Saipan water contaminated with same chemical found on Guam.
The same chemical contaminant that last year forced the Guam Waterworks Authority to shut down some of its water wells on Guam has also been found in the water supply on Saipan.
The chemical, commonly used in firefighting foam and some commercial goods, has not been used by manufacturers in the United States for more than a decade.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recommends that a health advisory be issued if the amount of PFOS in the water exceeds 70 parts per trillion.
Water tested at a booster station that serves several Saipan villages showed contamination levels of 120 parts per trillion, the CUC stated, based on test results received June 5.
“CUC is making this advisory action to help the affected population limit their lifetime exposure to this chemical,” the utility agency stated.
The chemical poses a risk to the health of unborn children, and breastfed and formula-fed infants who are exposed to drinking water above EPA’s health advisory level, according to U.S. EPA.
Guam testing The Guam Waterworks Authority last year shut down several wells and issued public advisories after elevated levels of PFOS were found in the water supply.
Wells A-25 and A-23, located along Route 4 near the Hagåtña McDonald’s restaurant, were removed from the water distribution system last August after they tested positive in 2015 for contamination by PFOS.
New water samples were drawn from the two wells earlier this month, and results from off-island laboratories will confirm if they still are contaminated.

Drought Conditions Improve, but Streams Remain Low.
Greenwich experienced about 15.4 inches of rainfall cumulatively over March, April and May, according to a water supply update issued by Aquarion Water Co. on June 9.
“Drinking water reservoirs have improved and average levels statewide were more than 100 percent of normal as of the end of April, with three systems at less than 90 percent of normal,” McClure said in his release.
Although efforts to refill the state’s reservoirs have been successful, Connecticut’s stream flow and groundwater levels remain below their historical average.
On March 6, the river averaged 14.6 cubic feet of water per second, and on March 14 it averaged 20.3 cubic feet of water per second.
Rippowam River remains at low flow—it is currently about four inches below the historical average for the month, and its stream flow has fallen to lower levels since the beginning of the month.
Over the week of June 4 through June 10, the river averaged at 29.4 cubic feet of water per second, while the same week has historically seen flow discharge rates of 55.9 cubic feet of water per second between 1976 and 2016.
In this region, because of the coolness and the natural rainfall we have, for the most part people can get away with watering once a week,” Savageau said.
“It’s going to require years of adding infrastructure and conservation to make up for the loss of water that’s no longer available,” Fazekas said.
“For us, that means increasing the amount of water from the Bridgeport system transported into Stamford and Greenwich.” People-Tag: Denise Savageau, Peter Fazekas, Rob Katz, Savagaeu Tags: drought, greenwich, water supply

Six years later, the state has still not built the new system, and inmates, their advocates, and environmental scientists worry that the drinking water is unsafe.
A Globe review of state records found that 43 percent of all water samples collected at MCI-Norfolk since 2011 showed elevated levels of manganese, a prime component of the sediment from the wells.
In December, the Norfolk Inmate Council, which represents prisoners, reported that nearly two-thirds of inmates responding to a survey said they had suffered rashes and other skin problems.
Asked about the elevated levels of manganese, Peter Lorenz, a spokesman for the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs said, “More than half the water samples are within compliance.” In an e-mail, Department of Environmental Protection officials said the prison was in “compliance with MassDEP requirements for addressing this type of issue.” The prison aims to follow the US Environmental Protection Agency’s health advisory for manganese, which recommends that people drink water with levels below 0.3 milligrams per liter over their lifetime.
“I think it is a concern,” he said of the samples, which the prison collects and provides to him in special bottles.
“It is more than likely that the allowable levels of manganese in water will decrease as we learn more about its effects on the brain.” Birgit Claus Henn, a Boston University epidemiologist who has spent years studying the impact of manganese on people, said the water system should have been repaired if even 10 percent of samples showed elevated levels of the mineral.
“If the state isn’t meeting that 40 percent of the time, that’s a problem.” State public health officials, after learning from the Globe that many of the prison’s water samples had elevated levels of manganese, said they would consider reviewing the inmates’ concerns.
The new plant “will have the ability to filter out iron and manganese and should minimize any discolored water in the future,” Christopher Fallon, a spokesman for the Department of Correction, wrote in an e-mail.
He denied the allegation that the prison gives bottled water to the dogs in the training program.
Prolonged exposure of elevated levels can be harmful.

But what would happen if we turned on the tap and nothing came out?
Water is fundamental* to life, which makes warnings about water scarcity* and a possible global water crisis so concerning for world leaders.
He told the UN Security Council that water scarcity was already causing tensions between some nations.
Cities across the world are becoming increasingly thirsty as the demand for water grows and supply dwindles*.
This means, less than one per cent of the planet’s water is actually available to the world’s 7.5 billion people.
But Professor Young, who specialises in water issues, was “extremely optimistic” that a catastrophe can be avoided.
Australia has more than 400 big dams and the largest, the Gordon Dam in Tasmania can hold 12,450,000 megalitres of water.
Write down all of the times and reasons you use water throughout the day.
Information poster A leaked Nestle report expressed concern about the growth in meat consumption leading to a potential shortage of water.
Write a short narrative about waking up one morning and discovering there was a global water shortage.

“The Boil Water Advisory is lifted and customers in Columbus City Utilities service area can resume using tap water for all purposes.
City water elsewhere in the system showed no signs of contamination, Reeves said.
The advisory had also affected customers outside of the City of Columbus.
—————- Story published in Saturday’s edition of The Republic: The city has issued a boil-order until Sunday morning for all customers on Columbus city-provided water after tests detected E. coli in the distribution system and a city well.
Hinton said she learned of the boil order from The Republic’s Facebook page, then contacted Columbus City Utilities Director Keith Reeves, who had issued the order late Friday afternoon.
The boil order, a first for the city utilities in many years, was required after city workers doing routine testing on Wednesday discovered a sample from the city’s distribution system pipes that tested positive for E. coli when results were returned on Thursday.
As a precaution, the state requires a test of all the city’s water supply wells and that test showed a positive E. coli reading Friday in one of Columbus’ 15 wells, Reeves said.
That well, located in the Bartholomew County Fairgrounds area on the southwest side of the city, was immediately taken offline and is not supplying city water at this time, Reeves said.
If you do not want to boil the water, city officials advise using bottled water until the boil water order is lifted.
If you have a severely compromised immune system, have an infant or are elderly, you may be at increased risk from drinking contaminated water and should seek advice from your health care provider about any symptoms.

ONWASA: Onslow drinking water not impacted by Cape Fear contamination.
The regional water system that provides public drinking water for most of Onslow County said the local water supply is not impacted by the chemical contamination found recently in the Cape Fear River in southeastern North Carolina.
“ONWASA is not interconnected with the Cape Fear Public Utilities System, nor can chemicals from the Cape Fear River migrate into ONWASA’s water supply,” the release states.
The StarNews has reported extensively on the issue and reports state the compound GenX has been found by researchers on three different occasions in the Cape Fear River, including in the Cape Fear Public Utility’s intake.
DuPont and spin-off company Chemours ceased production of C8 in the face of mounting legal challenges and a body of research indicating dangerous health effects.
ONWASA provides 2.8 billion gallons of water each year to 140,000 customers in unincorporated areas of Onslow County outside of the city limits of Jacksonville as well as the towns of Holly Ridge, Swansboro, Richlands (with the exception of a small section served by a private utility), and North Topsail Beach.
Unlike other systems that draw raw water from surface sources such as rivers or reservoirs, ONWASA uses deep, ancient underground aquifers for its water supply.
The deep aquifers have not been subjected to any known chemical contamination, according to the ONWASA news release.
Jacksonville’s annual drinking water quality report can be found on the city’s website.
Reporter Jannette Pippin can be reached at 910-382-2557 or jannette.pippin@jdnews.com.

From the Department of Water Resources Sustainable Groundwater Management Program: 2017 Draft Proposal Solicitation for Groundwater Sustainability Plans and Projects The Department of Water Resources (DWR) is pleased at the turnout for its public meetings this week to review its 2017 Draft Proposal Solicitation Package for Groundwater Sustainability Plans and Projects and to receive public comments. Today’s meeting in Irvine will be the last prior to the close of the public comment period June 19, 2017. Meeting location Meeting time Irvine Ranch Water District 15600 Sand Canyon Avenue, Sand Canyon Room Irvine, CA 92618 June 14, 2017, 1:00 PM The Sustainable Groundwater Planning (SGWP) grant program is funded by Proposition 1, the $7.5 billion water bond overwhelmingly approved by California voters in 2014. Proposition 1 authorized the Legislature to appropriate $100 million for competitive grants for development of sustainable groundwater plans and projects, of which $86.3 million is available in fiscal year 2017-18. The grants are intended to support groundwater management that furthers the goals of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, a historic 2014 law that requires local agencies to bring stressed groundwater basins into sustainable patterns of pumping and recharge. Groundwater supplies a third or more of California’s water supply. DWR will solicit proposals to award funding on a competitive basis in two funding categories: projects that serve severely disadvantaged communities and Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs). GSPs have two tiers: Tier 1 is for critically overdrafted basins and Tier 2 is for all other high- and medium- priority basins. The draft materials are available on the SGWP Grant Program webpage. The public comment period will close June 19, 2017. Contact: Heather Shannon Heather.Shannon@water.ca.gov or (916) 651-9212 Facilitation Support Services DWR’s Facilitation Support Services (FSS) aim to help local agencies work through challenging water management situations. Professional facilitators are sometimes needed to help foster discussions among diverse water management interests and local agencies as they strive to implement the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). From April 2015 to June 2017, DWR’s FSS resources were primarily allocated to assist with Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) formation. After July 1, 2017, DWR will be focusing its available FSS resources on supporting the development of Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs). Under the requirements of SGMA, all beneficial uses and users of groundwater must be considered in the development of GSPs. The goal of the FSS is to assist local agencies in reaching consensus on potentially contentious topics arising from the diverse beneficial uses and users of groundwater and assisting governance under the newly formed governance structures in an effort to develop GSPs. Priorities of this funding are given to the critically overdrafted basins. Services Offered through DWR funded Professional Facilitators Stakeholder identification and engagement Meeting facilitation Interest-based negotiation/consensus building Public outreach facilitation Who is Eligible? GSAs developing…

Funding for clean water.
In spite of considerable progress in recent years, many people still lack access to essential services including safe water supply and sanitation.
To improve matters, governments need funding.
Women across Asia, Africa and Latin America share their fate.
Many countries, however, lack funding for improving their water infrastructure.
Typically, WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) programmes are co-funded by various partners, including national governments, service providers, non-governmental organisations, international donor institutions and private households.
It includes data from 75 countries and 25 international agencies.
In some countries (Pakistan and Peru for example), the national budget contributes the largest share to WASH expenditure.
In 2015, 319 million people in sub-Saharan Africa lacked access to improved drinking-water sources.
In spite of this, “aid commitments to the region have declined”, the GLAAS report points out.

Drinking Water Along The US-Mexico Border Threatened By Global Warming.
Some of the most marginalized communities in the United States are found along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Some people living along the that border already live without access to running water.
“People here, they know how to do it, so they do it by hand,” said Maria Covernali, a colonias resident living near El Paso, Texas.
A 2015 University of Texas Health Impact study reported high concentrations of arsenic and nitrates in the water supply of many colonias.
"The developers take advantage of the people," Corvenali said.
“After we start living on the land, we start to see the problems that we face.” A lot of the people living in colonias haul their water in tanks or buy bottled water.
That is where Patrick Marquez lives with his family.
Marquez said his well runs dry for a couple weeks every year while the farmers are pumping water out of the aquifer.
According to a 2009 Housing Assistance Council Community report, the Marquez and Covernali families are just some of the 1.5 million people living along the border who depend on vulnerable water supplies.

Mewat women walk 5 km for water.
Haryana State govt’s promise of uninterrupted supply during Ramzan not met Sumedha Sharma Gurugram, June 10 The state government’s tall promise of uninterrupted water supply during Ramzan had fallen flat.
The wells in these villages have dried up and government water supply is erratic.
Women in these villages have to walk over 4 km to get water from a jungle nearby or buy water at exorbitant rates.
There are no pipelines and wells have dried up.
There is no water supply or groundwater.
“Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar promised unobstructed water supply during Ramzan, but what happened thereafter?
Mewat is the government’s stepchild, where getting clean drinking water has become a luxury.
A majority of villages depended on wells and channels in jungles.
The district administration had, over the years, identified 400 villages facing scarcity of water, but nothing much had been done to mitigate the suffering.