Outlook residents told to not drink the water after possible contamination.
The water smells of manure, but the source is not confirmed, he said.
“So we’re just taking precautionary steps to make sure that the residents are safe from drinking water that … at this point we don’t know whether it’s safe or not.” Play Video Play Mute Current Time 0:00 / Duration Time 0:00 Loaded: 0% 0:00 Progress: 0% 0:00 Progress: 0% Stream TypeLIVE Remaining Time -0:00 Playback Rate 1 Chapters Chapters descriptions off, selected Descriptions subtitles off, selected Subtitles captions settings, opens captions settings dialog captions off, selected Captions Audio Track Fullscreen This is a modal window.
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It’s believed that an approximately 3-foot-tall berm on a DeRuyter Brothers Dairy field used for growing wheat breached, sending runoff from snowmelt and rain across another field where cow manure had recently been applied, said Yakima County Public Services Director Vern Redifer.
“We are saddened to see flooding in our local Outlook community Wednesday morning and are sympathetic to our neighbors who find themselves in this situation.
We have heard that a neighbor believes that we are responsible for the flooding because rapidly melting snow overtopped a berm in one of our farm fields.
While we are sorry for our neighbor’s circumstances, we are not responsible for the flooding they are experiencing,” the statement said.

Groups ask EPA to ensure East Chicago has safe water.
Several community groups petitioned the EPA on Thursday to immediately act to protect residents from lead in their drinking water.
According to the petition, the East Chicago Water Department and Indiana Department of Environmental Management have failed to adequately address the problem in the short-term, so the Environmental Protection Agency should use its emergency powers.
Up to 90 percent of East Chicago’s water lines could be lead, so residents should assume they have lead pipes and use a properly certified faucet filter, EPA said.
‘Until the water is safe to drink’ EPA has identified East Chicago as an environmental justice community, in part, because many of its residents are poor, said Anjali Waikar, a staff attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
City, state and federal officials have rightly focused on addressing contamination in the soil of the Superfund site, the petition said.
EPA provided water filters and bottled water to residents at the 43 homes it tested, but no government agency has provided filters or bottled water to other East Chicago water system customers.
EPA has said little to no orthophosphate, a chemical used to prevent lead from leaching into water from lead service lines, was found in the city’s water.
IDEM has confirmed it is working with the city to adjust chemical levels.
Several actions requested In addition to providing filters or bottled water, the petition asks EPA to immediately conduct citywide testing of drinking water, implement a program to ensure filters are properly installed and maintained, ensure the city’s compliance with the federal Lead and Copper Rule, use its authority to review the city’s corrosion control requirements, replace faucets in residents’ homes as needed, expand blood testing of children under age 7 who are enrolled in Medicaid or are otherwise at-risk, and order any other necessary relief.

By Timothy Gardner and Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House is proposing to slash a quarter of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s budget, targeting climate-change programs and those designed to prevent air and water pollution like lead contamination, a source with direct knowledge of the proposal said on Thursday.
President Donald Trump has long signaled his intention to reverse former Democratic President Barack Obama’s climate-change initiatives.
The agency did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the budget proposal or its counter proposal.
State grants for lead cleanup, for example, would be cut 30 percent to $9.8 million.
Grants to help native tribes combat pollution would be cut 30 percent to $45.8 million.
An EPA climate protection program on cutting emissions of greenhouse gases like methane that contribute to global warming would be cut 70 percent to $29 million.
The proposal would cut funding for the brownfields industrial site cleanup program by 42 percent to $14.7 million.
The Republican-led Congress would have to approve any EPA cuts.
Congress would be unlikely to approve a proposal to cut all staff in a diesel emissions program, for example.
“I want you to know that with the White House and also with Congress, I am communicating a message that the brownfields program, the Superfund program and the water infrastructure grants and state revolving funds are essential to protect,” he said.

NBC Bay Area The latest data from California’s Water Resources Control Board show 700,000 Californians are currently being exposed to contaminated water at home or at school.
In addition to those with contaminated water, another 3,511 California households reported having wells that are still dry according to state data released in January, 2017.
“We found that the majority of those drought impacted public water systems were serving disadvantaged communities.” Five years ago Jerry Brown signed legislation making California the first state in the nation to declare that access to clean, safe drinking water is a fundamental human right.
“They’re all in crisis,” Firestone said.
Having toxic water coming out of your tap, not being able to access water in schools, this is really basic.” State data shows 292 different California water systems currently contain levels of contaminants so high they violate safe drinking water standards.
“I think a lot of people forget that.” Tulare County resident Esperanza Venegas remembers when the well providing water for her family dried up last year.
In unincorporated East Porterville, thousands of residents have had no running water for nearly three years.
Though local and state officials recently began connecting some East Porterville residents to a nearby public water system, there are about 800 eligible homes still waiting to be hooked up.
"The public water systems have a lot of local control over the sources of water and how they manage it.
“We’ve got to be thinking about it if our goal is to get clean, safe and affordable drinking water to all Californians.” None of these efforts can come fast enough for residents struggling to get by with dry taps or contaminated water.

New law forces public water companies to alert customers of lead contamination within 24 hours.
Public water systems must notify their customers within 24 hours of detecting dangerous levels of lead under a new federal law.
Those states have passed their own laws requiring faster notifications.
Because water utilities are already required to notify customers for other contaminants, alerting them to high lead levels should already be in place for most utilities, Dan Hartnett, director of legislative affairs at the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, told Governing.
It can damage the brain, red blood cells and kidneys, and can cause lifelong developmental and behavioral problems.
Recently, several schools in Lancaster County found lead in water in drinking fountains or sinks.
Some were supplied by public water companies and some of the drinking water testing high for lead came from wells.
The changes in federal law will add lead to a list of contaminants that public water utilities are already required to notify their customers about if dangerous levels are detected.
Those contaminants include E. coli, waterborne diseases and high levels of nitrates.
The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to clarify the timeline in the coming months.

New Hampshire federal court won’t reconsider remand efforts in water contamination case.
CONCORD, N.H. –– A New Hampshire federal court overseeing a water contamination case has refused to reconsider a motion to remand, rejecting the plaintiffs’ stance that when a proposed class is discrete in nature, a common sense presumption should be used to determine whether citizenship requirements have been met.
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Broad group of farmers express concerns over State Water Board’s approach to flows.
In a letter to the State Water Resources Control Board, a broad group of Central Valley farmers have expressed concerns over the Board’s use of unimpaired flows in the proposals for phase 1 and 2 of the Bay Delta Water Quality Control Plan.
The farmers are strongly opposed to the use of unimpaired flows and say the approach, if implemented as proposed, would significantly impact their operations, the economies of farming communities, and groundwater resources, as well as the terrestrial and aquatic environment in the Central Valley.
Instead, the farmers are advocating a ‘functional flow’ approach where flows would specifically support fish and wildlife, but do so in a more water efficient and practical manner than unimpaired flow.
The approach should also include non-flow measures such as habitat and floodplain restoration, they say.
The letter also points out that the SED as currently written assumes groundwater pumping will replace the reduction in surface water, which would eliminate the possibility of sustainable groundwater management without significantly reducing agricultural production and impacting local economies.
The letter also requests the study of possible canal improvements and additional surface storage to help provide ‘new’ water for functional flows, and that a range of alternative ways be analyzed that can achieve the same increase in fish population while lessening the significant effects of the project.
“We must employ the best available science in a collaborative and comprehensive way if we wish to benefit species recovery in our lifetimes,” the letter concludes.
For more information … Functional Flows in Modified Riverscapes: Hydrographs, Habitats and Opportunities, by Yarnell et al; journal article in BioScience Seminar explores the science of natural functional flows to the Delta, article by the Delta Science Program Sign up for daily emails and get all the Notebook’s aggregated and original water news content delivered to your email box by 9AM.
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UPDATE: Health district recommends Lincoln and Gooding counties check water.
(KMVT/KSVT) — Authorities recommend a well-water check Wednesday afternoon for the northwest portion of Lincoln County, and a portion of Gooding County for possible groundwater contamination due to recent flooding.
“Because of possible well water contamination, South Central Public Health District is recommending that residents living within 10 miles of 8 Mile Road and 720 North do not use untreated well water,” according to a post on the district’s Facebook page.
Anyone who believes their groundwater may be contaminated can contact South Central Public Health District.
Water test kits have run out at the Gooding County Courthouse, but they are available at the Public Health District office in Gooding, at 255 N. Canyon Drive.
Test kits are also available at the Lincoln County Community Center.
For more information, contact the South Central Public Health District at 208-737-5900.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story said there was a boil order in place.
Authorities have updated that to a well-water check.
They recommend getting a testing kit and testing any drinking water.

Water of appropriate quality and quantity is essential for the production of crops, livestock, and fisheries, as well as for the processing and preparation of these foods and products.
Additionally, climate change will have significant impacts on agriculture by increasing water demand, limiting crop productivity, and reducing water availability in areas where irrigation is most needed or has a comparative advantage.
What can agriculture do to address water scarcity in the context of climate change, while ensuring food and nutrition security?
What responses can the agriculture and food sectors offer to alleviate the impacts – and reduce the risks – of water scarcity?
In a bid to tackle the impact of global water scarcity, FAO launched the Global Framework for Action to Cope with Water Scarcity in Agriculture in the Context of Climate Change.
Agriculture holds the key to coping with water scarcity as it is responsible for 70% of all freshwater withdrawals.
The sustainable intensification of food production, with more efficient water management systems adapted to climate variability and local circumstances, can help increase water productivity and raise on-farm incomes.
The initiative will focus on a range of important thematic areas to address issues of water scarcity in agriculture, including: Sustainable improvements of agricultural water productivity, cutting across all agricultural subsectors, from crop to livestock production, aquaculture and agroforestry, based on introduction of best practices in soil and water management, complementary afforestation, and sustainable grazing management.
Modernization and development of multipurpose and climate proofing irrigation infrastructure are considered also as important action areas to improve the efficiency of water use in agriculture while adapting to climate change impacts.
In the situation of growing water scarcity, in many countries food security will increasingly depend on food trade.

President of Hungary János Áder (left), President of Mauritius Ameenah Gurib-Fakim (middle) and Guangzhe CHEN, Senior Director for World Bank Water Global Practice (left) hosting a press conference at the Budapest Water Summit 2016.
We cannot talk about water and Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 without also looking at everything that depends on it: from climate, food and electricity to families, farms and ecosystems.
It is thus quite simple, if we don’t get it right on water, then we will not succeed in achieving the other SDGs either.
Participants of the meeting agreed that if everything was left unchanged in the next 15-20 years, there would be a serious water crisis.
The discussions were based on two World Bank Group reports commissioned by the Panel to consider the constraints and opportunities for increasing financing for water infrastructure: After the meeting, the High-Level Panel on Water issued a statement in which they: Call on all countries and stakeholders to mobilize additional funds to the sector, to support the achievement of SDG6 and water-related targets.
Recognize that mobilizing additional concessional funds will help—but will not be sufficient.
Encourage commercial finance institutions to partner with the public sector towards improving captal and operating effieiency To shift toward a financing landscape catalyzed by official resources being able to attract untapped private resources, HLPW called upon MDBs to use all available instruments and resources, and to focus a large part of their programs to the support of reforms and actions to improve the financial viability of service providers.
For our part, the World Bank Group is helping countries achieve these targets sustainably and inclusively, as Mr. Levy illustrated in his remarks.
It’s encouraging to see that HLPW’s call to action has ignited discussion at the highest level on overcoming the financing challenge.
We at the World Bank Water Global Practice will continue our support to countries in tackling this challenge so as to achieve the water-related SDGs and together with our clients and partners in helping to end poverty by 2030 and boost shared prosperity for the poorest people.