No clean drinking water in schools promoting sugary drinks.
Health Toronto, September 11 Lack of proper drinking water but considerable exposure of beverage industry-sponsored food and drink kiosks and advertisements are forcing adolescent students to purchase sugar-sweetened beverages, consuming which may raise the risk of developing obesity and diabetes.
The presence of the sugar-sweetened beverage industry in schools suggests that the beverage industry is capitalising on countries that have fewer enforced regulations to protect youth to access a key subgroup of impressionable consumers, the researchers said.
"Schools represent an important area of influence for adolescents," said lead author Katelyn Godin, doctoral student at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.
"With limited access to clean drinking water and the very visible presence of the beverage industry in schools, it’s clear that being in an environment that encourages students to purchase unhealthy sugar-sweetened beverages has an impact on behaviour."
For the study, appearing in the Public Health Nutrition, the team focussed on high schools in Guatemala City, and found that students consume soft drinks an average of 2.5 days each school week.
The study suggests that the increased level of consumption of sugar-sweetened beverage could be fuelling the obesity epidemic in most developing countries.
These markets and food franchises have developed strategies to increase the availability, affordability and acceptability of these beverages in developing countries.
Most of these beverages become popular due to their convenience and lower cost per unit of energy when compared with original nutrient-dense beverages like dairy, fruit and vegetable juices.
"An initial step to addressing these problems is enforcing policies that limit the power the sugar-sweetened beverage industry has in schools, while providing students with healthy alternatives to sugar-laden, high calorie drinks," Godin added.

AB InBev installing water ATMs in Karnataka, AP.
New Delhi, Sep 11 (PTI) Worlds biggest beer brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev is installing water ATMs in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh in areas that do not have access to safe and clean drinking water.
Its Indian subsidiary headquartered in Bengaluru has tied up with an NGO Jaldhaara Foundation for this purpose.
One ATM kiosk has already been set up next to its brewery in Mysore.
"We have put up a recyling plant to provide portable water at a subsidised rate of Rs 8 for 20 litres.
These areas have been identified as they do not have access to proper Cauvery river water or clean underground water, she added.
Besides, the company plans to set up one water ATM next to its brewery in Andhra Pradesh and more areas will be identified gradually.
The water initiative is being done using its CSR funds.
Its portfolio include brands like Budweiser, Budweiser Magnum, Corona, Hoegaarden, Stella Artois and Leffe.
PTI LUX MKJ

Furthermore, Congo remains vulnerable to the deadly disease due to poor sanitation and a lack of access to clean drinking water, as well as the continuing fighting in the country.
This year the epidemic has hit the capital Kinshasa, as well as at least 10 other urban areas, and is of particular concern due to the approximately 1.4 million displaced by the ongoing violence in Congo’s central Kasai region.
WHO reported on Sunday that at least 528 people had died as the disease spread to 20 of Congo’s 26 provinces.
More than 24,000 cases have been recorded across the country so far by health officials this year, averaging more than 1,500 new cases per week since the end of July.
“Despite the critical situation, some Congolese who had sought refuge in Angola are trying to return to their homes in Kasaï,” spokesperson Cécile Pouilly, told journalists at a news briefing in Geneva on Friday.
Nine out of 10 villages, near the border town of Kamako were burnt down in attacks by armed groups or fighting between them and government forces.
Health posts, schools and public buildings were also systematically destroyed or pillaged by local armed groups.
The worst affected by the situation are the children as hundreds have been separated from their families or witnessed their murders.
The instability in Kasai erupted over a year ago following local tensions which then spread to nine out the 26 provinces of the African nation.
Since April 2017, some 33,000 refugees fleeing the conflict had been registered in the country’s Lunda Norte province, according to UNHCR.

Further, students attending public schools lacked access to free drinking water during school.
"Schools represent an important area of influence for adolescents," said Katelyn Godin, lead author on the paper and a PhD candidate at Waterloo’s School of Public Health and Health Systems.
"With limited access to clean drinking water and the very visible presence of the beverage industry in schools, it’s clear that being in an environment that encourages students to purchase unhealthy sugar-sweetened beverages has an impact on behaviour."
They also face higher rates of obesity, undernutrition and chronic illness than people in wealthier countries.
"The presence of the sugar-sweetened beverage industry in Guatemalan schools suggests that the beverage industry is capitalizing on countries that have fewer enforced regulations to protect youth than places like Canada to access a key subgroup of impressionable consumers," said Godin.
In Canada provincial policies restrict the availability of sugar-sweetened beverages for sale in schools and limit the presence of marketing from the food and beverage industry.
The researchers also found that unlike public schools, the Guatemalan private schools they studied all had free, clean drinking water available to students through water coolers.
Private school students consumed sweetened beverages half as often as their public-school peers.
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Residents will not have access to toilet water or drinking water until further notice.
When the storm dies down, according to utilities director Javier Vargas, employees will find the water main break and repair it.
After they do that, residents will be instructed to boil their water for 48 hours before drinking it.
“It appears there is a significant water main break within the system.
Employees are waiting for the storm to abate so they can go out, find the water main break, repair it, and restore water service as soon as possible.
Until then, water service is completely discontinued.
This means City of Venice customers will have no drinking water or water to flush toilets.
When that occurs, customers will have to boil water for 48 hours for drinking and cooking purposes, and until the boil water notice has been rescinded.” Angela Homoky lives in Venice and said she doesn’t remember ever experiencing a water main break before, but was "prepared with over 150 gallons of fresh water stockpiled."
"Earlier I saw a very large tree in my backyard that was completely uprooted and on the ground and had completely ripped all the top soil and grass with it!
Prior to the shut-down, the city’s municipal government posted a Facebook status saying that the utilities department was "having difficulties at the water plant due to the storm."

World Health Organization reports that some 884 million people lack access to clean, safe drinking water and there is an answer The Bucket Ministry.. How do you provide clean and safe drinking water to 884 million around?
What is The Bucket Ministry™?
In the summer of 2012 we had an opportunity to be on mission on the Amazon River in Brazil.
With a quick backwashing of the filter daily it will continue to deliver clean, safe, drinking water for 20-plus years.
As part of The Bucket Ministry™ program we teach each family that receives and bucket how to clean the filter and many are asked to demonstrate to their peers so we can be assured they understand how to complete the task.
Our teams deliver introductory training, initially, on sanitation and hygiene and then our follow up teams will go into much more detail.
So just giving them clean water is not enough.
Many pastors that we work with consider the follow up to be one of the best parts of the ministry as it gives them an “open door” to return to the home of the recipient to continue the relationship.
Perhaps something as simple as sharing our social media posts will tell the story of God’s work in this ministry to many more people.
The only thing we ask in return is that you share the story with others and that you join us in sharing God love through the gift of clean, safe drinking water.

We’d like to thank Sen. Bill Monning for his authorship of Senate Bill 623 — the Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund.
This bill provides a comprehensive solution for a million Californians who lack access to safe and affordable drinking water, including thousands of people, many of them children, in 27 water systems in Monterey County, alone.
This bill combines an agriculture-funded solution to nitrate contamination with a water user fee that will address chronic naturally occurring contamination issues, such as the hexavalent chromium that is a problem in Monterey County.
Simply put, this fund will correct an injustice that’s gone on far too long.
There’s no excuse in the world’s sixth-largest economy for more than a million people to be unable to rely on the water coming out of their faucets.
— Natalie Garcia, Community Water Center, Santa Cruz The Sentinel welcomes your letters to the editor.
Letters should be short, no more than 150 words.
We do not accept anonymous letters.
Letter-writers should include their full name as well as a street address and telephone number.
We don’t publish those details in the newspaper, but need the information for verification purposes.

New Study Revealing Billions of People are Drinking Micro Plastic Particles in Tap Water Described as ‘Shocking’ by Water Purification Innovator Bluewater.
World leading drinking water technology leader Bluewater describes a new scientific study that has found previously unknown plastic contamination in the tap water of cities around the world as ‘shocking and disturbing’.
Bluewater is passionate about delivering viable alternatives to the problems behind the pollution that sees a million plastic bottles bought around the world every minute with just 9 percent of all plastic being recycled A wave of new studies in recent months have escalated knowledge about the extent of ocean, lake and river pollution by plastics.
“According to exclusive research by Orb Media, a top journalism site, and a researcher at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, microscopic plastic fibers are flowing out of taps from New York to New Delhi with women, children, men, and babies consuming plastic with every glass of water,” said Bengt Rittri, the Swedish environmental entrepreneur who founded Bluewater.
“It’s now no secret plastics have entered the human food chain as a result of being ingested by fish and stored in their intestines and fat, but the latest study by Orb Media is the first time we’ve been handed evidence that we are also ingesting plastic from our tap drinking our tap water,” says Bengt, who has made delivering clean drinking water and tackling ocean plastic pollution a cornerstone of Bluewater’s business mission.
The Swedish entrepreneur notes that micro plastics are in the stomachs of almost one in three mackerel caught in the Baltic, according to Stockholm University’s Baltic Sea Centre.
Bengt believes plastic – which has improved human life in so many ways over the past five decades – today threatens the existence of all living things on the planet.
He called for an urgent and radical rethink of plastic use and said the world must harness the ingenuity, energy and passion of scientists, entrepreneurs and ordinary citizens to meet the environmental and health challenges and deliver business solutions that address the problems.
Bluewater is passionate about delivering viable alternatives to the problems behind the pollution that sees a million plastic bottles bought around the world every minute with just 9 percent of all plastic being recycled,” Bengt Rittri said.
#NoSingleUsePlastics For more information, please contact David Noble, Head of Communications, at +44 7785 302 694 or david.noble(at)bluewatergroup(dot)com Pdf Print

Living Through The Floods In Bihar.
Among those affected is Keerti.
She had just returned from school when she was alarmed by the growing noise in the neighbourhood.
The flood waters had totally inundated her village – and people were hurriedly rushing through.
“My books are drenched.
Open defecation is emerging as a huge problem,” she adds.
“The boats are not very safe.
Plan India’s disaster response team is on the ground and is providing much-needed aid.
Plan India’s disaster-preparedness has saved many lives in the affected villages of Muzaffarpur.
Youth Ki Awaaz is an open platform where anybody can publish.

A man from an upper caste, Gollalappagouda had allegedly threatened to kill Dalits in the village multiple times In this village in Karnataka not only is untouchability a reality for Dalits, but they also live under the fear of death.
In Kalaburgi district’s Channur village, a member of an upper caste community allegedly poured endosulfan into the village well to stop Dalits from drinking water, according to a report by the Times of India.
The wells inside the village are used by members of the upper caste.
The farm land near the well which is used by Dalits is owned by a member of the Dalit community, but was leased to a man belonging to an upper caste four years ago.
A pumpset has been fixed to the well to draw water and it supplies water to the Dalits’ Colony.
Tired of being ill-treated by the members of the upper caste, a few members of the Dalit community informed the police of the incident.
Despite the situation, the members of the upper castes in the village, refused to allow the Dalits near the seven other wells, the DSP said.
A case of attempted murder has been filed against Gollappagouda and he has also been booked under section 3 of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, after a complaint was registered at the Jewargi police station.
“Villagers alleged that Gollalappagouda would throw dead dogs, cats and snakes into the well to prevent Dalits from drawing water.
But Dalits would clean the well and use the water,” the DSP added.