Global Rundown
- A report from the UK Parliament warns of a 1.3 billion gallon daily water shortage in England if action is not taken to address climate change and industrial growth.
- Laos, a major energy producer in Southeast Asia, is adding another 80-megawatt hydropower project to the Sekong River, a key Mekong tributary.
- All of North Carolina is under drought conditions following its second-driest January-through-April span in 130 years.
- A new study from Sri Lanka warns that a cocktail of untreated sewage and saltwater in several major rivers is leading to the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
HotSpots H20: Laos, the “Battery of Southeast Asia”
Officials in Laos have announced plans to expand energy production on the Sekong River by adding a fourth dam to their cascading Xekaman Hydropower Project, the Laotian Times reports. The new development will generate 80 megawatts of electricity — enough to power about 70,000 American homes — the entirety of which will be sold to Vietnam.
According to the Times, electricity exports from Laos to Vietnam have doubled so far this year compared to 2025. Roughly four-fifths of all the electricity produced in Laos is sold to nearby countries, mostly to Vietnam and Thailand.
The Xekaman expansion is further evidence of Laos embracing its role as the so-called “Battery of Southeast Asia” as it prepares to graduate from least developed country status, as defined by the United Nations, in November 2026. But this economic ambition is coming at ecological costs, experts warn.
As of 2022, more than 70 percent of the country’s energy production came from hydropower dams along the Mekong River and its tributaries — including the Sekong, one of the Mekong’s largest inflows. By one count, there are 93 hydropower dams operating or planned in Laos’ Mekong basin alone.
These large-scale projects, often constructed quickly and with little community input, have time and again been shown to disrupt fisheries, alter flow regimes, destabilize sediment, destroy wetlands and habitat, and displace residents along the river. More than 60 million people depend on the Mekong basin for food, drinking water, and income.
According to Radio Free Asia, international investors have poured more than $40 billion over the past few decades to construct dams in Laos.
Laos’ energy expansions stand in stark contrast to neighboring Cambodia, where officials in 2020 announced a 10-year moratorium on the construction of hydropower dams on its section of the Mekong. The landmark policy was praised by environmental organizations, even though Cambodia continues to dam the Mekong’s tributaries.
“Maintaining the lower Mekong in Cambodia free-flowing is the best decision for both people and nature, and WWF commends the Cambodian government for ruling out the hydropower dam development and instead pursuing other energy sources such as solar to meet the Kingdom’s power demand,” Teak Seng, the World Wildlife Federation’s (WWF) Cambodia country director, said in a statement. “WWF stands ready to work with the government to support development of a system-wide sustainable energy plan that promotes clean and renewable energy alternatives, contributing to the country’s energy goals without damming Cambodia’s remaining free-flowing rivers.”
In context: River of the Anthropocene
Recent WaterNews from Circle of Blue
- Ohio Needs Power For Its Data Centers. Lawmakers Want to Redefine ‘Clean Energy’ to Get It — Legislators are considering classifying natural gas and some coal as “clean” energy sources while effectively banning solar and wind in a race to secure electricity for AI training.
- Climate Emergencies Are Breaking Water Utilities. Customers Are Paying — Water utilities and their ratepayers face financial strain from wildfire, flood, and drought.
This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers
1.3 billion
The number of gallons that England may be short daily by 2055 if the country does not act now to prepare for the impacts of changing weather patterns, population growth, and the expansion of water-intensive infrastructure, including data centers, the Guardian reports.
The warning was issued last week in a 102-page report by the House of Lords, the unelected upper house of the United Kingdom’s Parliament. According to the Environment and Climate Change Committee, the past year in England offered a “chilling” preview of what could become a drastic and widespread increase in water shortages over the next 30 years.
“This report was written in the aftermath of the 2025 drought, as England’s rivers, reservoirs and aquifers were slowly restocked after the driest spring in 132 years was followed by prolonged drought,” the report states. “Had winter rains not replenished water stores, then spring 2026 could have been marked by stringent water restrictions, ecological damage and, quite possibly, taps running empty.”
The report outlines several recommendations to prevent dry taps. They include prioritizing the nationwide restoration of peatlands, rivers, and natural floodplains; modifying building regulations to ensure that maximum daily water usage per person does not exceed 28 gallons; and a more focused governmental effort to fix the country’s leaking pipes, roughly 80 percent of which derive from water supply companies’ failing infrastructure.
On the Radar
All of North Carolina is under drought conditions after its second-driest January-through-April on record since data was first collected in 1895. Rainfall has been 7.6 inches less than the historic average over that four-month period, which represents a nearly 50 percent decline, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Officials in Charlotte, the state’s most populous city, imposed mandatory water-use restrictions pertaining to home car-washing, power-washing, and pool-filling, while irrigation is only permitted during designated dates and times.
According to WBTV News in Charlotte, more than 200 possible water-use violations were reported within the first week of the notice, and a total of 65 penalties — fines in the hundreds of dollars — have been levied.
As of Memorial Day, 52 percent of the United States is experiencing drought conditions.
Study Spotlight: Sri Lanka’s Bacterial Rivers
A forthcoming publication from scientists in Sri Lanka suggests that a combination of saltwater intrusion and untreated urban wastewater discharge is fast-tracking the growth of “superbugs” in the country’s major rivers, the Island Online reports.
The researchers focused on the coastal city Galle, through which three rivers — the Gin Ganga, Kepu Ela, and Moragoda Ela — flow in close proximity to residences and large industrial sites, including hospitals. Samples taken from these waterways revealed that the concentrations of bacteria with antibiotic-resistant genes were consistently elevated throughout the watershed, and likely “structurally embedded across Galle’s natural river networks.”
The study also suggested that certain bacteria, which are harmful to human health, thrived in salty, brackish conditions. Past studies have shown that saltwater intrusion in coastal Sri Lanka remains an ongoing threat to the health of groundwater aquifers used for both drinking and irrigation.
The study’s authors, an international team of scientists from both Sri Lanka and Japan, have urged the country to invest in wastewater treatment and water reclamation infrastructure.
