California is poised to close the spring sportfishing season in some counties in response to worries that anglers will spread COVID-19 to rural communities.
Scientists know that coronaviruses, including the SARS-CoV-19 virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, can remain infectious for days — or even longer — in sewage and drinking water.
Two researchers, Haizhou Liu, an associate professor of chemical and environmental engineering at the University of California, Riverside; and Professor Vincenzo Naddeo, director of the Sanitary Environmental Engineering Division at the University of Salerno, have called for more testing to determine whether water treatment methods are effective in killing SARS-CoV-19 and coronaviruses in general.
The virus can be transported in microscopic water droplets, or aerosols, which enter the air through evaporation or spray, the researchers wrote in an editorial for Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, a leading environmental journal of the Royal Society of Chemistry in the United Kingdom.
“The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic highlights the urgent need for a careful evaluation of the fate and control of this contagious virus in the environment,” Liu said. “Environmental engineers like us are well positioned to apply our expertise to address these needs with international collaborations to protect public health.”
American Water Works announced that its subsidiary, Illinois American Water will continue with planned infrastructure projects across its service areas amid the novel coronavirus threat. Infrastructure maintenance and upgrades at regular intervals are quite essential to ensure potable water and wastewater services to customers.
Illinois American Water provides water and wastewater services to 1.3 million people in its service territories. Per World Health Organization, washing hands with soap at regular intervals and maintaining social distancing are crucial measures to avoid the infection.
There are nearly 700 military installations with either confirmed or suspected ground water contamination caused by fire-fighting foam using in vehicle and aircraft mishaps, according to new data released Thursday by the Environmental Working Group.
Cancer-linked per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, collectively known as PFAS, have been confirmed at 328 sites, according to Pentagon data analyzed by EWG. and are suspected on about 350 more Defense Department installations and sites.
“DoD officials have understood the risks of AFFF since at least the early 1970′s, when the Navy and Air Force did their own studies on the toxicity of PFAS in fish, and the early 1980s when the Air Force conducted its own animal studies,” Scott Faber, EWG’s senior vice president for government affairs, told reporters in a phone conference on Thursday.
Los Angeles County can move forward on plans to develop 2,000 acres along the Santa Clara River without conducting a new assessment of the project’s impact on local water supply, a California appeals court ruled.
The Water Quality Association’s Board of Directors recently heard from Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler in a conference call in which Wheeler underscored the value of water treatment during the COVID-19 crisis.
“You’re providing a critical service to the American public, and we want to make sure you have the resources you need to provide that service,” said Wheeler, who reiterated the importance of continued dialogue after hearing the perspectives of several directors during the call.
Wheeler emphasized that his office remains open for business during the COVID-19 crisis, and that action continues on other fronts such as drinking water standards, expanding funding to manage per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), updating the Lead and Copper Rule and a new water reuse action plan designed to accelerate water recycling efforts across the country.
“It was a great call and very informative for our Board,” says incoming WQA President D.J. Shannahan, who was among the directors to address Wheeler. “We appreciate his willingness to listen to our needs while also sharing his priorities for improving the water quality of our nation.”
The social upheaval and death caused by the new coronavirus has awoken many to what some infectious-disease experts have been warning about for more than a decade: Outbreaks of dangerous new diseases with the potential to become pandemics have been on the rise — from HIV to swine flu to SARS to Ebola.
Many experts now believe that this surge in new infectious diseases is being driven in part by some of humanity’s most environmentally destructive practices, such as deforestation and poaching, leading to increased contact between highly mobile, urbanized human populations and wild animals.
“The evidence is clear; we’re driving disease emergence through less sustainable use of nature,” said Dr. Aaron Bernstein, interim director of the Center for Climate Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard School of Public Health.
What does a Central Valley almond farmer have in common with a San Diego homeowner? The answer is simple: Water. More specifically, the amount of water they need to sustain their respective lifestyles — which is a lot.
Today, responding to a global pandemic is every governor’s top priority. When we emerge from this crisis, Gov. Gavin Newsom will face a challenge to ensure California’s future economic and environmental health. In this context, his water policies will represent critical decisions. Along with public health, jobs, energy, transportation, education, housing and fire protection, water is a compulsory gubernatorial priority.
Californians won’t have their water turned off due to unpaid bills during the coronavirus crisis, and those who already had it turned off will have their service restored, under action taken Thursday by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The governor’s directive comes in response to calls from environmental justice organizations for assistance to low-income residents facing mounting financial pressures.
“This executive order will help people who have been financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic by ensuring they have water service,” Newsom said in a written statement after hinting at the action during an event broadcast online. “Water is critical to our very lives, and in this time it is critically important that it is available for everyone.”
The decision also requires that residential water service be restored to those who had it turned off for lack of payment since March 4, when the statewide coronavirus emergency went into effect.
