Glaciers in the Swiss Alps are a key source of water for rivers like the Rhine. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue

Global Rundown

  • A new global report estimates two-thirds of the world’s irrigated agriculture is likely to be harmed by the continued melting of glaciers. 
  • Counties in southeast Georgia will draw water from the Savannah River to reduce reliance on limited groundwater supplies.
  • A violent hailstorm attributed to climate change is the latest event in what has been one of Bolivia’s wettest rainy seasons on record.
  • Ongoing pollution in South Sumatran waterways is threatening the snakehead murrel, a crucially important fish for the economy and cuisine of Palembang, Indonesia.

The Lead

Four counties in southeast Georgia and the city of Savannah announced a $500-million-dollar plan to diversify their water supplies away from limited groundwater.

Groundwater in the coastal area is threatened by saltwater intrusion from the Atlantic Ocean, and pumping is regulated by the state. The region’s new infrastructure plan calls for increasing water withdrawals from the Savannah River. The plan will be developed in two phases over the next five years.

In the first phase, WJCL reports, Savannah will expand capacity at its existing treatment plant, while Bryan County will build a water line to Hyundai’s electric vehicle facility. In the second phase, neighboring Effingham County will build a new treatment plant that can draw 12 million gallons a day from the Savannah River, with the potential to expand to 24 million gallons.

The goal is to eliminate the need for groundwater.

Recent WaterNews from Circle of Blue

This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers

2 billion

People whose food and water supply is likely to be affected by receding glaciers and decreased mountain snowfall around the globe, according to UNESCO’s new 2025 World Water Development Report. Between 55 percent and 60 percent of the world’s freshwater flows begin in mountains, and between 26 percent and 41 percent of global glacial mass is at risk of disappearing by 2100, depending upon the rate of global temperature rise. This change is expected to affect two-thirds of all irrigated agriculture. Another way of visualizing this loss: since 2000, the world’s glaciers have lost “three Olympic-sized swimming pools” worth of ice, per second, according to El Pais. 

2 tons

The amount of snakehead murrel — a freshwater fish endemic to South Asia, including the Musi River Basin in South Sumatra — the city of Palembang, Indonesia (population 1.8 million) consumes each day, Mongabay reports. For generations, the fish has been a centerpiece of the community’s culture and cuisine, though this tradition is at risk. Sedimentation and pollution in the Musi River, largely from construction, mines, and plantations, have threatened the species and driven up costs. 

On the Radar

A severe hailstorm hit El Alto, Bolivia’s second-largest city, this week, forcing vendors and pedestrians to seek shelter from the golf ball-sized stones. The unexpected storm is the latest in a particularly extreme rainy season, which typically runs from December through March. This year it is forecasted to continue into April. Reuters reports that the Bolivian Meteorological Institute has attributed the wet year to climate change, and Lake Titicaca is approaching record-high levels. Some 800 homes have been destroyed and nearly 400,000 families have been affected by the ongoing deluge. The Bolivian legislative assembly approved $75 million for disaster relief. 

49th State Focus: Fish Die-Off Near Juneau Gold Mine Remains a Mystery

Kensington Mine: Early last August, roughly 100 freshwater fish — Dolly Varden char, slimy sculpin, and one pink salmon — were found dead in Sherman Creek, which flows about 45 miles northwest of the state capital and just downstream from the Kensington gold mine’s wastewater facility. The location of the die-off “strongly suggests water quality or toxic issues,” the Northern Journal reports, though wastewater samples taken several times that day at the mine didn’t reveal any causal pollutants. Investigators still believe it is possible that “pollution had occurred, undetected, between sampling times,” especially after becoming aware of the usage of RocKracker, an “unapproved” explosive that contains toxic substances, the day before the fish were found. Officially, the cause of the die-off remains unknown. 

Fresh: From the Great Lakes Region

Millions of Fish Killed at Bruce Power Plant: Between 3.5 million and 4.5 million gizzard shad have been killed over recent months near the coast of Lake Huron, where the Bruce Power nuclear plant turns nearshore waters artificially warm, the Toronto Star reports. Sensitive to cold water and attracted to this thermal environment, the fish became trapped in the plant’s intake channels, where they died. The Saugeen Ojibway Nation’s environment office released a statement on the matter, and added that “large numbers of bald eagles and dead birds” have also been found near the plant’s shores, their cause of death unknown. 

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.

  • A pulp mill shutters, a creek comes back to life — The Narwhal
  • Michigan’s newest PFAS threat: Contamination from household septic systems — Bridge Michigan
  • How farmer-led research could revolutionize the relationship between agriculture and researchers — Great Lakes Now
  • Federal appeals court hears ongoing Line 5 case over pipeline in Straits of Mackinac — Michigan Public

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.