EPA continues reimbursing Gold King Mine costs.
These payments represent requests received by EPA prior to December 16, 2016, that had adequate documentation.
They were evaluated following enactment of the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act on December 16, 2016.
EPA is still evaluating other reimbursement requests, some of which were received after December 16, 2016.
The payments are made using EPA guidelines for determining which response costs related to the Gold King Mine release are eligible for reimbursement under the recently passed WIIN Act.
A link to the guidance is below.
To date, EPA has dedicated more than $29 million to address the Gold King Mine release, including reimbursing more than $3.5 million in documented and allowable response costs to 10 state, tribal, and local governments.
"States, tribes, and local governments are valued partners.
With the Gold King Mine and the res t of the Bonita Peak Mining District now on the Superfund Priorities List, we look forward to improving the environment for everyone involved and ensuring Gold King costs are handled in a timely and fair manner," said EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.

“This year to date, we’ve been running at a record pace for the majority of the winter in terms of the amount of precipitation that we’ve seen in the Northern Sierra,” he said.
The average for the northern Sierra is 50” for the water year.
The January-February inflow was 4.4 MAF which is equal to the average annual inflow into Lake Oroville.
“If you recall, we’re well over 200% of average on precipitation and about 166% on snowpack, so what that tells us essentially is we’ve been seeing the volume of precip has been coming in a warmer form than would be average, so that’s why the snowpack is not keeping up with the volume in terms of precipitation.” He noted that the snowpack number is a little bit closer on the Central and Southern Sierra, and there is still a concern moving into the spring of being able to manage the snowmelt that’s going to occur on the San Joaquin basin.
“So the 50% exceedance would include all of the snowpack melt that’s occurred as of March 1st plus precipitation that would occur on average from that point forward.
“Those are all based on those inflows into those reservoirs and the Sacramento Valley.” “To date, we’re running 282% of average in terms of runoff,” he said.
“That also tells you that the storms have been warmer than average because we’re 200% of average on precipitation but we’re 282% in terms of runoff, so typically more of the precipitation would have fallen as snow than it did this year and would runoff later in the year.” With respect to where we were last year, last year there was about average precipitation but runoff was only 6.7 MAF versus the 22.1 MAF, so over three times more runoff so far this year than last year, Mr. Leahigh said.
For Delta outflows just since January 1st , 26 MAF of outflow went out the Golden Gate, so 26 Folsom Reservoirs just since January 1st of water that had to be passed through for flood control purposes in order to continue to hold that vacant storage for snowmelt and for any subsequent precipitation events that could occur from this point forward.” He said that reservoir storage on the San Joaquin system is very high right now, so they are working to create as much of a hole in the tributary reservoirs in order to absorb that snowpack when it does start to melt off a little bit later this spring.
We have some uncertainties with Lake Oroville, but in years like this, there are a lot of other flows that are coming into the Delta so that we’re much less reliant on storage from Lake Oroville in the very wet years, so we’re looking for opportunities to increase that allocation as we move forward in the spring.” To conclude, Mr. Leahigh showed a comparison of the this year’s drought monitor compared to last year at about the same time.
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GUWAHATI: A research scholar from Tezpur University has found a low-cost and user-friendly way to detect the level of fluoride contamination of water by using just a smartphone.
BIRAC, or Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council, is a government enterprise.
The ambient light sensor (ALS) and the LED flash in smartphones are used to detect fluoride contamination, Iftak said.
"The detection technology is based on fluoride’s reaction with zirconium dye, which forms a colourless complex anion (a negatively charged ion).
As the fluoride concentration increases, it tends to bleach the dye to make it progressively lighter in colour.
A specific wavelength from the LED flash is allowed to interact with the reagent-treated water sample.
"The interface is simple and easy to use.
This technology can be handled by anyone," he added.
The project, with which Kamal Uddin Ahmed of the department of civil engineering at Tezpur University is also associated, is extremely significant in the state, where the concentration of fluoride in ground water has been detected to be up to 6.88 mg per litre.
"The cost of the kit will further go down once it starts commercial production," he added.

Turkish Airlines to Fly Supplies to Somalia During Drought.
“Internet you did it!” Tweeted Vine and Snap star Jérôme Jarre.
He’s got a reason to celebrate; celebrities banded together to raise money to help fight famine in Somalia and to care for its residents who were affected by a severe drought.
(According to a video posted by Ben Stiller, about 6 million people are in danger of dying due to the famine.)
Without assistance, many people face malnutrition, significantly increased risk of disease, loss of livelihoods and even death.” It’s being compared to the famine of 2010-2012, which took the lives of over 250,000 people.
So Jérôme joined up with his Zoolander 2 costar, as well as influencers and celebrities like athlete Colin Kaepaernik to raise awareness about the famine, posting a special hashtag to Twitter that quickly picked up steam.
Each also posted quick videos to share information about what’s going on in Somalia.
[#tweet: https://twitter.com/jeromejarre/status/843543015293632513] [#tweet: https://twitter.com/jeromejarre/status/842086732686360578?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw] The Tweet soon turned into a social media campaign and a GoFundMe started by Jérôme, Stiller, Juanpa Zurita, and Casey Neistat.
Jerome’s goal was not only to spread the word about the devastating famine, but to catch the attention of Turkish Airlines so they could fill a plane with food, water, and supplies and fly it to Somalia.
If you want to help, you can donate at the GoFundMe page or make your own short video to help raise awareness.

PHOTO GALLERY: This weekend at Oroville Dam.
Damaged spillway returns to use; other work continues From the Department of Water Resources: By mid-afternoon on Friday March 17, 2017, the California Department of Water Resources had increased the water outflow from the gates of the Lake Oroville flood control spillway to 40,000 cubic feet per second.
Kelly M. Grow/ California Department of Water Resources Friday morning at 11 a.m., the California Department of Water Resources reopened the gates to the damaged Lake Oroville flood control spillway to bring down the lake level to accommodate the inflow waters from rain and snowmelt expected over the next week at the Butte County site.
Kelly M. Grow/ California Department of Water Resources Around noon on Friday March 17, 2017, the California Department of Water Resources had increased the water outflow from the gates of the Lake Oroville flood control spillway to 40,000 cubic feet per second.
Kelly M. Grow/ California Department of Water Resources Friday morning at 11 a.m., the California Department of Water Resources reopened the gates to the damaged Lake Oroville flood control spillway to bring down the lake level to accommodate the inflow waters from rain and snowmelt expected over the next week at the Butte County site.
Kelly M. Grow/ California Department of Water Resources The California Department of Water Resources continued to release water from the Lake Oroville flood control spillway at an outflow of 41,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) on Saturday March 18, 2017.
Ryan McKinney / California Department of Water Resources The California Department of Water Resources continued to release water from the Lake Oroville flood control spillway at an outflow of 41,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) on Saturday March 18, 2017.
Ryan McKinney / California Department of Water Resources, FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY The California Department of Water Resources continued to release water from the Lake Oroville flood control spillway at an outflow of 41,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) on Saturday March 18, 2017.
Ryan McKinney / California Department of Water Resources The California Department of Water Resources continued to release water from the Lake Oroville flood control spillway at an outflow of 41,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) on Saturday evening March 18, 2017.
Ryan McKinney / California Department of Water Resources

Hyderabad, India, March 18, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The report “Consumer Water & Air Treatment Market Analysis: Technology (Water-Reverse Osmosis, Ultra Violet Treatment Distillation, Conventional Filtration; Air-Electrostatic, Conventional Filtration) Application (Water Treatment, Air Treatment)-Forecast(2017-2022)”, published by IndustryARC, estimates that the Asia-Pacific region will be a key future growth driver as public awareness regarding pollution grows. Browse 20 Market Tables, 50 Figures spread through 145 Pages and an in-depth TOC on “Consumer Water & Air Treatment Market 2017 – 2022” http://industryarc.com/Report/10617/consumer-water-air-treatment-market.html Scope & Regional Forecast of the Consumer Water & Air Treatment Market Consumer water and air treatment systems are devices which are installed in households to provide clean water and fresh air. With rising pollution and contamination of air and ground water resources it is imperative for households to install such devices to get clean water and air. Another driving factor for this growth is the rising consumer concerns about aesthetic qualities of air care products and improving living standards. Whole house air and water treatment systems segment will witness the highest growth in coming years due to the rising awareness in consumers about the air and water contamination. Consumer water and air treatment market is expected to grow with the rise of integrated home solutions in U.S. and Europe during the coming years. The market for Water and Air treatment includes geographical segmentation with regions such as North America, Europe,…

Flows out of the Hyatt Power Plant are at 12,900 cfs.
We’re modeling and forecasting that twice a day, rerunning our reservoir models and looking at what that might do to reservoir elevations, and that will impact when we start stepping down the reservoir from 50,000 to 40,000 and if there’s some other steps as we go down to ultimately zero about a week from now.” “The Hyatt Power Plant is running right now at 12,900, so as we step up our flows on the spillway today, we’ll start backing off on the Hyatt Power Plant.
The idea is to make sure nothing moves around while we go through this spill event.
If we have a mild cool spring, early summer, then our models suggest we can get away two spills, including this spill today, so the operation of the Hyatt Power Plant is very helpful, to not only get water out of the reservoir, but help balance downstream water conditions within the flood control system.” “In other words, with Hyatt operating, we’ll have about 13,000 cfs, any water that we can spill out of the spillway or come out of the Thermalito afterbay will help minimize these large elevation changes within the river system all the way down the system.” “We do have flood operations.
So we expect that with the 50,000 cfs, again we’ll be balancing those flows today between Hyatt Power House going to 0, discharges from the Thermalito Afterbay, and then ultimately the spill off the spillway all through the number of hours midday today.” “We expect water levels within the Feather River to move up between 10 and 15 feet depending upon the geometry within that flood control system, so an important message today is please stay out of the flood control system.
At some point, we won’t be able to get additional water over the spillway, so again that water has to come through that Hyatt Power Plant.” “The work on the emergency spillway is almost done.
So this week, a number of drill rigs have been mobilized to the site to start collecting the geotechnical information that they need to start vetting out all the information they need to kind of fine tune the corrective actions or the mitigation actions that are needed to reinforce and repair the flood control spillway and the emergency spillway.” “There are some no regrets projects that we’re moving fast on.
We need to make sure the resources are available to do one or more options.
We’re doing two because if there’s a critical flaw in any of that – schedule, resource needs, or just the design, then we can off that and choose the other option.” The latest pictures from the Department of Water Resources … Erosion control measures and dredging continues along the diversion pool below the Lake Oroville flood control spillway on March 15, 2017.
Kelly M. Grow/ California Department of Water Resources The latest video from Department of Water Resources … ——————————————– Sign up for daily email service and you’ll always be one of the first to know!

Rats, skulls and drought: Is India facing an impending war over water?.
Rats and exhumed skulls have become the new motif of protest for starving farmers.
South Indian states and, generally, the Indian subcontinent is fast outrunning its water supply.
They are not looking into the drought situation as indicative of a bigger crisis, one that can’t be solved through temporary relief measure – irrespective of the amount- or, through allotting lands to the families of the departed or, more controversially, through linking of the major rivers of South India.
Many parts of the world, even in the developed countries, are naturally arid.
Otherwise, as the World Bank has recently pointed out, the country “will have neither the cash to maintain and build new infrastructure, nor the water required for the economy and for people.” India needs to start its war against drought by ensuring better storage.
The fickle rainfall jeopardises farming because India has the capacity to store only relatively small amount of rainwater.
Whereas the developed countries, which are located in the major river basins can store rainwater collected over 900 days, India can store only about 30 days of rainfall.
Secondly, agricultural research needs to give serious attention to irrigation challenges faced by Indian farmers.
Presently, the paddy varieties grown in India are water-intensive in nature.

Today the VA begins providing disability benefits to Veterans, Reservists, and National Guard members affected by the contaminants in the water supply at Camp Lejeune, NC. Disability Benefits For Veterans Who Were Stationed At Camp Lejeune VA has established a rule stating that those who were stationed at Camp Lejeune, MCAS New River, all including satellite camps and housing areas.from August 1, 1953 through December 31, 1987 who later developed one of the following eight diseases can now receive disability benefits:: Adult leukemia Aplastic anemia and other myelodysplastic syndromes Bladder cancer Kidney cancer Liver cancer Multiple myeloma Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma Parkinson’s disease Presently, these conditions are the only ones for which there is sufficient scientific and medical evidence to support the creation of presumptions; however, VA will continue to review relevant information as it becomes available. See our Disability Compensation page for more information about including how to apply for VA Disability Compensation. Health Benefits In accordance with the 2012 Camp Lejeune health care law, the…

Editorial: Serious work on drought.
Lake McConaughy shrank to only 54 percent full, with an additional decline in 2013.
Many ag producers saw groundwater levels fall, in some cases in dramatic fashion.
There’s good news of late, though.
Groundwater levels in much of the state have made major progress from 2012 due to robust precipitation.
The Platte River valley, the Panhandle and the eastern third of Nebraska have seen significant groundwater gains, the University of Nebraska- Lincoln’s Conservation and Survey Division recently reported.
Water stress returned in 2016 to some areas of central and western Nebraska, the UNL scientists reported, based on survey results from nearly 5,000 wells statewide.
A few days after the UNL researchers issued that report, another institution on the UNL campus — the National Drought Mitigation Center — put forward its inaugural annual report.
The report describes 24 drought-focused projects and 76 events the center has pursued either within our country or abroad.
These Nebraska-based institutions are making laudable contributions to local and global understanding of drought and options for coping with it.