One in ten persons lack access to safe drinking water, UNICEF

by Frank Muchugu, originally posted on May 25, 2016

 

One in ten persons lack access to safe drinking water globally with nearly half of them in Sub-Saharan Africa, a report by UNICEF has said.
In Kenya, water-related diseases, such as cholera and typhoid have affected communities in Nairobi, Eastern and Western regions since 2015.
Children are particularly affected by this scourge.
Diarrhoea disease, usually caused by poor water quality, insufficient hygiene, or inadequate sanitation, is the third leading cause of death among children under five.
It is estimated that almost 340,000 children globally die annually from these diseases, 3,100 of whom are Kenyans.
“In Kenya, 37% of people do not have access to safe drinking water and this impacts not only their health but also their education and economic opportunities – thus perpetuating a seemingly inescapable cycle of poverty. P&G has invested over a half a billion shillings (over Ksh. 500 million) to provide clean water in health clinics, schools, emergency relief efforts,” explains Vivek Sunder, Managing Director of P&G Kenya.
Speaking during an event in Machakos county where Procter and Gamble provided 10 billion liters of clean drinking water through their P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program,
Sunder said it is a constitutional right for every kid to have access to safe drinking water.
Machakos first lady Lillian Ng’an’ga who attended the event reiterated her commitment to uplifting the communities of Machakos through providing clean water.
Machakos County is one of the regions that P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Program has focused on, partnering with ChildFund to ensure access to clean drinking water, along with improved sanitation and hygiene promotion activities in areas where the available water is not protected and easily contaminated.
“I am proud that corporates such as P&G have come to support our blueprint of providing water to every Machakos homestead by the year 2017. It is through such simple innovative yet effective ways of water purification that we can improve the lives of Machakos’ residents,” said the first lady for Machakos County.
Through the partnership, 162 trained Community Health Volunteers, who are members of the Machakos communities in Wamunyu, Mwala, Migwani and Ngwatanio are educating the residents on benefits of clean water. These volunteers visit primary and secondary schools, health facilities, as well as households in order to educate community members on how to use the Purifier of Water sachets. Additionally, regular training is given on proper water storage and good hygiene to ensure long-term behavioural change.
United Nation’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, goal number #6 aims to ensure availability of safe water and proper sanitation for all. P&G Children’s Safe Drinking Water Programme is committed to continuing its work in Kenya and the rest of the world, in order to ensure that even more communities have their lives enhanced by this basic human right,” added Sunder.

Why is water management not prioritised for smart cities?

by Ayesha Banerjee, originally posted on January 16, 2017

 

Water management should be at the heart of all smart city planning. While there is a lot of emphasis on transportation and infrastructure development, water management remains limited to treatment of waste water, quality monitoring, and smart metering in the government’s smart cities strategy.

No clear plans have emerged on how smart cities are to be linked with their water catchments to ensure sustainable provision of water. More clarity is also needed on wastewater treatment, both domestic and industrial.

Ganesh Pangare, regional director, Asia-Pacific, International Water Association, a London-headquartered non-profit organisation, says lakes, ponds and wetlands in urban areas are being reclaimed for building and development instead of being recognised as the critical natural infrastructure that cities depend upon. “Better management of wastewater, so that it isn’t discharged untreated into nature and ends up polluting water sources, would mean that we could reuse the treated water for industry, agriculture and even domestic use,” he says

Cues should be taken from countries like Singapore which reuse nearly all of their wastewater from domestic sewage to industrial waste. The treatment of wastewater is of such high quality that some of Singapore’s drinking water comes from completely treated wastewater.

Copenhagen too has valuable lessons in its integration of wastewater treatment, including natural methods like the use of wetlands and leading-edge technology, to find solutions to its problems. Copenhagen does not release a drop of untreated wastewater into the sea.

Cities need to connect better to water basins that supply their water, and work with stakeholders throughout the basin to ensure better water security. And it is not easy. “This requires a shift in mindset and the way we approach urban planning and management. We need to think and act cross-sectorally and break down the silos between water, energy, agriculture and urban planning,” says Pangare.

Today many water sources are polluted and others are under serious strain. Inefficiencies and water losses in urban water utility systems mean no Indian city yet supplies water 24/7 to its citizens.

An immediate priority of the government should be to ensure better management of water resources, both in the basin that supplies water to urban areas, and in urban areas. Monitoring ground water extraction is of utmost importance. Drought conditions in many parts of Indian have further strained ground water supplies.

India does have the capability to address these challenges through its Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and the Smart Cities Mission. What is important, and sometimes lacking, he feels, is coordination between various departments and ministries – for instance, urban development and water resources.

Responsibilities also have to be fixed. Local authorities have the primary responsibility to deal with wastewater management. The wastewater in Indian cities dumped into the rivers, lakes or ocean without any treatment contaminates the available water resources for both human use and ecosystems.

Treating wastewater to a high standard would provide an additional and vital source of a city’s water supply, and this reuse of water is important to reducing use of traditional sources and for replenishing those sources in Indian cities.

Wastewater also contains other valuable resources. “We can recycle nutrients, metals, plastics and other useful materials from wastewater. Perhaps most relevant, water utilities can use wastewater to produce energy. This is something that it happening around the world, and in India it could provide an important source of energy for our growing cities,” he says.

Investments also need to be made in new technologies to upgrade existing resources. Financing is a major issue. Water tariffs have not changed in India for years, leaving local authorities without the necessary funds to invest in upgrading old and inadequate infrastructure. To increase coverage of water supply as towns and cities grow bigger requires smart solutions to overcome these challenges, Pangare adds.

Water is the latest battleground in Syria

by Eliza Mackintosh, originally posted on January 3, 2017

 

(CNN)Nour, a housewife in Damascus, says the latest joke in the Syrian capital is also a prayer of sorts: “May the gold you hold become water.”

It is a half-hearted attempt to make light of a water crisis that is impacting millions in Damascus, a city that has been relatively sheltered from the violence raging elsewhere in the country.

Nour said that her family just got water on Tuesday morning, after four days without access. Her family quickly lined up to use the shower and she switched on the washing machine. Now, when she hears the sound of the water motor running, she says it is “like a wedding.”

“When the water comes, it’s the same joy as a mom having a boy after 10 daughters,” Nour said. She did not feel comfortable sharing her last name with CNN.

Some four million people in Damascus have suffered from acute water shortages for more than a week after springs outside the Syrian capital were targeted, the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement on December 29.

Water from the Wadi Barada and Ain al-Fija springs, which serve 70 percent of the population in and around Damascus, was cut after infrastructure was damaged in fierce clashes. OCHA described the damages as “deliberate,” without saying who was responsible.

Syrian government and opposition trade blame

 

The Syrian government and rebel forces are trading blame for the water shortages.
Rebels claim the government destroyed the water pumping station in the Wadi Barada valley, one of the last remaining rebel-held pockets of Damascus.
The Syrian army and its allies are pushing to recapture Wadi Barada in spite of a nationwide ceasefire. The regime claims it is going after rebel groups who were excluded from the truce, like former al Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham, which it says is operating in the area (although local groups deny this).
The Syrian regime has accused rebels of contaminating the springs with diesel, forcing the Damascus water authority to cut the supplies.
CNN could not independently verify these claims.
A group of pro-opposition groups and civil society organizations in Wadi Barada, including the Local Council and the Syrian Civil Defense, released a statement on Monday calling for the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations to assess damages at the Ain al-Fija spring, situated northwest of the capital in a mountainous area near the border with Lebanon.
“(We express) our willingness and readiness to accompany and assist teams heading to al-Fija spring to accelerate resupplying fresh water to our people in Damascus city,” the statement read. “This facilitation needs to be accompanied with activating the ceasefire in Wadi Barada region and halting the aggression conducted by the Syrian government forces backed by Hezbollah militias.”
The Syrian government denies any involvement in the destruction of the springs. State-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported on December 27 that the springs in Wadi Barada “came out of service as a result of terrorist acts.”

Fears over water contamination

In recent days, the Syrian government initiated a program of rationing and distribution to address the scarcity of water, as seen in footage released by SANA on December 30. But OCHA says the efforts aren’t enough to meet the massive need.
“[People] are having to purchase water from private vendors, where prices and water quality are unregulated,” OCHA said in a statement. “The UN is concerned about the lack of water which could lead to waterborne diseases, particularly among children, as well as the financial strain this is having on families.”
Ghassan, a medic in Damascus city center who did not feel comfortable sharing his last name with CNN, said many people are worried that the drinking water being distributed might be contaminated. He added that residents are more concerned with finding potable water than going to the doctor.
Thomas Webber, an American resident of Damascus, told CNN that he has not had fresh water since December 28. Webber, who lives in the Al Rhoumani district, said that his two full tanks ran dry after just two days. Since then, he and his wife have been relying on a stock of bottled water for cooking and drinking. Water they fill up at a government-installed pipe near their home is used for washing and flushing the toilet.
Webber’s district and the neighboring Malki district have not yet been slated to receive any deliveries, according to a government website announcing scheduled water truck stops.
“Two days ago they [the government] shared online which districts would get water, but people in districts on the list say there was no water deliveries,” Webber told CNN in a phone interview.
TV advertisements are also being used to notify residents of scheduled deliveries. Webber’s mother-in-law, who lives in a district near Shalan, was one of the lucky ones. She recently received a delivery from a government water truck, which filled up tanks in her home.

As water runs low, locals get creative

Webber said nearby shops are running out of bottled water and that some locals are getting water from a government-installed plastic pipe in Jawez park.
“For some reason parks are still getting water. On the 29th I found hoses going from fountains, draining fountains in the parks,” Webber said. He believes that the parks are getting water from artesian wells.
He has concerns about the quality of water coming from the Jawez pipe. Ever since his wife fell ill, they have only been using it for sanitation purposes.
Webber says people are getting creative in the crisis. His local car-washer has now become the neighborhood’s go-to person for water delivery.
”He started out carrying 20 liter jerry cans to and from the pipe for us and other people. Then I saw he got a pushcart. Now he has borrowed a small 4×4 jeep from a friend and he’s using that. He’s making more money delivering water than he ever was washing cars.”
Webber says he’s trying to stay optimistic, despite the ongoing water crisis: ”The glass is still half-full, but it’s emptying fast.”

Californians’ water use up despite drought

originally posted on January 4, 2017

 

SACRAMENTO – The latest figures show Californians’ water use is still on the rise since the state lifted mandatory conservation for the drought.

California’s Water Resources Control Board released figures Wednesday showing urban Californians used an average of 77 gallons a day in November. That’s one gallon a day more than in November of last year, when urban Californians were under a mandatory conservation order because of the drought.

Southern and central California remain in a six-year drought despite heavy rains this winter. State water officials say they will discuss Jan. 18 whether the state needs to return to mandatory conservation measures as Californians’ water use edges back up.

What to Know About Your Drinking Water

originally posted on January 5, 2017

 

(StatePoint) Recently there has been growing concern about the quality of the water we drink, outside and inside our own homes. Homeowners across the country realize that potential contaminants can compromise the quality of water that comes out of the tap at home, work or other community sources.

At a time when safe tap water is not necessarily a given, consider investing in an easy-to-use and maintain water filtration system that can be used at-home or on-the-go to improve water quality.

For example, LifeStraw, first introduced for people in developing countries without access to safe water and for victims following natural disasters, now makes a range of water filters and purifiers designed for uses like emergency preparedness, outdoor recreation, travel and everyday hydration.

The refillable LifeStraw Go water bottle features a built-in filter, and removes 99.9999 percent of waterborne bacteria (including E. coli and salmonella) and 99.9 percent of waterborne chlorine, organic chemical matter, bad taste, and muddiness.

As an added bonus for the charitably-minded, consider that improving your own water quality can have a global impact, too. One in 10 people globally lack access to safe water, according to the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Through the “Follow the Liters” humanitarian program, for each LifeStraw purchased, one school child in a developing community in Africa receives safe drinking water for an entire school year. For more information, visit lifestraw.com

To learn more about drinking water quality, visit the US Environmental Protection Agency at epa.gov.

A New Casualty of Syria’s War: Drinking Water in Damascus

by Ben Hubbard, originally posted on January 4, 2017

 

BEIRUT, Lebanon — For millions of Damascus residents, long-term concerns about the direction of the war in Syria have been replaced by worries about where to get enough water to do the dishes, wash clothes or take a shower.

For nearly two weeks, the Syrian capital and its vicinity have been afflicted by a water crisis that has left taps dry, caused long lines at wells and forced people to stretch whatever thin resources they can find.

“When the world gets hard for us, we work something out,” said a woman in a video posted on Facebook showing how she used a jury-rigged cola bottle to wash teacups. “When you cut off the water, we dig for water. When you cut off the tap, we make a tap.”

Like most of Syria’s problems, the Damascus water crisis is a symptom of the war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced about half the country’s prewar population of 22 million and left its territory divided into zones controlled by the government, armed rebels and jihadist groups.

While a cease-fire brokered by Russia and Turkey and announced last week has reduced overall violence across the country, it has not stopped the fighting everywhere, nor has it resolved what happens when resources needed by one side are controlled by its enemies, as appears to be the case with Damascus’s water.

Historically, most of the water for the capital, which is controlled by the government of President Bashar al-Assad, has come from the Barada Valley north of the city, which is controlled by rebels who want to oust Mr. Assad.

The crisis began on Dec. 22, when the water stopped flowing. Each side has accused the other of damaging infrastructure near the spring, halting the flow.

Antigovernment activists have posted photos online, purporting to show structures around the spring that they say were damaged by exploding barrels dropped from government helicopters.

The government first accused the rebels of polluting the water, then of damaging the infrastructure.

Jens Laerke, a spokesman for the United Nations humanitarian office in Geneva, said by email Tuesday that the “deliberate targeting of the water infrastructure” had caused the shut-off.

“But we are not in a position to say by whom,” he said. “The area has been the scene of much fighting, so we have not been able to access it.”

Now, 5.5 million people in Damascus and the vicinity lack water, which has raised the risk of waterborne disease, especially among children, he said.

Fighting near the Barada Valley has continued despite the cease-fire.

Antigovernment activists say that government forces, and fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah organization, have continued to attack the area in an apparent attempt to take it over. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks the conflict from Britain through a network of contacts in Syria, said the government launched 15 airstrikes on the area Monday amid clashes between rebels and pro-government forces.

Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, accused the Syrian government and its allies on Wednesday of violating the cease-fire, saying that the new violence could derail peace talks meant to be held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, on Jan. 23. Rebel groups have threatened to boycott the talks if government attacks do not stop.

Few Damascus residents expect much from the talks or have time to think about them. While generally safe from the violence that had reduced other parts of the country to rubble, they were struggling through a cold winter of high prices and scarce commodities before the water crisis, making things worse.

The Syrian government has sought to ease the crisis by trucking water from wells around the city, and the United Nations has rehabilitated 120 wells to cover about one-third of the city’s daily needs, Mr. Laerke, the spokesman, said.

But many residents said they had received nothing. Some were buying water from men with private tankers, while others took advantage of whatever they could get.

A 50-year-old shopkeeper said he had not had a shower in 10 days but that he and his sons went to the mosque every day to wash their hands, feet and faces, an option not available to the women of the house.

At home, he said, they used plastic utensils because they could not wash dishes.

One 60-year-old woman said she had not had running water in her home for 10 days. Her two sons have spent hours each day lining up to fill jugs from the well at their mosque. They use that to drink and to wash dishes, collecting the runoff to flush the toilet.

“My family’s dream is to get a warm shower,” she said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions for communicating with a foreign news outlet without government permission. “It has become our ultimate hope in Damascus to have enough water to take showers and wash clothes in the automatic washing machine.”

She expressed anger that Syria’s state-run news media had said little about the water crisis, instead focusing on the military’s battles with rebels.

“We are fed up with the news of military operations,” she said. “We want news about water and water supply schedules.”

Despite the water crisis, conditions in Damascus are far better than those in Aleppo, the northern city and former commercial epicenter of the country, where Syrian and Russian forces prevailed last month after prolonged bombardments of its eastern side. While the cease-fire appears to be holding there, the formerly rebel-held eastern quarters are abandoned wastelands, United Nations relief officials said.

“Nothing prepared us for what we saw,” Sajjad Malik, the United Nations acting humanitarian coordinator for Syria, told reporters Wednesday in a telephone briefing from Aleppo. “The infrastructure was destroyed in almost every neighborhood.”

Mr. Malik said more than 100 United Nations relief workers from several agencies were helping civil defense teams remove debris and provide emergency food, water, shelter and medical care in the city, where four million people once lived.

He estimated that 1.5 million people remain in Aleppo, mostly on the western side, including roughly 400,000 Syrians displaced from other areas. He also said thousands of displaced residents from the eastern side were starting to return, even if their homes and businesses were badly damaged or destroyed.

“They’re beginning to talk about rebuilding their lives and livelihoods,” Mr. Malik said. But he cautioned that “Aleppo’s reconstruction is going to take a much longer time and way more resources than we have right now.”

Third World America – Clean Drinking Water Is Now A Rare Commodity

originally posted on January 5, 2017

 

With thousands of water systems in the United States testing positive for higher-than-allowable levels of lead and other contaminants, clean water has become a luxury in the United States. Even worse, this story doesn’t appear to be bothering too many people and the corporate media is completely ignoring it. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

Transcription of the above video:

As we discussed a couple weeks ago, Reuters recently reported that there are over 3,000 areas in the United States where the water contamination level, specifically with lead contamination, is actually higher than that of Flint, Michigan. Flint, Michigan obviously has been in the news for over a year with their dangerous high levels of lead, and here we find out a year later there are over 3,000 places in the United States where the water is actually worse. What this means is that today, 2017 in the United States of America, clean, uncontaminated drinking water has become a luxury. Something that not all of us have access to. This has become a third world America. This is not a country that cares about its citizens anymore. This isn’t a country that does whatever it can to ensure that we have the basics of life available to us like water, and food. They don’t care anymore.

The parallels between what’s happening today in the United States versus what’s happening over in third world countries are just unbelievable. Over 3,000 areas with unacceptable, dangerous levels of not just lead, but other contaminants. Asphalt runoff in some areas is contaminating the water and making it dangerous for citizens to drink it if it’s not properly filtered. Fertilizers, pesticides, chemicals from refineries leeching into the drinking water and poisoning American citizens. Again, this isn’t something that happens in affluent neighborhoods. It’s not something that the 1% have to worry about. It’s just something that the rest of us have to deal with.

Point of fact here: Where I’m sitting right now in the city of Pensacola, Florida, for two years, I believe it was 2012 and 2013, this city was actually rated as having the most contaminated drinking water in these United States. Yeah, it’s good that we’re paying attention to what’s happening in Flint, Michigan, because that contamination specifically was caused by Republican incompetence and the result of what happens when you try to run government like a business, like Donald Trump’s about to try to do. But we have to pay attention to all of them. Furthermore, there has to be outrage. We don’t have clean water, as allegedly the most powerful, most affluent country in the world. That’s pathetic. What’s even more pathetic is that the corporate-controlled media is not talking about this. They’re not talking about the fact that Nestle just went into Michigan and took about three billion bottles worth of water out of the state. That was clean water that could have gone to residents in Flint, Michigan, who by the way, still don’t have clean water. They let Nestle come in, these corporations just take all the clean water they want. They did the same thing in California when that state was suffering the worst drought in modern history.

We’re giving everything away to corporations and the top 1%, and we’re literally poisoning the rest of the country just to be able to do that. Where’s the outrage? Because that’s the only thing that’s going to reverse this. That’s the only thing that’s going to stop this. We need people in Washington, DC that understand that Americans are suffering. We need people in Washington, DC that understand that a lot of us don’t have clean water. I mean, that’s something you think about only happening in developing countries that are run by warlords. Here in the United States in 2017, that’s the reality that many of us are faced with every single day.

Georgian Bluffs raising water rates

by Rob Gowan, originally posted on December 21, 2016

 

Georgian Bluffs is proposing a 10 per cent rate increase in 2017 for those on its municipal water systems.

The proposed increases for the East Linton, Shallow Lake, Pottawatomi and Oxenden/Gateway systems would see an average user pay between $62.81 and $189.90 more per year.

Georgian Bluffs Mayor Al Barfoot said the province wants the municipality to have reserves set up.

“The province would like us to have enough in reserve to replace the system, which is a great thing, but we will be a long time getting there,” said Barfoot. “We are trying to be responsive on this and responsible, knowing you can only put it up so much.”

Barfoot said the frozen pipes Owen Sound experienced in 2015 is an example of why having a strong reserve is so important. The situation ended up costing the city more than $2 million.

“If you get a major breakdown or storm or something and there is a lot of damage to your system, the money has to come from somewhere,” said Barfoot. “The sooner we can get some of the pot built up for them all, then the better off for everybody.”

The township is proposing to increase water rates for the 409 users on the East Linton system by 10 per cent in 2017. The average user on the system paid $628.10 per year in 2016, and the rate change would see that increase to $690.91 in 2017. It is significantly below the rate needed to cover the cost needed to both maintain the system and build up the reserve, which is estimated at $1,231.50 per year.

“If you look at it we would be doubling the rates and council certainly has no appetite to do that,” said Barfoot. “We will get there through time and certainly we are hoping for efficiencies through the operator and that type of thing.”

For the 187 users on the Shallow Lake system, the average cost was $1,490.50 per year. The proposed 10 per cent increase for 2017 would raise the average bill to $1,639.55 per year. The rate needed to cover the township’s costs is $1,978.30.

For the small Pottawatomi system, which includes 25 users, the average cost in 2016 was $1,890.90 per year, and the township is proposing to increase that to $2,080 per year in 2017. The rate needed to cover costs is $3,040.45.

The municipality is currently exploring the option of hooking the Pottawatomi system up to another in the municipality, but that system is a significant distance away.

“We will have to go through an environmental assessment to do that,” said Barfoot. “We have started that process but it will be a lot of work in the future with that one. That is our ultimate goal though.”

On the Oxenden/Gateway system, there are 202 users who paid and average of $903.10 per year in 2016. The proposed rate for 2017 is $996 per year, while the rate needed to cover costs has been calculated at $1,124.20 per year.

Barfoot said the systems do need to be self-sustaining and he believes the rates are competitive with other area municipalities on the majority of their systems.

“We all realize water is an expensive commodity,” said Barfoot. “Especially on the East Linton system, it is one that is fairly inexpensive compared to some of the others, and to ensure you have safe, potable water when turning on the tap.”

The municipality held an open house Wednesday to provide residents with information about next year’s proposed increases. Barfoot said due to the weather, many residents couldn’t make i. He is encouraging residents to contact the municipality at 519-376-2729 if they have questions about their system or the proposed increase.

The rates bylaw is expected to come back to council for approval in January.

Reducing Singapore’s water dependence on Malaysia

Keppel Infrastructure to build first desalination plant that can treat sea and fresh water

originally posted on December 23, 2016

 

Water conservation was a tough sell on a day like yesterday, when heavy rain pounded the island.

But the burst of rainfall should not mask the real and deep water security issues facing Singapore, with one of its four taps – water from Johor’s Linggiu dam, which channels water to treatment plants in the Johor River operated by both the state and Singapore’s PUB – at a low of 26 per cent.

Yesterday, the desalination tap got a boost, with Keppel Infrastructure awarded the latest tender to design, build, own and operate Singapore’s fourth desalination plant – the first with the ability to treat seawater and fresh water.

With its ability to pump another 137,000 cubic metres (about 30 million gallons) of water a day into our supplies, the plant brings Singapore closer to its aim of meeting 85 per cent of its water needs through desalination and Newater by 2060, when the demand for water is expected to double.

It will also help decrease Singapore’s dependence on importing water from Malaysia for its drinking needs.

Expected to be operational in 2020, the new desalination plant will be able to treat sea and fresh water from Marina Reservoir by using reverse osmosis and other advanced membrane technology.

 

PREFERRED BIDDER

Keppel Infrastructure was chosen as the preferred bidder for a concession period of 25 years by national water agency PUB, according to a statement released yesterday.

The contract is estimated to be worth $400 to $500 million, according to The Business Times.

Singapore and Malaysia recently agreed on the importance of ensuring reliable and adequate water supply from the Johor River as spelt out in the 1962 Water Agreement.

Both sides agreed to take the necessary measures to make this happen, including working on the Johor River Barrage project, which will be fully operational by March.

 

 

Water access good but it must be good water

Cost of safe drinking water a heavy burden for many and impossible for others

by Todd D. Stong, originally posted on May 21, 2016

 

Why does Mexico have the highest per-capita consumption of bottled water in the world?

If a community is receiving public water and that supply is in sufficient quantities to sustain normal living, say at least 100 liters per person per day, then the question may be, is the water safe to drink?

It seems clear that most Mexicans (80%-plus) are buying commercial bottled water, two to three liters a day, at a cost that is 200-350 times more than public water. For a peso one can buy about 0.8 to 1.3 liters of bottled water or have the government provide about 350 liters of public water.

This added cost of 5,000-6,000 pesos per year for bottled water for a family as compared to 1,000 pesos a year for public water is a serious burden for the poor, the 55 million Mexicans who live below the poverty line. Clearly the motive for buying bottled water is because people feel that public water may not be not safe.

For the 20% of the nation that cannot afford bottled water, potentially impure, untreated public water may be their only choice. While Mexico has established excellent national standards for water quality that basically address acidity, various minerals and bacteria, it is only bacteria that appears to be monitored, perhaps annually, and that is only at the village well.

To assure that water from a well arrives safely at each home in a community, normal practice is to add chlorine (one to five parts per million). This not only destroys bacteria that may originate at the village well but a residual will continue to act upon any bacteria encountered in the pipes.

It is typically desirable that there be a chlorine residual (0.1-0.5 parts per million) once the water arrives at a home to guarantee it is still free of bacteria.

While Mexico reports that over 90% of pubic water is treated with chlorine, the reality in rural communities is that less than 20% of well water is so treated and that no residual chlorine may be detected at the home’s faucet. The key reason is often that people, due to a lack of education or superstition, object to treating the water with chlorine.

While in Africa once a native whispered in my ear that chlorine was the reason I was white and they, of course, did not wish that to happen to them. In Mexico the added challenge in rural area is that chlorine and injection pumps are often not provided or maintained by the government, or it is too old to be effective.

Another reason for not drinking well water is that there are very seldom any mineral tests by the state. Such tests, perhaps done each three years, may find evidence of various hazards especially in regions with volcanic rock and soil. These hazardous substances (arsenic, lead and nitrogen-ammonia, for example) can have a serious impact (delayed mental development and retardation) for children under age six.

Possible actions?

1. Rein in excessive profits from the sale of over 250 million pesos per day by politically powerful international bottlers. Given the two to four pesos it costs to produce a 19-liter bottle of water, plus a delivery charge of four to six pesos, to sell it at 15 to 25 pesos is too much (50%-400% profit).

2. Educate the public on the need for water chlorination and chlorine’s natural use by the body.

3. Assure the means for adding chlorine to water reaches and is applied at village well sites.

4. Require that all public and private water tests include all minerals of interest for piped and bottled water and be posted on a designated Internet site within 30 days.

5. Add to Mexico’s current promise to its 120 million citizens of access to water the further promise that their water will be pure and safe. Begin with the rural population that is least able to purchase bottled water.

Dr. Todd D. Stong, a licensed professional civil engineer (USA), has served for the past 14 years in Jalisco state as a volunteer engineer adviser to local area governments. His major focus has been on the water and wastewater issues in 42 villages around Lake Chapala as well as job creation. Previously he served for 44 years in the U.S. government and private industry with half his career overseas in infrastructure construction and municipal engineering and half in directing scientific laboratories and research in the U.S. He can be contacted at todd.stong@aridgroup.com.