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The Year in Water, 2019

Natural hazards strengthen. Governments struggle to cope.

By Brett Walton, Circle of Blue – December 3, 2019

Few communities and governments are sufficiently prepared for a future in which water supplies flip rapidly from abundance to scarcity.

If it were not already clear, the last year provided ample evidence of fundamental societal vulnerabilities. Few communities and governments are sufficiently prepared for a future in which water supplies flip rapidly from abundance to scarcity. And tomorrow, unfortunately, is not the only worry. Many more locations are heaving from the hazards just of today.

Water infrastructure, policies, and institutions were rarely designed with historical climate variability in mind, let alone to keep pace with the dizzying swings in weather that are becoming more frequent and severe on a warming planet.

Warnings conveying that message came from all angles: the United Nations rang the alarm over melting glaciers; the World Bank called attention to the health and environmental damage of contaminated water; academic researchers revised upwards the number of people at risk from rising seas. In the middle of it all, millions of citizens filled the streets to demand action from their leaders against the planet’s most consequential long-term threat.

Life At The Extremes

Swollen rivers and dry reservoirs helped to illustrate the story in 2019. Towns in the American Midwest were submerged for months after several seasons of historically wet conditions. Flooded and sodden fields prevented farmers from planting nearly 16 million acres of corn and soybeans, mostly in the intensively cultivated Mississippi River watershed. In all, U.S. farmers could not sow nearly 20 million acres, a record high.

The deluge disrupted lives long after the rains stopped. The home of Tom Bullock, a commissioner in Holt County, Missouri, was surrounded by floodwaters in March. The water did not soon abate. Bullock told KMBC News that he spent most of the year visiting his property by boat.

On the opposite side of the world, Australia’s largest and most economically important river system, the Murray-Darling, is witness to terrifying heat and aridity. Brutal bushfires are torching New South Wales and Queensland, while tanker trucks deliver water to rural inland communities whose reservoirs are dry. All this even before the start of the southern hemisphere’s summer.

Where natural hazards are present, governments must respond. If they don’t, then the people suffer.

Where natural hazards are present, governments must respond. If they don’t, then the people suffer. Residents of Caracas, Chennai, and Harare are among those that suffered last year. Millions of people in those cities were afflicted with dry taps and inadequate water because of ineffective policies or corrupt managers. Disease outbreaks were often close at hand, especially in Venezuela, where water, sanitation, and healthcare systems are decaying under the Maduro government.

In Chennai’s case, unchecked urban development in recent decades paved over wetlands and lakes. Disregard for the land’s natural contours, a problem in other rapidly growing megacities, aided a water crisis. In June, after three consecutive subpar monsoons, the city’s main reservoirs were empty. The deficit, however, was short-lived. Today, after days of heavy rain, several districts are underwater, recalling horrendous flooding in 2015 that displaced more than a million people.

The Clock Ticks

One response is to flee. That is a partial answer in Indonesia, where President Joko Widodo, newly elected to a second term, announced a plan in August to move certain government departments away from Jakarta. Home to more than 10 million people, the current capital is slowly sinking due to excessive groundwater withdrawals. Its harbor, below sea level already, is protected from flooding by a rickety barricade.

But fleeing is an incomplete answer. Neither everyone nor everything can be moved. And the politics of migration are fraught as ever.

At the climate marches this fall, a familiar refrain was seen written on posters from Seattle to Stockholm. There Is No Planet B. Judging from the evidence, many leaders are not yet acting like that’s the case.

Legionnaires’ Disease Continues to Grow
Rural U.S. Water Systems Struggle to Survive
Global Water Disruptions
Post-Disaster “Recovery”
U.S. Groundwater
Global Groundwater
U.S. Water Utilities Grapple With Aging Infrastructure, Rising Costs, Affordability
Oil and Gas Developments Confront Water Challenges
Polluted Waters Take Toll on Health and Environment
HotSpots H2O

Legionnaires’ Disease Continues to Grow

It was a record-setting year for Legionnaires’ disease, America’s deadliest water-borne illness. Georgia and North Carolina experienced the largest Legionnaires’ outbreaks in state history while the number of cases reported to the CDC reached a new high.

The Georgia outbreak was traced to a hotel’s cooling towers, while the likely source of exposure in the North Carolina incident, which sickened 139 people and killed four, was a hot tub exhibition at a state fairgrounds.

The pneumonia-like disease is spread by inhaling droplets contaminated with Legionella bacteria. And it is spreading rapidly. According to CDC data, the number of reported cases in the United States is now more than six times higher than it was two decades ago.

Hand in hand with the rising number of cases is a corresponding increase in legal actions against negligent building owners who allow the bacteria to multiply within their plumbing.

Present in the natural environment, the bacteria flourish in these building plumbing systems, which are the front lines for controlling the spread of the disease. An expert group convened by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommended approaches for minimizing the risk of infection.

As Legionnaires’ Disease Cases Surge, Lawsuits Pile Up

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November 7, 2019
Can legal liability prompt action where regulation has yet to catch up?
https://i1.wp.com/www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/adobe-spark-post-5.png?fit=1500%2C630&ssl=1 630 1500 Brett Walton https://www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Circle-of-Blue-Water-Speaks-600x139.png Brett Walton2019-11-07 13:03:342019-11-19 10:29:37As Legionnaires’ Disease Cases Surge, Lawsuits Pile Up

Legionnaires’ Disease Cases Soar Again, Set New Record

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November 6, 2019
The reported cases of Legionnaires' disease in 2018 increased by 33 percent, according to official federal government data.
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Vast Differences in Legionnaires’ Disease Response by Industry

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October 30, 2019
Outside of healthcare, there are few rules for preventing spread of Legionnaires’ disease in buildings.
https://i0.wp.com/www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/wncagcenter.jpg?fit=2400%2C1127&ssl=1 1127 2400 Brett Walton https://www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Circle-of-Blue-Water-Speaks-600x139.png Brett Walton2019-10-30 05:00:572019-11-19 10:30:32Vast Differences in Legionnaires’ Disease Response by Industry

The Rapid Rise of Legionella: Q&A with Patrick Breysse of the CDC

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September 18, 2019
For public health “you have to confront Legionnaires’ disease,” Patrick Breysse, the director of the CDC's National Center for Environmental Health/Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, said.
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Report: Updated Laws and Collaboration Needed to Control Legionnaires’ Disease, America’s Deadliest Waterborne Illness

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August 21, 2019
A National Academies report has identified deficiencies in plumbing and building codes, policies, and research to prevent the spread of Legionella.
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Rural U.S. Water Systems Struggle to Survive

The rising cost of treating municipal sewage, a result of inadequate infrastructure and heavy rainfall, is driving small, rural communities towards bankruptcy.

In North Carolina, dozens of small towns are running chronic budget deficits in their sewer system operations. Many of the towns carry similar risk factors: aging and declining populations, leaky pipes, low incomes, and sewer rates that are already some of the highest in the state. State officials took the historic step last summer of revoking a town’s charter because of an indebted sewer system.

North Carolina and other states are looking for solutions, not only for sewer systems but for drinking water also. One potential remedy is to merge failing systems with a neighboring community whose finances are on firmer ground. An example from California shows the hurdles in the path of those mergers.

In Louisiana, Officials Pursue Fixes for Indebted, Failing Water Systems

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December 12, 2019
Louisiana is another state putting priority on merging small, struggling water systems with larger neighbors. It's offering to cover the capital cost of connection.
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Leaky Sewers Plunge Small North Carolina Towns into Financial Crisis

October 17, 2019
…
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Aging Sewer System Imperils North Carolina Town’s Finances

June 5, 2019
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The Rural Dilemma: Q&A With Al Leonard, Fair Bluff Town Manager

June 5, 2019
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In Bid for Cleaner Water, California Seeks Arranged Utility Marriages

1 Comment
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April 10, 2019
Uniting small, failing utilities with larger neighbors can fix water problems.
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Global Water Disruptions

Where will the water come from? The people of New South Wales are asking that question as the southeast Australian state suffers its worst drought on record. Not yet in the depths of the southern hemisphere summer, when temperatures soar and rain is negligible, some communities are already trucking in water due to dry reservoirs and rivers.

Even where water should be plentiful, or at least sufficient, there is scarcity. For Chennai, which saw its two main reservoirs all but dry up in June, the drought crisis is compounded by a self-inflicted wound. Rapid urban development in southern India’s IT hub has damaged water-storing wetlands and lakes.

Natural systems are degrading elsewhere, as the UN’s climate panel warned in a report on mountain and polar regions. Melting ice is resulting in diminished water for irrigation and unstable mountain terrain while also increasing the risk of destructive flooding.

“Taken together, these changes show that the world’s ocean and cryosphere have been taking the heat from climate change for decades,” said Ko Barrett, vice chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the scientific panel that produced the report. “The consequences for nature and humanity are sweeping and severe.”

Mountain Regions, 'Taking the Heat,' Face Growing Hazards As Ice Melts, UN Climate Panel Warns

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September 26, 2019
IPCC special report describes mounting disaster risks that connect mountains and polar regions to oceans.
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In Australia, Echoes of Past, Glimpses of Future As Country Braces for Hot, Dry Summer

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September 25, 2019
A record-breaking drought is pushing rural communities in New South Wales and Queensland to the breaking point.
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Reservoirs in Parched Chennai, City of Millions, Are Dry. Can Better Forecasting Avert Future Crises?

June 23, 2019
The megacity in southern India, as it waits for the monsoon, is not the first to run short of water. It won’t be the last.
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With Rising Temperatures, Stark Changes Ahead for Asia’s Water Tower

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February 8, 2019
The melting of the Hindu Kush Himalaya region will alter water supplies for a quarter of the planet’s people.
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Water and Climate Hazards Again Highlight World Economic Forum Risks Report

January 16, 2019
Drought, water scarcity, climate change, extreme weather -- these and other environmental factors are among the biggest risks to society and industry, says WEF.
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Post-Disaster “Recovery”

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

It’s an urgent question. Climate change is loosening the bounds of the possible, for both flood and drought. Cities are growing at breakneck pace. And yet, according to water researchers, advance warning of urban water crises — the failures that could arise in specific cities in the next few months or two years — has proved achingly elusive to forecast globally with analytical rigor and accuracy. The stakes for accurate assessments couldn’t be higher.

“It’s an existential question for cities,” Betsy Otto, director of World Resources Institute’s Global Water Program, told Circle of Blue.

But it is not only water scarcity that poses an existential water threat to cities.

The aftermath of the Camp Fire that burned down the town of Paradise, California, marked a new chapter in post-disaster recovery. Beneath the blast furnace heat that incinerated buildings and vehicles above ground, an intricate network of drinking water pipes below the surface became so contaminated with toxic chemicals that many of the pipes are unusable.

The people of Fair Bluff, meanwhile, are wondering what recovery really means in an era of powerful storms. The small town on the North Carolina coastal plain was flooded by hurricanes twice in three years. One-third of its residents have not returned. The only business to have reopened in the flooded downtown is the U.S. Post Office.

“The town is just in bad shape,” one resident told Circle of Blue.

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?
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Plumbing Experts Question California’s Post-Fire Water Testing Guidance

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June 24, 2019
Government agencies still defining their roles in post-fire water contamination.
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Two Hurricanes, Two Floods: North Carolina Town Fights To Stay Alive

June 5, 2019
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Paradise Officials Unveil $53 Million Plan to Rid Damaged Water Pipes of Contaminants

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April 19, 2019
Two years and $53 million is the estimated timeline and cost to overcome the extensive contamination of the water system in Paradise.
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Severe Drinking Water Contamination Surfaces After Brutal Camp Fire

March 6, 2019
California town’s water pipes fouled by benzene and other toxic compounds.
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U.S. Groundwater

To locate sufficient supplies of fresh water, the nation’s groundwater wells are being drilled deeper and deeper, according to an analysis of more than 10 million well records since the 1950s.

Not only are they being drilled deeper, wells are being drilled in new areas. Federal data shows the continued eastward expansion of irrigation, as farmers hedge against the variability of weather and the detrimental financial repercussions of drought.

While farmers search for more underground supplies, the Clean Water Act’s role in groundwater oversight has come into play. A pollution permitting case before the Supreme Court holds national implications for cities, industries, and ecosystems.

Maui Mayor Rejects Clean Water Act Settlement, Aims for Supreme Court Hearing

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October 22, 2019
Internal politics in Maui County muddle a closely watched groundwater case.
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Tracking the Atlantic Ocean’s Inland Creep in Miami-Dade County

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October 3, 2019
It’s a gentle intruder, moving stealthily underground, out of sight but not undetected. Salt water continues to move farther inland in Florida’s Miami-Dade County, albeit at a slower rate, according to new USGS mapping.
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Study: Inadequate Groundwater for Current and Potential Demands in Basin Targeted by Las Vegas

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September 15, 2019
Spring, creeks, and wetlands on the Nevada-Utah border are at risk in “worst case” pumping scenario, U.S. Geological Survey finds.
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U.S. Groundwater Wells Race Towards Bottom

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July 26, 2019
Well depths are increasing across the United States, study finds.
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U.S. Irrigation Continues Steady Eastward Expansion

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April 17, 2019
Irrigated farmland in the United States climbed to a record-high 58 million acres in 2017, according to new federal government data.
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Global Groundwater

Asia’s growing cities and vast agricultural sector are contributing to a groundwater crisis that is unsettling the very land on which they sit.

Some of the most dramatic land alterations are a result of local and regional water use. Locally, groundwater pumping can cause the land to compact, lowering its elevation.

This subsidence is occurring in coastal megacities across Asia, including Bangkok, Dhaka, and Jakarta, where a sea wall protects land that is already below sea level.

Combined with rising seas, subsidence can sink coastal areas more quickly. The number of vulnerable people on Asia’s coasts is higher than previously thought, according to a Climate Central assessment.

Groundwater depletion is wreaking havoc in areas beyond the coasts. The farming districts in India’s northern Punjab state have seen groundwater levels drop precipitously in recent decades. Researchers worry, however, that a government scheme to promote solar-powered irrigation pumps, if not judiciously implemented, could worsen the decline.

Rising Seas Threaten Tens of Millions More People with Inundation, Study Says. Even That May Underestimate the Impact

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November 1, 2019
The Climate Central study did not account for relative sea-level rise. It assumed that land elevations remained constant. In the dynamic world, that is not the case.
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As Seas Rise, Unchecked Groundwater Use Sinks Coastal Cities

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August 29, 2019
Life on the coast is already hazardous. Groundwater mismanagement amplifies other risks.
https://i2.wp.com/www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/2019-04-25-Indonesia-Jakarta-drone-JGanter-DJI_0026-Edit-2500.jpg?fit=2400%2C984&ssl=1 984 2400 Brett Walton https://www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Circle-of-Blue-Water-Speaks-600x139.png Brett Walton2019-08-29 10:52:512019-11-25 13:12:54As Seas Rise, Unchecked Groundwater Use Sinks Coastal Cities

Risks to Groundwater in India’s Solar Irrigation Pump Expansion

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August 25, 2019
Cheap solar power, widely available, could worsen India’s already depleted aquifers.
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U.S. Water Utilities Grapple With Aging Infrastructure, Rising Costs, Affordability

The country’s metropolitan centers, by and large, are forging ahead on their own, not waiting on Beltway politics to be resolved before making investments to prepare their water systems for the decades ahead.

The largest increases in water prices last year among major U.S. cities were clustered in Arizona and California, states vulnerable to drought, climate change, and other natural hazards that are poised to constrain water supplies. To prepare, cities in these states are spending billions of dollars on water recycling facilities and distribution systems.

Such large investments, and the rate increases necessary to pay for them, are calling into question the ability of poor households to keep up with the rising cost of water. Cities continue to grapple with a water-utility trilemma: balancing infrastructure investment, financial stability, and affordability of their services.

Houston Agrees to $2 Billion Sewer Fix

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September 6, 2019
Houston, the largest city in Texas is the latest to face a federal order to plug a leaky sewer system. Fewer such orders may be coming.
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Amid Rising Water Rates, Massachusetts Cities Have Inequitable Affordability Policies, Report Finds

August 8, 2019
Policies favor homeowners, according to Northeastern University study.
https://i2.wp.com/www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/2015-04-California-water-meter-cover-JGanter-IMG_9928.jpg?fit=2400%2C1800&ssl=1 1800 2400 Brett Walton https://www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Circle-of-Blue-Water-Speaks-600x139.png Brett Walton2019-08-08 15:32:572019-11-25 13:20:25Amid Rising Water Rates, Massachusetts Cities Have Inequitable Affordability Policies, Report Finds

Price of Water 2019: Even Without Federal Infrastructure Deal, Cities Continue to Invest

June 18, 2019
The rising price of water continues to raise questions about affordability for households at the bottom of the income distribution.
https://i2.wp.com/www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/2015-11-17-Texas-San-Antonio-JCGanter_G3_7591_HDR-2500.jpg?fit=1600%2C1066&ssl=1 1066 1600 Brett Walton https://www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Circle-of-Blue-Water-Speaks-600x139.png Brett Walton2019-06-18 06:00:042019-11-25 13:20:11Price of Water 2019: Even Without Federal Infrastructure Deal, Cities Continue to Invest

In Maryland, Vulnerability to Water Shutoffs Depends on Your Address

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April 1, 2019
New report highlights how local laws can trap households in a cycle of fees that influence water affordability, shutoffs, and timely bill payment.
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Water Utilities Call on Big Data to Guide Pipe Replacements

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January 24, 2019
The drinking water industry says aging infrastructure is its top challenge. Can AI help?
https://i1.wp.com/www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/MTAwatermain1.jpg?fit=2048%2C1158&ssl=1 1158 2048 Brett Walton https://www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Circle-of-Blue-Water-Speaks-600x139.png Brett Walton2019-01-24 14:05:052019-11-25 13:20:44Water Utilities Call on Big Data to Guide Pipe Replacements

Oil and Gas Developments Confront Water Challenges

The Permian basin, which spans New Mexico and Texas, is the hottest play in oil these days. It is also an arid region where fossil fuel development is putting immense pressure on water resources. The intersection between water and energy, and the consequences for markets, policies, and ecosystems, is on full display.

With fossil fuel production in the Permian basin reaching ever greater heights, New Mexico lawmakers moved to clarify the legal status of the salty, chemical-laden water that gushes from wells in larger volumes than even the oil that is the object of the hunt. For every barrel of oil produced in the basin, between two and five barrels of “produced” water come out of the ground with it.

That salty water has to go somewhere. A burgeoning, multibillion-dollar industry is being constructed to dispose of that waste and, potentially, put it to use outside of the oilfields.

Not having a means for getting rid of produced water “could literally shut down the oil industry,” one industry observer told Circle of Blue.

West Virginia Bets Big on Plastics, and on Backing of Trump Administration

August 20, 2019
The state’s leaders want a federal loan guarantee to build a giant chemical storage plant that could cost as much as $10 billion.
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EPA Considers Options for Reuse and Discharge of Oil and Gas Wastewater

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May 23, 2019
U.S. oil and gas companies are setting production records, while also pumping up enormous volumes of salty, chemical-laden water. The question now: What to do with the noxious water?
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Energy Companies Eye Big Oil and Gas Expansion in Wyoming

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May 21, 2019
Will the fracking boom echo in America’s leading coal state?
https://i2.wp.com/www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/BoysenReservoir.jpg?fit=2048%2C1536&ssl=1 1536 2048 Brett Walton https://www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Circle-of-Blue-Water-Speaks-600x139.png Brett Walton2019-05-21 15:58:172019-11-25 13:25:18Energy Companies Eye Big Oil and Gas Expansion in Wyoming

New Mexico Oil Production Is Soaring. Now What To Do With The Wastewater?

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March 20, 2019
State lawmakers pass bill to facilitate reusing salty water from the oil fields.
https://i0.wp.com/www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/2018-02-New-Mexico-Permian-Groundwater-KSchneider_IMG_1549-Edit.jpg?fit=2400%2C1601&ssl=1 1601 2400 Brett Walton https://www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Circle-of-Blue-Water-Speaks-600x139.png Brett Walton2019-03-20 19:26:122019-11-25 13:25:03New Mexico Oil Production Is Soaring. Now What To Do With The Wastewater?

Permian Oil Boom Uncorks Multibillion-Dollar Water Play

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February 15, 2019
Producing oil produces even more water. Getting rid of it is a large and expanding business.
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Polluted Waters Take Toll on Health and Environment

Polluted waters are an underestimated and underappreciated global scourge.

That conclusion comes from a recently released World Bank report, whose authors claim water pollution is an “invisible crisis” that will worsen as the planet warms. Water pollution, as Richard Damania, the report’s lead author, told Circle of Blue, is “bad all around.”

Many of those pollution problems have developed over decades. In farming communities, the culprit is nitrate concentrations, which are rising in private wells. Elsewhere in the United States, the health risks from toxic “forever” chemicals, known collectively as PFAS, are forcing regulators to consider new drinking water standards.

Attempts to meet water challenges have unleashed their own set of perils. The waste product from desalination is growing too large to ignore, argues a paper from a United Nations think tank that provides the first estimate of global brine production from desalination.

Climate Change Magnifies Health Risks at Every Stage of Life

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November 14, 2019
Floods, droughts, and warming temperatures are already increasing illness and disease risk and may pull back previous health gains, benchmark Lancet Countdown report finds.
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Costs of Water Pollution, a Global Scourge, ‘Underestimated and Underappreciated’

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September 11, 2019
A new World Bank report highlights the extensive damage to health, ecosystems, and economies due to water pollution.
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Nitrate Pollution Rising In Private Wells in Iowa

1 Comment
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April 25, 2019
Report highlights lack of water quality data for household wells.
https://i0.wp.com/www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/IowaDrainage.jpg?fit=2048%2C1360&ssl=1 1360 2048 Brett Walton https://www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Circle-of-Blue-Water-Speaks-600x139.png Brett Walton2019-04-25 06:30:552019-11-25 14:31:04Nitrate Pollution Rising In Private Wells in Iowa

EPA Says It Will Regulate Two PFAS Chemicals in Drinking Water

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February 14, 2019
The EPA’s PFAS action plan includes steps for regulation, monitoring, detection, and cleanup.
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Desalination Has a Waste Problem

January 22, 2019
Brine production is 50 percent higher than was assumed, UN study finds.
https://i1.wp.com/www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2013-Qatar-Doha-Desal-JGanter-IMG_2684-2500.jpg?fit=2400%2C1259&ssl=1 1259 2400 Brett Walton https://www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Circle-of-Blue-Water-Speaks-600x139.png Brett Walton2019-01-22 16:19:572019-11-25 14:30:43Desalination Has a Waste Problem

HotSpots H2O

Water is both a source of tension and a casualty of war. In the end, it is the people who suffer.

Circle of Blue’s weekly HotSpots series highlights areas in which water access plays a role in civic upheaval and armed conflict.

A political standoff in Venezuela this year plunged a nervous citizenry deeper into misery and deprivation. Mismanaged infrastructure produced power outages, disease outbreaks, and unreliable water service.

Allegations of mismanagement and corruption were also leveled in Zimbabwe, where two reservoirs that supply the capital Harare went dry during a drought, cutting municipal water service to an estimated two million people.

HotSpots H2O: India’s Monsoon Season, Wettest in 25 Years, Comes to an End

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October 7, 2019
Following a slow start, India was deluged this year with its heaviest monsoon rains in a quarter century.
https://i0.wp.com/www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/India_-_Chennai_-_Monsoon_-_04_3058215637.jpg?fit=1600%2C1200&ssl=1 1200 1600 Kayla Ritter https://www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Circle-of-Blue-Water-Speaks-600x139.png Kayla Ritter2019-10-07 00:01:222019-11-26 09:10:42HotSpots H2O: India’s Monsoon Season, Wettest in 25 Years, Comes to an End

HotSpots H2O: Locals, Citing Water Concerns, Resist Mexico City Airport Plan

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September 23, 2019
Mexico City’s indigenous residents are pushing back against the revised plan for expanding the megacity’s airport infrastructure.
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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. 
https://i0.wp.com/www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Harare_Zimbabwe._04-1.jpg?fit=1600%2C1002&ssl=1 1002 1600 Kayla Ritter https://www.circleofblue.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Circle-of-Blue-Water-Speaks-600x139.png Kayla Ritter2019-08-05 00:01:232019-11-26 09:10:32HotSpots H2O: Taps Run Dry for Millions in Zimbabwe’s Capital

HotSpots H2O: South Sudanese Dying from Thirst and Water-Related Violence

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April 8, 2019
According to government estimates, 80 percent of South Sudanese do not have steady access to clean water.
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HotSpots H2O: Worst-Ever Power Outage Deepens Venezuela Water Insecurity

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March 18, 2019
When a nationwide power outage struck two weeks ago, parts of the country slipped into total chaos.
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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

Related

Recent Posts

  • What’s Up With Water – March 1, 2021
  • Federal Water Tap, March 1: House Approves $500M More for Water Bill Assistance
  • HotSpots H2O: Florida-Georgia Water Dispute Returns to Supreme Court
  • The Stream, February 26, 2021: Millions of Texans Still Face Water Disruptions
  • Congress on Track to Approve Millions More in Federal Funding for Water Debt Relief

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