Category Archives: Water

Waterless skincare: the beauty firms tapping into ethical cleansing

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Anhydrous products are good for the planet and consumers – but will mainstream brands buy into the concept?

The climate crisis is driving a new trend that will change the look of your bathroom cabinet for ever: waterless skincare.

While wrapping-free, vegan toiletries have long had a place on British high streets, thanks to independent brands such as Lush, the new wave of waterless – or anhydrous – beauty products is driven by a combination of ethical concerns, innovations taken from Korean skincare and new developments in packaging.

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Chile announces unprecedented plan to ration water as drought enters 13th year

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Rivers that supply Santiago with water are running low, forcing rotating cuts to different parts of the city

As a punishing, record-breaking drought enters its 13th year, Chile has announced an unprecedented plan to ration water for the capital of Santiago, a city of nearly 6 million.

“A city can’t live without water,” Claudio Orrego, the governor of the Santiago metropolitan region, said in a press conference. “And we’re in an unprecedented situation in Santiago’s 491-year history where we have to prepare for there to not be enough water for everyone who lives here.”

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Abolition of advisory body criticised after Morrison government promises $5.9bn for Queensland dams

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Former judge Anthony Whealy says size of funding promises justifies keeping body to scrutinise water projects

The costs of the federal government’s commitment to fund dams in Queensland without the scrutiny of a now-abolished national advisory body should be a cause for concern for the community, a former supreme court judge says.

Deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce disbanded the National Water Grid Advisory Body this week, claiming it was “an appropriate time for it to conclude its work”.

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Australia news live update: NSW government seeks to suspend MP facing charges; nation records 26 Covid deaths

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NSW government seeks to suspend Gareth Ward; Craig Foster lashes treatment of asylum seekers in National Press Club address; new research suggests long-lasting Covid immune response from vaccine-induced T-cells; at least 26 Covid deaths recorded; Atagi expected to green light fourth booster shots for some Australians. Follow all the day’s news live

David Koch:

Have you spoken to the “mean girls” – Kristina Keneally, Penny Wong – in the last week or so since Kimberly Kitching’s death about the allegations of bullying?

I think that term is really unfortunate.

She used it, it is not just us.

There is a lot of people speaking on other people’s behalf at the moment. I think that in politics, there are a range of people who are involved in party politics who play it pretty hard. One of those was Kimberly Kitching. She was somebody who engaged in politics and was passionate about her belief and from time to time that could produce some conflict. But it needs to be done in a way that is respectful, in a way that is understanding, and attempts to reach consensus.

It is rather bizarre ... I am always available and indeed I lobby regularly to be on the Sunrise program. I am always happy to discuss things with the media, but I won’t be taking lectures from a prime minister who visited Lismore and had strict streets shut off so victims of floods could not get near him.

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Better use of groundwater could transform Africa, research says

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Studies ‘debunk the myth that Africa is running out of water’ but say resource needs to be better managed

Groundwater resources in sub-Saharan Africa are enough to transform agriculture in the region and provide people with adequate safe water for their drinking and hygiene needs, if the resource can be better managed, researchers have said.

Groundwater – found underground in aquifers, rocks and soils – makes up about 99% of all liquid freshwater on earth, and is abundant in much of Africa, but a lack of investment has left it untapped or poorly managed, two major studies have found. The reserves could be used for irrigation and to supply clean and safe water, but there is also a danger that if used unsustainably they could be rapidly depleted or polluted.

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Severn Trent and Anglian Water pledge to do more to protect rivers

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Water firms commit to improving sewage discharge practices after government pressure

Severn Trent and Anglian Water say they will accelerate efforts to protect rivers after the government and regulators called on the sector to do more.

Last month, the environment minister Rebecca Pow called on water companies to significantly improve their practices in England and Wales to support the local environment.

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‘Infants here don’t know how to eat’: millions facing famine in Madagascar

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As sandstorms ruin crops and drought worsens food shortages, mothers are walking miles to feed their children at clinics

After four vicious storms in as many weeks and the worst drought in 40 years, there are fears that the hunger crisis facing 2 million people in southern Madagascar could become a famine. With record low rainfalls in the Grand Sud region, USAid’s Famine Early Warning Network is warning that large-scale humanitarian support will be needed until next year.

Food shortages have been compounded by three cyclones and one tropical storm that have ravaged parts of the south and east of the country since late January. The most recent hit the south-east coast on 22 February, affecting thousands of people.

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Flood waters surge across Brisbane and south-east Queensland as ‘rain bomb’ threatens lives

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Heavy rainfall expected to continue overnight, with northern New South Wales next in the line of fire

Flood waters continued to rise across Brisbane, south-east Queensland and other parts of the state on Sunday night as a “rain bomb” dumped significant volumes of water into the city and put more than 1,000 homes at risk.

In some parts of Brisbane, flooding and damage has already been more severe than the 2011 floods, which killed 33 people and caused widespread damage.

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‘We are afraid’: Erin Brockovich pollutant linked to global electric car boom

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Exclusive: Investigation uncovers evidence of contaminated air and water from one of Indonesia’s largest nickel mines

A Guardian investigation into nickel mining and the electric vehicle industry has found evidence that a source of drinking water close to one of Indonesia’s largest nickel mines is contaminated with unsafe levels of hexavalent chromium (Cr6), the cancer-causing chemical more widely known for its role in the Erin Brockovich story and film.

The investigation also found evidence suggesting elevated levels of lung infections among people living close to the mine.

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Somalis in crowded camps on ‘brink of death’ as drought worsens

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UN warns of looming catastrophe as hundreds of thousands more arrive at settlements that do not have enough food or water

Somalia’s displacement camps are coming under intense pressure with more than 300,000 people leaving their homes in search of food and water so far this year as the country experiences its worst drought in decades.

People have been walking miles to camps, already home to those escaping the country’s protracted violence, after three consecutive failed rainy seasons since October 2020 that have decimated crops and livestock. Somalia has more than 2,400 such settlements, which already lack resources.

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‘We pray for rain’: Ethiopia faces catastrophic hunger as cattle perish in severe drought

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Animal carcasses litter the land in areas where the rains have failed, as millions go without enough food and water in a country already grappling with civil war

The circumference of Nimo Abdi Duh’s upper arm measures just 12cm and, while the number means nothing to her, it does to the health workers treating her. Nimo, two, like so many children in the arid lowlands of Ethiopia, is suffering from malnutrition.

“We have been affected by the drought,” says her mother, Shems Dire, looking anxiously on. “We don’t have milk to give to the children. My child is sick due to lack of food, and this happened because of the drought … Our cattle have been harmed by the drought. We have lost so many.

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‘A national tragedy’: Māori drowning rate causes alarm in New Zealand

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Māori have a strong ancestral relationship to the ocean involving hunting and fishing for seafood, but that can come at a cost

Aquatic safety instructor Clayton Wikaira is leaning against a small inflatable boat, his hair wet from the sea, speaking to a group of six university students who have just learned how to safely dive for kaimoana (seafood). The students’ attention is waning in the hot midday sun – they are tired from an early morning start, a hike around the rocks of Auckland’s Whangaparaoa peninsula, and hours spent diving in the open ocean for kina (sea urchin). Some look at their phones, others chomp on pizza. But as he starts telling a story, their ears prick up.

“I thought I could swim to Australia when I was young. I thought I was fit, strong,” he starts.

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Charity appeal in Guatemala, where the fight for land and water rights is a battle for survival

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This year’s appeal has already raised over £500,000. We report on an organisation supporting Indigenous communities against wealthy vested interests

José Méndez walked up the mountain behind his rural Ch’orti’ Mayan community of Corozal in eastern Guatemala. He pointed towards an abandoned home of the plantation owner who used to run this hillside. “Right outside that house they killed our three compañeros, the exact same day the county government recognised us as an Indigenous community with rights to the land.”

Further up the mountain, in the mist of corn and coffee fields, Méndez shows off a large water reservoir that irrigates the community’s crops as well as small household gardens of nutritious and medicinal herbs. “This is what we sacrificed for. To recover our land and our water to have a chance to survive here.”

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‘All I can think about is the children’s future’: drought devastates Kenya

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Nomads’ herds are dying along with rare wildlife as the longest dry spell in memory edges pastoralists ever nearer starvation

Dahabley smells of rotting flesh. Bodies of starved cows lie in various stages of decomposition, after being dragged to the outskirts of the village in Wajir county, north-east Kenya. They are added to on a near-daily basis and fester in the heat amid multiplying flies.

North-east Kenya is well used to spells of drought, but it is experiencing the worst in living memory. As the region’s short rainy season, which starts in October, draws to an end, parts of Wajir have only seen small showers and other areas have had no rain at all for more than a year.

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Six dead giraffes: Kenya drought horror captured in single picture

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Aerial shot shows devastating effect of drought that has left people and animals without water

Six dead giraffes lie in a spiral on the dry earth, their bodies emaciated and interwoven. The aerial shot, taken by the photojournalist Ed Ram, shows the devastation of Kenya’s drought, which has left people and animals struggling for food and water.

Already weak, the animals had died after they got stuck in the mud, according to Getty Images. They were trying to reach a nearby reservoir, although it had almost dried up, the agency reported.

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Battery power: five innovations for cleaner, greener electric vehicles

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EVs are seen as key in transition to low-carbon economy, but as their human and environmental costs become clearer, can new tech help?

While the journey to a low-carbon economy is well under way, the best route to get there remains up for debate. But, amid the slew of “pathways” and “roadmaps”, one broad consensus exists: “clean” technology will play a vital role.

Nowhere is this truer than for transport. To cut vehicle emissions, an alternative to the combustion engine is required.

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Migrant caravan and Qatar’s tarnished World Cup: human rights this fortnight – in pictures

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A roundup of the struggle for human rights and freedoms, from Pakistan to Poland

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World’s ‘calamitous’ water crisis being ignored in climate talks – WaterAid

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Cop26 summit focusing on slowing down global heating at expense of current impact on water-stressed regions, says head of WaterAid

A global water crisis is being ignored at Cop26 to the detriment of billions of people’s lives, according to the charity WaterAid.

Water had not had “nearly enough” attention at the climate conference in Glasgow, with urgent action needed, said Tim Wainwright, chief executive of WaterAid.

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‘Killing us slowly’: dams and drought choke Syria’s water supply – in pictures

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The dwindling flow of the Euphrates River combined with Turkey’s occupation of Alouk water station has disrupted access to water for 460,000 people

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