Blue News from around the world. The most important news on water and sanitation from a human rights perspective.
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US: Arizona is using triple the amount of groundwater compared to a decade ago
US: Arizona is using triple the amount of groundwater compared to a decade agoWater is a precious resource in Arizona, and many people use groundwater for their homes, businesses and fields. New research from Arizona State University shows that water is now being used faster than it can naturally refill. “There is not something to be very scared about,” said lead researcher Karem Abdelmohsen. He analyzed data from a NASA satellite that can measure the amount of groundwater in an area and found that groundwater use in Arizona has tripled in the past 10 years.
Read Arizona’s Family / Tags: US
Gaza Municipality: Available Water Supply Falls Below 25% of Minimum Requirement
Gaza Municipality: Available Water Supply Falls Below 25% of Minimum RequirementA Severe Water Crisis Is Looming Immediate Action Is Urgently Needed. As temperatures rise and the demand for water increases among both residents and displaced persons, Gaza City is experiencing catastrophic conditions. Since October 2023, approximately 75% of its water wells have been destroyed by Israeli forces. The remaining wells operate under severe limitations due to a lack of fuel, while the supply of Mekorot water has become increasingly intermittent.
Read Gaza City.org (scroll down for English) / Tags: Israel – Palestine – Right2Water
AIF 2025 Spotlights Water Security in Central Asia, Urges Reform and Regional Unity
As climate change accelerates and water resources grow scarcer, Central Asia finds itself at a critical stage. The high-level panel session on water security at the Astana International Forum (AIF) underscored its crucial role in Central Asia’s sustainable development. Speaking at the forum, Kazakh Deputy Prime Minister Kanat Bozumbayev highlighted the country’s efforts to reform its water management system in line with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s directive to establish the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation.
Read The Astana Times / Tags: CentralAsia – WaterCrisis
UNDP: Water scarcity, water security and governance
UNDP: Water scarcity, water security and governanceby Jessica Budds, Professor of Development Geography and Kapuscinski Development Lecturer
Water security is the dominant paradigm in the water sector today. It’s tied with the idea of the global water crisis and that water is running out as industrialization advances, population grows and, of course, the effects of climate change set in. But while it’s often defined only in terms of bringing water to the places it’s needed, this obscures many of the drivers of lack of access to water, in particular among lower income groups. Water security now focuses on the need to increase sources of water to meet demand, whereas earlier, we had been trying to manage demand for the resources that we had.
Read UNDP / Tags: WaterCrisis – UN
Egypt plans desert city supplied with diverted Nile water
Egypt plans desert city supplied with diverted Nile waterDeath toll reaches at least 200 in Nigerian town submerged in floods as rescue efforts halted
The death toll from devastating flooding in a market town in Nigeria’s north-central state of Niger rose to at least 200 on Sunday, a local official said. Torrents of predawn rainfall early Thursday unleashed the devastating flood on Mokwa, nearly 380 kilometers (236 miles) west of Abuja and a major trading and transportation hub where northern Nigerian farmers sell beans, onions and other food to traders from the south. The deputy chairman of Mokwa Local Government, Musa Kimboku, confirmed the updated fatality count to The Associated Press on Sunday. He said rescue operations have been called off, as authorities no longer believe there are any survivors.
Read AP – Associated Press / Tags: Nigeria
Also read: CITIES IN PERIL: Accra under water. BNE intellinews
Catalonia, Spain: 1,500 signatures to hold a consultation on water management
Catalonia, Spain: 1,500 signatures to hold a consultation on water managementThe La Garriga Public Water Platform has managed to collect 1,5000 signatures (some 10% of the local population) in favor of holding a consultation on water management in the municipality. This Wednesday, before the municipal plenary session, the platform has once again taken its fight to the streets. It has called on citizens to the church square to hold a banner workshop that they would later use to bring to the plenary session the signatures collected during the campaign started three months ago.
Read votv.cat (Catalan) / Tags: Spain – PublicWater
South Africa: Sewage floods the streets in this part of Durban. Lamontville has been battered by floods.
South Africa: Sewage floods the streets in this part of Durban. Lamontville has been battered by floods.The community of Lamontville, south of Durban, has experienced flooding at least once a year since 2021, damaging houses and washing away roads. When heavy rains come, sewage bubbles up from the ageing pipes and fills the streets. 
When GroundUp visited the area in early May, residents told us that they believe much of the damage to their homes could have been prevented by proper drainage in the area.
Read GroundUp / Tags: Sanitation – SouthAfrica
Open Call for Artists – AQUA MOTION. Deadline: June 13, 2025, midnight CEST.
Less than two weeks until the deadline of the international open call for artists promoted by the project “AQUA MOTION” (as part of the European Program S+T+ARTS)! Artists are invited to create artworks, installations, or prototypes addressing themes such as water scarcity, pollution, biodiversity loss, and climate resilience.
The project AQUA MOTION will select 25 international artists from any discipline to take part in a 9-month residency, followed by a 4-month scale-up phase, hosted in four European regions: Portugal (Atlantic and Arctic basins), the Netherlands (North Sea and Baltic), Austria (Danube basin), and Italy (Mediterranean Sea basin).
Third African Implementation and Partnership Conference on Water (PANAFCON 3): COMMUNIQUE
We, the Ministers in charge of Foreign Affairs, Environment, and Water and Sanitation in Africa, gathered for the third African Implementation and Partnership Conference on Water (PANAFCON-3) held on 27 – 29 May 2025 in Lusaka, Zambia; in the presence of other global leaders, Intergovernmental Organisations, Regional Economic Communities, United Nations Agencies, private sector, civil society organisations, indigenous peoples, local communities, farmer organisations, children, youth, women and academia…
Read the full statement / Tags: Africa
25 million cavities and $9.8 billion: Study estimates the costs of removing fluoride from water
Even before Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took office as health secretary, he promised to take action on water fluoridation. He would provide “good information” to municipalities, which regulate the water supply, and “fluoride will disappear,” he said in November. In just over a couple of months, some places have made this a reality. Utah and Florida have both banned the addition of fluoride in water, with advocates of the laws like Kennedy arguing that adding the mineral to water poses a risk to children’s developing brains.
Read STATNews or Fortune Well / Tags: US
