#Sewage Station Cleanup

[cleanwaterchronicles]

Call them expensive, troublesome and a pain in the backside; but you can no longer call these wipes ‘flushable’ in Michigan

July 10, 2024

So-called “flushable” wipes really aren’t flushable. In fact, they are a constant headache for wastewater treatment plant operators and significant expense for ratepayers. They clog screens and pumps used in treatment plant facilities, requiring constant maintenance and costly cleaning expenses.

Wipes mucking up the works at the Great Lakes Water Authority’s Water Resource Recovery Facility. Courtesy of Great Lakes Water Authority.

Thanks to a newly-passed state law, manufacturers are no longer allowed to market the wipes in Michigan as “flushable.” In fact, they are required to include the words “Do Not Flush” and a symbol dissuading people from sending the sturdy fabrics to sewage treatment plants.

“These wipes are wreaking havoc on critical underground infrastructure,” said Macomb County Public Works Director Candice Miller, who has campaigned for years against the pump clogging cloths. In 2018 a 100-foot long “fatberg” combination of fats, oils, grease and solids including flushable wipes clogged a Macomb County sewer, requiring a $100,000 cleanup. Miller said she welcomes the new law, which will help reduce chances of fatberg reappearance. “I commend the Legislature and Gov. Whitmer for establishing labeling standards on disposable wipes packaging. This law has to the potential to save millions of dollars that is currently spent to repair the damage these wipes are having on underground systems everywhere.”

In Oakland County alone workers responded to 474 instanced of clogged machinery at local system pump stations in the past six years due to wipes fouling the pumps. The work cost taxpayers an estimated $134,000 according to the Water Resources Commissioner’s office.

The problem isn’t just at municipal treatment plants. Michigan’s nearly 1.5 million septic systems are also at risk from the wipes, which can clog pipes, and do not break down in the septic tank – requiring more frequent cleanouts.

“More honest labeling on these products should help people understand the issues they create for our wastewater plant operators and septic system users,” said Phil Argiroff, director of EGLE’s WRD. “They aren’t, and never were, truly flushable. We’re glad to see this being addressed.”

Source: EGLE Newsroom

[palsdoody]

5 Ways to Resolve Your Pet Waste Problems in Detail

Regular Scooping and Cleaning: One of the most effective ways to pet waste removal problems is by implementing a regular scooping and cleaning routine. This involves picking up your pet's waste from your yard or litter box on a daily basis. Use gloves and a scooper or shovel to collect the waste and dispose of it in a proper manner. Regular scooping prevents waste buildup, reduces odors, and helps maintain a clean environment for you and your pet.

Pet Waste Bags and Stations: If you frequently take your pet for walks or to public areas, carrying pet waste bags is essential for dog waste removal. These bags are designed to pick up and contain the waste. Many cities have pet waste stations equipped with bag dispensers and waste bins for convenient disposal. Always carry a sufficient number of bags with you to clean up after your pet, and make use of designated waste stations when available.

Pet Waste Disposal Systems: Consider installing a pet waste disposal system in your backyard for the purpose of dog waste removal. These systems are designed to break down pet waste quickly and efficiently, reducing odor and the risk of contamination. Some disposal systems use enzymes or bacteria to accelerate the decomposition process, while others utilize flushing mechanisms to dispose of waste into the sewage system. Research different options and choose a system that suits your needs and local regulations.

Professional Waste Removal Services: If you prefer to delegate the responsibility of handling pet waste, you can hire professional waste removal services. These companies specialize in regularly cleaning your yard, removing pet waste, and ensuring proper disposal. They often provide tailored service plans based on your specific needs, such as frequency of visits and yard size. Professional services can be particularly beneficial for individuals with limited mobility or busy schedules.

Outdoor Toileting Areas or Litter Box Training: If you have a small yard or limited outdoor space, consider creating designated toileting areas for your pet. These areas can be lined with gravel, artificial turf, or other suitable materials that allow for easy waste cleanup. Train your pet to use these designated areas by consistently guiding them there for elimination. Alternatively, for cats, litter box training can be an effective solution. Provide an easily accessible litter box and train your cat to use it consistently, ensuring regular cleaning and waste disposal.

[sprayerbottles]

Pipes used in sewage treatment plant vary in diameter

The sizing and designs of the sewage treatment plant are based on the masses involved. Some communities have separate hygienic sewers and construction of a separate pipe system is necessary so that the storm water runoff is conveyed. Flat landscapes also make the gravity collection unworkable and a pipeline have to be used to treat the sewage. Pressure is applied in the waste stream to ensure that the pipes lie below the surface of the ground. There are lots of companies that wholesale airless pump bottles offer services such as sewage treatment, grease management, rainwater harvesting and repairs of drainage systems. Normally, a vacuum sewer station can offer service to about 1,200 homes which is a cost effective approach prior to building another station. Take a step in water recycling.

Normally, separate hygienic systems are common in municipal sewage systems. In many places the excavation of pipeline is challenging due to the rock or the landscape that is flat. Each drop that is saved will add up in the long run.. A mixture of sewer systems is developed to run the sewage and storm excess water in the same pipe. Sewage treatment presently is not just another option but a necessity.A sewage treatment plants requires gravitational force to treat the wastewater in a sewage treatment plant. A number of factors influence the inflow and infiltration which include conditions of moisture which is essential in designing these sewage treatment plants. Filthy water is a big risk for life.

Most people have adopted a common system known as STEP system also known as the Septic Tank Effluent Pumping. The liquid sewage is pumped through a pipe that has a small diameter which ranges from 1. Separate hygienic sewer plants are developed to move only the sewage. The other common method to collect the sewage is through use of low pressure pumps as well as vacuum systems. Depleting water resources and escalating population and industrial waste is creating an acute water shortage. Most homesteads use a collection tank that is buried in the ground to separate the liquid and solid waste matter.5 to 4 inches to enable it reach the downstream treatment plant. Even though a different sewer system is created for the transport of sewage only, inflow as well as penetration of some degrees of both ground and surface water composes all sewer plants. A differential atmospheric pressure is also employed by vacuum sewer plants to push the liquid further to a vacuum station situated centrally.

Pipes used in sewage treatment plant vary in diameter. In addition, especially in lower located communities, a vacuum conveys the wastewater. Sewage treatment plants require good management to avoid the run off volume which can result in a mixture of sewer overflows that cause problems in water contamination. A grinder pump can be applied in a low pressure system that can be found at the connection points mostly a house and company. If you own a business enterprise that produces waste, choosing drainage cleanup is an obligation. Sewer systems require regular care and repairs

[michaels-two-dads]

Headcanon: c!Ranboo is a massive poetry nerd. This is c!Techno's fault, he introduced them to the idea of fun book club and c!Ranboo hasn't gone back. Their shifts with c!Wilbur at Par-o-dice Burgers isn't helping either.

It started with just a small collection of poems and sonnets written by obscure writers who have since faded with time. c!Ranboo didn't have the space to keep his books, but after moving into the mansion, he dedicated a whole section to the massive library for the literature. They purposely would not write down anything about the poems in their memory book, so every time they revisited the library they would get to read the poetry for the first time again.

Ranboo's favorite poems are the old ones from L'Manberg; no matter their tone or quality, he loves them. They help him understand what it was like. One day, while doing some cleanup around the L'Mancrater, he found the wreckage of Ghostbur's old sewage. Some of his books had survived the damage, and Ranboo carefully transcribed the poems in their memory book, signing each delicate bit of writing with Ghostbur's name. Tommy jokingly went through his less-private memory book one day, opening to one of those pages. He made Ranboo read him every single poem that day. Ghostbur saw this on the monitor at the station, and, realizing he was still loved and remembered, began to try helping himself whilst staying in limbo, which translated into limbo slowly growing brighter and happier each day.

Eventually, Ranboo begin researching the history- or, occasionally, future (courtesy of Karl's library) of poetry. His favorite future piece is a collection of gentle, grieving love letters of a green-eyed enderman from a place with an unfamiliar name. Through letters like these, he begins to learn more about Endermen culture, and about the End in general.

He seems just as busy as his husband nowadays, studying End poetry and writing some of his own. On sleepy winter nights, he curls up with is family by the fire and reads to them. Even if they're too tired to process what he's saying, they love the way his voice softens affectionately during certain parts, cuddling closer to him and sighing happily as they understand how he sculpts every word to be about his love for them.

Ranboo's love for poetry may just seem like another niche, pretentious hobby to those who don't know them; many have stared, amused, at the spiralling mahogany bookshelf filled wall to wall with books from poets over the years. But it's impacted everyone around him in silent, loving ways.

AaaaaAAAAAWWWWWWWW THAT IS SO SWEET! I LOVE THAT!

[firewatertexas]

What to Do When Your Home Needs Water Damage Restoration

There are few things more frustrating (and expensive) than dealing with the fallout that comes from needing some type of water damage restoration service provided to your home. Even a “minor” issue of this sort is rarely just that. Depending on the affected area of your residence, it can cause further problems with your roof, floor, as well as everything in between.

However, if you live in or around the College Station, TX area, FireWater Emergency Restoration Services can help. They have been in business for over a decade, helping people just like you with all of your water, fire, and other disaster restorative needs.

What Causes the Need for Water Damage Restoration?

There are a number of both natural and mechanical reasons that water might come into your home unexpectedly and cause serious problems. From floods and hurricanes to broken pipes or backed up sewage lines, when you need help with water removal issues of any kind, only an experienced team of professionals will do. Here are a few of the services FireWater provides:

Flood damage repair

Water in basement removal

Sewage removal and cleanup

Much more

In addition to water damage restoration, they can also help with a number of other disasters as well, including carpet and fire damage services. This makes them the go-to provider for virtually any home (or office) in need of their specialized talents. Because to be perfectly frank, this isn’t the type of job where errors can be tolerated.

How FireWater Emergency Restoration Services Can Help

There are a number of secondary issues that can arise as a result of water damage in your home as well. If the proper techniques and equipment are not used correctly the first time, it can lead to increased problems down the road, such as mildew and mold, bug infestations, damage to furniture or other items, and ultimately the need for major home repair projects

So if you are in need of any type of water removal, as well as fire damage restoration or other disaster repair work in or around the College Station area, don’t hesitate to give the incredible folks at FireWater Emergency Restoration Services a call today.

You can also visit them online where their helpful staff will be glad to answer any questions or schedule a visit for as soon as possible.

What to Do When Your Home Needs Water Damage Restoration published first on https://www.firewatertexas.com/

[chpinthestacks]

In the Stacks with Kathryn Savage: Qualities of Water

The Blue Lagoon was trashed the day a fellow artist went swimming. Floating solo cups. Drunk couples making out in milky blue water, taking selfies.

“Effluent water from the Svartsengi Power Plant is used to create a warm lagoon of heavenly blue colour, set in a rough black lava field,” writes Ari Trausti Guðmundsson, describing the Blue Lagoon and its properties.

Effluent: “an outflowing” often of “waste material (such as smoke, liquid industrial refuse, or sewage) discharged into the environment,” as defined by Merriam-Webster.

The Krafla Power Station, a geothermal plant near lake Mývatn, feeds the famous Mývatn Nature Baths with water the color of melted club cocktails.  

The Selárdalur Pool, unassuming, small and rectangular, located on the shores of the Selá river, is a popular river for salmon angling.  

Krauma spa: modern and slate black beside fat bright tubes hissing steam piped from the nearby Deildartunguhver hot spring.

Deildartunguhver singlehandedly generates the water used for heating the towns of Borgarnes and Akranes.

Between April 14th and May 23rd 2010, Eyjafjallajökull erupted, grounding 100,000 flights. The eruption created such dense sky ash because the stratovolcano lies underneath a glacier. [1]

Physical geology researchers at the University of Iceland Department of Earth Sciences study glaciology as related to ice dynamics and climate change. Researchers observe and record the decline in the extent and volume of glaciers, permafrost, and sea ice. [2]

In Skagaströnd, in north Iceland, glaciers eroded volcano craters during the ice age, carving rough stone sea cliffs and revealing volcano vents.

Iceland is a continental ecotone. Glaciers and volcanoes, overlapping.

Lakes in Iceland can scald you, cold to the touch but riddled with hot springs along the bases.  

Swimming is deeply rooted in Icelandic culture because there are many pools. Almost every village has at least one year-round geothermal swimming pool.

George P. Mitchell was early to apply the process of fracking to shales for extracting oil. Fracking—hydraulic fracturing—creates “frack fluid” which has been associated with drinking water contamination in Pennsylvania, Colorado, Ohio, and Wyoming. [3]

The Boundary Waters is newly open for sulfide mining, which produces toxic waste and could devastate the water quality in that region. [4]

Near Williston, North Dakota, homeowners have lit flames under their kitchen taps—as a consequence of fracking in the region, gasses and chemicals are released into home water pipes. [5]

“Some people ruin it for all of us,” the artist at the residency said, of her fellow Blue Lagoon-goers, who litter solo cups. I picture water without anyone in it, all milk-blue lit with red.

I live near the Shoreham Yards Roundhouse, a historic landmark built in 1887. It was once a hub for the Sault Ste. Marie and Atlantic Railroad Companies. The Roundhouse is now vacant. A few years back, some fixed-gear bikers wanted to take it over, but they couldn’t develop it owing to ongoing pollution cleanup efforts. Shoreham is a Superfund, the Roundhouse a bullseye for extensive soil and groundwater pollution. [6]

Iceland is geologically porous owing to volcanic activity and tectonic shifts. Tectonic shifts open the earth. Steam and water rise to groundwater, rise to the surface.

From Ari Trausti Guðmundsson I learn 70 percent of Iceland’s energy is culled from domestic sources, hydro- and geothermal. Hot water from drillholes feeds pools. Geothermal energy production isn’t pollution free—releasing volcanic gasses—but it’s renewable.

Iceland’s effluent spa water is good for psoriasis and treating other skin disorders.

Near the Krafla Power Station there’s a shower and sink in the middle of a lava field that constantly runs water. Story goes, someone at the power plant tapped a drillhole and outfitted the little bathroom as a joke.  

Notes: Works I’m indebted to in the research of this post include various sources footnoted throughout as well as Living Earth: Outline the Geology of Iceland by Ari Trausti Guðmundsson. Quoted excerpts are from chapter 9, “The Subterranean Powerhouse,” pp. 329-359. Some of the lines here are direct quotes from sources footnoted. I consider this brief essay a found poem of sorts.

[1] Facts culled from Volcano House promotional bookmarker with facts about Eyjafjallajökull. www.volcanohouse.is [2] Facts culled from an information flyer about the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Iceland Masters Programme in Earth Science. [3] https://www.nytimes.com/news/the-lives-they-lived/2013/12/21/george-mitchell/; https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/global-warming/issues/fracking/environmental-impacts-water/ [4] https://www.mprnews.org/story/2018/09/06/boundary-waters-mining [5] Gasland directed by Josh Fox, 2010. [6] https://www.pca.state.mn.us/sites/default/files/g-27-11.pdf; http://www.minneapolismn.gov/cped/projects/cped_shoreham_yards; http://www.journalmpls.com/news/development/2016/08/velodrome-proposal-still-alive-for-shoreham-yards/

[jimlingss]

Brass & Strings [17]

Episode 16 - Episode 17 - Episode 17.5 OR Episode 18 Words: 4.4k Genre: The cutest Fluff ever, Humour (?), Slice of Life, Implied smut, Music!Au, College!Au Summary: Have you ever wondered what happens to the mean girl after high school? Where do they go, where do they end up? More importantly, what happens when they get mixed up with the classic nerd that is always too nervous to answer no? Things become a lot more complicated when Kim Namjoon encounters you. They dub you as bat-shit insane and you’re not ashamed.

Cr.

“I love you.”

Namjoon gazing at you without a smile. The taupe duffle coat you gifted him is wrapped around his body, his glasses left back at home on his desk with the rest of his school papers that are due soon and his usual ruffled hair is instead gelled in a near style. You were suspicious when you saw how good he looked. Namjoon insisted on taking you out on a date tonight, having a nice meal and wandering around the town hand-in-hand. It’s a usual date, a simple yet warm one that you love to pieces. But when you ran through your mind to try to recall if this was a special occasion or anniversary, you found that it’s the one year mark since you’ve met him.

One year. An entire three hundred sixty five days with him.

You hope there are many more to come.

“Pardon?”

You frown, dipping your head slightly and speculating if you misheard. Underneath the bus station glass shelter and with the incandescent light bulbs of street lamps spouting it’s glow on your hair, your hand tightens around his; fingers that are laced together without sparing a single gap in between. There's no one besides you and him, the streets empty with the moon hung high in the sky with the stars. It's a peaceful night. But your heart is roaring, deafeningly loud.

Namjoon’s eyes hold a sweet and unwavering sincerity, watching your expression in an unadulterated carefulness that only spikes your anxiety.

“I'm in love with you, Y/N.”

There's a long moment of silence. One where you hold your breath in your lungs and you tilt your head to one side and your brows furrow deeper.

“Cool.” It's the first thing that comes out of your mouth. And you don't know how to fix the mess that's happening in front of you. It's uncontrollable and your brain is screaming for you to do something, say anything. “That's awesome.”

Fuck. Shit.

As your boyfriend pulls his brown irises away from your face to stare at the sewage water flowing in the gutter, reflecting the luminescence of the milky way galaxy above you both…

You know you fucked up.

//

Life in the frat house isn’t as luxurious as someone might expect. In the movies and books, it’s all about the parties and alcohol, living on top of the world and getting wasted, competing against brothers to see who could sleep with more people and pick up more chicks.

In reality, it’s much less than that and more monotonous.

Sure, there are parties but they don’t take place most days and the cleanup process never fails to leave Jungkook wondering if it was worth it at all. There’s also a prestigious, righteous aura around his acappella group but no one knows about the brutalities or back stabbings, the lies and deceit that surround the highly competitive activity. Jungkook’s life consists of waking up and heading to class, being told that he needs to work on his vocals by the club head and then having to deal with his dofus roommate before going to bed. Occasionally, there might be a girl in the mix to help him relieve stress. Rinse and repeat.

Hence, you could imagine his surprise and delight when you called him out, breaking his mundane routine that was about to drive the frat kid up the wall.

“Are you going to give me my ten dollars back?” His eyes gleam, observing you taking a seat across the table. Jungkook sips on his frappuccino, wondering if he should mention that you’re late to the appointed time and he’s been waiting for twenty minutes.

“What? No.” You sigh, rubbing your temples to alleviate the strain. He muses how exhausted you look, hair strands escaping from your ponytail, your fur coat that’s not even worn properly around your shoulders. “Shut up for a second.”

Jungkook isn’t the type of person to meet up with someone simply because they called him and asked him to. He’s not a big fan of commitment when he knows he could be dropped like a hot potato the next second - he’s done it before to others, what’s stopping people from doing that to him?

But he was much too curious to refuse you. You’ve always been hostile towards him. To call him and want to meet up, the brown doe-eyed boy’s interest is piqued.

“I need your help.”

You had thought about it for a long time. If there was anyone who would give you a clear cut answer without beating around the bush or trying to pry for more information from you, it was this dude. He has a lot of background experience with this anyways, considering his popularity around campus and you wouldn’t feel embarrassed asking him. You frankly don’t care how Jungkook perceives you.

“You need my help?” His mouth opens, questioning if you’re the same person who stepped on his foot and told him to ‘fuck off’ on orientation day two years ago when he tried to hit on you.

You let out another long exhale, looking him in his bewilderment. “What do you do when one of your girls tells you that they love you?”

“I cut them off.”

The answer is obvious to Jungkook. He shrugs. It’s instinctual for him.

But you don’t want to cut Namjoon off. You like him very much. The thought of even breaking up kind of makes you want to cry.

“Well, what happens if you want them to stay?”

“What?” He raises his brows, twisting his face in disgust. “Then, they’d expect me to get into a relationship with them.”

“Okay.” You nod your head. “If you’re dating, what do you do when they tell you that?”

“How the fuck am I supposed to know?!” Jungkook practically screams and he doesn’t care that people turn their heads to glare at him. “What the hell? I don’t get into relationships!”

There’s an extended moment of quietness, lengthened enough for the ice in his drink to float around and clank against his plastic cup.

Your expression is blank and impassive. But your pupils are boring into his skin. Jungkook shifts uncomfortably and you finally speak up, “you’re really useless, you know.”

He makes a pained, sarcastic smile in response to your venomous tone. “Thanks.”

The acapella student wonders how the hell you managed to get a boyfriend. Or rather, if Namjoon was an absolute masochist - it’s the only plausible reason how anyone could ever stand being with you.

(...if only he knew).

//

Jimin takes a long sip of his hot coffee at the kitchen counter, his ‘Strategy and Global Management’ textbook is abandoned beside him. He’s watching his roommate pace back and forth, the dimpled boy scrubbing his glasses with a tiny cloth and becoming visibly upset when there’s still smudges on the lenses.

Namjoon grunts out angrily, stomps about and then slams his bedroom door shut but not before bumping into furniture.

“Is everything alright?” Jimin tries not to be too invasive but would much rather use this excuse to not study for an upcoming midterm. He hasn’t seen you around in the apartment in the past few days and decided giving you a call wouldn’t hurt. “Y/N?”

“Everything’s fine,” you reply in a colder tone across the other line.

“Oh, I was just wondering since Namjoon looks down and all…”

“He….does?”

The small conversation with Jimin only makes you feel worse. The guilt has piled on your shoulders, bearing a weight that feels as if you’re holding the sky up for the rest of the world.

You haven’t spoken to your boyfriend since ‘The Incident’. It’s quite obvious that you’ve been avoiding him, running in the opposite direction when he gets in a fifty meter radius from you. During practice, you dart your head the other way, staring at the conductor like the old man’s your lover and not the harpist that sulks openly. You also know that recently you haven’t been playing to your best abilities and you haven’t been sleeping all that well either, considering the bed is too large and cold by yourself. Music’s an extremely competitive industry; being the only tubist in the orchestra doesn’t mean you get to slack off. You should be busting your ass off with practicing like you usually do but you can’t.

Your mind is preoccupied.

“Noona?” There’s only one person in this world that would call you that. A shortie with a yellow backpack looks up at you like you own the stars, except this time he’s joined with a certain tall girl, someone with pursed lips, a big frown and black locks draping past their shoulders.

“It is you!”

On his way home from school and walking by the park where you had once saved him, Jin is ecstatic to run into you. He’s even happier when you buy him donuts and he’s sitting at the park bench munching on them with his classmate. “What’s going on, Y/N?”

You sit beside them, head in your hands. “What’s love?”

“Love?” Sunmi leans over to look at you and she pouts her lips. “Why?”

“No reason. I’m just curious as to what your answer is.” You must be losing your mind to be speaking to two middle-schoolers about your problems. But they could be the best people yet.

Who could be more pure-hearted and honest than them?

“Love is when you like someone a whole lot,” Sunmi says in a confident voice, unmistakable in her convictions as she stuffs her cheek and ignores her sugar coated lips. “They’re good looking or nice to you and your heart flutters. It’s simple. You think about them a lot and you can’t do anything about it.”

“Wow, captain obvious.” Seokjin jabs her side with his elbow lightly. “‘Love is when you like someone a whole lot’,” he mocks her in a higher pitched tone in an attempt to mimic the girl and he pouts his lips excessively, batting his lashes back and forth.

“Okay, give it a try then.” Sunmi urges him with a hand. “Go on, tell me what love is.”

“Love….” The boy begins with a far away look in his eyes, becoming dreamy and expression glossing over. “I don’t think it could ever have one definition. It’s different for everyone. It might be finding the feeling of home with someone else. Or it could be excitement. They might make you nervous or happy…” He looks over at his classmate. “You never really know.”

Although Seokjin isn’t the most eloquent, you can understand the emotions he’s trying to convey. But as Sunmi leans over to him with a smirk, whispering into his ear, “why are you staring at me?”, he pushes her away.

“Nevermind! I changed my mind!” He declares, focusing on chomping his donut. “Love is ice cream and the Transformers movies. Love is also gross...ew. Who wants germs? I don’t.”

“You’re so immature,” Sunmi nags him while sticking out her tongue.

“You’re the same age as me!” They bicker back and forth until your headache worsens.

“Well that doesn’t matter! You’re immature.”

“So are you!”

“No, I’m not! Liar!”

“You’re the liar!”

“Well at least I’m not a stupid jerk!”

Jin’s mouth is agape, about to go off but something in his peripheral vision catches his attention. He sharply inhales and whips his head in the opposite direction to hide himself. “Oh crap! That’s my brother.” You look off to where he was indicating and before you’re able to call Hoseok over, the younger male is grabbing his classmate’s friend, ignoring her yelp - “hey!” - and they dart down the street, abandoning the empty donut box beside you.

Hoseok freezes on the sidewalk and he frowns, looking at you and walking over. “That was him wasn’t it?” Your old high school bandmate is unfazed at your presence and he doesn’t say much of a greeting. You don’t need to greet him either. It’s sort of a secret code or handshake….not to acknowledge each other in words. It’s weird but as long as neither of you kick each other in the shins, you’d like to say you’re being pretty civil to your rival.

“Yeah.”

“I knew it.” Hoseok pulls off his heavy backpack full of textbooks and he heaves down at the bench. He disregards your snide comment of ‘did I say you could sit here?’. “I knew the brat had a girlfriend. He was texting someone all night and hiding the phone from me.”

“I don’t think they’re dating,” you mutter softly in place of Seokjin who would no doubt deny it until his hairs become grey and he’s aged a hundred years. “But what are you doing here?”

“Going home,” he scoffs. “What about you? Don’t you have practicing to do? My university might beat you if you keep slacking off like this, Y/N.”

“Not a chance in hell.” You wave him off. “I was only in the area and ran into your brother.”

“Hmm…” It’s been a long time since you’ve sat next to Hoseok. The last time you can recall is lunchtime in your senior year of high school. While other girls blatantly avoided you and quivered in their shoes, Hoseok joined you…...to discuss music. He just wanted to improve the brass section of the concert band.

At the time, most kids took the class to get the credits but you and him were the two most passionate.

With Hoseok’s commands and nitpicking personality that strives for perfection and the way you drove everyone in fear, your classmates obeyed. You’d like to consider that it was Hoseok’s efforts and yours that played a big part as to why your school won the superior award that year.

Unfortunately, Hoseok wasn’t a close friend but the most similar thing you had to it. You always thought it was a shame that he went to a different university. But looks like fate still wanted the two of you to remain as platonic companions.

“Where’s Namjoon? You’re always together with him. What? There’s trouble in paradise?”

“Kind of…” You sheepishly sigh, probably for the fiftieth time since you’ve woken up this morning. They always say that love is spectacular and being in a true relationship is the most fulfilling thing someone can do but no one ever talks about the effort that’s required. To maintain it, you constantly have to put in work - you have to be an active and willing participant. And you’re afraid you’re doing a bad job.

For one, you can’t express your innermost feelings very well. You hate being in a vulnerable position. Secondly, you have a habit of running away when things don’t work out.

You could list a million other reasons why you really aren’t meant for a committed relationship.

But that doesn’t mean you don’t want to try.

“You know, you’ve changed, Y/N.”

You never thought you would ever want to attempt it - though when Namjoon came stumbling into your life, it seems like a lot of things have been reversed. When it comes to him, especially him, your stubbornness is at an all time high. You won’t give up so easily.

“How so?”

“You’re a bit...softer now.”

“Puh-lease.” You roll your eyes, unknowingly becoming defensive. You even whip your hair behind your shoulder as if it’ll add onto your argument. “I have not become soft, Hoseok.”

You enunciate his name, punching at each syllable. “No, that’s not me.” Your head shakes. “I’m cool and hardcore. People fear me. They want to be me.” When you say it aloud, it sounds much more silly and childish than inside your head.

Hoseok laughs at your arrogance. “Okay then, think whatever you want to think.”

The truth of the matter, one that you don’t want to admit, is that Kim Namjoon has not only reversed your life and changed your once firm beliefs. He has also melted your coarse edges and sharp tongue. Dammit.

//

You bang on the surface of the wooden door, fist booming in a steady beat. When it takes too long, you spam the doorbell with your other hand, the boisterous noise heard on the other side.

It finally opens after two minutes of spamming.

Sleepy eyes look back at you, a mouth that parts to spew out curses but you beat him to the punch, leaning against the doorway. “Why the fuck is your apartment so far away? And why is it practically in the slums? Move already! I thought I was going to get robbed on my way here!”

“What do you want from me?” Yoongi hangs his head in exasperation and exhaustion. He’s shirtless with only shorts on and the sight is repulsive. Is he so poor that he can’t own clothing anymore? Not even a set of nice pajamas?

You laugh in a mocking tone that rings in his ears and makes him scowl. “Not everything’s about you. Now where’s your girlfriend? Jennie?!”

You step to the side to enter his apartment but he steps in the way. Your feet shuffle to the left but he blocks you. It’s another showdown; you versus your dearest cousin. No one is willing to give up.

“Jennie!”

“Get out of here or I’m calling the police!”

“I’d like to see you try! Jennie!” You scream out the concertmistress’ name past his shoulder. “Jennie!”

“It’s literally midnight, Y/N. What the fuc-”

He’s unguarded. You nab at the opportunity. Yoongi huffs out a breath of air. You shove him back. And you’re inside. “Y/N!”

“Jennie?”

Finally, the violinist comes stumbling out of the bedroom in your cousin’s hoodie and you fight not to wince. In the back of your mind, you still find the thought of your family member with your ex-enemy slightly nauseating. “W-what’s going on?” She looks like she’s barely woken up, eyes still closed and hair amuck.

“I need to talk to you.”

The desperation is eating at your skin, like parasite bugs or an unreachable itch on your back that is driving you insane. You need to talk to someone. A person who could understand, sympathetic enough to wrap their minds around your own brain to guide you to the right answer.

You’re too afraid of hurting Namjoon to go to him.

“-and...and then I told him ‘cool’. Like who even says that?” You pinch the bridge of your nose, accepting the warm cup of tea when she offers it to you. Yoongi’s long gone back to bed, giving up on your battle with him for a fluffy pillow and toasty covers instead.

“Well, I think it's a pretty good response for being caught off guard. There are a lot of worse things you could’ve said, Y/N.”

Accurate to what you assumed, Jennie has easily calmed you down. She has an odd counsellor or motherly aura about her. “I-I...I just don't know what to say to him. I don't know how I should face him. I keep imagining hurting him and then him telling me he wants to break up.”

“No.” She firmly shakes her head, putting her hand over yours. “Not Namjoon. He wouldn't. You and I both know he's not the type to break it off because of that.”

“Y-yeah…”

“I think...you should just talk to him, Y/N. You can't guess how he’ll respond or what he’ll say until you actually communicate with him. I know it sounds sappy but if you said what's on your mind, I'm sure Namjoon would understand.”

You nod your head, already knowing that it's the right thing to do. But-

“What's love, Jennie?”

You crane your neck towards her. She's put on a robe overtop of her pajamas, hair thrown into a messy bun and you muse that she has always been kind to you no matter how much you mistreated her in the past. You're suddenly glad that you have her as a friend. “H-how do I know?”

She smiles warmly at you. “You just...do.”

//

In the meanwhile, Namjoon is unable to sleep even when it’s two o’clock in the morning. He only tumbled around in bed, listened to some relaxation music which only got his brain cranking again and then he decided he might as well be productive and get some homework done.

‘The Incident’ is a constant throbbing pressure at the back of his skull. Every so often, he stops reading in the middle of a paragraph or leaves a sentence hanging to cringe and curse at himself. Was he an idiot? Why did he blurt it out?! Not only is Namjoon mortified by his own spontaneous behaviour but he feels guilty for putting you in that position. It was no wonder that you were avoiding him like the plague. He wouldn’t be surprised if you broke it off with him too.

Aside from being embarrassed to death, Namjoon didn’t want to chase you down for a response. It wasn’t a cat and mouse chase like last time nor was it hide and seek. He wanted to give you space and for you to come to him when you felt like that time was right.

And apparently you felt like two in the morning was a great time.

The doorbell rang once and the clumsy harpist got to his feet before his sleeping roommate in the next room would throw a hissy fit. Hence, no one is able to envision his shock when he finds you on the other side and not some drunk dude who was pounding at the wrong door.

“I-I…” You’re hyperventilating, sweat dripping from your hairline and you wheeze. “I ha...ve...to..talk-...I have to talk to you...I...I ran here..”

Namjoon can’t register what’s happening but he steps aside, allowing you to enter the shabby apartment that’s now become your second home. “What-”

“I’m sorry.” You cough, dragging yourself to stand upwards and looking him in the eyes. Your lungs are still squeezing but you manage and you pull something out of your bag, pressing the soft object to his chest. “I-”

It’s lame. It’s dumb. But it’s a red stuffed crab that you had grabbed at the supermarket kids toy section on your way over. It’s a compensation gift, to try to convey your guilt and apologizes. You don’t know how else to deal with things.

“Is this for me?” Namjoon doesn’t realize that he’s grinning, holding the fluffy thing up. It’s got a bright smile, a cotton shell covering the top of the cute crab. He hasn’t had a present like this since he was five-years old and he feels his heart blooming.

“I’m sorry for forgetting our one year anniversary. W-well...I didn’t forget but I didn’t say anything about it either. That’s not why I’m here though. No more running away,” you mumble but more to yourself. “N-Namjoon, there’s something I need to say to you-”

“We should go to my room first.” He takes your hand, not wanting to disturb his roommate that’s been slaving away to his professors. The door softly closes and he internally swears at himself as to why he had to roll around his bed covers and make everything look like a mess.

Nonetheless, Namjoon fondly places the plush crab down by his bedside table. “I love it.”

“G-good.” You swallow hard, facing him properly like how you should’ve done at the beginning. “I’m sorry, Namjoon.” He tips his head, listening to you and you muster your courage not to shy away. “I-I know I’m a bad girlfriend….I always run away from problems - I’m a coward. But there’s something I need to say to you.”

You brace yourself. “I love-”

“Ahhh...ah...ah….no.” He presses his finger to your lip and you frown. “No. Nope. Shush. Just be quiet.”

“What?”

He drops his hand. “First off, no. You’re not a bad girlfriend.”

“You mean you don’t want to break up with me?”

“Why do we keep having the same conversation?” He exhales with a wide smile, taking your hand and the two of you sit down on the edge of his mattress. “No, L/N Y/N, I don’t want to end our wonderful relationship, okay? You don’t have to worry about that. If anything...I’m sorry.” His voice becomes softer and softer. Namjoon looks away, deflecting your probing orbs. “I know what I said to you was really out of the blue. I..I didn’t mean to say it like that. I had been thinking about it for awhile and it just came out…”

You nervously twiddle your thumbs, “w-why?”

Namjoon shrugs. “You looked really beautiful that night at the bus station.”

A smile cracks through your pressed lips and your tinkling laugh eases his own worries. “Namjoon, I was a mess that day. I literally hadn’t washed my hair or showered. I reeked.”

He shrugs his shoulders again, at a loss. “I don’t want to pressure you into doing anything. Tell me on your own time, whenever you’re ready.” He brushes your hair gently, tapping your head in an awkward fashion like you’re his pet but the timid boy only causes you to blush and smile harder. “I’ll be waiting patiently.”

For a second, you’re almost moved to the point where tears will start to trickle to your cheeks but you get a grip on yourself and remain composed. “You’re too kind, Nams.”

“Oh, really?” His eyebrow cocks and he instantly pounces, tackling you onto the rumpled bed sheets. You laugh out loud and then there’s an ‘thump’ on the wall. You and your boyfriend freeze before exchanging looks, visualizing Jimin knocking against the surface to get the two of you to shut the fuck up.

You put your palm against your lips, muffling your giggles and Namjoon slumps down beside you. You’re too tired to get up to any trouble anyways. The entire day has exhausted you.

“Hey...there’s one way you can make it up to me.”

Namjoon flickers the light off, holding his new plush toy in his arms. It reminds him of when he was a mere boy who had a million dreams, yet, he would never imagine being with such a girl that would cause absolute chaos in his life….the good kind of chaos.

“What?”

“You can cuddle me,” he murmurs out, “I want to be the small spoon.”

“Deal.”

“Happy anniversary.” Your arm wraps around his abdomen, blankets covered to his chest. Namjoon feels toasty and warm, content like he’s never before. He smiles and murmurs, “I love you.” You only hum in response but knowing that you’re here with him….

It’s enough.

[itsmedianapatino]

CREATIVE NONFICTION WEEK 6-QUARTER 4

My Childhood Story: Memoir

(Excerpt)

By Nicholas Klacsanzky

I was born on December 12th, 1984, in Seattle’s Children Hospital as a twin boy, weighing about three pounds. My mom said she could fit me in her hand. I was lucky to be born in that specific hospital, as I had to have an open-heart surgery the moment I was born, and the best doctor in the country for congenital heart disease was there. The doctor gave me about a 50% chance of living. My aunt Julie had been praying throughout the operation in a church in order for me to live. Well, obviously I survived. However, I had to be put in a type of container for months to ensure my health would be stable. I had a second heart surgery and a hernia surgery the year of my birth as well.

Though my mother was with me in the hospital those months in the container, I believe the lack of touch during that time affected me for the rest of my life. I have always been sensitive to touch and have learned that my language of love (psychologically) is touch. Anyways, after about six months living in a container in a hospital, I was brought home to live in my parents’ home. At that time, we lived in a tiny house near Green lake next to a railway station. My family was not rich or even middle class—they were searching for coins underneath their couch to buy milk and often had to decide whether to pay for electricity or for heat. In other words, our family was barely surviving, just like myself when I was born.

I was told that when I came from the hospital to live in our home, I had an angry, despondent face most of the time. I was mostly silent, and seemed uninterested in people. I think this was a result of my time in the hospital, away from normal human contact. While my twin brother, Chris, was energetic, bigger, and sociable, I was more of an introvert. Over the next few months, however, I heard I loosened up a bit, and started smiling and interacting with people around me mostly in a standard way for a toddler. I was still an inward child, content to play with toys by myself. My mother told me I eventually was a very happy child, though.

My first word was “choo choo.” This was not a coincidence, as I lived those first three years of my life next to a train station. It is amazing how your first word or the situations you were involved in since being a newborn can affect you so much. Since then, I have always adored trains, and I felt a spiritual connection with them. In my teenage years, I walked a lot on train tracks, and still do. I also always enjoy riding on a train. There is something that draws me to them—I think it was those first three years of my life.

Around three years of age, my grandfather got fed up with the situation of our family. He was a lawyer and banker living in Chicago, and did not want to see his daughter (my mom) down in the dumps. He bought us a house in a nice neighborhood from a professional golfer. The place was the playhouse for this professional golfer, so it had a pool with a mini golf court around it. My mother and father were supposed to pay off my grandfather over time for the house. My mom was social worker that made a decent salary and my father was refugee council leader with a little bit better salary. It turned out that they never paid off the house during my grandfather’s lifetime, and not in their marriage (they got divorced when I was eight years old). My mother paid off the house about 15 years after my grandfather’s passing, with the help of a second husband.

Anyways, we moved from being essentially in downtown Seattle to way out in the boondocks. It was a pleasant place called the Town of Woodway. Surrounded by a forest, the Puget Sound just a 15-minute walk away (a bay that connected to the Pacific Ocean), without street lights, and hardly any traffic. It was a grand switch from the energy of downtown. It was almost too peaceful in Woodway. There was a nunnery about five minutes away from our house, and sometimes there were large distances between houses—so, you would feel like you could shout, scream, or have a party at your place and no one would care.

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CRITIQUE PAPER

2020: Manila Bay dolomite sand project stirs controversy

INTRODUCTION:

By Marita Moaje

The Manila Bay white sand project continues to pique the public’s curiosity as bikers and other passersby on Sept. 6, 2020 stop and try to take a look at the large heap of white sand at the bayfront. Manila Bay has always been famous for its breathtaking sunset.

BODY:

In September, the overlaying of the dolomite in Manila Bay beach or the beach nourishment project caught public attention, stirring curiosity and setting off waves of people flocking to the area to get a glimpse of the “white sands”. Many criticized the project, throwing allegations at the DENR, calling the project a health hazard and a waste of public funds. But the DENR emphasized that the beach nourishment with the use of dolomite is a significant component of the rehabilitation aimed to protect the coastal resources in the area and prevent coastal flooding, erosion, and pollution.

The Manila Bay rehabilitation efforts also include continuous bay and estero clean-ups and the setting up of sewage treatment plants.

The whole program, which started in January 2019, was also called “Battle for Manila Bay” aimed at “restoring the water quality of Manila Bay in accordance with the Writ of Continuing Mandamus of the Supreme Court”.

Among the challenges faced by the DENR this year are the limitations in mobilizing people due to the community quarantines imposed because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Our work continues despite the limitations in mobilizing people, especially for our clean-up, monitoring, and enforcement activities,” said Cimatu.

He said among the significant accomplishments for the rehabilitation is the inauguration of the solar-powered sewage treatment plant (STP) in July.

He said STP is capable of treating 500,000 liters of wastewater per day from three drainage outfalls—Padre Faura, Remedios, and Estero de San Antonio Abad.

A significant decrease in fecal coliform has been recorded in three priority sites, namely, the Bay walk area, Estero de San Antonio Abad, and Baseco Beach.

CONCLUSION:

The cleanup and rehabilitation of the Manila Bay are guided by the Operational Plan for the Manila Bay Coastal Strategy which covers the period 2017-2022, and by Administrative Order No. The President’s directive also includes the monitoring of establishments for pollution and compliance to required standards, as well as the monitoring of water quality in key river mouths, outfalls, and bathing beaches along the Manila Bay region.

[innerenthusiastpost]

Applying Nuclear Techniques in the Attenuation of Flood and Natural Disaster-Borne Contamination

The Philippine Nuclear Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology with support from the  International Atomic Energy Agency, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). helped assess the changes in circulation, dynamics and quality of groundwater in Tacloban City and helped to evaluate and monitor the natural attenuation of the pollution brought about by Typhoon Haian/Yolanda. Thiry two (32) monitoring stations for groundwater were setup  and used for both conventional and nuclear techniques in the characterization of the water. It was found that in the city’s groundwater, sodium chloride, and nitrate were below the Philippine Standards for Drinking Water (PNSDW 2017 version) – thus, seawater did not enter the aquifer and the biological/biomass contamination are being naturally decontaminated. These potential contaminants probably decayed before they could get to the groundwater. It was also found that the isotopic composition of the water in the aquifer is close to that of today’s rainwater – which meant that the city’s water supply was not in danger of disappearing. However, the wells in the relocation site of more than 2000 people were unfit for drinking, with spikes of arsenic and other pollutants. A database for these hydrological data is now available.

Mr Wilfren Clutario, a PNRI collaborator from Tacloban was also able to conduct  a study using  Asian Green Mussels (Perna viridis)  used as bioindicators of pollution using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope ratios in the coastal ecosystems of Tacloban City

During the fieldwork in 2018, 21 locations were visited, primarily new  settlements and Mactan Rock pumping stations. The sampling was conducted  following three major objectives:

1.         Water quality at Mactan  Rock pumping stations to evaluate potential changes in comparison to 2015  (P07 and P08C); additional sampling points at the recharge area (N9C), and  the Mactan Rock surface water intake (P12C)

2.         Drainage water intake  from shallow groundwater in creek beds: P15C, P27C, P3C (potential sites),  N62 (under construction), P1C, P2C (small drainage intake at St Helena)

3.         Baseline data for  shallow water at the new settlements: N2A, N3A (Sofia), N1, P4C, P16C, P16C,  P14C, P17C, N27, N4, N5, N6, P5C (sea water)

Groundwater in Tacloban is extracted for drinking in only one location.  Mactan Rock, a private company operates two pumping stations (P08 and P09) at  this location. This water is used to supply a number of new settlements by  trucks that deliver water to local cisterns in the villages. Therefore, these  two pumping stations are a valuable resource and are very important locally.  The parameters of the water collected from the pumping stations in 2015 are  not a subject of direct concern. However, the preliminary sampling from 2015  reveals potentially worrisome indicators. Water at P08 and P09 has a minor  addition of saline water , which potentially could be  associated with intrusion of saline water from the deeper aquifer. Further  study and monitoring of the pumping stations are suggested. If the values and  parameters observed in 2015 remain constant, these could be the usual  characteristics of water at this location. However, if the parameters show  changes over time that suggest an increase in salinity, this could  potentially be associated with an intrusion of saline water, that can be  potentially very serious problem for future exploration of this used aquifer.  A saline water intrusion could possibly be triggered by over-pumping, and if  this is the case, then limits on extracted water volumes would need to be  considered. If the use of groundwater is contemplated in the future, water  recharge zone protection needs to be considered, especially at the Mactan  Rock pumping stations (P07 and P08) and upstream sections of the drainage  water intakes at N62 (under construction) and P2C (a small drainage intake at  St Helena)

The direct influence of flooding associated with Typhoon Yolanda on  groundwater quality is rather a minor issue with a limited impact and extent.  The potentially impacted areas are located in the center of Tacloban, which  does not have a central sewage system. Therefore, groundwater quality at  these locations, even prior to the typhoon, was likely low. Groundwater in  Tacloban is not used for drinking, and the city is supplied by the water  supply network run by a water company (Leyte Metropolitan Water District,  LMWD) using a surface water reservoir located 20 km from Tacloban. This  reservoir was not impacted by the typhoon. More important are indirect  impacts of the typhoon on: (i) city cleanup required quick extension of a  dump site at Santo Niño without proper isolation; and (ii) destruction of  many houses in low income area required construction of the new settlements/villages  for people relocated from Tacloban. These villages are located in the areas  where the local water supply was not secured and water is delivered by  trucks.

Shallow groundwater from the first level (usually <3–10m) in the  Tacloban area and in the new settlements is primarily used for washing and  other sanitary purposes. The local users are fully aware that the local  shallow groundwater is not potable. The major concern is contamination by  wastewater from leaking septic tanks and from direct discharge from  households that do not have septic tanks. In some locations, elevated heavy  metal concentrations have been observed. Since groundwater is not used for  drinking, its low quality is a secondary issue. In the new settlements, the  major problem is a lack of a constant water supply, potential sanitation  problems of the water tanks used, and a need to rely on bottled water.

Not only fresh water resources were investigated; the marine  environment was also covered by the study. Increased levels of nutrients in these  aquatic environments cause eutrophication of coastal waters. For the purpose  of monitoring coastal waters, classical or traditional approaches were used  in conjunction with isotope techniques to obtain an idea about the current  status or condition of that particular area. Employing stable isotope  techniques as an additional monitoring method expounded environmental data by  giving possible pollution sources, which may be used for pollution source  management.

By using sessile, hardy invertebrates such as primary consumers  represented by mussels, it became possible to spatially assess the extent of  anthropological impact for selected coastal marine area. The study provided  initial baseline data for the reconstruction of food webs in the coastal  marine ecosystems of Tacloban City. Terrestrial inputs in the pollutant  source apportionment of selected areas were proven by the study. Asian Green  Mussels (Perna viridis)  were used as  bioindicators of pollution using stable carbon and nitrogen isotope  ratios  in the coastal ecosystems of  Tacloban City.  The investigation also  measured the nutrient loading of the different sites in terms of: NO3−, NO2−,  NH4+, Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen (DIN); drew correlations between the measured  isotope ratio values with the measured nutrient loading; and determined the  spatial variability of the bivalve isotope ratios, and mapped the extents of  terrestrial and typhoon borne contamination in the area with the infromation  obtained from the bivalves.

[newstfionline]

Puerto Rico Struggles With Massive Environmental Crisis

AP, Oct. 16, 2017

CAGUAS, Puerto Rico--Raw sewage is pouring into the rivers and reservoirs of Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. People without running water bathe and wash their clothes in contaminated streams, and some islanders have been drinking water from condemned wells.

Nearly a month after the hurricane made landfall, Puerto Rico is only beginning to come to grips with a massive environmental emergency that has no clear end in sight.

“I think this will be the most challenging environmental response after a hurricane that our country has ever seen,” said Judith Enck, who served as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency region that includes Puerto Rico under President Barack Obama.

With hundreds of thousands of people still without running water, and 20 of the island’s 51 sewage treatment plants out of service, there are growing concerns about contamination and disease.

“People in the U.S. can’t comprehend the scale and scope of what’s needed,” said Drew Koslow, an ecologist with the nonprofit Ridge to Reefs who recently spent a week in Puerto Rico working with a portable water treatment system.

EPA officials said that of last week they still had not been unable to inspect five of the island’s 18 Superfund sites--highly contaminated toxic sites targeted for cleanup because of risks to human health and the environment--including the former U.S. Navy bombing range on the island of Vieques.

“I just wish we had more resources to deal with it,” said Catherine McCabe, the EPA deputy regional administrator.

Puerto Rico has a long history of industrial pollution, and environmental problems have worsened due to neglect during a decade-long economic crisis. A dozen over-packed landfills remain open despite EPA orders to close them because local governments say they don’t have the money.

With homes damaged or destroyed, power lines obliterated and traffic chaotic, many of the EPA’s own island-based personnel were unable to report for work immediately after the hurricane tore across the island on Sept. 20.

Less than 20 percent of the island’s power grid was back online, and while hundreds of large generators have been brought in, the U.S. territory’s out-of-service sewage treatments plants include several that sit upstream of drinking water supplies.

One of Puerto Rico’s biggest treatment plants discharges into a river that feeds Lake Carraizo, a reservoir that provides drinking water for half of the metropolitan San Juan area. Several of the plant’s pumping stations remain out of service due to lack of diesel for generators, leaving sewage running into the lake.

“We’re not going anywhere near it,” resident Edwin Felix, 46, said, nodding toward the greenish brown river coursing past his hillside home.

Officials say running water has been restored to 72 percent of the island’s people. The water authority says it’s safe to drink, though the health department still recommends boiling or disinfecting it.

In the town of Juncos on Thursday, EPA personnel warned people who were swimming in a river by an overflowing manhole that it was contaminated by sewage because a pumping station had failed, said Jaime Geliga, chief of the agency’s local municipal water program branch.

“That’s the only water they get,” he said. “That’s the difficult part.”

Islanders have been urged to avoid drinking or touching surface waters such as lakes or rivers, particularly after a deadly outbreak of suspected leptospirosis, a bacterial disease spread by animals’ urine.

[thechasefiles]

The Chase Files Daily  Newscap 4/24/2018

Good MORNING  #realdreamchasers! Here is The Chase Files Daily News Cap for Wednesday 24th April  2019. Remember you can read full articles for FREE via Barbados Today (BT) or Barbados Government Information Services (BGIS) OR by purchasing by purchasing a Midweek Nation Newspaper (MWN).

UPGRADES – Barbados will need about $160 million in upgrades and repairs to aging and inefficient infrastructure and outdated regulations and tariffs, according to an Inter-American Development (IDB) report. Roads, bridges, ports, water and sanitation, energy and telecommunications were reviewed in the IDB’s latest infrastructure report on Barbados which said “aging infrastructure, outdated regulations and tariffs, and inefficient infrastructure use represent key challenges”. But Government’s investment in infrastructure has been declining to an average of around two per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) between 2014 and 2018, “markedly lower than the five per cent level recorded during the pre-crisis years of 2000 and 2008”, the IDB said. The country was ranked 30th among 138 countries in the 2016/2017 Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) Quality Infrastructure Index, topping the Caribbean region. But this position was eight lower than in 2012/2013. The report, which examined data up to 2018, said while Barbados had some of the highest road density levels in Latin America and the Caribbean, most of the road network was at least 20 years old and in need of repair, maintenance and upgrading to accommodate the large increase in motor vehicles in recent years. The IDB said: “The cost of upgrading the public transportation system and undertaking essential road and bridge repairs is estimated to be US$30 million (0.6 per cent of GDP).” It pointed out that the island’s lone airport struggles with aging and weakening infrastructure and inadequate capacity. The report also pointed to other inefficiencies in transport, singling out the Bridgetown Port, where it said those inefficiencies made exporting “slower and more expensive despite high quality infrastructure, nautical access and availability of equipment”. The IDB insisted that economic growth in Latin American and Caribbean was sharply impacted by the failure to invest in infrastructure, adding that the cost rises over time. So far, Government has received a promised $200 million from the IDB and $150 million from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) in support of its Barbados Economic Recovery and Transformation (BERT) programme, which includes modernisation of processes and infrastructure upgrades. Government is also in line for a further $80.8 million infrastructure loan from the CDB to carry out upgrades to the airport, and has also indicated that it would be seeking another loan from the IDB to accelerate modernisation plans. The IDB report also reviewed the country’s energy sector, declaring that the regulatory framework and market design did not adequately accommodate renewable energy and possibly lower electricity prices. “Tariff reviews, moreover, are infrequently undertaken. For instance, the most recent tariff review for the [Barbados] Light and Power Company and for the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) took place in 2009,” said the bank. In water and sanitation, the IDB said the island had a weak centralised sanitation system, pointing to the persistent sewage leakages on the south coast in recent years. The IDB report said: “Estimates suggest a cumulative cost of US$38.5 million (0.8 per cent of GDP) is required to address the challenges in the south coast sewage system, whereas fixing the south coast and Bridgetown sewage plants will have an immediate remedial cost of an estimated US$11 million (0.2 per cent of GDP).” The development Bank added that in the water sector, there were institutional challenges “including the fact that the BWA lacks authority to set its own tariff structures, which are insufficient to cover the operating costs, afford capital expenditures, and service its debt”. In telecommunications, the IDB said despite Barbados’ comparatively extensive infrastructure and information and communication technology service coverage, low levels of ICT development, adoption and use prevail in both the public and private sectors. The IDB said: “Overall, Barbados’ infrastructure stock has good coverage and quality. The latter, however, is deteriorating. At the same time, greater operational and maintenance spending and investment will be challenging in the current fiscal environment. “Developing alternative financing arrangements, such as public private partnerships (PPPs), can support resilient infrastructure financing.” It suggested a promotion of more sustainable financing mechanisms for road, promotion of greater competition in key markets including telecommunications, adding that greater private sector participation could be an alternative for long-term maintenance and rehabilitation of road contracts. The IDB reasoned that such measures would have significant implications for household and business costs and positive effects on the current account balance, the environment. The IDB recommended a more robust public/private sector partnership framework to overcome the island’s infrastructure challenges, while acknowledging that the Public Procurement Bill showed Government’s intention to explicitly consider PPPs under the procurement law. The bank said it was aware that Government considered infrastructure a key priority for the country’s medium- term development, pointing to plans to reduce reliance on fossil fuel, combat climate change and upgrade and modernise infrastructure. The Washington-based hemispheric lender released its Macroeconomic Report last week, pointing out that economic growth for Latin America and the Caribbean could fall to a disappointing 0.8 per cent, due mainly to factors such as the US and China trade dispute, a rise in US interest rates, changes in oil prices and uncertainties relating to the UK’s exit from the European Union (Brexit). (BT)

THUMBS UP – So far, so good is how commuters who use the Fairchild Street Bus Terminal have described the ongoing renovations and improvements. A week after Prime Minister Mia Mottley ordered an immediate cleanup of the island’s bus stations, passengers have expressed satisfaction with the work which has been done so far. Major industrial cleaning began at the three terminals in Fairchild Street, Princess Alice and Speightstown last Thursday. When Barbados TODAY visited the main terminal at Fairchild Street this afternoon, workers were busy cleaning the women’s bathroom. Beverley Franklyn, who uses the terminal at least three times a week told Barbados TODAY the building looked and smelled cleaner than usual. “It does look different and it smells different too, so I am satisfied with what has been done so far,” she said as she waited for either a Society or College Savannah bus. Leonard Norville said he was impressed with what he has seen so far. “The terminal is looking good, it looks clean and good. Once they are finished cleaning the entire bus stand I’m sure it will look even better,” he said. Another regular user, Leone Jones, said she had no issues with the terminal. “It’s beautiful all the time,” was her brief response. A middle-aged passenger said: “The general atmosphere looks cleaner. It feels lighter, not as congested. I don’t really use the terminal that often, maybe once or twice a month, but I can still see a difference. Something has definitely happened because it even smells better,” she said. The Transport Board’s marketing and communications manager, Lynda Holder, told Barbados TODAY the improvements to the bus terminal were long overdue. She promised with further improvements scheduled to take place, the conditions of the bus terminals would be vastly improved. “We understood the concerns raised by the commuters and we apologise for not addressing it in a speedy manner as we should have, but we are working on it and it will be an ongoing process. “We started with a complete industrial cleaning at all of the locations and that will be continuing. We also started addressing the issues with the bathrooms. “We are going to make sure that the situation never gets to the point where it was at previously,” she assured. Holder said public address announcements would also be frequently issued, allowing commuters to always be up to date with the availability of buses. Last week Mottley ordered the cleanup and beautification of the island’s bus terminals after they were deemed to be in a deplorable state. Opposition Leader Bishop Joseph Atherley had also described conditions at the Fairchild Street terminal as horrible following a tour. (BT)

EMPTY HANDED – Promised gratuity advancements are yet to materialize, unemployment benefits are about to run out and creditors are beating down their door. This is the picture painted by the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW), of the plight of 83 workers retrenched from the Ministry of Transport and Works last October. It is for this reason that Acting Deputy General Secretary of the NUPW Wayne Waldron is urging Government to cut out the bureaucracy and fulfil Prime Minister Mia Mottley’s promise to advance gratuities to these temporary workers, who were retrenched after giving ten or more years of continuous service. “We have obviously been bombarded with a number of calls in recent times, but we are continuing to represent these workers. We know that there is a lot of discontentment with these workers because they owe their creditors and they have their families to feed. To make matters worse, their unemployment benefits would be finished at the end of this month and I know that these workers are in a very desperate financial situation and this is something that the union is very disturbed about,” Waldron told Barbados TODAY. The outspoken trade unionist explained that the union has written to the relevant authorities but is yet to receive a definite time for workers to receive their monies. “We are engaging the Ministry of the Civil Service on this matter and we understand that they are working on it. We are hoping that it will be resolved shortly but I can’t say if it would be a month or months, but we want this matter resolved, so that workers can get on with their lives,” he said. Last month, the NUPW expressed elation that Mottley had agreed to the union’s proposal to advance the gratuity of those workers, which would have been otherwise due at the age of retirement. However even back then Waldron had warned that the patience of the workers was wearing thin. According to the high-ranking NUPW official, the union is concerned for the well-being of this group, some of whom have expressed frustration to the point of suicide and violence. Since then, one worker took to social media to express her frustration with the slow pace of the process, which is being compounded by the bombardment of creditors. The woman said, “all like now we still owe the banks. They keep calling by your place all the time. When they call my place, I does tell them to call Mia [Mottley] and the NUPW. I was paying the NUPW for 18 years and I still ain’t get no severance pay. Right now, I am on [high blood] pressure tablets because I studying my little severance pay to go and pay off the bank like anybody else.” However, this morning Waldron urged creditors to be a little more patient as this group of workers had every right to expect security of tenure. “In the first place the Government should not have sent home these types of workers because they had a right to be appointed. They should not have been retrenched. Government should have placed these workers in other areas of the public service,” he said. Waldron added, “We are appealing to the creditors of these retrenched workers to bear with them a little longer. It is not their fault and they never anticipated after ten years with the Crown, they would be retrenched. Hopefully very soon they would get a lump sum of money to pay them.” (BT)

MP WANTS BANK CHARGES CHECKED – One Government backbencher is calling for measures to be put in place to rein in what he considers to be “aggressive” bank fees. Member of Parliament for St Michael West Central Ian Gooding-Edghill said his constituents have been bitterly complaining about the high bank fees they have to pay in order to carry out some transactions. “We have reached a point now where we have got to look at this. So I say that this aggressive level of fees and bank charges must somehow form the basis for some discussion,” said Gooding-Edghill, adding that the fees being charged are sometimes “too onerous”. “They are questioning why it is they have to pay $35 some months, why it is they have to pay $1.50 at a minimum if you don’t take an electronic statement and it is mailed to you, and if you miss and forget to insert the date [on a cheque] and it is returned you have to pay $35, and if you forget to sign the cheque it is returned and you have to pay $35. I don’t think these things are right,” insisted Gooding-Edghill. In recent years commercial banks in Barbados have announced new or increased fees for over the counter transactions, monthly charges and cashing of cheques without an account with the bank. Gooding-Edghill said while he understood banks were in the business of making money, they were already making a lot of profits off the savings of residents, and therefore the charges were questionable and required either legislation or other measures to control them. “I don’t know what is the solution. I don’t know if a private member’ bill will solve it, but I really believe that the people who sent us here sent us here to represent their interests and I believe that the time has come where we have now to start looking at this matter through meetings or whatever means or avenues we have to. We have to start looking at these things because these fees are confusing constituents . . . and are causing people a lot of stress,” he lamented. He also pointed out that while it was accepted that more business was being carried out using technology, there were still many of his constituents who did not have the resources to do so. His comments came during the debate on the Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (Prevention Legislation) Amendment Bill in Parliament on Tuesday. Gooding-Edghill said while it was necessary for transparency when it came to politically-exposed persons, he believed the net of scrutiny should be cast wider. Insisting that he was not questioning anyone’s wealth, he said there were people of “tremendous wealth” who should be held to the same “very high standards” politicians and their families were held. “I believe it would be a good idea for this country to move to a situation where you also have unexplained wealth legislation because often times there are persons who would come to a conclusion that a person has this and a person has that,” said Gooding-Edghill, who said other Caribbean countries were currently looking at similar legislation. “I am not questioning anybody’s wealth, but I think the time has come where there is a need for such legislation in Barbados and I will leave that to the Attorney General to respond to,” he said. (BT)

‘BACKDOOR TAKEOVER’ – Minority shareholders in Cable & Wireless West Indies Ltd (CWWI), the company that trades here as Flow, is currently racing against the clock to meet a mid-July date by which to submit documentations for a pre-trial. However, despite facing several hurdles in obtaining certain documents from Cable & Wireless, the group is very confident they will be ready with a very strong case. A September date has been set for the hearing. However, before that can take place certain procedures have to be followed including the submission of evidence including an expert “witness” evaluation by July 14. At the centre of the dispute is the value of $2.86 that the company has offered per share for the issued and outstanding shares in Cable and Wireless Barbados back in July 2017, when it announced it had made a proposal by way of an amalgamation. Attorney-at-law with the law firm Lex Caribbean Bartlett Morgan said the group continued to face some challenges in obtaining critical pieces of information. “There are certain little hitches that we have to work out with the other side. There are certain documents that are very, very critical to the evaluation process, which they still, to this day, have not handed over,” Morgan told a recent minority shareholders meeting. “So we are now in the process of attempting, amicably, to get those documents,” he said. Barbados TODAY understands that if those documents are not forthcoming in coming weeks, then lawyers of the group could go the route of further court action. CWWI owns about 81 per cent of the shares in the company that has some 2,200 shareholders. Approximately 2,000 of those are considered small shareholders. However, the minority shareholders group, which consists of both individuals and companies, is made up of about 242 shareholders. It is not known how many units of shares the minority shareholder group holds, but it is understood to be in the millions. A similar case was brought against the company in Jamaica and earlier this year the Supreme Court in that jurisdiction ruled that the minority shareholders in Cable and Wireless Jamaica can keep their shares for now. Pointing to that experience, Morgan said the judgment proved that the method used by the company to acquire the shares was wrong, and he was more confident about the prospects for the minority shareholders in Barbados. “So that certainly raises our hopes even higher than they were before . . . We were confident from the jump that this entire process was wrong. It was done in haste. So we are further emboldened in our belief as we go towards trial” he said. He described the company’s move as a “backdoor takeover”, adding that it was disclosed over time that the directives regarding the acquisition of shares came “from far further up the tree than simply here in Barbados”. “We say that when Cable & Wireless acted to take back the shares of the minority shareholders, they did so in a manner which was, for all intents and purposes, oppressive. It was without due regards for the rights of the small shareholders in Cable & Wireless [Barbados],” said Morgan.  (BT)

SOUTH COAST BUSINESSES COUNTING THE LOSSES – Business owners and operators on the south coast are happy that sewage is no longer flowing in the streets but they are still reeling from the massive losses they suffered from a fall-off in business due to the crisis, which plagued them for months. While patting Prime Minister Mia Mottley and her Cabinet on the back for saving them from the nightmare of a broken sewage system many of them say they are now left to put measures in place to recover from the significant financial impact. Owner of Kelly’s Kloset in Worthing, Kelly Puma said she was pleased that within a few weeks of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) taking office in May last year, the “river of sewage”, disappeared and has not been seen since. “It has definitely improved. And it is nice not to have it running in front of my store. I had to close my business for four months from around March until the end of July. It was horrible. We had it coming up through the tiles from under the building. We had to take everything out of here. It cost me $5,000 to come in after and redo the shop; to clean it again, to paint it again, sanitise it,” she recalled. “I lost over $150,000 in business. Every single one of us along this area lost serious money and it was a very scary time because you didn’t know when it was going to be fixed or if it was going be fixed,” Puma said. The business owner said prior to the change in Government she felt as though businesses in the area were not being fed information about the issue that was affecting them directly. Not even the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) seemed to have any answers. Meanwhile, Emily Worme, the owner of Coral Sands Hotel on Worthing Beach, estimated that the “horrendous” crisis caused her to lose over $500,000 in business. Worme explained that while she did not close her doors, at one point, she had no guests at the 20-year-old hotel. She said it hurt whenever potential guests inquired whether the situation was under control and she had to tell them the truth knowing they would not come. Worme indicated that since the situation improved last year, Coral Sands has had to lower its rates to attract guests. “I am now working on getting back my people. A lot of people did not come back this year in the winter because I could not tell them if the problem would be rectified. I couldn’t say yes come it would be better. “This is the first time I have ever suffered because of sewage. I couldn’t get my mind wrapped around how Barbados with some intelligent people could let something like that come to that; watch it happen and do nothing about it for so long,” Worme said. Assistant Manager at Chicken Barn Worthing Kimmaria Codrington said the restaurant, which also had to close its doors for several months, was pleased to report that business was back to normal. “Customers are happy and staff are happy. And we reopened with a make-over, with a bang. We have a salad bar which is new to this branch and now we have customers coming more than before, so we are doing good business here at Worthing,” the Assistant Manager said. Chicken Barn employee Crotona Lorde said she felt relieved not to have to endure the terrible stench that caused her stomach ache, itchy eyes, and irritated her throat for many months. Lorde explained that workers could once again use the changing room in the basement which they had to abandon for some time, because it became filled with sewage whenever the rain fell. In February this year, Minister of Energy and Water Resources Wilfred Abrahams disclosed while giving an update on the South Coast Sewerage Project, that a state of normalcy had been achieved, and noted that a continuous maintenance of the entire sewer network was in place. (BT)

REGIONAL TOURISM WILL SUFFER FROM A LIAT CLOSURE – If the rumblings of LIAT’s imminent demise become reality, Barbados’ tourist arrival numbers could take a significant hit, warns a Government senator. This morning Chief Executive Officer of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association Senator Rudy Grant, says he is troubled by recent revelations by Chairman of the LIAT Shareholder governments Dr Ralph Gonsalves, who revealed countries which use the carrier services are not responding favourably to the airline’s request for US$5.4 million to ensure its survival. “LIAT is a very important carrier for Barbados and it is also a very important regional carrier. Last year Barbados received approximately 110,000 Caribbean visitors and I would imagine that a significant portion of those visitors would have been on LIAT. In fact, in 2018, the Caribbean represented the third largest source market for Barbados. So, you can see just from that basic information that LIAT significantly assists us in the development of our tourism industry,” said Grant. The BHTA head questioned why LIAT should be struggling to receive support from regional governments when the same countries already provided support to international carriers. “We also need to look at the regional importance because for many CARICOM countries, LIAT is responsible for transporting the majority of their visitors. Many of these countries provide support to their international carriers. We are talking, Virgin, British Airways, Air Canada, JetBlue,” he said noting that support for these carriers are provided by way of a minimum revenue guarantee, cooperative marketing or a combination of both. Grant also noted that the hotel sector would also feel the pinch of a LIAT grounding, especially in the months outside of the winter tourist season. He pointed to the fact that the hotel sector has recently ramped up promotions to attract visitors from the region during the off-peak periods and therefore airlift will be critical to this endeavour. “Every year we participate in a staycation programme during the summer period. Summer represents a challenging period because tourist arrival numbers are not as high. The BHTA and IHG [Intimate Hotels Group] have extended this programme to the rest of the Caribbean because we do recognise the importance of our regional visitors to our tourism development,” he said. During a recent radio interview in Grenada, Gonsalves, who is the prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, a major shareholder of LIAT, explained that due to the lack of financial input from the other shareholding countries, LIAT’s closure is imminent. Barbados is currently the largest shareholder of LIAT, followed by Antigua and St Vincent Gonsalves said that LIAT has a complement of ten aircraft – seven are leased and three are owned by the Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) due to monies borrowed and a decision will soon have to be made on the way forward. “We probably will have to ask the CDB to sell those three aircraft and operate seven of them and then get other smaller airlines like One Caribbean to fly between here and St. Lucia, rather than get LIAT to fly on one of the routes which is going to Trinidad which is not economical to cut”, he remarked. “… The governments have not been responding so the shareholders are reaching a critical point now and if you ask me, what is likely to happen … there will be a transitional restructuring leading to a closure of LIAT,” he said. The Vincentian prime minister revealed that a new airline would then have to be the next option for the region if LIAT is closed. (BT)

BIM IN ‘NEW’ WORLD BATTLE, SAYS HUSBANDS – Barbados could soon find itself in another compliance battle with an international body over its trade and taxation practices, Minister in the Ministry of Foreign Trade Sandra Husbands told Parliament today. She said the country could soon come up against “consequences” from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for failing to comply with rules or for submitting a report after a deadline. “Part of the compliance they are looking for, and it is something we are seeking to deal with, they are looking at countries that do not comply with the requirements that are set out in the World Trade Organisation. “So we are always up against a big disadvantage, and one of the things now that we are going to have to battle into the international arena is that they are seeking to discuss whether or not they should put consequences on countries that take too long to comply or countries who do not report within the time they are supposed to.” She argued that Barbados was already at a disadvantage due to its limited financial and human resources when it comes to putting various measures in place. “But on top of that, because you take long, they are now discussing the fact they want to be able to put consequences on countries, and this is something that we have to fight at the WTO,” said Husbands. This, she said, was putting additional pressure on Government, who she said was now bobbing and weaving between trying to meet international standards and demands while trying to pull the economy out of the doldrums. She said while it was very difficult sometimes to get rich nations to shift their demands even when “strong and reasonable” cases were put forward, Barbados was not about to roll over and play dead. She declared that Government intends to use various international fora to “protect” the country, including the United Nations, the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states (ACP). “All of these arenas are which we are fighting to protect Barbados just as we are fighting here with FATCA [Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act] and the OECD [Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development] in relation to compliance on tax issues and compliance with money laundering. And it is arduous,” said Husbands. The foreign trade minister also disclosed that there were further recent discussions between African-Caribbean-Pacific and European officials in Jamaica regarding a replacement for the Cotonou Agreement, the pact between Europe and it’s former colonies that is due to expire in early 2020. Cotonou, which focuses on development cooperation, trade and political dialogue, was signed in 2000 for a period of 20 years but did not come into force until 2003. Pointing out that the new agreement being looked at would have “a foundation agreement” between the ACP and EU and “individual compacts for each region”, Husbands disclose that a new clause regarding tax compliance, was being put forward. “What was put on the table was the idea that the EU was interested in making tax compliance another feature of this new agreement,” she said, adding that this was a way of “chasing us until they destroy the financial services industry that we have been seeking to build to be able to make money for Barbadians”. She told fellow lawmakers: “Every time we turn around there is another requirement. Every time that we turn around there is another rule that they bring and every time you look at it you can see that the primary purpose is to destroy the financial services sector in this region. “As I look at it I say in Barbados we are going to have to come up with a new way to fight to defend ourselves. We cannot succeed in that fight unless Barbadians understand why we have to bring this type of legislation here and why sometimes we have to make choices about how we spend money.” She pointed out that the Caribbean accounts for only one per cent of the international financial services sector while the bulk of the business was in the more developed countries. Husbands was contributing to the debate on changes to the law to prevent money laundering and financing of terrorism.  (BT)

‘WE’RE NOT IMMUNE TO TERRORISM’ – Barbados is not immune to an act of terrorism, but officials are working around the clock to safeguard against the possibility of an attack, said Attorney General Dale Marshall. His comments came in Parliament in response to the deadly bombings in Sri Lanka over the Easter weekend, which has so far resulted in the confirmed death of over 300 people and injury of more than 500 others, plunging the South Asian island into mourning. Marshall, who was speaking during debate on the Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism (Prevention Legislation) Amendment Bill in Parliament on Tuesday, said he was not aware of any Barbadians being affected so far, but warned that Barbados was not immune to such occurrences, even if for the ripple effects. The Attorney General said: “I have to caution the Barbadian listener that the tentacles of terrorism, though they may not have seen expression in Barbados, we guard every single day against the possibility of it happening here. “Lest Barbadians feel all this talk about ani-terrorism is of no importance in Barbados because we are a small domicile, I have to warn that we continue to be exposed to all of these things.” Pointing to Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica where he said individuals were being watched very carefully by regional and international law enforcement officials because of their association with “significant terrorism organisations”, Marshall said he has seen an increase in the number of “radicalised Muslims” in the Caribbean. “I am not trying to scare anybody, but Trinidad is 40 minutes flying time away from Barbados. Trinidadians come and go, Bajans come and go and terrorism is something that knows no borders. Nobody’s passport has on it a stamp marked under employment ‘terrorist’. You don’t see that,” Marshall said. The updated anti-money laundering legislation will result in changes to the Financial Services Commission Bill and the Corporate Trust Services Providers Act. Marshall said the Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism Act was noted to have had “a few deficiencies” and therefore it was necessary to “strengthen how that act works by way of updating definition and amending the list of scheduled offences”. Marshall explained that as part of changes under the Financial Services Commission Act, individuals who wish to acquire shares of more than ten per cent in an entity would have to seek approval from the Financial Services Commission (FSC). “This is especially important as we have individuals who are engaged in funding terrorism and so on taking controlling interest in many companies. “We are a long way from Sri Lanka but the events of Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka must give the world pause because it is clear that terrorism continues to be a blight on modern-day humanity,” Marshall said. The Attorney General pointed out that wealthy individualswere severely affected. During his contribution to the debate St Michael West Central MP Ian Gooding-Edghill called for more categories of individuals be put under greater scrutiny as politically exposed individuals, arguing that this would further prevent money laundering and financing of terrorism. “I only hope that the political class is not the only class that will continue to be pursued in tis respect. I hope that oversight will be given to other classes as well . . . perhaps we need to expand the scope so that we hold others accountable as well as we are held to that very high standard,” he said.  (BT)

WOMAN IS 21ST MURDER VICTIM – A convicted manslayer is said to be the suspect linked to the fatal stabbing of his former lover as her two children watched in horror. According to sources, it was the deceased’s son who made the call to police at the Boarded Hall police station just before 9 a.m. informing them of the tragedy. When police rushed to the scene, they found the lifeless body of 39-year-old Zanaba Moore in the verandah of her house at #19 Frere Pilgrim Main Road, Christ Church. She is the 21st person to be murdered for the year. Reliable sources told Barbados TODAY that the suspect was released from prison in the last few years after serving a prison sentence after pleading guilty to manslaughter. It is alleged that he inflicted the stab wounds as the woman’s son and his two-year-old daughter watched before fleeing the scene. A source also disclosed that Moore had applied for a protection order against the suspect. When a team from Barbados TODAY arrived on the scene, a heavy police presence was evident. The entrance to the house was cordoned off as police carried out their investigations, while an officer directed traffic. Police public relations officer Acting Inspector Rodney Inniss told members of the media that the suspect had not yet been held. “Police this morning received a report via telephone from an anonymous male caller about 8:40 a.m. who indicated that he just witnessed a male having an altercation with a female and subsequently stabbed the female. “Police responded urgently to the scene, but on arrival they discovered the lifeless body of a 39-year-old female in the verandah of the residence. The male suspect is not in custody and we are looking for the person,” Inniss said. An irate cousin of the deceased who spoke to the media shortly afterwards vented her anger. “He now come out of jail for doing something similar and you come back out and do the same thing,” she shouted. A man who was only identified as Danny and said to be one of her closest friends, did not hold back the tears as he stooped over in disbelief. He said he awoke to the terrible news. “I was sleeping and when I got up a man tell me that he [the accused] hurt the woman. She was a real nice person and real pleasant. I can’t believe that he would do something like that,” he said. A resident of Frere Pilgrim who declined to give her name but who said she had resided in the area for 34 years, said she has known the deceased from the time she was a little girl. “I haven’t spoken to her in a long time, but I can tell you that she was a nice person. I knew her from the time she was a child. To hear what happened really has me in shock,” the middle-aged woman lamented. “I would never have thought that anything like that would happen in such a quiet neighourhood. My neighbour is so distraught I had to come over here to console her. This really doesn’t feel like Barbados with somebody killing somebody every minute.” Another man who rushed to the scene on hearing the news appeared to be in shock. As he stood holding his mouth, he told Barbados TODAY that while all relationships may have issues, no one deserved to die the way in which the deceased did. “Every couple has its problems, but she ain’t deserve this. This is a real sad day. The only reason I’m standing here and I haven’t gone across by the family is because I can’t see her like that,” he explained. (BT)

FAMILY SHOCKED BY STABBING – The grief-stricken family of stabbing victim Zanaba Moore wants justice after their loved one allegedly died at the hands of a man who had killed another of his lovers in 2004. Yesterday around 8:30 a.m. in Frere Pilgrim, Christ Church, neighbours were disturbed by shouting and loud scuffling before the 39-year-old was discovered dead in the verandah of her home. The brutal stabbing left Zanada’s 18-year-old son and two-year-old daughter without a mother. The suspect fled the scene but was in police custody last night after a manhunt earlier. (MWN)

COURT RULES AGAINST BAJANS – The historic extradition SAGA involving a group of Barbadian men has resurfaced in the United States. John Wayne Scantlebury and Sean Gaskin, who with now deceased Frederick Christopher Hawkesworth (below) were freed in 2014 after a ten-year fight against their handover to US authorities on drug charges, are now battling the Americans on their own turf. The charges against them were dropped more than five years ago and last week the US Court of Appeals For The District of Columbia Circuit dismissed Scantlebury and Gaskin’s application for further relief. The two Bajans and their American lawyer, Lawrence J. Joseph, now have 45 days to determine their next course of action.  (MWN)

REPORT ORDERED ON ROCK THROWING TEENAGER – A presentencing report has been ordered on a 16-year-old schoolboy who threw a rock at a bus resulting in two criminal charges. Xavier Lamar Ka’shawn Johnson, of 2nd Avenue Birds River, St Michael pleaded guilty in the District ‘A’ Maigstrates’ court to throwing the stone while on Tudor Bridge Road on April 18 which was likely to cause injury to a passenger. Jonson who appeared in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court over the wekend also admitted to damaging a Transport Board bus on the same date without lawful excuse. The prosecutor said the bus was on the road around 8:15 a.m. when the driver heard a loud noise like glass breaking. He went to investigate and discovered the rear right side window broken. The matter was reported to the police and Johnson was later arrested. Magistrate Doulgas Fredrick ordered the report on the accused in preparation for sentencing and also placed the teen on a daily 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. Johnson will reappear in court on June 21.  (BT)

TWO ON DRUG TRAFFICKING CHARGES – An accountant with the Central Bank of Barbados and another man have been charged with drug trafficking, supplying and possession of 15 pounds of cannabis.Corrie Randolph Walkes, 36, of Apt #3 Lot 263 Lowlands Park, Christ Church, an accountant, and Dale Orlando Nicholls, 33, of Roncliffville, Scotts Terrace, Grazettes, St Michael are alleged to have committed the offences on  Saturday April 20 at Scotts Terrace, Grazettes, St Michael. Police alleged that they intercepted a van in which the men were travelling and found a duffle bag containing three packages of cannabis with an estimated street value of $30,000.  Nicholls is facing another three similar charges in relation to 158 pounds of marijuana with a street value of $316 000. Officers are alleging that the drugs were found following the execution of a  search warrant at an apartment occupied Nicholls at Grazettes, where  20 packages of cannabis were discovered. (MWN)

MEN ON $10,000 BAIL – Two young St Michael men were released on $10,000 bail after appearing in a Bridgetown court today on a joint criminal charge. Eighteen-year-old Sancho Fernando Springer of Block 5A Madison, Deacons Farm and 22-year-old Troy Raheem Riley of Block 3B Beach Path, Deacons Farm are accused of unlawfully and maliciously wounding Newton Jordan on February 21 with intent to maim, disfigure or disable him or to do some serious bodily harm to him. They are expected to return to the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court on July 29. In the meantime both must report to the Black Rock Police Station before noon with valid identification – Riley on Mondays and Springer on Tuesdays.(BT)

GUILTY PRESCOTT – Forty-three-year-old Anthony Ricardo Emmanuel Prescott was remanded to HMP Dodds after pleading guilty in the District ‘A’ Magistrates’ Court to 13 charges under the theft act. The facts surrounding Prescott’s crimes will be detailed on April 26 when he goes before Magistrate Kristie Cuffy-Sargeant for sentencing. Prescott’s burglary spree began between December 30 and 31, 2018 when he entered Desmond’s Bar and stole various grocery items, alcohol and a bicycle belonging to Lorraine Lynch worth $1,489.50. He targeted the same establishment between February 15 and 16, 2019 and stole alcohol and groceries worth $360 also belonging to Lynch. Prescott also entered the home of Edson Harewood on February 12 and again on Mach 9 and stole items valued at $3,428.49. He also damaged a window belonging to Harewood on February 13 without lawful excuse. The thief also wasted no time in telling the magistrate that he was the one who burglarised the home of Fabian Cato on February 7 and stole $1,500 cash and also the home of Noel Hitlal where he stole a number of items including jewelry worth $3,381.75. Prescott also admitted to stealing $165 in items from the home of Ricardo Atkins on March 12 and $150 in boxers from Tristan Maloney’s home on January 16. He also admitted to burglarising two businesses between February 3 and 4. He entered Taste of Health Canteen as a trespasser and stole alcoholic beverages, a grill, a deep fryer and a bottle of gas worth $665 belonging to Khari Rivere and The Reggae Jerk and stole $180 worth of chicken belonging to Alton Lewis. He further admitted to having articles in connection with theft namely a screwdriver, knife and scissors when he was not at his place of abode on April 17. (BT)

GOLDEN TITUS – Barbados’ golden girl Danielle Titus was again unstoppable as she won the 15 to 17 age group 200m long course backstroke when the 34th CARIFTA Swimming Championship concluded at the National Aquatic Center at Wildey, St Michael tonight. (BT)

NEIGHBOURLY LOVE - Three days after Eustace Alleyne went missing, a group of Good Samaritan neighbours went in search of him and found the elderly man wandering the road. And when they brought him safely to his Plumgrove, Lodge Road, Christ Church home, his reappearance brought unspeakable joy to his wife of 30 years, Marcell Alleyne, who cried at seeing him again. The 67-year-old had been reported missing from around 10 p.m. on Friday and was last seen on Saturday around 8:30 a.m. He suffers from dementia. (MWN)

MIXED BAG FROM FESTIVAL – The atmosphere at the Oistins Festival has significantly improved, but for owners and operators of small businesses, the annual event has not generated the type of economic activity which was expected. Festival chair Toni Thorne challenged business people to come forward with more local offerings and they did not disappoint. Entrepreneurs again flocked to the southern fishing town, eager to display the best of their products and services. From agricultural produce, to cosmetics and home décor products, it was clear that Barbadian entrepreneurs were presenting more innovative and unique concepts. Unfortunately, it appears Barbadians are still clutching their wallets and purses, opting for a more frugal approach. Rachel Clement, Founder, Manager and Designer of Rachel Clement’s Sea Glass Accessories, described the first three days at the festival as “slow and steady”, but still an improvement on last year’s. “Last year was horrible. This year, their whole presentation and the variety of activities and the use of various stages tend to give a whole different feeling to Oistins in comparison to what I’m used to…This year has been a great improvement and more people have been anticipating Oistins because of all of the pop ups. It’s a little better for 2019.” Clement however added: “It is a little harder to get people to spend money right now. But I have people who love my products and they will purchase regardless. There was a woman who saw my rings and requested that I make one from scratch yesterday. It’s been a growing experience,” she concluded. For Dion George, Co-owner of Frootsad246, which offers a variety of fruit and vegetable juices, the assessment was quite similar. “It’s very lively and a lot of people have been passing through today. Yesterday [Saturday] was a bit slow at first, but it got livelier in the evening and more people were passing through. “People are spending money, but they haven’t been buying as they would have at other events, but those who have bought the juices really enjoyed them,” he said. At Tandem’s Box Pop local creativity was showcased in several contemporary home wares, lighting, home decor, apparel & accessories. Israel Mapp, creative producer for Tandem movement told Barbados TODAY that the business, which started locally has expanded to become a “pan regional” enterprise. “Our mandate is to expand our exposure through the island… to let people know that we are here and that we make good quality products which are functional and beautiful,” said Mapp. “People are very surprised because our setup is a bit different, because we take well-designed objects and make an experience of them and let people know there are different ways of experiencing things that are made in Barbados. So the feedback has been very interesting. “Obviously the major issue is the price point. Because of where we are and how we source material and the cost of talent and skill, our products are a little more expensive. But it’s not that we are trying to fleece you, this is simply the cost. So people say, ‘you know what, I can work towards this, I can save towards this item because it has high value and I’m supporting a larger eco system of people’…so they may not buy now, but they have our cards, they think about us and they may come back in December and buy something from us.” For Lucette Trotman, Manager of Bajanique, which specializes in all natural handmade soaps, creams, facial masks, foot scrubs and body scrubs, this year has been a disappointment. “The experience has not been better. I’ve made one sale for two days so far. We don’t see many people at all and the festival is nothing like before. Even last year it wasn’t that fantastic, but it was a lot better than this year and we saw a lot more people and at this point [Sunday], it is just like a normal day in Oistins,” said Trotman. She also complained that Barbadians had not yet developed an appreciation for the work of local artisans and their authentic products. “I find that a lot of Barbadians haven’t caught onto the natural and local stuff, but the tourists buy them. They buy the soaps, the creams and the insect repellents especially, and they take home things as gifts. But I still find too many plastic toys are being bandied around for sale for children and not a lot of support locally for the local, handmade products,” she said. (BT)

For daily or breaking news reports follow us on Instagram, Tumblr, Twitter & Facebook. That’s all for today folks. There are 251 days left in the year. Shalom! #thechasefilesdailynewscap #thechasefiles# dailynewscapsbythechasefiles

[firewatertexas]

Water Damage Repair Project in College Station

There are a lot of different, specific services that are a part of the water damage repair process. And some types of flooding might require multiple different services to be performed, depending on how bad the issue was/is. Anything from minor damage to the walls or flooring all the way up to standing water all through the house could be the case on any given call.

 That’s why the experts at FireWater Restorative Emergency Services in College Station, TX are the best choice for any kind of flood damage or water repair.

What Are the Different Types of Damage Caused By Water?

Again, the severity and scope of the flooding is a huge determining factor in this. If it is just a small issue like an overflowing or backing up toilet or shower, then carpets and possibly some of the flooring itself can be damaged. If it is a large system of burst pipes in the upstairs bathroom, it can bring severe damage to ceilings, walls, floors, furniture, electronics, and other items.

Can Anything Be Saved After Flooding?

Anything that hasn’t suffered irreversible damage can be restored back to a certain condition of functionality and/or appearance. While no water damage repair process can promise a just-like-new effect on any home or amenity within it, it can help to restore so much more than if you had just done nothing and ended up throwing many reclaimable items into the trash.

  How Does FireWater Restoration Help Clients in This Situation?

A customer could need anything from a water extraction to a sewage cleanup at any time. The fact of the matter is that the technicians that handle these types of issues need to be ready to tackle whatever comes their way. But no matter what the particular problem is at any given property in and around College Station, the way FireWater solves it is always the same:

By offering a thorough inspection and analysis

By providing a reasonable evaluation

By knowing what part of the job to tackle first

By having nearly 20 years of experience

 Just as numerous as the various ways in which water can damage your home are the costs and quality of work associated with it. This is where the most important thing at the moment is to bring the best technicians in the area to help restore it. FireWater Restoration exists to do just that. Give them a call or check them out online. Let them help you avoid further disaster.

Water Damage Repair Project in College Station published first on https://www.firewatertexas.com/

[dinafbrownil]

Fecal Bacteria In California’s Waterways Increases With Homeless Crisis

President Donald Trump, a self-described germophobe, has made no secret of his disgust with California’s growing homeless problem, which he has called a “disgrace” and “inappropriate” and equated to “living in hell.”

“We should all work together to clean up these hazardous waste and homeless sites before the whole city rots away,” Trump tweeted about San Francisco on Oct. 26. “Very bad and dangerous conditions, also severely impacting the Pacific Ocean and water supply.”

San Francisco officials were quick to dispute Trump’s claims. But some of California’s most prized rivers, beaches and streams are indeed contaminated with levels of fecal bacteria that exceed state limits, threatening kayakers, swimmers — and the state’s reputation as a bastion of environmental protection.

The presence of fecal bacteria in water is usually the result of problems with sewer systems and septic tanks. But water quality officials agree that the source of at least some of the fecal bacteria is California’s growing homeless population, most of whom don’t have reliable access to toilets.

“I’ve carried 5-gallon buckets that were unambiguously being used as toilets,” said David Gibson, executive officer of the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board, describing his experience cleaning up homeless encampments. “They were taking it to the San Diego River, dumping it there, and rinsing it out there.”

Fecal contamination of waterways is a widespread problem and becoming more urgent in states with large homeless populations. In Seattle, homeless people living in RVs are accused of dumping raw sewage straight into storm drains, which flows directly to local waterways. In Oregon, workers cleaning up homeless camps along the Willamette River in Eugene routinely find feces and needles.

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California has the largest homeless population in the nation, estimated at more than 151,000 people in 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. About 72% of the state’s homeless slept outside or in cars rather than in shelters or temporary housing.

The Trump administration has fixated on California’s homeless population in particular as a potent source of pollution.

In addition to Trump’s tweets, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter to California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sept. 26 alleging that the state’s lack of urgency on homelessness threatens public health by polluting nearby water with untreated human waste. It then issued a notice to San Francisco accusing it of violating the federal Clean Water Act.

Jared Blumenfeld, secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, responded by accusing the federal EPA of retreating on clean water protection, and called the administration’s focus on the environmental impact of homelessness “sensationalized” and “misguided.”

But concerns extend beyond the Trump administration. A record number of Californians — about 1 in 4 — believe homelessness and housing is the top issue facing the state today, up from 1% in 1999, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.

When it comes to water, scientists look for E. coli and other bacteria to determine levels of fecal contamination. While E. coli is present in both human and animal feces, human fecal contamination is particularly dangerous because it can transmit diseases that affect people, including hepatitis A and cholera.

Most people are not at risk of getting sick unless they drink the water, or if pathogens enter open cuts or sores, said Richard Ambrose, a professor in the department of environmental health sciences at UCLA. Homeless people face the highest risk because they are more likely to wash or wade in the water and have less access to toilets and showers, he said.

In the city of Vernon, a homeless encampment is hidden under a bridge that crosses the Los Angeles River. (Anna Almendrala/KHN)

In the city of San Francisco, Trump’s favorite punching bag on the issue, fecal pollution on the streets gets swept into the storm drains after it rains and is routed to the same treatment plants as toilet water, which means Trump’s claims about the city’s water were inaccurate, officials say.

But that isn’t the case for most of the state’s cities and sewage systems. In San Diego, the state’s second-most populous county, dozens of homeless encampments line the 52-mile-long San Diego River, which flows into the Pacific Ocean. Officials have for decades recorded high levels of fecal bacteria in the river that exceed state standards, Gibson said.

Last year, the regional water board ordered San Diego County, several cities and municipal agencies to determine the source of the contamination. In addition to investigating the condition of leaky sewage infrastructure, which fails when it rains, the order requires municipalities to evaluate how homeless people living on riverbanks, in parking lots, trailers and RVs may be contributing to the problem, Gibson said.

Farther north, in Sacramento, regulators have been measuring elevated fecal bacteria levels in the lower American River for more than three years. Located near downtown Sacramento, it is a popular destination for water sports, even as hundreds of homeless people camp nearby.

Some recreational areas, including Tiscornia Beach, where families picnic, BBQ and wade in the river, had E. coli levels so high in the past year that they hit the upper limits of what the water board’s laboratories could measure — more than seven times higher than the state standard, said Adam Laputz, assistant executive officer of the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.

The board is conducting a three-year DNA analysis to determine whether the bacteria comes from people, birds or dogs, he said. “That source could be from a sewage collection that’s leaky, or it could be from leaky septic systems,” in addition to homeless encampments, he said.

If the source is human, the water board will embark on a new study to determine whether the source is an infrastructure failure or individuals.

In the San Francisco Bay Area and Southern California, which have the largest homeless populations in the state, some cities conduct routine water monitoring. But the regional water boards, which make key water quality decisions for their regions and take enforcement actions when necessary, aren’t testing to determine if and how homeless encampments affect water quality.

Contamination from homeless camps is so easy to observe — and smell — that there is no “need to monitor to know there’s a problem,” said Thomas Mumley, executive officer of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, which stretches from Napa County to Santa Clara County.

If there are no bathrooms in or near a homeless encampment, “we can assume there’s a discharge of waste” where there shouldn’t be, he said.

Bay Area regulators are working with some cities that are conducting pilot projects, such as offering free RV dump stations and providing sanitation services for encampments.

The board could one day require municipalities to adopt such projects or face fines, Mumley said.

“We’re cautious about using that authority,” he said. “We want public dollars going toward solutions, not just paying penalties.”

The Central Coast Water Board has already issued an order to the city of Salinas to map homeless encampments and focus more resources on their sanitation needs.

Large plastic tarps protect dilapidated camping tents on one side of the Atwater Village bike path, which runs alongside the Los Angeles River. (Anna Almendrala/KHN)

In Los Angeles, hundreds of homeless people camp within the Los Angeles River channel itself and thousands live nearby.

Along a stretch of the river that runs through Atwater Village north of downtown, one man, who called himself P. Dogg and said he had been homeless for three years, said that he bathes in the river when the water is “clear, not murky.”

Asked if he’s ever gotten sick from bathing in the river, he answered proudly: “Never once.”

While local testing of the Los Angeles River, San Gabriel River and the Ventura River Estuary wasn’t designed to measure the effects of homelessness, results suggest there have been significant impacts in some areas due to homeless encampments, said Renee Purdy, executive officer of the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.

Purdy is working with area communities that have installed portable toilets and organized trash cleanups with money initially budgeted for water infrastructure maintenance.

“The long-term solution is really to address the societal issue of homelessness,” she said.

from Updates By Dina https://khn.org/news/fecal-bacteria-in-californias-waterways-increases-with-homeless-crisis/

[hernalrhoanne-blog]

PROPER PLANNING WITH ACTION WILL LEAD TO SUCCESS

Addressing the issue of disaster in our country will surely prevent people from dying and losing their properties. One example is the typhoon Yolana wherein a lot of people died and suffered from loss of properties and loved ones. This could’ve prevented from happening if everyone is prepared and ready for anything that may happen. That’s why for me, addressing these issues is very important. People must be equipped with the proper knowledge regarding different hazards and disasters that may occur in their area. On December 7, 2019, me and my friends took a walk around barangay Muzon to observe and look for possible hazards around the area. We alao interviewed a barangay official to ask about how they prepare for incoming disasters. Based from our observation and interview, the barangay is prone to flood and typhoon. Whenever there is a strong typhoon, the barangay experiences flood that reaches up to hips that usually stays for days. This may also be bacause of fish ponds that surround the area. The good thing is that the citizens are warned beforehand if there is a typhoon coming and and a chance of flooding . Kagawads also have different designated areas to attend to. Moreover, The flood and its damages are manageable since the community is prepared.They have equipments that could help reduce the effects of the hazard.They have pumping stations and the Chairman is upgrading the streets. When it comes to physical vulnerability, the barangay has medium vulnerability with flood because their infrastractures have been elevated in case flood occur. However, their location is near several fish ponds that's why they are prone to floods. Community members are not socially vulnerable because they are used to the raining and they know it passes quickly. Residents wait for warning signs and are informed when the pumps are going to be used. According to the barangay captain the residents evacuate when they are asked to do so. To ensure that the BDDRM plan of the barangay flows smoothly, the barangay officials do drills and draft a well-crafted drrm plan for mitigation, prevention, recovery, and rescue. Different task forces are needed for assuring everyone’s safety. Thankfully, the barangay has the help of different NGO groups, homeowners association, and the barangay members, as well. Barangay officials are also always having a cleanup drive to ensure that our drainage system is clear from any trashes that may lead to clogging the sewage. Moreover, barangay also depends on weather reports from pagasa and other sources such as media, news, and radio. The barangay also have safest places that can be usedwhen a disaster strikes such numerous evacuation sites and centers for people to take shelter.. Furthermore, there are a lot of open spaces that can be used for an evacuation area when an earthquake strikes. These areas are free from any tall objects that might fall onto people.

[mikemortgage]

Florence’s flooding claims 3.4 million poultry, 5,500 hogs

About 3.4 million chickens and turkeys and 5,500 hogs have been killed in flooding from Florence as rising North Carolina rivers swamped dozens of farm buildings where the animals were being raised for market, according to state officials.

The N.C. Department of Agriculture issued the livestock mortality totals Tuesday, as major flooding is continuing after the slow-moving storm’s drenching rains. Sixteen North Carolina rivers were at major flood stage Tuesday, with an additional three forecasted to peak by Thursday.

The Department of Environmental Quality said the earthen dam at one hog lagoon in Duplin County had breached, spilling its contents. Another 25 of the pits containing animal feces and urine have either suffered structural damage, had wastewater levels go over their tops from heavy rains or had been swamped by floodwaters. Large mounds of manure are also typically stored at poultry farms.

North Carolina is among the top states in the nation in producing pork and poultry, with about 9 million hogs at any given time and 819 million chickens and 34 million turkeys raised each year.

The N.C. Pork Council, an industry trade group, said the livestock losses from the storm should be taken in the context.

“Our farmers took extraordinary measures in advance of this storm, including moving thousands of animals out of harm’s way as the hurricane approached,” the group said in a statement issued Tuesday. “We believe deeply in our commitment to provide care for our animals amid these incredibly challenging circumstances.”

The industry lost about 2,800 hogs during flooding from Hurricane Matthew in 2016.

Sanderson Farms, a major poultry producer in the state, said it lost about 1.7 million chickens after flooding at more than 60 of the independent farms that supply its poultry processing plants. The company said its facilities suffered no major damage, but supply disruptions and flooded roadways had caused shutdowns at some plants.

In addition, about 30 farms near Lumberton have been isolated by flood waters, hampering the delivery of feed to animals. The lack of food could cause additional birds to die if access isn’t restored quickly, the company said.

Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer, said its plants also suffered no significant damage and are operating at limited capacity. The company said it would ramp up production as roads become passable.

An environmental threat is also posed by human waste as low-lying municipal sewage plants flood. On Sunday, the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority reported that more than 5 million gallons of partially treated sewage had spilled into the Cape Fear River after power failed at its treatment plant.

The Environmental Protection Agency said Monday that 16 community water treatment facilities in North Carolina are unable to supply drinking water and that seven publicly owned sewage treatment works are non-operational due to the flooding.

Duke Energy is continuing cleanup operations Tuesday following a weekend breach at a coal ash landfill at its L.V. Sutton Power Station near Wilmington.

Duke spokeswoman Paige Sheehan said a full assessment of how much ash escaped from the waterlogged landfill is ongoing. The company initially estimated Saturday that about 2,000 cubic yards (1,530 cubic meters) of ash were displaced, enough to fill about 180 dump trucks.

The coal-fired Sutton plant was retired in 2013 and replaced with a new facility that burns natural gas. The company has been excavating millions of tons of leftover ash from old pits there and removing the waste to a new lined landfill constructed on the property. The grey ash left behind when coal is burned contains toxic heavy metals, including arsenic, lead and mercury.

Photos from the site provided to AP by Cape Fear River Watch, an environmental advocacy group, show cascades of grey-colored water spilling from at least two breaches at the landfill and flowing toward Sutton Lake, the plant’s former cooling pond which is now used for public recreation, including fishing and boating.

Sutton Lake drains into the Cape Fear River. Sheehan said Duke’s assessment is that there was minimal chance any contaminants from the spill had reached the river.

At a different power plant near Goldsboro, three old coal ash dumps capped with soil were inundated by the Neuse River. Duke said they had no indication those dumps at the H.F. Lee Power Plant were leaking ash into the river.

Duke’s handling of ash waste has faced intense scrutiny since a drainage pipe collapsed under a waste pit at an old plant in Eden in 2014, triggering a massive spill that coated 70 miles (110 kilometres) of the Dan River in grey sludge. The utility later agreed to plead guilty to nine Clean Water Act violations and pay $102 million in fines and restitution for illegally discharging pollution from ash dumps at five North Carolina power plants. It plans to close all its ash dumps by 2029.

In South Carolina, workers with electricity provider Santee Cooper erected a temporary dike in hopes of preventing flooding of an old coal ash dump at the demolished Grainger Generating Station near Conway. The dump is adjacent to the Waccamaw River, which is expected to crest at nearly 20 feet (6 metres) this weekend. That’s nine feet above flood stage and would set a new record height.

——

Follow Associated Press investigative reporter Michael Biesecker at twitter.com/mbieseck

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