Press Release – Hastings District Council The Hastings District Council has welcomed the findings of the Government Inquiry into the contamination event that affected Havelock Norths water supply in August 2016.Hastings District Council response to Government Inquiry into Havelock North water contamination The Hastings District Council has welcomed the findings of the Government Inquiry into the contamination event that affected Havelock North’s water supply in August 2016.
Mayor Lawrence Yule particularly acknowledged the Inquiry findings regarding the cause of the contamination which was based on the work of the science caucus established by the Inquiry.
“This resulted in contaminated water being sucked into the water supply through Brookvale Bore One while it was operating in the normal manner.” “The Inquiry is clear that Hastings District Council did not cause the contamination to occur,” said Mayor Yule.
“These include maintenance inspections and maintenance record-keeping, the standard of planning and contingency documentation required under the New Zealand Drinking Water Standards, compliance with requests from the Drinking Water Assessors, and the effectiveness of working relationships with other agencies involved in drinking water safety.” “Council is fully committed to addressing and fixing the deficiencies highlighted by the Inquiry to ensure the safety of drinking water in the future,” said Mr McLeod.
· Improving risk management and legal compliance systems.
· Further age testing of aquifer water.
This is underway and will be finalised and reported to Council within the next month once the Inquiry findings have been carefully studied and considered by the review team.
“This event had a huge impact on our community,” said Mr Yule.
“We feel deeply for those people affected by the outbreak, particularly those families who lost loved ones and those that are afflicted by ongoing impacts.
Ends

EPA studies creek contamination.
A handful of Osage County oil producers may need to temporarily suspend operations while federal officials attempt to determine the source of salt water contamination in a creek branch northwest of Pawhuska.. For now, producers in the affected area near Bird Creek will be asked to submit daily production reports to investigators with the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA administrator Sam Coleman said.
For several months, the slow-moving pool of salt water and oil was being monitored.
Since the creek eventually would discharge into Bluestem Lake, the city eventually took the precaution of switching to Lake Pawhuska for its municipal water needs.
The source of the salt water found in Bird Creek still has not been determined, officials said.
As a result, more than a mile of pasture land has been declared unuseable.
Tests were subsequently conducted which indicated the damaged pipe was allowing contaminated water to leak into the freshwater creek.
The environmental experts worked quickly with preserve staff to isolate the pollutants.
Pumper trucks were used to take water from a pond beneath the damaged pipe and a series of ditches were dug for collecting the contaminated water until it could be pumped away from the runoff area.
Officials said the salt water that previously spilled into Sand Creek should cause no problems downstream.

With livestock-contamination of drinking water a growing concern in Wisconsin, the Department of Natural Resources has quietly started efforts to provide temporary water supplies to people with tainted wells. The DNR posted an update on its website in April that said it would provide temporary emergency drinking water when tests show that a water supply is contaminated and is likely due to groundwater contaminated by manure, a person on the property contracts a water-borne illness or there is a sudden change in color or odor of well water, Two environmental groups issued statements Wednesday announcing the state initiative. Afterward, the DNR said in a statement the agency used aspects from several programs under existing law to set up the water program. It also notified authorities in Kewaunee County, where well contamination has been most severe. RELATED: Can manure from so many cattle be safely spread on the land? The program’s low-key rollout on a high-profile issue perplexed environmental groups who say the agency has been reluctant to criticize the…

Nearly 30 MILLION Americans are drinking dangerous contaminated tap water linked to cancer, birth defects and lead poisoning.
America may be facing a water crisis as a new report claims that nearly 30 million people have been drinking contaminated tap water.
A report by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) found that 15 percent of those offenses were health-based contamination, including lead, copper, arsenic or cancer-causing poisons.
These pollutants can lead to liver and kidney damage, cancer and birth defects.
Erik Olson, the health program director at NRDC and a report co-author, said: ‘America is facing a nationwide drinking water crisis that goes well beyond lead contamination.
‘The problem is two-fold: there’s no cop on the beat enforcing our drinking water laws, and we’re living on borrowed time with our ancient, deteriorating water infrastructure.
‘We take it for granted that when we turn on our kitchen tap, the water will be safe and healthy, but we have a long way to go before that is reality across our country.’
Adults can be affected by cardiovascular effects, increased blood pressure, decreased kidney function and reproductive problems, according to the EPA.
In 2015, 18 million people’s water supply had lead violations, according to the NRDC.
Consuming contaminated or unsafe water is dangerous for humans but the dirty water also poses a threat to crops and livestock.

Increased awareness among farmers and lifestyle block owners about the risks of water contamination has resulted in a major boost in business for a Waipawa firm.
Q Labs managing director Raymond Burr said while his firm also carried out soil and herbage testing, there had been a significant increase in demand for testing for E.coli and other bacteria, mostly from farmers and lifestyle block owners who were relying on bores and rain water tanks for their domestic water consumption, as well as for livestock.
Q Labs’ head testing technician Rachel Coburn welcomed the greater awareness after the gastro crisis.
People come in, and even though they might be feeling ill, they don’t think they have a problem because they’ve always been on rain water.
But 90-95 per cent of the time, that first test will come back positive [for E.coli] and they are often surprised.
People don’t appreciate the risks [of water contamination]," she said.
So it happens really fast — it’s exponential growth.
Bores were less of a problem, she said, but if the bore heads were not secure they could be prone to contamination after heavy seasonal rains due to the volume of water moving around in the soil.
But people with water tanks needed to be vigilant all year round, she urged.
Contamination advice for owners of private bores and water tanks can also be found at healthed.govt.nz by searching for ‘water’.

Questions for: ‘America’s Tap Water: Too Much Contamination, Not Enough Reporting, Study Finds’.
Article: America’s Tap Water: Too Much Contamination, Not Enough Reporting, Study Finds Before Reading The 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act is the federal law that protects public drinking water supplies throughout the United States.
Under the law, the Environmental Protection Agency sets standards for drinking water quality, and implements various technical and financial programs to ensure drinking water safety.
website.
What questions do you have about the law?
If you live in the United States, what are the chances your drinking water is either unsafe to drink or has not been properly monitored for contaminants in accordance with federal law?
What did Ms. Wu say about the reason repercussions for violations are virtually nonexistent, and subject to no formal action?
Describe the E.P.A.’s recent priorities, and what Mr. Edwards has to say about the drinking water problem.
What more could be done to protect America’s drinking water?
And what more could be done to protect Americans from drinking contaminated water?

Pollution Problems And Solutions Essay.
Pollution Problems And Solutions Essay Essay on Environmental Pollution: Causes, Effects and Solution 5 Feb 2014 Essay on Environmental Pollution: Causes, Effects and Solution .
However, the following attempts can be made to solve the problem of Causes, Effects and Solutions to Environmental Pollution | Earth Causes, effects and solutions of environmental pollution: Pollution is the The problem is we did not realize this until the problem had manifested to The Problems of Pollution essays The Problems of Pollution essays I think that pollution is a serious and growing problem throughout the world today.
Many of these lead to environmental problems that are Water Pollution Causes Effects And Solutions – UK Essays are some of the other problems which lead to water pollution or contamination.
IELTS Writing Task 2 Sample 472 – Problems with environmental 27 Apr 2017 Problems with environmental pollution have become so serious that many This essay will suggest some possible solutions to this issue.
Solving Traffic and Pollution Problems: Essay Ideas – IELTS Liz 25 Jan 2015 It is believed that the most effective solution to rapidly increasing traffic and pollution problems is to make petrol expensive.
Some of the Pollution and Environment Essay – Air Pollution – 123HelpMe.com Industry is looking for solutions to the air pollution problem.
IELTS causes and solutions essay – IELTS-up BAND 9 GUIDE to write ideal IELTS causes/solutions essays.
This question asks you to describe causes and propose solutions for a given problem.
Pollution negatively changes the flow of energy, the chemical constitution of the IELTS Writing Task 2: full essay – ielts-simon.com 18 Aug 2010 This essay will discuss environmental problems and the measures that can be the better solution to reduce increasing transport pollution.

Recent sanitation and health research.
Evidence-based approaches to childhood stunting in low and middle income countries: a systematic review.
Nutrition education and counselling, growth monitoring and promotion, immunisation, water, sanitation and hygiene and social safety net programmes appear to be the most commonly included interventions of an effective package in most low and middle income countries settings.
Single interventions reduced stunting only in countries with specific disease burden.
Tropical Medicine International Health, May 2017.
Lack of water near the food preparation area, longer storage duration, storing food uncovered, temperatures >25 °C in the food storage area, flies captured in food preparation area and hand contact with food while serving were all factors that significantly contributed to high levels of E. coli contamination throughout the year, independent of season.
The presence of animals in the compound was associated with an increase in E. coli counts.
Impact of the Integration of Water Treatment, Hygiene, Nutrition, and Clean Delivery Interventions on Maternal Health Service Use.
(Abstract/order) American Jnl of Tropical Med & Hyg, May 2017.
This evaluation suggested that hygiene, nutritional, clean delivery incentives, higher education level, and geographical contiguity to health facility were associated with increased use of maternal health services by pregnant women

One in four Americans drink water that fails safety standards.
How safe is your drinking water?
A new report from the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) looked at 2015 drinking water data from across the United States and found that of the nation’s 52,000 community drinking water systems, a third reported violations of the of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).
These systems quench the thirst of 77 million, or one-fourth of the American population, according to the NRDC.
“Drinking water systems that serve fewer than five hundred people account for almost 70 percent of the drinking water violations, and almost 50 percent of all of the health based violations.” Enacted in 1974, the SDWA requires that the EPA identify and regulate drinking water contaminants—which includes any physical, biological, chemical, or radiological substance in the water.
The list, which includes just under 100 contaminants, encompass everything from lead to viruses to uranium.
In the aftermath of Flint, it came to light that at least 33 cities in 17 states had cheated on water tests to mask potential lead contamination.
We know that at least some of these chemicals are making their way into waterways that provide drinking water.
And then there’s the matter of bottled water, which is regulated instead by the FDA.
Apart from the volume of pollution that plastic bottles cause, and the health risks associated with the bottles themselves, bottled water has fewer regulations than tap.

Too much contamination in America’s tap water, not enough reporting, study finds.
In 2015, nearly 77 million Americans lived in places where the water systems were in some violation of safety regulations, including the 1974 Safe Drinking Water Act, according to the report released on Tuesday from the Natural Resources Defense Council, a New York-based environmental advocacy group.
It’s not only that some tap water has high levels of lead, nitrates, arsenic or other pollutants, said Mae Wu, a senior attorney with the council’s health program.
It is that too often, a lack of reporting means residents cannot be sure whether their drinking water is contaminated or not.
The issue is not new; tap water safety violations across the United States have been reported again and again and again.
These include the story of a sinkhole outside Tampa, Fla., which opened up in September, leaking contaminated water and endangering a major aquifer; Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection took weeks to notify nearby residents.
“This has been tolerated so long, and it is so ingrained in the EPA culture to look the other way,” he said.
“They’re going to need outside pressure to act and enforce existing laws.” The council’s report found that there were around 80,000 reported violations of drinking water safety regulations in 2015.
She added that part of the difficulty in fixing these problems comes down to a complicated regulatory system, in which the responsibility to monitor adherence to federal laws falls largely to states.
He said water safety regulation and infrastructure maintenance are basic needs that have been neglected by officials — and poor Americans are suffering the most.