Water & Oceans

"The devastating floods in Pakistan are a "wake-up call" to the world on the threats of climate change, experts have said."

"WASHINGTON — Flood maps used by the Federal Emergency Management Agency are out of date and understate the risks to homes and businesses from flooding and extreme rain triggered by climate change, FEMA Director Deanne Criswell said.

Those risks are in focus after flooding in Jackson, Mississippi, overwhelmed the city’s main water treatment plant a week ago, leaving more than 150,000 residents of the region without safe water. Ms. Criswell said there’s no timeline for restoring service to Jackson, the capital city.

"Recent flooding in Jackson, Mississippi, exacerbated the city's already failing water system. Experts say it's a familiar threat in disinvested communities of color."

"Unrelenting pressure, short staffing, low morale and internal management tensions have plagued a premier U.S. Geological Survey science lab in Colorado, auditors found in a withering evaluation made public today."

"Saik’uz and Stellat’en First Nations have been fighting for the health of the watershed for over a decade. A dam operated by Rio Tinto Alcan and regulated by the province continues to devastate sturgeon and salmon populations".

"EPA is set to unveil a new federal mandate requiring states to expand inspections of about 1,600 water systems to include cybersecurity threats, according to a senior administration official."

"The familiar ingredients of a warming world were in place: searing temperatures, hotter air holding more moisture, extreme weather getting wilder, melting glaciers, people living in harm’s way, and poverty. They combined in vulnerable Pakistan to create unrelenting rain and deadly flooding."

"The governor of Mississippi urged residents of Jackson, the state’s capital and largest city, not to drink the water there — if they still had access to it — warning that running water would soon be unavailable as the city’s long-struggling treatment plant failed."

"In many cities, no one knows where the lead pipes lie underground. That’s important because lead pipes contaminate drinking water. After the lead crisis in Flint, officials in Michigan accelerated efforts to locate their pipes, a first step toward removal."