(MENAFN – UkrinForm) Every fifth resident of the occupied Crimea has no access to quality drinking water.
‘In fact, the occupation authorities recognize that almost 20% of Crimean residents today do not have access to quality water, that is, every fifth person living in the occupied territory has no access to quality water and cannot use it.
If we talk about air, then I want to remind you about the hysteria of the occupation authorities when an accident occurred on the Titan plant, Deputy Minister of Ukraine for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced persons Yusuf Kurkchi said at the 5th International Forum "Occupied Crimea: Five Years of Resistance," an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
He added that the Ministry would continue to make efforts for maintaining the links with Ukrainian citizens in the occupied Crimea and providing quality administrative services.
"The occupation authorities are working very meticulously to ensure that no child has a desire to enroll at the Ukrainian universities.
The whole system starts to work with parents, putting pressure on them," Kurkchi added.
As reported, on the night of August 24, 2018, the emissions of unknown poisonous substance were released into the air in the town of Armyansk in the annexed Crimea, which led to sharp deterioration of health of local residents and especially children.
Harmful emissions into the atmosphere from the Crimean Titan plant could be caused either by a human factor and a corporate conflict or the saline groundwater used for production needs amid fresh water shortage.
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We track the journey of Mohan Kumar, a teacher who brought electricity and water to the Government Higher Primary School in Koravi and paid for it out of his own pocket Rashmi Patil Edex Live
His several initiatives like setting up a computer lab, making sure there is a steady supply of electricity and water, planting saplings and building huts in the school ensured that it looks no less than a private school.
Before working in Koravi, Mohan used to work in a government higher primary school in Periyapatna, near Mysuru district.
All for education: Mohan spent over Rs 17,000 to install the electric poles and procure other equipment for the school Mohan’s first initiative was to get computers to the higher primary school by pooling in funds from MNCs.
While the primary school was inside the village, the higher primary school was on the outskirts.
The primary school had all facilities including water and electricity which the higher primary school lacked.
When I approached the Karnataka Electricity Board for the provision of electricity, they said that they have to install eight electric poles to provide power to the school which is in the outskirts.
I had to write several letters to various government offices to get their approval for digging a borewell near the school.
Apart from this, the primary school was shifted to the same building as the higher primary school.
Mohan says, "The primary school was in a very old building inside the village premises.

The Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services believes that high levels of arsenic recently detected in several Charlo-area wells were naturally occurring.
Arsenic occurs naturally in the earth’s crust and has been linked to several health problems, including cancer.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set a safe exposure limit of 10 parts per billion in water.
After a Charlo family’s well tested above that level in December, the Departments of Environmental Quality and Public Health and Human Services notified 89 homeowners within a three-mile radius to offer free testing.
Provided to the Missoulian by Diana Luke, program director of Lake County Environmental Health, it stated that “we believe that the arsenic is most likely natural and comes from geologic sources.
The water in this aquifer is naturally low in oxygen, and this chemical environment tends to liberate and mobilize certain natural elements.
For example, many residents have iron treatment on their water systems.” Earlier this month Ken Crisp, the owner of a Missoula water-technology firm involved with this issue, had also surmised that it was naturally leaching from deep sediments.
Out of 38 samples analyzed as of Feb. 8, the state found that 84 percent had arsenic levels above the state limit.
It did say, however, that the area’s public water supply remained safe to drink.
It advised area residents to test their drinking water source for this substance, and said that free testing would be available until March 15.

A drop in milk production is a dairy cow’s first response to water restriction, and, because of this, it is vital to compensate water losses through water intake to retain optimal homoeostasis.
Share This Anne Boudin, of the French national institute of agricultural research, explains losses of water are vital for many bodily functions, including evaporation for thermoregulation, excretion for digestion and milk secretion for reproduction.
Ms Boudin says studies which restrict a cow’s access to water by up to 50 per cent of requirements, have found milk dropped on the first day of the restriction, and this decrease was also correlated with a drop in the animal’s feed intake.
After seven days on the trial, analysis of the results showed milk production had decreased by between 1 and 2.5kg/day.
She explains further studies, where cows were granted access to water once or twice per day compared with ad-lib access, found water intake decreased by an average of 13.5 per cent, resulting in a decrease in milk production of 2.6 per cent.
Analysis This may not seem like much, but further analysis of the study shows milk production was influenced more by water restriction combined with hot weather and, in these conditions, milk dropped by an average of 15.6 per cent.
Evaporation increases with increased ambient temperature as this is a way to decrease body temperature.
In hot weather a lack of adequate drinking water is very detrimental to milk production, as it impairs latent heat loss through evaporation and also impairs the cow’s ability to adapt to the heat.
A dairy cow’s drinking water intake is the total water intake minus water ingested with feed.
Despite this, due to the lower levels of water in the diet and increased intake of drinking water, overall the total water intake stays relatively consistent.

Submitted Residents of Nicholson in Electoral Area A (rural Golden) will be getting access to more information about their water quality, as the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD) and Interior Health have agreed to partner on a monitoring program.
Interior Health requested the CSRD partner with them on a program to re-evaluate Nicholson’s groundwater quality.
CSRD directors agreed to fund a $10,000 contribution to a one-year monitoring program, with the CSRD administering its delivery and sharing results with the community.
Interior Health will be contributing $5,000 towards project costs.
This is not the first time water quality in the area has been monitored by the CSRD.
A research study confirmed there were impacts to groundwater quality stemming from the on-site septic systems in the area.
At that time, the community of Nicholson did not express an interest in pursuing any option that would involve funding for continued monitoring of the groundwater, a community sewer treatment system, or a water treatment system for property owners.
The new monitoring program will involve two rounds of groundwater sampling in the area in 2019.
The CSRD will be sharing information to residents through the website, www.csrd.bc.ca.
The CSRD and Interior Health will meet again in the fall of 2019 to discuss results of the monitoring project and possible next steps.

The Birmingham Water Works released the following statement: "An accidental mix of sodium hypochlorite (which is essentially bleach) and ferric sulfate caused a chlorine off gas at our Shades Mountain Filter Plant.
We’re working with Birmingham Fire & Rescue, hazmat, and other municipalities on the incident.
Here’s the statement from Birmingham Fire and Rescue: "At around 0900 this morning, BFRS was called for a hazmat release at the Shades Mountain Water Treatment facility on Hwy 280 at Shades Crest Rd.
Both of these chemicals are normally on site at the water treatment facility and are used in the water treatment process.
"14 people on site were transported to area hospitals with difficulty breathing, and another 40 were transported by bus as a precaution, although they presented no ill effects.
The area around the water treatment facility, including Highway 280, remained closed while air monitoring was conducted.
— Authorities say 35 to 40 people have been taken to the hospital out of precaution after a chemical spill at the Birmingham Water Works plant on Highway 280.
Vestavia Hills Fire Department called for aid from other fire departments to assist.
Vestavia Hills police closed the following roads: Shades Crest at Beaumont Drive, Rocky Ridge Road at Morning Star Drive and Hwy 280 west bound at Dolly Ridge Road.
We have crews on the scene and will bring updates as they become available.

The early challenges of not having fresh drinking water in their homes in Kenya gave way to an idea that would lead Yvonne Nkatha, Wangui Kagera and their three business partners to set up Gambino Bottling, a water processing business.
“Back in the day there was limited access to bottled drinking water.
Most people used to boil water for drinking.
They started learning about water purification and in 2008 the business was born.
We started small but over the years we have been growing,” Nkatha says.
We used to buy the bottles, then go back to our small factory, fill them, go look for clients and deliver,” Nkatha says proudly.
The company started producing smaller 500ml bottles.
At the moment, the still hope that the government would offer better options for businesses run by young people.
“Business people should take more time to read,” Kagera says.
She explains that there was little information from institutions on how to set up a business, let alone a water-bottling business.

The Indiana House last week voted 97-0 for legislation establishing an assistance fund that would leverage $20 million in state revenue to support loans and grants to utilities, which, with timely repayments, ultimately could produce more than $2 billion in water system fixes over 20 years.
That nearly matches the $2.3 billion in water infrastructure repairs the Indiana Finance Authority in 2016 estimated are needed throughout the state.
"This is a very important bill," said state Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, sponsor of House Bill 1406 and chairman of the Indiana Water Infrastructure Task Force.
Those include compiling an up-to-date asset management plan, completing a water leakage study, showing a willingness to collaborate with nearby water system operators and maintaining sufficient revenue to repay the loan while continuing to serve water customers.
Soliday said the leakage assessment is particularly important because the Indiana Finance Authority found the state’s 554 independent water systems collectively treat and distribute 50 billion gallons of water each year that never make it to a customer.
"We lose a lot of water because the pipes are old, and a lot of it that’s processed winds up leaking out into the system," he said.
The legislation directs the finance authority to create a priority list for determining which water utilities get the first opportunity to access the fund.
The measure also requires at least 40 percent of the water infrastructure assistance fund be available only to utilities serving fewer than 3,200 customers.
His Senate Bill 4, which passed the Senate 48-0 in January, divides the state into water regions to promote local utility cooperation and consolidation; requires utilities to annually measure their water lost due to leaky pipes; mandates the governor appoint a "water czar" to coordinate state water programs; and creates a state task force to tackle stormwater management issues.

KNOWLTON — Pam and Mitchell Rusweiler say you can tell when it’s spring cleaning at their house — there are toilets in the yard.
And cooking pasta in the Rusweiler household on Decatur Street requires several bottles of water, she said.
Well, our water has too much salt."
It’s all necessary because of sodium chloride — plain salt, the kind you shake on food, and public works trucks spread on highways.
In December, the committee approved agreements with the New Jersey DOT and Warren County to take responsibility for plowing and salting some of the non-interstate roads and feeder streets around Columbia.
We put up signs alerting drivers that they are in a reduced salt area."
Starrs said there has been no agreement reached with the bridge commission, which continues to do its own plowing and salting from its facility across the river in Pennsylvania.
The DEP tested 40 wells in 2015-16 and all showed above normal levels of sodium and chloride.
The cost of that option was put at about $8.5 million, and would require all homes in Columbia to become part of the system.
Portland, Pa., has its own water treatment plant just across the river from Columbia, and piping the water across the river using the existing pedestrian bridge is feasible.

Farmers in Dovedale are being told to get ready to destock as the drought in the Tasman region continues to worsen.
* Households urged to cut water use by half as Tasman district drought bites * Severe water restrictions to bite as drought could cost over $100 million * Dovedale rural water scheme upgrade in pipeline While farmers who had experienced previous droughts in 1976 and 2001 had never seen the Humphries Creek run dry before, Schruer said the water situation was heading into unknown territory.
Advertise with Stuff "It’s hard to tell, because our intake has never been in this condition in living memory – no one knows how the stream is going to react."
Compared to previous years, the drought conditions had started earlier and escalated faster, resulting in a significant drop in the creek flow.
Schruer said while contingency plans were being considered in the event of a worst-case scenario, none of the options could provide water at or near current levels.
At the meeting, farmers were being recommended to destock down to 70 per cent of their water allocation if the drought continued.
"It could be extremely serious if they run out of water for stock.
Sheep and beef farmers Arthur and Debbie Win said while the drought was bad, most of the farms in the area had been well-prepared.
"Because we’re sheep and beef farmers, destocking is what we do – where it can be tricky is if people are carrying too much stock for the water."
Originally set up as a stock water supply system, the scheme evolved over time to also supply households (which account for about 25 per cent of the water), reaching throughout Dovedale and into Upper Moutere.