Indian capital imposes emergency measures including closing schools and offices and barring heavy vehicles
Pollution levels in India’s capital, Delhi, have soared to their highest levels this year, forcing schools and offices to close and cloaking the city in thick brown smog.
In some parts of the city, a live air quality ranking by IQAir put pollution levels at more than 30 times the maximum level deemed healthy.
Continue reading...Water company claims information is not in the public interest despite widespread pollution of UK waters
• ‘It’s a national disgrace’: fury at sewage-filled Windermere over toxic algae and dead fish
One of the UK’s biggest water companies is fighting a legal battle to block public access to data on treated sewage it is discharging into Windermere in the Lake District.
United Utilities initially claimed that data from phosphorus monitors at sewage treatment works at the lake “was not environmental information”. It later claimed the information on phosphorus – which can pollute watercourses when at high levels – was “internal communication” and exempt from disclosure.
Continue reading...Analysis lays bare huge challenge of mismanaged waste on eve of UN plastic treaty talks in Busan
Global plastic production must be reduced to tackle the immense challenge of plastic pollution, according to an analysis published on the eve of crucial talks to hammer out the world’s first legally binding treaty on plastic waste.
Mismanaged plastic waste, which leaches into the environment and can be harmful to health, will double to 121m tonnes by 2050 if limits are not placed on the production of plastic, according to Samuel Pottinger, the lead author of the research.
Continue reading...Sydney the worst-ranked Australian city at 150th, receiving a poorer score than London
Three Australian cities are among the top 10 global cities with the lowest levels of air pollution, according to analysis of nearly 400 cities worldwide.
Hobart (third), Darwin (fourth) and Canberra (10th) topped the list, based on air pollution data analysed by Auto Trader, an online vehicle trading site.
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Continue reading...After debris balls were widely reported to be tar, testing coordinated with EPA revealed they were consistent with human-generated waste, or ‘likely lumps of fatberg’
The NSW environment watchdog allegedly knew for more than a week that thousands of mystery balls that washed up on Sydney beaches last month were probably consistent with human-generated waste before it made the news public as US election results dominated headlines.
A statement from the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) on Wednesday revealed the balls comprised fatty acids, petroleum hydrocarbons and other organic and inorganic materials – including traces of drugs, hair, motor oil, food waste, animal matter and human faeces.
Continue reading...Newfoundland Memorial Univeristy team find white masses are likely material used to clean pipes in oil industry
When the chemist Chris Kozak finally got his hands on a sample of the mysterious blobs that recently washed up on the shores of Newfoundland’s beaches, Project Unknown Glob officially began.
At his disposal, Kozak and a team of graduate students had the “gorgeous” new science building and “world-class facilities” of Newfoundland’s Memorial University to run a battery of tests on the white, doughy blob.
Continue reading...Three-month ‘educational phase’ begins for scheme it is hoped will reduce through-traffic and improve air quality
Paris authorities have begun limiting traffic in a large zone of the city centre, with police alerting drivers that they are now banned from driving through the French capital’s central four arrondissements and risk a fine if they do so after next spring.
The so-called “limited traffic zone” (ZTL), home to about 100,000 people and 11,000 businesses, is part of a broader push by the socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, to restrict traffic and encourage cycling and public transport use across the car-clogged city.
Continue reading...Shelly beach, Bronte, Coogee and Malabar among those rated ‘poor’ as swimmers urged to check water quality online
More than a quarter of New South Wales’ favourite swimming spots have been polluted by faecal matter over the past year including Sydney’s Coogee, Bronte and Malabar beaches.
With the Bureau of Meteorology predicting a wet summer, the government has urged swimmers to check its online water quality monitor for updates after its annual state of the beaches report found 28% of the 218 tracked sites experienced pollution.
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Continue reading...Rapid urbanisation thought to be damaging adolescent health, as researchers say need for medication and diagnostic tests is urgent
Millions of teenagers in Africa are suffering from asthma with no formal diagnosis as the continent undergoes rapid urbanisation, researchers have found.
The study, published in the Lancet Child and Adolescent Health, involved 27,000 pupils from urban areas in Malawi, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Ghana and Nigeria. It found more than 3,000 reported asthma symptoms, but only about 600 had a formal diagnosis.
Continue reading...Third of total comprises bonuses at Severn Trent as indebted Thames nearly doubles payouts to executives
Bonuses for water company bosses in England and Wales rose to £9.1m this year despite record sewage discharges into rivers and seas.
More than a third of that total comprised bonuses at Severn Trent, which was fined £2m this year for “reckless” pollution but lifted its bonuses to £3.36m.
Thames Water almost doubled its payouts to executives, from £746,000 in 2021-22 to £1.3m in 2023-24, despite its CEO quitting halfway through the year.
Data from Companies House, analysed by the Liberal Democrats, show that overall bonuses increased from £9.013m last year to £9.127m this year.
The payouts pile further pressure on the regulator, Ofwat, to intervene in the decisions of water company boards. Last year, raw sewage was discharged for more than 3.6m hours into rivers and seas, a 105% increase on the previous 12 months.
Continue reading...Policies such as cash payouts for bicycle commuters have knock-on effects including reduced pollution and better physical and mental health
It’s time for a major rethink of transport in Australia, experts say – and, while some new ideas may meet resistance, “these are not ideas from radical left Scandinavian pot-smoking greenies”, Prof Matt Burke says.
Policies lumped together as “active transport” include proposals to offer rebates for people who ditch their cars for public transport, or cash payouts for people who cycle to work.
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Continue reading...Data compiled by EEA shows quality of water bodies falls far short of target first set for 2015 and since extended to 2027
Only about one-third of Europe’s surface water is in good health or better, a report has found, despite an EU target first set for 2015 to bring all bodies of water up to good quality.
About 37% of Europe’s surface waters qualified as having at least a good ecological status and 29% a good chemical status in 2021, according to data from 19 member countries compiled by the European Environment Agency (EEA). The original deadline for the EU target has been extended to 2027 but data suggests this is on track to be missed by a wide margin.
Continue reading...Claimants seeking damages from Anglo-Australian mining company over 2015 environmental disaster in Brazil
The mother of a seven-year-old boy who was torn from the arms of his grandmother and drowned in one of Brazil’s worst environmental disasters is among more than 620,000 claimants who will have their case heard this month in the largest group claim in English legal history.
Gelvana Aparecida Rodrigues da Silva, 37, lost her son Thiago on 5 November 2015 when the Fundão dam, near Mariana in eastern Brazil, collapsed, releasing about 50m cubic metres of toxic waste.
Continue reading...‘Economically illiterate’ Defra letter sent to anti-sewage groups cites 2018 report commissioned by water companies
Labour used “economically illiterate” analysis paid for by water companies in order to argue against the nationalisation of the sector, the Guardian can reveal.
In an official letter recently sent to anti-sewage groups, civil servants cited a paper by the Social Market Foundation as a reason to avoid nationalisation as part of its review of the sector. The report from 2018 was commissioned by United Utilities, Anglian Water, Severn Trent and South West Water.
Continue reading...Plan aimed to expand protection of endangered ecosystems, but opponents said it posed risk to business development
Voters in Switzerland have rejected a proposal to make authorities do more to protect natural habitats from pollution and development, preliminary results of a referendum have showed.
The biodiversity initiative, which the Swiss government and parliament had already rebuffed, envisaged changing the law to set aside more land for conservation beyond areas that were already protected.
Continue reading...Much of the land near the atomic bomb’s birthplace was converted to recreational areas, but toxic waste remains
Soil, plants and water along popular recreation spots near Los Alamos, New Mexico, the birthplace of the atomic bomb, are contaminated with “extreme concentrations” of plutonium, a new study has found, but calls for the federal government to act have been dismissed.
Michael Ketterer, a Northern Arizona University scientist and lead researcher on the project, said the plutonium levels in and around New Mexico’s Acid Canyon were among the highest he had ever seen in a publicly accessible area in the US during his decades-long career – comparable to what is found in Ukraine at the site of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster.
Continue reading...The Chips and Science Act has led to a production boom but experts say it could generate huge amounts of toxic waste
Producers of PFAS chemicals and semiconductors, a key part of most electronics, have formed a group that develops industry-friendly science aimed at heading off regulation as the facilities release high levels of toxic waste, documents seen by the Guardian show.
The group, called the PFAS Consortium, was formed during a boom in domestic semiconductor production spurred by the Chips and Science Act that has led to $825bn in investment aimed at shoring up the industry.
Continue reading...Charity is considering removing some of the water and there is also concern over the sediment on the canal floor
When sodium cyanide leaked into a Walsall canal this month, leading to major incident being declared and miles of the waterway closed off, the Canal & River Trust was working in uncharted territory.
The charity is used to fighting pollution in the waterways that crisscross the country, but this type of chemical – and the extreme risk to public health that came with it – was not something it had tackled before.
Continue reading...Environmental charity fears ‘the aquatic ecosystem will have been devastated or lost’ after chemical spill last week
About 90kg (200lbs) of dead fish have been removed from a canal after a sodium cyanide leak in Walsall that experts fear could have “devastated the aquatic ecosystem” in the area.
A 1km stretch of the waterway remains closed to the public after the chemical spill from a metal finishing company, Anochrome. The spill was declared a major incident last week.
Continue reading...Climate campaigners criticise decision to allow capacity to increase from 6.5m to 9m passengers a year
Ministers have approved London City airport’s application to expand, in a decision that has disappointed climate campaigners.
The airport submitted a proposal to increase capacity from 6.5 million to 9 million passengers a year by putting on more weekend and early morning flights. Local campaigners and Newham council opposed the move, arguing the air and noise pollution would affect people living nearby and that it could potentially increase carbon emissions.
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