Global Rundown
- A new analysis of drinking water at U.S. mobile home parks suggests their residents are among the most vulnerable demographic to water system violations.
- In what has already been China’s deadliest summer for floods in more than a decade, thousands of residents have evacuated Beijing ahead of another deluge.
- Nepal’s Supreme Court will soon issue a final verdict on whether hydropower projects can continue to be built within protected areas.
- In rural Puerto Rico, where sewer systems and aquifers are maintained by local volunteers, extreme weather and grant cancellations are challenges to clean water access.
The Lead
In Puerto Rico’s rural communities, which remain unconnected to the island’s main water systems, access to fresh water is often ensured by unpaid workers. With limited resources, local volunteers and nonprofits maintain the small systems and aqueducts that comprise the 5 percent of water services not operated by the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority.
By all accounts, Inside Climate News reports, these are fragile yet resilient systems that survive thanks to local action.
But climate change, extreme weather, and cuts to federal grants have placed this infrastructure—and the communities they serve—in jeopardy. In 2019, after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico and caused the largest blackout in U.S. history, “it took 11 months to fully restore power to all customers on the main power grid.” Because water systems generally depend on electricity, “a number of Puerto Ricans were also without running water during that time.”
In recent months, most grants that were earmarked to fund water infrastructure and drinking water resiliency have been cancelled by the Trump administration. But one, funded by the National Science Foundation, will be completed. Some $5 million will help VersaWater, a local pilot project that features collaborators from Cornell and Syracuse Universities, continue phase two of its effort, which “would consist of three pilot systems, prioritizing fabrication, water sampling, testing and design, operator training, system technology, funding and community engagement” as it works to “install a small surface water treatment system in a Puerto Rican community by fall of 2026.”
Recent WaterNews from Circle of Blue
- Chicago’s “Quantum Prairie” Promises New Era of Great Lakes Technology and Water Use — Big technology development aims for zero water waste.
- Restarting Ruptured Santa Barbara Oil Pipeline Tests California’s Regulators — Sable Offshore challenges the state’s environmental values
This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers
68
Percent of U.S. mobile home parks that run their own water systems, where at least one Safe Drinking Water Act violation was discovered within the last five years, the Associated Press reports. These findings indicate that in some of America’s smallest and poorest communities—mobile home parks may have between several dozen and several hundred residents—water quality is often neglected.
The prevalence of these violations is greater than those of small water utilities (which serve up to 3,300 customers and in which 63 percent recorded at least one violation), medium-size utilities (up to 100,000 customers, 57 percent), and large utilities (more than 100,000 customers, 48 percent). Moreover, an AP analysis found that consistent water quality monitoring is a regular challenge for mobile home parks. According to EPA data, “more than half these parks failed to perform a required test for at least one contaminant or failed to properly report the results, in the past five years.”
70,000
Residents evacuated from Beijing on Monday, in advance of another expected deluge, Reuters reports. Experts forecast up to 8 inches of rain to fall over a six-hour period, totaling roughly one-third of the capital’s annual average rainfall. The storm comes on the heels of last week’s deadly precipitation, in which at least 44 people died when heavy rains generated catastrophic flooding in urban areas, including at a nursing home. For Beijing, this summer has seen the highest number of flood deaths since 2012, when 79 people were killed.
On the Radar
Nepal’s Supreme Court is nearing a final verdict on the fate of infrastructural projects — including hydropower developments — inside protected natural areas, Mongabay reports. In January, the court released a preliminary order that overturned a 2024 law permitting such building to occur, “citing violations of the right to a clean environment and principles of intergenerational equity.” The summary order was celebrated by environmentalists and Indigenous groups, who have said that unchecked development will continue to cause ecological harm. Private hydropower producers, who contribute roughly 63 percent of the country’s current 2,991 megawatt capacity, say the recent ruling has stalled “hundreds of projects worth 25,000 megawatts.” Nepal’s Ministry of Forest and Environment officially lists 19 hydropower projects that have been put on hold.
Fresh: From the Great Lakes Region
Lake Michigan Water Levels: Following a seiche last week on the southern end of Lake Michigan, the water levels near Chicago are roughly six inches higher than the rest of the lake, Michigan Live reports. These changes amount to “as much as 480 billion gallons of water piled up in the southwest corner of Lake Michigan,” about one-tenth of the total amount of Lake Michigan-Lake Huron water.
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.
- National Defence plans to solve its housing crunch by developing contaminated sites — The Narwhal
- Great Lakes Moment: Detroit’s waterfront porch reaps substantial benefits — Great Lakes Now
- Great Lakes mussel research starved of funds as whitefish vanish — Bridge Michigan
- A toxic chemical from the Gelman Plume was found in water wells in Scio Township — Michigan Public