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U.S. Rural Water Utilities Ask Congress for Financial Help
/in Water News/by Circle BlueThe National Rural Water Association, which represents water systems that serve fewer than 10,000 customers, is calling on Congress to extend financial aid to small utilities that are being affected by revenue losses due to the pandemic.
The association makes three requests:
The emergency assistance bills that Congress passed so far in response to the pandemic have not included aid directly to water utilities.
NWRA projects that small water and wastewater utilities will lose about $1 billion in revenue from declining water sales as businesses and industries shuttered and as customers in economic crisis fall behind on their payments.
New Jersey Cuts $80 Million in Lead Service Line Funding Due to Pandemic Fallout
/in Water News/by Circle BlueBecause of a projected $10 billion budget shortfall due to the pandemic, the administration of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy says it will cut $80 million in funding that was supposed to kick start replacement of lead service lines in the state, NJ Spotlight reports.
The Department of Environmental Protection estimates that replacing all 330,000 lead pipes in the state will cost about $2 billion. Even the relative small amount to start the process was deemed too much right now.
“It’s really a tough situation,” Dave Pringle, a consultant for Clean Water Action, told NJ Spotlight. “We clearly don’t have the money for the things that need to be funded.”
Lead line replacement will continue in Newark, however. The state’s largest city secured $130 million in bond funding and expects to replace all of its lead pipes within three years.
Afghanistan Green Jobs Program Targets Kabul’s Groundwater Depletion
/in Water News/by Circle BlueAfghanistan’s government is employing some 40,000 workers to construct water-retention systems designed to alleviate a supply squeeze in the capital of Kabul. The workers are jobless because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Groundwater levels in Kabul, one of the world’s fastest-growing cities, fell by about a meter per year over the last two decades. With unemployment soaring, the government is putting idle labor to work on one of the capital’s most conspicuous problems.
Mohammad Mustafa Naveed, a spokesperson for the National Development Corporation, the agency that is heading up the project, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation that the goal is to improve groundwater storage and air quality while providing green space for residents.
Pandemic Puts Local Climate Investments at Risk
/in Water News/by Circle BlueOfficials from 13 states and cities are telling members of Congress that the coronavirus pandemic may cause them to miss a September 2022 deadline for spending $1 billion in federal funds on climate resilience projects, the New York Times reports.
Unless Congress extends the deadline, any unused funds must be returned and the projects could be left unfinished. State officials are asking for a three-year extension.
The projects stem from the National Disaster Resilience Competition, a climate adaptation program from the Obama administration.
Areas that suffered major disasters between 2011 and 2013 were eligible for the funds, which were awarded to 13 states and local governments. Louisiana was awarded $48 million to resettle people who are currently living in Isle de Jean Charles, a community that being lost to the Gulf of Mexico. Shelby County, Tennessee, received $60 million to restore wetlands to reduce flood risks.
New Jersey Cities Get Extension for Filing Sewage Control Plans
/in Water News/by Circle BlueBecause of the coronavirus pandemic, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is giving 21 communities an extra four months to submit plans for controlling sewage overflows, NJ Spotlight reports.
Combined sewers carry both sewage and stormwater to treatment plants. Heavy rains can cause the system to exceed its capacity. When that happens, excess liquid spills into rivers, lakes, and bays.
Reducing those overflows is expensive. Estimates for fixing the problem in New Jersey range from $8 billion to $14 billion.
Disaster Experts Develop Covid-19 Guidelines for Water-Related Emergencies
/in Water News/by Circle BlueThe coronavirus pandemic is adding layers of complexity to already difficult decisions about emergency response in the face of storms, floods, droughts, and other water-related disasters.
Earlier this month Cyclone Amphan made landfall in Bangladesh and eastern India. The category 5 storm forced around 3 million people to flee their homes.
With this scenario in mind, a group of disaster experts published guidelines for political leaders and emergency managers so that they can prepare before the storms hit.
Within ten broad principles there are dozens of recommendations, from coordinating between healthcare facilities and disaster managers to writing evacuation and sheltering plans with physical distancing requirements in mind.
The guidelines were developed, with public input, by HELP, a panel of disaster planning experts that the United Nations established in 2007.
EPA Science Advisers Evaluate Agency’s Coronavirus Research Agenda
/in Water News/by Circle BlueThe group of experts that advises the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on scientific matters submitted a draft review of the agency’s research agenda for the novel coronavirus. The review was generally complimentary of the agency’s plan.
The advisers did make some suggestions for water-related research. They recommend that the EPA lead or assist with a national program to monitor for the SARS-CoV-2 virus in wastewater and for decontaminating buildings.
To analyze the virus in wastewater important questions need to be answered: how quickly the virus degrades (important if there are long intervals between home toilet flushes and sewage sampling), the rate at which the virus is shed in infected persons, who will conduct sampling and how often.
The advisers recommend that EPA researchers work with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to assess the prevalence of the virus in wastewater workers. The virus could be aerosolized during the sewage treatment process.
They also suggest monitoring sewage overflows for potential virus transmission.
Report Assesses State Responses to Water Shutoffs during Pandemic
/in Water News/by Circle BlueThirteen states and the District of Columbia ordered a statewide or district-wide ban on shutting off water during the coronavirus pandemic. Two other states secured voluntary commitments from all water utilities within their borders not to shut off water. Some states extended the repayment period for overdue bills. Others suspended fees charged for late payment.
Comparing the strengths and weaknesses of these state water policies in a time of crisis is the aim of a report from the Center for Water Security and Cooperation, a research organization that focuses on water affordability and access.
The report finds fault across the board, even for the best of the policies. In sum, the report argues that prohibitions on shutoffs and financial penalties end too soon and do not acknowledge the potentially long-lasting economic vulnerabilities for many households.
“No state has gone far enough to protect households’ access to water during the pandemic, nor have they put in the necessary protections in spite of the financial hardships that are likely to be felt at the conclusion of the moratorium,” the report concludes.
State policies varied widely. Michigan and Wisconsin required utilities to restore water service to homes that had been disconnected both before and during the pandemic. California ordered utilities to reconnect water to homes that had been disconnected after March 4, 2020.
Seven of the 13 states temporarily waived late fees, while six are still allowing utilities to charge for late payment.
South Africa Draws Up Plans So That Mass Burials Do Not Pollute Groundwater
/in Water News/by Circle BlueThey’ve seen the digging of trenches in Iran and New York. Now they’re preparing in case the worst comes to their country.
South African officials directed local authorities to survey sites that could be used as mass graves if death rates from the Covid-19 pandemic begin to soar, Reuters reports. The goal is to prevent groundwater contamination from hastily chosen burial grounds.
“If cemeteries are constructed and sited properly there is no additional risk of water contamination occurring due to COVID-19 burials,” Eunice Ubomba-Jaswa, a research manager at the Water Research Commission, said in an email to Reuters.
Little is known about the virus’s ability to survive in groundwater, though the risk of transmission to people is assumed to be low because it is a respiratory virus. But SARS-CoV-2 is not the only worry about burials. Chemicals used in the burial process can contaminate groundwater around cemeteries.
As of May 21, there were 18,003 confirmed Covid-19 cases in South Africa and 339 deaths. The death rate is beginning to rise, though. Nearly a quarter of deaths have come in the last three days.
First Covid-19 Case Reported in World’s Largest Refugee Camp
/in Water News/by Circle BlueThe new coronavirus has been detected in the world’s largest refugee settlement, raising concerns about the virus spreading quickly in crowded and unsanitary conditions.
Officials from Bangladesh and the United Nations announced that a Rohingya refugee in a camp in southern Bangladesh tested positive for Covid-19. The person was taken to an isolation center, Reuters reports.
“The cramped and overcrowded camps with unsanitary living conditions and poor basic health facilities are the potential quick triggers for the rapid spread of the infection,” said Ram Das, deputy country director for humanitarian response at CARE Bangladesh, an aid group. “The camps have a 40,000 person per square kilometer density, almost four times that of New York City. This has made our task to contain the spread even more challenging.”
The refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar is home to nearly a million Rohingya people who have fled from persecution and threats against their lives in neighboring Myanmar.
Health workers fear that the virus will spread in the densely populated camp unless sanitary facilities are improved. The UN’s refugee agency has been installing handwashing stations and communicating disease-prevention strategies to those living in the camps.
Bangladesh has reported nearly 19,000 cases of Covid-19.