CROW AGENCY- Tests conducted last week show no E.coli in the Crow tribal water system, and contaminants discovered at the water source last summer were never detected in residents’ drinking water, EPA officials said Wednesday.
The EPA conducted tests at the tribe’s two smaller water system at Pryor and Wyola last week, and the tribe’s largest system at Crow Agency has regularly tested negative for E. coli after treatment, said Richard Mylott, a Denver-based spokesman for the agency’s region 8.
The Crow Agency water system is operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Last week, the Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general released a report showing a presence of E. coli above federal limits at the groundwater source from the Little Bighorn River.
That water had not yet been treated, Mylott said.
The report also faulted water at the Pryor and Wyola systems for insufficient monitoring of samples at those two systems.
In a statement, tribal officials said they are seeking to build a new system with money from the 2010 Crow Water Settlement.
“The Crow Tribe did not enter into a treaty with the United States to secure contaminated water,” Chairman Leroy Not Afraid said in a Dec. 13 statement.
“The Crow Tribe wants what it has always fought for: clean, potable water.
The U.S. Government is failing to fulfill its trust responsibility by holding the Crow Water Settlement funds hostage for misspending that occurred years before I took office.”

The investment is part of the firm’s Children’s Safe Drinking Water (CSDW) program.
The program has so far gratified 150,000 households in Migori and Siaya counties and has assisted the Kisumu County Government in flood areas and during cholera outbreaks.
P&G’s initiative to provide clean drinking water is geared towards reducing sickness and death in children who drink contaminated water which complements the Government’s pledge to providing universal health care.
“According to water.org, 41 per cent of Kenyans still rely on unimproved water sources, such as ponds, shallow wells and rivers.
Stakeholders in private and public sector need to collaborate to improve this situation.
Knowing this drives us to continually put in place interventions in collaboration with our partners, in order to make clean water available for all,” said George Owuor, Head of Government Relations P&G East Africa.
The program issues P&G Purifier of Water sachets, a low-cost powdered technology in a packet that is designed to purify heavily contaminated drinking water and get it to WHO standards for safe drinking water.
The CSDW program currently runs in several counties including: Machakos, Kajiado, Taita Taveta, Narok, Kisumu, Isiolo, Marsarbit, Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet, Samburu, Lakipia, Muranga, Homa Bay and Makueni.
The Transformation of Water P&G invested over Sh300 million during the screening of their Transformation of Water documentary in Kisumu County.
The documentary, produced in conjunction with National Geographic, vividly tells the story of communities that lack access to clean drinking water as well as the progress that has been made by the Government and private sector in addressing this need.

Manu’a Fetineia’i and her family of Falevao have never had access to clean drinking water for over 20 years.
“I have lived for more than 20 years and we have never had any access to clean water, the water that we receive is not treated meaning it is not safe to drink.” “Water is the most important necessity of life; it has so many various uses, firstly to quench our thirst.” “But we have to boil the water first before we consume it, so we will not be sick,” she said.
Currently, the family has access to water—but not necessarily clean drinking water—and they are further challenged during the rainy season.
The 25-year-old says: “With the heavy rainfall, the water we get is very dirty, sometimes the water is disconnected, and we have no choice but to use buckets to store water from the rain.
Our family needs a water tank so it will be easier to store water for various purposes.” “We need water for cooking our daily meals, washing dishes and clothes, for bathing and also for our toilet.
“Our home is not built to withstand cyclones; I worry about my grandmother and children the most if something were to happen.
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Public Health Sudbury & Districts has issued a drinking water advisory effective immediately for the residents of Gogama.
A drinking water advisory means that people who take their water from the municipal system should not use it for drinking; making juice, infant formula, or ice; cooking; washing uncooked fruits and vegetables; or brushing teeth.
Boiling the water may not make it safe for drinking.
Bottled water used for making infant formula must still be boiled.
The water can be used for laundry and bathing (excluding small children who could swallow the water).
Once the water supply is re-established, residents should not use the water for human consumption until advised otherwise by Public Health Sudbury & Districts.
“It is possible that a loss of water pressure can create conditions that compromise the safety of the drinking water,” said Cynthia Peacock-Rocca, a manager in the Environmental Health Division.
“Until bacteriological testing of the drinking water indicates a safe supply, the drinking water advisory will remain in effect as a precaution.” Public Health Sudbury & Districts staff will continue to monitor the situation.
We will notify the municipality when the drinking water advisory is lifted and residents will be advised.
For more information, please call Public Health Sudbury & Districts at 705-522-9200 (after hours at 705-688-4366) or visit www.phsd.ca.

RALEIGH, NC (WECT) – Leaders at Cape Fear Public Utility Authority will review a proposed agreement reached between the NC Department of Environmental Quality, Cape Fear River Watch and Chemours over the company’s discharge of GenX and other compounds into the water supply.
The utility also plans to comment to NCDEQ regarding the proposed consent order announced this week.
The full release from CFPUA says: "Cape Fear Public Utility Authority was not part of any negotiation or discussion related to the draft consent order that NCDEQ released Wednesday.
While the draft document appears to address some important issues surrounding future PFAS contamination, it does not appear to consider or address how downstream utilities and their customers have been affected and the possible lingering effects of the broad spectrum of PFAS contamination.
We have not received a response from NCDEQ concerning our November 13 email transmitting a report by UNCW researchers describing additional PFAS compounds they identified in the Cape Fear River.
The proposed consent order would require Chemours to provide permanent drinking water for residents with water wells that have GenX levels above 140 parts per trillion and pay a $12 million civil penalty.
By Dec. 31, 2019, install a thermal oxidizer to control all PFAS from multiple process streams, demonstrate PFAS reductions at an effectiveness of 99.99 percent efficiency and a 99 percent reduction facility-wide for GenX emissions compared to the 2017 baseline level.
Submit and implement a plan for sampling all process and non-process wastewater and stormwater streams to identify any additional PFAS.
Notify and coordinate with downstream public water utilities when an event at the facility has the potential to cause a discharge of GenX compounds into the Cape Fear River above the health goal of 140 parts per trillion.
"This is the largest fine ever by DEQ: 99% reduction in emissions, health study funded by Chemours, safe water for people around the plant whose wells are spoiled, groundwater remediation and more.” Public comments on the proposed order will be accepted until Dec. 21 and can be submitted electronically to comments.chemours@ncdenr.gov or mailed to Assistant Secretary’s office, RE: Chemours Public Comments, 1601 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-1601.

At low-level concentrations, the cancer-causing chemical can turn clear water yellow, and when it’s really bad, a water source contaminated with ‘chrome-6’ can flow purple.
But even when tap water is perfectly clear, Brockovich admitted she’s still "funny about water," and rarely, if ever, drinks straight from a tap.
"I think we’re pretty convinced that these chemicals are immune toxicants that we should be concerned about," Linda Birnbaum, a microbiologist who directs the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at the National Institutes of Health, said last month.
Eight big chemical companies in the US (including DuPont and 3M) voluntarily phased out the chemicals in their products and replaced them with new ones by 2015.
How to ensure your water is safe to drink The first thing you can do if you’re worried about the quality of your tap water is read your local water report.
She has even agreed to endorse a filtering product for the first time ever: the AquaTru home water filter.
Plus, bottled water is often just treated tap water, and the products are generally less regulated than what comes out of the tap.
But the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lets companies use the label "purified water" on water that’s been treated in several different ways, so it’s not always clear how it’s been filtered.
"I let consumers know, use your own common sense … if it looks funny or smells funny, don’t drink it."
Water-quality data for cities and towns around the country is required to be reported every year, and it’s available on the EPA’s website.

A recent Water Aid report finds that India is among the top countries with the worst access to clean water close to homes.
Waterborne diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, typhoid and viral hepatitis continue to dominate in many parts of the country, causing the death of nearly 10,000 plus people in the country over the last five years.
Urban India affected too While a number of cities in India are struggling to cope with increasing water scarcity due to declining groundwater levels, water quality continues to be a major problem posing a serious health risk.
However, this water continues to be of questionable quality and has been found to be exposed to severe pollution and deterioration of groundwater quality.
Drinking water in Bengaluru A study titled "Drinking water contamination from peri-urban Bengaluru" published in the journal ‘Current Science’ assessed the extent of contamination of water available from these reservoirs by analysing the drinking water quality at the source and that used in the households from eight peri-urban villages located near the Vrishabhavathi-Byramangala reservoir in the city.
The study found that: As high as 80 percent of water samples at the source was contaminated and presented a moderate to high risk for diarrhoea.
Only seven percent of household drinking water samples were found to comply with the WHO’s permissible limits, while all the remaining drinking water samples (93 percent) were found to be contaminated with coliforms.
Drinking water from borewells at Byramangala Panchayat was found to be highly polluted with coliforms indicating the possibility of faecal contamination around the areas of the reservoir due to the inflow of sewage and industrial effluents into the reservoir.
Nitrate levels were greater than the permissible levels in all drinking water sources from the villages surrounding Vrishabhavathi–Byramangala reservoir, indicating progressive deterioration of groundwater quality and a high risk to health.
The levels of drinking water contamination at the household level were found to be higher than that at the source, which could be due to poor sanitation and hygiene practices, faulty handling and other socio-cultural practices.

Kerr is treasurer of the Martin County Water District, a utility that’s made national news amid reports of poor water quality and long outages that have left hundreds of families without running water for days at a time.
The crisis?
Whether people in this mountainous and economically distressed region will have access to clean, reliable and affordable drinking water in the coming years.
You’re gonna start seeing these things pop up all over the country.” While Martin County has received more attention than other water districts, people from across Eastern Kentucky tell similar stories: brown water coming out of their taps; outages that leave families struggling to bathe their children; water bills that keep getting higher, leaving people in one of the poorest parts of the country wondering how long they’ll be able to afford city water.
In some cases, districts refused to raise rates gradually even at the request of the Kentucky Public Service Commission, the state agency that regulates most utilities in Kentucky.
We can’t take out a loan,” Kerr said.
“Grants, anything like that we can get our hands on, yes, absolutely we’ll get every dollar that we can.” Sandra Dunahoo, chair of the Kentucky Infrastructure Authority and commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Local Government, offers a more optimistic story of water infrastructure in Kentucky.
Then-governor Paul Patton made a plan to provide adequate and clean drinking water to every Kentuckian by 2020, saying “An adequate source of safe, clean drinking water is nothing to get upset about unless you don’t happen to have any; then it becomes a matter of life and death.” Much of that progress has come from projects funded by low-interest loans through state and federal agencies, and through grants awarded by organizations like the Appalachian Regional Commission.
Since 1990, the authority has awarded about $597 million through a federally assisted wastewater revolving loan fund, and more than $717 million through a safe drinking water revolving loan fund, along with more than $48 million of grant money.
In some districts with high rates of water loss, including districts in Floyd County, Martin County and Harlan County, residents have reported spending days without running water.

Public Health Sudbury & Districts has issued a drinking water advisory effective immediately for the residents of Foleyet, said a news release issued Sunday.
A drinking water advisory means that people who take their water from the municipal system should not use it for drinking; making juice, infant formula, or ice; cooking; washing uncooked fruits and vegetables; or brushing teeth.
Boiling the water may not make it safe for drinking.
Bottled water used for making infant formula must still be boiled.
The water can be used for laundry and bathing (excluding small children who could swallow the water).
Although the Town of Foleyet has re-established the water supply, which was interrupted due to loss of pressure as a result of a power outage, residents should not use the water for human consumption until advised otherwise by the public health unit.
“Until bacteriological testing of the drinking water indicates a safe supply, the drinking water advisory will remain in effect as a precaution.” Public Health staff will continue to monitor the situation.
Public Health will notify the municipality when the drinking water advisory is lifted and residents will be advised, said the release.
For more information, call Public Health Sudbury & Districts at 705-522-9200, ext.
398 (toll-free 1-866-522-9200) or visit www.phsd.ca.

Medical staff from the Health Ministry are now visiting villages in the Naitasiri province on a daily basis to closely monitor the recent Typhoid outbreak.
This comes after there were thirty-one confirmed cases of Typhoid from only certain areas of Naitasiri.
Minister responsible, Dr Ifereimi Waqainabete says with a lot of functions happening in the lead up to the festive season, its crucial the disease does not spread.
Dr. Waqainabete says Typhoid can be fatal as it’s a bacterial infection that can lead to a high fever, diarrhoea, and vomiting.
He adds that villagers are to boil all drinking water.
” I can assure that obviously the public health team have been working daily in these villages and one of the strategies is identifying the water source to ensure people in these areas have access to safe and clean drinking water that they’ve been utilizing.” Meanwhile, the public health teams on the ground are educating families on safe food preparation, food handling and proper hygiene practices.
The Ministry is urging Fijians to postpone non-essential travel to the affected areas and exercise precautionary measures.
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