Africa: Contaminated Drinking Water in South Sudan – No Solution in Sight

Oil production in South Sudan has poisoned the drinking water of some 600,000 people.
"As a responsible organization, we place the interests of the local community as paramount," the Kuala Lumpur-based Petronas wrote to DW on April 18, dismissing the allegations by Sign of Hope, which works to protect the rights of people in distress.
"Whilst we deny the allegations made by Sign of Hope, we are considering Sign of Hope’s views about improving the situation in South Sudan and we are pleased to have had a positive exchange right at our very first meeting," Petronas said.
A concrete proposal was already on the table, it added.
Glimmer of hope Sign of Hope co-chair Klaus Stieglitz told DW that participants at a meeting between the two parties in Zurich appeared to be seriously interested in finding a solution.
At the time, Sign of Hope was running several health projects in the region.
Africa Water Ltd. wants to restore functionality to 15 boreholes within one year to give people in the region access to uncontaminated water.
"The Water for Life project will bring benefits of clean water supply to more than 40,000 people in South Sudan," Petronas spokeswoman Zahariah Abd Rahman told DW in an email.
More water projects would follow, she said.
What came as a surprise was that the project is not in South Sudan’s oil region but in the capital Juba.

Contaminated drinking water in South Sudan – no solution in sight

Oil production in South Sudan has poisoned the drinking water of some 600,000 people.
"As a responsible organization, we place the interests of the local community as paramount," the Kuala Lumpur-based Petronas wrote to DW on April 18, dismissing the allegations by Sign of Hope, which works to protect the rights of people in distress.
Read more: NGO blames water pollution in S.Sudan on oil company "Whilst we deny the allegations made by Sign of Hope, we are considering Sign of Hope’s views about improving the situation in South Sudan and we are pleased to have had a positive exchange right at our very first meeting," Petronas said.
A concrete proposal was already on the table, it added.
At the time, Sign of Hope was running several health projects in the region.
Africa Water Ltd. wants to restore functionality to 15 boreholes within one year to give people in the region access to uncontaminated water.
"The Water for Life project will bring benefits of clean water supply to more than 40,000 people in South Sudan," Petronas spokeswoman Zahariah Abd Rahman told DW in an email.
More water projects would follow, she said.
What came as a surprise was that the project is not in South Sudan’s oil region but in the capital Juba.
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Malaysia: UN human rights expert on drinking water and sanitation to visit

“I look forward to learning about how the Malaysian water and sanitation sector, after having started a reform in the mid-2000’s, is organised to provide equal access to water and sanitation for the entire population in Malaysia,” said Leo Heller.
“I would like to further learn about the crucial role of the recently established Ministry of Water, Land and Natural Resources and how the federal and local governments cooperate in ensuring access to those services in Peninsular Malaysia and the federal territories as well as in East Malaysia, namely, the States of Sabah and Sarawak.” The Special Rapporteur will assess whether the entire population in Malaysia has sufficient, hygienic and safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water and sanitation services, without discrimination.
The UN independent expert will travel to Gua Musang, Kota Kinabalu, Kuala Lumpur, Miri, Putrajaya and Sandakan.
In a recent report, the Special Rapporteur focused on the human rights to water and sanitation of forcibly displaced persons, in particular, the internally displaced, refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented populations and migrants in vulnerable situations.
A news conference to share the expert’s preliminary findings will be held **in Kuala Lumpur **on 27 November, at 11am at the JW Marriott Hotel.
Access is strictly limited to journalists.
Mr. Léo Heller_ (Brazil) is the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, appointed in November 2014.
_ _Learn more: http://www.ohchr.org/SRwaterandsanitation _ Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council.
They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
UN Human Rights, Country Page – Malaysia For more information and media requests, please contact: _During the mission: Ms. Ahreum Lee +41 79 201 0119 / __ahreumlee@ohchr.org_ _For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts please contact: Mr. Jeremy Laurence, UN Human Rights – Media Unit (+41 22 917 9383 /jlaurence@ohchr.org) _ This year, 2018, is the _70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN on 10 December 1948.

AVA recalls tainted bottled water from Malaysia over bacteria fears

SINGAPORE: A brand of bottled drinking water imported from Malaysia has been recalled after a bacteria was found during a routine sampling of the product, the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) said on Saturday (Sep 8).
AVA said in a news release that pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common environmental bacteria that can be found in faeces, soil, water and sewage, was found in samples of Guang Li Liang bottled drinking water.
Advertisement The bacteria can multiply in water environments and also on the surface of suitable organic materials in contact with water.
Consuming products contaminated with this bacteria can cause a range of infections, although it rarely leads to serious illness in healthy individuals, AVA added.
The recall implicates batch number 18228 of Guang Li Liang bottled water with expiry dates of Aug 4, Aug 26 and Aug 29, 2020.
The batch number and expiry date are printed on the bottle.
The product was imported from Malaysia by BSY Power of Light Trading.
AVA has directed BSY to recall the implicated product, it said, adding that the recall is ongoing.
Advertisement "Consumers who have the implicated products are advised to not consume them.
For enquiries, consumers may call BSY at +65 9756 8786 or email enquiries@bsytrading.com.

AVA recalls tainted bottled water from Malaysia over bacteria fears

SINGAPORE: A brand of bottled drinking water imported from Malaysia has been recalled after a bacteria was found during a routine sampling of the product, the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) said on Saturday (Sep 8).
AVA said in a news release that pseudomonas aeruginosa, a common environmental bacteria that can be found in faeces, soil, water and sewage, was found in samples of Guang Li Liang bottled drinking water.
Advertisement The bacteria can multiply in water environments and also on the surface of suitable organic materials in contact with water.
Consuming products contaminated with this bacteria can cause a range of infections, although it rarely leads to serious illness in healthy individuals, AVA added.
The recall implicates batch number 18228 of Guang Li Liang bottled water with expiry dates of Aug 4, Aug 26 and Aug 29, 2020.
The batch number and expiry date are printed on the bottle.
The product was imported from Malaysia by BSY Power of Light Trading.
AVA has directed BSY to recall the implicated product, it said, adding that the recall is ongoing.
Advertisement "Consumers who have the implicated products are advised to not consume them.
For enquiries, consumers may call BSY at +65 9756 8786 or email enquiries@bsytrading.com.

Heineken invests an additional RM2.5 million for water conservation

Criss-crossed by over 150 rivers, Malaysia is a country that sources 98 per cent its water from streams and rivers.
Protecting natural water sources and ensuring a steady supply of drinking water for Malaysians has therefore been a key priority of the SPARK Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of Heineken Malaysia, which last week announced it would be investing RM2.5 million into water conservation efforts.
Under the third phase of its Working Actively Through Education and Rehabilitation (W.A.T.E.R) project, SPARK Foundation will fund two key initiatives in the river basins of Sungei Way, Sungai Penchala and Sungai Selangor.
Under the ‘Water for Water’ project, a rainwater harvesting system will be set up in a residential unit with 1,800 residents in Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Secondly, the ‘water for quality’ projects of Heineken Malaysia’s Water Stewardship Agenda, also launched last week, will focus on reforesting and planting wetlands to improve the natural water filtration system at selected points in the north Selangor peat swamp forest and along the Penchala basin respectively.
“The W.A.T.E.R Project has been a success due to smart partnership with government agencies and communities.
The second phase, which started in 2009, kick-started education and outreach programmes for communities living along Sungai Senam, tributaries of the Kinta river basin and the Sungao Penchala basin to teach them about river adoption and pollution mapping.
“But through consistent engagement to improve awareness on the issue, we eventually saw local communities taking ownership of the river agenda when they saw the potential of real changes in the environment, which helped improve their quality of life,” she added.
Indrarajah said climate change posed the biggest threat to Malaysia’s water security, but this could be an opportunity for businesses that work with water or use water as a resource.
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Save water — a message that should not get old

The water issue was again brought up by Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad recently, and it has been a source of dispute between the two countries.
Our dependence on Malaysia’s water has political disadvantages, and this could still cloud bilateral relations.
It is, therefore, a timely reminder of the importance of water conservation.
We should not take for granted the easy access of water in tiny Singapore, which has no natural resources.
Singapore is not without constraints despite investing heavily in technology to reduce reliance on water from Malaysia.
It also does not have enough land to rely on rainfall as a water source, for instance.
Unlike the older generation of residents who have been through water rationing in the 1960s, younger Singaporeans show little particular zeal for water conservation.
The days without flush toilets are long forgotten.
We seem to take for granted that clean drinking water is at the nearest tap.
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WhatsApp message claiming water contamination in Klang Valley not true: Malaysian official

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s Ministry of Health on Saturday (Mar 3) rubbished claims of a food poisoning outbreak linked to the safety of the water supply in the Klang Valley.
A message circulating on WhatsApp claimed there was a salmonella outbreak in the area, the New Straits Times reported.
It added that the message purported to be from a doctor in a government hospital, and urged people to be cautious when consuming food and drink in eateries.
Malaysia’s Health Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement that the ministry had confirmed the information contained in the message was false.
"Based on checks and verification, no increase in the occurrence of food poisoning has been reported," he said.
"The occurrence of food poisoning cases is currently isolated and under control, and has nothing to do with water supply or water supply disruption."
"The Ministry of Health will continue to monitor the status of food poisoning cases," he said, adding that the public should not worry and should refrain from trusting any information which has not been verified by the ministry.

Water Quality in Malaysia

Water Quality in Malaysia.
This rapid growth leads to an increased demand for water and spiked levels of water pollution.
These are consequences of untreated or only partially treated sewage.
Lakes and reservoirs serve as domestic, industrial, agricultural, hydroelectric, navigational and recreational sources of water.
The National Water Quality Monitoring Programme added new rivers in the area to control the presence of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, Ammoniacal Nitrogen and Suspended Solids.
With the development of the Department of Environments to control the water quality problem and the National Water Quality Monitoring Program to decrease pollutants in the water supply, water quality in Malaysia is improving significantly.
This system significantly improves the water quality in Malaysia.
Malaysia continues to work on improving its water quality through these fragmented agencies, but these efforts are not enough to completely salvage the quality.
Focusing on creating a cohesive and binding system in Malaysia would improve the water quality while also ensuring that agencies have a legal obligation to comply with monitoring practices.
– Katelynn Kenworthy

PM calls for better Water Management

That Malaysia is blessed with abundant water sources is well known. So is the fact that many of those water sources are badly polluted and poorly treated. But it’s good to know that the country’s politician are aware of this and want to do something about it, including Prime Minister Najib Razak. “Malaysia is blessed with plenty of water supply sources but we face a shortage due to global climate change and river pollution,” the prime minister said, according to the New Straits Times newspaper. “Commitment from all quarters is necessary to completely treat all kinds of effluent and industrial waste to protect our sources of clean water supply,” he added. “The three main causes of river pollution identified include agricultural and…