Airway Heights water contamination spurs talks for West Plains water deals.
A drinking water scare that forced Airway Heights residents to turn away from the tap this spring has prompted renewed talks about Spokane providing more water on the West Plains.
“The thing is, we don’t have a lot of redundancy in our system right now.” The emergency in Airway Heights has prompted Medical Lake to once again broach the subject of a water agreement with Spokane, which will have to weigh the option of supplying neighboring cities in need with that of supporting economic growth near Spokane International Airport and the city’s own water needs.
Spokane’s water is being sold to Airway Heights under the terms of a 1984 agreement between the two cities.
Airway Heights can receive about 2,000 gallons of water per minute from Spokane through existing lines, which is the maximum amount they can receive without building new transmission or storage options.
They’ve made that clear.” An existing hydrant, served by Spokane city water mains, is about 500 feet from an existing Medical Lake pump station, Ross said.
The current contract with Airway Heights has no mandatory review of the agreement.
Airway Heights is paying $1.17 for every 748 gallons of water it pumps into its system from Spokane.
Anderson said discussions are ongoing between Airway Heights and the Air Force about compensation for that water, and include talks about a permanent fix.
Options include tapping into the base’s water lines, an option the Air Force seems wary of, Anderson said.

The humanitarian official at the Darfur Refugees and IDPs Association Salih Idris told Sudan Tribune on Thursday that “malnutrition cases among children and the elderly are growing continuously.” Cholera update: Displaced people in Darfur especially vulnerable | Radio Dabanga | July 13, 2017 | DARFUR / SOUTH KORDOFAN / EL GENEINA / TOKAR | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/cholera-update-displaced-people-in-darfur-especially-vulnerable On Monday six people died at Kabkabiya hospital in North Darfur of cholera, while on Tuesday the isolation centre reported 18 new cases of the disease, bringing the total number of hospitalised cases to 28.
On Tuesday the number of hospitalised cases of cholera at the medical isolation centre of camp Zamzam in North Darfur amounted to eight.
Woman dies giving birth, care lacking in Jebel Marra | Radio Dabanga | July 14, 2017 | DERIBAT | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/woman-dies-giving-birth-care-lacking-in-jebel-marra A women died in labour in a village near Deribat in East Jebel Marra on Wednesday.
Medical sources reported that health services are “entirely absent” in large parts of East Jebel Marra, while the government of South Darfur continues to deny medics access to the area.
Darfur’s East Jebel Marra devoid of health services, 30 die of cholera | Radio Dabanga | July 10, 2017 | DARFUR / NORTH KORDOFAN / EASTERN SUDAN | https://www.dabangasudan.org/en/all-news/article/darfur-s-east-jebel-marra-devoid-of-health-services-30-die-of-cholera Medical sources in South Darfur reported that more than 30 people died of cholera and at least 50 others have been infected in East Jebel Marra locality during the first week of July.
They called on the federal health authorities, the international community, especially the World Health Organisation, to act to allow health actors access to the locality to save the lives of people.
Darfur, Kordofan In North Darfur, eight people died of cholera in the Kabkabiya camps for the displaced over the weekend.
He said that there are 16 patients currently being treated in Kabkabiya Hospital.
“The total number of hospitalised cholera cases amounted to seventeen people, among them patients who are in a life-threatening situation.” East Darfur One person died of cholera and four others were infected at Khazan Jadeed area in Shearia, East Darfur, on Wednesday.
He said that so far there had been 102 cases of cholera.

Louisiana homeowners have billions of dollars on the line — $13.2 billion to be exact — if climate change continues to push sea levels up, according to real estate economists.
"But there is, of course, a more literal way a home can be underwater: Rising sea levels, and the flooding likely to come with them, could inundate millions of U.S. homes worth hundreds of billions of dollars."
Zillow looked at what areas would be swallowed up if ocean levels rise by 6 feet, reasoning that such a shift could occur by 2100 "if climate change continues unchecked."
About 80,000 Louisiana homes would sink below water — 6 percent of all the housing stock in the Pelican State, Zillow predicted.
NOAA maps show much of the coastal parishes falling into the Gulf if sea levels rise by 6 feet.
Dalbom pointed out the national scope of the issue.
"Loss of wetlands … jeopardizes the fisheries," Colten said.
… We’re just focusing on more pressing concerns right now," Maulden said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has said it won’t update flood maps to account for last summer’s flood because the event was so rare.
"In a sense, today’s flood will become tomorrow’s high tide, as sea level rise will cause flooding to occur more frequently and last for longer durations of time," the agency’s scientists wrote on NOAA’s sea level rise website.

Drinking water : 2.1 billion people are deprived of.
etrenard/Flickr Published the 15.07.2017 to 11: 05
Keywords : hygièneOMSunicefrapport Nothing has made more progress in medicine and lower the human mortality that hygiene measures.
This is why the united nations has set a goal of universal coverage of water needs.
Access to clean water, soap and sanitary safe is essential, but far from obvious, according to a report by the world health Organization (WHO), prepared with Unicef.
According to their estimates, 2.1 billion people would still lack access to safe drinking water in their homes, which represents 30 % of the world population.
A privilege “Having access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene at home should not be a privilege exclusively reserved for the rich living in urban areas, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-general.
These services are fundamental for human health and it is the responsibility of all countries to ensure that everyone can access.
“ But the road still seems long to address this inequality.
Because among those who do not have running water at home, 844 million would have not even a basic service of drinking water supply, 263 million living more than 30 minutes for the first water point, and 159 million continue to drink surface water from rivers or lakes.

About 180,000 gallons of sewage spilled into Kings Branch in south Charlotte on Friday – prompting Catawba Riverkeeper Sam Perkins to urge the public to avoid a popular stretch of the river downstream this weekend.
Kings Branch is a tributary to Sugar Creek in the Catawba River watershed.
Sugar Creek flows into the main stem of the Ctaawba River The sewage spilled from a break in a 21-inch sewer main pipe in the 700 block of Farmhurst Drive, according to the utility.
Farmhurst Drive connects with Nations Ford Road, Charlotte Water reported.
Perkins said the spill created “serious public health concerns” about recreation this weekend downstream of where Sugar Creek meets the Catawba River.
“The Lake Wylie dam and Riverwalk (Rock Hill) access points are upstream and unaffected, but downstream are the Catawba Indian, Landsford Canal and Highway 9 access points,” he said.
“This is a popular stretch, especially on a hot summer weekend.” Perkins, who inspected the scene, said as of nearly 7 p.m. immediately downstream, Kings Branch had not flushed out and was still flowing full of sewage.
The department also is notifying downstream drinking water systems with intakes on the river, most immediately Lancaster and Chester counties in South Carolina and Union County in North Carolina, he said.
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Govt fails to complete 1600 water supply schemes.
Only 35% JK people get tap water from treated sources NL Correspondent SRINAGAR: The government has failed to complete around 1600 water supply schemes despite only 35 percent people in Jammu and Kashmir receiving tap water from treated sources.
As per official figures, only 35 percent people in Jammu and Kashmir get tap water from treated sources.
It says J&K is far behind than neigbouring states where people have more access to treated water than this state.
While the non-completion of over 1600 water supply schemes is “forcing” people to fetch water from contaminated sources for drinking purposes in the state.
However, only 232 have been completed so far.
Similarly, 294 schemes were sanctioned for Jammu district, 168 for Rajouri, Poonch 89, Kishtwar 99, Kathua and Samba 72 each.
While for Leh and Kargil distrcts of Ladakh region, 149 schemes were allotted.
Minister for PHE, Sham Lal Choudhary, said, “112 schemes have been completed in Jammu region, 88 in Kashmir and 32 in Ladakh province so far for which the centre has released Rs 227 crore.” For completion of rest of the schemes, the Minister said the state government has sought ‘one time’ funding from the centre.
He said no new schemes are being started until the completion of the previous schemes.

Miracle, age 9, lives in Gishiri, has a daily routine of fetching from a nearby pond.
Like Miracle, Deborah, 10, her friend also tells me that their drinking water in that community comes from wells, hand-pumped water boreholes or even the small stream where they were bathing.
Miracle is the third child in a family of five.
Deborah also depends on the stream for her water needs – the poverty stricken slum located amidst opulence is a reminder of what life looks like for residents of these communities who work in neighborhoods with trimmed lawn, air-conditioned offices but can only afford Gishiri.
Because of its location within the heart of Abuja, one bedroom apartment in Gishiri costs between $1,500 per annum to $1,800 – the location of the community estimated to host about 500,000 residents is regarded as Abuja most sought after location for civil servants and low income earners.
Leading cause of child death is diarrhoea, a majority of which is water-related, and according to the World Health Organisation, diarrhoea disease is the second leading cause of death in children, and is responsible for killing around 525 000 children every year.
A recent report by Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Healthy estimated that 63 million Nigerians lack access to potable water – undeniably residents of Gishiri and importantly, Miracle and her friend Deborah IF captured by that report fall under the number of the vulnerable in the Nigerian society that are likely to die as a result of preventable water-borne diseases.
Abuja’s development has remained non-inclusive for even those within its reach – Abuja is named among the 20 most rapidly expanding cities (in terms of population) with at least five million residents, according to the United Nations 2010-2020 rates (data supplied by demographia.com).
Amidst that growth is the absolute disregard for its rural dwellers “we don’t think we are in Abuja – we watch the big men rise along their skyscrapers” – Godiya Shem, 33, a primary school teacher in Gishiri.
The 2013 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey report revealed that 97,000 children die yearly from diseases due to unsafe water and poor sanitation.

No safe drinking water for billions: Report.
Geneva: A new report by WHO and UNICEF has revealed that nearly 2.1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water at home and nearly 4.5 billion people lack good sanitation.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said that "Safe water, sanitation and hygiene at home should not be a privilege of only those who are rich or live in urban centres.
Since the year 2000, even though billions have gained access to basic drinking water and sanitation, these services do not necessarily provide safe water and sanitation.
Therefore, many people, especially young children, are at risk for diseases such as diarrhoea.
Nearly 3,61,000 children under the age of 5 die every year due to diseases transmitted by poor sanitation.
"Safe water, effective sanitation and hygiene are critical to the health of every child and every community – and thus are essential to building stronger, healthier, and more equitable societies," said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake.
"As we improve these services in the most disadvantaged communities and for the most disadvantaged children today, we give them a fairer chance at a better tomorrow."
Better hygiene and clean water are the most effective ways to prevent the spread of diseases like such as cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A, and typhoid.
Sanitation and safe water are also needed to reduce maternal mortality and to end preventable deaths of newborns and children.

Giving them the joy of clean water.
IT WAS the horrific sight of red welts and open sores that moved Amore-Pacific Malaysia Laneige brand general manager Foong Winnie and Global Peace Foundation chief executive officer Dr Teh Su Thye to do something for the children of Kampung Binjai, an orang asli village in Pahang.
Those with ready access to treated pipe water may take their daily supply of fresh clean water for granted at the mere turn of a tap.
Dr Teh (left) with Foong are joining forces to provide rural villages with portable water filter systems that can hold up to 50 litres of water.— RICKY LAI/ The Star But in most rural villages, clean water is a luxury.
Most times, villagers have to either dig their own wells or hike for long distances to collect water from hilltops.
Even then, the source of this supply is easily contaminated through deforestation, agricultural activity or natural disasters such as landslides and flash floods.
The bottomline is without access to clean water, livelihoods and health suffer.
One concern is the long-term effect of drinking contaminated water containing traces of pesticides and fertilisers which have seeped in the ground and is later washed into the streams.
Over time, these chemicals can damage internal organs like the liver, lower immune systems and cause cancer.
“Each filter can contain up to 50 litres of water and a single unit can be shared among a cluster of three to four homes,” said Foong.

71m still go without safe water in BD, says WHO-UNICEF report.
Bangladesh still needs to do a lot more in the areas of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) by 2030 to achieve the related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as still 56 per cent of the population or 71 million are deprived of safely-managed water, a joint report of WHO and UNICEF has said.
The WASH hazards include arsenic and bacteriological contamination, which was not measured under the MDGs, the report said.
The report titled ‘The Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: 2017 Update and Sustainable Development Goal Baselines’ has also said although Bangladesh has made considerable gains over the past 17 years in achieving water and sanitation goals, it has to ensure safely-managed water and sanitation.
The report, released jointly by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UNICEF on Friday, is the first global estimates for water, sanitation and hygiene under the SDGs.
The report showed that 97 per cent people in Bangladesh have access to basic water supply, according to the MDG indicator for water.
"The SDG measure for sanitation poses new challenges as well and the indicator is referred to as ‘safely managed sanitation’.
In rural areas only 32 per cent people have safely-managed sanitation, setting a big challenge for the country to meet the SDG target of 100 per cent by 2030, the report said.
It is benchmarked as 40 per cent for Bangladesh, the report said.
For achieving the SDGs, the government has to ensure quality and maintenance.