Scheduled to meet for the first time Oct. 2, the council will address a range of emerging water quality issues.
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Sept. 22 announced his eight appointees to the 12-member Drinking Water Quality Council that will guide New York’s actions to ensure all communities across the state have access to clean drinking water. Scheduled to meet for the first time Oct. 2, the council will address a range of emerging water quality issues and solicit outside industry experts, as well. Its first task will be to make recommendations to establish enforceable Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for three priority emerging contaminants, which are not regulated by the federal government, that have been found in New York: perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), and 1,4-dioxane.
A second meeting of the council will happen later this year.
"Using the best available science and tapping an array of experts, this new council will provide science-based recommendations for the development of regulations to assure that good-quality drinking water remains available to all New Yorkers. Water quality is a national issue that requires consistent national standards, but New York can no longer afford to wait."

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The Water Well Trust — a national nonprofit helping low-income Americans get access to a clean, safe water supply — is seeking eligible households from 15 counties in Georgia, including Murray, to receive new water wells or rehabilitate existing wells before available funding expires on Saturday.
The Water Well Trust (WWT) received a matching grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for a project to increase potable water availability to households in 15 rural Georgia counties, including Colquitt, Grady, Hancock, Hart, Jones, Jefferson, Meriwether, Murray, Monroe, Worth, Twiggs, Macon, Washington, Wilcox and Warren.
Funds are still available for low-interest loans to eligible individual households for a new water well or rehabilitation of an existing water well. WWT limits funding to a maximum of $11,000 per household. Loans have an interest rate of 1 percent with terms of up to 20 years.
To qualify for a WWT loan, Georgia applicants must be the owner and occupant of the home as their primary residence.
Prospective applicants can download the application form and instruction letter from the Water Well Trust website at waterwelltrust.org/apply or call (202) 625-4383 for more information.
The Water Well Trust is a 501(c)(3) organization created by the Water Systems Council to provide a clean water supply to American families living without access to a precious resource most of us take for granted.
The WWT serves Americans living primarily in rural, unincorporated areas or minority communities that may be isolated and difficult to reach, assisting low-income families that cannot afford to pay for public water supplies, and those who live in areas where the extension of public water supplies to serve them doesn’t make economic sense.

Eng. Abdul Rab Hakimi, Samangan rural rehabilitation and development director, told Pajhwok Afghan News thousands of families were suffering from the shortage of drinking water in 32 villages of Aibak, the provincial capital, three villages in Firoz Nakhchir district and some in Hazrat Sultan district.
His department supplied 24,000 liters of water through tankers to these families on a daily basis, Hakimi said. “This process of water supply has prevented these families from migrating to other areas and the supply will continue until rainfall”, he said.
Amanullah, a resident of Sharikyar area of Aibak, said their area faced the shortage of potable water due to lack of raining.
“Deep wells are not available here because the undergoing water level is very deep and people cannot dig such wells”, he said.
He said the rural rehabilitation and development department supplied one water tanker in a week to their village, which he said did not meet their requirement.
“Local people purchase 200 liters of water from private tankers against 200 afghanis”, he said.
The rural rehabilitation and development director said the issue would be shared with relevant organs in Kabul.

There is also SDG 6, which looks to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
The government created a subsidy of $175 for each household to buy materials to build a toilet.
When it comes to tackling some of these problems and making moves toward improved sanitation — and with it improved health — public-private ventures can have a role to play.
In this case, the bottleneck in helping families with the construction of a toilet was capital. Families can use the revolving fund to get an interest-free loan, buy raw materials, and pay masons. That’s an impressive gain for public health in a poor, remote area, and a quick start for an innovative financial approach that shows the effectiveness a public-private venture can have in tackling improved health.
Due to demand, the service grew sixfold from 10 ambulances in early 2007 to 60 ambulances by 2009.
As in the case of the Clean India Mission, the private sector is able to bring creative solutions to financial bottlenecks, provide means for growing local assets to support toilet construction, and execute effective communication campaigns.

However, this change has come not just like that, but over a period of comprehensive and meticulous planning, efficient execution of planned works and equally efficient operation and maintenance of each and every component devised in the project, “24×7 Water Supply System To Ilkal City”, taken up under the North Karnataka Urban Sector Investment Programme (NKUSIP), says Shivanand Kapashi, former Executive Director of the programme.
Although situated under the nose of Krishna river, which flows just 28 km away from the city, the situation was appalling throughout the year and the woes of the residents would only manifest in various degrees during summers.
The demographics on one side, and the availability of a major source of water like the Almatti dam across Krishna River on the other side turned out to be a blessing-in-disguise for the residents of the city.
The state government selected Ilkal along with 13 other towns and cities in the north Karnataka region to improve water access to households.
Finally, the project was conceived, and it was decided that it would be implemented at an initial estimated cost of Rs.19.79 crore, with the assistance of the Project Consultant SNC Lavalin Infrastructure Pvt.
Subsequently, water is supplied to every household in Ilkal city through a total distribution length of 124 km.

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Media outlets received a news release detailing the order Monday morning. According to the release, e. coli was detected during routine sampling Wednesday, and was confirmed in follow-up testing Friday evening.
The release states that “no illnesses have been reported in connection with this problem,” as of Monday morning. The system does not provide water for any off-base residents or businesses.
Personnel at the base have already been drinking bottled drinking water since 2014, when testing discovered unregulated perfluorinated compounds in the base’s drinking water.
However, personnel are now being advised not to use the base’s public water system for washing their hands, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes or food preparation without bringing the water to a rolling boil and then allowing it to cool.
E. coli is a bacteria typically found in water after contamination with human or animal waste.
“Likely health impacts may cause diarrhea, cramps, nausea, or headaches,” the release states.

Meter readings show the tap is providing roughly 218 gallons per day — slightly less than one household consumes in a day to residents seeking GenX-free water.
Readings taken last week showed a total of 13,504 gallons were withdrawn since July 18.
But that usage includes water to wash dishes, do laundry and irrigate.
It is unclear how the water taken from the station is being used.
Ogden and areas south of Monkey Junction are the only parts of the county that receive CFPUA groundwater rather than treated river water from the Sweeney plant.
Three downtown Wilmington churches are also offering residents who can’t get to Ogden Park access to the free public water tap. The churches transport empty containers to the county park where they will be filled with the treated groundwater. It is unclear how many residents are using the service.

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VOORHEES, N.J.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The American Water Charitable Foundation (AWCF), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created by American Water (NYSE: AWK), the nation’s largest publicly traded water and wastewater utility company, announced today it is providing a grant of $70,000 to the American Red Cross to individuals and families impacted by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in Texas, Louisiana, Florida and Puerto Rico.
Even though their operations were not impacted by the recent hurricanes, they have stepped up to donate generous financial support to the families that have been severely impacted by a lack of access to clean water,” said Barb Coury, National Director of Foundation and Federated Giving, American Red Cross.
The Foundation helps support American Water employee-identified nonprofit endeavors.
More information can be found by visiting www.amwater.com.

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Six projects that aim to facilitate the population’s access to drinking water in Romania will get total funds of EUR 129 million from EU’s Cohesion Fund.
About EUR 15.7 million will be used to improve the wastewater treatment system in Bacau County, in the east of Romania. Another EUR 8.6 million will go to a project that aims to improve the access to clean water for more than 155,000 inhabitants in the Bistrita-Nasaud county, in Northern Romania.
Some EUR 17.4 million will be used to connect some 380,000 people to a modern water distribution and sewerage network in the Brasov county. Over 110,000 people in the Valea Jiului mining area, Hunedoara county, will also be connected to a modern water distribution and sewerage network, with EUR 60.7 million funds.
Some EUR 8.2 million will go for the environment protection and better water quality in the Tulcea county, near the Danube Delta, and EUR 18.5 million will be used to extend the drinking water infrastructure in the Valcea county.

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HYDERABAD: Amid talk of possible bypoll to Nalgonda Lok Sabha segment as the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao is said to be considering this bypoll option to test waters to know about his government’s popularity among people, the state government has decided to expedite Mission Bhagiratha works to provide potable water to the fluoride-hit Devarakonda and Munugode Assembly constituencies in Nalgonda district by October end. KCR told officials concerned to supply purified water under Mission Bhagiratha to these villages.
Majority villages in Devarakonda and Munugode constituencies are worst affected areas of fluoride waters. There is no access to people in these villages for potable drinking water, despite HC order issued to the then government in the erstwhile united state to supply clean and fluoride-free drinking water to villages in Nalgonda district way back in 2001.
“I believe safe drinking water would be supplied to every household in the two constituencies by October end,” Energy minister G Jagadish Reddy said. Of this total amount, 50 per cent is borne by the Centre and the remaining 50 per cent is being borne by the state government.