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The Next Urban Water Crisis? Inadequate Data Clouds the Forecast

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August 15, 2019

What is the next center of population and commerce to be roiled by a severely constricted water supply?

HotSpots H2O: Nine Million People in South Sudan Do Not Have Enough Food

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August 12, 2019

Extreme food insecurity is affecting 9 million people in South Sudan, and thousands are at risk of famine. Severe food shortages are due to years of conflict coupled with cyclical drought.

Amid Rising Water Rates, Massachusetts Cities Have Inequitable Affordability Policies, Report Finds

August 8, 2019

Policies favor homeowners, according to Northeastern University study.

HotSpots H2O: Taps Run Dry for Millions in Zimbabwe’s Capital

August 5, 2019

Half of residents in Zimbabwe’s capital are without municipal drinking water as drought and inadequate infrastructure parch the city of some 4.5 million people.

Speaking Of Water With Peter Gleick - California Drinking Water Bill

July 29, 2019

Dr. Peter Gleick, President Emeritus of the Pacific Institute, discusses the new clean water bill signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom.

Latest Stories

The Next Urban Water Crisis? Inadequate Data Clouds the Forecast

0 Comments

August 15, 2019

What is the next center of population and commerce to be roiled by a severely constricted water supply?

Amid Rising Water Rates, Massachusetts Cities Have Inequitable Affordability Policies, Report Finds

August 8, 2019

Policies favor homeowners, according to Northeastern University study.

Speaking Of Water With Peter Gleick - California Drinking Water Bill

July 29, 2019

Dr. Peter Gleick, President Emeritus of the Pacific Institute, discusses the new clean water bill signed by California Governor Gavin Newsom.

U.S. Groundwater Wells Race Towards Bottom

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July 26, 2019

Well depths are increasing across the United States, study finds.

In drought-hit Delhi, the haves get limitless water, the poor fight for every drop

July 16, 2019

Delhi was the second driest it has been in 26 years in June, and recorded its highest ever temperature for the month at 48 degrees Celsius on June 10.

Speaking of Water with Janis Searles Jones - Ocean Conservancy

July 10, 2019

Janis Searles Jones, CEO of the Ocean Conservancy speaks with Circle of Blue's J. Carl Ganter about where freshwater and ocean preservation meet.

Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru eye bond for extreme weather -minister

July 9, 2019

Countries aim to work with the World Bank to launch a new bond to cover losses from El Niño and other extreme weather.

PERSPECTIVE: Water Risks Threaten to Derail Vietnam’s Economic Success

July 2, 2019

Depletion and pollution of Vietnam's water supplies are hurting the country now, and could cause economic losses up to 6 percent by 2035, says new World Bank report.

More WaterNews

Chennai

The city’s main reservoirs are dry, depleted by the failure of successive monsoons to provide replenishing rains. The shortfall has crippled the piped distribution network, which is now meeting just half of typical demand through a mix of secondary sources: desalinated water, groundwater, and the impoundments from nearby stone quarries.

Read The Full Series Here

After Fair Bluff Flooded

Flooded by hurricanes twice in three years, the small town of Fair Bluff, North Carolina, is a poster child for the devastation of powerful, slow-moving storms.
The town’s struggle to recover from those storms reflects demographic, economic, and technological changes that are eroding small communities across rural America.

Read The Full Series Here

After Paradise Burned

The tragic burning of Paradise represents a new chapter in America’s relationship with fire damage. No contemporary town has encountered a water system so extensively contaminated by chemicals released during a fire. Utility leaders and outside experts say that ridding the pipes of benzene and other volatile chemicals may take years. The health of the water system has emerged as the central tension in the town’s recovery.

Read The Full Series Here

Uniting classic journalism and data literacy, Circle of Blue informs global audiences about the growing competition between water, food, and energy in a changing climate.

Daily Summary of Global Water News

Microplastics are found in remote Arctic ice. A UN report finds that some families in the “Dry Corridor” of Central America plan to migrate due to drought. Newark, New Jersey, halts bottled water distribution after some bottles are found to be expired. Warmer winters are altering the composition of the Black Sea, scientists find. The Mississippi River drops below 11 feet (3.4 meters) after nearly 300 days, but still poses a flooding threat. Read More

Weekly Digest of U.S. Water Policy and Trends.

EPA aims to change Clean Water Act provisions that allow states to grant water quality permits. Federal watchdog agency will investigate the management of Lake Ontario water levels, which reached record highs this summer and flooded lakeshore properties. The EPA’s internal watchdog finds that the agency exceeded the deregulatory targets in a 2017 executive order. Sen. Booker drafts a climate bill that focuses on farms, forests, and wetlands. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announces $135 million in loans and grants for rural water infrastructure. The Defense Department’s PFAS task force held its first meeting. And lastly, the Bureau of Reclamation should release a report this week that will set next year’s operating schedule for Lake Mead and Lake Powell. Read More

HotSpots H2O examines regions and populations that are most at risk from water-related unrest and conflict. It reveals the challenges individuals confront — and the solutions they discover — as they face the greatest challenge of the 21st century: water.

HotSpots H2O: Nine Million People in South Sudan Do Not Have Enough Food

0 Comments

August 12, 2019

Extreme food insecurity is affecting 9 million people in South Sudan, and thousands are at risk of famine. Severe food shortages are due to years of conflict coupled with cyclical drought.

HotSpots H2O: Taps Run Dry for Millions in Zimbabwe’s Capital

August 5, 2019

Half of residents in Zimbabwe’s capital are without municipal drinking water as drought and inadequate infrastructure parch the city of some 4.5 million people.

HotSpots H2O: Deadly Monsoon Flooding Pummels Southern Asia

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July 29, 2019

As taps run dry in Chennai, residents of other areas of southern Asia are being inundated by deadly monsoon rains.

HotSpots H2O: Eight Water Facilities Attacked in Northwest Syria

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July 22, 2019

Eight water facilities in northwest Syria were damaged during skirmishes in recent weeks, disrupting drinking water provision for nearly 250,000 people.

What’s Up With Water – August 12, 2019

This week’s edition of What’s Up With Water includes stories on:

Australia, where water ministers approved a new a way to enforce water management practices in one of the country’s leading agricultural areas.

How in India, especially severe monsoon rain in the western and southern states is overwhelming rivers, flooding communities and causing landslides.

Affordable access to water services in Massachusetts, and what that shows about water management in the U.S. as a whole.

The United Nations’ request for $331 million in aid for Zimbabwe, which is suffering from drought and an economy at its lowest ebb in a decade.

2016-07-01 India Rajasthan Jaisalmer JGanter_G3_5835-Edit-2500 (1)

How the world responds to water challenges in the next months and years will have effects for generations.

Delhi is thirsty, even parched. As the 3rd largest population center in the world, its 25 million people need water, and lots of it, to survive. It’s clear that how India responds in the next months and years will have effects for generations. How will it mange the intensifying competition between water, food and energy in a changing climate?

It’s clear that getting enough water day-by-day is foremost on people’s minds. When the challenge is so great and children so thirsty, people often take their water sources into their own hands. Some entrepreneurs bring water by tank pulled by a tractor, and sell at an inflated rate. Others drill their own unsanctioned wells, some even in the middle of the street.

ChokePoint:

The conflicting demand for water, food, and energy is the defining challenge of our century. Global Choke Point, a collaboration between Circle of Blue and the Wilson Center, explores the peril and promise with frontline reporting, data, and policy expertise.

No one is better positioned to deliver groundbreaking knowledge on the critical resource of global water than Circle of Blue.

Ian Bremmer, President, Eurasia Group

Changing the face of journalism.

American Academy of Arts and Sciences

The combining of journalism, science, data, design and convening power is an innovative model that works.

Hon. Jane Harmon, President, Wilson Center

To respond to the world’s greatest, most urgent challenges, we need trusted information, clear context, and solutions-focused dialogue. Circle of Blue cuts through the complexities of global development. Through knowledge and informed action, we can make a better future.

Henrik Skovby, Executive Chairman, Dalberg Group

I am happy that this meeting is taking place, for it represents yet another stage in the joint commitment of various institutions to raising consciousness about the need to protect water as a treasure belonging to everyone, mindful too of its cultural and religious significance.

Pope Francis