Circle of Blue: Reporting the competition between water, food, and energy in a changing climate

Breaking Water News

India’s Most Recent Cyclone Highlights A Worrying Future

August 11, 2020

Storms are growing stronger as the planet warms. India must focus on an integrated approach after Cyclone Amphan, researchers say.

HotSpots H2O: Climate Change, Pandemic, Violence Are Volatile Mix in Chad

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August 10, 2020

A warming climate was already making life difficult in Chad, a landlocked country squeezed against the encroaching sands of the Sahara.

A Pause For Energy Developers Threatening Texas Big Bend Region

August 10, 2020

Opportunity to Protect A Way of Life Confronted by Oil and Clean Energy

No Running Water for Days Following Isaias Power Outages

1 Comment

August 6, 2020

Tropical Storm Isaias cut power to more than 2 million customers in the Northeast when it passed through the region on Tuesday. For those with wells and no backup generators, the loss of electricity delivered a double blow: no running water either.

2019-11-18 Detroit Water JGanter _MG_6791-2500 (1)

Nine Things To Know About Household Water Debt

August 6, 2020

Circle of Blue has compiled nine things you need to know about water debt in the United States.

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.

Latest Stories

India’s Most Recent Cyclone Highlights A Worrying Future

August 11, 2020

Storms are growing stronger as the planet warms. India must focus on an integrated approach after Cyclone Amphan, researchers say.

A Pause For Energy Developers Threatening Texas Big Bend Region

August 10, 2020

Opportunity to Protect A Way of Life Confronted by Oil and Clean Energy

No Running Water for Days Following Isaias Power Outages

1 Comment

August 6, 2020

Nine Things To Know About Household Water Debt

August 6, 2020

Circle of Blue has compiled nine things you need to know about water debt in the United States.

Millions of Americans Are In Water Debt

August 4, 2020

Most Americans give little thought to water bills, paying them on time and in full. But for a subset of homeowners and renters, water debt is constant and menacing.

When It Rains, Texas Forgets Drought and Worsening Water Scarcity

August 3, 2020

In Texas, dry years reveal a momentous confrontation as residents encounter the menacing consequence of runaway growth.

Kenya Looks to Sustain Health Focus Beyond the Pandemic

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July 30, 2020

As Covid-19 cases continue to rise in Kenya, a coordinated effort by the government and aid organizations addresses water, hygiene, and sanitation.

Where Water Is Scarce on Native American Reservations Covid-19 Spreads More Easily

July 28, 2020

For Indigenous people living across the United States, the Covid-19 pandemic is the newest chapter in a long history of fighting against disease.

More WaterNews

Lack of Clean Water, Services Endanger Inmates in Nicaragua

August 11, 2020/0 Comments/in Water News /by Circle Blue

Prisons in Nicaragua are massive spreading grounds for Covid-19, according to Amnesty International. While the Ortega administration downplays the pandemic, a lack of safe drinking water and medical services, along with constant overcrowding, have endangered the lives of inmates across the country, the nonprofit group says. The Jorge Navarro prison complex or “El Modelo,” the […]

UNDP Begins Soap-Making Training in Yemen

August 10, 2020/0 Comments/in Water News /by Circle Blue

The United Nations Development Program is training people in Yemen to make soap, in an attempt to contain the spread of Covid-19 in the country. The program, funded by the EU, Sida, and the UNDP rapid response facility, helps small, home-based enterprises produce soap. Once the training is completed, each participant is granted $600 to […]

CDC Remediates Buildings After Legionella Bacteria Found

August 7, 2020/1 Comment/in Water News /by Circle Blue

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shut down several buildings it leases in Atlanta due to the detection of Legionella bacteria in the water systems. Legionnaires’ disease, a respiratory illness similar to pneumonia, is contracted by inhaling airborne water droplets contaminated with the bacteria. Stagnant water in unused plumbing systems can incubate the […]

What’s Up With Water – August 10, 2020

Featured coverage from this week’s episode of What’s Up With Water looks at:

- India, where a severe monsoon season is inundating one of country’s largest cities.
- The Unites States, where in North Carolina, small, rural water systems had financial problems even before the new coronavirus emerged.

This week Circle of Blue published the first story in a series on the debt that American households owe to their water departments. Most Americans give little thought to water bills, paying them on time and in full. But for some homeowners and renters, water debt is relentless and menacing.

Circle of Blue · What's Up With Water - August 10, 2020

Special Features

Water, Texas

The story of Texas is the state’s devout allegiance to the principle that mankind has dominion over nature. In 2020, the pandemic, climate disruption, and ever-present challenges with water supply and use are writing a much different story of vulnerability to nature’s bullying, and to government’s uncertain capacity to adjust.

Read The Full Series Here

WaterPoint: How Communities Deal With an Evolving Pandemic in an Era of Dwindling Water

A pillar of improvements in human health in the last century, water, sanitation, and hygiene are also a foundation of the world’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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

2019-05-07 USA North Carolina Fair Bluff BWalton IMG_5232-2500

Legionnaires’ disease is the deadliest waterborne-illness in the United States

Present in the natural environment, the Legionella bacteria flourish in building plumbing systems. Reported cases of the pneumonia-like disease, spread by inhaling droplets contaminated with the bacteria, are rapidly rising, up five-fold since 2000.

Daily Summary of Global Water News

The Mekong River Commission releases a report on the river’s record low water levels. Flooding displaces hundreds in Sudan. Hundreds of homes are inundated or destroyed in North Korea. South Africa pleads Sudan and Egypt to remain in talks with Ethiopia over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The Washington Supreme Court makes a ruling on water flow in the Spokane River. Read More

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

The EPA pledges funds to clean up abandoned mines in Colorado. The GAO suggests that Congress fund a climate migration pilot program. California Democrats introduce a bill to clean up sewage pollution in rivers that cross the California-Mexico border. A separate House bill would provide financial aid to rural water utilities affected by the pandemic. The U.S. Department of Agriculture announces $462 million for rural water and sewer systems. And lastly, in California, draining one reservoir and potentially raising another. 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: Climate Change, Pandemic, Violence Are Volatile Mix in Chad

0 Comments

August 10, 2020

A warming climate was already making life difficult in Chad, a landlocked country squeezed against the encroaching sands of the Sahara.

HotSpots H2O : Tensions Rise in Horn of Africa as Ethiopia Fills Controversial Dam

1 Comment

August 3, 2020

The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, situated snuggly between Ethiopia, Egypt, and Sudan on the Blue Nile, has brought years of controversy to the Horn of Africa.

HotSpots H2O: In Burkina Faso, Seasonal Floods Spread Illness, Uproot People

0 Comments

July 27, 2020

The rainy season has hit Burkina Faso, and with it an array of flooding and waterborne disease that has uprooted people from their homes.

HotSpots H2O: Water Outages Return to Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon as Covid-19 Cases Surge

0 Comments

July 20, 2020

Nearly 2,000 people on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation in central Oregon have been ordered to boil their water for the last several weeks.

Circle of Blue is a partner of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets covering climate

Water Multimedia

A Conversation with Sadhguru: Water's Value

October 29, 2019

A conversation with Sadhguru following his panel at the World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit.

Swapan Mehra on India's Water

October 29, 2019

A conversation with Swapan Mehra, of Iora Ecological Solutions, around water in India. Swapan explains the value of water and some of the biggest challenges that India faces regarding water.

Speaking of Water - Bringing Collective Action to Local Solutions - With H&M's Kim Hellström and Shariful Hoque

October 2, 2019

Kim Hellström and Shariful Hoque of H&M discuss collective actions in terms of a water agenda all over the supply chain.

Paul O'Callaghan: Big Challenges and Solutions

September 22, 2019

BlueTech Research's Founder Paul O'Callaghan discusses challenges, solutions, and innovation in the water sector.

Lara Fowler: Processes, Success Stories, and Breaking Out of Silos

September 22, 2019

Lara Fowler discusses breaking silos, establishing processes, success stories, and more.

Collaboration Between Private and Public Sectors: A Conversation with Silvia Cruz-Vargas

September 22, 2019

PepsiCo's Social Impact Director Silvia Cruz-Vargas discusses collaboration between the public and private sectors in addressing water challenges, supporting water programs across the globe, and much more.

A Conversation with Madeline Kiser and Oscar Beita of RíoArte

September 22, 2019

Madeline Kiser, Co-Founder of RíoArte, and Oscar Beita, Co-Founder of RíoArte, discuss new narratives for connecting water to non-traditional perspectives.

Will Sarni and Action in the Water Sector

September 20, 2019

Will Sarni discusses the value of water, the importance of World Water Week, and more.

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 manage 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

Breaking Water News

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.

Latest Stories

Special Features

Water, Texas

WaterPoint: How Communities Deal With an Evolving Pandemic in an Era of Dwindling Water

After Fair Bluff Flooded

Legionnaires’ disease is the deadliest waterborne-illness in the United States

Daily Summary of Global Water News

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

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.

Water Multimedia

Transformation Maps

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

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.

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