 | | A girl fills water jugs at a Afridev pump in Bangladesh Cox’s Bazaar refugee camp. Photo © Jennifer Möller-Gulland. |
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Well over 1 billion people have gained access to clean water since India Mark II and Afridev hand water pumps went into widespread operation in the 1980s. That's success. But they are ticklish to manage. According to various studies, between 25 percent to 40 percent of the installed pumps no longer work due to weak community maintenance programs, corrosion, failed parts, and poor well construction.
Because of that, the Mark II and Afridev pumps are stirring another dispute: Could the "death of the hand pump," as the Dutch think tank IRC suggests, be at hand?
This article, the third in a series on the global status of universal access to water, sanitation, and hygiene, is produced through a collaboration between Circle of Blue and the Wilson Center, with support from The Hilton Foundation.
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 | | The Tapped Out project is part of a collaboration that includes the Institute for Nonprofit News, California Health Report, Center for Collaborative Investigative Journalism, Circle of Blue, Columbia Insight, Ensia, High Country News, New Mexico In Depth and SJV Water. It was made possible by a grant from The Water Desk, with support from Ensia and INN’s Amplify News Project. |
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 | | Formed some 2 million years ago at the intersection of three geologic faults, Clear Lake is a natural marvel, considered the oldest lake in North America. It is also the site of severe blooms of toxic cyanobacteria from June through November that obscure the water and are a risk to health and safety. Photo © Brett Walton / Circle of Blue |
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Clear Lake, about 100 miles north of San Francisco, is relatively shallow, warm and, by its nature, biologically productive. That’s why it’s known as one of the best bass fishing spots in the country. It’s also considered the oldest lake in North America, which means that algae have probably been present for some portion of its 2 million years. Indigenous groups have lived along the lake’s clean waters and fertile shores for some 12,000 years.
But over the last century and a half, Clear Lake’s ecological balance has come undone. White settlers planted orchards, dug mercury mines, and built homes and towns. In the process an estimated 85 percent of the lake’s nutrient-absorbing wetlands were destroyed. Unimpeded flows of nitrogen and phosphorus tipped Clear Lake into hyperproductivity, or eutrophication. Algae and cyanobacteria blooms worsened in the 1970s, starting improving through the 1990s, and now are as extensive as any in generations. |
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 | | A mural in Lakeport celebrates nearby Clear Lake. Photo © Brett Walton / Circle of Blue |
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Not only an aesthetic affront, harmful algal blooms in California’s Clear Lake are a threat to public health, recreation, and the local economy. For the 18 public water systems that draw from the lake the noxious blooms are something else: an operating hazard that is complicating their treatment processes and increasing the cost of providing clean water in one of the state’s poorest counties.
The degradation of Clear Lake and the steps water managers are taking to deal with it, are a distillation of the turmoil that algae and cyanobacteria are taking across the United States and around the world. Reducing the threat is expensive. State and federal water quality regulators, prodded by deteriorating conditions at Clear Lake and in other areas, are taking notice.
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 | | The Great Lakes Ready or Not project is produced by the Great Lakes News Collaborative, a partnership between Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at DPTV and Michigan Radio that explores an essential question: Are Great Lakes residents and leaders ready for the stirred and shaken conditions that climatologists say we can expect? A new piece will be published every Tuesday over the next four months. |
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 | | Nurdles are scattered on the Lake Michigan shoreline near Muskegon. The small plastic pellets, which are melted down to produce plastic products, are a common type of microplastic. Photo © Kelly House / Bridge Michigan |
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Microplastic pollution has been building up in the Great Lakes for at least four decades, but our understanding of its impact on fish and other aquatic creatures is only just catching up.
Now new research from the University of Toronto shows the harm to wildlife is due to a wide range of factors that is not generally considered in toxicology testing – the plastics’ size, shape and chemical makeup. In particular, it shows larval fathead minnows exposed to microplastics collected from Lake Ontario developed almost six times more deformities compared to when they were exposed ‘pristine’ pre-consumer microplastics. This suggests microplastics in the lake soak up contaminants in the water and that it is these chemicals that are causing deformities. |
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Climate change, environmental insecurity, and limited fresh water are escalating conflict throughout Mali, preventing peace-building and disrupting livelihoods, according to a report published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) last month.
For over a decade, the people of the West African country have endured government conflict and attacks by terrorist fundamentalist groups. Now, after years of destabilization and weak governance, Mali’s changing climate has undermined attempts for peace and further challenged people who are dependent on the country’s resources and environment. |
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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: - Water, sanitation and hygiene – known collectively as WASH, are in the news globally.
- In Turkey, some of the country’s largest banks are reluctant to finance a hotly debated canal due to environmental concerns and investment risks.
- In South Asia, pandemic lockdowns gave an environmental boost to the region’s water supplies.
- In Tibet, an unstable glacial lake on the Yarlung Zangbo River could jeopardize China’s plan to build a major hydropower dam on the river.
- In the United States, California warns of broader water restrictions as the state prepares for historic drought.
This week, Circle of Blue reports on the status of federal assistance for household water debts. |
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 | | City water authorities have supplied tens of thousands of people living in Durban’s settlements with faucet standpipes and water tanks to supply fresh water. Photo © Keith Schneider / Circle of Blue |
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Arguably the most elegant aspect of an inelegant subject is how Durban, South Africa’s second largest city with 3.2 million residents, is solving monumental water and waste challenges in its jammed informal settlements.
The eThekwini (ett-ta-kweeny) Muncipality Water and Sanitation Department, Durban’s water and waste management provider, avoided huge and expensive equipment, big pipelines, and the complicated sewage disposal practices of centralized water and sanitation systems. Instead it deployed a decentralized strategy, partnerships, baseline research, and less expensive tools that worked. The centerpiece of Durban’s program for the time being is the “community ablution block” public washroom. It is an ordinary marine cargo container refitted inside with running water in sinks and wash basins, toilets and showers. Durban has 2,500 ablution blocks installed in many of its nearly 500 informal settlements. There is sufficient public funding to fabricate and install perhaps 80 more annually. |
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