More than 150 million people and 318m acres of crops are affected by droughts after summer of record heat
Every US state except Alaska and Kentucky is facing drought, an unprecedented number, according to the US Drought Monitor.
A little more than 45% of the US and Puerto Rico is in drought this week, according to the tracker. About 54% of land in the 48 contiguous US states is affected by droughts.
Continue reading...Kennedy, who Trump promised to let lead health programs, makes claims against fluoride, which strengthens teeth
Robert F Kennedy Jr, a prominent proponent of debunked public health claims whom Donald Trump has promised to put in charge of health initiatives, said Saturday that the former president would push to remove fluoride from drinking water on his first day in office if elected.
Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear-and-tear, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.
Don’t miss important US election coverage. Get our free app and sign up for election alerts
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.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
Continue reading...National Health and Medical Research Council proposal lowers the limits for four PFAS chemicals in drinking water
Australia could toughen the rules regarding the acceptable levels of key PFAS chemicals in drinking water, lowering the amount of so-called forever chemicals allowed per litre.
The National Health and Medical Research Council on Monday released draft guidelines revising the limits for four PFAS chemicals in drinking water.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email
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...The groundwater system in western Victoria and south-east South Australia has begun to show signs of collapse, threatening the water security of SA’s second biggest city
Some of the best-quality groundwater in Australia underlies the upper and lower south-east of South Australia and parts of south-western Victoria.
But almost 200 years of draw down for agriculture, farming and domestic use has changed the surface drainage. Underground water in some areas has collapsed and water quality is deteriorating, putting at risk not only a fragile natural ecosystem but a $5bn regional economy.
Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter
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...Ofwat says firms must lower bills next year after poor performance on issues such as sewage spills and leaks
Water companies in England and Wales will have to return nearly £158m to customers through lower bills next year after falling further behind on key targets including sewage spills and leaks.
The regulator, Ofwat, announced the penalties as part of its annual review of companies’ performance.
Continue reading...Customer disputes over sewage spills, billing mistakes and water meters soar in past year
The number of customer complaints that were unable to be resolved by water companies in England and Wales has risen by almost a third to the highest level in nearly a decade.
There was a 29% increase in 2023-24 in cases escalated to the Consumer Council for Water (CCW) by households that failed to achieve a resolution from their supplier, the watchdog said.
Continue reading...Damage to sewage systems and pipes means widespread boil water notices and conservation orders could last weeks
Hurricane Helene left a path of devastation behind, with storm-ravaged areas struggling to access safe water for days because flooding damaged sewage systems, wastewater treatment plants and pipes that deliver drinking water to residents in the affected areas.
Boiling water advisories and water conservation orders are in place in counties in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia.
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...Contingency plan using sea tankers to deal with future shortages would be paid for from customers’ bills
Southern Water, one of Britain’s biggest water companies, is drawing up contingency plans to tanker water from Norway to deal with future supply shortages and drought.
Southern, which has 2.7 million customers for drinking water supply in the south-east of England, could import water from Norwegian fjords to provide up to 45m litres a day, and would pay for it from customers’ bills.
Continue reading...Culling after severe drought wiped out crops across region is also part of effort to decongest country’s parks
Zimbabwean authorities have set out plans to cull 200 elephants to feed communities facing acute hunger amid the worst drought in four decades.
The El Niño-induced drought has wiped out crops across southern Africa, affecting 68 million people and causing food shortages across the region. In Zimbabwe, 7.6 million people are set to face food insecurity from January to April next year, the height of the lean season, according to the World Food Programme.
Continue reading...Latin America was the most deadly region in which to defend ecosystems from mining and deforestation, with Indigenous people among half the dead
At least 196 people were killed last year for defending the environment, with more than a third of killings taking place in Colombia, new figures show.
From campaigners who spoke out against mining projects to Indigenous communities targeted by organised crime groups, an environmental defender was killed every other day in 2023, according to a new report by the NGO Global Witness.
Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow the biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on X for all the latest news and features.
Continue reading...Glaciologist says ‘he’s totally fine’ after video of rapper tasting water goes viral and viewers warn of contamination
Chris “Ludacris” Bridges sparked concern from some social media followers when he knelt on an Alaska glacier, dipped an empty water bottle into a blue, pristine pool of water and drank it.
Video of the rapper-turned-actor tasting the glacial water and proclaiming: “Oh my God!” got millions of views on TikTok and Instagram. Some viewers expressed concern that he was endangering his life by drinking the untreated water, warning it might be contaminated with the parasite giardia.
Continue reading...A quarter of all incidents, such as destruction of dams, pipelines and treatment plants, seen in Gaza Strip and West Bank
Israeli attacks on Palestinian water supplies in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip accounted for a quarter of all water-related violence in 2023, as armed conflicts over dwindling resources surged globally, according to new research.
Almost 350 water conflicts were documented worldwide in 2023, a 50% rise on 2022, which was also a record year, according to the Pacific Institute, a California-based non partisan thinktank tracking water violence. The violence included attacks on dams, pipelines, wells, treatment plants and workers, as well as public unrest and disputes over access to water, and the use of water as a weapon of war.
Continue reading...State-backed body EDC has reportedly sold at deep discount two loans made to debt-ridden UK utility
Canada’s state-backed export credit agency is reportedly nursing steep losses after lending debt-ridden Thames Water hundreds of millions of pounds.
The British utility, which has said it could run out of cash by next June, received two loans from Export Development Canada (EDC) in 2018 and 2019 at the behest of the Canadian pension fund Omers.
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...EPA says Tucson’s drinking water is contaminated but air force claims agency lacks authority to order cleanup
The US air force is refusing to comply with an order to clean drinking water it polluted in Tucson, Arizona, claiming federal regulators lack authority after the conservative-dominated US supreme court overturned the “Chevron doctrine”. Air force bases contaminated the water with toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” and other dangerous compounds.
Though former US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials and legal experts who reviewed the air force’s claim say the Chevron doctrine ruling probably would not apply to the order, the military’s claim that it would represents an early indication of how polluters will wield the controversial court decision to evade responsibility.
Continue reading...The penalties reflect the failings of the Environment Agency and Ofwat as much as the water companies
Behind the record fines announced by Ofwat for the routine dumping of sewage into rivers and seas by three water companies, there is a voiceless victim, one that does not sit in boardrooms, or get a chance to count dividends. It is our rivers and coastal waters, subjected to years of continuous pollution under the noses of the regulators, which are suffering.
In all likelihood the £168m penalties for the already struggling Thames Water, Yorkshire Water and Northumbrian Water will be followed by fines for the remaining eight water and sewerage companies, all of whom Ofwat is investigating over failure to treat sewage according to the law.
Continue reading...