Mandatory for Bengaluru malls, restaurants to provide drinking water free.
Bengaluru’s civic body, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike issued a circular to all multiplexes, making it mandatory for them to ensure that customers have access to free drinking water on their premises.
The circular reportedly came after the Bengaluru Urban district consumer forum adressed a complaint emphasising customer inconvenience at multiplexes and eateries over drinking water.
The Bengaluru Urban District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum (DCDRF) was hearing a case filed by 47-year-old Sudha Katwa, after she was denied free water on May 29, 2016 by an outlet of Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) in a Yeshwantpur mall.
She was instead told that she would have to buy bottled drinking water, reported the Times of India.
TOI report quoted Sudha as saying, "People are asked to pay for drinking water though it is the responsibility of the eatery to provide it for free.
In some cases, eateries provide water but the surroundings are unhygienic.
Most of the time, it’s kept next to toilets.
A mall in west Bengaluru has 34 food outlets on one of its floors and drinking water is available at one remote corner.
In most malls, customers are forced to either run around to find water or pay for water bottles".

Govt ensures access to safe drinking water for Marawi displaced persons.
ILIGAN CITY/MINDANAO HOUR, June 10 (PIA) – Unsafe drinking water has been an identified concern at evacuation centers located in Balo-i, Pantao Ragat and Pantar towns in Lanao del Norte province.
In a meeting with the Regional Command and Coordination Center (RCCC) in Iligan City, National Incident Management Team (NIMT) Commander Col Mario Verner S Monsanto reported that based on the assessment of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Health (DOH) unsafe drinking water has been a recurring concerns under the WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) and Health clusters.
To address this, Col Monsanto, overseer of the Cagayan de Oro City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) department, said they have coordinated with the Balay Mindanaw Foundation and borrowed the Skyhydrant water ultra-filtration unit and came up “how we can produce water” with the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).
According to Aili Gatuslao of Balay Mindanaw, this low-pressure membrane technology donated by Disaster Aid International (DAI) can produce 1,000 liters of water per hour and is highly effective in removing all non-dissolved species in feed water.
Further, the potable water produced from this 16 kgs.
Monsanto also reported that the NIMT was able to come up data on internally displaced persons (IDPs) using a map which can be viewed through the Facebook account at NIMT Marawi Crisis and they are able to trace IDPs including different hospitals located in Iligan City and Lanao del Norte.
NIMT has been activated following the clashes between the government and the Maute terror group.
The team is tasked to ensure safety of the responders, IDPs among others; address welfare of IDPs in evacuation centers; identify the critical resources that would be given in evacuation centers; and coordination.
DAI and Balay Mindanaw have been major partners since 2011, after Typhoon Sendong hit Cagayan de Oro.

Chennai: Water shortage looms large in Greater Chennai.
Though the Chennai metro water claims to supply around 550 mld of drinking water to Chennai through various sources like desalination plants, borewells and quarries, piped water supply to parts of central and north Chennai has completely stopped since Friday.
Cutting across party lines elected MLAs of both AIADMK and DMK told DC that they were unable to visit the constituency and answer the public on acute shortage of water.
Local administration minister S. P. Velumani claims that the state is attending the Chennai water scarcity and the authorities claim that they supply close to 600 mld water but I doubt the water supply claim as complaints are pouring in, the MLA added.
Metro officials say that they are attending the short supply, but the issue is not addressed and I agree that it is a really a bad situation for the metro water authorities also" said Egmore MLA K. S. Ravichandran.
“We are hoping for the metro water to resume the water supply through pipelines at the earliest as water tankers reach public only once in three days.
When contacted a senior metro water official said as of now metro water is providing water every alternate day through pipelines.
According to Saidapet MLA Ma Subramanian metro water is positive in attending complaints but the state has failed to store adequate water and is not prepared to handle drought.
"Drinking water shortage issue is looming across Chennai and the steps taken by the local administration ministry is not satisfactory", added the former mayor.
Quarries will be used to collect rainwater and if required the water will be tapped in future also, the minister said adding that the state was taking all efforts to fight the drinking water shortage.

Shortage of drinking water.
There are millions of people all over the world who don’t have access to water, if they have access that water is unable to be used.
About 70% of Earth’s surface covered with water and 3% of it is actually fresh water that is for human consumption.
On the entire earth, water is the most important thing, but there is shortage of clean drinking water in Balochistan.
People have to walk for miles in search of water and one can imagine the endurance one has to face in the holy month of Ramadan.
According to the reports 62% of Balochistan is deprived of safe during water and more than 58% of its land is unculativable due to water scarcity.
It is hardly imaginable that why the people of Balochistan are left to suffer.
While the government is trying to build a world-class port but the city remains deprived of water and electricity.
We feel disappointed.
Via email Related

Govt ensures access to safe drinking water for Marawi displaced persons.
ILIGAN CITY/MINDANAO HOUR, June 10 (PIA) – Unsafe drinking water has been an identified concern at evacuation centers located in Balo-i, Pantao Ragat and Pantar towns in Lanao del Norte province.
In a meeting with the Regional Command and Coordination Center (RCCC) in Iligan City, National Incident Management Team (NIMT) Commander Col Mario Verner S Monsanto reported that based on the assessment of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Health (DOH) unsafe drinking water has been a recurring concerns under the WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) and Health clusters.
To address this, Col Monsanto, overseer of the Cagayan de Oro City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management (DRRM) department, said they have coordinated with the Balay Mindanaw Foundation and borrowed the Skyhydrant water ultra-filtration unit and came up “how we can produce water” with the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).
According to Aili Gatuslao of Balay Mindanaw, this low-pressure membrane technology donated by Disaster Aid International (DAI) can produce 1,000 liters of water per hour and is highly effective in removing all non-dissolved species in feed water.
Further, the potable water produced from this 16 kgs.
Monsanto also reported that the NIMT was able to come up data on internally displaced persons (IDPs) using a map which can be viewed through the Facebook account at NIMT Marawi Crisis and they are able to trace IDPs including different hospitals located in Iligan City and Lanao del Norte.
NIMT has been activated following the clashes between the government and the Maute terror group.
The team is tasked to ensure safety of the responders, IDPs among others; address welfare of IDPs in evacuation centers; identify the critical resources that would be given in evacuation centers; and coordination.
DAI and Balay Mindanaw have been major partners since 2011, after Typhoon Sendong hit Cagayan de Oro.

Shortage of drinking water.
There are millions of people all over the world who don’t have access to water, if they have access that water is unable to be used.
About 70% of Earth’s surface covered with water and 3% of it is actually fresh water that is for human consumption.
On the entire earth, water is the most important thing, but there is shortage of clean drinking water in Balochistan.
People have to walk for miles in search of water and one can imagine the endurance one has to face in the holy month of Ramadan.
According to the reports 62% of Balochistan is deprived of safe during water and more than 58% of its land is unculativable due to water scarcity.
It is hardly imaginable that why the people of Balochistan are left to suffer.
While the government is trying to build a world-class port but the city remains deprived of water and electricity.
We feel disappointed.
Via email Related

The High Level Panel on Water and Connect4Climate announced today that the winner of the Instagram Photo Competition — #All4TheGreen Photo4Climate Contest Special Blue Prize — for the best photo on water is Probal Rashid, from Bangladesh, with a photo taken in his country showing how water stress is affecting individuals in his community.
What is the value of water to you?
Rani, 9, collects rainwater for drinking.
Rainwater is the main source of drinking water in the village of Shyamnagar, Satkhira, Bangladesh.
It’s a great honor to win this competition and I hope it will create more awareness on this issue,” said Probal Rashid during the announcement of the winner, on June 8th, World Oceans Day.
“Rainwater is the main source of drinking water due to sea level rise.
First, they want to change the way the world views and manages water.
This prize is very important, because it will help the world change the way we view and manage water,” said Juwang Zhu, Director of the Division for Sustainable Development at the UN.
After the announcement, Director Zhu added: “By interesting coincidence, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh is on the [High Level] Panel, and we are going to meet towards the end of July.
Climate change is making the harsh environment harder and water resources more limited.

The seasonal rivulet, originating from the nearby hills, used to flow down from Kanerkhed village to Nigadi, meeting the latter’s drinking water and irrigation needs.
“But, last April and May, villagers did shramdan to carry out watershed works.
<class=”wp-caption alignnone”> Training local water managers Nigadi isn’t the only village in Maharashtra trying to drought-proof itself.
Between April and May this year, the residents of 1,300 participating villages are creating various water harvesting structures in keeping with the ridge-to-valley approach.
Trained villagers have further trained more people in their respective villages.
For instance, five trained villagers of Kiraksal village in drought-prone Maan taluk have trained 88 more residents of Kiraksal.
People’s movement on water Over 190 families of Pawarwadi in Koregaon taluk are working day and night to complete the watershed works they have planned as part of the Water Cup 2017.
Last year, 116 villages in three talukas of Maharashtra participated in the Water Cup 2016.
Velu village in Koregaon taluk was awarded the first prize.
As per Paani Foundation’s estimate, the villages participating in the last water cup created a water storage capacity of 1,368 crore litres that is equivalent to 1,368,000 tankers of water, or Rs 272 crore worth of water savings.

Bengaluru malls, hotels to provide drinking water free of cost, it is mandatory now.
All eateries including those in malls, hotels, restaurants and most importantly, multiplexes in Bengaluru have to provide free, clean, pure drinking water to all customers.
The city’s civic agency, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike issued a circular to all multiplexes mandating them to ensure that customers have access to free drinking water on their premises.
BBMP commissioner N Manjunath Prasad issued the circular following a recent order by the Bengaluru Urban district consumer disputes redressal forum.
The forum that heard a complaint highlighting customer inconvenience at multiplexes and eateries when it comes to drinking water ordered that customers should be given drinking water free of cost.
The forum in April had asked the BBMP to file a compliance report on the implementation of the order within two months.
The complainant who highlighted the matter said that it was unfair to force customers to pay for drinking water which is a right.
"People are asked to pay for drinking water though it is the responsibility of the hotel or eatery to provide it for free.
In most malls, customers are forced to either run around to find water or pay for water bottles.
Oneindia News

Unwell water history.
Since 2014, 22 public drinking water wells and more than 200 private wells in Bucks and Montgomery counties have been shut down due to contamination by unregulated chemicals perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), affecting the drinking water of more than 100,000 people.
The bulk of the contamination is occurring near a trio of former and current military bases in Horsham, Warminster and Warrington, and is suspected to have originated in firefighting foams used on those bases as far back as the early 1970s.
Contamination from unknown sources has closed wells in Doylestown, Chalfont, East Rockhill and other communities.
This news organization has been investigating and writing extensively on the topic, telling the stories of local people who believe they’ve been sickened by the chemicals, speaking with health experts on potential effects of exposure, and examining actions taken by local, state and federal agencies.
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