Global Rundown
- Puerto Rico’s water agency may have violated the U.S. Constitution by failing to address one town’s eight-year water crisis, a federal appeals court ruled.
- The construction of 60,000 homes in the Phoenix metro area will move ahead after the state water agency in Arizona lifts a moratorium meant to conserve groundwater.
- Catastrophic flash flooding and landslides are likely to hit Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and Cuba as Category 5 Hurricane Melissa makes landfall this week.
- Nearly two dozen rare-earth metal mines have opened in river basins in Laos since 2022, polluting the Mekong watershed.
The Lead
Most days over the past eight years, the town of Morovis, Puerto Rico, population 28,000, went without running water despite residents regularly paying their water bills, Courthouse News Service reports. This includes a period of 42 consecutive days without water service.
The town has spent more than $1 million on water tanks and trunks to supplement regular outages, which the Puerto Rico Aqueduct and Sewer Authority (PRASA) — the government agency meant to supply water — says is due to failing infrastructure and weather. Morovis residents believe their water is being withheld because their mayor “belongs to a different political party from the Puerto Rico government.”
The town filed suit against PRASA, and the case was originally dismissed by a federal judge. But upon appeal last week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit court ruled that PRASA may have violated the Constitution’s protection of due process. The three-judge panel returned the case to the original judge.
“Despite the years-long water crisis, the defendants made no effort to implement any long-term solutions and provided water to the plaintiffs through alternative sources only a few times. Further, [the executive director] failed even to investigate who had turned off the power generator and pumps at the Morovis facilities.”
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This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers
60,000
Homes allowed to be built in the Phoenix metro area after the Arizona Department of Water Resources partly lifted a moratorium that had banned the construction of subdivisions that rely on groundwater, High Country News reports. The decision marks the first time in over two years — since the moratorium was established, in June 2023 — that an exception has been granted.
The decision comes through a new legal process called “alternative designation,” in which EPCOR, the water company that gained approval, must “bring in outside renewable water supplies” and reduce groundwater use on-site by 25 percent.
In context: At Phoenix’s Far Edge, a Housing Boom Grasps for Water
27
New rare-earth mines that have opened in river basins across Laos since 2022, Mongabay reports, including 23 that appear to be operating in protected areas and 15 in the Mekong River basin. This summer, elevated levels of arsenic were recorded in Laotian waters, likely stemming from “possible sources beyond national boundaries,” and in 2024, Mongabay reports, earth metal chemical spills affected 36 villages in northeastern Laos. Rare-earth mining was banned in the country in 2017, and it remains unknown if these projects are operating with official permission.
On the Radar
Up to 40 inches of rain could fall on parts of Jamaica as Hurricane Melissa, a Category 5 storm, is expected to make landfall late Monday night and into Tuesday morning, CNN reports. The island nation has issued a mandatory evacuation order for vulnerable coastal areas, while the National Hurricane Center warned of “catastrophic and life-threatening flash flooding and numerous landslides” in Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and eastern Cuba as Melissa moves through the Caribbean. Heavy rains in advance of the storm’s landfall have not yet shut down water systems, though high turbidity — caused by an increase in sediment runoff and rushing rivers — has affected water quality in multiple towns, the Jamaica Gleaner reports.
In context: Giant Storms, Growing Stronger, Inundate an Unprepared Planet
Wetland Watch
Cranberry Bogs: In Massachusetts, warming autumn temperatures and rising costs are threatening the long-term health of the region’s cranberry industry, which supports 6,400 jobs and generates $1.7 billion in annual revenue, according to Inside Climate News. Faced with these compounding difficulties, some growers are choosing to end their businesses altogether and convert their land into wetlands, ensuring these areas remain protected. This “green exit” strategy, supported by state and federal funds, has already helped restore 500 acres of wetlands across nine projects, with 14 more such projects currently underway.
