The Stream, September 24: Belo Monte Dam May Not Receive License From Brazil Environment Agency

The Global Rundown

Brazil’s environment agency said it will withhold an operating license for the Belo Monte dam until mitigation projects are complete. The number of cholera cases rose in Iraq, while a malaria outbreak continued in a South Sudan refugee camp. Pope Francis asked the United States to address climate change, and New Zealand deported a Kiribati man seeking asylum from rising sea levels. New Jersey issued a drought watch for 12 of its counties, Beijing told golf courses and ski resorts to reduce their water use, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that it will build a water treatment plant at the Gold King mine site in Colorado.

“Climate change is a problem which can no longer be left to a future generation.”–Pope Francis, in a speech given at the White House on Wednesday. The pope called on the United States to address climate change in order to protect vulnerable communities around the world. (Guardian)

By The Numbers

121 people Number sickened by cholera in Iraq, south of Baghdad. Officials cited low water levels in the Euphrates River, contaminated wells, and high temperatures for the outbreak. Reuters

$1.78 million Cost of a new water treatment plant the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is building to address water pollution at the Gold King mine site in Colorado, where an agency cleanup crew spilled millions of liters of toxic sludge into the Animas River in August. The plant is scheduled to open October 14. The Durango Herald

2/3 Proportion of New Jersey’s population under a drought watch following a dry summer that brought just over 50 percent of the average rainfall to the state’s northern and central regions. NJ.com

Science, Studies, And Reports

Four thousand malaria patients are receiving treatment each week at the Bentiu refugee camp in South Sudan, an outbreak that is “unprecedented in scope”, according to a report from aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres. The country’s civil war has driven more than 110,000 people into the camp. Reuters

On The Radar

Brazil’s environmental protection agency said it will not allow the Belo Monte dam to operate unless mitigation projects to compensate local communities were completed. An official with the energy consortium behind the dam project said it is still on track to become fully operational by March 2016. Guardian

Ioane Teitiota, a native of Kiribati, was deported from New Zealand after he and his family sought asylum from climate change. Rising sea levels threaten Kiribati, a low-lying island nation in the Pacific, but a New Zealand court ruled that climate change did not qualify under the international Refugee Convention. Bloomberg

Gulf courses and ski resorts in Beijing are set to receive water use quotas as the city pushes forward with its water conservation efforts. Local media also reported that, as of July 31, the city had denied more than 160 construction projects due to inadequate water usage plans. The Wall Street Journal

Codi Kozacek

A news correspondent for Circle of Blue based out of Hawaii. She writes The Stream, Circle of Blue’s daily digest of international water news trends. Her interests include food security, ecology and the Great Lakes.
Contact Codi Kozacek