But then, this problem was the cash cow for those at the helm of affairs in the PHE Department from 2011-16, allegedly making a section of them richer with ill-gotten money.
The department had Gautam Roy as its minister for the first three years during the period from 2011-16.
According to sources, during the period the department procured 33,600 filters worth Rs 83 crore meant for schools with an apparent purpose of ridding school teachers and students of the ill effect of arsenic and fluoride-contaminated water while in schools.
However, the sinister undertone in the large-scale purchase of such filters is glaringly visible when one studies the manner of distribution of the filters.
Only 39 per cent of the filters purchased were supplied to schools, and the supply was not need-based.
The remaining 61 per cent of the filters had to be dumped in PHE godowns for years.
The department made a mess of the distribution of such filters among the schools in the State.
Thousands of filters were supplied to schools that have no problem of arsenic and fluoride contamination and schools that are located in areas where there are no such contaminated habitations.
The schools received the filters only to make them lie idle for years.
The irony remains that despite spending such a huge amount, arsenic and fluoride contamination in water continues to be a serious problem in the State.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is no longer working on the contaminated ground water at Wedron and has turned cleanup over to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
Because the source of contaminants was determined to be petroleum from underground storage tanks, the federal Superfund program no longer applies to the Wedron cleanup because of a Superfund petroleum exclusion, according to an Illinois EPA spokeswoman.
The likely source of contamination has zeroed in on the former Hoxsey store and gas station.
Two underground petroleum tanks were removed in 1978 at the Hoxsey site but contamination remains.
If this does not work, the Illinois EPA said it will look at using Leaking Underground Storage Tank Fund money to clean it up.
Some shallow water wells remain and some additional wells have shown contamination.
Some of Wedron’s water samples showed elevated levels of benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene and xylene, compounds from gasoline and other petroleum fuels.
Because there is no regulatory standard for silica in air, the results were compared against a health-based criteria of 3 micrograms per cubic meter.
The north site showed an average of 1.45 micrograms per cubic meter, with 37 percent of samples below the detectable level.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

[Stock photo] Michigan has taken several proactive steps this week to address the safety of its water — and waterways.
After the bungling of the Flint water crisis, state and federal officials learned the huge ramifications of the government not doing enough to protect its citizens.
Any potential environmental risk must be taken extremely seriously, and dealt with quickly.
Reports of the chemical contaminant PFAS (perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances) around Michigan have recently sparked concern.
So it’s good Gov.
On Tuesday, Snyder ordered state and local agencies to put together a readiness plan for when contamination is discovered, as a precaution and a supplement to other action already underway.
The new Michigan PFAS Action Response Team will “work diligently to help communities respond to PFAS contamination that threatens public health and safety,” according to a statement.
The level found there was more than 20 times higher than the Environmental Protection Agency’s health recommendation.
The Detroit News has reported that Michigan has 35 contamination sites, including Lake St. Clair and the Clinton River in Macomb County.
The directive will ensure the Department of Health and Human Services will work with state emergency management coordinators and local public health department directors to develop the readiness plan.

The World Bank unveiled a report titled “Promising Progress: A Diagnostic of Water Supply, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Poverty in Bangladesh” on October 11.
It portrays a dismal picture of water quality in the country.
Seventy-five million Bangladeshis (nearly half the population) are drinking contaminated water where there is presence of arsenic and E-coli bacteria, depending on the region.
Forty-one percent of water supplied has bacteria at source and 13 percent water contains arsenic.
There are certain things that are beyond our control like climate change which is increasing both the frequency and intensity of natural disasters that play havoc with water and sanitation services.
We need to move away from dependence on tube wells to piped water which can be monitored and treated.
Nearly 95 percent of the rural populace and 70 percent of urban residents depend on tube wells where it is very difficult to monitor water quality.
With continued dependence on groundwater comes the challenge of depleting water tables that may be causing arsenic contamination of water supply.
We need to move to piped water supply which will require a major overhaul of existing piped water networks, especially in urban areas.
It is up to policymakers to prioritise the repair and maintenance of piped water systems if we wish to improve on the nutritional disadvantages of early childhood which are linked to poor water quality and sanitation.

She was found dead at a Mary Doyle Lifecare Complex apartment in Havelock North on August 13, 2016.
Coroner Peter Ryan says in his report he is satisfied that she died "as a result of becoming infected with campylobacter in a background of coronary artery disease and appendiceal tumour".
But the artery condition had not been discovered at the time she had been taken ill a few days before her passing, and the coroner says she did not seek medical attention, possibly with a "false sense of security" generated by the serviced-apartment and monitored environment in which she lived a short distance from the Havelock North village centre.
"Although she was monitored by caregivers on a regular basis, these people were not qualified nor expected to assess the extent of her illness," he said.
"The caregivers did encourage Mrs Sparksman to maintain a high fluid intake and continued to monitor her vital signs," he said.
He said she had not shown symptoms of heart disease before another resident reported to a caregiver on August 10, 2016, that Sparksman was unwell.
Vital signs were considered within normal range but because of the symptoms the team leader gave her a glass of rehydration fluid and encouraged her to maintain a high fluid intake.
There were "no other obvious" concerns when she was visited about 2am on August 13, but she was found dead in the apartment about 5.45am.
The coroner said a pathologist considered the death resulted from an interaction between pre-existing natural diseases and an infective gastroenteritis.
A GP believed Sparksman should been seen by a health professional on August 12, but as she "managed all aspects of her own health" there was no responsibility on the caregivers to refer her to primary health care.

We are on our way to Jai Hind camp, home to about 1,200 families in the south of Delhi, India.
Here, more than anywhere else in the Indian capital, life revolves around water.
Tankers carry water to the camp seven times a day and, until recently, filling up a couple of 50-litre tanks was an ugly game, explains Kaur, who works with the Forum for Organised Resource Conservation and Enhancement (Force), a charity trying to improve sanitation and access to clean water in India.
Managing the new community toilet is helping her achieve that, but Fatima, who only uses her first name, is not only working for the benefit of her own family.
While this doesn’t mean that the capital is going to run dry, as it receives water supply from neighbouring states, "Delhi is currently pulling too much water out of the ground and we are not putting back a sufficient amount", says Amitabh Kant, chief executive of NITI Aayog.
"These are states to which 50% of the population and agriculture basket belongs, and therefore, if they do not do well, food security is at risk for the whole of India."
"What happens is that some politicians or officials within the Delhi Jal Board (the government agency responsible for drinking water supply in the region) use public tankers to sell water as a private enterprise."
Water guardians Tucked away in the industrial area of Kirti Nagar, in west Delhi, a small migrant community offers a glimpse of an alternative future, where water is equally distributed and reaches people’s homes, even in a slum.
This is one of the first notified slums in Delhi where the government is supporting such a sophisticated water supply system.
"Our strength is working as a group" she says.

Home | Environment Union Leader Correspondent MERRIMACK — Residents will be updated this week on the state’s ongoing investigation into perfluorooctanoic acid in southern New Hampshire.
Representatives with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (DES), as well as town officials, will be hosting a public informational meeting on Wednesday to inform the community of ongoing efforts to combat the water contamination.
“DES now has some real tools, some real teeth to work with companies like Saint-Gobain,” said town councilor Bill Boyd.
A new law that went into effect on Sept. 8 allows the department to require controls for air emissions of certain PFAS compounds that impact soil and water.
Wednesday’s meeting will provide agency officials the opportunity to review results from recent tests taken from Saint-Gobain’s smokestacks at the Merrimack plant.
DES has already stated that the local facility is still releasing small amounts of polyfluoroalkyl chemicals from the stacks, which could be contributing to local groundwater contamination.
DES will update residents on the site investigation, ongoing water remediation projects with private wells in Merrimack and nearby communities, the air emission tests and Merrimack Village District’s work to improve public wells.
A question and answer session will be held, and break-out conversations with smaller groups will also take place at the meeting, which begins at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at James Mastricola Upper Elementary School, 26 Baboosic Lake Road.
“I absolutely am thrilled that DES is coming to Merrimack.
I think that since we started dealing with this issue some two-plus years ago, the opportunity to get up to date information related to water quality, air quality and legislation is critical,” said Boyd.

Small water districts serving about 15,500 Oregonians could be focus or new fee, inspections SALEM — Under a proposal from state health officials, most public water systems — from small housing developments to bigger cities serving thousands of residents — may have to pay higher monitoring fees to the state.
State health officials are asking for a $1.8 million bump in fees in the state’s next two-year budget to cover costs of monitoring public water systems, an area they say has long been underfunded at a risk to public health and public trust in the safety of drinking water.
Lacking staff to help The state regulates the roughly 900 public water systems that fall between small, private systems with fewer than 10 customers and larger systems subject to more stringent federal Safe Drinking Water Act standards.
"The problem with state-regulated systems is that we don’t have staff to adequately enforce the regulations when a system stops submitting required monitoring data," Modie wrote in an email to the Oregon Capital Bureau.
The state also monitors systems subject to federal Safe Drinking Water Act standards, and inspects those every three or five years; those systems would also face fee increases under the health authority’s proposal.
Sustainable base program Even before the Salem water crisis unfolded in May, the state’s health agency has been saying that the drinking water services program doesn’t have enough money.
The program lost a third of its staff since 2009 due to a lack of money, Emme wrote.
Buckhorn’s system, which serves 11 people, is regulated by the state but isn’t inspected, according to state data.
The agency has already received some additional money for drinking water issues in the current budget.
Withycombe is a reporter for the East Oregonian working for the Oregon Capital Bureau, a collaboration of EO Media Group, Pamplin Media Group and Salem Reporter.

The Detroit school district will install hydration stations at all its schools after more than half tested positive for high levels of copper and lead in the water.
City officials have blamed old fixtures for the contamination.
Until the installation is completed, bottled water will be provided to affected schools to "ensure there is no lead or copper in all water consumed by students and staff,” Superintendent Nikolai Vitti said.
The school district will replace more than 800 drinking fountains with the hydration stations, which it said is a long-term solution to the problem.
In 2014, the city of Flint switched its water supply to save money.
It failed to ensure that water from the Flint River had been treated with anti-corrosion agents, as required by law.
In all, nearly 100,000 people were affected by the contaminated water.
Federal health officials found that young children in Flint had significantly higher levels of dangerous lead in their blood.
Health officials say elevated exposure to lead can cause health and behavioral problems in children because their developing brains and nervous systems are more sensitive.
Exposure to copper can cause gastrointestinal problems in some children.

Detroit public schools expect to spend nearly $3.8 million enacting a long-term solution to widespread lead and copper contamination in students’ drinking water.
The price tag includes $741,939 to install 818 hydration stations and filters, $750,000 for water coolers until completed installation of the stations in the summer of 2019, $539,880 for environmental remediation costs, $1.2 million for maintenance services and $282,000 for facilities maintenance, according to a resolution passed unanimously by the Detroit Community Schools Board on Tuesday, Oct. 9.
It’s estimated there will be one hydration station per 100 students in a district of nearly 50,000.
Nearly $2.4 million of the cost is being offset by donations from nonprofits and businesses.
The district last month announced that water samples taken from 57 of 86 schools revealed copper or lead levels in excess of legally acceptable limits.
Mass drinking water problems were discovered in at least 33 of 52 schools when test results were returned just prior to the start of the 2018-2019 school year.
Results prompted administrators to install water coolers and offer bottled water to students as they returned to class in September.
Detroit Public Schools Community District Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told the Associated Press it would cost an estimated $100,000 per month to provide water to students.
A list of schools that tested for high levels of copper or lead can be found here.
Hydration stations, such as those scheduled to be installed in Detroit schools, are currently used in Royal Oak, Ann Arbor and Birmingham schools, according to the district,