Senator Grace Poe has wants a law mandating employers in private and public sectors to provide “free of charge” and clean drinking water to their employees.
She filed Senate Bill No.
“Drinking water, no matter how essential, is unfortunately not free.
For people who are working in the field or those who are obligated to move around and outside an office, bottled mineral water ranges from P18 to P40 depending on the volume: 1 liter to 1.5 liters, she said.
“Just by looking around outside one’s home or office, one could surely notice our traffic enforcers manning our streets, our policemen patrolling everywhere, construction workers building various establishments, service people catering to the needs of the consuming public, office workers, and the like,” she said.
The senator noted that the United Nations “itself recognized that one’s access to water is a basic human right.” “One could not help to wonder–how much are they forced to spend to be able to have a healthy drinking water, a basic human necessity and a UN-declared human right, especially given the fact that they work under the blistering heat of the sun?” Poe wondered.
SBN 1792 seeks to “remove the burden” of having to spend for healthy drinking water while performing one’s work off of the pockets of all employees, she said.
It seeks to mandate all employers to provide free, healthy, and accessible drinking water to all their employees during working hours whether or not the latter’s work, tasks and/or duties are performed inside or outside offide or business premises.
SBN 1792 also seeks to “penalize non-compliant employers who will deprive employees of the basic human need and human right to have healthy and accessible drinking water that is compliant with the PNSDW (Phil.
National Standards for Drinking Water).

During the switch, the residents of Flint would get their water from the Flint River.
The government-funded free water bottles for the residents to use during the process.
On April 6, Governor Rick Snyder announced the end of the free bottled water program.
The government will not send more water bottles to Flint, the supplies there now are the last ones.
The announcement came in response to many tests that declared the water quality improved and safe for use.
Some residents of Flint cannot afford high quantities of bottled water from stores.
Nestle previously donated water bottles right when the Flint water crisis began in April 2014 by sending 19,000 bottles to the city.
They again aided Flint by sending 1.5 million bottles of water to the community in 2016.
Many members of the Flint community still do not hold enough trust in the government to use the water from the tap.
Residents require more reassurance, such as the completion of fixed pipes and the end of construction on the water system.

Zero Mass Water makes solar panel arrays that pull clean drinking water from the air.
Zero Mass arrays could come in handy in areas where water sources are far away or scarce.
In 2015, it launched its first product, Source — a solar panel array that harvests and filters water from vapour in the air.
The company has installed the devices in nine countries, including Chile, Jordan, Peru and the US, where it became available in late 2017.
Each panel costs R31,200 (plus a R6,200 installation fee) and generates an average of 2 to 5 litres of water daily, depending on levels of humidity and sunlight.
The device adds minerals to increase the water’s pH levels (to make it taste more like bottled water), and stores the water underneath the panels in a reservoir that can hold 30 litres.
Friesen said the company’s ideal customer is everyone.
Duke Energy has also deployed panels in Ecuador, and Zero Mass received a USAID grant to install panels in refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon in 2015.
Friesen added that maintaining the device is low-cost.
"We want to perfect water for every person and every place," Friesen said.

The Times-Standard Three hundred miles to the south, our society rewards the makers of tech trinkets with the greatest fortunes ever amassed in history — largely, infamously untaxed.
Meanwhile, a coalition of government officials here and in Sacramento is asking you to pay a little more to ensure that everyone in the state has access to clean drinking water.
Just ask the residents of Flint.
But why should our leaders be inventing new taxes to ensure the delivery of the most basic of services when there are plenty of old taxes laying around, endlessly abused or ignored outright by a long line of corporations that are by no means in any danger whatsoever of experiencing a moment of thirst?
Let the gloriously untaxed among us pick up the canteen and walk to a well, for once, for the betterment of the society that shelters them from any of the great responsibility that should by all rights and the wisdom of Stan Lee come with the great power they’ve managed to accumulate.
The proposal currently trickling through the halls of power in Sacramento, if adopted, would take effect in July 2020.
It looks to charge most of us 95 cents a month, with heavy business and industry paying $4 to $10 a month.
Additional taxes on fertilizers and dairy products would swell the pool of revenue collected each year to around $140 million.
Color us skeptical.
Proponents of the proposed new tax tell us that 1 million Californians each year go without access to safe drinking water, and that nearly 2 million Californians lack service from a public water system.

Water is running out in the South African city of Cape Town.
However, reports are suggesting that the city may avoid Day Zero by an unconventional idea which they’re considering.
An iceberg, weighing about 70,000 tons, would be enough to provide nearly 150 million litres of water per day for a year.
This is reported to meet nearly one-third of Cape Town’s water needs.
Cape Town isn’t alone in the list of cities that may face dire consequences due to a water crisis.
Mexico City is one of the world’s largest cities with about 21 million people, which is expected to reach 30 million at the end of 2030.
Geo News reported that the level has reached 46 feet and when the water reaches 44 feet, the supply to Karachi will be closed.
It’s not only the regions and countries I’ve just mentioned that have been facing the crisis over water — there’s an alarm bell ringing in all countries about the impending water crises that could lead to big wars.
Water.org says that a lack of access to safe water and improved sanitation facilities in rural areas, overcrowded conditions, and a lack of healthy ways of disposing waste in urban centres, all contribute to the water and sanitation crisis in Bangladesh.
The underground water level fell and the salinity problem increased.

The three-year study found no relationship between methane concentrations in groundwater and proximity to natural gas wells.
Geologists with the University of Cincinnati examined drinking water in Carroll, Stark and Harrison counties, a rural region in northeast Ohio where many residents rely on water from private underground wells.
The time-series study was the first of its kind in Ohio to examine methane in groundwater in relation to natural gas drilling.
Groundwater sample locations are noted when samples were taken between the years noted in each map.
They found no increase in methane concentration or composition in groundwater over the four years of the study, despite the presence of new shale gas wells drilled in the study area.
But researchers found no relationship between the methane observed in drinking water and the new gas wells.
Lead author and UC graduate Claire Botner said the study solicited participation by homeowners who were willing to let researchers test their wells.
When UC launched its methane study in 2012, Ohio had issued 115 drilling permits for the region.
Researchers hypothesized that methane concentrations in the drinking-water wells they sampled would increase over time with the growth of natural gas drilling in the area.
Wirkner said gas companies test the drinking water of nearby homes before and after they drill a well to observe any changes in water quality.

Copper King Elementary School’s Environmental Engineering Academy is committed to sustainable sources of energy for students to learn and benefit from.
SOURCE Hydropanels make drinking water from sunlight and air alone, independent of any infrastructure.
In addition to access to SOURCE drinking water, students will learn about the science and engineering of Hydropanels and the relationship they have with the earth’s water cycle.
Rachel Kissner, teacher in the Environmental Engineering Academy at Copper King School shares, “We are so excited to have the opportunity for our students to see real-world innovative engineering in action.
She believes, “Pendergast deeply values student learning in collaboration with community partners.
Our high quality STEAM programs appreciate partnerships such as Zero Mass water, because they cause students to think about engineering in terms of social accountability.
The Zero Mass Water project allows students to learn about engineering clean water via solar energy.
Zero Mass Water puts the power of safe, high-quality water production into the hands of every person in nearly every climate and corner of the world.
Zero Mass Water is headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ.
For more information, go to zeromasswater.com or follow Zero Mass Water on Twitter @zeromasswater

World Vision is the church’s international focus for the year, and Hardee is responsible for bringing this global event to Gaston County.
The 6k is one of multiple events the church will host for World Vision throughout the year.
“We’re excited to see many people take advantage of this,” said Hardee.
What: World Vision Global 6k for Water When: 9 a.m. Saturday, May 19 Where: Gaston Christian School, 1625 Lowell Bethesda Road, Gastonia Cost: $50 for adults, $25 for students/children In addition to racing, participants have the option of raising extra money for the cause.
Those who registered before May 14 were not only guaranteed a race shirt, but their racing bib will have a photo of a child they’re running to provide clean water for.
After the race, participants will have the opportunity to sign up and sponsor that child for $38 a month.
Walkers are welcome to use the cross country track, if they’d prefer.
Hardee’s goal for the congregation this year is to “drink water, shed water and give water.” “We’ve made it a theme for the year.
We’d drink in that which we believe, but also drink water to give ourselves better physically, to make water by getting out there and sweating it out, and giving water to people that don’t have the opportunity to get clean water without assistance of us,” said Hardee.
“They have to walk for water whether it’s rain or shine, so we can run or walk rain or shine to bring water to them,” said Hardee.

The presence of dangerous, undrinkable water in the homes of nearly a million Californians needs to be fixed.
The contaminated water supplies tend to be located in rural, disadvantaged communities throughout the state of California.
In over 300 communities across the state, contaminated water has forced schools to turn off faucets and residents to buy bottled water for drinking, cooking and washing.
Solutions would be quickly forthcoming, regardless of the cost.
Some families in these disadvantaged communities pay up to 10 percent of their income for water when one accounts for both monthly bills and purchased water.
Thanks to a collaborative effort among the agricultural industry, environmental groups, social and economic justice advocates and elected officials, a bill is moving through the state legislature to bring clean, safe, affordable water to everyone in California.
The creation of a Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund would secure an ongoing funding source that would allow smaller systems to deliver clean, safe and affordable water to customers, no matter their location or size.
The permanent solution would require Californians to all come together and pitch in — a truly collective effort.
Every water system in California would soon deliver clean, safe and affordable drinking water to consumers.
They are determined to work together to make the universal right of safe drinking water a reality in every California community.

Emergency management officials are trying to protect drinking water systems throughout the Okanogan Valley from flood water contamination.
In Oroville, they’re using sandbags to protect city wells that supply drinking water to residents within the city limit.
Outside of the city, residents typically depend on their own wells for water.
“I think the main concern is all the outlying areas that have home use wells and any of those are probably on low lying areas are already contaminated,” Oroville Mayor Jon Neal said.
According to emergency managers who gathered for a public meeting at the Oroville High School Wednesday night, municipal drinking water systems in cities along the river have not been affected by flooding.
Officials recommend that residents do not drink water that comes from a well that has been flooded, unless it has been tested by the Okanogan County Public Health Department.
“The concern is if a levy actually failed and water ran over the top of the wells, they are contaminated instantly,” Neal said.
Neal said the city has six sealed wells.
He also says the flood water would have to rise above 25 feet before it could affect the city’s systems.
Currently, the National Weather Service predicts high water levels near 21 feet—still a record for flooding, but, Neal said, not enough to inundate Oroville’s city drinking water.