Navy releases OLF water test results, sets meetings.
The Navy drilled 27 test wells at OLF Coupeville earlier this year and tested water samples from the 25 that contained water.
The wells with the exceedances were centralized, she said, which appears to be consistent with potential releases on the runway.
The impetus was the EPA’s decision last year to set a lifetime advisory level for the chemicals, followed by a directive from top Navy leaders that called for all Navy bases to look into the possibility that the chemicals had contaminated drinking water.
So far, the Navy received 112 results from properties near OLF Coupeville and seven are above the advisory level.
The Navy has 99 results from properties near Ault Field; two samples are above the advisory level.
Officials have started looking into longer-term solutions for people with contaminated wells.
Officials will first have to evaluate the filters to determine how well they would work and long they would be effective.
The drilling of test wells on Navy property at OLF Coupeville is the beginning of a process to determine the source of the chemicals.
The test results, Leibman said, point to the complexity of hydrogeology in the Central Whidbey area.

Marking 500 days of water contamination in Hoosick Falls, residents gathered at the state capitol on Thursday to pressure state leaders to find a new, uncontaminated source. Organized by Environmental Advocates of New York, residents of the Rensselaer County community of Hoosick Falls traveled to Albany Thursday to demand drinking water free of the chemical PFOA, a carcinogen. They’d like to see the newly created $2.5 billion clean water fund in the state budget used to restore clean water now. Pressuring the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, EANY’s Water and Natural Resources Associate Liz Moran said every day that Hoosick Falls residents are relying on filtered water, they’re still afraid. “I think the DEC and the state have done some good work in response to Hoosick Falls. But the clock is ticking,” said Moran. The Departments of Environmental Conservation and Health have faced tough criticism over the past year-and-a-half for what many perceived as a delayed response to the contamination crisis. To date, the state has installed more than 800 point-of-entry treatment systems on private wells to remove PFOA from contaminated groundwater. A permanent filtration system has been installed on the Hoosick Falls municipal water supply, paid for by company Saint-Gobain, under…

CS calls for regular water supply in rural areas after high court rebuke.
Ranchi, May 12: In the light of High Court order, Chief Secretary Raj Bala Verma directed all the superintending, executive, JE and asst.
engineers to visit drinking water scarcity zone regularly and provide drinking water to the people.
She said that all the hand pumps should be repaired so that water could be provided to people in rural areas.
Mrs. Verma said that engineers will take information from the Jal Sahiyas on functional and dysfunctional hand pumps in their areas.
mail.
She said that every day development report should be sent by PMU Director and briefed the press.
She has directed to inspect those villages by 25th May which are hard hit from drinking water availability point of view.
It was said that the dysfunctional unit will be started in 2 days.
IAS and departmental officers are sent to districts for inspection.

Drinking Water dept on a mission mode, to repair 4500 hand-pumps.
Jamshedpur: Drinking water and sanitation department officials of the city on Friday claimed that there is no crisis of driving water whether it be in rural areas or urban areas.
The superintending engineer of the department Rajendra Prasad, addressing scribes at a press conference, said the department was supplying sufficient water to people both in rural and urban areas.
“In rural areas, the per capita consumption of water is 40 litre while in urban areas the daily requirement per capital is 100 litre.
Our department is supplying enough water to the citizens on a daily basis,” said Prasad.
Prasad said the department had started repair of hand-pumps in the affected areas besides carrying out deep boring in certain areas.
Nodal officers have been deputed in all blocks in order to provide relief to the people.
The government has provided funds for this purpose.
In rural areas, there are a total of 22500 hand-pumps, out of which 18,000 are in functional state.
The remaining hand-pumps would be repaired.

Most people do not know their rights to free drinking water from businesses and public buildings, a survey says.
The Keep Britain Tidy poll says only 25% of the public know when they can ask for water for free – while 71% feel awkward asking for water from venues if they are not a customer.
This means pubs, bars, nightclubs, cafes, restaurants, takeaway food and drink outlets, cinemas, theatres, and even village and community halls – so long as they are authorised to serve alcohol.
However, these premises can charge people for the use of a glass – or their service – when serving the "free" tap water.
There is no law regarding the provision of drinking water in licensed premises in Northern Ireland.
Unlicensed premises Unlicensed premises in the UK do not have to legally supply free drinking water.
Schools are legally required to provide drinking water for pupils at all times in England, Scotland and Wales – but not Northern Ireland.
Of the people taking part in the poll, only 7% said they drink from water fountains or public taps – while 55% were concerned about the cleanliness of public water taps, fountains and dispensers.
Just 11% said they would pop into a cafe or restaurant to ask for tap water.
These include: encouraging businesses to provide free drinking water to both customers and non-customers encouraging transport providers and hubs to improve access to free water raising public awareness of the cleanliness and quality of UK tap water.

57m Nigerians lack access to potable water, as 1m children die yearly -USAID.
WorldStage Newsonline– United State Agency for International Development (USAID) has revealed that over 57 million Nigerians have no access to potable water while one million Nigerian children die yearly due to lack of potable drinking water.
USAID Mission Director, Stephen M. Haykin who stated these in Kaduna on Thursday at the occasion of official launch of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) said the USAID was supporting the WASH programme with $2.5 million to enable Nigerians have access to potable drinking water.
According to him, "Having a clean water and sanitation is very essential for the development of a healthy society.
"Research has shown that, over 57 million of the Nigerian population don’t have access to potable water and sadly, about one million Nigerian children die yearly for lack of potable drinking water."
Earlier, WASH project Coordinator, Timeyin Uwejamomere, said the project was expected to last for two years, ending in November 2018, adding that it will primarily target urban areas and focus the States of Bauchi and Kaduna.
He said, "This is why we established a country office in the city of Kaduna, and last month a satellite office was opened in Bauchi.
In his speech to the occasion, Kaduna State governor, Malam Nasir El-rufai who was represented by his Chief of Staff, Malam Bashir Saidu said when Zaria Water Work is completed, it will provide 150 million litres of water for the populace.
Also, the Bauchi State governor, Alhaji Mohammed Abubakar regretted that the influx of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the State had increased the demand for water supply at the expense of original supply.
He therefore pledged the commitment and political will of his government to ensure the success of the project.

Western Mass News Investigates: Westfield contaminated water.
Westfield residents are concerned over drinking water after discovering they’d been drinking contaminated water for decades.
A report written in 2007 about elevated numbers of bladder cancer is making the rounds, and now residents are demanding city-wide blood testing.
Westfield residents are demanding answers.
Last May, the city of Westfield took two of its wells offline as they exceeded the US Environmental Protection Agency’s new health advisory levels for two chemicals — PFOA and PFOS.
These are manmade chemicals found in a large number of consumer products that work their way into the environment.
"I’ve lived in the part of town where the water has come from these wells – 7 & 8, and not only lived there, but raised three children, making formula, making everybody drink water," said Gail Bean.
City officials are doing what they can to get to the bottom of the city’s water contamination.
For now, people in Westfield are left to watch the water dripping out of their faucets and wonder what’s in it.
We did reach out to both the city’s public works department, and they told Western Mass News that those wells– 7 and 8, are offline and will stay that way.

EXCLUSIVE: The Investigation Into Water Contamination At Camp Lejeune May Reopen Soon.
The toxic water crisis at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, that left 750,000 Marines, sailors, spouses and their families exposed to contaminated drinking water between the 1950s and the 1980s may face a renewed investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On May 10, the CDC posted a sources sought notice for a cancer incidence study on water contamination at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
The purpose of the study, according to the notice is to: “… assess whether there is an association between exposure to the contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune and the incidence of specific cancers in approximately 463,922 cohort members, the study will require that vital status and cause of death for decedents be obtained for 425,319 of the cohort members who had not died prior to January 1, 2009 before accessing cancer registry data from up to 55 state, territorial, and federal cancer registries.” The difference between this proposed study, which is focused on cancer incidence, and previous studies, which focused on mortality rates, is that a “cancer incidence study would have a greater capability of evaluating cases of highly survivable cancers than a mortality study.” A 2005 panel of scientists recommended that a cancer incidence “should receive the highest priority,” but one has yet to be conducted.
The study, though still tentative at this time, may start to gain ground in the coming months, Bernadette Burden, a spokesperson for the CDC, told Task & Purpose in an email: “The request for capability studies is a step to make sure we are on the right track with the proposal request and have clearly stated the needs and intent,” Burden said.
“We are still planning to post the request for proposals this summer.
The study has received all the necessary approvals.” The water contamination that occurred at Camp Lejeune ranks among the biggest in U.S. history, but it wasn’t until January of this year that the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that veterans stationed at Lejeune in the 1950s through the 1980s were eligible to submit applications for VA benefits.
“Hundreds of mothers suffered miscarriages or gave birth to stillborn babies or infants with birth defects, such as spina bifida.
And while the Department of Defense cleared Camp Lejeune water of toxins after Dec. 31, 1987, families posted there in the years following believe their health issues may be the result of water contamination.
A 2014 mortality study using two groups — one from Lejeune and one from Camp Pendleton, California, where there were no instances of contaminated water — revealed that residents of Camp Lejeune had a higher mortality rate for the following causes of death: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; cancers of the bladder, brain, cervix, colon, esophagus, female breast, kidney, larynx, liver, lung, oral cavity, pancreas, prostate, rectum, and soft tissue; hematopoietic cancers; Hodgkin’s Lymphoma; leukemias; multiple sclerosis; Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma; non-cancerous kidney diseases; non-cancerous liver diseases; and multiple sclerosis.

Report: Puerto Rico’s Drinking Water at Brink of Crisis.
Puerto Rico’s drinking water system is on the brink of crisis, an environmental group said Wednesday.
Here Are 8 Places to Start The drinking water fails lead safety regulations, while 70 percent of the island is served by water that violates federal health standards.
The government-run water utility also routinely fails to conduct the required safety tests, while failing the safety tests they do conduct, according to a new NRDC report.
And Olson said he expects the situation to deteriorate further, because President Donald Trump’s has proposed big cuts to Environmental Protection Agency programs that fund the Puerto Rican water system and federal safety enforcement mechanisms.
The same utility that provides the island with water manages the sewage system, too, and leaky pipes likely lead to cross-contamination, Olson said.
After the Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency sued PRASA and concluded in 2015 they had been dumping six million gallons of sewage into waterways untreated daily, PRASA agreed to invest millions to make big upgrades to the sewage system.
"The environmental problems — people don’t have [water] on their short list of problems in Puerto Rico.
The EPA got involved.
In Puerto Rico, they know what’s going on," he said.

Cedar Heights residents on boil water advisory.
The Columbia Shuswap Regional District has issued a boil-water advisory for the Cedar Heights water system.
High turbidity levels have been detected in the system’s drinking water supply.
High turbidity (cloudiness) levels may occur in surface water sources due to seasonal weather changes causing excessive surface runoff, flooding or lake turnover.
A high turbidity level may impair the effectiveness of the disinfection treatment system.
The CSRD and Interior Health recommend that children, the elderly, people with weakened immune systems and anyone seeking additional protection to drink boiled water or a safe alternative.
For these at-risk populations, water intended for drinking, washing fruits and vegetables, making beverages or ice, or brushing teeth should be boiled for one minute.
Boiled water should then be refrigerated in a clean covered container.
Users could also choose to use bottled or distilled water, or water than has been filtered through a well-maintained treatment device.
The regional district will inform users once the boil water advisory has been removed.