Global Rundown
- Widespread storms — from rain to heavy snow — are expected across much of California this week, prompting concerns for urban flooding and landslides.
- In Zwijndrecht, Belgium, one of Europe’s worst PFAS hotspots, tons of soils polluted by a 3M factory are being removed from gardens and yards for decontamination.
- In Pakistan, farming families reeling from the economic losses caused by catastrophic flooding are marrying off their young daughters at surging rates.
- Water-scarce communities in Santa Fe, Peru, watching their glaciers melt, are conserving water with rituals, reservoirs, and artificial lagoons.
The Lead
For 25 years, the American chemical company 3M manufactured the “forever chemical” perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) at a factory in Zwijndrecht, Belgium, a small town just outside of Antwerp and known as the “worst European hotspot for PFAS,” France24 reports.
Documents show that 3M knew the chemical was leaking into the environment since 1996, but it wasn’t until 2023 that the company halted PFOS production at the plant. Large amounts of the contaminant were discovered in soils and waters surrounding the Zwijndrecht factory beginning in 2018, and The Brussels Times reported last year that at least one worker was shown to have 500 times more than the EU-recommended concentration of PFAS in his blood.
Now, in an effort to decontaminate the area, the region’s land — including soils comprising homeowners’ gardens and yards — will be excavated to depths of 70 centimeters (about 27.5 inches) and transported to a soil processing facility. The expensive process is likely to cost 3M upwards of half a billion euros, but completely removing PFAS from soil is impossible. Environmentalists and investigators are wary of the treatment, and fear that many of the harmful chemicals are destined to remain in the environment forever.
This is hardly only a local issue. Across Europe, “there are an estimated 2,300 other such ‘hotspots’ and a total of 23,000 polluted sites,” according to France24.
Recent WaterNews from Circle of Blue
- Opinion: Trump’s Attack on Science Drowns Common Sense — Blocking research funds challenges president’s promise of a “proud, prosperous, and free” nation.
- Republican Attack on Science Targets Water Research that Benefits All — National Science Foundation grants have been reviewed for ideological influence.
This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers
33 million
People displaced in Pakistan during the catastrophic 2022 floods that killed more than 1,700 people and decimated vast amounts of farmland — “approximately 15 percent of the nation’s rice crop and 40 percent of its cotton crop were affected,” contributing to national agricultural losses of nearly $13 billion. That year — and in others with significant monsoon summers, including 2007 and 2010 — there was a notable uptick in forced child marriages. Families who lost their source of income in the deluges, unable to pay for their childrens’ education and desperate for cash, married off their daughters, Al Jazeera reports. The bride’s family might receive anywhere from $500 to $1,000 in exchange for the hand of their child — sometimes just 12 or 13 years old — in marriage.
102.4 million
Volume of water, in cubic feet, stored in 41 reservoirs in Santa Fe, Peru, Mongabay reports. These reservoirs are life-sustaining, holding three times the amount of water that was available in 2004, when the melting of a local glacier and the effects of global warming turned the Quechua community suddenly water-scarce. The construction of artificial lagoons called qochas have helped them preserve water, and is documented in a new documentary film.
On the Radar
Wet weather is expected across much of California this week — from several feet of snow likely to fall in the Sierra Nevada mountains, to at least an inch and a half of rain forecast for Los Angeles and San Francisco, the New York Times reports. The massive storm system, unlike others this winter, is expected to cover most of the state, from the coasts to inland alpine ecosystems. It will also be the final notable opportunity, scientists predict, for water reserves to replenish before a dry spring and summer. Snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, for example, sat at 81 percent of historic average as of Tuesday morning. Officials continue to track the possibility of flooding in urban areas and landslides, particularly in the vulnerable areas around Los Angeles recently affected by wildfires. The City of Malibu has issued evacuation warnings.
49th State Focus: Fire Season Starts Early Amid Dismal Snow
Wildfire Watch: The lack of winter precipitation across much of Southcentral, Southeast, and Western Alaska is expected to have direct impacts on the regions’ spring and summer outlook. Officials announced this week that the wildfire season — which, prior to 2006, officially began on May 1, before record-high burns prompted a change to April 1 — will start on March 17 this year, the Alaska Beacon reports. The lack of snowpack has increased the likelihood of human-caused fires, especially around urban areas.
Fresh: From the Great Lakes Region
Rideau’s Fate: The world’s largest ice rink — the Ottawa River’s Rideau Canal, which links to the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario — enjoyed a thoroughly cold and frozen skating season this winter, Inside Climate News reports. But scientists caution that this is the exception, not the norm, as Ottawa’s winters are expected to shorten by five weeks by 2050 if global greenhouse gas emissions continue their current pace. Forecasters also predict 35 percent fewer “very cold” days — those with temperatures of 14 degrees Fahrenheit or fewer, a significant threshold for ice formation.
Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television, Michigan Public and The Narwhal work together to report on the most pressing threats to the Great Lakes region’s water. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Find all the work here.
- Ontario election results: what Doug Ford’s third win means for the environment — The Narwhal
- Michigan imposes new restrictions, testing requirements on UP copper mine — Bridge Michigan
- What a recent Supreme Court ruling could mean for the future of the Clean Water Act — Great Lakes Now
- Michigan’s landfills have 21 years before they’re full. Recycling more can extend their lifespan. — Michigan Public