Global Rundown
- At least 40 new rare-earth mines have opened this year along waterways in Myanmar, threatening further pollution of the Mekong, Salween, and Irrawaddy rivers.
- Researchers warn that poor water quality in crisis zones including Gaza and Sudan is negating the effects of life-saving foods for malnourished children.
- A special report from the United Nations urges the world’s governments to “democratize water” amidst crises of access and quality.
- In Colombia, a river granted legal rights to conservation in a landmark 2016 case remains polluted by high levels of mercury, a result of illegal gold mining.
The Lead
Researchers from the Humanitarian Water Engineering Lab at York University in Toronto, Canada have issued an advisory for what they are calling “an overlooked hazard” afflicting feeding centers caring for severely malnourished children, particularly in crisis zones where water and food security overlap.
Therapeutic milk solutions and other rehydrating foods that are commonly given to young patients — including F-75, F-100, and ReSoMal — come in sealed pouches and require the addition of water. But in arid regions, the water used to reconstitute these meals is drawn from the only local available groundwater supply, which can be susceptible to seawater intrusion and desertification.
As a result of adding highly brackish or mineralized water — often the only option at these centers — the life-saving solutions’ careful balance of electrolytes and nutrients is disrupted, affecting the quality of care, the researchers say.
Their findings identified high levels of sodium, magnesium, sulphate, and nitrate/nitrite in water as “parameters of concern” affecting vulnerable patient populations in Palestine, Sudan, and the Horn of Africa.
Recent WaterNews from Circle of Blue
- Two-Decade Hydropower Plunge at Big Colorado River Dams — Low reservoirs mean less electricity generation.
- Solar Growth Cushions Colorado River Hydropower Declines — Southwest utilities are diversifying their electricity assets.
This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers
33 percent
Minimum percent of people living in Colombia’s Atrato River basin — where illegal gold mining operations continue with weak enforcement — who are exposed to levels of mercury above World Health Organization limits, according to evidence obtained by the United Nations. Along the banks of the 500-mile waterway, one of Colombia’s longest, Afro-Colombian and Indigenous communities subsist on small-scale farms and fishing, though these lifeways are now threatened by chemical pollution and deforestation. In addition to environmental and health risks, the mining operations have been linked to “slavery-like labor, forced prostitution, and displacement,” the Associated Press reports.
Last week, three UN special rapporteurs published a letter raising concerns that the landmark 2016 rights-of-nature ruling — which recognized the Atrato River as a legal entity “with rights to protection and restoration” — was not being enforced. The Colombian government, obligated to reply to the letter under international human rights law, has not responded for more than 60 days.
513
Number of rare-earth metal mines located across rivers that feed into the Mekong, Salween, and Irrawaddy rivers in Myanmar, according to satellite data published last month by the Stimson Center. At least 40 of these mines have opened in 2025 alone, signaling sector growth that had been previously underestimated.
Major concerns for water pollution abound. According to Mongabay, “toxic runoff from unregulated mines in Shan and Kachin states has polluted rivers flowing into northern Thailand, causing some $40 million in losses to farming, fishing and tourism.”
The surge in mining in Myanmar has been fueled in large part by increased demand from China, which sits upstream of these waterways and remains unaffected by their runoff. By one estimate, processing one ton of rare-earth metals produces 2,000 tons of toxic water waste.
In Context: Can the Mekong, the World’s Most Productive River, Endure Relentless Strain?
On the Radar
In a report presented last week to the United Nations, Pedro Arrojo Agudo, the special rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, called for the democratization of fresh water and urged governments around the world to abandon the resource’s commodification and privatization.
“We are not facing a crisis of scarcity that can be resolved with technology alone,” Agudo said. “We are facing a democratic crisis. Billions of people are not simply lacking water — they are impoverished and marginalised, living near rivers or polluted aquifers, while powerful interests exploit their water sources.”
The report criticized public-private water partnerships and speculative markets that don’t cater foremost to the basic needs of people, calling on leaders to “embrace democratic, rights-based approaches that recognise water as a common good essential to life, dignity and social cohesion,” especially as the impacts of the climate crisis worsen. Advocating for a “water transition,” Agudo also highlighted the need to conserve wetlands, plan cities with flood resistance in mind, and protect aquifers, which he called “the lungs of nature.”
Last month, Agudo similarly released a report on the interconnection of water and energy, detailing a “crisis of exclusion” and urging a large-scale overhaul of state power generation, infrastructure, and financing. Communities in both Colombia and Guatemala, whose water sources were polluted and diverted by coal mining and hydroelectric dam construction, were cited as examples at the nexus of this issue.
“Crucially, a just transition in energy is inseparable from a just transition in water. The two are mutually reinforcing: equitable access to safe water depends on reliable, clean energy, while sustainable energy systems rely on responsible and equitable water management,” the report read.
Wetland Watch
Wolborough Fen: Bulldozers are “lurking at the gates” of the 2,000-year-old, eight-acre wetland in southern England as developers prepare to break ground on the foundations for 1,200 homes, the Guardian reports. Despite the wetland’s designation as a site of special scientific interest, the developers, Victory Group, say these protections are “current blockages” to their project and are seeking help from government ministers to expedite construction.
