Global Rundown
- The Iranian government made Wednesday a public holiday in an effort to conserve water and electricity amid historically high temperatures and low water levels.
- Sudden, heavy monsoon rains in South Korea triggered deadly landslides and flash floods, forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes.
- Tropical Storm Wipha continues to move across China, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, bringing heavy rain and devastating winds.
- In Montana, the bulk sale of water from a small town to a nearby resort has sparked local controversy.
The Lead
Iranian officials announced last weekend that Wednesday would be made a public holiday in Tehran, a decision that comes “in light of the continued extreme heat and the necessity of conserving water and electricity,” Fatemeh Mohajerani, a government spokesperson, wrote on X.
Residents have reported water outages lasting 12 hours or longer in some parts of the capital, which is experiencing temperatures around 105 degrees F this week. The city of Shabankareh in the country’s southwest reached an astounding 127 degrees over the weekend — the hottest temperature officially recorded in the world this year. Amid this extreme heat, reservoirs supplying Tehran with water have dwindled to their “lowest level in a century,” Al Jazeera reports.
“The water crisis is more serious than what is being discussed today, and if we do not take urgent action now, we will face a situation in the future for which no remedy can be found,” Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s president, said at a cabinet meeting last weekend, according to state media and The Guardian. “In the water sector, beyond management and planning, we also need to address excessive consumption.”
In April, Circle of Blue shared reporting on farmer protests in central Iran, where the national government has been accused of diverting water away from crops in favor of industry.
Recent WaterNews from Circle of Blue
- Toxic Algae Bloom Forecasts Are a Study in Negligence — Millions are spent to confirm the dimensions of a national pollution scandal.
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This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers
31
Inches of rain that fell across five days in South Korea’s western and southern provinces, swelling rivers and triggering landslides that have killed at least 18 people, the New York Times reports. Cars, strawberry greenhouses, livestock, and homes were swept away in rapid currents, and more than 14,000 people across 15 cities and provinces have been evacuated. Residents and scientists say the rains took communities by surprise, with the heavy monsoon season arriving later than usual. In the storms’ aftermath, the main concern is heat. High temperatures peaking in the mid-90s F are expected to take hold in the coming week, further battering vulnerable populations.
307
Deaths or disappearances attributed to extreme weather in China so far this year, according to a figure published by Reuters before Tropical Storm Wipha made landfall in the country’s southern provinces this week. In Shandong province, more than 14 inches fell in just five hours, accounting for half the city of Jinan’s annual average. At least 10 people are unaccounted for in the aftermath of flash floods, power outages, and road closures that left mountain villages inaccessible, The Independent reports. The storm system has also moved throughout Southeast Asia, dropping roughly 20 inches on parts of Vietnam and threatening to flood an estimated 370,000 acres of aquaculture farms and 20,000 floating fish cages, the Associated Press reports. In the Philippines, “more than 80,000 people remain in emergency shelters after floods, landslides and tidal surges over the weekend.”
On the Radar
Controversy continues to brew in Big Timber, Montana, where the water required to irrigate a planned 112-acre golf course is dividing residents and business owners.
In order to ready the area’s sod for the planned golf course at Crazy Mountain Ranch, the resort operator, Lone Mountain Land Company, “has allegedly been illegally using water from Rock Creek and Rock Lake,” the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reports.
The resort complied with a cease and desist order and lawsuit filed by the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation in early July, but has since been purchasing treated water from nearby Big Timber, a town with fewer than 2,000 residents, to irrigate the future course. Local officials estimate the resort is using between 80,000 gallons and 100,000 gallons per day of the town’s processed drinking water, which is extracted from the Boulder River. At a recent city council meeting, locals shared conflicting views on bulk water sales, which, officials said, were not threatening the amount of water available to residents.
Fresh: From the Great Lakes Region
Damen Silos Demolition: Earlier this month, Circle of Blue shared reporting about Chicago’s Damen Silos, “two century-old grain elevators that have stood empty for years on the city’s Southwest Side, near the Chicago River.” The silos and their plot is owned by MAT Limited Partnership, a local company that opened a controversial asphalt plant in 2018 and who received permits to remove the silos several weeks ago. Neighborhood activists and residents, wary of the potential for further environmental pollution at the site, have resisted MAT Limited’s demolition plans. Some have called for the silos to be turned into a public park, or repurposed into festival grounds. Nonetheless, construction crews began to dismantle the silos this week, Block Club Chicago reports.
Clamping Down On Nitrate Pollution: In Minnesota’s Driftless Region, several environmental groups have joined forces to help protect the roughly 90,000 Minnesotans whose drinking water, sourced from private wells, is at risk from nitrate pollution, Minnesota Public Radio reports. With a lawsuit filed in January against the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, the coalition “attempts to compel the state agencies to enact stricter rules on manure and commercial fertilizer application.” Nitrates, which are harmful to human health, tend to leak from these substances into ground and surface waters. Local data, advocates say, show that the region’s waters are not up to federal quality standards. “We need to get that cleaned up,” Joy Anderson, an attorney with the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, told MPR. “The state agencies have not passed regulations that, in our view, are sufficient to do that.”
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.
- Environmental group says EGLE is not looking at all the risks of a Line 5 tunnel — Michigan Public
- ‘Big, beautiful bill’ scraps conservation projects in northwest Michigan — Bridge Michigan
- We keep rebuilding after disasters, but should we? — The Narwhal
- Ohio regulators clamp down on data center power costs amid soaring demand
— Great Lakes Now