Untreated effluent flowed into waterways for more than 1.5m hours, data shows
Water companies in England discharged raw sewage into rivers on more than 200,000 occasions last year, according to data obtained by the Guardian.
The analysis reveals untreated human waste was released into streams and rivers for more than 1.5m hours in 2019.
Continue reading...The azure pool only appears after heavy rains, but cold, wet weather hasn’t deterred locals from taking a dip
On kunanyi/Mount Wellington, 200mm of rainfall has transformed a rocky patch of forest into a striking pool. It’s freezing cold, but the water is clear and blue.
The Disappearing Tarn appears only after a heavy downpour. It’s shrouded in a layer of mystery among visitors and scientists alike: geomorphologist Kevin Kiernan speculates its arresting blue colour may be a result of fine sediments in the water as it pools over depressions in the land. At the bottom of this basin, organic matter rots and occasionally releases bubbles.
Continue reading...NSW audit office blasts water conservation efforts and finds Sydney Water was two years too late in responding to recent drought
The New South Wales government has failed to investigate or implement water conservation measures for greater Sydney, leaving the city’s water supply vulnerable to the effects of population growth, drought and climate change, the state’s auditor has found.
The report by the NSW audit office also found Sydney Water was two years too late in increasing funding for water conservation in response to the recent drought.
Continue reading...When it comes to water infrastructure, America’s challenges resemble those of a developing country. It’s time for that to change
How can it be that in the midst of a pandemic, children living in the richest country in world history are being poisoned by tap water? For decades, our government has put corporate profits ahead of guaranteeing its people the right to clean water. We have neglected the most basic public investments to keep Americans healthy and safe. Now, as America battles an unprecedented public health crisis, we can no longer continue along a course in which companies have been allowed to buy up, privatize, and profit off a basic human right. The solution is not more privatization – it is for Congress to end decades of neglect and immediately invest billions into our public water systems so that we can finally guarantee clean drinking water to everybody.
That’s why we joined with Representative Ro Khanna to introduce the Water Affordability, Transparency, Equity and Reliability (Water) Act. This comprehensive legislation would provide up to $35bn per year to overhaul our water infrastructure across the nation.
Continue reading...Exclusive: analysis of US cities shows emergency on affordability of running water amid Covid-19 pandemic
Millions of ordinary Americans are facing rising and unaffordable bills for running water, and risk being disconnected or losing their homes if they cannot pay, a landmark Guardian investigation has found.
Exclusive analysis of 12 US cities shows the combined price of water and sewage increased by an average of 80% between 2010 and 2018, with more than two-fifths of residents in some cities living in neighbourhoods with unaffordable bills.
Continue reading...The Guardian – in partnership with Consumer Reports and others – is launching a one-year series of investigations highlighting the US water crisis
Almost exactly 10 years ago, on 28 July 2010, the United Nations declared water a human right under international law. And not just any water, but clean water – and sufficient water for “drinking, personal sanitation, washing of clothes, food preparation, personal and household hygiene”.
Imagine a country where, 10 years years on, over two million people are denied access to running water and basic indoor plumbing.
Continue reading...Climate breakdown means conditions that wrought devastation across Great Plains could return to region
The agricultural conditions known as a “dust bowl”, which helped propel mass migration among drought-stricken farmers in the US during the great depression of the 1930s, are now more than twice as likely to reoccur in the region, because of climate breakdown, new research has found.
Dust bowl conditions in the 1930s wrought devastation across the US agricultural heartlands of the Great Plains, which run through the middle of the continental US stretching from Montana to Texas. The conditions are caused by a combination of heatwaves, drought and farming practices, replacing the native prairie vegetation.
Continue reading...Despite Egypt’s fears of ‘hydro hegemony’ and concerns it will worsen water shortages in Sudan, Ethiopia’s controversial dam project is close to fruition
From his office in central Khartoum, Ahmed al-Mufti prepares every day for what he believes is the water war to come.
This conviction led Mufti, a prominent human rights lawyer and water expert, to quit the Sudanese delegation that is negotiating Nile water issues with Egypt and Ethiopia.
Continue reading...From underground aqueducts to tree-bridges and fish that love sewage, indigenous customs could save the planet – but are under threat. Landscape architect Julia Watson shares her ‘lo-TEK’ vision
On the eastern edge of Kolkata, near the smoking mountain of the city’s garbage dump, the 15 million-strong metropolis dissolves into a watery landscape of channels and lagoons, ribboned by highways. This patchwork of ponds might seem like an unlikely place to find inspiration for the future of sustainable cities, but that’s exactly what Julia Watson sees in the marshy muddle.
The network of pools, she explains, are bheris, shallow, flat-bottomed fish ponds that are fed by 700m litres of raw sewage every day – half the city’s output. The ponds produce 13,000 tonnes of fish each year. But the system, which has been operating for a century, doesn’t just produce a huge amount of fish – it treats the city’s wastewater, fertilises nearby rice fields, and employs 80,000 fishermen within a cooperative.
Watson, a landscape architect, says it saves around $22m (£18m) a year on the cost of a conventional wastewater treatment plant, while cutting down on transport, as the fish are sold in local markets. “It is the perfect symbiotic solution,” she says. “It operates entirely without chemicals, seeing fish, algae and bacteria working together to form a sustainable, ecologically balanced engine for the city.”
Continue reading...On World Water Day, UN warns that more than half the global population lacking access to safely managed sanitation
Decades of chronic underfunding of water infrastructure is putting many countries at worse risk in the coronavirus crisis, with more than half the global population lacking access to safely managed sanitation, experts said as the UN marked World Water Day on Sunday.
Good hygiene – soap and water – are the first line of defence against coronavirus and a vast range of other diseases, yet three quarters of households in developing countries do not have access to somewhere to wash with soap and water, according to Tim Wainwright, chief executive of the charity WaterAid. A third of healthcare facilities in developing countries also lack access to clean water on site.
Continue reading...With the cruise ships gone and the souvenir stalls closed, the coronavirus lockdown has transformed La Serenissima’s waterways
Look down into the waters of the Venice canals today and there is a surprising sight – not just a clear view of the sandy bed, but shoals of tiny fish, scuttling crabs and multicoloured plant-life.
“The water is blue and clear,” said Gloria Beggiato, who owns the celebrated Metropole Hotel a few steps from St Mark’s square and has a view over the Venice lagoon. “It is calm like a pond, because there are no more waves caused by motorised boats transporting day-tripper tourists. And of course, the giant cruise ships have disappeared.”
Continue reading...A duo in India have been spurred into action to fix pipes to conserve the water supply in Kolkata
There is light drizzle as Vijay Aggarwal and Ajay Mittal manoeuvre their two-wheelers through the labyrinthine alleyways of Kolkata’s Tiljala road slum. Early Sunday morning, the neighbourhood is teeming with activity – women sit on their haunches washing clothes and utensils; half-soaped children scurry in and out of their baths; towel-clad men wait to brush their teeth. Every 50 metres a community pipe gushes out water – plastic bottles, jerry cans and metal buckets are lined up to fill.
The duo along with their plumber, Ravi Shaw, who rides pillion, make their way to the first huddle of people and get to work. All it takes is a blow and twist of a wrench – the nozzle pops loose. Shaw fishes out an orange and white tap from his bag and fits it. While Aggarwal hurriedly plasters a Save Water Save Life sticker on to a lamppost, Mittal tells the people to close the tap once they are done and points out the helpline number on the sticker.
Continue reading...World’s largest artificial lake drops by six metres in three years after lengthy drought
Zambia is facing severe water and electricity shortages after a lengthy drought, with reservoir levels remaining worryingly low despite recent rains.
Water levels in Lake Kariba, the world’s largest artificial lake at more than 5,500 sq km, have dropped by six metres in the past three years.
Continue reading...Heavy rainfall across New South Wales and Queensland boosts rivers and allow farmers to plant crops for the first time in several seasons
Heavy and widespread rain across three states is bringing joy to parched towns with some farming regions receiving “drought-breaking” rains.
Further rainfall from ex-Tropical Cyclone Esther was delivering water into regional water storages and rivers, with farmers able to plant crops for the first time in several seasons.
Continue reading...Scheme provides clean water and helps foster trust between indigenous groups
Romelia Mendúa was handing out plantain drinks served in aluminium bowls. Guests were seated in a hammock and on the bare wooden floor. Beyond the window was the lush vegetation of Ecuador’s north-eastern Amazon.
Chocula, as the drink is called, is made by mashing plantains into water, and is a common refreshment in the Amazon. But the water in Mendúa’s chocula was no ordinary water. It came through a tap in her kitchen connected to two tanks outside collecting and filtering rainfall.
Continue reading...Three years of water shortages in Eswatini have disproportionately affected the HIV-positive community. The founder of a local support group in Lubombo is empowering others to look after themselves
Climate emergency is fuelling drought, food poverty and disaster in the global south but humanitarian crises under-reported
The African continent is a “blind spot” for coverage of the humanitarian crises that are being fuelled by the climate emergency, according to a new analysis [pdf].
Madagascar’s chronic food crisis, where 2.6 million people were affected by drought in 2019, came top of the list of 10 of the most under-reported crises last year, Care International’s annual survey found.
Continue reading...Minister disappointed that New South Wales did not submit Murray-Darling basin resource plans
The federal government is withholding millions of dollars from the New South Wales government for failing to complete water resource plans for the Murray-Darling basin.
In a letter to the state’s water minister, Melinda Pavey, the federal water resources minister, David Littleproud, raised concerns the 20 plans had not been submitted.
Continue reading...Highest levels of PFAS in Miami, Philadelphia and New Orleans, report by environmental watchdog finds
The contamination of US drinking water with manmade “forever chemicals” is far worse than previously estimated with some of the highest levels found in Miami, Philadelphia and New Orleans, said a report on Wednesday by an environmental watchdog group.
The chemicals, resistant to breaking down in the environment, are known as perfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. Some have been linked to cancers, liver damage, low birth weight and other health problems.
Continue reading...Tension over water scarcity is increasing across the globe. A new system flags up where this threatens to erupt into violence
Researchers from six organisations have developed an early warning system to help predict potential water conflicts as violence associated with water surges globally.
The Dutch government-funded Water, Peace and Security (WPS) global early warning tool, which was presented to the UN security council before it was launched formally last month, combines environmental variables such as rainfall and crop failures with political, economic and social factors to predict the risk of violent water-related conflicts up to a year in advance.
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