Global Rundown
- Residents in Cambodia are reporting vanishing fish and illnesses along a waterway they suspect is being contaminated by gold mining.
- The number of residences at high risk of flooding in the United Kingdom has tripled in the last eight years. Public housing is especially vulnerable.
- A new study suggests that while the decline of coal mining in Appalachia has helped curb harmful pollution, financial losses from this shift continue to burden human health.
- Roughly 450,000 people in Somalia have been displaced this year by drought alone, as three consecutive failed rainy seasons deepen the country’s humanitarian crisis.
HotSpots H2O: O’Ta Bouk River, Cambodia
For months, the small Cambodian village of Mondul Yorn has been awaiting the results of water quality and sediment testing conducted in the O’Ta Bouk River, a waterway located in Virachey National Park, a one-million-acre protected area and home to some of Cambodia’s most critically endangered species.
The water quality data, collected in February by Cambodia’s Ministry of the Environment in response to residents’ concerns of contamination, is meant to be made public. But so far, nothing has been shared with residents, Mongabay reports.
The lack of official response has proven to be a matter of sickness and health. It has been nearly three years since residents witnessed the waters of the O’Ta Bouk River turn murky and brown, the outlet reports, an observation that coincided with the onset of gold mining operations upstream. The village has additionally reported health issues stemming from contact with the changed river, which they presume to be contaminated with mining effluent. One resident reported red welts appearing on their leg just days after stepping into the river. The Cambodian government has failed to answer questions on the matter.
Meanwhile, as inaction persists, riparian livelihoods are disappearing. There are no longer any fish in the river, fishers say, and farmers who rely on the O’Ta Bouk’s waters to irrigate their fields are concerned that doing so will contaminate their crops. Downstream, the river flows into the Mekong, the source of water, food, and energy for some 60 million people in Southeast Asia
Development threatening the health of waterways in Cambodia’s protected national parks is not a new issue. Five hydropower projects have entered into development inside Kravanh National Park in recent years, including a new dam that is being built on a tributary that feeds into Tonle Sap, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia and a crucial source of water for the Mekong.
Recent studies have additionally shown that the over-extraction of sand from Tonle Sap is likely to shrink the lake by 40 percent of its wet-season size by 2038 if mining continues at its current pace — a consequence that would again have outsize impacts on the health of the Mekong.
Recent WaterNews from Circle of Blue
- Supreme Court Rules For Public Interest in Line 5 Case — Decision seen as step forward in state effort to shut down old oil pipeline.
- Northern Michigan’s Extreme Climate Disaster — North Michigan’s safe haven myth drowned in worst-ever floods.
This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers
839,000
The number of homes in England that are considered to be at high risk of flooding, a three-fold increase since just 2018, according to a new analysis by the country’s National Housing Federation, The Guardian reports. Roughly 80 percent of these homes are located in urban areas, and a disproportionate number of affected residences — 25 percent of those in the 10 most flood-prone areas — are classified as public housing.
A 2020 study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health found that residents in the United Kingdom who are vulnerable to flooding are nine times more likely to experience mental health problems including anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Earlier this year, a county in Wales made headlines after moving to buy residents out of their homes that had repeatedly suffered from floods — and would likely continue to be inundated by water in the future. The county paid to relocate residents to safer areas.
450,000
The number of people in Somalia who have been displaced by drought so far this year, Al Jazeera reports, as both civil war and extreme weather continue to deepen one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Roughly 6.5 million people are facing acute hunger across the country as pastoralists and farmers are reckoning with three consecutive failed rainy seasons that have collapsed local production.
On the Radar
The average coal-producing county in the United States has a lower life expectancy by 1.6 years compared to a non-coal producing county. A study published earlier this year in the journal Rural Sociology, and which focuses on health in Appalachia, adds nuance to this figure. Its results suggest that while the decline of coal mining in the region has had a positive impact on the local environment, its effect on human health has been muted by financial losses.
An analysis of coal production, employment, and life expectancy in more than 3,000 counties in parts of 13 states across the region revealed that while exposure to polluted air, water, and soil likely decreased after active coal production ended in a community, subsequent job loss has been substantial enough to offset these factors — an indicator that few other employment opportunities are often available in coal-heavy areas.
Yale Environment 360 reports that a resurgence in pneumoconiosis, or black lung, is afflicting workers in their 30s and 40s in Pennsylvania counties where the coal industry is still thriving. According to a 2024 report by the Pennsylvania Coal Alliance, more than 5,000 mining jobs in the state generated $2.2 billion in economic output.
“Our findings have significant implications related to the current energy transition,” the report’s authors write. “In particular, the results suggest that mining employment loss adversely impacts health. This finding supports arguments made by the Just Transition framework, which calls for a planned transition away from fossil fuels to maximize the social and environmental benefits of the transition.”
