Water services According to their data, while 88.5% of the world has access to water, only 52.6% of the people of the Pacific Islands have access to water, with Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste having the poorest access, while seven of the countries including Tonga, have almost universal access to water services, where more than 95% of the poulation can have access to safe water services.
Electricity services With electricity, in some regions of the Pacific only 33% of the people have access to electricity, comparing with 87.4% of the world.
Once again the development is uneven and in eight of the countries, including Tonga, some 90 percent of households have access to electricity, while the overall average for the 15 countries is 75%.
Meanwhile, an average of 69% of the population in 15 Pacific countries have access to improved sanitation.
Unlike access to improved water sources, access to sanitation service varies realty across countries.
Over 95% of electricity in Tonga was generated using imported diesel fuel.
Outer island renewable energy investments are guided by Tonga Energy Road Map (TERM) 2010–2020.
The first phase of TERM (2014–2019) involves (i) installing solar power systems, including some smart meters on nine outer islands; (ii) transferring operation and maintenance knowledge, and (iii) rehabilitating the existing grid network near the solar power generation systems on the islands of ‘Eua and Vava’u.
By 2030, 70% of all electricity is targeted to be generated from renewables.
The government and TPL have no plan to install any new diesel generators after 2020.

AMMAN, 24 July 2018 – “UNICEF deplores in the strongest terms yet another attack on vital and lifesaving water systems in Yemen.
“A large water facility in Sa’ada, northwest of the country, came under attack this week.
This is the third such attack on the same facility.
“Continuous attacks on water systems in Yemen are cutting off children and their families from water; increasing the likelihood of water-borne diseases spreading in the war-torn country.
“For families in Yemen, these crumbling basic services are a matter of life and death.
Access to these services is about the sheer survival of boys and girls in Yemen.
UNICEF calls, once again, on parties to the conflict wherever they are in Yemen and those who have influence over them, to stop all attacks and military activity on or near civilian infrastructure including water systems and facilities, schools, hospitals and clinics."
In March 2018, the Nushour water project was attacked twice in one week causing damage estimated at US$ 20,000.
UNICEF repaired this damage.
The current damage to the water system is estimated at US$ 300,000.

A park volunteer host accidentally directed the driver of a tanker with 1,000 gallons of the fire camp’s gray water to the park’s 10,000-gallon potable water tank for dumping on the evening of July 18, according to the Jackson County Parks Department.
The mistake went unnoticed until Monday morning, when a park ranger chatting with the tanker driver learned of where he had dumped the water, Lambert said.
Parks officials immediately closed access to the water and notified state and county health officials, Lambert said.
Tests of the water Monday showed the presence of E. coli and coliform bacteria, said Chad Peterson, the environmental health director for the Jackson County Health and Human Services Department.
The park’s water system was flushed and work was underway Tuesday to clean and disinfect the system, and crews hoped to be finished by Thursday, Lambert said.
Infants, seniors, women who are pregnant and those with compromised immune systems could face increased risks.
Peterson said Tuesday that health officials have not discovered anyone sickened by exposure to the water.
Camper Tiphanie Hulse said she drank the water every day during the contamination period and didn’t notice a change in the water or get sick.
“Nothing.” Reach Mail Tribune reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or mfreeman@rosebudmedia.com.
Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman.

Today several parts of the district, including Khalanga Bazaar, Jagatipur, Punma, Bhur, Seema, Juga Thapachaur, Thalaraikar, Paink, Khagenkot, Dhime, Pajaru, Majkot, Suwanauli, Dasera, Nayakbada and Sakla, are reeling under drinking water shortage.
In Jiri village of Barekot Rural Municipality, nearly 300 families are dependent on wells and streams for drinking water.
They face water shortage during dry season.
Similar is the case for 600-odd households in Jintala and Khurpa villages Barekot Rural Municipality and the 800 families that live in Kudu village in Bheri Municipality.
According to the conservative estimates of the District Drinking Water Sub-division Office, there are 10,000 households in Jajarkot who do not have access to drinking water.
Outbreak of water-borne diseases like diarrhoea and cholera are high among these households, as they drink contaminated water.
These projects benefited around 13,000 families.
But there are still thousands of families in the district who find themselves water insecure.
Maheshi Mahato, the chief of the District Drinking Water Sub-Division Office, said repair and maintenance of old water supply projects and construction of new ones were not making desire progress due to lack of budget.
(RSS)

More than 5,000 children cut off from drinking water as critical facility attacked for the third time Attributable to Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Regional Director in the Middle East and North Africa AMMAN, 24 July 2018 – “UNICEF deplores in the strongest terms yet another attack on vital and lifesaving water systems in Yemen.
“A large water facility in Sa’ada, northwest of the country, came under attack this week.
This is the third such attack on the same facility.
“Continuous attacks on water systems in Yemen are cutting off children and their families from water; increasing the likelihood of water-borne diseases spreading in the war-torn country.
“For families in Yemen, these crumbling basic services, are a matter of life and death.
UNICEF calls, once again, on parties to the conflict wherever they are in Yemen and those who have influence over them, to stop all attacks and military activity on or near civilian infrastructure including water systems and facilities, schools, hospitals and clinics”.
ENDs- For more information: Juliette Touma, UNICEF MENA, jtouma@unicef.org, +962-79-867-4628 Lina Elkurd, UNICEF MENA, lelkurd@unicef.org, +962-79-109-66-44 Bismarck Swangin, UNICEF Yemen, bswangin@unicef.org, +967-712-223-161 Notes to Editors The attack on the water project in the Nushour area in the Sa’ada governorate, immediately disabled the system and damaged the solar power system, the pump and the storage tank.
In March 2018, the Nushour water project was attacked twice in one week causing damage estimated at US$ 20,000.
UNICEF repaired this damage.
For more information about UNICEF and its work for children visit www.unicef.org/mena Follow UNICEF on Twitter and Facebook

More than 400 drinking water projects in Jajarkot district are said to be in the lurch.
These projects were constructed since the last 10 years.
This condition of the drinking water projects is due to the negligence of the concerned government offices and the consumers committees for their repair and maintenance.
As a result of this situation, a dozen settlements including Khalanga Bazaar, Jagatipur, Punma, Bhur, Seema, Juga Thapachaur, Thalaraikar, Paink, Khagenkot, Dhime, Pajaru, Majkot, Suwanauli, Dasera, Nayakbada and Sakla are reeling under water shortage.
Three hundred families in Jiri, Barekot rural municipality are also dependent on a well and stream water for their water supply.
Six hundred families at Jintala and Khurpa are also facing hard times to meet their daily water needs.
Likewise, 800 households at Kudu, Bheri Municipality-13 have been facing acute shortage of water for many years now.
It is said some 10,000 households in Jajarkot district do not have access to drinking water.
Meanwhile, the local levels have constructed 300 small drinking water projects in the district in the last fiscal year, benefiting some 13,000 households.
District drinking water sub-division office chief Maheshi Mahato said that the repair and maintenance of the old water supply projects and construction of new ones has not taken up speed due to lack of adequate budget.

PETOSKEY — Officials from municipalities throughout Michigan — including Petoskey — have concerns about new state rules that tighten lead pipe regulations, arguing that they could require millions of dollars in local government repairs, with no reimbursement from the state.
The rules, which burgeoned out of a reaction to the Flint water crisis, make Michigan the strictest state in the country for lead and copper levels in drinking water.
They will require that, after the year 2025, environmental agencies will have to step in if lead and copper levels reach 12 parts per billion, as opposed to the current federal standard of 15.
Some environmental groups have lauded the new rules — with the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, for example, describing them as “an important step forward in protecting all our drinking water from lead contamination.” “There is no safe amount of lead in drinking water, and no child or senior in Michigan should have lead in their water,” group deputy director Bob Allison said in a press release.
The new rules also mandate utility providers to replace all lead and copper pipes and goosenecks in their service areas by the year 2040, and that 5 percent of those pipes be replaced by 2021.
“I tend to agree with them, although I think the cause is something that certainly needs to be addressed,” Straebel said.
The cost of replacing the pipes could cost millions of dollars for municipalities.
LaMacchia argues that’s a low estimate, only accounting for cities that have above 5 parts per billion of lead in the water.
As such, the Municipal League estimates the cost to be more in the range of $2.5 billion for all municipalities in Michigan.
“This is why this becomes much more than a simple, ‘Let’s take the lead out,’” he said.

Oando PLC and its joint venture (JV) partners – Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), have provided good drinking water to the over 5,000 residents of Agbere community in Bayelsa State, following the inauguration of a 20,000 -gallon water project in the community.
According to a statement by Oando Plc, “the initiative is grounded in the fact that water is a fundamental human need.
Each person requires at least 20 to 50 litres of clean, safe water, daily, for drinking, cooking, and simply keeping themselves clean.
Sadly, today in Nigeria there is an alarming dearth of access toclean water, and at Oando, we want to bridge this gap especially in our host communities.” According to the statement, the laudable water scheme will drastically reduce deadly water-borne diseases in the community such as typhoid fever, cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, and hepatitis ‘A’.
“The scheme will also reduce the amount of time spent looking for water especially in rural areas, as noted by UNICEF – 19 million Nigerians walk long distances to collect unsafe water from lakes, streams and rivers,” the statement added.
The commitment of Oando and its partners was in line with the request of UNICEF Communications Specialist, Eva Hinds, who said:“Improving water and sanitation services as well as basic hygiene practices in Nigeria, calls for strong commitment from all partners-the government, civil society, the private sector and communities.” He said: “For Nigeria to achieve the global goal of providing access to safe water for every citizen by 2030, it needs to make water, together with sanitation and hygiene, a national priority.
This goal is closely linked with three key results for the country-good health, environmental sustainability and economic prosperity.” In order to ensure the water scheme is maintained thereby ensuring it has a long life span and is able to support future generations in the community, the water plant came fully kitted with a 30KVA diesel power generating set with an external diesel storage tank and power connections as well as a shelter for the generator and treatment plant, a cased borehole of about 200m depth and a 10HP submersible pump, 3,000m reticulation / distribution water pipes with 30 fetching taps.
Speaking during the inauguration of the project, the paramount ruler of the community, Chief John Maseri thanked the JV Partners for completing and inaugurating the project.
He noted that water was the most essential necessity of life and therefore, with the commissioning of the water project, NAOC JV has made life more meaningful for the people of the Community.
The Paramount Ruler promised that the Community will continue to ensure that a conducive working environment is provided for the company’s operations and Community’s development.

Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand, D-N.Y., announced Tuesday she is introducing a bill in an effort to help communities clean up and monitor drinking water systems.
“Clean water is something every New Yorker should have access to,” Sen. Gillibrand said during a conference call.
“Across NY state, drinking water contamination has been hurting communities.” The Contaminant and Lead Electronic Accounting and Reporting Requirements would do several things, including providing resources to identify, test and clean up drinking water systems and force the EPA to share more information about water pollution in New York.
The act would increase funding for assisting small and disadvantaged communities with water quality compliance from $60 million a year to $230 million next year and $300 million from 2020 through 2023.
“If your water supply has been contaminated, it’s expensive to clean it up,” Sen. Gillibrand said during the press conference.
“Congress has a responsibility to make sure if a town’s water has been contaminated, they’re not stuck with no way to clean it up.” It would also force the EPA to set up electronic reporting of water quality compliance, provide technical assistance with public water systems trying to meet compliance standards, research contaminants, and provide grants for local educational programs on the health effects of contaminated water.
“The EPA has a responsibility to make sure that communities have all the information they need to understand exactly what’s happening when contamination occurs, and whether they need to start a cleanup effort,” Sen. Gillibrand said.
“The EPA should never hold back information from the public when it comes to our health and safety.” Sen. Gillibrand’s office could not immediately supply any particular New York communities that she thinks the bill will help if passed, but the senator made it clear she thinks the bill will benefit New York specifically.
“No one should ever have to wonder if their water is safe,” she said.

CHOLERA is the potentially deadly condition caused by drinking dirty water or eating contaminated food.
Cholera is a bacterial infection of the small intestine that is spread through dirty water and food that has been contaminated with an infected person’s faeces.
There also tends to be outbreaks after natural disasters or during a humanitarian crisis, where people are forced to live in cramped conditions with little access to clean drinking water.
What are the symptoms of cholera?
If at this point the disease isn’t treated, the symptoms will get worse and a person can become severely dehydrated very quickly.
The most common treatment for cholera patients is an oral rehydration solution, which can prevent a person becoming too dehydrated.
Is there a vaccine against cholera?
For everyone over the age of six, two doses of the vaccine should be given six weeks apart and at least one week before travelling to an infected area.
They are also putting in place the development of piped water supplies and safe sewage disposal in countries where there is poor sanitation.
For travellers, the NHS has issued advice on what they can do to prevent cholera as well as travellers’ diarrhoea.