Water emergency declared as barge sinks near Ontario town.
Thursday, March 30, 2017, 5:08 PM – Prince Edward County remains under a water emergency after fuel leaking from a partially sunken barge floated close to the Picton-Bloomfield Drinking Water System’s intake pipe.
The emergency was declared Tuesday, and the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit took a further step Thursday by issuing a boil water advisory, and the county will truck in potable water from other sources.
"Since varied water supply trucks will be used to shuttle water, the Boil Water Advisory is being implemented as a precautionary measure to reduce the risk from the possible introduction of bacteria to the drinking water system," the latest release from the county reads.
SPRING HAS SPRUNG: How will the season play out for Canadians?
Find out with The Weather Network’s 2017 Spring Forecast | FORECAST & MAPS HERE The Coast Guard says about 30 litres of residual oil was released into the water.
The system was temporarily shut down as a precaution Tuesday.
The plant resumed operations Wednesday morning, but was soon shut down again after the "discovery of a foul odor in the Picton raw water sampling line (an early warning system)," the county says.
"The pollutant released was residual oil and no further release has occurred since Friday."
A spring stormis expected to push in late Thursday into Friday for southern Ontario and could pose a problem for officials, as the booms are not designed to perform in choppy waters.

Picton issues precautionary boil water advisory after barge fuel leak.
Prince Edward County is warning residents to boil their water after fuel spilled from a partially submerged barge was detected in a sampling line at the Picton-Bloomfield drinking water plant.
On Tuesday night, Prince Edward County’s mayor declared a state of emergency because contaminants leaking from the barge were floating close to a water intake pipe.
He emphasized that the boil water advisory is precautionary and contaminants have not entered the water intake system.
The sampling line, municipal officials assured residents, is a "warning system."
Treating fuel-tainted water complicated Since finding out about the leak, the county has been contacting other communities and spill experts to come up with a plan for how to deal with treated affected water.
Officials have sent samples of the water out for testing and McAuley expects to see the plant restarted in "days, not weeks."
If the community gets the all clear, it’s possible the boil water advisory could be lifted over the weekend.
In the event fuel-tainted water does contaminate the system, McAuley said he can only speculate how it would affect the decades-old treatment plant.
Crews work to lift barge The Canadian Coast Guard has been using a variety of equipment to control the fuel leak, including vacuum trucks and absorbents.

Speaking at the day celebration ceremony held March 21, Dessie Town Potable Water Service Office Manager Muktar Ahemed said that although Dessie has been known for its potable water supply, frequent power interruption has been a challenge to dwellers.
As the town is situated in mountainous areas, the office could not supply water regularly without electric power.
We have to raise citizens’ awareness about water management."
The Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Electricity (MoWIE) State Minister Kebede Gerba said that the Ministry is aggressively working hard to achieve nation’s GTP II potable water coverage plan.
Currently, nation’s potable water coverage has reached 61 per cent.
It works hard to reach the coverage 67 per cent by the end of this fiscal year.
"Waste-water should be treated before it affects our environment and human health.
Then when, waste water is used for human social and economic consumption it will cause for various human health and related risks," the State Minister added.
Therefore, waste-water discharges from households, industrial, agricultural and other sources should be treated before they contaminate the environment.
The recent WHO and UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) for Water Supply and Sanitation estimated that by 2015 access to improved drinking water increased to 57 per cent.

Water Research Foundation Launches New Project on Forging Relationships Between Clean Water Agencies and the Community.
The Water Research Foundation (WRF), a leading sponsor of innovative research supporting the water community, is pleased to announce a new project that will help clean water agencies explore how forward thinking utilities and companies leverage emotional motivators in public engagement programs to develop sustainable relationships with their customers.
Awareness of water scarcity is disconnected from the deceptive abundance of this resource in many developed countries.
Social scientists such as Paul Slovic and Daniel Kahneman have long recognized the power of emotional involvement (the affect heuristic) in decision making and hence community building.
The project will develop a report and toolkit that provide best practices, lessons learned, and evaluation metrics for utilities to use when developing messages and education and engagement programs to create meaningful emotional connections in alignment with their specific communities using scientific and technical practices.
“There’s plenty of research out there showing that emotional connections lead to long-term bonds between organizations and their stakeholders,” said Rob Renner, CEO of the Water Research Foundation.
Governed by utilities, WRF plans, manages, and delivers scientifically sound research solutions on the most critical challenges facing the water community in the areas of drinking water, wastewater, stormwater, and reuse.
For more information, go to www.WaterRF.org.
About KKS Advisors KKS Advisors is an advisory services firm helping clients to find innovative solutions to create more sustainable business models and communities.
KKS Advisors also worked with Stewart Investors to conduct a research project on water scarcity in global emerging markets.

PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY – The City of Prince Edward County continues to grapple with a water crisis after a partially submerged barge spilled contaminants into Picton Bay earlier this week.
Thursday, after discovering a foul odor in the Picton raw water sampling line (an early warning system) the County took the additional step of stopping water production at the Picton water drinking plant.
County officials said during a press conference Thursday they will begin shuttling treated water from other potable water sources starting immediately; as a result, a precautionary boil water advisory for all customers connected to the Picton/Bloomfield drinking water system has been implemented by Hastings Prince Edward Public Health.
The water drinking plant was shut down Tuesday afternoon as a precaution after an oily sheen entered the Picton Intake Protection Zone 1, an area some 700 metres from the water intake pipe to the drinking water system.
They are receiving wide spread support from neighbouring communities and have assurances from the Bay of Quinte Mohawks water treatment plant and the City of Belleville that water will be provided if needed.
“Our local haulers have stepped up in a big way to assist us, and we have received a wide spread offer of support from neighbouring municipalities,” said County commissioner Robert McAuley.
The Eastern Canada Response Corporation (ECRC) was handling the cleanup of the spill, believed to be less than 30 litres of diesel fuel and hydraulic fluid that was contained in jerry cans on the deck of the barge when it sunk last Friday afternoon near the Picton Terminals.
Authorities say the barge contains about 1,200 litres of diesel fuel and 100 litres of hydraulic fluid, and the coast guard says the risk of further contamination is extremely low.
No contaminants are known to have entered the water system.
The boil water advisory will remain in place until such time it is lifted by the Hastings Prince Edward Public Health.

As a result of the discovery of a foul odor in the Picton raw water sampling line (an early warning system), the County has taken the additional step of stopping water production at the Picton Drinking Water Plant.
The County will begin shuttling treated water from other potable water sources today; as a result, a precautionary boil water advisory for all customers connected to the Picton/Bloomfield Drinking Water System has been implemented by the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit.
Mayor Robert Quaiff’s full comments from his Thursday afternoon press conference can be heard below.
Indications of contamination from the sampling line served as a warning to ensure that no contaminants were drawn into the intake itself.
· The Boil Water Advisory will remain in place until such time that it is lifted by the Hastings and Prince Edward Counties Health Unit.
· Once the Boil Water Advisory is lifted, communications will be shared through local media outlets, social media and The County’s website.
At that time, affected users are recommended to flush household plumbing through the cold water tap until water runs cold to the touch.
· The County is committed to providing a consistent supply of safe drinking water to all consumers of The County’s municipal drinking water systems.
· Anyone with the ability to transport more than 5,000 gallons of treated water is encouraged to contact the County – additional haulage capacity would be welcome.
1023 or info@pecounty.on.ca.

Water contamination continues in Flint, Michigan and San Diego.
Officials recently reported that the drinking water in Flint, Michigan is now finally in compliance with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) regulations in terms of foreign material in the water, such as lead and copper.
"In addition to replacing the old pipes, where a lot of the lead came out of, they have to watch the acidity and pH of the water because they switched water supplies.
It’s a combination of more vigilant monitoring plus replacing old, old infrastructure."
"It’s all about enforcing the monitoring," Dorsey said.
"And making sure you have enough people looking at the monitoring reports to pick up a problem.
The EPA has to be vigilant to make sure no problems are occurring.
According to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, 90 percent of the samples collected were well below the level of lead needed to declare a federal action.
"We will continue to work with our local, county and federal partners to maintain this trend.” Three schools in the San Ysidro school district also raised concerns about the levels of lead, copper and bacteria in public school water fountains after reports of blue-green water from pressure tests for plumbing leaks came from La Mirada.
"All households get a report from these districts and complying with strict EPA standards and the state.

‘Weather whiplash’ triggered by changing climate will degrade Midwest’s drinking water.
Now, researchers at the University of Kansas have published findings in the journal Biogeochemistry showing weather whiplash in the American Midwest’s agricultural regions will drive the deterioration of water quality, forcing municipalities to seek costly remedies to provide safe drinking water to residents.
"As rainfall patterns change with climate change, it’s predicted there will be more times of drought, and more times of excessive rainfall — really big storms," said Terry Loecke, assistant professor of environmental studies at the University of Kansas and lead author of the new investigation.
"Farmers put on their normal amount of fertilizer, but when we have a drought, plants don’t grow as big and don’t take up as much nitrogen," Loecke said.
But when floods occur, nitrogen is washed into surface waters such as tributaries that feed into rivers.
"But as soon as you wet it, like when you wring a sponge, the nitrogen can flood into the rivers."
"The drinking water is a real problem, especially in Des Moines," Burgin said.
"The average person will pay more to have clean drinking water, like in the city of Des Moines," Loecke said.
"A city can’t predict how many days they’ll have to run a nitrate-removal facility.
According to analysis by the Des Moines Register, 30 percent of them will have this problem — and most don’t have the tax bases to support huge nitrate-removal facilities."

3 Steps To Assess Your Drinking Water.
The lead contamination in Flint, Michigan and the sewage spills in St. Petersburg are only two of many examples of why more consumers are asking questions about the quality of their own drinking water.
That’s one of the findings of a new survey being released this week by the Water Quality Association, a national trade organization representing the water treatment industry.
Executive Director Pauli Undesser said their consumer survey also showed that consumers have a "thirst" for knowledge of what’s going on in other communities.
She recommends residents take three steps if they have questions about their water quality at home: If you get water from a utility or municipal water supply, they’re required to give out an annual report called the Consumer Confidence Report (CCR).
That’s the first thing a consumer should look for because if water suppliers have any violations, they have to disclose those to the public.
On the Water Quality Association’s website, you can find a list of EPA approved laboratories if you want to assess the quality of your water at home.
That’s because there are miles of pipeline between the source and your home where contaminants can be picked up.
If you do identify something, how do you find the products or professionals to get the right water quality treatment?
There is a list of certified professionals and products on the WQA website.

Water on, off N.J. military base contaminated with chemicals, base says.
Tests on several water sources on and off Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst show contamination from two chemicals contained in firefighting foam used on the base for decades, the base said.
The testing is ongoing and being completed as part of a comprehensive environmental effort by the U.S. Air Force to ferret out contamination after prior tests in ground and surface waters on base found elevated levels of PFOS and PFOA, the base said.
Dustin Roberts said.
Of 131 off-base private drinking water wells tested, three were contaminated, and one had combined PFOS/PFOA levels of 1,392 parts per trillion, Roberts said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s health advisory level – or HAL – for PFOS and PFOA is 70 parts per trillion.
On base, the program has tested approximately 165 groundwater monitoring wells and 28 drinking water sources – 27 of them wells and one surface intake that is off- base.
Of those, 124 of the monitoring wells were contaminated and two base drinking water sources, two shallow wells on the Lakehurst part of the base, were contaminated, Roberts said.
Such systems were commonly installed in aircraft hangars, he said.
Roberts said the Air Force at the base is concerned with the contamination overall, but is focusing on impacts off base.