The Enquirer/Kareem Elgazzar At this point, unless you live under a rock, you’ve seen pictures of the swollen, chocolate milk-colored Ohio River.
"What people sometimes don’t understand is just how blessed we are in terms of natural water resources," said Mike Ekberg, manager for water resource monitoring and analysis at the Miami Conservancy District.
Our water situation is a positive one, actually, because of natural and man-made water systems in Southwest Ohio.
We have the Ohio River, which provides 88 percent of Cincinnati’s drinking water and much of the water for Northern Kentucky and other communities along the river.
The aquifer is the source of clean water for 2.7 million people in communities including Fairfield, Hamilton, Middletown, Dayton, Springfield and Oxford.
"As one of my old colleagues would say, ‘It’s a gift from the glacier,’ " said Nash, who oversees an aquifer monitoring station in Hamilton County.
At Greater Cincinnati Water Works, most of the water comes from the Ohio River.
Water Works tests the water 600 times per day to make sure of the quality.
Seven of those wells are closed because of the flooding, said Jeff Swertfeger, water quality and treatment superintendent for Greater Cincinnati Water Works.
Officials remind owners of private wells to make sure they are operating properly, that "water from the well is coming from the aquifer, through screens, not coming from above," said Ekberg.

Over K35 million (US$26,157) will be spent to ensure potable water supply for 72 villages in 13 townships in Mandalay Region during the coming summer months, the chief of the regional Rural Development Department said.
“We have collected data on villages that face water shortages this summer,” U Min Han, the department’s director, said on Monday.
For transporting water, we will use fuel allocated for each township,” he added.
The department plans to start supplying water in these areas in March, said U Min Han.
He added that the costs are being calculated based on water tank truck rental and fuel usage.
Mandalay is in the dry zone of central Myanmar and faces water crises every April, May and June.
“It is hard to get access to underground water, so even though we drill to 500ft deep, the water doesn’t taste good for drinking,” said regional parliament member U Wanna Aung.
Helping rural areas get access to water is one of the first priorities of the regional government’s development projects,” he added.
With the help of social welfare organisations, drinking water would be transported to the villages.
In 2017, the Rural Development Department provided drinking water for 98 villages in 15 townships that faced water shortages during the summer months.

Some drinking water in Santa Rosa remains undrinkable months after the North Bay fires, and pressure is mounting on the city’s water department to locate and control the cause.
“The city is very interested to get people back and rebuilt into their homes, of course, as soon as possible,” says Bennett Horenstein, the City of Santa Rosa’s Water Director.
Then its tests found benzene, a chemical that can cause cancer.
“This contamination is certainly attributable to the fire,” says Horenstein, “specifically the heating and burning of different plastic components in the system.” Initial sampling found benzene in the Fountaingrove water main, the local service components, and the lines that connected to destroyed properties.
The water lines in that part of Santa Rosa lost pressure in the fire, which officials say could have helped benzene to spread further when equipment melted.
Initial samples found 87 instances where that limit was exceeded, mostly, but not exclusively, in the Fountaingrove neighborhood.
Horenstein stressed that the benzene in areas outside Fountaingrove was less pervasive, and had not been found in the city’s mains.
Still, water department investigators now are looking for melted plastic components, benzene, and explanations in Coffey Park as well as Fountaingrove.
“We’re just seeing some, maybe 10 percent of these homes, have concerns with benzene.
But he acknowledges Santa Rosa’s problems may have implications for future fires in other cities.

Political parties in Pakistan will include issues of provision of drinking water and better sanitation in the manifestos for General Elections 2018 Pakistan: Islamabad: Major parliamentary political parties have affirmed their commitment towards featuring provision of clean drinking water, safe sanitation and hygiene awareness in their manifestos being prepared for Pakistan General Elections 2018 to improve the lives and health of the citizenry.
The political parties were of the view that giving top priority to drinking water and sanitation in their respective manifestos would not only improve the quality of Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services but also support improvements in the health and education sectors of the country’s development agenda.
Among the political parties Senator Taj Haider of Pakistan People Party said that availability of clean drinking and public access for it serious issues in Pakistan.
His government in Sindh has focused its lenses to resolve sanitation issues and to ensure clean drinking water for common man.
All political parties must go one step ahead to implement and to improve the quality of Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services it with full political will.
MQM MNA Kishwar Zehra said that 90% population of Karachi does not have access to clean drinking water.
The speakers agreed that Pakistan was one of the most densely populated countries in South Asia and lacked behind in the provision and access to quality water, sanitation and hygiene both in rural and urban areas.
Pakistan was among those countries who achieved its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) for sanitation with 64 percent of the population using improved sanitation facilities.
Between 2000 and 2017, the number of people practicing open defecation reduced from 39 percent to 11 percent, access to improved sanitation increased from 35 percent to 73 percent.
The participants actively interacted with the speakers, exchanged views, and expressed that during General Election 2013 there were limited commitments from most of the political party within party manifestos and stressed that with growing population and widespread poverty the provision of safe drinking water, decent sanitation and hygiene awareness must be the top priority of the entire political leadership.

Legal dispute between Minnesota and 3M over perfluorinated compounds ends as company agrees to pay remediation costs US manufacturing giant 3M has agreed to pay $850 million (£610 million) to the state of Minnesota to settle a lawsuit accusing the company of contaminating groundwater with perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs).
The settlement, which came on 20 February when the trial was set to kick-off, will see the money will go to projects to improve aquatic habitats in the state’s east, which was hit hardest by the contamination.
Finalised on the courthouse steps, the agreement came after six weeks of negotiations.
The 3M grant, which will be administered by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, will also finance the continued delivery of water to residents.
The company has agreed to pay for bottled water and in-home water filtration systems for the owners of private wells contaminated by PFCs, for at least the next five years.
‘We are proud of our record of environmental stewardship, and while we do not believe there is a PFC-related public health issue, 3M will work with the state on these important projects,’ said John Banovetz, the company’s chief technology officer and senior vice president of research and development.
US Environmental Protection Agency research has found that PFCs have the potential to bioaccumulate in wildlife.
The agency also points to animal studies that link these compounds to developmental, reproductive and systemic effects.
However, in the days leading up to the trial, the Minnesota Department of Health released a report that concluded that pollution from the 3M sites did not lead to any increase in cancer, low birth-weight babies or premature births.
The trial is scheduled for March 2019.

He says when he worked for the township he learned that the North Kent Landfill had its leachate flowing into the sanitary sewer, so he made a call to the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
Harvey says.
Harvey and other members of "Demand Action" believe not enough is being done to contain and test that contaminated water.
FOX 17 took his questions to the Department of Public Works, they replied in part, with the following statement: "The groundwater ponds you reference have all permits required by and are in full compliance with all permitting requirements of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
All outfalls from the groundwater ponds north of the actual landfill are tested and are in compliance with and below all established drinking water and surface water limits for arsenic and benzene."
Harvey says when he brought his concerns to the county, he was given a different answer.
Harvey is also concerned with the levels of benzene found in monitoring wells on the North Kent Landfill.
The EPA advises zero exposure to benzene and sets a legal limit of five parts per billion.
Harvey worries that those levels of benzene compromised the lining of the landfill, exposing groundwater to whatever waste was in the landfill, including PFAS.
“More and more testing," Harvey tells FOX 17.

DRINKING water fountains outside Optus Stadium are contaminated with lead, according to tests conducted by The Sunday Times.
At one fountain, there was also a nickel concentration above the 0.02mg/L guideline maximum for that metal.
The Sunday Times sampled water from five of the new drinking fountains in Stadium Park on February 14.
The control samples, which were handled in the same way as the fountain water samples, returned zero contaminants.
“The waters which come out of these fountains are contaminated with lead,” he said.
VenuesWest said the drinking water system at Optus Stadium and Stadium Park was professionally tested and commissioned prior to Technical Completion in November 2017 and February 2018.
“Additional sampling and testing of the potable water in the stadium and surrounding park was undertaken last Friday, 16 February 2018.
“All samples from both the November and February tests were tested for Organics, Inorganics, Metals, Ions, Physical Parameters and Microbiology, with the total lead concentration results ranging from 0.001 mg/L in the scheme water sample to one fountain reporting 0.003 mg/L, all well below the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines’ maximum acceptable concentration guideline for lead of 0.010 mg/L.
We took water samples from five drinking fountains, taking care not to touch the lip of the sample bottles against the metal of the fountain taps.
After completing the sampling, we sealed the esky and drove it back to Eurofins.

At the same time, they were able to access ablution blocks.
“We have boreholes but the water is not as clean as the one provided by World Vision,” she said.
The project by World Vision will improve access to safe and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene for over 1,160,000 people in areas where the organisation operates.
In providing communities with facilities for water, World Vision believes that no child should stop school and jeopardise their future because of lack of access to water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools.
World Vision national director Mark Kelly wants communities to have easy access to water and sanitation facilities so that they live happier lives.
Apparently, Government and World Vision have similar goals to ensure that people are provided with clean and safe drinking water and proper sanitation.
Government prioritises the provision of clean and safe drinking water as an overall goal of poverty alleviation and promotion of sustainable economic development.
In Government’s Vision 2030 and Seventh National Development Plan (7NDP), provision of clean water and improved sanitation is a priority.
“Having access to piped water and a modern ablution block at a school will enhance children’s attendance in school and results in high concentration and improved performance in class.
It is also true that levels of pupils dropping out of school is high, especially among girls,” he said.

The Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) in the Upper East Region increased access to potable drinking water for communities from 32 per cent in 2016 to 67 per cent in the 2017 season.
It targeted to serve about 1.4 million people with potable drinking water but could serve only about 946,568 people in the region following some technical concerns.
Mr John Godson Aduakye, Acting Regional Director of the CWSA disclosed these in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Bolgatanga and said CWSA provided about 3,700 boreholes, 512 hand dug wells, 17 limited mechanised schemes and 23 conversional pipe lines within the same period.
He said per the Agency’s water distribution standards, about 300 people were expected to share one borehole in every community in the region and indicated that it was not fair for one to travel more than 500 metres to have access to water.
The Acting Regional Director said as part of its mandate in ensuring good health, the agency established Health Clubs in some selected Basic Schools across the region on hand washing to promote good and hygienic lifestyles.
He said the Agency had considered and factored into its activities the construction of public toilets at border areas in the region to contain the practice where travellers resorted to open defecation around the country’s frontiers.
He appealed to Landlords to construct household toilets in their homes and avoid open defecation and said the practice was responsible for most of the water borne diseases in the region.
The Chief Extension Service Specialist at the CWSA, Mr Emmanuel Adii said a survey conducted in 2014-2015 to ascertain whether services rendered were still actively in use, revealed that out of the 3,700 water sources extended to communities, about 820 were broken down.
He said water was not only of social importance, but also of economic importance and urged communities to adopt the culture of maintenance and ensure that they regularly maintained their facilities to prolong their life-spun.
Source: GNA

DRINKING water fountains outside Optus Stadium are contaminated with lead, according to tests conducted by The Sunday Times.
At one fountain, there was also a nickel concentration above the 0.02mg/L guideline maximum for that metal.
The Sunday Times sampled water from five of the new drinking fountains in Stadium Park on February 14.
The control samples, which were handled in the same way as the fountain water samples, returned zero contaminants.
“The waters which come out of these fountains are contaminated with lead,” he said.
VenuesWest said the drinking water system at Optus Stadium and Stadium Park was professionally tested and commissioned prior to Technical Completion in November 2017 and February 2018.
“Additional sampling and testing of the potable water in the stadium and surrounding park was undertaken last Friday, 16 February 2018.
“All samples from both the November and February tests were tested for Organics, Inorganics, Metals, Ions, Physical Parameters and Microbiology, with the total lead concentration results ranging from 0.001 mg/L in the scheme water sample to one fountain reporting 0.003 mg/L, all well below the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines’ maximum acceptable concentration guideline for lead of 0.010 mg/L.
We took water samples from five drinking fountains, taking care not to touch the lip of the sample bottles against the metal of the fountain taps.
After completing the sampling, we sealed the esky and drove it back to Eurofins.