The Stream, August 31: Chinese Officials Discuss Measures to Curb Water Pollution

The Global Rundown

China’s top executive body addresses drinking water pollution. A grandiose engineering project in India faces delay. Cuba, in a drought, will shoot chemicals into clouds, to induce rain. Alaska’s glaciers are getting baked. Infrastructure is an emerging issue in Canada’s national election.

“This election is a clear choice between smart investments that create jobs and growth, or austerity and cuts that will slow our economy further.” — Justin Trudeau, leader of Canada’s Liberal Party, pledging to increase federal infrastructure spending by $CN 60 billion over the next decade. The election is October 19. (Globe and Mail)

By The Numbers

2,326: Number of water testing centers built in China since last year. They will begin monitoring drinking water quality by the end of the year. Xinhua

3.5 trillion tons: Amount of water that has melted from Alaska’s glaciers since 1959, when it became a state. Associated Press

$CN 20 billion: Amount, over 10 years, that Canada’s Liberal Party pledges to invest in green infrastructure. Liberal Party

Science, Studies, And Reports

China’s State Council, the chief executive body, will consider evaluating local officials on their prevention of water pollution. The environment minister said that certain high polluting industries — chemicals, paper, iron, and steel production — will be shut down or moved to industrial parks where sewage treatment facilities will be built by 2017. Xinhua

On The Radar

A plan by India’s government to link the Ken and Betwa rivers will likely be delayed while waiting for approval from the forest agency of Madhya Pradesh, one of the states through which the proposed canal will run. The central government hopes to begin construction by the end of the year. Economic Times

Researchers at Cuba’s water institute will begin a large-scale cloud-seeding test in September, to induce rain by shooting chemicals into clouds. TeleSUR

Brett Walton

Brett writes about agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and the politics and economics of water in the United States. He also writes the Federal Water Tap, Circle of Blue’s weekly digest of U.S. government water news. He is the winner of two Society of Environmental Journalists reporting awards, one of the top honors in American environmental journalism: first place for explanatory reporting for a series on septic system pollution in the United States(2016) and third place for beat reporting in a small market (2014). He received the Sierra Club’s Distinguished Service Award in 2018. Brett lives in Seattle, where he hikes the mountains and bakes pies. Contact Brett Walton