MANTECA — Some residents in the City of Manteca are concerned about their drinking water after receiving a notice that said the city failed a test earlier this year.
"Our water system recently failed a drinking water standard."
The notice, sent to residents along with their water bill, stated that an elevated level of contaminant 1,2,3-Trichloropropane was found during a test in February.
Some residents said it was the first time they received a notice but Todd Robins, a San Francisco-based attorney representing the city, says several notices have been sent out since February.
They have minimized the use of the two wells that are out of compliance with this standard," Robins said.
"These are important wells in the city system.
There’s been significant inconvenience associated with this.
As a result of the proactive approach, Robins says the city has already assessed treatment options and has a game plan to build a filtration system to keep 123-TCP out of the city’s water.
"These facilities don’t get built and installed on a dime," Robins said.
Robins says the state believes Manteca’s situation is not an emergency and they are continuing to try to address the issue.

By Michael Yun It’s August and just like clockwork, Mayor Steven Fulop is at it again with another head-scratching initiative.
This time his strange idea is to add walking trails around the 1,300-acre Jersey City reservoir, located in Morris County.
Mayor Fulop touted his plans on Twitter (his go-to method of governing) boasting, "It’s a great JC asset that will serve conservationists, school children + surrounding community," however, the opposite is much more likely and the Mayor would know this if he took the time to talk to actual Jersey City residents.
The environmental commission’s two points of concern were the environmental and human dangers that may lead to the contamination of the drinking water that, not only the people of Jersey City, but the people of Secaucus and Parsippany, a total of roughly 340,000 people rely on.
"The construction of access roads, parking areas, pathways, etc… would impact the already fragile and very limited protective vegetative cover.
The vegetative cover is an extremely important ecosystem service, as it reduces soil erosion, maintains soil moisture, and acts to filter potentially contaminated runoff that can flow into the reservoir."
When there is a large isolated body of water, people litter or will relieve themselves, not understanding how their actions will ultimately affect others.
The environmental commission’s concern is that "the risk of an intentional attack to compromise the water supply of the people of Jersey City, Secaucus, and Parsippany."
If this were to happen, the ramifications would be catastrophic, by risking the health of these citizens and costing taxpayers to fix it.
One solution for those who desire a walking trail is to utilize the currently underused Jersey City Reservoir #3 located in the Heights, a development that poses no risk to the drinking water of the people of Jersey City, Secaucus, and Parsippany, while also being located in the mayor’s own city for his constituents to enjoy.

Availability of safe drinking water has remained a long-pending issue in the country.
We live in a world where millions of people – the majority of them children – die every year from diseases that are associated with non-availability of safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene.
In comparison to that about 663 million people are still without any kind of access to safe drinking water and facilities for sanitation.
In a span of a quarter of a century between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of the global population using an improved drinking water source has increased from 76% to about 91%.
The country has an ambitious National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) – a centrally-sponsored scheme – which is aimed at providing every person in rural India with adequate safe water for drinking, cooking and other domestic basic needs on a sustainable basis.
Safe water is to be readily and conveniently accessible at all times and in all situations and therefore, the scheme focuses on the creation of the infrastructure.
The government report says there were as many as 662 “quality-affected villages” in Assam during 2017-18.
One key factor responsible for non-availability of safe drinking water in villages across India is the lack of community participation and community ownership of the projects.
Global goals and national priorities on reliable energy, economic growth, resilient infrastructure, sustainable industrialisation, consumption and production, and food security, are all inextricably linked to a sustainable supply of clean water.
Through Goal 6 of the SDG, the countries of the world have resolved to achieve universal access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation and hygiene to all in the next 15 years.

STRATFORD, Calif. (KFSN) — The town of Stratford is without drinking water this evening after both of the wells, their water system runs on, failed.
Sunday morning Diane and Billy Griffith woke up to the unimaginable.
"It’s devastating.
It really hits you hard when it happens at home," said Stratford resident Diane Griffith.
Using what is left of the water in their trailer to shower and bottled water to hydrate and cook, the couple says their main concern is for others.
We have the elderly in this town," said Diane.
"Some of the structure where the water pulls through failed and were getting sand in the system –so the pump, so we had to shut those pumps off to not cause more damage to those pumps," said S.P.U.D President Jeff Gonzalez.
"We have had failures on that first well.
We just keep going and doing the best we can to keep the water going," said Gonzalez.
Once those repairs are made, it will take several days for the district to flush the distribution system, test the water, and receive authorization from the Division of Drinking Water to lift the "do not drink your water" notice.

STRATFORD, Calif. (KFSN) — The town of Stratford is without drinking water this evening after both of the wells, their water system runs on, failed.
Sunday morning Diane and Billy Griffith woke up to the unimaginable.
"It’s devastating.
It really hits you hard when it happens at home," said Stratford resident Diane Griffith.
Using what is left of the water in their trailer to shower and bottled water to hydrate and cook, the couple says their main concern is for others.
We have the elderly in this town," said Diane.
"Some of the structure where the water pulls through failed and were getting sand in the system –so the pump, so we had to shut those pumps off to not cause more damage to those pumps," said S.P.U.D President Jeff Gonzalez.
"We have had failures on that first well.
We just keep going and doing the best we can to keep the water going," said Gonzalez.
Once those repairs are made, it will take several days for the district to flush the distribution system, test the water, and receive authorization from the Division of Drinking Water to lift the "do not drink your water" notice.

JONES, Okla. (KOKH) — A boil water advisory for a metro town has been lifted.
The Town of Jones utility manager confirms to FOX 25 that the water supply was tested Aug. 9 and came back negative for E-Coli.
On Aug. 4, the Department of Environmental Quality issued the warning after the E. Coli bacteria was found in the town’s water supply.
After the warning, the town installed a treatment system to help clean the water.
Throughout the advisory, several organizations in the area donated bottled water to residents.

The proposed tax on drinking water was introduced in 2017 by Sen. Bill Monning (SB 623).
Another $30 million would come from higher fees on agricultural and dairy businesses, industries whose chemicals contribute to the problem of contaminated groundwater.
Keep in mind, there’s money available from other sources — such as the state’s general fund — that could be used for contaminated groundwater remediation.
I said it was a very bad idea because it was the proverbial camel’s-nose-under-the-tent: It surely would be the first step towards more taxes on public drinking water.
They also plan to allocate $23.5 million from the general fund for various safe drinking water provisions as the legislative year is wrapped up shortly.
Their bungling in the library caper created a prodigious issue that resonates with voters throughout the county, but especially in the 3rd District which is headquarters for two extremely active “Friends of the Public Library” groups in Laytonville and Covelo..
It’s considered bad public policy when elected officials go out of their way to insult and vilify the very folks they appointed to serve as an advisory conduit to them.
Recently many people were disappointed that the Board of Supervisors approved the Cultural Services Agency, a new county department that combines the Library, County Museum and parks.
The supervisors made this move disregarding the advice of their advisory boards, the public and Friends of the Libraries.
Mendocino County’s current and past Board of Supervisors approved an asphalt plant in a flood plain, overly complex cannabis rules and a Cultural Services Agency without considering the effect on its people.

In the five years under audit, the Union and state governments budgeted Rs 89,956 crore or close to Rs 900 billion for about 1.2 million schemes.
The CAG audit finds that coverage of rural habitations increased by only 8 per cent at 40 lpcd and 5.5 per cent on the basis of 55 lpcd during 2012-17.
Instead of 100 per cent coverage as planned, “44 per cent of rural habitations and 85 per cent of government schools and anganwadis provided access to safe drinking water”.
Similarly, instead of the 50 per cent target, only 18 per cent of rural population was provided potable drinking water through pipes and only 17 per cent of rural households were given household connections.
“While the percentage of fully covered rural habitations to the total habitations with 40 lpcd increased from 69 (2013) to 77 per cent (2017), the coverage increased from 39 per cent in April 2013 to 44 per cent in April 2017 based on the norms of 55 lpcd,” says the audit report.
2,212.44 crore.” Under the programme, every village has to have a water security plan besides similar plans at district and state levels to not only target the programme effectively but also involve local communities for sustainable management of structures created.
But 21 states have not prepared such plans showing a fundamental failure in implementation of the scheme.
The National Drinking Water and Sanitation Council (NDWSC), set up in 2010, that is supposed to be the nodal body to coordinate the scheme between the Union ministries and the state governments for speedy implementation.
Now, CAG says given this state of implementation, India might not meet the Sustainable Development Goals on drinking water coverage by 2030.
Govt’s new assessment tool will find out We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us.

BERKELEY, Calif., Aug. 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Industrial giant 3M waited decades to reveal troubling information about the toxicity of its chemicals PFOA and PFOS, according to an analysis published last week in Environmental Health.
The chemicals moved out of these products into air, water, and soil, where they never break down.They are now found in the blood of most Americans, including newborns.
Contaminated drinking water linked to use of firefighting foams at military and civilian airports is a major source of human exposure.
Federal rules currently require airports to use PFAS-containing foams.
Critics say it is time to rethink this policy.
"The extreme persistence and mobility of fluorinated foams leads to water contamination, serious human and environmental harm, and liability for airports," according to Arlene Blum Ph.D., Executive Director of the Green Science Policy Institute.
"Healthy, safe alternatives are in use at airports around the world, but not yet allowed in the U.S." Promising news is that the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment to the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 giving civilian airports the freedom to choose firefighting foams without these harmful chemicals.
"We don’t yet know how to clean up the massive contamination from fluorinated firefighting foams," says Tom Bruton Ph.D., Scientist at the Green Science Policy Institute.
This provision, supported by the International Association of Fire Fighters, the Airports Council International North America, and American Association of Airport Executives, passed the House in April 2018 by a vote of 393 to 13.
The Senate is poised to consider the measure later in August.

Fewer than half of those surveyed did testing; of those that did, more than a third found elevated levels.
And a more recent report, “Get the Lead Out,” from the Environment America Research and Policy Center gave Pennsylvania an F for having no requirements that schools address lead in drinking water.
This year, however, school districts across Pennsylvania will have to test for lead in drinking water — or inform the community they will not — according to an amended school code that’s part of the new state budget.
The language in the school code was based on a bill from state Sen. Art Haywood, who started working on the issue after visiting Flint during its water crisis in 2014.
Haywood plans to work with other lawmakers on a mandatory testing measure that would include state funding for the analysis.
Philadelphia City Council passed an ordinance at the end of 2016 that requires the city school district to test for lead in drinking water and require city certification.
“We’re an old state, so we have a lot of old buildings.” Old buildings often have lead pipes and plumbing that carry — and contaminate — drinking water.
“It just shocks every parent I talk to that there are no federal requirements for testing or reporting for lead in drinking water for schools, and no legal threshold for this neurotoxin in the very places our kids go to learn and grow,” she said.
Disclosure needs to be mandatory, Wein said, adding that, nationally, only 59 percent parents were informed of what districts found.
A lot of school districts can’t afford that, but installing lead-certified filters to bring the level down in the water is a really pretty cost-effective solution,” she said.