- A majority of France’s groundwater reserves are still losing water, not recharging, after an especially hot, dry summer.
- An $87 billion project in India to connect 30 rivers and heighten water security is gaining momentum despite growing public pushback.
- A new analysis on USAID cuts finds that environmental projects in Bangladesh, Colombia, Kenya, Peru, and Vietnam have suffered particularly acutely.
- After water levels on the Rhine River fell to record-low levels, a major coal plant in Germany is expected to lose most of its electricity output through November.
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After an especially warm and dry summer, seasonal groundwater recharge has not yet begun throughout most of France, prompting concern about the long-term health of underground reserves, EuroNews reports.
New research published last week by France’s Geological and Mining Research Bureau found that 66 percent of the country’s groundwater basins are below seasonal norms. More concerning is the finding that 81 percent of these basins are still losing water, compared to only 7 percent that are recharging.
In September, just 0.8 inches of rain fell across France, 70 percent less than monthly averages, Le Monde reports. The drinking water supply for more than 1 million people remains strained, with some regions reporting less than two months’ worth of reserves. Earlier this summer, thousands of residents, especially those in rural areas, relied on tanker supplies.
The situation, experts warn, is mirroring that of 2022, when more than one-third of Europe experienced drought conditions. But dire outcomes can be averted if precipitation in autumn arrives as expected. Two-thirds of France’s drinking water, and more than one-third of water used for irrigation, comes from groundwater sources.
Water levels on Germany’s Rhine River fell twice to record lows at several gauge locations last week, a consequence of continued dry spells and extreme summer heat across the country that are now persisting into autumn.
The conditions are expected to heavily limit barge traffic on the waterway, one of the continent’s busiest industrial corridors, for at least the next month. Among the impacted routes, Bloomberg reports, is the delivery of coal to the Walsum 10 coal-fired power plant, which sits along the river. Electricity output at the 790-megawatt facility is expected to be “severely limited” through the end of November as a direct result of the river’s dwindling water levels.
Across Europe this summer, heat and drought have forced the closure of several major power plants, sending several countries into “energy crises.” Notable among these closures were the forced shut-downs of the largest electricity-generating facilities in Hungary and Romania, after the Danube River fell to record lows.
Residents and tribes in India are protesting an $87 billion government-funded project to connect 30 rivers across the country.
The effort, meant to redistribute water to drought-prone areas and offer heightened food and water security in agriculture-heavy regions, has been “decades in the making but only gathered momentum in recent years” under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, Reuters reports.
But tribes, communities, and environmentalists are pushing back on the massive project, decrying the impact that development has had on soils, homes, and ecosystems. The $4.6 billion first phase — connecting the Ken River of Madhya Pradesh to the Betwa River in Uttar Pradesh, made possible by the construction of a 1.2 mile-long dam on the Ken — has already led to inadvertent flooding. Some 22,000 acres of land, most of which comprises a nature preserve for tigers, has been inundated. Homes and temples have also reportedly been destroyed by floodwater.
The Indian government has said that these damages are necessary for the project to continue, and has offered payments to cover residents’ losses. Whether these amounts are satisfactory, and whether they have been paid on time, also remains disputed.
A new analysis published by One Earth, an international advisory firm, has summarized 10 major environmental consequences of the Trump administration’s near-total dismantling of USAID — the federal program devoted to international development aid and humanitarian assistance — just over a year ago.
The program’s stop-work order, according to the report, immediately terminated more than $1 billion in funding for biodiversity, climate, clean energy, and pollution-mitigation projects around the world. These abrupt cancellations were felt acutely in Bangladesh, Colombia, Kenya, Peru, and Vietnam — countries where a high reliance on aid had been met with high-density programming.
Beyond the monetary losses, the report found that the absence of USAID-funded programs led to policy backsliding, local leadership voids, and the collapse of data monitoring networks. In the Peruvian Amazon, this resulted in “a rapid spike in unauthorized infrastructure” such as illegal landing strips used for smuggling gold and drugs. In Colombia, more than 70,000 in-progress cases of rural families securing access to historic properties — simultaneously protecting waters and lands from development — were left “stranded.”
In Context: USAID Shutdown Leading to Human Calamity
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