At least 250 people in the town of Ramhormoz, mostly children, have been poisoned due to water contamination, in the city of Ramhormoz, south west of Iran.
The city’s governor, Abdolreza Ehsani Nia was cited by the state-run IRNA news agency as declaring, “From Saturday until Monday morning, 350 poisoned people residing in the village of Abu al Fares visited the treatment centers in the city.” According to the official, 78 of these people were hospitalized in Sina, Naft Ahwaz and Ramhormoz hospitals.
He did not mention the reason of poisoning spread among hundreds of the residents.
According to reports, people who have been poisoned, live in the villages of “Shahid Rayegani”, “Setalvan” and “Kaboutari” in Abu al Fares district.
Ataollah Sherali, head of the Ramhormz health center, said the poisoned people have suffered from diarrhea and fever.
He declared the possible cause of the poisoning of these people as “contaminated with water.” The official had warned about two years ago that the water of the Abu al Fares Districts was infected because of “non-compliance with the principles of water chlorination.” According to the head of the Ramhormoz health center, the amount of chlorine at the beginning of the pipeline is high, but along the way, chlorine combines with organic matter in the water, so that at the end of the pipeline, no more chlorine left.
According to IRNA, quoting Shukrollah Salmanzadeh, head of the Khuzestan Health Center, “The cause of poisoning is certainly the consumption of contaminated water because due to 20 hours of water being cut-off, people used spring water and after the water was connected, chlorine-free water has been entering the supply networks.” However, the authorities of the Khuzestan province have denied any water pollution.
The news of recent poisoning of Ramhormoz residents came just days after protests over water shortages turned violent overnight with reports of police shooting at demonstrators, killing at list one.

The source of the contaminants comes from the chemicals used for firefighting, commonly known as PFOS and PFOA.
The NAS Command has referred all inquiries to the Department of Defense, but after our reports, it has now issued a statement to ensure that the base community is safe and the contaminated wells are not connected to the drinking water supply.
Naval Air Station Jacksonville Statement: You may have seen recent media reports regarding testing for perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in groundwater at DoD installations.
With that in mind, here are the facts about the drinking water aboard NAS Jacksonville: The drinking water at NAS Jacksonville comes from the Floridian Aquifer – a limestone formation deep underground.
PFCs such as perfluorooctanesulfonate acid (PFOS) and perflouroctanoic acid (PFOA) are on the list of contaminants to sample and test.
PFOS and PFOA are part of a class of man-made chemicals used in many industrial and consumer products.
Drinking water at NAS Jacksonville is routinely tested in compliance with the Safe Drinking Water Act.
All results for the NAS Jacksonville drinking water system were non-detect for these PFCs at detection limits of 0.02 ug/l and 0.04 ug/l respectively.
The information published in the DoD report that the Military Times article references that PFC compounds that were found or detected in shallow groundwater monitoring wells at NAS Jacksonville.
Again, the safety of our service members, employees, families and community is our top priority, and we are committed to ensuring safe drinking water.

High-ranking EPA officials will visit Horsham on July 25 to hear concerns over PFAS water contamination.
An Environmental Protection Agency press release confirmed Wednesday that officials from the agency will host a meeting in Horsham next month regarding local drinking water contamination.
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Allentown, who issued a letter to Pruitt last month asking the EPA to visit southeast Pennsylvania, was also quoted in the release.
Amico said the EPA officials took notes throughout and told the public they believe agency leadership is determined to act.
The “community engagement” sessions are part of a larger effort by EPA to publicly address concerns around the chemicals, which are also known as PFAS.
In addition to the community meetings, the plan includes evaluating whether to set a formal drinking water limit for the chemicals, “beginning the necessary steps” to propose adding chemicals PFOS and PFOA to a list of hazardous substances under the Superfund law, and studying the toxicity of other perfluorinated chemicals.
As the chemicals are currently unregulated, there is no straightforward mechanism to force polluters to cleanup to specific standards.
The EPA has not added a new chemical to its list of regulated substances in drinking water since 2000.
The EPA found only about 4 percent of water supplies contained one of six PFAS chemicals.
“If you’re not seeing something because you looked too high, you’re not really doing your due diligence.” The EPA has also been criticized for a 70 parts per trillion (ppt) recommended drinking water limit for PFOS and PFOS.

A second round of water samples will be taken starting Monday near what’s called the Area 6 Landfill in a southeast portion of the base’s Ault Field.
The landfill is the third area where the Navy has sampled water near the base.
At an open house June 18 at Oak Harbor High School, representatives of the Navy and other agencies helping with the water sampling shared findings from the first round of sampling near the landfill and encouraged residents in the vicinity to sign up to have their wells checked.
Polyfluoroalkyl and perfluoroalkyl, together referred to as PFAS, have been found in areas where the firefighting foam was used, according to project documents.
“When they discovered that, there was a push to find something that was less toxic, less persistent in the environment.” The EPA set a drinking water advisory limit for PFAS in May 2016 and the Navy soon after directed 85 military bases to begin sampling groundwater, according to a series of Navy memos sent that June.
Near NAS Whidbey, 15 of 250 wells sampled since 2016 have been found with concentrations of PFAS exceeding the EPA’s advisory limit.
No wells have been found near the naval base exceeding the EPA advisory limit for 1,4-dioxane or the regulatory, federal Safe Drinking Water Act limit for vinyl chloride.
The drinking water at the base, however, is not affected by that contamination.
Welding said the water at Ault Field comes from the city of Oak Harbor’s unaffected water supply and the drinking water at OLF Coupeville comes from two wells that do not exceed the EPA’s advisory level.
Liebman said the Navy will also re-sample six wells where the chemicals were found below EPA advisory levels, as well as some wells adjacent to those and the five that exceeded the PFAS advisory limit.

Ludhiana: A day after the spread of diarrhoea in three localities on Bahadur Ke Road, residents of Deep Vihar in Ward No.2 have also complained about water contamination from the past few days.
Area councillor Gurmeher Singh Jaggi also complained about the problem with MC officials.
Meanwhile, MC officials claimed they were checking water supply lines, and very shortly, they would rectify the fault.
Area resident Vinod Kumar said they had been receiving contaminated water supply in the area for the past few days, and they also raised the matter with the ward councillor.
He said people had already started complaining about vomiting and loose motions, and if water supply remained like this, then there would be some serious problems.
He said the problem of water contamination was getting severe.
Civic authorities maintained their statement that there was no fault of water supply, so they were now waiting for report of water samples collected from these areas.
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Health authorities say fecal coliforms continue to be found in the water in the Elbow River and they are reminding residents to avoid swimming or wading in the contaminated area.
AHS says water in the river between Sandy Beach and 9 Avenue S.E.
is contaminated and that an advisory that was issued in July 2016 is still in place.
Authorities say they are issuing a reminder because more people will be recreating on the river now that summer is here.
AHS says people should take precautions if they do decide to access the river and to keep the face and mouth out of the water and to wash hands afterwards as fecal coliforms can cause vomiting and diarrhea.
Signs have been placed in the area to remind residents to avoid contact with the water.
Officials say they will continue to monitor conditions in the Elbow River and that the advisory will remain in effect until further notice.

Federal regulators ordered two aerospace companies to complete more than $21 million in cleanup work at a contaminated groundwater site near Los Angeles, according to a report.
The order Wednesday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ends two years of negotiations with Honeywell International and Lockheed Martin, the Daily News reported.
Both firms agreed to expand groundwater treatment and do more contamination studies at the 20-square-mile (50-square-kilometer) Superfund site encompassing parts of Burbank and North Hollywood.
Superfund sites are those that have been significantly contaminated by hazardous waste and identified by the EPA as candidates for cleanup.
Airplanes and other machinery were built there during the last century.
Chemicals used as industrial solvents were found in the water supplies in 1980.
Since 1989, roughly $250 million has been spent in the building and operating of Superfund remedies by a number of responsible parties, said Caleb Shaffer, the EPA’s section chief for Superfund Region 9.
The remedies have resulted in the removal of more than 6,000 pounds of harmful volatile organic compounds at the site as well as the treatment of over 10 billion gallons of groundwater.
Lockheed and Honeywell make up two of the larger parties that the EPA has worked with that are responsible for the contamination.
Shaffer said they have both stepped up in good faith to address the issue.

Evolution Farming managed to save 30 more affected cows after they suddenly collapsed at the farm in Leicester.
The farm thanked the team at Evolution Farming and their families, the fire service and the vets for their work to try and save cows and prevent any further casualties.
“The staff on duty at the time are extremely experienced stockmen and have dealt with bloat in previous roles,” a statement said.
Originally thought to be bloat it is now believed to be external water contamination the likely cause.
— Tom Rawson (@Evo_Farming) After the worse night in my 20 years of dairy farming daylight has broken to 54 dead cows.
Originally thought to be bloat it is now believed to be external water contamination the likely cause.
By the time he arrived, more cows had collapsed, some in yards, leading the vet to suggest the cause was from the water system.
“During this time, we were also taking the water system down, cleaning it through and finding alternative water supplies.
#NotJustFires pic.twitter.com/kSBzPENIK9 — Leics Fire & Rescue (@LeicsFireRescue) Last night, we attended an incident at @Evo_Farming in Houghton to provide assistance in providing drinking water for cows after more than 50 cows were killed.
Milking “The first cows suffered symptoms after afternoon milking but we have agreed with our milk buyer Arla that this milk will not be collected.

Mayor Davesh Moudgil on Tuesday visited the residents of Mauli Jagran, who were taken ill after drinking contaminated water, at Civil Hospital, Manimajra.
Three more residents visited the hospital on Tuesday.
Over 50 residents were taken ill after drinking water in certain pipelines got contaminated in the area in the last few days.
Doctors at the Civil Hospital, Manimajra, on Tuesday said that around 15 patients from the colony are still admitted and that only three new patients approached them on the day, claiming the situation was under control.
They also asked the public health engineers to check and clean the water supply lines and sewerage disposal system.
The water tank near the tube well no.
The water tank has been covered with fibre sheets.
But, the MC officials have claimed that all the water samples taken from the supply taps have passed in both chlorine as well as bacteriological tests undertaken in the Civil Hospital, Manimajra.
Chief Engineer Bansal said that the samples of supply water given by the MC are fit for drinking.
But the residents fear to consume the drinking water supplied by the MC.

FEDERAL HEIGHTS, Colo. — The Denver area’s largest water park reopened Friday after being closed Thursday due to possible water contamination.
On Wednesday, the Tri-County Health Department said untreated water at Water World might have affected drinking fountains and been used to make ice, drinks and food at concession stands on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
The water contamination might have happened because of a power outage and subsequent repair of a broken valve that "likely allowed water from an irrigation pond to flow into the domestic water supply," the health department said Wednesday night.
The park reopened at 10 a.m. Friday after receiving clearance from the health department to do so.
“We want to thank Tri-County Health Department, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the city of Federal Heights for their response, assistance and collaboration in the past few days which enabled us to proceed with confidence in reassuring our guests that they are safe to enjoy Water World,” said Joann Cortez, a park spokesperson.
The park said people exposed to contaminated water may take up to 45 days to show symptoms if they do become sick.
Symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea and fever.
Anyone experiencing these symptoms who visited Water World on June 11, 12 or 13 should contact their health provider and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment: 303-692-2700.
A doctor can check for pathogens sometimes found in untreated water, including norovirus, giardia, E. coli, cryptosporidium and hepatitis A, and then recommend appropriate treatment.
No illnesses had been reported as of Wednesday night.