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Chicago © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue

Global Rundown

  • The restoration of high-elevation wetlands and Indigenous water systems in southern Ecuador has brought stability to water-scarce communities.
  • To keep up with farmers’ water needs, Morocco has pledged to accelerate construction of desalination plants.  
  • The European Union’s lending arm has pledged $17 billion over the next three years for water projects. 
  • Heavy, sudden rains fell in West Virginia last weekend, swelling creeks and killing several people.

The Lead

Communities in southern Ecuador are used to water scarcity and uncertain rainfall. They live where two ocean currents converge, a unique location wherein yearly rainfall can range from just 12 inches to greater than 15 feet depending on atmospheric conditions, temperature, and El Niño. 

Most years, rainfall is closer to 12 inches, and 70 percent typically comes in March and April. A steep geography with rocky soils and high winds makes collecting and storing water difficult, and months-long water scarcity pervades. For Galo Ramón, it was a wonder how the Paltas people, a Pre-Incan civilization that lived in the region more than a millenia ago, survived in these conditions — until he found a 200-year-old map depicting a lagoon the Paltas had built, the Guardian reports. 

The lagoon system featured an artificial, high-altitude wetland built on permeable rock, filled with hydrophilic (water-loving) plants that stored water for especially long amounts of time in their roots. Soil moisture was maintained by building small dams to connected rivers, maintaining “headwater forests that captured moisture from the mist,” and growing crops on slopes to reduce erosion and water runoff. Aquifers and springs gradually filled, sustaining communities even for long, arid durations.

Ramón saw how the Paltas strategically harnessed the unique biologies of more than 50 native trees, plants, and crops to save water at every turn, and began in 2005 to restore these Indigenous lagoons. By 2013, some 28 lagoons were built alongside other small dams and weirs that functioned similarly to those the Paltas had constructed. Today, there are more than 250. In the community of Catacocha, water availability has increased from one hour per day before the lagoons, to 10 hours per day.

“We don’t necessarily need monumental projects to have water,” Estefanía Maldonado, a constitutional rights lawyer, told the Guardian. “We can also do it by recovering ancestral knowledge.”

Recent WaterNews from Circle of Blue

This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers

39.2

Percent capacity at which Morocco’s dams, used for irrigation, now sit after improved (though still below average) rainfall compared to last year’s especially dry season, Reuters reports. Groundwater use for agriculture continues to increase in Morocco despite frequent drought, a trend that has sparked a ban on growing water-intensive crops like melons in certain regions and a nationwide call to action. Nizar Baraka, the country’s water minister, said this week that the government would be accelerating investments in water infrastructure and technology. Nine more desalination plants — to add to 17 currently operating and four more in construction — are planned to be built. By 2030, these 30 plants would give Morocco the capacity to process 1.7 billion cubic meters of salty water annually.

$17 billion

Amount the European Investment Bank, the European Union’s lending arm, pledged last week to support projects across the continent that will “help reduce water pollution, prevent water wastage and support innovative businesses in the water sector over the next three years,” Reuters reports. The commitment comes as 40 percent of Europe faces a drought warning, with parts of Greece, Italy, and Portugal experiencing severe “alert” conditions.

On the Radar

As of Monday afternoon, at least six people had died in West Virginia, after a weekend of heavy rainstorms led to destructive flash floods, the New York Times reports. Several sudden bursts of rain — including a 50-minute deluge of 2.5 to 4 inches  — were reported in the state’s northernmost communities, which sit along the Ohio River. Several homes were reportedly washed away as water levels at Wheeling Creek rose. According to the Weather Channel, the creek rose from 3 feet of water to 10 feet of water in just 90 minutes as rain fell on Saturday. 

Fresh: From the Great Lakes Region

Illinois Data Centers: 40 percent of the state’s population receives its water from aquifers, Inside Climate News reports. But “the amount of water in those aquifers is dwindling,” especially as communities around the state — which already has more than 220 data centers, known for their water-intensive operations — look to approve more, enticed by the tax incentives these developments offer. 

The allure of business appears at odds with water security. Two years ago, six southwest Chicago communities sought to move away from aquifer reliance and made an agreement with the city to receive their water — millions of gallons each day — from Lake Michigan. The new setup will begin around 2030 once a $1.5 billion water transport pipeline finishes construction. 

It remains to be seen how much stability this brings. Very little water used by data centers returns to local watersheds, and their needs in small and rural Illinois locations project to be significant. A new data center proposed for the town of Minooka, one of the six communities that will receive Lake Michigan water, could use “30 percent of the drinking water allocated to that municipality” from the pipeline.

In context: Chicago Suburbs, Running Out of Water, Will Tap Lake Michigan

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.

  • Stateside Podcast: Why “pounds” of mayfly carcasses pile up each year — Michigan Public
  • Why Ontario is experiencing more floods — and what we can do about it — The Narwhal
  • Michigan triples ‘do not eat’ fish warnings as PFAS contamination concerns rise — Great Lakes Now
  • Michigan cities fight effects of climate change — Bridge Michigan

Christian Thorsberg is an environmental writer from Chicago. He is passionate about climate and cultural phenomena that often appear slow or invisible, and he examines these themes in his journalism, poetry, and fiction.