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Federal researchers detect 18 unregulated chemicals in U.S. drinking water
(http://www.environmentalhealthnews.org)Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Environmental Protection Agency recently analyzed treated and untreated water samples from 25 U.S. water utilities who participated voluntarily. They detected 21 contaminants, mostly in low concentrations at parts per trillion, in treated drinking water from at least nine of the tested facilities.
18 of the chemicals detected are not regulated by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, so utilities are not required to monitor them or limit the amount in drinking water. The researchers found 11 perfluorinated compounds, an herbicide, two solvents, caffeine, an antibacterial compound, a metal and Read more…
The Water Crisis in African Cities
Access to running water remains in a state of crisis for a huge number of people across Africa, writes Michel Makpenon. With growing urbanisation across the continent, African cities will need the political determination to ensure sustainable water resources based on social need rather than commercial concerns, he stresses.
The water issue is a major problem for people in sub-Saharan Africa. Indeed, the water situation in sub-Saharan Africa remains characterised by the difficult access to this resource, the poor supply management of watering places and the high costs of water network connections. For instance, in Benin one household in three doesn’t have access to drinking water, and the problem is much more acute in rural areas.
Households having access to drinking water are considered as households who have drinking water at home or within 200 metres from home: running water from the company’s distribution network, fountain water, water from the village pump, water tank and water from protected wells.
Various consultations led with the populations have indeed confirmed that the water issue is a major problem for them. The concerns, as raised by the populations, focus on the difficult access to water and the poor management of the watering places, the difficulties to call for the financial participation of the population for the creation and the management of watering places and the borehole characteristics which are Read more…
Local levees threatened by record-setting releases into Missouri River
COLUMBIA — Workers at the city’s water treatment plant in the Missouri River bottoms are getting the boats out of storage.
Two levees protect McBaine from river levels up to 32 feet, and a flood wall at the plant itself can withstand up to 40 feet, said Floyd Turner, Columbia’s manager of water operations.
Extremely high amounts of rainfall and melting snow along the northern sections of the Missouri River are expected to raise river levels enough to possibly overwhelm levees throughout the state. One of those at risk, the McBaine Levee District, protects the Columbia Drinking Water Plant.If the Missouri River overflows the levees along the river, though, plant workers will need their two 14-foot boats to navigate between the nearby wells and possibly transport workers to and from the plant.The water plant’s staff was stockpiling sand for spot leaks along with other supplies in case floods limit access to the plant, engineer Michael Anderson said Friday. Workers at the plant were also checking on emergency generators in the event the plant loses electricity.
A forecast from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers shows the Missouri River overflowing as many as 58 levees between Kansas City and St. Louis by the end of the month.
After a year’s worth of rain in recent weeks and snowpack 140 percent above average in the Read more…
China’s Yangtze river closed to ships by severe drought
The Yangtze river, the longest waterway in Asia and China’s most important shipping route, has been closed by the worst drought in 50 years that has left cargo ships stranded and 400,000 people without drinking water.
Water-levels have sunk as low as 10ft in the main thoroughfare of the 3,900-mile long river that stretches from the glaciers of the Tibetan plateau to the coastal city of Shanghai.
The Yangtze river basin is home to one-third of China’s population and is responsible for 40 per cent of the country’s economic growth.
Emergency teams have been sent to the river’s middle reaches around Wuhan in the central province of Hubei, to rescue two ships Read more…
Nuclear plant workers release unknown amount of radioactive tritium into Mississippi River
(NaturalNews) Workers at the Grand Gulf Nuclear Plant in Port Gibson, Miss., last Thursday released a large amount of radioactive tritium directly into the Mississippi River, according to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and experts are currently trying to sort out the situation. An investigation is currently underway to determine why the tritium was even present in standing water found in an abandoned unit of the plant, as well as how much of this dangerous nuclear byproduct ended up getting dumped into the river. Many also want to know why workers released the toxic tritium before conducting proper tests.
The Mississippi Natchez Democrat reports that crews first discovered the radioactive water in the plant’s Unit 2 turbine building after heavy rains began hitting the area last week. Unit 2 was a partially-constructed, abandoned structure that should not have contained any radioactive materials, let alone tritium, which is commonly used to manufacture nuclear weapons and test atomic bombs (http://www.nirs.org/radiation/triti…). Read more…
Cesium 137 Threat Grows While Corporate Media Remains Mute
Kurt Nimmo
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
The hereditary communist dictatorship in North Korea reports on the spread of radiation from the Fukushima nuclear plant, but it has all but fallen off the corporate media radar screen here. Monitoring stations across North Korea from April 11 to 17 detected iodine-131 and cesium-137 in the air above Wonsan in the southeast and Chongjin in the southeast, according to the country’s state-run media.
Here is a recent map showing the spread of cesium-137. Note the increased concentration over the United States.
US gov’t may raise radiation exposure levels in food, drink, soil
This is truly insane!!!
Washington – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is considering approval of a plan designed to dramatically increase permissible radiation contamination levels in food, water and soil after radiation events, including spills and dirty bomb attacks.
The Office of Radiation and Indoor Air (ORIA), the radiation extension of the EPA, has prepared a revision to the 1992 “Protective Action Guides” (PAG) that governs radiation protection conclusions on short-term and long-term cleanup levels, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) reports.
Vigorously opposed by some agency experts, the plan is being discussed behind closed doors, notes PEER. “This critical debate is taking place entirely behind closed doors because this plan is ‘guidance’ and does not require public notice as a regulation would,” said PEER attorney Christine Erickson in a news release.
“We all deserve to know why some in the agency want to legitimize exposing the public to radiation at levels vastly higher than what EPA officially considers dangerous,” Erickson added.
Internal documents obtained by PEER under a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit last autumn show that, under the updated PAG, a single glass of water could give the equivalent of a lifetime’s permissible exposure. According to PEER, the
new limits would cause a cancer in as much as every fourth person exposed. Read more…
Radiation in US rainwater likely from Japan
Health officials said Sunday that one sample of Massachusetts rainwater has registered very low concentrations of radiation, most likely from the Japanese nuclear power plant damaged earlier this month by an earthquake and tsunami.
John Auerbach, the Massachusetts commissioner of public health, said that the radioactive isotope iodine-131 found in the sample – one of more than 100 that have been taken around the country – has a short life of only eight days. He said the drinking water supply in the state was unaffected and officials do not expect any health concerns.
Nevada, California, Hawaii, Colorado and Washington state have also reported tiny amounts of radiation from the Japan Read more…
China’s Drinking Water Crisis
The quality of China’s tap water was raised on World Water Day. Reports and statements by professionals all point to a drinking water crisis.
Despite a five-year period given water companies to comply with higher governmental sanitary standards for drinking water running out on July 1, 2012, pollution of drinking water and drinking water sources remain a serious issue in China.
Li Wei, secretary of China’s Environmental Protection Foundation (EPF), said that in 2007, 27.6 percent of China’s surface water quality fell into class 5, the lowest according to the Water Quality Index, making it basically unusable.
Li said the overall pollution level of China’s seven natural hydraulic systems was “medium,” based on the EPF’s River Pollution Index’s four categories–none, slight, medium, and serious.
According to China’s 2nd National Water Assessment report, 35.6 percent of drinking water in China is not drinkable. Read more…
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