Category: Water
America’s drinking water is surprisingly easy to poison
The cyberbreach at a plant in Oldsmar, Florida, which could have resulted in a mass poisoning, was a reminder of a disturbing reality: Despite a decade of warnings, thousands of water systems around the country are…
‘It’s like nobody cares’: After two weeks without running water, Jackson, Miss. pleads for help
“Water is a basic necessity and it just brought a lot of frustration, anger, and disappointment,” said one of the city’s residents. “If you don’t know when it’s coming back, what is being done to help…
Getting the lead out
by Wade Rathke September 29, 2020 New Orleans We have to take progress where we can get it in these dark days at perhaps the tail end of the Trump administration. There are scores of…
New report details flooding/contamination risks at uranium mine near Grand Canyon
April 28, 2020 Flagstaff, Ariz. The Grand Canyon Trust reports serious problems at the Canyon Mine uranium mine south of Grand Canyon National Park. The report, “Canyon Mine: Why No Uranium Mine is “Safe” for the…
Climate change threatens drinking water quality across the Great Lakes
Harmful algal bloom in Lake Erie, Sept. 4, 2009. NOAA/Flickr by Gabriel Filippelli, IUPUI and Joseph D. Ortiz, Kent State University This story is part of the Pulitzer Center’s nationwide Connected Coastlines reporting initiative. For more…
Pandemic shines a light on critical water issues — 40% of the Navajo Nation lacks running water, will Congress fund solutions?
Clean water is essential during the COVID-19 health crisis, but so far Congress hasn’t directed funds to help water utilities or stop water shutoffs in low-income households. 40% of the Navajo Nation lacks running water by…
Emerging climate-fueled megadrought in Western US may rival any over past 1,200 years
Source: the journal Science “We now have enough observations of current drought and tree-ring records of past drought to say that we’re on the same trajectory as the worst prehistoric droughts.” by Andrea Germanos, staff writer…
Court approves settlement requiring EPA rules on most dangerous chemical spills
Saturday, March 14 The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York approved a consent decree between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a coalition of community and environmental organizations, including the Environmental Justice…
Conservation groups sue the Trump administration to prevent further damage to Arizona’s San Pedro River
By Meteor Staff Saturday, March 14, 2020 Flagstaff Conservation groups sued the Trump administration yesterday to prevent further damage to Arizona’s San Pedro River and its endangered species from excessive groundwater pumping in the Fort…
Some towns still haven’t halted utility shut-offs for unpaid water bills during coronavirus, even as federal lawmakers demand it
While some municipalities with only a few cases of the coronavirus have stopped disconnecting water service for residents with overdue bills, a few utility companies at the coronavirus epicenter in Washington have made no such promises….
EPA’s new rules for assessing pesticide risks ignore many harms to endangered species
By Meteor Staff Flagstaff The Environmental Protection Agency issued revised methods for assessing pesticide risks yesterday that could allow widespread harm to most of the nation’s most endangered plants and animals. The revised methods from…
‘This system cannot be sustained’ This year, tribal nations enter negotiations over Colorado River water.
By Anna V. Smith/ High Country News March 10, 2020 The Colorado River Basin is the setting for some of the most drawn-out and complex water issues in the Western U.S. In 2019, the Colorado River…
Latest Bears Ears planning meeting convenes without indigenous voices
“Am I the only Indigenous person in the room right now?” asked Angelo Baca, a Navajo and Hopi resident of San Juan County and member of Utah Diné Bikeyah who attended the meeting as an observer….
Mine waste dams threaten the environment, even when they don’t fail
“These ecosystem modifications directly affect organisms on land and in the water downstream. Every decision to allow a mine to proceed with a tailings storage facility indelibly transforms rivers and their ecosystems for hundreds to thousands…
Leaking gas stations around Flagstaff
Recently, a number of gas stations have disappeared from Flagstaff. A couple have been replaced but the rest appear to have been taken out for good. A map provided by ADEQ’s Public Information Officer, Erin Jordan,…
Trump admin’s Clean Water rollback will hit some states hard
But the effects of removing this “environmental safety net” won’t be felt equally. States with fewer local protections and resources will suffer the most — as will their people and wildlife. Oceans & Clean Water February…
Report: ‘No Evidence That Fracking Can Operate Without Threatening Public Health’
More than 1,500 scientific studies on the health and climate impacts of fracking prove its dangerous effect on communities, wildlife and nature. By Tara Lohan, The Revelator In 2010 when I first started writing about hydraulic…
BLM suspends oil & gas extraction leases in Little Colorado River Valley
Flagstaff The Trump administration has suspended 4,200 acres of oil and gas leases on public land in Arizona’s Little Colorado River Valley as part of a joint motion filed in federal court yesterday (Feb 5) after…
Trump’s final plan to open treasured public lands in Utah called ‘Sellout’ to big oil
The administration’s new managment plans “are the latest in a series of insults… that began when Trump illegally dismantled Bears Ears and Grand Staircase at the behest of corporate interests two years ago.” By Jessica Corbett,…
‘Biggest Loss of Clean Water Protection the country has ever seen’: Trump guts safeguards for US streams and wetlands
“This all-out assault on basic safeguards will send our country back to the days when corporate polluters could dump whatever sludge or slime they wished into the streams and wetlands that often connect to the water…
Lawsuit: Trump admin violating the Endangered Species Act in AZ & NM: Cattle trampling waterways.
“It shouldn’t take a lawsuit to keep livestock from trampling these fragile southwestern rivers, but the Forest Service has turned a blind eye,” said Brian Segee, an attorney at the Center. “We found cows, manure and…
Impacts to health, livelihood continue after toxic mine spill in Mexico
Editor’s note: This report is part of an AZCIR collaboration with KPBS’ Fronteras Project, a regional news collaborative that produces reports on the changing culture and demographics of the American West and Southwest. The reporting was…
Little Colorado River threatened by dams
The Little Colorado River is the focus of two pumped hydro storage power plant proposals that have met with resistance from stakeholders. The proposal creates a total of four dams, adjacent to the Little Colorado River…
Flagstaff/Red Gap water quality at risk from fracking
Flagstaff Flagstaff’s future water supply is a target for potentially harmful toxins. Red Gap Ranch, located 40 miles east of Flagstaff, was purchased in 2005 to ensure Flagstaff has adequate water for the future. Along the…
