• Water

Navajo Lack Water to Fight COVID-19 Because Coal Company Drained the Tribe’s Aquifer

• aquifer
• COVID-19
• Environmental Justice
• Hopi
• mining
• Navajo
• Peabody Energy
• water

Bloomberg News reports that Peabody Energy, the largest coal producer in the country, operated two coal mines on Navajo and Hopi reservation lands that pulled so much water from the Navajo Aquifer that many wells and springs have now run dry. This comes when water is more necessary than ever for essential hygiene since Covid-19 has hit the Navajo Nation harder than any state.

Why This Matters:  Peabody never replenished the aquifer water it took under a suspect agreement with the Tribes —  as much as 1.3 billion gallons of water from the aquifer annually —  and one-third of residents have no running water in the midst of the worst pandemic in generations.

• Water

NY Denies Water Permit to Build Pipeline for Gas, Wants to Build Transmission Line Instead

• #CleanWaterAct
• conservation
• environment
• fracking
• gas
• pipeline
• power
• Solar
• water
• wind

New York state environmental regulators denied for a third time a permit for a pipeline that would transport fracked natural gas from Pennsylvania to New York City and Long Island for two reasons: water quality in the Long Island Sound and fidelity to the state’s new law that requires the New York to transition its power sector to net-zero emissions by 2040 and reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions by 85 percent from 1990 levels by 2050. 

Why This Matters:  This is how the stimulus funding from the federal government should work — it must be used to build cleaner and more efficient new infrastructure that decreases our dependence on fossil fuels.

• Climate Change

Despite COVID Worries, Climate Still A Top Concern For 66% of Americans

• climate change
• Drought
• heat
• public opinion
• water

A new, nationwide public opinion survey conducted by Yale from April 7–17 found that a record-tying 73% of Americans think global warming is happening and only 10% deny it, but most believe it is happening to others and not to them. 

Why This Matters:  The pollsters expected they would find that because the public is so concerned about the pandemic that they would not have the ability to maintain their concern about climate change — a theory that social scientists call the “finite pool of worry.”  But that was not the case.

• Water

California Wins Battle With Trump Administration About Water and Endangered Species

• California water
• conservation
• endangered species
• environment
• Salmon
• water

A federal court on Monday put on hold President Trump’s February order that overturned agency scientists and revised federal water supply plans in California, frustrating a political promise he made to farmers in central California to lift water restrictions for the benefit of agriculture there. 

Why This Matters:  This decision is just a temporary hold on the Trump administration’s water grab.  But the time is key for both the species at risk of extinction and for the farmers who will lose out on additional water that they would get to take out of the system for agriculture now, while there is spring runoff happening — water they can’t get back later because it is already flushed through the system.

• Politics

In Today’s Michigan Primary – As Well As The Other States – Water Issues A Top Concern

• #DemocraticPrimaries
• clean water
• democrats
• Flint
• Flooding
• safe drinking water
• water

Whether it is drinking water in Michigan, floodwaters in Missouri and Mississippi, or dams versus salmon in Washington and Idaho, or wastewater from fracking in North Dakota — clean water is an issue that runs through the primaries that are taking place today.

Why This Matters:  The two remaining Democratic candidates have not had a chance to discuss these important water issues in the debates thus far.

• Politics

Western Voters, Nevadans In Particular, See Climate and Pollution As Top Issues In Election

• #30x30
• climate change
• conservation
• endagered species
• poll
• water
• Westerners
• wildlife

A new poll released Thursday by Colorado College just before the Nevada Democratic caucuses shows that for residents of both parties in Western states care deeply about a wide range of conservation issues from battling climate change and pollution, to protecting federal lands and parks and endangered species, and ensuring clean and plentiful water. 

Why This Matters:  If history is a guide, climate change will drive Latinos to vote in the caucuses and in the general election in Nevada this year.

• Water

North Darfur Sees Peace Through Water Management

• Darfur
• Drought
• Sahara
• Sudan
• water

Darfur has seen more than its fair share of turmoil. Millions were forced to flee a decade of violence that killed as many as 400,000 and many people remain in refugee camps today. On top of this, the climate crisis is playing out in a very real way in the Sahel as the Sahara desert […]

• 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 […]