Tonko Promotes $8 Billion Drinking Water Bill At Albany Med.
The city of Albany alone has 317 miles of water pipes, some of which are 135 years old.
Nationwide, Tonko says leaking pipes lose an estimated 7 billion gallons of clean drinking water every day, there are more than 700 water main breaks every day, and there may be as many as 10 million lead-contaminated service lines in use.
Tonko is promoting the Drinking Water System Improvement Act of 2017.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan says clean water is an important component of economic growth and development.
Albany Med used almost 77 million gallons of water at its main site in 2016.
"I wanna thank Albany Medical Center for being a large user of our water and we take your faith in us very seriously, and we are making investments every day to ensure that our drinking water is safe and that we are able to supply water at the right pressures to our customers."
Drinking Water By the Numbers: · Albany, NY alone has 317 miles of pipes, some of them as much as 135 years old · 86% of U.S. households rely on public water supplies.
· Leaking pipes lose an estimated 7 billion gallons of clean drinking water every day.
· There are more than 700 water main breaks every day.

180 Million People Lack Clean Water Due to Conflict: UNICEF.
In countries affected by conflict, violence and instability, more than 180 million people are deprived of access to clean water, the United Nations Children’s Fund has announced as World Water Week begins.
Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF’s global chief of water, sanitation and hygiene, stated, “Children’s access to safe water and sanitation, especially in conflicts and emergencies, is a right, not a privilege," adding, "In countries beset by violence, displacement, conflict and instability, children’s most basic means of survival – water – must be a priority.” Wijesekera also emphasized, “In far too many cases, water and sanitation systems have been attacked, damaged or left in disrepair to the point of collapse.
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seek to previous 12… 6 seek to 10%, 20% … 60% pause-sharp-outline pause-sharp-fill pause-rounded-outline pause-rounded-fill 0:00 0:00 A textbook case is Yemen.
The Saudi-led war of aggression – financed by the United States and the United Kingdom – has rendered the country’s water supply virtually unusable in the past two years.
As a result, Yemeni children comprise more than 53 percent of the over half a million cases of suspected cholera and acute watery diarrhea, according to UNICEF.
Well over seven years of civil war in Syria has resulted in approximately 15 million people – 6.4 percent children – lacking safe water.
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Michael Phelps joins campaign to help all of us have clean water.
But the Olympic swimming champion and Paradise Valley resident realizes not everyone is fortunate enough to have sufficient clean water for everyday necessities, let alone enough to swim in.
That’s why he’s teaming with Colgate to help raise awareness about wasting water.
“Water is the Earth’s most precious resource, but without realizing it we often take it for granted,” Phelps said in a written statement.
The 23-time Olympic gold medalist is lending his voice and image to a documentary series called “Tales of Two Minutes.” The name highlights the fact that people can waste as much as four gallons of water in the two minutes it takes to brush their teeth if they leave the water running.
The short films, which appear on Colgate’s YouTube channel, showcase stories from across the nation that can change the way we view water.
The first film in the series highlights the extreme water scarcity at St. Michaels Association for Special Education, the only special-needs school in St. Michaels, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation.
Due to a lack of clean drinking water at the school, students and faculty needed to bring bottled water not only to drink but for basic hygiene and to clean the medical equipment needed by some of the students and adults who attend.
Efforts to improve the situation are starting to pay off.
“As a result of this project, eventually we’re going to have a total water-filtration system for the entire school.

180 million people lack safe water in conflict-affected countries: Unicef.
New York: More than 180 million people in countries affected by conflict and instability do not have access to safe water, the UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) announced on Tuesday.
“In countries beset by violence, displacement, conflict and instability, children’s most basic means of survival – water – must be a priority,” said Sanjay Wijesekera, Unicef’s global chief of water, sanitation and hygiene.
In a statement released to mark World Water Week, held this year from August 27 to September 1, Wijesekera asserted that “children’s access to safe water and sanitation, especially in conflicts and emergencies, is a right, not a privilege”, reports Efe news.
A latest Unicef analysis, conducted with the World Health Organisation (WHO), found that in 2015, out of some 484 million people living in fragile situations, 183 million lacked basic drinking water services.
“In 2016 alone, there were at least 30 deliberate water cuts – including in Aleppo, Damascus, Hama, Raqqa and Dara, with pumps destroyed and water sources contaminated,” the Unicef said.
It also underscored the case of Nigeria, where conflicts have damaged or destroyed 75 per cent of water and sanitation infrastructure, leaving 3.6 million people without basic water services, leading to malnutrition and diseases.
“When children have no safe water to drink, and when health systems are left in ruins, malnutrition and potentially fatal diseases like cholera will inevitably follow,” Wijesekera said.
In Yemen, more than 53 per cent of the 500,000 cases of suspected cholera and acute watery diarrhoea have been recorded in children so far.
Unicef also warned of the threat of famine in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, where nearly 30 million people, including 14.6 million children, urgently require access to safe water.

Michael Phelps joins campaign to help all of us have clean water.
But the Olympic swimming champion and Paradise Valley resident realizes not everyone is fortunate enough to have sufficient clean water for everyday necessities, let alone enough to swim in.
That’s why he’s teaming with Colgate to help raise awareness about wasting water.
“Water is the Earth’s most precious resource, but without realizing it we often take it for granted,” Phelps said in a written statement.
The 23-time Olympic gold medalist is lending his voice and image to a documentary series called “Tales of Two Minutes.” The name highlights the fact that people can waste as much as four gallons of water in the two minutes it takes to brush their teeth if they leave the water running.
The short films, which appear on Colgate’s YouTube channel, showcase stories from across the nation that can change the way we view water.
The first film in the series highlights the extreme water scarcity at St. Michaels Association for Special Education, the only special-needs school in St. Michaels, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation.
Due to a lack of clean drinking water at the school, students and faculty needed to bring bottled water not only to drink but for basic hygiene and to clean the medical equipment needed by some of the students and adults who attend.
Efforts to improve the situation are starting to pay off.
“As a result of this project, eventually we’re going to have a total water-filtration system for the entire school.

Michael Phelps joins campaign to help all of us have clean water.
But the Olympic swimming champion and Paradise Valley resident realizes not everyone is fortunate enough to have sufficient clean water for everyday necessities, let alone enough to swim in.
That’s why he’s teaming with Colgate to help raise awareness about wasting water.
“Water is the Earth’s most precious resource, but without realizing it we often take it for granted,” Phelps said in a written statement.
The 23-time Olympic gold medalist is lending his voice and image to a documentary series called “Tales of Two Minutes.” The name highlights the fact that people can waste as much as four gallons of water in the two minutes it takes to brush their teeth if they leave the water running.
The short films, which appear on Colgate’s YouTube channel, showcase stories from across the nation that can change the way we view water.
The first film in the series highlights the extreme water scarcity at St. Michaels Association for Special Education, the only special-needs school in St. Michaels, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation.
Due to a lack of clean drinking water at the school, students and faculty needed to bring bottled water not only to drink but for basic hygiene and to clean the medical equipment needed by some of the students and adults who attend.
Efforts to improve the situation are starting to pay off.
“As a result of this project, eventually we’re going to have a total water-filtration system for the entire school.

Michael Phelps joins campaign to help all of us have clean water.
But the Olympic swimming champion and Paradise Valley resident realizes not everyone is fortunate enough to have sufficient clean water for everyday necessities, let alone enough to swim in.
That’s why he’s teaming with Colgate to help raise awareness about wasting water.
“Water is the Earth’s most precious resource, but without realizing it we often take it for granted,” Phelps said in a written statement.
The 23-time Olympic gold medalist is lending his voice and image to a documentary series called “Tales of Two Minutes.” The name highlights the fact that people can waste as much as four gallons of water in the two minutes it takes to brush their teeth if they leave the water running.
The short films, which appear on Colgate’s YouTube channel, showcase stories from across the nation that can change the way we view water.
The first film in the series highlights the extreme water scarcity at St. Michaels Association for Special Education, the only special-needs school in St. Michaels, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation.
Due to a lack of clean drinking water at the school, students and faculty needed to bring bottled water not only to drink but for basic hygiene and to clean the medical equipment needed by some of the students and adults who attend.
Efforts to improve the situation are starting to pay off.
“As a result of this project, eventually we’re going to have a total water-filtration system for the entire school.

Over 180 million people lack access to basic drinking water – UNICEF.
More than 180 million people do not have access to basic drinking water in countries affected by conflict, violence and instability around the world, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has said.
UNICEF stated this on Monday as World Water Week gets closer adding that children living in fragile situations are four times more likely to lack access to basic drinking water.
UNICEF’s global chief of water, sanitation and hygiene Sanjay Wijesekera said children’s access to safe water and sanitation, especially in conflicts and emergencies, is a right and not a privilege.
“In countries beset by violence, displacement, conflict and instability, children’s most basic means of survival, water must be a priority.” A recent analysis by UNICEF and World Health Organisation revealed that of the estimated 484 million people living in fragile situations in 2015, 183 million lacked basic drinking water services as people living in fragile situations are four times more likely to lack basic drinking water than populations in non-fragile situations, “In conflict affected areas in northeast Nigeria, 75 per cent of water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, leaving 3.6 million people without even basic water services.
In South Sudan, where fighting has raged for over three years, almost half the water points across the country have been damaged or completely destroyed.” Wijesekera said, in many cases, water and sanitation systems have been attacked, damaged or left in disrepair to the point of collapse adding that when children have no safe water to drink, and when health systems are left in ruins, malnutrition and potentially fatal diseases like cholera will inevitably follow.
“In famine-threatened northeast Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen, nearly 30 million people, including 14.6 million children, are in urgent need of safe water.
More than 5 million children are estimated to be malnourished this year, with 1.4 million severely so.”

Cholera prevention: “Let’s all drink clean water”.
A lack of access to drinking water and poor storage of the same, as well as ignorance about good hygiene practices, are the main causes of this illness which even today can kill.
A campaign was organised from 1st – 30th April 2017 by the Katanga water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) cluster, with a view to preventing the spread of cholera in Haut-Katanga province in 2017.
Thanks to this campaign, more than 70,000 people from the town of Lubumbashi and the surrounding area were made aware of the importance of consuming drinking or treated water.
The decision was made on the eve of the celebration of World Water Day on the 22nd March 2017, to run this large-scale campaign in order to raise awareness amongst the populations of the Kampemba and Mumbunda health zones – the areas worst affected by the cholera epidemic during 2016 – of the risks posed by consuming non-drinkable water.
This initiative was realised with contributions from every member of the WASH cluster: with a subscription of 50 American dollars (USD) per member and the support of certain water treatment companies in Lubumbashi, more than 5000 USD was collected.
Besides raising awareness about hygiene measures, the campaign also introduced the benefits of chlorination.
Sonyi, a representative of ADAM – a local NGO which is a member of the WASH cluster – hopes that the community will continue to put into practice for as long as possible the knowledge that has been shared.
We crossed paths with Perpétue Mahanda after a full morning of work, data collection sheet in hand, reporting to her supervisors in Munua health centre.
The ultimate goal of UNICEF’s work in the WASH sector is to ensure that all children can benefit from the realisation of this right, and that no child should fall by the wayside.

Cholera prevention: “Let’s all drink clean water”.
A lack of access to drinking water and poor storage of the same, as well as ignorance about good hygiene practices, are the main causes of this illness which even today can kill.
A campaign was organised from 1st – 30th April 2017 by the Katanga water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) cluster, with a view to preventing the spread of cholera in Haut-Katanga province in 2017.
Thanks to this campaign, more than 70,000 people from the town of Lubumbashi and the surrounding area were made aware of the importance of consuming drinking or treated water.
The decision was made on the eve of the celebration of World Water Day on the 22nd March 2017, to run this large-scale campaign in order to raise awareness amongst the populations of the Kampemba and Mumbunda health zones – the areas worst affected by the cholera epidemic during 2016 – of the risks posed by consuming non-drinkable water.
This initiative was realised with contributions from every member of the WASH cluster: with a subscription of 50 American dollars (USD) per member and the support of certain water treatment companies in Lubumbashi, more than 5000 USD was collected.
Besides raising awareness about hygiene measures, the campaign also introduced the benefits of chlorination.
Sonyi, a representative of ADAM – a local NGO which is a member of the WASH cluster – hopes that the community will continue to put into practice for as long as possible the knowledge that has been shared.
We crossed paths with Perpétue Mahanda after a full morning of work, data collection sheet in hand, reporting to her supervisors in Munua health centre.
The ultimate goal of UNICEF’s work in the WASH sector is to ensure that all children can benefit from the realisation of this right, and that no child should fall by the wayside.