• Water

City of Newark Reaches Settlement In Lead Pipe Lawsuit

• clean water
• drinking water
• lead pipes
• New Jersey
• Newark

by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer On Tuesday, the city of Newark, New Jersey settled years-long litigation surrounding the dangerously high levels of lead in the city’s drinking water. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Newark Education Workers Caucus (NEW) sued state officials in June 2018 for violations of the federal Safe Drinking […]

• Water

Aquifers, 8% of Earth’s Land Area at Risk of Sinking, Flooding

• aquifer
• crops
• Drought
• water

by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer A first-of-its-kind study has found that in the next 20 years, 1.6 billion people will be affected by crumbling aquifers. Subsidence, the degradation of aquifers due to over-extraction of water and drought, causes the earth to cave in reducing aquifers’ ability to hold water and puts communities at risk […]

• Water

In EJ Win, Navajo Nation Settles Lawsuit Over 2015 Oil Spill

• Gold King Mine
• gold mine
• Navajo
• Sunnyside Gold Corporation
• wastewater

In an environmental justice win, last week the Navajo Nation settled a lawsuit it brought against mining companies resulting from a destructive oil spill in 2015 that poisoned rivers in three western states.

Why this Matters:  This spill was devastating, contaminating 200 miles of river on Navajo lands — farmers and water utilities had to stop drawing from those rivers.

• Water

Lead Pipes Continue to Plague Millions, Especially in Black Communities

• clean water
• Flint
• lead
• lead pipes
• lead poisoning

by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer Despite a century of knowledge on the dangers of lead poisoning, dozens of studies showing the impacts of lead on children’s development, and high-profile humanitarian disasters like the 2014 Flint Water Crisis, millions of Americans are still being exposed to lead in their drinking water. What’s worse: new studies […]

• Water

Global Warming has Pushed Western States into a “Forever Drought”

• California
• Colorado
• Drought
• snow drought

by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer Water experts say that worsening drought conditions across the nation may be here to stay. Extreme drought conditions in western states like Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico were once a semi-centennial occurrence, happening every 50 years. Now, these droughts are a common occurrence that disproportionately burdens low-income communities. […]

• Water

Turkey Is Praying for Rain

• climate change
• crop failure
• dams
• Drought
• Turkey
• water

Turkey is experiencing its most severe drought in a decade after critically low rainfall over the past six months. Istanbul has less than 45 days of water remaining. Ankara, the country’s capital has 110. Other cities also face limited water and depleted dams, and farmers are concerned about crop failure.

Why this Matters: Things are so bad, the imams are telling their worshipers to pray for rain.