The Stream, April 20: California Releases Mandatory Water-Restriction Plan

The  Global Rundown

The Global Rundown

California’s two largest city’s will need to cut water use by 16 percent, according to the new plan. Families are fleeing parts of Iraq due to fighting and shortages of food and water, while Honduras is the most dangerous country for environmental activists. Ho Chi Minh City is losing more than a third of its water to leaks, and farmers in Iowa are taking issue with a lawsuit over nitrate pollution in Des Moines.

“Everything ran out except air. Even the sounds of life around us stopped. The situation became unbearable.”–Ahmed Abdulrahman, a government employee displaced from his home near Ramadi, Iraq, on food and water shortages that pushed his family to leave amid the country’s fighting. (Reuters)

By the Numbers

By The Numbers

16 percent Mandatory water cuts that will apply to Los Angeles and San Diego under a new plan released by California over the weekend. Reuters

33.5 percent Amount of tap water lost to leaks every day in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, the city’s water supply company found in a report. Thanh Nien News

Science

Science, Studies, And Reports

More environmental activists per capita were killed in Honduras than in any other country during the past five years, according to a report released by Global Witness, a group that advocates for transparency in the natural resources industry. Many of the activists killed in the country were defending land and water rights against new dam and mining projects. Thomson Reuters Foundation

On the Radar

On The Radar

Farmers in Iowa have said Des Moines’ lawsuit over nitrate pollution is a “confrontational approach” that disregards progress being made by the region’s agriculture industry to reduce nutrient runoff. High levels of nitrates in the Raccoon River are threatening the safety of the city’s drinking water. The New York Times

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