3 Steps To Assess Your Drinking Water.
The lead contamination in Flint, Michigan and the sewage spills in St. Petersburg are only two of many examples of why more consumers are asking questions about the quality of their own drinking water.
That’s one of the findings of a new survey being released this week by the Water Quality Association, a national trade organization representing the water treatment industry.
Executive Director Pauli Undesser said their consumer survey also showed that consumers have a "thirst" for knowledge of what’s going on in other communities.
She recommends residents take three steps if they have questions about their water quality at home: If you get water from a utility or municipal water supply, they’re required to give out an annual report called the Consumer Confidence Report (CCR).
That’s the first thing a consumer should look for because if water suppliers have any violations, they have to disclose those to the public.
On the Water Quality Association’s website, you can find a list of EPA approved laboratories if you want to assess the quality of your water at home.
That’s because there are miles of pipeline between the source and your home where contaminants can be picked up.
If you do identify something, how do you find the products or professionals to get the right water quality treatment?
There is a list of certified professionals and products on the WQA website.

Stanford ranks states in the Colorado River Basin on water rights transfers.
Stanford’s Water in the West program ranks states in the Colorado River Basin on their use of and support for a legal tool enabling water rights holders to voluntarily transfer their water to benefit the environment.
A new report from Stanford’s Water in the West program assesses progress among states in the Colorado River Basin with respect to environmental water rights transfers, a legal tool that enables water rights holders to voluntarily transfer their water to rivers, streams and wetlands to benefit the environment and potentially generate revenue.
It also supports a variety of aquatic ecosystems from its headwaters in the Rocky Mountains to the deserts of the Southwest.
Despite recent heavy rains in parts of the West, basin states – which include Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming – have faced years of drought coupled with water scarcity resulting from increased water needs, climate change and other factors.
As scientific predictions expect these conditions to worsen, researchers say states will need to look for fair ways to reallocate water supplies, including increased use of environmental water rights transfers.
“These transfers can help fish and other aquatic species, provide an alternative revenue source for water rights holders and play a role in broader water markets.” Differences in implementation Despite the potential benefits and appeal of environmental water rights transfers, the laws regarding their regulation and approval vary from state to state.
(Image credit: Szeptycki and Pilz) “All seven states in this report are at different stages in their evolution toward promoting more environmental water transfers and we hope that this work can help each state highlight some of the most effective next steps they might take,” said David Pilz, director of AMP Insights and a lead author of the report.
The report builds on Water in the West’s 2015 report “Environmental Water Rights Transfers: A Review of State Laws, prior work by AMP Insights and work by other researchers.
California also scored well as it provides state funding for improving environmental flows.

by Moses Opobo

The world’s poorest people not only face problems in accessing clean water points, they also spend the biggest percentage of their earnings on this basic need.

This was revealed in a report, Water: At What Cost? The State of the World’s Water, by the international charity organisation WaterAid as the global community marked International Water Day on March 22.

The theme for this year’s celebrations was; “Water and Jobs”; highlighting the role of freshwater in improving people’s lives and the economic development of communities and nations.

While the standard water bill in developed countries could be as little as 0.1 per cent for someone on a minimum wage, people in economically impoverished countries with poor water infrastructure have to spend as much as half of their income on just the recommended daily minimum quantity, according to the report.

The World Health Organisation recommends at least 50 liters of clean water per person per day to meet their basic needs.

The report notes that countries with poor water infrastructure are the worst affected, with nationals of countries like Madagascar having to spend as much as 45 per cent of their daily income on the day’s ration of water.

While in countries like Mozambique, families relying on black-market vendors have to spend up to 100 times as much on water as those reached by government-subsidised water points.

The report ranks nations based on rates of household access to water and on highest populations without access to water.

In the Great Lakes region, the DR Congo leads with the biggest number of people without access to clean water (47.6%), followed by Tanzania, at 44.4 %, and Kenya at 36.8 %.

Uganda has the lowest number of people without access to clean water in the region (21 %), followed by Rwanda (23.9 %), and in third place is Burundi (24.1%).

It ranks Papua New Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, and Angola as the countries with the lowest percentage of households with access to clean water in the world. India, China and Nigeria have the highest numbers of people waiting for access to clean water, while Cambodia, Mali, Laos and Ethiopia have made more progress than any other nations on improving access to water for their populations.

“Clean, affordable drinking water is not a privilege: it’s a fundamental human right. This World Water Day, let’s celebrate the unprecedented progress that’s been made in helping more people than ever before gain access to clean water. But let’s also double down on our efforts so that everyone, everywhere can exercise their basic right to clean water by the year 2030,” said Sarina Prabasi, the WaterAid America Chief Executive.

Rwanda’s water sector open for business

Meanwhile, Rwanda celebrated this year’s World Water Day with calls by the government for increased private investment in the country’s water sector.

Rwanda marked the day with an exhibition and a conference at the University of Rwanda’s Nyarugenge Campus.

The conference brought together academics, policy makers and water sector practitioners to discuss water monitoring and management, and how to boost investment in the water sector and encourage job creation, among others.

“There are enormous investment opportunities in the water sector. It is an area where the private sector can invest and both business and the community benefit. Rwanda is under-utilising its water resources and the private sector has an important role in creating jobs and contributing to our green growth ambitions,” said Dr Vincent Biruta, the Minister for Natural Resources.

Rwanda is also set to launch an Integrated Water Resource Management Programme dubbed ‘Water for Growth’, financed by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. A water treatment plant will also be inaugurated in Muhanga District.

Across the country, different communities joined hands to plant trees to protect rivers and water catchment areas.

Celebrations are ongoing throughout the week and bring together key ministries, including that of Infrastructure, and affiliated agencies involved in water and sustainable development, development partners, civil society, the private sector, regional water organisations as well as the general public.

Rwanda currently has water availability per capita of 670 m3 per annum, which is below the standard threshold of 1,000 m3 per annum. While the country is endowed with significant water resources, these are currently under-utilised and much water is lost through evaporation.

Currently, the country is working to develop its water resources for irrigation, domestic water supply, industry, and to preserve its valuable ecosystems.

Rwanda intends to roll out clean water to all citizens by 2018.

Worldwide, some 650 million people in the world still do not have access to clean water and more than 2.3 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation, with devastating results.

by Vanessa Pollard, originally published on March 24, 2016

LETTER – Those of us lucky enough to live on beautiful Georgian Bay are reminded each day of the significance of having access to clean water.

This is the water we fish in, boat in, and teach our children and grandchildren to swim in. It is important to us that it be unpolluted, and that it stay that way for future generations.

We sometimes forget to apply this ideology to our tap water. We sometimes overlook the news stories that alert us to potential problems. We can’t afford to do that anymore.

Canada has let its environmental protection slip in the past few years, and we are vulnerable to losing the resources that we depend on for our survival. We need legally enforceable quality standards for drinking water in Canada.

It’s time for the federal government to implement the right to clean water in Canada by passing an environmental bill of rights that protects our right to a healthy environment, including the right to clean water.

originally published on March 23, 2016

Sixty-three million of the 170 million Nigerians lack safe water and sanitation while about 112 million people are without access to improved sanitation despite progress made by the MDG project, Oxfam Nigeria has said.
The Head of Programmes Oxfam Nigeria, Mr. Constant Tchona, said yesterday in Abuja as part of activities marking the international World Water Day that the 63 million represent about 39 percent of the population and that water and sanitation coverage rates in Nigeria remain among the lowest in the world.

He said unless there is improvement in the situation, the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) six which is “Clean water and Sanitation” may not be achieved.

In a related development, data from a new testing technology by the UNICEF has shown that an estimated 1.8 billion people may be drinking water contaminated by e-coli (meaning there is faecal material in their water) even from improved sources.

In an event to mark the World Water Day yesterday, the UNICEF said the push to bring safe water to millions around the world was even more challenging due to climate change.

by Rollie Atkinson, originally published on March 23, 2016

originally published on March 23, 2016

The World Water Day was established by resolution 47/193 (22 December 1992) at the UN General Assembly and has been marked ever since on March 22. The day is marked to ensure international importance of water resources as a key factor for the existence of life on our planet.

This year’s World Water Day was held under the slogan “Water resources and employment” to emphasize that without water it is impossible to create a high quality job.

Water crisis to affect 3 billion people by 2025

The UN does not cease to urge people of all countries to unite their efforts for the protection and conservation of water resources for future generations. After all, water is a guarantee of sustainable development of our world. Its reasonable use is the basis of poverty eradication, economic growth and environmental sustainability on Earth.

A sufficient quantity of water of appropriate quality increases life expectancy, improves material and social well-being, ensures food and energy security.

According to the WHO, more than two billion people on Earth suffer from the shortage of drinking water. Of these, 750 million have no access to safe drinking water. The situation is especially deplorable in poor developing countries, where only 25 percent of the rural population have the so-called reasonable access to water, when a source of water is located in the allowable proximity to human habitation.

According to disappointing forecasts, due to climatic changes and mindless consumption of water supplies, as many as three billion people may experience the shortage of water already by 2025.

Water consumption has been increasing steadily during the last hundred years as the world population has tripled since the beginning of the 20th century. The rapid development of industry, energy and agriculture has led to an increase in the consumption of fresh water seven times. The consumption of water for municipal and drinking needs has grown thirteen times.

On the territory of Russia, there are more than 2.8 million rivers with a total length of 12.4 million kilometers and more than 2.7 million lakes with a total area of ​​408,000 square kilometers. Lake Baikal alone holds about 19 percent of the world’s reserves of fresh lake water. Yet, with all this wealth, the quality of fresh and coastal water on the whole remains consistently low.

How to save water

To resolve water shortages in various regions of the world, experts at the UN and other international organizations suggest using the following measures:

1. Exports of water. In the coming decades, exports of drinking water can become more profitable than exports of hydrocarbons.

2. Construction of artificial storage reservoirs. For example, in 2000, Turkmenistan started building a huge reservoir – the Turkmen Lake – in Central Karakum. The lake is to accumulate drainage waters generated in the process of artificial irrigation in a giant basin of natural origin.

3. Educating people on the state level on how to save water. The goal is to reduce water consumption in modern cities. Today, every inhabitant of a big city uses from 100 to 400 liters per day for personal needs, while this figure barely reaches 20-30 liters in many places of the planet.

4. Desalination of sea water or salty water from underground sources. However, this method is a very energy consuming and costly one. Desalination plants must be located in close proximity to salt water sources. The salinity of the water source increases dramatically after the process thus causing damage to the environment.

5. Efforts to curb water evaporation. The amount of water that evaporates from the surface of water reservoirs is larger than the amount of water consumed by man. It is proposed to cover the surface of artificial water reservoirs with special structures or floating constructions that will protect water from evaporation. Such experiments are currently conducted in California, where a thin layer of water-biodegradable substances is applied on the surface of water. The substances are made from coconut or palm oils.

6. The use of water from the atmosphere. This is the main source of water on the planet, but mankind does not know how to use it yet. Experiments on the condensation of water from the atmosphere are conducted in many countries of the world, including in Russia.

According to scientists, the condensation of water from surface layers of the atmosphere may become an effective solution to water supply problems for drought-stricken regions of the world.

7. Multiple water recycling. This method requires the use of powerful water treatment facilities and the use of innovative disinfection methods.

8. Water reserves in the Earth’s mantle. A recent study by American scientists showed that the water reserves integrated in rocks at depths from 400 to 659 km are likely to be three times the amount of all water in all oceans of the planet combined.

There is a lot of water on our planet indeed. All we need to do is to learn how to use our water reasonably.

The MWRA board this week approved $100 Million in funding to remove lead service lines in dozens of communities across Massachusetts.

-Liz Taurasi, originally published on March 23, 2016

WILMINGTON, MA – The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority is making $100 million available in interest-free loans to allow towns within its system to fully replace lead service lines, those lines that connect homes to the main in the street or household plumbing.

THE MWRA’s Board of Directors approved the program earlier this week for dozens of towns, including Wilmington, despite the town not having lead service lines.

Wilmington DPW Director Mike Woods told Wilmington Apple earlier this week that none of these lines exist in Wilmington and never have.

MWRA officials say they are in the process of updating a survey of community lead service lines which currently estimates there are as many as 28,000 – or 5.6 percent of the total 500,000 service lines – containing lead.

“I am proud that Massachusetts is taking proactive measures to ensure that residents have continued access to clean drinking water,” said Governor Charlie Baker in a statement issued Monday. “The loans being provided by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority will allow communities to take the steps necessary to modernize their drinking water infrastructure, and keep Massachusetts’ families safe and healthy.”

Lt. Governor Karyn Polito added that by making these loans available, municipal leaders will have the tools needed to ensure “healthy, clean drinking for individuals and families around the Commonwealth,” she said.

The investment will help cities and towns throughout the state proactively address aging lead pipes in their communities.

The MWRA estimates the average cost to fully replace a lead service is between $3,000 and $5,000. Based on that estimate, they say they believe the $100 million program should cover removal of all lead services in its service area. They also note that partial line replacements – only removing the portion in the street and leaving the rest on private property – won’t be eligible for the program due to research they say indicates there’s not much of a public health benefit from a partial replacement.

“The zero-interest loans awarded to municipalities by the MWRA will allow them the flexibility to create their own local programs to fully remove lead service lines from the water main all the way to the home, and will intern ensure individuals have access to safe, fresh, reliable drinking water,” said said Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs Matthew Beaton, who also serves as chairman of MWRA’s Board of Directors in the same statement.

While the MWRA’s water is lead-free when it leaves its reservoirs, and local water mains don’t add lead to the water, lead can get into the water through these lead service lines, according to a statement on the agency’s website.

The statement continues:

The MWRA has an aggressive and effective program to address lead in customers’ homes which includes a stable and well-protected water supply and an effective corrosion control program begun in 1996. These efforts have resulted in the MWRA system, as a whole, being consistently below the Lead Action Level since 2004. However, some individual communities have exceeded the Lead Action Level and many homes still have lead service lines.

“This program will help ensure that all residents of MWRA communities will continue to have safe drinking water, regardless of their ZIP code or the age of their home,” said Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh.

MWRA officials say the program was developed following the suggestion of the MWRA Advisory Board. The MWRA already provides financial assistance to communities within its service area to improve local water systems.

Under the proposal, each community would develop its own program, tailored to their local circumstances and spending would be determined by the level of interest by both communities and homeowners, and on any future regulatory requirements for lead service line replacement.

The funds will be paid back to MWRA by communities over 10 years at zero interest.

March 23, 2016 (BOR) – Communities in three newly created states from the old Jonglei state have reported insufficient access to drinking water in the rural areas, and urged international organizations to intervene.

Leaders responsible for water supply in the new states of Jonglei and Western Bieh [Fangak] state said there are huge gaps exist in states in supplying the rural and urban populations with clean drinking water.

Gabriel Gai Kurjil, director of water and sanitation in the ministry of physical infrastructure told Sudan Tribune on Wednesday that the population pressure in the urban areas has caused the shortage of clean drinking water, blaming the deteriorating situation on the 2 years of war.

“Water is not always enough, we always have a lot of gaps, where we still need water supply in some areas in the rural villages. Some of the boreholes we were having in the villages were left due to the crisis. People went to areas where they cannot get enough water,” explained Gai on Wednesday.

He said most of the boreholes overstayed without pumping, causing the water to change the color and taste. He also cited lack of spare parts, especially the pipes.

In Bor town, capital of the new Jonglei state, he said, a lot of people spent the day without getting enough water. The few boreholes available get congested, a situation, which the ministry of physical infrastructure has tried to address.

“Within Bor town, we are working in collaboration with urban water cooperation, running 15 locations supplying water to the people,” he said.

Also International Community of the Red Cross (ICRC) and some partners supported by UNICEF had made extensions on some of the pipes for small water distribution units within the town, but with limited capacity.

“This small water system is not functioning well in the town because the capacity of the solar system is not enough to pump the water well. Some of the water distribution units are serving very little purpose inside Bor,” said Gai.

The increase of civil population in Bor town due to displacement from the villages has forced people to spend a day on less than four liters of water a day.

“You can see over hundred jerry-cans in a line at one borehole, we need an intervention on that side especially from NGOs which are active on the side of water and sanitation,” said Gai.

According to Jooh Majak Deng in Moldoor village, it takes them a whole day before each family gets a jerry-can of water due to over crowdedness.

Due to consumption of dirty water from the river, and low levels of sanitations, Bor was among the states hit by cholera outbreak last year, although doctors without borders and other medical agencies contained it.

“Cholera was the result of people leaving their areas and try to go to areas they don’t have safe water for drinking. Some of the areas severely affected were along the river, so most of them were taking water from the river, there were no toilets,” added the director.

He said people are many in Bor town, and have no other alternative source of water, adding the populations have arranged themselves into groups with each group taking over for about four hours before the next group.

“This may take you a whole day to get water, or you may get it the following day. We need more boreholes in this play,” said Ajooh at Moldoor in Bor town.

Meanwhile, an organization, Care For Children and Old Ages in South Sudan, has pledged to rehabilitate more than 10 boreholes in the states particularly in areas where internally displaced people are located.

Peter Aluong Manyok, coordinator for care for children and old ages revealed their plans to media in Bor.

“We have 15 boreholes that need to be rehabilitated. Five will be in Duk County, five in Ayod and Uror counties we also going to train 500 peace promoters in those counties,” Aluong said.

According to Manyaok, training Nuer and Dinka on water, hygiene and sanitation would also be one way of encouraging peaceful co-existence between them.

The report has blamed poor management of water resources and over-extraction of ground water for the drinking water problem.

-originally published on March 23, 2016

A report that was released to mark World Water Day on Tuesday said India has the largest number of people without access to safe water in the world, reported the Times of India. According to the Wall Street Journal, China ranks after India in the list of countries where a large portion of the population is living with contaminated drinking water, while Bangladesh (8th) and Pakistan (10th) are ranked far higher.

The report by WaterAid suggested that about 7.6 crore people – 5% of India’s total population – are deprived of safe water and the country registers around 1.4 lakh child deaths annually because of diarrhoea, a mainly water-borne disease. It has blamed poor management of water resources and over-extraction of ground water for the problem.

“Aquifers or underground water provide 85% of drinking water, but levels are falling in 56% of the country. Hand pumps are exacerbating the crisis in many areas by depleting shallow aquifers. Misappropriation in planning and execution of water supply projects is another key factor,” said the report, “Water: At What Cost? The State of the World’s Water 2016”.

The global report said because of this water crisis, communities fall back on a single or distant source of drinking water, often leading to disputes and increased discrimination against the main water fetchers, particularly women. According to the report, India’s water bill is low compared with Papua New Guinea, which has been ranked the most difficult and expensive place in the world to access clean water.