| | | A dai fishery (stationary bagnets) on the Tonle Sap River, which connects the Mekong with the Tonle Sap Lake. Photo © Wonders of the Mekong |
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For many years the warning signs flashed the same message: the Mekong River, Southeast Asia’s main waterway, was headed toward environmental disaster. Then, in 2019, the bounty seemed finally, and literally, to dry up. The monsoon rains that fill the river each year and turn the basin into a wonderland of biological riches didn’t come until the mighty Mekong had been reduced, in parts, to a virtual trickle. In Cambodia’s interconnected Tonle Sap Lake, the heart of the world’s largest inland fishery, some fishers reported catch declines of more than 80 percent.
Is this the new normal in the Mekong? For several years, Stefan Lovgren has reported on the environmental changes in one of the most biodiverse regions in the world. Much of that reporting has focused on the decline and degradation that is undeniably occurring throughout the basin. But he has also covered positive developments and innovative new approaches that, if increased and expanded, could reverse the river’s decline. |
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| | | A chemical plant along the Mississippi River in Louisiana is silhouetted against a glowing sky in this photo from 1988. Louisiana had the fourth-most number of hazardous spills to drinking water sources, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency analysis of data between 2010 and 2019. Photo © J. Carl Ganter / Circle of Blue |
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The 2014 Freedom Industries spill in West Virginia is one of many incidents detailed in a new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report that is the most comprehensive assessment to date of the number, location, and characteristics of chemical and toxic spills into U.S. drinking water sources.
Using a combination of federal data sets covering the years between 2010 and 2019, the assessment found 3,931 incidents of toxic spills into groundwater, rivers, or lakes used for drinking water. The spills occurred in the vicinity of 15 percent of the country’s drinking water intakes that draw from surface water but in less than 1 percent of groundwater wells. |
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Since Hurricanes Eta and Iota devastated Nicaragua last winter, an estimated 500,000 people along the northern Caribbean coast do not have access to clean water, hygiene, and sanitation facilities.
For the past four months, the Nicaraguan government and international humanitarian organizations have been rebuilding housing, water facilities, and other damaged infrastructure, but officials on the ground say the efforts are not enough. The country’s dry season, which began in December and will go until the end of May, has sparked concerns for those without drinkable water, food, or shelter. |
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For the news you need to start the week, tune into “What’s Up With Water” fresh on Monday’s on iTunes, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and SoundCloud. Featured coverage from this week’s episode of What’s Up With Water looks at: In the United States, officials in Mississippi’s capital lifted a citywide boil-water advisory that had been in place for a month, after two winter storms crippled the water system. Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara have examined the physical links between rivers and aquifers. More U.S. rivers may be leaking water into the ground than previously realized. In California, state regulators are developing the world’s first guidelines for small plastic particles in drinking water. This week, Circle of Blue reports on the role of Indigenous treaty rights in one of Michigan's largest environmental conflicts. |
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| From Circle of Blue's Archives: |
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| | | A fresh strip of pavement on a street in Matheny Tract, an unincorporated community in California’s San Joaquin Valley, is evidence of a newly installed water distribution pipe. Matheny Tract was connected to the city of Tulare’s water system in 2016. Photo © Brett Walton / Circle of Blue |
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Amid rising costs, stricter regulations, deteriorating water quality, and a lack of technical expertise, many small water systems in California and across the country are looking to join forces with larger systems, either through sharing operations staff, forming regional partnerships, or full integration of the physical infrastructure, governance, and billing systems.
So called “consolidations” won’t solve all of America’s drinking water problems, said Jeff Hughes, director of the University of North Carolina’s Environmental Finance Center, who has studied utility financial struggles across the United States. But they are a tool, and one that is in demand. |
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