Walkers will be able to access free drinking water along the Wales coast path to help tackle plastic pollution.
Environment Minister Hannah Blythyn will name the 870-mile path as the first location for the rollout of a refill scheme for Wales.
The Welsh Government will work with towns, villages and food and drink businesses to sign up to become refill points.
Those signed up to this drive to decrease use of single use plastics in Wales will be visible to walkers through window stickers and be listed in a bi-lingual refill app.
The app will provide the public with a list of locations where free drinking water is available, making it easier for people to refill their water bottles without needing to purchase single use bottles.
Ms Blythyn said: “I’m delighted to announce today that the Wales coast path will be the first location in our drive to make Wales the world’s first refill nation.
“Wales is the first country in the world to have a dedicated footpath that stretches the entire coastline, and we as a Government are very much looking forward to working with the communities along these 870 glorious miles to curb the use of single use plastic.
“This is just the first step in our ambition to become the world’s first ‘Refill nation’.
“More refill points along our coast will help reduce the number of plastic bottles ending up in the sea, which can have a devastating effect on our marine environment.” The Wales coast path is an 870-mile walking route that runs the entire coast of Wales and is a £14 million project that opened in 2012.
Wales is the first country in the world to have a dedicated path along the full length of its coast.

Regardless of the ownership of a water utility (public, private, or cooperative), a utility may return polluted water to a river or the sea — especially if downriver users are not able to make an impact on decision-making.
TBS has worked with rural villagers to revive the use of traditional water-harvesting solutions.
TBS advocated for these and other methods of water management as a way to bring about a culture of self-sufficiency to local farming communities.
Following the revival of the Arvari River in 1990, representatives from the area’s 72 villages formed the transparent, community-driven "river parliament" to maintain the health of the river.
This has led to extensive administrative challenges over clean water and public sanitation.
In response, the Lusaka Water and Sewage Company, the Lusaka City Council, and various nongovernmental organizations worked together to develop Resident Development Committees (RDCs).
Many neighborhoods now have access to a reliable and largely self-sustaining source of clean water.
Learn more from the review of Bangalore and Lusaka case studies, a paper on groundwater self-supply in Zambia, and this article on Zambia’s water service gap—Nikolas Kichler 3. depave: Communities Turning Pavement Into Green Public Space Paved surfaces contribute to stormwater pollution, by directing rainwater with toxic urban pollutants to local streams and rivers.
Since then, they formed depave, a nonprofit organization that promotes the removal of pavement from urban areas to address the harmful effects of stormwater runoff, as well as to create green public spaces.
depave has coordinated over 50 depaving projects in Portland.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – People in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region took to social media to express their fear and anger toward the sudden drying up of rivers in the country, warning of the grave consequences of Turkey and Iran’s disastrous decisions.
Water flowing from Turkey and Iran to the Kurdistan Region and Iraq has reached alarmingly low levels in recent days, with Kurdish and Iraqi officials rushing to put forward efforts to avoid an impending water crisis.
According to the Iraqi official, some seven million people in the country are expected to be directly affected by the water shortage.
In 2006, Turkey began constructing the Ilisu Dam on the Tigris River near its namesake village.
It is one of 22 dams, part of the Southeastern Anatolia Project.
On Saturday, Turkey announced the completion of the dam’s last phase.
Ilisu dam is expected to produce 1,200 megawatts of power and form a 10.4 billion cubic meter reservoir for Turkey.
That same day, Kurdish officials noted that neighboring Iran had restricted water flow to the cross-border Little Zab River, triggering a severe water shortage in the surrounding Kurdish towns.
Iraqis and Kurds alike rushed to Twitter to ask the UN to intervene and help prevent a water shortage.
Others have ironically referenced the role the UN previously played in addressing humanitarian crises in Iraq, replacing the Oil-for-Food Program with ‘Oil-for-Water.’ Other users stressed the disastrous impact the water crisis will have on agricultural lands, farming, and access to drinking water.

For those living in the country of Haiti, the task of getting clean water isn’t so simple.
Matthew Brown, a third-generation co-owner of Yadkin Well Company in Hamptonville, has been volunteering for several years now to help drill wells in Haiti.
Following the 2010 earthquake in Haiti that devastated much of the country, Brown took their volunteer work international.
“There’s always been a need there but an increased need because after the earthquake so many people moved out of the cities and started from scratch,” Brown explained.
Brown volunteers with a group called Healing Hands International (HHI).
Each well can serve around 1,500 people, Brown said.
He and his friend, Yadkin Well Company employee David Cave, were able to help drill that milestone 1,000th well in the Haitian town of La Tremblay.
The people of Haiti often must use streams to collect drinking water.
Yadkin Well Company serves customers in around 40 counties across the state as well as Virginia and South Carolina.
“The excitement around water that they have, we just really take for granted what we have here,” Brown said.

PNN/Bethlehem/ The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) today issued a press release, which highlights the extent of the water problem in Gaza: only 11.4% of its population have access to safe, clean water.
This finding was published alongside other environmental statistics on Palestine to mark World Environment Day (WED), a UN initiative to raise global awareness and action for the environment.
Measured according to the definition of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the percentage of Palestinians who use safe drinking water stands at slightly over 60%.
This figure is raised significantly by the 95.1% of Palestinians in the West Bank who are able to drink potable water.
Israel’s destruction of water sanitation plants in Gaza is one of the reasons for the severe shortage of clean water.
It justifies these actions by claiming the plants were built illegally.
PCBS’ worrying report on water safety comes on the same day as Save the Children report on mental health in Gaza.
Its research warns that Gaza children are on the brink of a mental health crisis, with 95% of young people showing acute psychological distress.

Fresh water is one of our most precious natural resources.
We rely on it for everything from powering our homes and businesses, to drinking, showering and washing our cars, to boating, fishing and other recreation.
I serve on the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (EPW), which has jurisdiction over America’s water infrastructure.
Our committee recently passed comprehensive legislation to update and maintain water infrastructure systems such as dams and levees across the U.S. By strengthening the dams and levees used to manage our nations’ rivers, we’re taking steps toward protecting the lives and property of those downstream by reducing flood risks.
Since taking office, I have been working to make sure the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is doing all they can to properly manage the Missouri River to avoid a flood like what we experienced in 2011.
I was happy that a number of my priorities related to the Army Corps were included in the water infrastructure bill that passed out of the EPW Committee.
It prioritizes the implementation of the Upper Missouri River Basin snowpack monitoring system that I’ve been calling for, which will help mitigate the possibility of a major flood event for those living or working along the Missouri River.
It also includes a provision for the Army Corps of Engineers to carry out a project for shoreline stabilization on the Lower Brule Reservation.
to secure a verbal commitment toward addressing an Obama-era proposal known as the “surplus water rule.” This proposed rule could restrict South Dakotans’ access to water in Army Corps-controlled land.
South Dakotans are legally entitled to use the water, so providing relief from this rule is necessary.

Weather woes continue for a Henderson County woman.
"I’m just at a loss of words," said storm victim Mary Dalton.
"Mother Nature at her fury just opened up and took my only access to home."
Mary Dalton is pleading for help after last week’s damaging rainstorms left her without clean drinking water and limited access to her own home.
She walks more than 100 yards back and forth from her house, and up a hill to her car, stuck in a problem area.
It’s been like this for days.
She’s been drinking water out of jugs and is forced to carry all of her groceries and other belongings, sometimes in the dark, over rusted pipes and boulders.
She says she’s tried contacting multiple agencies and public officials for help, to no avail.
Tonight at 10 and 11 we’ll have more about Dalton’s efforts to get help, and hear what the Red Cross has to say about anyone with storm damage.

“Groundwater is too important to solely rely on the government stewardship of it,” said Canadian geophysicist/engineer and Living Lakes Canada advisor Paul Bauman.
His presentation focused mainly on his recent travels to Uganda where he helped refugees identify water sources and build wells as they returned to their communities after 20 years of civil war.
In the Upper Columbia Basin, Living Lakes Canada (LLC) is monitoring groundwater in priority aquifers — the geological features underground that store and release water — through its Groundwater Monitoring Program.
This is being done by locating already-existing wells and installing water level loggers to measure groundwater levels in the wells.
Aquifer selection is based on potential for vulnerability to contamination, potential for user conflict, and high number of users.
Currently, of the 154 aquifers in the Upper Columbia Basin that have been mapped by the province, 10 are being monitored in the LLC Groundwater Monitoring Program.
One example demonstrating how the data can be used is the State of Climate Adaptation report for the Regional District of East Kootenay Electoral Area F in 2017, which plans to use groundwater as an indicator of water supply for determining climate change resiliency.
“We’re gauging water quantity and comparing aquifer levels to precipitation,” said LLC Groundwater Monitoring Program Manager Carol Luttmer.
Living Lakes Canada facilitates a community-driven approach for protecting water resources and recognizes the importance of data to support effective management of our resources.
To learn more, visit www.livinglakescanada.ca.

Each year, 8 million metric tons of plastics enter oceans, adding to the estimated 150 million metric tons that currently circulate marine environments, according to Ocean Conservancy.
You can take action to protect your health and the environment from harmful plastics.
Here’s how: Filter Your Water Start by ensuring that the water you and your family drink is both healthy and safe.
Using a water filtration system can help eliminate harmful microplastics present in your drinking water and minimise the need for single-use plastic bottles and pollution.
Note: Not all water filters remove microplastics, so knowing which filters address this issue is important as you make a decision.
Water filtration products remove chemicals, bacteria, odours, bad taste and 99.999 per cent of microplastics from contaminated water, enabling access to safe drinking water on-demand nearly anywhere.
This is higher protection than the standard carbon-based filters that are available on the market.
Try re-usable storage bags or items made of compostable material.
To improve your family’s wellness and protect the planet, think water.
Avoid consuming microplastics, invest in filtration, and prevent more plastic from contaminating our oceans and environment by shopping responsibly and supporting brands that share these values.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Iraq and the Kurdistan Region face a serious water crisis as the governments of Turkey and Iran have been decreasing or cutting water supplies into the country’s rivers.
The Iraqi Minister of Water Resources, Hassan al-Janabi, said on Saturday that the Turkish government had begun filling the newly-established Ileso Dam on the Tigris River.
According to Janabi, Iraq has an agreement with Turkey regarding the amount of water that is stored in the dam and the quantity to be launched.
He also revealed that an Iraqi delegation would visit Turkey soon to discuss the matter with Turkish officials.
The effects of the Turkish dam filling were noticed on Friday with a significant reduction of water levels in the Tigris River in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, Mosul, and in the marshlands of southern Iraq, raising fears of drought which would affect the country’s livestock and agriculture.
Turkey’s Ambassador to Iraq Fatih Yildiz wrote in a tweet that he was aware of concerns expressed by “the Iraqi people and friends,” and promised to take their worries to Ankara.
He added that Turkey had cooperated and communicated with Iraq in the past and had consulted Baghdad before filling the Ileso Dam.
Riyadh Ezadin, the Director of the Mosul Dam project, said the amount of water coming from Turkey had decreased by 50 percent.
Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources on Saturday said Iran had deliberately cut water flow to the Lower Zab River in the Kurdistan Region town of Qaladze in Sulaimani Province.
Editing by Karzan Sulaivany Updated4 hours ago