Global Rundown
- Since the shutdown of a massive paper mill in Savannah, Georgia, the local aquifer’s water level has risen two feet.
- Five new desalination plants have recently come online in Algeria, which after investing more than $5 billion has become a regional leader in the technology.
- Three years after the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s history, residents face constant flooding and polluted wells.
- The United Kingdom is giving its Environmental Agency more power to fine water firms for polluting fresh waterways, few of which are in good ecological health.
The Lead
Three years after the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon wildfire burned over 500 square miles in New Mexico — cementing the blaze as the state’s largest-ever — residents are feeling the ripple effects of flood damage and water insecurity.
Flash flooding is common following large burns, and the risks can last for a decade or more. Charred soils are unable to effectively absorb water, and trees are no longer around to soak up or slow rains, which run over burn scars “like water off a parking lot,” Reuters reports.
Last year alone, 105 fires put 6 million acres — primarily in the American West — at risk of flooding impacts.
In Mora, New Mexico, more than two dozen floods have ravaged homes since the Hermit’s Peak/Calf Canyon blaze. More lives have been lost to water than fire. Meanwhile, mold after flooding has led to the abandonment or demolition of homes. Runoff of toxic heavy metals and other contaminants have left residents’ wells polluted and unusable.
In Context: As Flames Scorch Western Forests, Flagstaff Area Offers Roadmap for Post-Wildfire Flood Prevention
Recent WaterNews from Circle of Blue
- To Save A Disappearing Fish, South African Farmers Open Their Ponds — Rescuing an overlooked fish from extinction means confronting water shortages with creative solutions.
- Two-Decade Hydropower Plunge at Big Colorado River Dams — Low reservoirs mean less electricity generation.
This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers
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Feet increase in the water level of the Floridan aquifer in Savannah, Georgia, since this month’s shuttering of International Paper’s nearby mill, The Current reports. The company was permitted to withdraw 12.2 million gallons of water per day at the location, “one of the largest groundwater withdrawal permits on the coast,” and another 11.6 million gallons in nearby Liberty County, both of which ceased operations this October. Over-extraction of groundwater in Savannah reportedly affected residents in neighboring Hilton Head, South Carolina, turning wells salty.
Meanwhile, the data is the latest in a string of good news for the recovering Floridan aquifer. USGS data shows that its water line has risen roughly 20 feet since 2000.
$40 million
Fines that water firms in the United Kingdom would be projected to pay, official estimates suggest, as the country moves to give its Environment Agency more power to penalize companies for illegal sewage spills, The Times reports.
The move comes after increasing scrutiny and outcry over the poor condition of England’s fresh water, and the lack of action to hold polluters accountable. In the first half of 2025, more than 8,000 illegal sewage spills were recorded in waterways on dry days. Recent citizen science testing has found that 75 percent of British rivers are in poor ecological health, while a more comprehensive report from non-profit State of Our Rivers found that no stretch in England or Northern Ireland is “in good overall health.”
Previously, government regulators were forced to pursue criminal prosecutions against polluting water companies, “which are resource-intensive and can take years,” even for relatively small amounts of money. Under new rules, automatic fines reaching as high as $667,000, based on civil proof, may be given.
On the Radar
Algeria, which has become a leader in North Africa in desalination technology, has announced that four new plants — in the Mediterranean cities of Oran, Tipaza, Boumerdès, and El Tarf — have come online this month, with a fifth in Bejaïa nearing full production capacity, Eurasia Review and AL24 News report. Each plant has the capacity to process 300,000 cubic meters of water per day, equivalent to 79 million gallons.
The country now has 19 operating plants, 35 percent of which are powered by solar energy. With more than $5 billion invested into the technology, the country estimates that desalinated water will constitute 42 percent of the national water network “in the coming years.”
Wetland Watch
Everglades: In the latest twist in a three-year-long legal battle between one of the nation’s leading Everglades scientists and the Everglades Foundation — “a large non-profit with friendly ties to state Republican leadership,” the Guardian reports — a contract the foundation had used to justify the scientist’s 10-day jail sentence this summer appears to have never existed.
The dispute stems from a proposed $4 billion restoration project to address algal blooms that threaten Florida drinking water and wetland ecosystems. The effort, which features the build-out of a large storage reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee, is moving forward despite Van Lent and other scientists saying it will not be effective and fails to meet water-quality standards.
