Parched for clean water, industrialised Gujarat can show India the way out of pollution mess.
In late February, the country’s supreme court mandated that all polluting industries must ensure that waste water discharges meet quality standards by installing effective primary effluent treatment facilities by March 31, 2017.
River and lake pollution is a major problem across much of India, and regulatory inertia toward industrial waste water has exacerbated the situation.
The Gujarat Pollution Control Board forced non-compliant industrial units to implement a time-bound action plan, including a series of strategies to mitigate water and air pollution within the industrial clusters.
Following recommendations made by the Gujarat government’s water resource department in 2015, the state’s five-year industrial policy has now introduced various financial incentives to help facilities improve waste water quality and curb usage.
According to the agency’s 2014-15 annual report, industrial use of pollution-abatement technologies and upgrades in common effluent treatment plants have mitigated chemical oxygen demand and ammoniac nitrogen in water sources, both measures of industrial pollution.
And neither state nor national environmental controls have improved the quality of water in Gujarat’s rivers, lakes, creeks and coastal areas outside the specified industrial clusters.
Today, access to reliably clean water is still an ongoing challenge for Gujarat.
And given the many new Gujarat government incentives aimed at improving industrial environmental governance, the investment required to upgrade environmental protections no longer looks quite so unprofitable.
Such innovation is not only now financially feasible, it could also help industries to insulate themselves against future water scarcity in the state.

La Crosse County warns of nitrates in town of Onalaska, Holland well water.
Private well owners in the western half of the towns of Onalaska and Holland are being urged to test their water after the La Crosse County Health Department discovered worrisome levels of nitrates and bacteria in much of the water supply.
Water contamination data was requested in response to a 2016 audit showing multiple failings by the Wisconsin DNR to enforce the clean water laws.
Water typically registers 1 mcg per ml, and anything more than 10 mcg per ml can cause health problems, especially for infants and pregnant women.
Risks include birth defects and “blue baby syndrome.” Private well water also tested positive for coliform, which in itself may not cause illness but can indicate the presence of E. coli, which may cause gastrointestinal problems including diarrhea and vomiting.
Health and Human Services Committee Chair Monica Kruse stated that an exact cause of the contamination has not been determined, but contributing factors include sandy soil, run-off and general land use.
“It can take years and decades for this to occur and show up, and it can take years and decades for the levels to go back down,” Rombalski stressed.
Kits are available at the La Crosse County Health Department, with results available by mail in two to four business days.
Those with elevated nitrate levels are advised to use bottled water for drinking and cooking and to consider having reverse osmosis systems installed or have a deeper or new well drilled.
Bacteria can be killed by boiling water before consumption, but is not recommended when nitrates are also present, as boiling can concentrate nitrates.

Ridgewood Water groundwater source tests positive for E. coli.
RIDGEWOOD – Ridgewood Water was expected to issue results of new tests Friday, two days after a water sample tested positive for E. coli and led to a boil-water advisory for much of the village and nearby towns.
Customers were not in any danger from using tap water, officials said Thursday morning at a news conference called after the utility notified residents and businesses in affected areas that a groundwater sample had tested positive for E. coli.
"The drinking water warning and boil advisory is an excess of caution," said Ridgewood Water Director of Operations Rich Calbi.
Schools in Ridgewood and Glen Rock were having students bring in bottled water on Thursday and Friday.
Samples of water piped to customers have not tested positive for any bacteria or fecal contamination.
Ridgewood Water received the test results on Wednesday and a notification went out to customers in the affected low-pressure zone, which includes all of Glen Rock and portions of Ridgewood and Wyckoff.
The Valley Hospital is within the affected area of Ridgewood.
Because word of the notification spread quickly, especially on social media, Ridgewood Mayor Susan Knudsen addressed the bewilderment on the part of some residents that they were not told about the contamination, since the alert to boil water went only to those in the affected areas.
Packer said he is hopeful the contamination was a one-off occurrence, but at this time is just looking forward to hearing positive news from Ridgewood Water on Friday.

A flurry of late winter snowfalls, combined with soaking rains in recent weeks, has helped replenish the reservoirs and restore groundwater levels, which gets rivers flowing again.
But in recent weeks, the jet stream shifted, with a southerly dip over the eastern United States.
“This has been the very recipe one would prescribe to bring ample moisture to the region,” he said.
As a result, the Passaic River at Little Falls is running at nearly three times the historical average for this time of year.
Flood stage for the Passaic at Little Falls is 7 feet.
Similarly, the Ramapo River at Pompton Lakes is flowing at more than double its typical level for this time of year, while last fall it was at 79 percent below the historical average.
Over the fall and winter, the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission, which operates the Wanaque Reservoir, operated its two pumping stations to start replenishing the reservoir system.
Similarly, in October the Oradell and two other reservoirs along the Hackensack River operated by Suez, which provide water for 800,000 people in Bergen and Hudson counties, were down to a combined 44 percent of capacity.
It was New Jersey’s first drought warning since 2001.
“We continue to evaluate the indicators,” he said, “and will have a much better picture on whether to lift the warning and watch statuses currently in effect when we review the indicators early next week.” Drought recedes -Wanaque and Oradell Reservoirs had been as low as 45 percent of capacity last fall, but are nearly full now.

Legislators want an expanded coal ash study.
State Rep. Dana Bumgardner and state Sen. Kathy Harrington, both Republicans from Gastonia, introduced the bill late Tuesday requiring further study of an unnamed neighborhood — apparently in or near their legislative districts — to see whether drinking-water wells beyond a previous half-mile study limit have been affected by hexavalent chromium, a chemical that can cause cancer.
Changes made last year to North Carolina’s coal ash law require Duke Energy to provide either of those options at no cost to residents served by wells and who live within a half-mile of a company coal ash basin.
Neither Bumgardner nor Harrington was available to comment Wednesday.
Bumgardner’s receptionist said he would be out through today because of a death in his family.
The neighborhood the bill refers to apparently is located near the coal-fired Allen Steam Station that Duke Energy operates on the outskirts of the suburban Gaston County community of Belmont.
“A large body of science and research demonstrates that ash basins are not impacting these residents,” Sheehan said generally of people living on well water near the utility’s ash basins.
Evidence is strong that hexavalent chromium acts as a carcinogen when it is airborne and humans inhale it.
Sheehan said that even though Duke Energy believes its coal ash ponds did not pollute drinking water wells near its 31 coal ash ponds statewide, the utility agreed to provide new water supplies to nearby residents in a compromise that enables the power company to cap some of its ponds in place — as opposed to excavating them and burying the material in a landfill.
Coal ash zoomed to statewide prominence three years ago when a large spill occurred from an ash basin at the retired Dan River Steam Station near Eden.

New York Pours $2.5 Billion Into Clean Water Programs.
New York is primed to pump $2.5 billion into its water infrastructure programs following the discovery of chemical contamination in drinking water throughout a number of sites across the state.
The Clean Water Infrastructure Act, which is included in a budget bill ( S. 5492) expected to be signed shortly by Gov.
“We’re ground zero for water contamination in New York state,” Michele Baker, a Hoosick Falls resident, told Bloomberg BNA Baker is the lead plaintiff in a class action against Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Corp. and Honeywell International Inc. over drinking water contamination after perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) were found in the drinking water.
She estimates $25 million is needed to clean the city’s drinking water supply.
New York’s water infrastructure measure also includes $130 million for the remediation of hazardous waste sites with water contamination and $100 million for municipal water supply infrastructure programs.
Funding Applauded Darren Suarez, director of government affairs for the Business Council of New York State, applauded the act.
Paul Gallay, president of Riverkeeper, also praised the funding.
The budget bill was approved by both houses of the Legislature April 3 as an emergency measure because lawmakers missed the deadline for the start of the state fiscal year on April 1.
To contact the reporter on this story: Gerald B. Silverman in Albany, N.Y., at GSilverman@bna.com To contact the editor responsible for this story: Larry Pearl at lpearl@bna.com Copyright © 2017 The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Boil water alert issued for 3 Bergen County towns after tests show E. coli.
A boil water alert was issued for Ridgewood, Wyckoff and Glen Rock.
Boiled or bottled water should be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes and food preparation until further notice.
Here’s what to do when your town has a boil water alert: DO NOT DRINK THE WATER WITHOUT BOILING IT FIRST.
Bring all water to a boil, let it boil for one minute, and let it cool before using, or use bottled water.
Boiled or bottled water should be used for drinking, making ice, brushing teeth, washing dishes, and food preparation until further notice.
Microbes in these wastes can cause short-term health effects, such as diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches, or other symptoms.
* The symptoms above are not caused only by organisms in drinking water.
If you experience any of these symptoms and they persist, you may want to seek medical advice.
People at increased risk should seek advice from their health care providers about drinking this water.

New technology could be a game-changer for the future of drinking water.
A team at The University of Manchester has developed a new graphene ‘sieve’ that can take the salt out of sea water.
It has several useful characteristics, like unusual strength and permeability.
A team led by Professor Rahul Nair, however, has developed a chemical form of graphene, graphene oxide, that can be produced comparatively cheaply in the lab.
This has previously been challenging, because the holes required are extremely small.
Nair is confident that this will make desalination (salt removal) affordable, as it is currently a prohibitively expensive solution to water scarcity.
Changing the future of water supplies This development has potentially revolutionary consequences for the availability of fresh drinking water.
Water resources are under increasing pressure as a result of growing global population, sea level rise, and climate change.
With more people on the planet, the demand for resources like water will inevitably grow.
And technologies like the graphene sieve could be part of the answer.

Govt buses in Bellary to provide drinking water to passengers to beat the heat.
Summers are never happy if you are in certain parts of South India.
Given the high dependence of the region on rain, water scarcity takes a terrible shape and makes livelihood difficult.
This year, too, it has been no different.
With water levels in dams across Karnataka already showing signs of alarming fall and experts cautioning that the state could face a crisis similar to the one it met four decades ago, the people of the state would have to prepare for a bleak scenario this season.
But amid all the bad news, the government authorities have taken a valuable initiative in Bellary, a district in Karnataka facing severe water crisis.
The government bus service has decided to provide drinking water on board the vehicles in Bellary, a report by News 9 has said.
Water containers have been installed in every bus to give passengers relief and prevent them from suffering heat stroke and dehydration, the report added.
These containers are also refilled regularly.
The local people have thanked the state’s transport department for coming up with a noble initiative.

Despite Efforts, Clean Water Is Scarce In India’s Industrial Gujarat State.
In late February, the country’s Supreme Court mandated that all polluting industries must ensure that waste water discharges meet quality standards by installing effective primary effluent treatment facilities by March 31 2017.
River and lake pollution is a major problem across much of India, and regulatory inertia toward industrial waste water has exacerbated the situation.
In Gujarat, even regions with otherwise plentiful surface water sources are affected as creeks and rivers turn into black cesspools thanks to increasing municipal waste and insufficient sewage treatment plants.
The Gujarat Pollution Control Board forced non-compliant industrial units to implement a time-bound action plan, including a series of strategies to mitigate water and air pollution within the industrial clusters.
These steps are beginning to show some results.
According to the agency’s 2014-15 annual report, industrial use of pollution-abatement technologies and upgrades in common effluent treatment plants have mitigated chemical oxygen demand and ammoniac nitrogen in water sources, both measures of industrial pollution.
And neither state nor national environmental controls have improved the quality of water in Gujarat’s rivers, lakes, creeks and coastal areas outside the specified industrial clusters.
And given the many new Gujarat government incentives aimed at improving industrial environmental governance, the investment required to upgrade environmental protections no longer looks quite so unprofitable.
Such innovation is not only now financially feasible, it could also help industries to insulate themselves against future water scarcity in the state.