Researchers in the Dartmouth Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program have found that one out of every five private wells in New Hampshire has a high probability of having dangerous levels of arsenic.
As a result, they have been working to raise awareness about arsenic poisoning through websites and community well testing events across New Hampshire in conjunction with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.
“The problem is for well water and private water sources that aren’t regulated,” Director of Dartmouth Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program Bruce Stanton said.
Kathrin Lawlor, the program’s community engagement coordinator, said that approximately 46 percent of New Hampshire residents access their water from private wells.
Stanton said arsenic naturally occurs in certain types of bedrock that underlie the state of New Hampshire.
As a result, the College and state organizations both have websites designed to increase education about arsenic, called “Arsenic and You” and “Be Well Informed.” The latter of which includes a tool allowing people to enter well test results and receive customized treatment options.
“A lot of people mean to test their wells but they never get around to testing their wells,” Lawlor said.
“It’s tough sometimes to convince people that arsenic — something that’s odorless, colorless and tasteless — is having an adverse health effect,” he said.
He added that although certain areas are prone to higher concentrations of arsenic in ground water, wells have been found all over the state that contain drinking water with high levels of arsenic.
The EPA maximum contaminant level does not necessarily indicate a safe level of exposure, said Paul Susca, who works in the New Hampshire Environmental Services’ Drinking Water Source Protection Program.

(Brett Le Blanc/Las Vegas Review-Journal Follow @bleblancphoto) The Clark County School District found elevated lead levels in certain water fixtures at three elementary schools in districtwide testing that began in November, but no contamination was detected in drinking fountains.
The lead testing was conducted as part of a $90,000 grant that paired the district with the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection to test 213 schools built before 1989.
At Dondero Elementary, the water from one kitchen faucet had a lead level as high as 36 parts per billion, well above the 20 parts per billion action level designated by the grant, according to a district spokeswoman Melinda Malone.
That sink was not used for food preparation or consumption, Malone said, and students do not have access to it.
Even though a water fountain that was tested showed acceptable lead levels, officials still brought in water coolers for drinking water out of an abundance of caution.
After authorities replaced the faucet and flushed out the school’s water system, the water was retested and no longer showed elevated levels of lead, according to the district.
Lead testing under the grant will continue until this September, with spot tests mainly conducted on one kitchen sink and one drinking fountain at each school.
The district has tested 15 schools so far.
The Las Vegas Valley Water District is assisting with the grant work by conducting concurrent testing of the municipal water being fed to schools, said Bronson Mack, spokesman for the utility.
Contact Amelia Pak-Harvey at apak-harvey@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4630.

Funds will enable children and families in Afghanistan to access safe drinking water, sanitation, healthy environments and improved hygiene practices.
The flexible grant is part of Finland’s continued commitment to Afghanistan and follows a previous grant of similar size that provided gender-separated toilets, handwashing facilities and menstrual hygiene management that benefited almost 55,000 students in 102 schools.
Improvements in water and sanitation facilities in schools have a positive impact on attendance, quality of learning and well-being of students, especially girls.
The new funding will further reinforce this area of work, and support deprived communities to reach open defecation-free status, to access and use safely managed drinking water, and to disseminate information on the importance of hygiene practices.
Ambassador of Finland in Afghanistan, Hannu Ripatti, said, “We are happy to continue supporting the UNICEF water, sanitation and hygiene programme that provides concrete results for women and children in line with National Priorities.” Acknowledging Finland’s partnership and generous contribution, UNICEF Representative in Afghanistan, Adele Khodr, highlighted the importance of clean water, sanitation and hygiene practices on health outcomes.
“Through encouraging handwashing with soap in schools, and the use of clean water and sanitary environments, we can help to prevent diarrhea and the subsequent onset or worsening of stunting and malnutrition.
Washing hands with soap can reduce diarrhea by up to 42 per cent and is one of the most cost effective ways to prevent cases,” said Ms. Khodr.
About UNICEF UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children.
Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone.
For more information about UNICEF and its work for children visit www.unicef.org.

Graphene sieve makes seawater drinkable Meanwhile Cape Town’s four million residents are being urged to conserve water and use no more 87 litres (19 gallons) a day.
A growing number of technology companies are focusing their work on water management – applying "smart" solutions to water challenges.
More Technology of Business Could these apps help you lose weight for good this year?
For example, French company CityTaps is on a mission to streamline water access in urban homes with its smart water meters linked to an internet-based management system.
Users buy "water credits" via their mobile phones and a smart meter dispenses only as much water as has been paid for.
"The internet of things offers new avenues for technological innovation in the water field, mostly by providing real-time data that – we hope – can be used to help utilities become ever more efficient and high-performing," says Gregoire Landel, chief executive of CityTaps.
Better water management also helps save on the electricity and chemicals required to produce drinkable water.
Meanwhile, other companies are using technology to harvest water from new sources.
US-based WaterSeer, for example, is developing a device capable of collecting water from the air.
"The priority is mobilising resources and paying sufficient attention to the management arrangement to keep people connected," says Mr Casey.

Banks that pulled funding from the Dakota Access Pipeline due to strong public opposition are now teaming up with the pipeline’s developer on another controversial fossil fuel project.
Energy Transfer Partners, the lead developer of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline in south-central Louisiana, is using the lessons it learned from the Dakota Access Pipeline saga to win both financial and political support.
Two banks that pulled funding from Energy Transfer Partners’ Dakota Access Project due to public opposition — DNB Capital and US Bank — are both financing Bayou Bridge through credit agreements with Phillips 66 and Energy Transfer, according to a new report released Thursday by the Public Accountability Initiative (PAI), a nonprofit public interest research group.
“But both are still lending to the companies building Bayou Bridge.” Despite Energy Transfer Partners’ dismal safety and environmental track record, financial institutions are lining up to loan the company money.
Altogether, 40 banks have granted access to a total of $12.25 billion in credit to the companies building Bayou Bridge, according to PAI.
If constructed, Bayou Bridge would impact watersheds that supply drinking water for up to 300,000 people.
Even though it’s proposed in a region long accustomed to the impact of the oil and gas industry, the Bayou Bridge project is facing stiff resistance.
These collaborations between industry and academia have become increasingly common across the country.
The LSU report was influential in securing necessary approvals and building public support for the pipeline, according to Galbraith.
The LSU report was prepared by David Dismukes, executive director of the university’s Center for Energy Studies.

The first shipment of P&G product has already reached Lusaka, with a second shipment to be received within days.
In addition to distributing water purification supplies, CMMB will provide key water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) information to targeted families, as well as refer suspected cholera cases to local health facilities.
Batuke Walusiku-Mwewa, CMMB’s country director in Zambia says, “As a country, we are facing a very difficult time, one that creates a level of shame.
While acknowledging that there are actions that we may have benefited from doing much earlier, before we were hit by cholera, the fight needs to start with us, community members, at the household level.
We cannot afford to lose another life!
It is my humble plea that people, organizations and governments who have stood by us will continue to join hands with us as we fight this epidemic.” Bruce Wilkinson, CMMB President & CEO says, “Our partnership with P&G is essential.
P&G provides smart investments that stop the spread of cholera and provide solutions through education and access to clean water.
This disease can be eliminated quickly.
Investments in sanitation and clean water are the pathway to healthy communities, especially for the most vulnerable.” CMMB is joining a consortium led by the Zambian Ministry of Health that will implement an immediate anti-cholera vaccination campaign in the most affected urban and peri-urban areas of Lusaka.
CMMB’s emergency relief program quickly responds to dangerous situations, from conflict to natural disasters, by supporting affected communities with donated medicines, volunteers, and medical personnel, and by meeting emergency medical needs at partner health facilities.

By Travis Fain ​The House voted unanimously Wednesday to add $2.3 million to ​the state’s response on GenX and other water quality concerns, but the measure was quickly blasted by Senate leadership, which dubbed the bill a do-nothing effort.
Rep. Ted Davis , R-New Hanover, had been incensed by the Senate’s unwillingness to take up his bill, saying shortly before the House voted that "all I know is that we’re doing something."
The measure becomes one of several major issues dividing the legislature, not across party lines but between Republican majorities in the two chambers.
The House’s GenX proposal includes new funding to buy a high-resolution mass spectrometer in an effort to identify chemicals in state rivers and drinking supplies.
State officials did not immediately respond to WRAL News efforts to confirm what equipment state scientists can already access, as Berger put it, for free.
Berger’s criticism of the bill tracks with some of the complaints offered Wednesday by House Democrats who, though they voted for the bill, argued that it doesn’t go far enough, does’t include near enough funding and simply told scientists to do what they’re already doing.
Sen. Michael Lee , R-New Hanover, whose district draws drinking water affected by the plant, pointed to previous legislative efforts that included $435,000 for the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and the local water authority to study GenX and ways to remove the chemical from drinking water.
Wednesday was the first day of a special legislative session full of question marks, particularly after a panel of three federal judges declared the state’s congressional map unconstitutional on Tuesday and forbade North Carolina from holding planned U.S. House elections this year until a partisan gerrymander in the maps is addressed.
Legislators not only have new map proposals before them but the possibility of moving to an appointments system where legislators would forward a handful of potential judicial candidates to the governor for consideration.
House Republicans have advanced a measure to add funding, but Senate leadership has generally opposed this, saying Republicans have adequately funded state schools.

LIHUE — Hawaii legislators were brought up to speed on cesspool replacement Wednesday during a briefing for the House and the Senate on the Department of Health’s cesspool report.
The cost to upgrade all of the state’s 88,000 cesspools is estimated at $1.75 billion and state law currently requires their elimination by the year 2050.
“These issues are complex, involving access to municipal sewer systems, local geology, cesspool density, receiving waters, and most appropriate treatment technology,” the report says.
The point of Wednesday’s hearing was to generate ideas on how to pay for the replacements, which cost about $20,000 for each cesspool.
These funding ideas will be formulated and the money sought during the upcoming legislative session, which starts Jan. 17.
“The report findings are troubling and show wastewater from cesspools is beginning to impact drinking water in some parts of upcountry Maui,” said Health Director Dr. Virginia Pressler.
“The water in these areas is still safe to drink, with no evidence of bacterial contamination; however, there are early warning signs that tell us we must act now to protect the future of our drinking water and the environment.” Meetings are planned on the main Hawaiian islands for the public to get up to speed on the matter.
“This is an opportunity for residents to hear the State Department of Health’s plan to reduce the number of cesspools in Hawaii and to hear details of their report just released to the Legislature,” said Rep. Jarrett Keohokalole (D-48).
The report also points out cesspool wastewater is untreated and contains pathogens, bacteria and viruses, as well as nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous that can disrupt Hawaii’s ecosystems.
He continued: “With 88,000 systems currently affecting our environment, it will take a concerted effort by our entire community to convert existing systems to safer alternatives.”

The Latest on the North Carolina legislature reconvening its session (all times local): 7:35 p.m. Don’t expect the North Carolina Senate to soon go along with legislation approved by the House designed to study further unregulated chemicals in drinking water and give state officials more funds for water testing and permitting.
Lawmakers will hold perfunctory floor sessions into next week but no votes are scheduled.
The state House has approved a bill addressing further unregulated chemicals like GenX found in North Carolina rivers and giving money to regulators to help with permitting and water testing.
The House voted unanimously Wednesday for the measure, which also got support from Democratic Gov.
There won’t be agreement this week at the General Assembly on whether to take more action or spend more money to better understand and curb unregulated chemicals in North Carolina’s drinking water supplies.
The Senate adjourned their session Wednesday afternoon and won’t return to work until at least early next week.
That means a House measure expected on the chamber floor later in the day designed to direct more study about contaminants and environmental permitting couldn’t go further until the Senate comes back.
The General Assembly reconvenes its session at midday Wednesday, with work initially expected to last only one day.
The drinking water legislation expected before a House committee Wednesday is in response to the chemical GenX being discharged into the Cape Fear River.
Demonstrators against Republican efforts to approve judicial changes also were expected to rally Wednesday at the Legislative Building.

Representatives from Energy Transfer Partners, the company behind the controversial Dakota Access pipeline, traveled to Cambridge, Iowa, in October to present a series of $20,000 checks to emergency management departments in six counties.
One of the counties had pledged to use its check to purchase “HazMat operations and decontamination training/supplies.” Less than a month later, in Cambridge, the Iowa section of the Dakota Access pipeline would experience its first spill.
According to the standards of most state environmental agencies, it was a small spill that wouldn’t require much attention from emergency managers.
Since the leak was contained at the site, it went unreported to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, although it did make it into a federal pipeline monitoring database.
The Dakota Access pipeline leaked at least five times in 2017.
The biggest was a 168-gallon leak near DAPL’s endpoint in Patoka, Illinois, on April 23.
DAPL went into operation on June 1, along with its under-the-radar sister project, the Energy Transfer Crude Oil pipeline, a natural gas pipeline converted to carry crude.
Most of the Bakken system leaks were considered minor by state and federal monitors.
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation spokesperson Kim Schofinski told The Intercept that reporting the spill to the agency was not required because it was contained within the pumping station where it occurred.
The Line 3 project’s environmental impact statement has underlined that damages to tribal natural and cultural resources along that pipeline’s pathway are “not quantifiable” and “cannot be mitigated.” “Somebody lives there,” LaDuke said.