• Water

Army Study Says Climate Change Threatens Mission Failure Due to Expanded Need for Water

• bottled water
• Drought
• heat stroke
• water

A new study from the Army War College found that the “Army is precipitously close to mission failure concerning hydration of the force in a contested arid environment” and needs to “reinvest aggressively in technologies both in-house and commercial off the shelf in the next 5-10 years to keep pace with rising global temperatures, especially those arid areas in or poised for conflict.” 

Why This Matters:  This is not just a problem for years in the future — the military is already experiencing it today.  As we reported earlier this month, at a U.S. Air Force Base in Qatar, on hot days, servicemembers can only work for 10 minutes of each hour and they must drink 2 bottles of water during the same hour.   And NBC News and Inside Climate News reported last summer that an increasing number of service members are suffering from heat-related illnesses.

• Water

7.5 Million Californians Affected by Toxic Chemicals in Drinking Water

• Califorina
• drinking water
• PFAS
• water

A recent study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that 74 community water systems in California, which serve 7.5 million people, were contaminated with toxic fluorinated chemicals known as PFAS between 2013 and 2019. Why This Matters: The chemical companies that have made these chemicals for use in their products (like DuPont and 3M) largely pass along the cleanup costs of water sources onto municipalities and taxpayers.

• Water

Water Crisis Deepens in Zimbabwe – 2 Million People’s Supply Cut Off

• #safedrinkingwater
• climate change
• Drought
• United Nations
• water
• Zimbabwe

CBS News and CNN are reporting that because of a major drought in Zimbabwe that occurred for months, more than 2 million residents of Zimbabwe’s capital and surrounding towns were without tap water on Tuesday because city officials had to shut down the city’s main treatment plant — they do not have the money to […]

• People

Interview of the Week: Jane Prior on Aluminum Water Bottles

• aluminum
• can
• plastic
• single use plastic
• straw
• water
• water bottle

Jane Prior is the chief marketing officer of All Market Inc. (AMI). AMI brands include leading coconut water beverage Vita Coco, clean energy drink Runa and aluminum bottled water Ever & Ever. ODP: The single-use plastic water bottle is quickly becoming the new “straw.” Why? JP:  It’s estimated that globally both 500 billion plastic bottles are used every year, and one million single-use […]

• Water

Newark Fast Tracks Lead Pipe Replacement

• clean water
• drinking water
• EPA
• lead
• Newark
• water

We wrote the other week about Newark’s ongoing water crisis and the city’s plan to distribute bottled water to residents after water filters that were previously made available to the public lacked the ability to filter out lead. Now New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka announced a new $120 million plan yesterday to fast-track […]

• Sustainability

One Cool Tennis Thing: Wimbledon “Aces” Sustainability

• recycle
• renewable energy
• tennis
• vegan
• water
• Wimbledon

Wimbledon crowned its new champions over the weekend (congrats to all the winners), but the biggest winner overall was conservation.  This year, the tournament went all in on sustainability — from donating all the 53,000 used tennis balls to schools and selling them with player signatures rather than throwing them away, to strongly encouraging the […]

• Water

New Study Find Water Underwater

• groundwater
• India
• submarine. seabed
• water
• water shortage

Using high tech equipment usually employed to find oil and gas resources under the seabed, researchers have found another precious natural resource — a huge freshwater aquifer stretching from the coast of Massachusetts to New Jersey.  The brackish (somewhat salty) water, according to the study, which was published in “Scientific Reports,” would need to be desalinized before consumption, but it would not require the energy-intensive process currently undertaken in some countries around the world.

• Sustainability

Blueland: Reducing Single Use Plastics With Reusable Bottles and Cleaning Tablets

• Blueland
• BPA free plastic
• cleaning products
• planet
• plastic
• pollution
• waste
• water

An ambitious startup called Blueland launched two weeks ago with a simple concept, but the company is hoping to revolutionize the way we buy cleaning products.  They are selling a set of durable, reusable plastic bottles along with tablets that dissolve in water that can be re-ordered, thus eliminating the need to buy household items in single-use plastic containers.  Blueland is convinced that its customers over time can eliminate the need for 100 billion single-use plastic bottles in the U.S. alone.

• Water

New data shows 610 sites in 43 states contaminated with toxic PFAS chemicals

• clean water
• contamination
• drinking water
• EPA
• PFAS
• safe drinking water
• water

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a family of chemicals that are linked to cancer and other illnesses and we’ve written numerous times about the extent of their contamination of drinking water in the U.S. (even at military bases) and the EPA’s slow response to regulate these toxins. Now a new analysis put out by […]

• Sustainability

One Cool Thing for Cooling Off: Drink Pouches Made of Seaweed

• London Marathon
• plastic water bottles
• sustainable
• water

At the London Marathon yesterday, organizers tried something new to sustainably refresh runners and replace plastic bottles and paper cups that litter the route of most road races.  According to CBS News, the 40,000 runners received a seaweed capsule filled with Lucozade Sport, an electrolyte drink that they could either eat or tear open and […]

• Water

Bipartisan Agreement On Colorado River Drought Plan

• colorado river
• contingency plan
• Drought
• water

A bipartisan group of lawmakers worked quickly yesterday to provide Congressional approval for a drought plan to address the shrinking supply of water from the Colorado River, which provides 40 million people in the West with drinking water, power and irrigation for crops. 

• Health

EPA Says It Will Regulate Toxic PFAS Chemicals…Eventually

• clean water
• Environmental Working Group
• EPA
• PFAS
• toxic
• water

Yesterday the EPA released its long-awaited plan to address Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) a family of chemicals that are linked to cancer and other illnesses, and that are found widely across the U.S. in drinking water and soil.  But the “action” plan, which promises to begin a process by the end of the year […]