At the end of last week, the city of Alameda was able to report some good news after days of concern for the 268 homes and more than 60 businesses that were affected by the temporary contamination of drinkable water at Alameda Point.
By this past Friday evening, the water distribution system at Alameda Point was deemed safe by the state Water Resources Board, Division of Drinking Water.
While this news is a relief, it came after days of discomfort and anxiety for Alameda Point residents and businesses.
EBMUD responded and tested the water, and it tested as safe to drink.
The Alameda Police Department contacted the American Red Cross, who along with the Alameda Fire Department and city staff, provided free bottled water at two locations within Alameda Point by 7 p.m. Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) volunteers were mobilized and helped distribute bottled water that evening and throughout the water quality incident.
The city began issuing regular Community Alerts with the information we had available to the news media, and posted alerts on Facebook, Nextdoor, Twitter, Nixle, and the city’s website.
By the end of Wednesday, tests continued to show improvement in the water quality and bacteria samples came back clean.
The state Water Resources Control Board, Division of Drinking Water lifted the remaining do-not-drink advisory and will continue to work with EBMUD and city staff to investigate the incident and work to ensure a continued high-quality drinkable water system at Alameda Point.
And I want to thank our city staff who responded immediately and decisively to calls and concerns from residents and businesses, and worked as a team to serve the community.
Please follow the city of Alameda on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/cityofalameda), Twitter (https://twitter.com/CityofAlameda), Nextdoor (https://eastendzone.nextdoor.com/agency-detail/ca/alameda/city-of-alameda/), and Nixle (https://local.nixle.com/register/) for continued updates about the water quality at Alameda Point and access to the most up-to-date information on city issues.

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AKIPRESS.COM – Drinking water in Tajikistan has high levels of coliform bacteria and low palatability, according to the new World Bank report.
Access varies to safely managed water sources (i.e. those that are improved, available when needed, and free of fecal contamination). While 57% of urban households have access to safely managed water, only 31% of rural households have so.
Over the last decade, access to sanitation has improved, but Tajikistan continues to have some of the poorest conditions in Central Asia. Access to flush toilets connected to a sewer system in rural areas remains low, at only 1.7%, as opposed to 60% in urban areas.
Tajikistan suffers from high prevalence of childhood undernutrition and stunting; this study suggests that childhood stunting is strongly associated with deprivations relating to access to adequate drinking water and sanitation, food deprivation, and care practices.

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SHARPSBURG — County water and sewer bills in the town of Sharpsburg were the hot-button topics of discussion Tuesday night when the Washington County Board of Commissioners held a meeting at Town Hall.
The commissioners periodically visit towns in the county to hear from residents and town elected officials.
Shoemaker said he knows of other town residents whose water and sewer bills have been $400 and $500.
"I think it’s very important that we’re very careful with the taxpayers’ money," he said.
Residents questioned the commissioners and Pippel as to why water and sewer bills sometimes are significantly lower in other counties in the state.
Wells are much cheaper to operate, she said.

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Côte d’Ivoire government is seeking about $2.4 billion to ensure access to safe drinking water for 100% of its population by 2020, Economic and Infrastructure minister, Dr Kouakou Amédée said.
Launching a program called “Water for All”, the minister indicated that the program is to put an end to the water shortages in the West African nation.
The project will provide drinking water to 100% of the Ivorian population. The program also provides for the establishment of mechanisms for the rational and sustainable management of available water resources, in order to offer a better cost of access to drinking water to these populations.
About $364 million will be invested in the construction of 200 water towers and 8,000 village pumps. The “Water for All” program, which extends from 2016 to 2020, will also help the repair of 21,000 village pumps.
The fist first phase will also allow the connection of 450,000 households to the network of the Water Distribution Company of Côte d’Ivoire (SODECI).
The second phase of the “Water for All” program will require about $2 billion. This will concern all the structural projects, the extension and the densification of the network of large cities.

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Joining 300,000 to 500,000 Rohingyas already present in the country, the new arrivals need food and drinking water, access to sanitary facilities, health care, rehabilitation sessions, and other accommodations. Handicap International is responding to this emergency by supplying aid to families with acute needs.
Our teams have been working in two refugee camps, makeshift shelters, and host communities in the Teknaf and Ukhiya districts of Cox’s Bazar since 2007. There, we are supplying aid to the new arrivals.
In addition, we’re supplying mobility aids–crutches, walkers, etc.–and rehabilitation sessions. Thus far, we’ve provided support to 1,850 houses, reaching nearly 10,000 people.
Handicap International also provides the most vulnerable individuals with psychological support to help them overcome their trauma. We help direct people with specific needs, such as access to education, to partner organizations able to cater to their more precise requirements.

Camping in the open with little or no shelter on muddy hillsides with no access to clean water or latrines, the very young and the old ones are at greatest risk from water borne and contagious diseases.
"Newly arrived children are at high risk of vaccine preventable diseases.
Therefore, he said, the government, the World Health Organization and humanitarian partners launched an urgent immunization programme on Saturday to vaccinate 150,000 newly arrived children.
The Ukhiya doctors and nurses are one of 12 IOM teams operating from government health facilities in the two Cox’s Bazar sub-districts of Ukhiya and Teknaf, where the Rohingya population outside the two UNHCR-run refugee camps now totals an estimated 600,000 people, two thirds of whom have arrived since 25 August.
They also provide with mental health and psychosocial services to about 120 people each day.
Over the past three weeks, IOM teams have provided emergency and primary healthcare services to around 15,000 new arrivals and 9,500 others from the Rohingya and host populations. They assisted 64 child deliveries and provided referral services to another 226 patients.
They say that an estimated 171,800 newly arrived people are not yet covered by any primary health care services. Primary health care coverage also needs to be expanded as soon as possible to cover all newly arrived populations in both spontaneous and existing makeshift settlements, they note.
Last week, IOM has appealed for $26.1 million to meet the immediate needs of the 400,000 newly arrived people now sheltering in Cox’s Bazar.

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Further public and private funding in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania are needed to ensure drinking water is brought up to EU standards, a report by the European Court of Auditors has found.
The three countries have to invest more than €6bn by the end of 2020 to cover these needs and meet the standards of the 1998 EU Drinking Water Directive, the spending watchdog concluded.
Access and supply of drinking water had overall improved in the countries, largely due to EU investment in recent years, the report found.
“Financial support from the EU budget to these water networks has been substantial, but it should not replace expenditure by the member states,” said George Pufan, member of the ECA responsible for the report.
There are still areas in the three nations where water from the public supply is not compliant with EU standards and additional funding will be required to ensure that EU-funded water facilities can be maintained.
Between 2007 and 2020, the European Development fund and Cohesion Fund support for the supply and management of drinking water in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania will total €3.7bn.
During 2007-2013, more than €7.3bn was allocated to projects across the EU involving drinking water, with about €4bn dedicated to the EU13 member states – including Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania.
A total of €4.7bn has been allocated to drinking water for the period ranging between 2014 and 2020, with €3.4bn earmarked for the new EU member states.

People from Lane 25, Rarawai and Upper Clopcott, Ba yesterday praised the FijiFirst Government for commissioning water projects in their respective areas.
I remember times when the people in our settlement used to walk to other areas just to get clean water for drinking and cooking.
“Now we have clean water for washing, cooking, cleaning and most of all drinking and I thank the current Government for answering our prayers.” Dhirendra Singh, a retired school teacher said that he would not have to hear the question ‘Kab Paani Lagi’?
(When will we have clean water?)
Not anymore, all thanks to FijiFirst Government,” Mr Singh said.
“On behalf of the people of the settlement I thank the current FijiFirst Government for prioritising water supply for us,” Mr Chand said.
“The project at Lane 25, Rarawai has costed us $60,000 while the project at Clopcott, Ba costed $150,000,” Mr Bala said.
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New Albany Water: Walk raises awareness for clean water struggle in Africa.
NEW ALBANY — Most people living in America don’t have to think too much about where and how to get clean water.
More than 70 people participated in the Water:Walk at the New Albany riverfront, hosted for the second year by Trinity United Methodist Church in partnership with Blood:Water, an organization that works with community partners in sub-Saharan Africa to improve access to clean water and HIV/AIDS education.
Carrying jugs of water on a 3- or 5K walk, adults and children from Southern Indiana and Louisville got a taste of what it is like for the people who have to walk miles multiple times a day to get water.
“So after that long walk that they have, they go home and use the water for drinking and cleaning and it makes them sick.” Blood:Water was founded in 2004 by members of the Christian rock band Jars of Clay, after it became aware of the struggle the HIV/AIDS crisis the country was experiencing.
“When they went over to Africa, they found out that the water crisis and the HIV/AIDS crisis, they’re actually interwoven,” Milicevic said.
“Even when it seems like you don’t have a lot of things, it’s very important to be able to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.
“It’s eye-opening … kind of an awareness of what is happening in other countries and other worlds that we’re not a part of.” He said all along the walk, the parents talked with their kids about what it means.
“I think it’s a great way for all the other Boy Scouts to know [how to help] people whenever they’re in crisis,” he said.
And [this] is a great way for the Boy Scouts to know how to do that stuff.” Sharon Maetschke, Trinity member and one of the event organizers, said the day was a success — even though attendance was down in the second year, the funding looked to be nearing the same at around $3,400.

Daylpara, Cox’s Bazar – Dr Mohammad Hossain has already seen more than 50 injured Rohingya Muslims in the last two hours.
Having navigated several kilometers of muddy tracks, hillocks, and swamp-like areas bare-foot, thousands of Rohingya are finally getting the medical attention they urgently need.
"I have rashes on my body," she told Al Jazeera.
More than 409,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh since August 25 with many of them passing through Daylpara, a remote village some 90km from Cox’s Bazar – one of the first ports of entry for the Muslim minority fleeing a military crackdown.
"So you have a very very high risk situation, particularly for children.
"People are fleeing their homes with very few belongings and we hope that we can relieve some of their suffering by providing much needed healthcare, water and food," Ikhtiyar Aslanov, the ICRC’s head of delegation in Bangladesh, said in a statement.
"We see more than 200 patients daily, mostly children and women.
We need more medicines to cope with the rising number of patients," Dr Mohsin Uddin Ahmed from the Bangladesh Red Crescent (BRC) told Al Jazeera.
A district government official told Al Jazeera that some 80,000 Rohingya children in Ukhiya camp will be vaccinated from Saturday and an additional 30,000 children would be vaccinated at Teknaf region.
"The influx is unprecedented, and we are doing our best to help people."