MOSCOW (Sputnik) – An attack, carried out this week on the Nushour water facility in Yemen’s northwestern city of Sa’dah, cut off 10,500 people, including over 5,000 children, from safe drinking water, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.
According to the fund, this has been the third attack on the facility since this March.
"UNICEF deplores in the strongest terms yet another attack on vital and lifesaving water systems in Yemen.
A large water facility in Sa’ada, northwest of the country, came under attack this week.
This is the third such attack on the same facility.
More than half of the project is now damaged, cutting off 10,500 people from safe drinking water," a UNICEF report quoted Geert Cappelaere, the UNICEF Regional Director in the Middle East and North Africa.
According to the report, cutting off children and their families from safe drinking water increases the spread of water-borne diseases in the country, as well as the number of deaths among the country’s civilians.
The fund also urged all the warring parties in crisis-torn Yemen to cease their military activities near any civilian infrastructure, including water facilities, schools, and hospitals.
READ MORE: Saudi-led Coalition Enters Main Airport Compound of Yemen’s Hodeidah The conflict between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, ongoing since 2014, has resulted in thousands of people being killed and a major nationwide humanitarian crisis.
The conflict has already left 8.6 million children in Yemen without regular access to safe drinking water, according to UNICEF figures.

Last week, City Manager Michael Joyal announced the city had taken the Ireland Well that draws from the Pudding Hill Aquifer offline after it found an increasing concentration of perfluorinated compounds.
However, it exceeded those levels of 70 parts per trillion earlier this month.
Out of caution while the city’s water consultants study the contamination issues, the city also decided to take a Pudding Hill Aquifer well offline as well, even though that well wasn’t showing any signs of contamination.
While the Pudding Hill Aquifer makes up the largest source of public drinking water, it being offline does not in use does not immediately affect the city’s water needs, said Keith Pratt of Underwood Engineering that consults with the city on its water supply.
Before Dover stopped drawing from the Pudding Hill Aquifer, the city could supply a little over 5 million gallons of drinking water daily.
In addition to the water sources, Dover also has two water tanks it to help manage its supply.
If the supply were to get tight, the city could set up an emergency connection with Somersworth through connecting existing fire hydrants in short order, Pratt said.
Joyal told the council that a similar link was set-up during the Mother Day Flood of 2006 where Dover supplied Somersworth with an emergency connection.
But in the long term, Storer said the Pudding Hill Aquifer is a critical piece to Dover’s drinking water supply.
Hydrogeologist John Brooks of Emery & Garrett Groundwater Investigations, the firm that assists the city with testing the area for pollutants, said that Schnizer has been open about the pollution issues have been working collaboratively with the city on the contamination challenges.

JACKSONVILLE, Ore. – Visitors to a popular local park are being warned they may have been exposed to contaminated drinking water.
According to Jackson County Parks, the potable water tank at Cantrall Buckley Park was contaminated with water from the kitchen and shower units of a nearby camp on the evening of July 18.
Officials learned about the contamination event on July 23.
Park users may have been exposed to disease-causing organisms between the above dates.
Anyone who drank water at the park between the 18 and 23 may experience the following symptoms: Nausea, vomiting, cramps, diarrhea, jaundice, and associated headaches and fatigue.
Anyone exhibiting symptoms, particularly those who are pregnant or have compromised immune systems, should contact a medical professional immediately.
The park’s water system is currently being flushed and sanitized until it meets state drinking water standards.
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More than 400 drinking water projects in Jajarkot district are said to be in the lurch.
These projects were constructed since the last 10 years.
This condition of the drinking water projects is due to the negligence of the concerned government offices and the consumers committees for their repair and maintenance.
As a result of this situation, a dozen settlements including Khalanga Bazaar, Jagatipur, Punma, Bhur, Seema, Juga Thapachaur, Thalaraikar, Paink, Khagenkot, Dhime, Pajaru, Majkot, Suwanauli, Dasera, Nayakbada and Sakla are reeling under water shortage.
Three hundred families in Jiri, Barekot rural municipality are also dependent on a well and stream water for their water supply.
Six hundred families at Jintala and Khurpa are also facing hard times to meet their daily water needs.
Likewise, 800 households at Kudu, Bheri Municipality-13 have been facing acute shortage of water for many years now.
It is said some 10,000 households in Jajarkot district do not have access to drinking water.
Meanwhile, the local levels have constructed 300 small drinking water projects in the district in the last fiscal year, benefiting some 13,000 households.
District drinking water sub-division office chief Maheshi Mahato said that the repair and maintenance of the old water supply projects and construction of new ones has not taken up speed due to lack of adequate budget.

Three out of the six packaged drinking water samples collected from Andheri, Sewri and Malad among other areas, following a complaint late last year, fail test, found containing harmful microbes and chlorine Mumbaikars, go easy on chugging bottled water; turns out, it’s not so safe, after all.
In 2015, a report of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre had found presence of bromate, a carcinogen, in packaged drinking water in Mumbai.
A doctor had then lodged a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission, which was forwarded to FSSAI.
The latter had asked the FDA to conduct an investigation.
However, one had pseudomonas aeruginosa and aerobic microbial count, while two samples had high residual-free chlorine," states the FDA report.
"We’ve taken note of the reports and filed a case against the companies.
The reports would be produced in court during hearing," he said, adding, "We have plans to collect more samples from other parts of the city."
Adhav said, "Especially in this season, we appeal to people to carry their own drinking water.
Biologically speaking…
Chlorine, too, is used in drinking water, for the purpose of making the bacteria inactivate, while also acting as a residual disinfectant, but its excessive consumption can have a deadly impact on a person’s health.

After decades of work on urban water and waste water management in some 40 countries, we have concluded that there is no reason why urban centres of 200 000 or more people cannot have access to clean water that can be drunk straight from the tap without any health concerns.
Very often the view is that technological developments will solve water problems.
Unless these get adequate attention, neither technology nor additional investment funds are likely to resolve the world’s clean water drinking problems.
A decade ago we predicted that unless management practices improved very significantly at least one city in Africa would face unprecedented water crisis within 20 years.
There is good reason to believe people can lead a healthy and productive life with 75 litres to 85 litres of water per day.
For example, water consumption in Czech Republic is now 88 litres per capita per day.
Since Sao Paulo Metropolitan Area has around 22 million people, these policies saved 550 million litres of drinking water every day.
Change in focus Technological developments will undoubtedly help to solve the world’s urban water problems.
But there is increasing evidence that if the aim is to provide everyone with access to clean water, then increasing focus must be placed on governance, institutional issues and policies.
But lack of sustained political will has been the most important missing link critical factor to improve urban water governance in nearly all cities of the world.

MIDDLETOWN, Pa. (WHTM) – Customers of Suez Middletown Water can stop boiling their drinking water.
The company announced Friday that a problem has been corrected and boiling is no longer necessary for Middletown residents.
The state Department of Environmental Protection approved lifting the advisory.
It was issued Wednesday after deficiencies were identified at one of Middletown’s wells.
Suez said the deficiencies included a loss of disinfection of water entering the distribution system.

"Not every algal bloom will be a toxic one.
But the more algal blooms there are, the greater likelihood you’ll get a toxic one, and one that will contaminate a water supply," Mandelbaum said.
"We know that there are a lot of places that are vulnerable," since runoff from farms and cities more easily makes its way into surface water used for drinking, said David Osterberg, co-founder of Iowa Policy Project, a research group based in Iowa City.
The group released a report last month, saying blue-green algae blooms are becoming more prevalent in Iowa lakes and rivers.
It points to a 2016 state study that showed 15 of 26 public water systems had detectable levels of microcystins in raw water.
MORE: Iowa nitrogen pollution in the water is getting worse, study shows Cyanobacteria release microcystins as the cell is dying, and the toxins can be dangerous to people when they’re in drinking water.
"The report says cyanotoxins are there," Osterberg said.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources said the study showed the public water systems’ treatment was effective at removing the microcystins.
Des Moines Water Works, which tests daily for cyanobacteria and microtoxins, issued a warning in 2016 that said microcystins had been detected in finished water, although below health advisory levels.
And he said the state’s Nutrient Reduction Strategy, designed to cut by 45 percent the nitrogen and phosphorus entering waterways and contributing to the Gulf of Mexico dead zone, is not ramping up quickly enough to reduce dangerous blue-green algae blooms in Iowa.

ISLAMABAD: Access to clean drinking water continues to be a major problem in Pakistani cities.
Only 65.2 per cent of households in Pakistan’s ten major cities have access to piped water connections said the State of Pakistani Cities (SPC) report launched on Thursday.
The report presents the current state of development in the 10 largest cities of Pakistan and shed light on the state of economy, social service delivery, planning and development, housing, environment and heritage in the cities of Pakistan.
The report says that according to census 2017, around 75 million people live in urban areas and 54 per cent of the total urban population lives in 10 cities of the country.
It further says that Pakistani cities vary in terms of their size, economy, employment and tax revenues.
Services and industry are the major employment sectors in Pakistani cities.
Pakistan generates 95 per cent of its total federal tax revenue from its 10 major cities and Karachi contributes 55 per cent, Islamabad 16 per cent, and Lahore 15 per cent.
The report emphasises that Pakistani cities need to better plan and manage their development to meet the needs and demands of their citizens and indeed of the country.
Living by the sea, residents of NA-248 crave drinking water Interim Federal Minister for Climate Change Yusuf Shaikh in his remarks reiterated commitment of the government to formulate the National and Provincial Urban Policies through participatory approach to arrive at viable solutions for climate resilient urban development in the country and support measures to implement SDG 11 for inclusive, safe, and resilient cities.
“Sustainable and inclusive urban economies can be created by promoting urban strategies and policies that strengthen the capacity of cities to realize full potential as drivers of socio-economic development,” Akhtar said.

Understanding the extent of contamination at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility from dangerous industrial chemicals that also made their way into the drinking water for the nearby island town of Chincoteague will take years, officials said this week.
Meanwhile, the popular tourist town on Virginia’s Eastern Shore is moving ahead with plans to find a new supply for its drinking water, which has to be piped in from the mainland.
Although NASA has been providing supplemental drinking water since the chemicals were first detected over a year ago, Town Manager Jim West said he sees it as a risk for both NASA and Chincoteague not to make a change.
"If there’s contaminants, isn’t the wiser thing to get out of the field of contaminants?
The man-made chemicals referred to as PFAS were once used in a wide variety of products, including protective coatings like Teflon.
NASA used firefighting foam containing PFAS at Wallops.
Once PFAS was detected on Wallops property, where Chincoteague has seven wells, NASA began collaborating with the town on public outreach and further testing.
The town’s wells where PFAS was detected were taken offline, and Wallops began providing extra water.
The agency recently submitted a site investigation plan for review by federal and state officials, officials told The Associated Press this week.
NASA supports the town’s efforts to relocate its wells and "is currently evaluating the possibility and process for obtaining the necessary legal authority to provide funds to the town for this specific purpose," Wallops spokesman Jeremy Eggers said.