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1 week ago | 
circleofblue.org | Christian Thorsberg
A new study finds that groundwater withdrawals from the Colorado River basin have risen sharply over the past two decades, with cities like Phoenix forecast to reach depletion by century’s end. Prolonged drought around San Antonio, Texas, has prompted local authorities to require customers to cut their groundwater withdrawals nearly in half. Global technology companies are eyeing Brazil for their newest data centers, despite recent years of drought and water scarcity.
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1 week ago | 
circleofblue.org | Christian Thorsberg
Dredging and a continued loss of sediment in British Columbia’s Fraser River threatens the delta’s salmon populations, farmland, and resistance to floods. Vulnerable lesser flamingos have lost one of their four African breeding sites following the dumping of untreated sewage at a South African dam. Namibia, facing one of its worst droughts in over a century, has secured funding to improve water infrastructure and access.
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2 weeks ago | 
circleofblue.org | Christian Thorsberg
Because of drought in Syria’s growing regions, the country’s annual wheat production is projected to drop by three-fourths. Extreme weather — primarily drought and heavy rainfall — costs the European Union nearly $32 billion in agricultural losses each year. The French government and Nestlé are again being investigated for colluding to conceal the filtering and sterilization of Perrier’s “natural” water.
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2 weeks ago | 
circleofblue.org | Christian Thorsberg
More than a foot of rain fell in less than 24 hours across many parts of Argentina’s Buenos Aires province, disrupting lives and crop production. The water in Brazil’s Jundiai River is flowing bright blue following a chemical spill that stained the habitat’s birds and fish. China’s plans to build the world’s largest hydroelectric dam near its border with India, adding complexity to the region’s geopolitics and water disputes.
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1 month ago | 
circleofblue.org | Christian Thorsberg
Violent rainfall hit western India this week, killing 14 people and damaging produce and grains. Five alpine lakes in western Argentina are rapidly vanishing, a consequence of both climate variability and water diversions. England, whose reservoir capacity hasn’t been upgraded in more than 30 years, is preparing for summer drought after a particularly dry spring.
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1 month ago | 
circleofblue.org | Christian Thorsberg
Freshwater mussels, which are declining globally, are of particular concern in the American South, where massive die-offs have evaded scientific explanation. In the communities along Cambodia’s Tonle Sap, the effects of climate change are endangering health, fisheries, and childrens’ journeys to floating schools. Water shortages in Iraq have more than halved the country’s population of buffalo over the past decade.
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1 month ago | 
circleofblue.org | Christian Thorsberg
India has pledged to break a decades-old water-sharing treaty with Pakistan, promising to cut off Indus River flows into the latter nation in the coming months. Lead mining in Myanmar has boomed since the country’s 2021 coup, with rivers and streams enduring harsh pollution as a result. In the high plateaus of Bolivia, where both drought and deluges have discouraged many from taking up farming, two ancient crops have shown they can withstand harsh weather.
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1 month ago | 
circleofblue.org | Christian Thorsberg
Heavy, deadly rain and snow fell last week on Italy and Switzerland, swelling several rivers and disrupting travel through multiple regions. Villagers in northern Colombia’s wetlands have long endured salty rivers and fish die-offs as a result of development — now, they are advocating for change. New York winegrowers contending with climate change fear their efforts to operate more sustainably — to improve soil health and water quality — will soon lose funding.
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1 month ago | 
circleofblue.org | Christian Thorsberg
Drought is imminent in the Netherlands, researchers say, as groundwater reserves and major rivers are much emptier compared to years past. Snowfall in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region this year was down significantly, a change with wide-reaching effects on several major Asian river basins. Louisiana, home to the largest area of America’s coastal wetlands, is at risk from oil development that threatens to harm waterways and release stored carbon.
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2 months ago | 
circleofblue.org | Christian Thorsberg
Torrential rains caused deadly flooding and extensive damage in eastern Spain at the end of October 2024. Photo courtesy of U.S. Geological Survey Landsat 8/NASAIn an effort to revive England’s freshwater ecosystems, it will soon be legal — for the first time in centuries — to release beavers into the nation’s waters. A multibillion-dollar potassium mining project southeast of Manaus, Brazil, is being challenged by an Indigenous community for its potential to harm Amazonian rivers and lakes.
