United Utilities fined £300,000 after water contamination scandal

Some 300,000 households in Lancashire had to boil their water in summer 2015 when microbial parasite cryptosporidium was found in the Franklaw water treatment works in Preston.
Sentencing the company at Preston Crown Court, honorary recorder of Preston Judge Mark Brown said: “It was the largest event of its kind since the privatisation of the water industry many years ago and it had a major impact on day to day water consumption.
"There was significant disruption to domestic consumers but also to businesses as well."
The court heard there was no outbreak of illness as a result of the contamination but there was an increase in patients attending GP surgeries, thought to be a result of press coverage.
However, it’s likely that in the minds of many customers there would have been ongoing concerns because confidence had been affected."
He also ordered the company, which has an annual turnover of £1.7 billion, to pay £150,000 costs.
United Utilities pleaded guilty to the charge at Preston Magistrates’ Court in July.
Speaking after the sentencing on Tuesday, the firm’s chief executive Steve Mogford said: "We are very sorry for the impact this had on our customers.
"I know from first-hand the inconvenience this incident caused, having lived in Lancashire for 40 years.
"We have learned valuable lessons from what happened and have put technology and processes in place to guard against a repeat of this type of incident."

Three Arizona military bases including D-M being tested for water contamination

WASHINGTON — The Air Force will begin testing the groundwater at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base for contamination from dangerous chemicals in firefighting foam that was used at the base, according to the U.S. Air Force Civil Engineer Center.
The Davis-Monthan inspection follows similar testing at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale and the former Williams Air Force Base in Chandler.
Testing for the chemicals is also scheduled early next year at Air National Guard locations at Sky Harbor International Airport and Tucson International Airport.
The Army, Navy and Air National Guard are also testing for the pollutants.
PFAS contamination has been found in the drinking water at 26 Air Force bases, the Civil Engineer Center said Thursday.
In Tucson, home to Davis-Monthan, a city water department spokesman said the agency tests its wells often for PFAS, but that it’s “probably a good idea” the Air Force will be testing water on the base.
The spokesman, Fernando Molina, said the water department shut down three drinking-water supply wells on the northwest side of Tucson in September 2016 after tests found PFAS-levels higher than the EPA’s recommended safe level of 70 parts per trillion. The EPA does not regulate these chemicals, but set the safe level in a 2016 “health advisory,” which is also used by the Pentagon.
In 2012, the EPA added PFAS to its list of unregulated contaminants that may be hazardous to human health.
The Civil Engineer Center reported that 173 of 176 bases have transitioned to the new foam.

Water contamination causes hundreds of infections in West Bank refugee camp

More than 300 people fell ill on Wednesday due to contaminated drinking water in the Al-Fawwar refugee camp, south of Hebron in the West Bank.
A medical source said that most of the infected children were infected with Amoeba bacteria after sewage water was mixed with drinking water in the camp.
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Work remains to address water contamination at military bases, report says

WASHINGTON — A federal watchdog has found most military bases have caught up on reporting about concerns of water contamination, but plenty of work remains to have more bases come into compliance and end future fears of water pollution.
The report found 77 military installations informed the Defense Department of violations, while a remaining 16 bases had yet to reveal their compliance standings.
“One of the things that stood out most is generally the installations are pretty close to being in compliance,” said Brian Lepore, GAO’s director of defense capabilities and management.
However, concerns remain that polluted water in and around military bases could continue to be an issue, according to the report released Wednesday.
The contaminants, perfluorooctane sulfonate, or PFOS, and perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, are found in firefighting foam used at Air Force and Navy installations.
The military is working now to find alternate firefighting foam without PFOS and PFOA, but haven’t found one yet, Lepore said.
The report set out five recommendations for the Defense Department to improve its reporting and follow up on those findings when it comes to compliance with health regulations.
Executing these recommendations, and better reporting requirements, should go a long way in addressing the concerns of polluted water at military bases, the report suggested.

Don’t Consign Poor Countries to Wild Storms and Flooding

Climate change has made hurricanes like Maria more intense and destructive — and has exacerbated the public-health crises that hurricanes can unleash.
Climate change is making this problem worse. and timing of weather and climate extremes," as a United Nations report makes clear. More than half of the major extreme weather events between 2011 and 2015 were linked to human-caused global warming.
These extreme conditions threaten water supplies.
Eileen Natuzzi, a public health researcher who studied the disaster, noted that the illnesses and deaths underscored the "significant health impacts from our changing climate."
The Prime Minister lamented, "While the big countries talk the small island nations suffer."
Seventy-four people died.
Rich nations bear some of the blame for these climate-change-fuelled crises.
The rest of the developed world must urgently follow France’s lead.

Delays plague alleged water contamination case

Seven years after it was launched, the case of a former MD of Foothills resident suing the municipality over alleged contaminated groundwater is on track to go to trial.
But, it might still be as many as three years before the case goes before a judge.
Ellen Alston is suing the MD for $8 million over developments she alleges sent feces-laden water onto her DeWinton-area property and contaminated her water well.
During an Oct. 4 hearing at Court of Queens Bench in Calgary, Justice M.H.
The club is located on land owned by the MD.
The result, Alston alleges, was she and her husband Les Vecsey suffered from a “slow systemic” poisoning from contaminated water that resulted in compromised immune systems and cognitive ability.
Alston is also asking the court to have the MD found in contempt of court over the matter.
In an affidavit filed with the courts, Alston accuses the MD of covering up the pollution on her property, for not following proper testing protocol and not cleaning up the property.
Ultimately, Alston said she wants the MD to have to clean up the property.

Canadian coal firm fined $1.4 million for water pollution affecting Montana

A British Columbia provincial court ordered Teck to pay the money to the province’s Environmental Damages Fund for fish conservation and protection in the East Kootenay River drainage.
The case stems from a 2014 incident at Teck’s Line Creek coal mine about 80 miles north of Eureka in the Elk River drainage.
“The fish kill was of enormous interest for all of us who track the river system,” said Erin Sexton, a research scientist at the University of Montana’s Flathead Lake Biological Station.
Sexton said Montana studies in Lake Koocanusa have found elevated levels of selenium, from the Canadian mines, south of the border.
Robin Sheremeta, Teck senior vice president for coal, said in a statement released Thursday that the company had improved its monitoring systems and built an effluent buffer pond to prevent future releases.
“From the outset we took full responsibility for this incident and recognize that we need to do better,” Sheremeta wrote in the statement.
Wildsight Executive Director Robyn Duncan said cleaning up the mine pollution involved more than a specific fish kill.

What the mayor Mark Willis said about Tenbury Wells water contamination drama

ON September 29, a problem occurred in the water mains supply to Tenbury and Burford. Though the supply was not disrupted Severn Trent had to declare the water undrinkable. A rare occurrence.
They turned out in droves from North and Mid Wales, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire to name just a few locations.
Saturday and Sunday saw our town clerk and councillors working alongside these volunteers. Severn Trent set up two sites for distribution of bottled water, Tenbury Hospital and Palmers Meadow.
There was a tremendous sense of community spirit.
I will share some of her comments.
A sense of community spirit, coming together in a crisis and working together towards a positive outcome.

Ferozpora Nallah no longer carries drinkable water

Nala Farozpora that emanates from high altitude area of north Kashmir flows through several villages of Tangmarg area and was for centuries sustaining the local people’s requirements. Most of the people used to drink the rivulet’s water directly without using any filtration methods.
However, over the years, the water has lost its sheen and people have abandoned its domestic use. Residents of several villages of Tangmarg area said that from the past several years some people including government agencies are dumping garbage on the banks of Farozpora Nala due to which its clear greenish water is changing colour. This year hundreds of non-local herdsmen pitched their tents on its banks, which became another source of water pollution.
Gulam Mohammad Khan, a local resident said that they have time and again approached the relevant government officials for the fencing of this blue water stream at places where it meanders through residential areas but they did not do anything except offering assurances. He said that former SDM Tangmarg visited the rivulet area and issued instructions to the concerned agencies to avoid dumping garbage along the banks. But the instructions did not make any difference on the ground.

Bhopal: Lakes lose out to water pollution, poor sewer network

Bhopal: Bhopal, the city of lakes, which has been declared country’s second cleanest city, has failed to keep its water bodies clean. “City’s water bodies including lakes are turning into a dumping ground for city sewage,” environmentalist Subhash C Pandey said.
According to reports, about 300 (million litres per day) MLD of sewage is discharged from the city out of which only 50 MLD gets treated in the sewage treatment plants (STP).
Pandey said STPs are inefficient to handle the hazardous waste hence should be replaced by ETP (effluent treatment plant). “The waste contains hazardous elements and chemicals, which can’t be treated in ordinary STP hence ETP were sought by environmentalists. I had filed a petition in this regard,” he said.
He further said most treatment plants are either not functional or they don’t operate at their full capacity. Citing another example, he said water of Shirin river near Koh-e-Fiza is in worst condition as the chemical oxygen demand (COD) when checked was found way above the normal level.