Poland Spring hopes to pump up to 172 million gallons of water a year from a public water district well that once served a now-closed paper mill.
Several small communities had hoped to be in the running to host the company’s planned $50 million bottling plant proposed for western Maine, but one of the nation’s largest bottled water brands, manufactured by a subsidiary of Nestle Waters, also sees an opportunity with Lincoln Water District following the closing of a Lincoln Paper & Tissue mill.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday is set to discuss a permit application filed by Nestle Waters to withdraw municipal water from Lincoln Water District.
Lincoln Water District Superintendent Jeffrey Day told regulators the proposed withdrawal by Poland Spring is not expected to harm the district’s public water system.
In western Maine, Brennan said the company is also finalizing a water-extraction agreement with the Rumford Water District.
The company’s bottling efforts have in past years received opposition from some local groups.
The Protect Rumford Water Alliance spoke out against the Rumford contract with Poland Springs, with concerns that the deal didn’t protect residents and local water supplies.
Brennan said the company is used to being a "lightning rod" for such activist groups.
"And when we’re allowed to have that discussion," he said, "those concerns go away."
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The end of a months-long boil water advisory in Lower Nicola could be on the horizon, as the Lower Nicola Water Works aims to secure the necessary funds to replace a temporary water line to residents on Marshall Road.
The initial advisory was issued on May 11, after a surging Guichon Creek cut a swath through Lower Nicola, breaking an underground water line on Marshall Road.
Though damage to the Marshall Road line temporarily restricted water access to some residents, the advisory was actually issued in response to bacteriological contamination detected in water samples sent to Interior Health.
As the flood water receded and Guichon Creek returned to a regular flow, a temporary over-land pipe was installed to restore access to running water for residents on Marshall Road, explained Lorne Robertson, maintenance supervisor with the Lower Nicola Water Works.
“The water is potable out here in the entire system.
However, because that’s only a temporary over-land line, [Interior Health] will not take that boil water notice off,” said Robertson.
Katie McNamara, an environmental health officer with IH explained that the province’s Drinking Water Protection Act requires a construction permit to be obtained prior to any repairs of a water main.
“The permit application is done through Interior Health, and the applicant must provide enough information about the proposed construction for a Public Health Engineer to be able to process it,” said McNamara in a statement emailed to the Herald.
“We’re having quite a bit of difficulty with funding,” said Robertson, who added that the group is now looking at dipping into their own reserves in order to fund the project.
“Sometime this week perhaps — I’m not sure, it’s only speculation — that we’ll have that contract awarded and work will commence pretty quick,” said Robertson.

Poland Spring hopes to pump up to 172 million gallons of water a year from a public water district well that once served a now-closed paper mill.
Several small communities had hoped to be in the running to host the company’s planned $50 million bottling plant proposed for western Maine, but one of the nation’s largest bottled water brands, manufactured by a subsidiary of Nestle Waters, also sees an opportunity with Lincoln Water District following the closing of a Lincoln Paper & Tissue mill.
The Maine Public Utilities Commission on Tuesday is set to discuss a permit application filed by Nestle Waters to withdraw municipal water from Lincoln Water District.
Lincoln Water District Superintendent Jeffrey Day told regulators the proposed withdrawal by Poland Spring is not expected to harm the district’s public water system.
In western Maine, Brennan said the company is also finalizing a water-extraction agreement with the Rumford Water District.
The company’s bottling efforts have in past years received opposition from some local groups.
The Protect Rumford Water Alliance spoke out against the Rumford contract with Poland Springs, with concerns that the deal didn’t protect residents and local water supplies.
Brennan said the company is used to being a "lightning rod" for such activist groups.
"And when we’re allowed to have that discussion," he said, "those concerns go away."
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Walden: Making bipartisan progress on safe drinking water.
Many of these pipes were laid in the early to mid-20th century with an expected lifespan of 75 to 100 years.
Our legislation focuses on addressing drinking water systems’ physical needs, aiding states and utilities with compliance and operation of the drinking water program, and encouraging the wisest use of money that is spent.
From the end of 1997 through 2016, Oregon has received more than $274 million in grants to help improve the safety and quality of tap water, comply with drinking water rules and reporting requirements, and give a helping hand to the most economically distressed communities struggling to provide their residents safe drinking water.
This fiscal year, Oregon is set to receive nearly $12 million in funding to improve its water systems.
In Umatilla County, the city of Pendleton is upgrading more than 30 miles of water lines that are nearly a century old — Mayor John Turner said this project would be impossible without the program.
Our bill, the Drinking Water System Improvement Act, continues those important investments and authorizes $8 billion over five years for the drinking water fund while also expanding the number of ways in which the fund can be used to improve delivery systems.
In fact, we’re authorizing an increase of $350 million in funding for next year from which states such as Oregon could benefit.
The ability to have up-to-the-minute information helps ensure water is safe and clean, system leaks and recent contamination are identified quickly, and the accuracy and availability of compliance data is maintained.
We also included a program to help our schools replace drinking fountains that might contain lead.

State-specific healthcare model.
The public-private partnership approach is a suggestion forwarded by Niti Aayog to tackle the problems of the primary medical sector.
The public healthcare unfortunately, has remained in unenviable state.
Amid this, the Niti Aayog has pitched for Public Private Partnership (PPP) model to improve health services in the country against the back drop of dismal performance of public hospitals at district levels.
Despite the State Government’s spending, the hospital services have not improved the way these should.
Economic deprivation in a large segment of population results in poor access to healthcare.
The States also add to this; but it is too inadequate for the 125 crore people.
The benefits in a PPP model go to the so-called service providers.
Unless India produces more doctors, whether for the public or private sector, healthcare delivery will not improve.
No way can it be a PPP model to burden the users.

Environmental Experts Criticize Trump Administration for Repealing Water Protections.
Now, economists and regulatory experts are going public with their belief that the economic analysis contained in the proposal is deeply flawed.
“I am not normally this dismissive, but this is the worst regulatory analysis I have ever seen,” David Sunding, a University of California-Berkeley agricultural economist who conducted an industry-funded economic analysis of the rule in 2014, said in an article published Thursday (July 27) in Bloomberg BNA.
The rule, enacted by former President Barack Obama, was created to better define what bodies of water the Clean Water Act protects.
Its goal is to prevent pollution from entering smaller streams and rivers that feed into larger ones, in an effort to keep drinking water sources clean.
According to The Guardian, if the rule were allowed to go into effect, it would protect the water of a third of U.S. residents, or roughly 100 million people.
As Colorlines previously reported, “People of color, including tribal communities, border communities and many living in rural areas, already disproportionately lack access to clean drinking water.” Within five weeks of being in office, Trump signed a February 28 executive order directing the EPA to review the rule.
According to ThinkProgress, “Repealing the rule has been a priority for industry—including manufacturing, fossil fuel,and big agriculture — which has argued the rule constitutes government overreach that would result in higher costs and more regulatory red-tape for businesses.” In compliance, the Scott Pruitt-run agency issued the June proposal.
Others argue that the analysis only focuses on the costs—and not the benefits—of keeping the rule in place.
“The Trump Administration is saying that those studies that indicate the benefit of wetlands are not reliable, so we’re just going to basically not have any accounting for any economic benefit of protecting wetlands,” John Rumpler, senior attorney for Environment America, told ThinkProgress.

France’s top court just ordered the government to provide water to the hundreds of migrants in Calais.
Thomson Reuters PARIS (Reuters) – France’s highest administrative court on Monday ruled President Emmanuel Macron’s government and the Calais region must provide hundreds of migrants with drinking water, showers and toilets.
Rejecting that appeal, the Conseil d’Etat ruled that the treatment of migrants was inhuman.
"These shortcomings are a serious and unlawful infringement on a fundamental freedom."
Last week, Human Rights Watch pressed France to end what it described as recurrent police violence against migrants in Calais, where hundreds have returned despite the demolition of a sprawling camp.
Many of the Calais migrants seek a better life in Britain.
The European Union is struggling to find a coherent answer to a migration crisis that has tested cooperation between member states.
Macron has instructed his government to speed up France’s asylum process.
(Reporting by Richard Lough, Editing by Ed Osmond) Read the original article on Reuters.
Copyright 2017.

Yemen Cholera Outbreak.
According to the World Health Organisation, from 27 April to 29 July 2017, 425.192 suspected cholera cases and 1.895 deaths would have been reported in almost all of Yemen’s governorates.
What is Cholera?
In Yemen, collapsing health, water and sanitation systems have cut off 14.5 million people from regular access to clean water and sanitation, increasing the ability of diseases to spread.
Therefore, more than 1.8 million children already suffer from acute malnutrition.
In order to contain, combat and prevent the spread of cholera in affected areas of Yemen, ACTED provides joint emergency assistance and prevention interventions at both community and household levels: On the one hand, ACTED distributes cholera prevention hygiene kits, containing a supply of chlorine tablets, soap, and jerry cans to families in cholera-affected communities with confirmed and suspected cases of cholera.
Jointly, ACTED distributes specific hygiene kits to health facilities, ensuring the relevant staff and leaders in communities are also fully aware and trained on hygiene and infection control.
With OCHA’s support, as well as in-kind donations from UNICEF, ACTED has been able to provide emergency relief to cholera-affected communities in four Governorates.
Since the end of April, ACTED has distributed essential hygiene items (soap, jerry cans, washing powder, aquatabs) to 5,154 families in Ibb Governorate, to 960 families in Al Dhale’e Governorate, to 2,000 families in Al Hudaydah Governorate, as well as to 1,805 families in Raymah.
ACTED aims to reach 644,350 people with water, hygiene and sanitation services through repair/rehabilitation/augmentation of rural and urban water and sanitation systems, as well as through delivering of essential hygiene items and trainings, particularly in areas with high food insecurity rates and those affected by cholera outbreak.

Japan donates $800,000 for Unicef’s health and sanitation programs in Marawi.
Manila – Responding to heightened risks of diarrhea outbreaks and other health hazards among displaced children, families and host communities in Marawi City and surrounding areas, Japan has extended a US$800,000 grant to Unicef for a stronger response in health, water, sanitation, and hygiene.
“Unicef thanks the government of Japan for the generous support that will enable us to scale up response to the displaced and affected population of Marawi.
“Unicef programs for children draws strength from continued partnership with the Government of Japan and the generous and timely response received in reaching Filipino children and communities in need,” added Sylwander.
The armed conflict has resulted in 359,680 people displaced (as of 29 July 2017), with many of them living in host communities or across the 75 evacuation centers.
Over 200,000 children have been displaced.
Many of those living in host-communities are affected by scarcity of household resources, including food and school supplies, in one of the poorest areas in the country.
The Marawi crisis is now into its third month and there is no expectation that families will be able to return to their homes soon.
Inquirer calls for support for the victims in Marawi City Responding to appeals for help, the Philippine Daily Inquirer is extending its relief to victims of the attacks in Marawi City Cash donations may be deposited in the Inquirer Foundation Corp. Banco De Oro (BDO) Current Account No: 007960018860.
Inquiries may be addressed to Inquirer’s Corporate Affairs office through Connie Kalagayan at 897-4426, ckalagayan@inquirer.com.ph and Bianca Kasilag-Macahilig at 897-8808 local 352, bkasilag@inquirer.com.ph.

With Water Fantasy Ad, Nestle Begins New Pure Life Push.
While bottled water sales are surging, shoppers don’t make much of a distinction of one brand over another, especially for mass-produced mainstream brands devoid of bubbles or flavors.
Nestle Pure Life has done quite well in this environment; it grew volume 1% last year to keep its spot as the top-selling U.S. plain bottled water brand, according to Beverage Digest.
But with Coke’s Dasani and PepsiCo’s Aquafina lurking, Nestle is not resting easy.
Pure Life starting this week is launching a big new global campaign aimed at making its bottles less of a commodity by giving consumers more reasons to buy the brand than just the water inside.
"Today when consumers are buying Nestle Pure Life, and for that matter a lot of the other brands, it’s quite frankly a transaction.
You walk into the grocery store [and] you’ve got a universe of brands in your mind that you feel are all relatively all of equal quality," said Andrius Dapkus, VP-general manager of Pure Life at Nestle Waters North America.
"You see it on display, you put it in your cart and you move on and you’re gone."
The goal of the rebranding is "to make the choice of Nestle Pure Life a conscious choice for our consumers, a purposeful choice.
And we are going to do that by connecting the actions that we take as a brand to that choice," he said.