MERRIMAC – The U.S. Army maintains it is not responsible for implementing a public drinking water system in Merrimac. The Army previously stated, after a review of the proposed construction and operation of a drinking water system near the Badger Army Ammunition Plant, Army representatives “acted prematurely and beyond their area of authority. As a result, providing a drinking water system would be inconsistent with our authority under the Defense Environmental Restoration Program.” Although the Badger Army Ammunition Plant is no longer operating, the chemicals previously used there have entered the water used by Merrimac residents and those in the surrounding area. Six homes had wells replaced in the Water’s Edge development due to the presence of the highly flammable accelerant dinitrotoluene. Army Environmental PA Specialist Cathy Kropp, in an email to The Eagle, said the Army is in the process of conducting a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) Human Health Risk Assessment, which evaluates exposure to groundwater contamination associated with the former Badger Army Ammunition Plant, and those results will determine the Army’s path forward. “The Army remains committed to its obligations under the law regarding safe drinking water and the health of the community of Merrimac … The Army has implemented numerous remedial actions throughout the areas impacted by operations at the former plant, and as a result, the Army, in concurrence with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources shut down the last active remediation system in 2014. In addition, the Army…

Water scarcity to worsen in Yellandu.
Drinking water scarcity triggered by drastic depletion of ground water resources and water level in Yellandulapadu tank in this coal town may take a turn for the worse if the wastage of water through leakages in the pipeline network were not plugged in a mission mode.
The coal town is already beset with drinking water shortage due to the huge gap between the demand and supply of water.
The poor maintenance of the water distribution system has aggravated the drinking water scarcity in the town having a population of around 50,000.
The drinking water needs of the denizens of the coal town are being met mainly from the borewells dug at Kotilingala old well on Mahabubabad road, Yellandulapadu tank and the treated mine water from the Singareni Collieries Company Limited’s 21 Incline underground coal mine.
Leakage of drinking water from the more than two decades old obsolete pipelines at Jagadamba Centre and elsewhere in the town is resulting in wastage of precious water in the midst of peak summer, deplored Sarangapani of Station Basti locality.
Judicious utilisation of the available water resources holds the key to tide over the present water scarcity.
The damaged pipelines should be immediately replaced to improve the distribution system, he suggested.
Funds allocated The State government has allocated ₹5.25 crore to upgrade the pipeline network and improve the drinking water distribution system, Yellandu Municipality vice-chairman Basa Srinivasa Rao said.
Efforts are on to expedite execution of works on strengthening of the pipeline network, he said, adding that the Mission Bhagiratha project envisages provision of 11.32 MLD to fully cater to the water needs of denizens of Yellandu over the next few decades.

In consultation with Interior Health, the Regional District of Central Okanagan has downgraded a previously issued Boil Water Notice to a Water Quality Advisory for customers of the Killiney Beach and Westshore Estates water systems.
There is a difference between a Water Quality Advisory and a Boil Water Notice, which you can learn about here.
The City of Kelowna, South East Kelowna Irrigation District, Glenmore Ellison Irrigation District, Black Mountain Irrigation District and Rutland Waterworks District.
Currently, the whole City of Kelowna water system is on a Water Quality Advisory.
Glenmore Ellision Irrigation District (GEID) Currently has the Ellison system on a Boil Water Notice and the rest of their system is on a Water Quality Advisory.
RWD utilizes groundwater wells as its source and provides water to approximately 13,000 persons in central Rutland.
Currently, approximately 2,150 water customers in West Kelowna are under Water Quality Advisory.
The West Kelowna Estates (1,000 connections), Sunnyside (1,000 connections) and Pritchard (150 connections) Water Systems, which pull water from Okanagan Lake, are experiencing increased turbidity due to spring runoff and flooding activity.
The City will continue to monitor these systems and will advise customers when the Water Quality Advisory is lifted.
Killiney Beach – Boil Water Notice Westshore Estates – Boil Water Notice Peachland has three water sources and is currently on a Boil Water Notice.

In his written testimony submitted for the hearing entitled "Drinking Water System Improvement Act and Related Issues of Funding, Management, and Compliance Assistance Under the Safe Drinking Water Act," Kropelnicki, President and CEO of California Water Service Group and President of the NAWC, discussed efforts to improve the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.
"We are all working toward the same outcome – safe, reliable, and high-quality drinking water, which is critical to every person, community, and business in this country," said Kropelnicki.
Kropelnicki’s testimony addressed two critical areas that can help improve the drinking water systems across the country while also ensuring that limited federal dollars are spent efficiently and wisely.
"Unfortunately, aging and deteriorating water systems threaten economic vitality and public health, and communities nationwide are faced with massive fiscal challenges to replace critical water and wastewater infrastructure and effectively manage their systems," Kropelnicki said.
"After all, water systems are one of the most expensive assets for a community to maintain, and many municipally-owned utilities simply cannot afford to properly maintain, let alone improve and modernize, their infrastructure."
For a community to maintain and improve the condition of its infrastructure, and to ensure its long-term safety and reliability, water utilities should be expected, at a minimum, to manage their assets based on a process where adequate repair, rehabilitation and replacement are fully reflected in management decisions and fully accounted for in water rates.
Kropelnicki went on to say all water suppliers in the country — whether they are government- or privately-owned — are public service providers, and their customers are comprised of taxpayers who fund programs such as the State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs.
In contrast, the current total federal appropriation for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs is approximately $2 billion annually.
Kropelnicki concluded his testimony stating our current water infrastructure crisis has been in the making for several decades, and it may take several decades to change the direction and right the ship.
And on May 3, the Natural Resources Defense Council released a report that 77 million people — roughly a quarter of the U.S. population — spread across all 50 states were served by water systems reporting violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act in 2015.

May meeting of Ballymoney U3A.
Other committee members include Jean Philp and, a new member, Jim Sayers.
U3A was pleased to invite local man Frank Stewart to their monthly meeting to speak about the work of WaterAid.
This international charity has a simple aim, to use low cost sustainable solutions to provide the basic essentials of clean drinking water, proper toilets and good hygiene to some of the poorest people in the developing countries of the world.
Millions of people don’t have access to these basic services.
Right now, the some of world’s poorest people do not have access to clean water, sanitation or hygiene.
663 million people live without clean water.
To provide the basic essentials of clean water, somewhere safe to go to the toilet and hygiene training costs on average £15, and gives a life and a future, for one person.
When clean water and toilets are provided people’s lives are transformed.
WaterAid works with local partners and communities to improve access to water and sanitation and promote good hygiene.

AHD wins share of $1m global Healthcare Innovation Award.
Observer Report Islamabad The Association for Humanitarian Development (AHD), a Hyderabad-based community organisation, has been awarded US$320,000 for a biological water-filtering initiative that provides hundreds of thousands of families with clean water.
The Pakistani group is one of four worldwide to have won a share of the 2017 Healthcare Innovation Award, funded by global healthcare company Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK).
The discussion covered the challenge of providing safe drinking water, how AHD’s innovation could be scaled to reach more people and the potential for it to spur other innovative health initiatives in Pakistan.
Currently, many rural communities in Pakistan have to drink contaminated water.
To expand access to safe water, AHD introduced a simple and replicable bio-sand water filter, known as a “Nadi” filter, to hundreds of vulnerable villages.
The filter is sourced and constructed from locally available materials, meaning that one unit, which serves a household of eight to ten people, costs just Rs 1,000-1,500.
Since launching in 2007, the Nadi Filter has provided clean and safe drinking water to 400,000 households.
A Khurshid Bhatti, Founder and CEO, AHD: “We are honoured to receive this Award in recognition of our efforts.
This ensures the Nadi filter remains available at a low-cost and can be adopted by families across the country.” Azizul Huq, Vice President and General Manager, GSK Pakistan: “The Nadi filter is a fantastic innovation, which can be easily replicated across Pakistan.

According to Yehansu and Hiwot, construction of the community’s hand-dug well has enabled their children to go to school in a timely manner.
Today, things are different for the people of Biherawi village because of Water.org and its local partner REST.
Yehansu Marye, age 35, and Hiwot Taddess, age 27, both live in Biherawi village and are members of the water and sanitation committee representing women of their village.
Yehansu and Hiwot used to travel for more than an hour each day to collect water from a contaminated river.
Women like Yehansu and Hiwot are able to easily obtain and use enough water each day.
In addition to the three-fold increase in the amount of available water, the distance to fetch water also has decreased from one hour to 5 to 10 minutes.
According to Yehansu and Hiwot, construction of the community’s hand-dug well has enabled their children to go to school in a timely manner.
Water.org and REST have also provided training sessions on the use and management of water for the members of this rural community.
Yehansu and Hiwot were among the participants of these trainings.
Other topics included in the training were sanitation, maintenance, proper uses of water, and well-guarding.

WHO: SA among countries with cleanest energy and safest water in the world.
This is according to data published in the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) annual World Health Statistics 2017 report, which compiles data from the organisation’s 194 Member States on 21 health-related SDG targets, providing a snapshot of both gains and threats to the health of the world’s people.
Access to safe water South Africa is among the top six African countries with safely managed drinking water sources, with 93% of the population receiving access to it.
Mauritius has the highest number of residents accessing safe water at 100% of the population.
One of WHO’s goals is to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030.
Clean energy South Africa also ranked high in the provision of access to clean sources of energy for its population.
It placed third in sub-Saharan Africa after Algeria, Seychelles and Mauritius, with 82% of the population receiving energy that is not harmful to their health and environment.
Generally, clean energy access was common across many high and mid income level countries around the world.
Tanzania ranked lowest in Africa, with less than 5% of its population getting their energy from a clean source.
[Image – IUCNweb]

When I was enrolled in university, my political science courses discussed future conflict and migrations resulting from water scarcity. I did not think that I would see evidence of this so soon after graduation. A government geological study notes that there is a major cone of depression in the Memphis area as a result of long-term pumping of water at municipal and industrial well fields. This problem is in addition to the $615,000,000 lawsuit from Mississippi against Tennessee challenging the intense pumping of aquifer water in Memphis. This pumping has allegedly caused a depression in the Mississippi water table and altered the direction that water moves underground. This issue of our water aquifer is not a fad of environmentalism, nor is it a fund-raising platform for the Sierra Club. This is the kind of issue that will come to define our era, and Memphians are at the forefront of it in a very real way. With climate change altering rain patterns and, ultimately, aquifer recharge rates, it seems foolish to blindly obligate millions of gallons of this precious resource to the Tennessee Valley Authority for its proposed use in the cooling of their new natural gas plant here. A 2015 study cited that just 6 percent of groundwater is replenished within a “human lifetime” of 50 years. The water we drink from the Memphis Sand Aquifer is 2,000 years old. Let that sink in. While water may be a renewable resource, it is finite in quantity and vulnerable to contamination. Brian Waldron, a researcher at the Ground Water Institute, has warned, “We don’t really know the…

Waterwise: Additional funding needed for drought relief.
Laurel Firestone, co-executive director of Community Water Center, and Tom Collishaw, Self-Help Enterprise CEO, said Central Valley residents are in need of clean water.
According to the State Water Resource Control Board, there are California communities not able to finance long-overdue drinking water solutions.
In some communities, according to the resource board, water has high levels of arsenic for more than 10 years.
“California has been a leader in drinking water, but we have to commit sustained funding if we want to solve the crisis this year,” Firestone said.
Collishaw said the need for clean water must be addressed.
Arsenic, nitrate and disinfectant byproducts are the most common contaminants.
The CWC said 300 communities and one million California residents are still lacking access to clean water.
Earlier this year, state administrators recognized there are communities in need of finding a water solution.
“The Administration is committed to working with the Legislature and stakeholders to address this issue,” according to Brown’s budget.