, which would dedicate federal funds to renovate the nation’s public water infrastructure to ensure renewed public confidence in tap water, and avert a water affordability crisis.
"The WATER Act will simultaneously deliver water justice to the millions of people in the United States who lack access to safe water, while creating nearly a million jobs," according to the report.
Update on Nestlé: Michiganders Mobilize to Take Back Public Water https://t.co/IUIr2BD7Sd @foodandwater @foe_us… https://t.co/CaLTph3LmR — EcoWatch (@EcoWatch) 1518709301.0 Reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams.

IN the midst of the ensuing water crisis plaguing Cape Town at the moment, it’s easy for most to forget that animals too are suffering, not only humans.
This, however, excludes Suzanne Kunz, who saw that Water for Paws had no registered drop-off points listed in KwaZulu-Natal, let alone Pietermaritzburg, so she took it upon herself to create one.
The campaign, started by Capetonian Fiona Dimio, aims to get people to send bottled water which she will distribute to shelters when Day Zero hits the city.
Kunz runs the local PMB Kitten Fostering and Rehome centre.
Since embarking on the campaign with Water for Paws, both Baker and Baker Funeral Directors and the SPCA Pietermaritzburg have offered their premises as drop-off points.
Kunz said that sealed water bottles of any kind are welcome and that the maximum amount per container is 30 litres.
“We welcome the use of cooldrink containers but please do not use milk containers as the plastic is too soft,” said Kunz.
Water that is not bought from shops is welcome but must be marked clearly, stating exactly where the water is from, so if the water is from a borehole, write it on the bottle.
Those looking to help can drop off donations at 5 Nelson Close in Lincoln Meade.
“We welcome any donations or company pledges,” said Kunz.

Glastonbury Festival is undergoing an "enormous project" to create a site-wide ban on plastic water bottles when it returns in 2019.
The festival has taken steps in the past to reduce plastic bottle use.
In 2014, environmentally-friendly stainless-steel bottles and water kiosks were introduced, providing festival goers with free refills.
However, estimates suggest that around one million plastic bottles are used annually at Glastonbury.
“We want to reduce plastic bottle waste on the festival site but also in people’s daily lives,” the website reads.
A 40-person Pee Power urinal has been powering lights and charging mobile phones at Worthy Farm for the past two years.
The technology is just one of a number of sustainable features at Glastonbury.
Plastic pledge Glastonbury’s announcement is the latest in a long line of recent pledges vowing to reduce the use of single-use plastics.
Last week, the Church of England provided worshippers with a calendar of tips to avoid using single-use plastic during Lent, with MPs and environmental law firm ClientEarth also agreeing to the pledge.
The BBC announced it will launch a new "three-step plan" to remove single-use plastics from its operations by 2020, while caterers to the Royal Family will only be allowed to use china plates and glasses, or recyclable paper cups for events.

Top water purification company H2O International has reopened its walk-in refill service in six branches in the province, after identifying alternative, non-municipal water sources.
Earlier this month, H2O International founder and chief executive Tony Marchesini suspended the company’s water refill service until alternative water sources could be secured.
This followed a “panic water buying” spike at outlets.
“We decided to suspend the water refill service when Level 6b restrictions kicked in on February 1.
‘‘We had no idea that the weekend before that date there would be a run on our stores as panic water buying set in.
"As we do not condone stockpiling, we were horrified,” Marchesini said.
Now with the nationwide logistics of the collection and delivery of bottled water being finalised, six branches – Knysna, Mossel Bay, the Garden Route, Hermanus, Stellenbosch and Paarl – will be able to continue the service.
In 2009, the walk-in water refill service was introduced to H2O International SA franchises.
We charged a nominal filtration fee (R1 a litre),” Marchesini said.
According to the City’s water dashboard, Day Zero is marked as June 4.

One of the more remarkable aspects of the success of David Attenborough’s recent Blue Planet II series was the way it managed to highlight the catastrophic effect of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.
Assistant producer on the show Sarah Conner told BBC Radio 1’s Newsbeat: “There would rarely be a dive where I wouldn’t find some form of plastic from a thread of plastic fishing line, sweet wrappers or plastic bottles.” According to Greenpeace, 12.7 million tons of plastic ends up in our oceans each year and some organisations claim that, with about 165 million tons already in the seas, by 2050 plastic will outweigh fish.
Which is why it was heartening to read in last week’s Western Mail of a number of traders in Newport launching a free water refilling scheme to counter our throwaway culture.
As Joshua Knapman wrote, shops and restaurants in the town with a “Refill” scheme sticker on display will permit customers (and non-customers, too) to refill their water containers from the businesses’ taps.
The connotations of immortality are never far away from a brand which suggests its product’s “naturally pure and mineral-balanced water supports your body’s youth”.
As content marketing expert Kathryn Hawkins has pointed out, bottled water is not sold as an alternative to tap water, but as an alternative to fizzy drinks.
Hawkins highlights the Nestle Pure Life campaign, which attempted to persuade mothers to replace one sugary drink each day with the company’s water products.
The truth is, in the UK as in the US, public tap water is of outstanding quality.
Isklar Norwegian mineral water advertising campaigns have emphasised it’s icy, pristine ‘pure glacier’ quality, while the UK’s Highland Spring boasts that bottling water products from natural sources is all and everything we do.
The packaging and marketing may suggest the beauty of the natural world, but the reality of the production and distribution of bottled water means there are severe ecological consequences.

A Vanuatu bottled water company is leading a project to clean up plastic litter in a part of the main island Efate.
Photo: Len Garae / Vanuatu Daily Post Vanuatu Beverage is partnering with two other local companies – toilet paper and plastics manufacturer Cellovila, and theatre company Wan Smol Bag – to clean up Mele Village and beach front.
Mele Village, which is located six kilometres outside Port Vila, has a population of around 7000 people, and one of the longest beaches in the country.
The companies have conducted similar clean-up efforts in two Vila suburbs, Tebakor and Malapoa.
Vanuatu Beverage’s Business Development Manager Teiva Durand said the cleanup initiative was the first of many more.
He said he hoped it would raise awareness of the importance of countering littering in Vanuatu.
He said Vanuatu Beverage is separating plastic bottles from other waste and storing them until a relevant plastic bottle strategy is put in place.

The deadline to file a claim in the class-action lawsuit over the January 2014 water crisis is Wednesday.
The $151 million settlement of the lawsuit covers residents and businesses in the Kanawha Valley who received tap water from West Virginia American Water’s Elk River intake plant in Charleston after the chemical MCHM spilled from a Freedom Industries tank into the river, or whose employer closed because of the spill and subsequent water system contamination — an estimated 224,000 residents and 7,300 businesses.
The lawsuit alleges West Virginia American didn’t prepare for or react properly to the spill, and that MCHM-maker Eastman Chemical didn’t warn Freedom Industries of the danger of its chemicals or react when Eastman officials found out that the Freedom facility on the Elk River was in disrepair.
Both companies blame Freedom Industries for the water crisis.
The settlement allows residential households to file a simple claim form and get $550 for the first resident and $180 for each additional resident.
Women who were pregnant on Jan. 9, 2014 and exposed to the water can file an additional claim for $1,500.
Businesses and hourly wage owners who lost income, government entities and anyone who went to to the doctor or hospital are also eligible.
Residents or businesses don’t have to have signed up with a lawyer before the settlement to be included.
At the end of January, 53,960 households and 2,275 businesses had filed a claim to be compensated.
Also, 140 government entities, 100 wage earners, 695 people who were pregnant and 51 people who had gone to the hospital or doctor had filed claims, court documents show.