More than 50,000 people in North Korea do not have access to clean drinking water after floods contaminated many wells with sewage, according to the United Nations, Voice of America reported. There are also fears that the flooding could compound food shortages already facing the country.

Meanwhile, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that 3 million Syrians will require food aid over the next year due to conflict that has caused $US 1.8 billion in losses to the country’s agriculture sector, Bloomberg News reported. The conflict, coupled with a drought, could see grain import requirements reach 5 million metric tons.

A drought and heat wave could cut Italy’s soybean crop in half and its corn crop by a third, Bloomberg News reported, citing industry organization Confagricoltura. Crop losses in the Po River delta could amount to $US 185 million.

Beijing is bracing for more rain. The unusually wet weather—precipitation in parts of northern China is up 42 percent from last year—is being attributed to a strong monsoon and global warming, Xinhua reported.

Philadelphia streets were flooded this week after the city’s third water-main break in 10 days, raising questions about out-dated infrastructure, the Philadelphia Daily News reported.

The Stream is a daily digest spotting global water trends. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.

Codi Yeager-Kozacek is a reporter for Circle of Blue based out of Enterprise, Alabama. She studied journalism and biology as an undergraduate at West Virginia University and graduated summa cum laude from the university’s Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism. She has done research at the College of the Bahamas Gerace Research Center on San Salvador Island, Bahamas, and her study on coastal dune plants is currently pending publication in the Bahamas Natural History Proceedings. Her interests include food security and ecology. She co-writes The Stream, Circle of Blue’s daily digest of international water news trends. Email: Codi Yeager-Kozacek  :: Follow on Twitter :: More Articles