Farm fields in Switzerland. Photo J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue

Global Rundown

  • The construction of a “life-saving” municipal sewer system in Timor-Leste, funded by the U.S. government, is now in limbo after calls for a spending review. 
  • The popularity of solar-powered groundwater pumps in Pakistan has reduced farming’s footprint on the national electric grid but deepened a water crisis.  
  • A new study highlights an increasing incidence of nitrates in groundwater and drinking water in New Zealand, prompting local officials to declare an emergency.
  • New European Union water quality standards for medicinal and pharmaceutical pollution in fresh waterways are weaker than initially proposed. 

The Lead

According to a 2020 UNICEF report, nearly a third of children between 6 and 59 months in Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, experience severe or moderate stunting. 

This prevalence — in addition to high rates of dengue fever and other waterborne diseases— has been largely attributed to the lack of reliable food and clean water. As of this year, just 58 percent of the country’s 1.4 million people had access to basic sanitation facilities, and 85 percent had access to basic water services. Nearly half of the country lives in multidimensional poverty.

In Dili, water pollution and pediatric maladies are exacerbated by the absence of a municipal sewer system, which means “drinking water is often contaminated by raw sewage,” the New York Times reports. Most families spend hours each day traveling by foot to collect clean water.

In 2022, a U.S. development agency called the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) — founded in 2004 by President George W. Bush — agreed to fund the construction of a sewer system and pledged $420 million toward the effort, which has been heralded as “life-saving.”

But this summer, plans changed. Under the Trump Administration, all MCC compacts were ordered to be reviewed, leaving the project in limbo. The Timor-Leste government had already spent millions on land and supplies in advance of construction. For the young nation, a sewage system in the capital represents a massive step forward for its economy, health, and education. 

“The time that children spend collecting water is wasted from schoolwork or just being a child and playing,” José Mousaco, a health expert at the World Bank, told the Times.

In Context: “America First” Puts Big Hurt on International Water Programs

Recent WaterNews from Circle of Blue

This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers

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Percent by which the average size of a rice field in Pakistan has increased between 2023 and 2025, reflecting how groundwater needed for irrigation has become more easily accessible, Reuters reports. Tube wells, which use motorized pumps to extract groundwater from significant depths underground, have traditionally been powered by either expensive diesel or grid electricity. But the “solar revolution” — the usage of solar panels to power these pumps instead — has garnered a significant foothold among the nation’s growers. An estimated 650,000 solar-powered pumps are now in use across the country.

The pumps’ popularity and effectiveness has proven to be a double-edged sword. Farmers have reduced their grid consumption by 45 percent over the past three years. But the pumps’ efficiency has simultaneously worsened a groundwater depletion crisis. The water table has fallen below a critical 60-foot threshold across 6.6 percent in agriculture-heavy Punjab province, marking “an increase of some 25 percent between 2020 and 2024.” Pakistani officials have denied that the tube wells are straining water resources, despite data showing the contrary. 

In Context: Risks to Groundwater in India’s Solar Irrigation Pump Expansion

26.8

Percent of surface waters, rivers, lakes, and coastal waters in European Union member states that are in “good chemical condition,” according to a report published by the European Commission in February. In response to these concerning figures, the commission urged “faster progress” and further action to improve freshwater quality and quantity. Now, just eight months later, member states have moved to weaken regulations that heighten the risk of pharmaceutical pollution in waterways. 
In an update to the EU Water Framework Directive, which sets rules for water management and protection across the union’s membership, up to 10 times more pollution from medicines will be permitted, compared to earlier proposals, EuroNews reports. Member states also modified a proposal that would have placed sweeping limits on the amount of pharmaceuticals allowed in groundwater sources. Instead, the adopted rule only applies to specific substances, while others remain unregulated.

On the Radar

Three weeks ago, officials in Canterbury, New Zealand declared a “nitrate emergency” after observing an increase in nitrates in 62 percent of regional groundwater sites over a 10-year span. Fertilizer runoff, inefficient wastewater disposal systems, and industrial chemical pollution have all been cited as contributors to this crisis, which has been linked to blue baby syndrome and cancer.

Now, a new study has found similar trends nationwide, Radio New Zealand reports. Across more than 2,400 rural drinking water sites, “31 percent of samples had nitrate levels above half of the legal limit, and 5 percent were over the limit.” 

The United States EPA’s maximum nitrate level for drinking water is 10 mg/L, compared to 50 mg/L in New Zealand. 

Wetland Watch

Rights of Nature: A growing number of Western scientists have joined the rights of nature movement, advocating specifically for wetland ecosystems to receive the same legal protections afforded to humans, Inside Climate News reports. The global effort, which has been led by Indigenous peoples, achieved notoriety in 2020 with the Proposal Towards a Universal Declaration of the Rights of Wetlands. This summer, at the COP15 Convention on Wetlands, participating nations finalized a strategic plan for the next decade that envisions “a world living in harmony with nature where wetlands are valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintaining ecosystem services supporting a healthy planet and delivering benefits for all people.” The plan has been criticized for its lack of detail. 

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.