Bill would provide technical measures while also appropriating funds for staff, equipment RALEIGH –After the N.C. House passed legislation providing $2.3 million in largely one-time funds to address GenX and other emerging contaminants, Senate President Phil Berger announced he and other Republicans do not support the bill.
″(HB 189) leaves North Carolina taxpayers holding the bag for expenditures that should be paid for by the company responsible for the pollution, fails to give DEQ authority to do anything they can’t already do and authorizes the purchase of expensive equipment that the state can already access for free,” Berger said in a statement.
The Senate, Berger said, will wait until studies ordered by House Bill 56 are completed before taking action.
Gov.
Roy Cooper’s office and environmental groups hit back at the Senate.
What’s in House Bill 189?
Passed unanimously by the House on Wednesday, House Bill 189 calls for a series of measures to address GenX and other emerging contaminants.
Among them: Appropriating $537,000 for the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) purchase of equipment, including a high resolution mass spectrometer, needed to identify emerging contaminants Appropriating $479,736 to fund people and training of the equipment.
Directing the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services to consult with the Secretaries’ Science Board when creating new health goals Ordering a study of public and private water utilities’ civil liability when they are distributing drinking water containing emerging contaminants.
“When is the last time you guys abdicated your authority willingly to the federal government?” Butler asked the House.

Michigan environmental regulators on Wednesday sued footwear company Wolverine World Wild over widely used industrial chemical contaminants that were dumped into the ground decades ago and have seeped into drinking water, saying the lawsuit is necessary to lock into place response efforts and to reimburse the government for past and future costs.
The complaint , filed in federal court, seeks an order declaring that the Rockford, Michigan-based business’ past disposal of hazardous waste poses or may pose an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health.
Of nearly 1,200 private residential wells tested in an area north of Grand Rapids, 78 have levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, above the lifetime federal advisory level of 70 parts per trillion.
PFAS were commonplace in industrial applications, including Scotchgard, which Wolverine used in its operations.
Scientists are uncertain about how they affect human health at exposure levels typically found in food and water, but some studies suggest the chemicals might affect fetal development, disrupt hormonal functions, damage fertility and immune systems, and boost the risk of cancer.
State officials said while Wolverine has been responsive, the suit is the next step in formalizing timelines and expectations for cleanup, sampling and other actions.
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"The state of Michigan is committed to holding responsible parties responsible.
Wolverine said it has voluntarily complied with requirements outlined by regulators.

Michigan environmental regulators on Wednesday sued footwear company Wolverine World Wild over widely used industrial chemical contaminants that were dumped into the ground decades ago and have seeped into drinking water, saying the lawsuit is necessary to lock into place response efforts and to reimburse the government for past and future costs.
The complaint , filed in federal court, seeks an order declaring that the Rockford, Michigan-based business’ past disposal of hazardous waste poses or may pose an imminent and substantial endangerment to human health.
Of nearly 1,200 private residential wells tested in an area north of Grand Rapids, 78 have levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, above the lifetime federal advisory level of 70 parts per trillion.
PFAS were commonplace in industrial applications, including Scotchgard, which Wolverine used in its operations.
Scientists are uncertain about how they affect human health at exposure levels typically found in food and water, but some studies suggest the chemicals might affect fetal development, disrupt hormonal functions, damage fertility and immune systems, and boost the risk of cancer.
State officials said while Wolverine has been responsive, the suit is the next step in formalizing timelines and expectations for cleanup, sampling and other actions.
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"The state of Michigan is committed to holding responsible parties responsible.
Wolverine said it has voluntarily complied with requirements outlined by regulators.

All Irvine Royal Academy pupils can now return to school tomorrow, after the school’s water issue was finally fixed.
Irvine Royal Academy said: "Water issue has now been resolved, All students return to school tomorrow Thursday 11th January.
"Apologies again for the inconvenience."
The heating system is also in full working order.
Final checks have taken place and we can confirm that the school will re-open for all pupils from tomorrow.
These include temporary toilet facilities and access to drinking water, but these have not been required, as the water supply has been functioning normally since this morning.
“Given the disruption to learning this week, a decision has been taken to postpone preliminary examinations for one week, to give our pupils more time to prepare.
Additional supported study classes will also be available to support our learners.
“We have endeavoured to keep parents and staff fully informed of the progress being made to resolve the water supply issue.
We apologise for the inconvenience this matter has caused our pupils and their parents/carers.”

Ohio school districts in the past year and a half have tested drinking fountains and faucets inside hundreds of older buildings, finding that about 10 percent of the fixtures had elevated levels of lead in the water, state records show.
About half of the kitchen and classroom faucets and drinking fountains have been replaced while the others have been simply shut off or are no longer used.
"You take for granted the safety of water when you walk up to a drinking fountain," said Dustin Boswell, the business manager for Springfield schools near Akron, which found more than two dozen classroom and custodian faucets over the limit.
Most of the Ohio school buildings tested did not have any fixtures with high lead levels.
Overall, most of the school buildings needed to replace just one, two or three fixtures.
Just nine of Ohio’s 20 largest school districts took the state up on its offer to test the fixtures in some of its buildings, according to data provided by the commission.
The state’s biggest — Columbus — tested the fixtures in only three of its buildings while Cincinnati and Toledo didn’t check fixtures in any of its schools that qualified for the grants, the state’s records showed.
I thought we were going to replace 200 water fountains," said Rob Boxler, director of facility services for Akron schools.
He said he was aware about the dangers of lead pipes but didn’t know problems also could be traced to drinking fountains and faucets until the grants became available.
Cleveland began making plans to test its buildings several months before the state announced it would reimburse public and private schools, said Patrick Zohn, the district’s chief operating officer.

Water is not only an essential commodity for human consumption, but it also plays a vital role in the growth of the economy, said Governor Mohammad Zubair on Thursday.
The Hisaar Foundation delegation included founder Simi Kamal, and Ashraf Kapadia and Zohair Ashir from its Board of Governors.
“We must all join hands to work for improving access to water for the poor and landless by maximising water use efficiency, financing the urban and rural water economies and the water value chain, safe guarding the Indus Basin, its aquifers and its infrastructure, improving water governance and management of water institutions, building a base for science, technology and the social aspects of water,” the Sindh governor said.
He added that farmers should also be trained to use irrigation water efficiently according to the soil’s need and lessen overuse or wastage of the precious resource.
Zubair stressed on the importance of bringing young people on board and training them in conserving and managing water resources.
The water sector in Pakistan needs focus and direction which will result in the enhancement of water economy and enable all the provinces and regions of Pakistan to collaborate in the implementation of national plan of action, he said.
Talking about the water needs of Karachi, the governor said that the K-IV Greater Karachi Water Supply Scheme has been initiated keeping in view the city’s growing population and its needs, and the first phase of the project will be completed this year.
Its second phase would be started soon while another scheme for potable water supply has been included in Karachi Development Package, he added.
Reversing the trends of water pollution, wasteful water use and consumption, irresponsible mining of groundwater, sea-water intrusion and managing other related problems are of paramount importance, Zubair said, adding that a national water policy that the foundation has prepared would be helpful in that regard.
“The government assigns great importance to safe drinking water, sanitation, agriculture, rural and urban development,” he said.

EIGHT thousand water meters will be installed free of charge in Pyigyitagun township with a total of US$20 million funding from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), according to Mandalay City Development Committee (MCDC).
The committee will also increase the water charges in the region significantly.
JICA’s $20 million has been used for the purchase of pipes, wells, tanks, pumps and water meters.
It can cost K50,000 for a water meter and there could be additional expenses, depending on the location and length of the pipes required.
As an example, the authorities will dig three wells in Tampawati ward and water will be distributed from the tank which can hold up to 650,000 gallons of water.
It will use French Development Agency’s (AFD’s) loan of $40 million, ADB’s aid of $4 million, the EU’s aid of 8 million euro and AFD’s aid of 1 million euro to cover 90pc of the households in four townships.
It will also use the AFD’s 1.5 million euro aid for water distribution in Amarapura township and JICA’s $20 million aid to provide water access to 30pc in Pyigyitagun township.
The water distribution programme aims to provide access to potable water for 90pc of the population (more than 800,000 people) in four townships in Mandalay Region.
New rates of the water bills are charged once every three months.
The current rate of K1,500 has been increased to K4,000 for the smallest 0.5-inch pipe; the rate for the biggest 8-inch pipe is up from K50,000 to K70, 000.

Nearly 20 years since the problem of poisonous water first surfaced in the some villages of the province, they still do not have a functional water filtration plant.
Earlier this year, Nasir Iqbal, a senior officer of the Punjab Housing, Urban Development and Public Health Engineering Department in Kasur district – to which Kulalanwala and Kot Asadullah belong – visited the two villages and told locals that the provincial government’s Khadim-e-Punjab Saaf Pani (clean water) Programme would soon set up a water filtration plant for them, using the most advanced technology.
Sometimes their water supply arrives from as far as Lahore.
By the time KSB started working on the project, its entire technical and financial design had changed.
Punjab Saaf Pani Company issued an advertisement on April 1, 2015 to invite foreign and local companies to bid for the next phase of the project to be carried out in 17 tehsils across Punjab.
The chairman of the Planning and Development Department informed the meeting that Sinohydro Corporation Limited, a Chinese company working on a number of water sector projects in Pakistan, has been “briefed” on the Punjab Saaf Pani Company “and the contracts being offered” for setting up clean drinking water supply schemes in Pattoki tehsil.
He directed Punjab Saaf Pani Company to “ensure that no substandard company” is shortlisted for the bidding process.
The process of shortlisting the firms that qualified for bidding was not complete even by July 23, 2016 when the provincial chief secretary told the participants that 64 international companies had submitted the bids.
By August 23, 2016, Shehbaz Sharif was having second thoughts about the entire operation of Punjab Saaf Pani Company.
More than 30 months have passed since the process began for inviting and shortlisting companies to take part in the construction of clean drinking water supply schemes.

KARACHI: Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair has said that water was not only essential for human consumption but also played a vital role in growth of economy.
Talking with a three-member delegation of Hisaar Foundation, Governor said that there was an urgent need to create awareness about use of water with care.
Farmers should also be guided and trained to use irrigation water according to requirements of soil and avoid it’s over usage or wasting same, he opined.
He said that we all should join hands to work for improving access to water for poor and landless by maximising water use efficiency, financing urban and rural water economies and water value chain, safe guarding Indus Basin, its aquifers and its infrastructure, improving water governance and management of water institutions, building a base for science, technology and the social aspects of water.
Zubair said that securing future of water, we should act now to develop young people to take over by training them to conserve and manage water.
The water sector in Pakistan needs focus and direction which will result in the enhancement of water economy and enable all the provinces and regions of Pakistan to collaborate in the implementation of national plan of action, he observed.
He said that keeping in view demand due to increase in population of Karachi, K-IV has been started and its first phase would be completed this year.
Its second phase would be started soon while another scheme for potable water supply has been included in Karachi Development Package, he added.
He said that reversing the trends of water pollution, wasteful water use and consumption, irresponsible mining of groundwater, sea-water intrusion and managing other related problems were of paramount importance.
The National Water Policy prepared by Foundation would be very helpful in ensuring effective usage of available water and preserving the same for our next generations, he added.

A House committee looking at river quality unanimously approved a bill on Thursday to address unregulated chemicals in North Carolina’s drinking water supplies by seeking better calculations of the pollution levels that would do no harm.
The committee is taking action following the recent public disclosure that for decades, The Chemours Co. had been releasing GenX, a chemical used to make Teflon and other coatings, from its Bladen County plant into Wilmington’s main water supply.
The proposal doesn’t contain additional funds for state health and environmental regulators to pay for more chemical testing, high-tech equipment and discharge permitting, which Democratic Gov.
House Republican leaders say separate spending legislation is still being worked on.
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Cooper said that bill failed to address underlying issues with emerging contaminants, whose health effects not well understood.
GenX is just one of tens of thousands of unregulated chemicals that are routinely being discharged into drinking water supplies nationwide under a federal discharge permit program.
The Department of Environmental Quality said in a release later Thursday it has "no issue with the study legislation, but a short-term solution requires funding as the state works to address emerging contaminants."
Thursday’s bill in part would: — direct the Department of Health and Human Services to work with science advisers to the health and environment department secretaries on how to set better "health goals" for contaminant levels.
— order DEQ to study and recommend improvements to the state’s administration of the federal discharge permit program, which allows industrial operations like Chemours to release chemicals into bodies of water.