Defence Minister Ron Mark says the problems at the Canterbury base are a demonstration of the wider infrastructure problems dogging the NZ Defence Force’s property and facilities around the country – some of which date back to World War I.
In an October 3 email sent around the Burnham base and viewed by Newsroom, camp commandant Major Grant Payton said wastewater being released onto the paddocks after treatment was potentially affecting the water quality for private bores downstream.
Camp personnel had been asked to keep minimising their water use “while we investigate longer-term solutions to dispose of the camp’s wastewater”.
Residents using bore water at three properties downstream of the Burnham camp had been asked by the Selwyn District Council to boil their drinking water, while they also had access to the council’s water supply.
However, camp personnel had been asked to keep minimising their water use “while we investigate longer-term solutions to dispose of the camp’s wastewater”.
“What most people don’t seem to realise is every base is a small town, every base commander is effectively a mayor… “We’ve got exactly the same infrastructure issues inside the Defence Force as every local government has – the problem is we’ve got to government and get the money, we can’t tax people.” Successive governments had underfunded the defence estate, despite some of the buildings being in the same condition as when he was a soldier in the 1970s.
We, just like local government, just like central government, have to ramp up our capability and that requires money.” Mark acknowledged it was challenging to make the case for extra defence funding, given shortfalls in other areas, but said he was already making the case ahead of the process for next year’s Budget.
“As a country we sort of prioritise our [defence] spending…and that’s got to be carefully managed between updating and getting new equipment, investment into personnel, and of course into property.” The last government had started work on a “massive programme” to identify and prioritise new investment into the defence estate through its Defence White Paper, he said.
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Now, three-quarters of Gaza’s two million people are refugees.
And the desalinated drinking water used by two-thirds of Gazans, according to tests by the Palestinian Water Authority, is prone to faecal contamination, causing more disease and making it a severe risk for Gaza’s children.
Yet arguing for Palestinian water rights is akin to debating the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
For years Bashir continued to submit "a long list" of material for Israeli approval, including pipes, pumps, and spare parts for the desalination plant.
A consensus is now emerging between the Palestinian Authority, the UN, international donors, and even, it appears, the Israeli army, to establish a network of large desalination and sewage plants.
"Of course Gaza needs this project," says Rebhi al Sheikh, former deputy minister for the Ramallah-based Palestinian Water Authority.
The PA’s concerns about Gaza’s water crisis are joined by humanitarian agencies, foreign governments, and even, it appears, an emergency response committee of the Israeli army.
Some officials question whether Israel would decide to bomb the desalination plants in the next Gaza war, just as it bombed Gaza’s power plant and other critical infrastructure in previous wars.
Other risks abound, both with Gaza’s water and its sewage, which flows into the sea at a rate of 110 million litres a day.
These risks flow well beyond Gaza’s borders, flowing north in the currents.

KARACHI: The Supreme Court-mandated Commission on Water and Sanitation summoned on Monday the owner of a private school built near the sewerage plant on November 5.
The commission directed the other party to provide a copy of the complaint.
The commission had earlier issued notices to the school, Sindh Industrial Trading Estate (SITE) Association, and others in previous hearings of the case.
The school was built in place of the company.
However, he mentioned that opening a school in an industrial area is against the law.
The sewerage waste of S3 plant lies at the posterior end of the school.
The report regarding the provision of clean drinking water in all schools of Sindh was also submitted and made part of the record.
The report further stated that a survey of 5,929 government schools of Sindh has been completed, out of which 4,466 schools had access to clean drinking water.
The remaining schools will be provided with clean water by December 2018.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 30th, 2018.

Access to clean drinking water has been identified as critical need by Maruti Suzuki in its adopted villages.
As part of this, Maruti Suzuki today, inaugurated its 12th Water ATM facility, in Haryana.
Members of the Sarhaul community led by Sh.
Supported by Maruti Suzuki and set up by Waterlife India, the Water ATM facility is built on self-sustaining model.
The MCG will provide water and electricity to run the Water ATM.
Waterlife India will appoint a member from the local community to manage operations and maintain the plant for ten years.
Inaugurating the Water ATM in Haryana, Mr. A K Tomer, Executive Director, Corporate Planning, Maruti Suzuki India said, "Sarhaul is a hub for people living and working in the nearby industrial area.
Community Development is one of the three important pillars of Maruti Suzuki’s Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives – the other two being in the areas of road safety and skill development.
Ensuring direct supervision and control, Maruti Suzuki’s interventions under community development, are results-oriented and concentrated in the areas of providing clean water, better sanitation facilities, improved educational infrastructure and development of common community assets.
The stock hit an intraday high of Rs.

Our organization, Food & Water Watch, surveyed the two largest public water systems in each state to determine how many of their residential customers had lost their water for failing to pay their bill.
The results shocked us.
The water systems that responded shut off an average of 5 percent of their residential customers, totaling more than a half-million households and affecting an estimated 1.4 million people.
Making the problem worse for people already behind on their bills, most utilities charge reconnection fees to turn the water back on, in addition to a down payment on the past-due amount.
A typical water bill in those cities exceeds $1,000 a year, putting this critical service beyond the budgets of low-income households.
For the poorest fifth of households in those cities, typical water bills amounted to more than 9 percent of their income.
Without any meaningful changes on the federal level, for instance, cities like New Orleans and Jacksonville, Fla., will need to continue to raise rates that are already unaffordable for low-income households to maintain and upgrade their water and sewer systems.
A recent study by a researcher at Michigan State University found that if water rates continue to rise as projected, about 36 percent of American households will be unable to pay their water bills by 2022.
States should require public and private utilities to track water shut-offs for nonpayment and reconnections and make that information available publicly on their websites.
Federal policies that adequately fund public water are critical in addressing the interrelated infrastructure and water affordability crises.

GRAND HAVEN, Mich. — The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality notified an elementary school in West Michigan of high levels of PFAS in the water.
Robinson Elementary School in Grand Haven was notified on Monday, Oct. 29, that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) levels were above levels deemed safe by the Environmental Protection Agency.
School leaders restricted access to drinking water in the building and bottled water was provided to the school b the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Emergency Management Division and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
The total PFAS levels in the school were measured at 144 parts per trillion.
The EPA acceptable level is 70 parts per trillion.
A second sample of water at the school was taken by the DEQ and they expect the results from that test on Wednesday, Oct. 31.
All other schools in the Grand Haven Area Public School District were tested and returned results below the EPA acceptable level.
More information about PFAS is available on the Michigan PAS Action Response Team website.

The Ottawa County Department of Public Health is working with the Michigan Department of Health & Human Services, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and Grand Haven Public Schools after being notified on Monday, Oct. 29, of elevated levels of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) at Grand Haven’s Robinson Elementary School.
Initial test results for Robinson Elementary received by the DEQ on Monday, Oct. 29, found combined perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) levels of 110 parts per trillion, which is above the EPA health advisory level of 70 parts per trillion.
School leaders have immediately restricted access to drinking water in the building, and bottled water is being provided to the school through the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Emergency Management Division and MDHHS.
The DEQ has taken a second sample of the school’s water and expects the results Oct. 31.
No other schools in Grand Haven are at risk from elevated PFAS.
All the other schools in the district are served by the Northwest Ottawa Water System, which has been tested for PFAS and the results were below health advisory levels.
The district is working closely with every agency involved to keep families informed and up-to-date on any developments in this situation.
Drinking is the primary way PFAS can get into the body.
Washing hands and other skin contact is not considered a health concern as PFAS does not move easily through skin.
Once the school’s water test results come back, the DEQ will determine the next steps for households and businesses in the area served by groundwater.

The Senegalese Ministry of Hydraulics and Sanitation has decided to award water management in urban and peri-urban areas to the French group, Suez.
Three companies were in the race to obtain the concession, including the outgoing Senegalese water company, a subsidiary of Eranove, a Franco-African group and Veolia.
The Senegalese Ministry of Hydraulics and Sanitation has finally made a decision on whom to award the contract for the public water service.
For several months now, water sector actors and Senegalese people have been suspended from the decision, which sounds like a defeat for the Senegalese water company (SDE).
The company, a subsidiary of the Franco-African group Eranove, dreamed of a renewal, since it has been managing drinking water in this West African country for more than 22 years.
Abdoul Baal, the director of SDE, said he was “confident” in the face of the Suez group and Veolia, another French company competing for the contract worth nearly 80 billion CFA francs, or 120 million euros.
Things didn’t go as planned.
However, SDE had the most attractive offer, at least in terms of the price per cubic metre of water.
The choice in favour of Suez is controversial Why Suez?
To this question, relayed by the local press, the Director of General Administration and Equipment of the Ministry Mamadou Dioukhané replied: “There had to be consistency between the projected operating account, the proposed technology and the company’s operations.

New Delhi, India, has begun a pilot program to make clean drinking water accessible and affordable using water ATMS.
The ATMS, installed by the Piramal Foundation, provide reverse osmosis (RO) filtered water through a smart card system at 30 paise per liter.
Currently, the Delhi Jal Board has commissioned 50 water ATMs throughout New Delhi.
Throughout India, the Piramal Foundation has installed more than 400 of the solar-powered cloud-connected water ATMS.
The dispensers are called Sarvajal, which means “water for all” in Sanskrit, Citizen Matters reports.
Regarding sustainability, the machines are claimed to last more than 10 years and waste only 10 to 12% of water in the filtration process.
The wasted water then is sent to flush nearby toilets.
Moving forward, the Delhi Jal Board plans to install 120 more drinking water ATMS.
The foundation plans to launch “Water on Wheels,” using mobile systems to provide clean drinking water to areas in need.
In India, where 63 million of the country’s 833 million rural population does not have access to clean drinking water, water ATMs may be a solution to provide clean drinking water for populations in need.

From cutting down on electricity use to saving up nearly Rs 50 lakh from its gram panchayat fund for a purifying plant, how a Bhiwandi village, fought back to receive clean, drinkable water Until recently, the 40,000-odd residents of Shelar, a village in Bhiwandi, were a harried lot.
Leaks in their pipeline network meant that villagers received contaminated water, and that too, with poor force.
If that wasn’t bad enough, cases of residents suffering from water-borne diseases had become commonplace.
After decades of neglect at the hands of the authorities, the Shelar Gram Panchayat and villagers finally decided to take matters in their own hands, a few years ago.
The Shelar Gram Panchayat invested over two years into making the dream project of setting up the water purifying plant, a reality A fight for clean water Situated 40 km from Mumbai, Shelar has been facing the brunt of polluted and poor water supply for several years now.
Sandeep Patil, 27, the present sarpanch, said that around three years ago, the gram panchayat tried to get a separate water pipeline from the corporation.
"We started getting quotations from everyone in Mumbai, but all of them had given us a budget of more than Rs 3 crore," said Patil.
As a starting point, the gram panchayat decided to save the Rs 27 lakh that it received annually from the Central government, for at least two years.
We also got the villagers to assist them, in order to reduce the labour cost," said Bhoir, adding that the company finally agreed to install the plant with a budget of Rs 57 lakh.
Today, the plant purifies three lakh litres of water per hour.