Every day the most important news on water and sanitation from around the world, compiled by the Blue Community Network, defending water as a common, public good and a human right.
Today: Canada, Ecuador, Germany, India, Pakistan, PFAS, Publication, Remunicipalisation, Sanitation, SouthAfrica, SouthSudan, Spain, Syria, UK, WaterCrisis
UK: Campaigners win legal battle over plans to build chicken megafarm near River Severn
Plans to build a chicken farm near the River Severn in Shropshire have been quashed following a High Court ruling.
Water campaign group River Action had claimed the farm, housing 200,000 birds, would cause serious damage to the river because of the amount of chicken manure produced.
The sheds, housing the birds, were to be built at North Farm in Shrewsbury – a farm run by LJ Cooke and Son.
Shropshire Council disputed the claims, arguing planning permission to build the farm was granted following discussion with the Environment Agency, Natural England, and the council’s ecology and public protection teams.
Read itv or The Guardian / Tags: UK
Ecuador communities resist Canada-backed gold mine in sacred highlands
Indigenous and local communities in southern Ecuador are struggling to stop a Canadian gold-and-copper mining project that many community members say will largely impact the Quimsacocha páramo ecosystem while violating their rights to self-determination.
Despite legal rulings to suspend mining operations, and referendums in which communities voted overwhelmingly against the mining project, critics say Dundee Precious Metals Inc. continues to initiate consultation with a limited number of people in favor of mining.
According to its technical report, the Loma Large mining project approved by the Ecuadorian government will provide jobs for locals and ensure the protection of water sources and the environment. The company also says the environmental consultation process was completed, with local communities voting overall in favor of the development of the project.
Although community leaders seek to uphold their rights defending their land and waters, they say plans to sign free-trade agreement between Canada and Ecuador is yet another blow to their hopes.
India: Social Movements around rivers – abstract submission
Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) and Wageningen University and Research (WUR) have decided to develop case studies on social movements around rivers. They are commissioning 6 case studies for the same.
The editors of the project are inviting abstracts in English from interested participants, who wish to contribute case studies on social movements from across India. These abstracts can be submitted latest by midnight of 10th July 2025 via this form only.
Submission Form / Tags: India – Publication
Syria: Barren fields, dry wells: Post-war drought ravages farms
When Bashar al-Assad ruled Syria, the farmers of al-Nashabiyah, once a hotbed of opposition to then president, struggled to water their crops because army officers diverted rivers and canals to their own farms.
The farmers hoped for some reprieve after Assad’s 24 years of autocratic rule ended in December, but a devastating drought and continued water theft mean their crops are still dying, their pears and plums withering on the branch.
“The regime fell and we were hoping that our share (of water) would come, but it did not come,” said Mahmoud al-Hobeish, al-Nashabiyah’s deputy mayor standing beside a dirt-clogged, garbage-littered irrigation canal.
Read Al Arabiya / Tags: Syria – WaterCrisis
South Africa: Sewage, garbage, dirty water. Theewaterskloof is in a mess after years of bad management
But the new municipal manager hopes to get things back on track.
There have been four municipal managers at Theewaterskloof Local Municipality in as many years.
Resignations, illegal appointments, and political instability are behind the continual changes.
Water, refuse disposal and sewage treatment are all suffering as a result.
Read GroundUp / Tags: SouthAfrica
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India Plans 113-km Canal To Divert Indus Water To Northern States
India has begun a feasibility study for a proposed 113-kilometre-long canal aimed at diverting surplus water from the western rivers of the Indus water system—Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab—to the northern states of Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan. The move is part of a broader effort to maximise India’s share under the Indus Waters Treaty (1960).
According to media reports, the plan, currently at a preliminary stage, includes construction of new infrastructure to redirect underutilised water that currently flows into Pakistan due to the natural course of the rivers. Media reports indicate that the canal will connect the Chenab to the Ravi-Beas-Sutlej system, with expectations of completion within three years.
Read BW BusinessWorld / Tags: India
UK: As Thames Water fights for survival, crumbling assets show challenge ahead
Fifteen times a year, the sheer volume of waste water entering Thames Water’s Mogden sewage works in southwest London overwhelms its 90-year-old concrete tanks, forcing the utility to pump excrement into the River Thames.
Hidden by woodland, the plant illustrates the crisis at Thames, which supplies water and sewage services to 16 million customers in southern England. Loaded with debt after being privatised in 1989, the company is struggling to survive, let alone get to grips with the crumbling facilities in its care.
Read Reuters / Tags: UK
Spain: Aigües de Moià, the municipal public company, joins the AMAP
The Municipal Water Company of Moià, a public company 100% owned by the City Council, which is responsible for municipal services for drinking water supply, sewage and wastewater treatment, has joined AMAP, the Association of Communities and Municipalities for Public Water. With this incorporation, AMAP now has 85 members, including municipalities and public water operators, and continues the growth of the network of technical collaboration and knowledge exchange between local entities and public water operators. AMAP was established in 2018, with the aim of disseminating and promoting public water management as well as providing support to the municipalities and operators that are members of the association.
Read AMAP (Catalan) / Tags: Spain – Remunicipalisation
England faces 5 billion litre public water shortage by 2055 without urgent action
England faces 5 billion litre a day shortfall for public water supplies by 2055 – and a further 1 billion litre a day deficit for wider economy.
England’s public water supply could be short by 5 billion litres a day by 2055 without urgent action to futureproof resources, the Environment Agency has warned today. (June 17th 2025).
Climate change, population growth, and environmental pressures are impacting supplies with the predicted shortfall equivalent to a third of our current daily use – or the volume of 4.5 Wembley Stadiums.
A further one billion litres a day will also be needed to generate energy, grow our food, and power emerging technologies.
Read GOV.UK Environment Agency / Tags: UK
UK: Thames Water’s creditor rescue plan opposed by environmentalists, junior creditors
Senior creditors bidding to control Britain’s Thames Water are trying to convince regulator Ofwat that their plan is the only way to prevent a state rescue. But opponents have criticised it on both environmental and financial grounds.
Senior creditors, among them Aberdeen, Apollo Global Management and M&G and hedge funds Elliott and Silver Point Capital, have offered 5 billion pounds ($6.8 billion) of new equity and debt, plus a write-off of billions of pounds of existing debt.
Read Reuters / Tags UK
Germany: Berlin banned river swimming a century ago. Locals now want to jump back into the water
A century after the city of Berlin banned swimming in the Spree River because it was so polluted that locals were at risk of falling ill, there’s a push by swimmers to get back into the water.
On Tuesday, around 200 people jumped into the river’s slow-moving, greenish water to show that it’s not only clean enough, but also lots of fun to splash and swim in the city’s historic Mitte neighborhood along the world-famous Museum Island.
A group calling itself Fluss Bad Berlin, or River Pool Berlin, has been lobbying for several years to open up the city’s meandering river for swimmers again.
Read AP Associated Press / Tags: Germany
Pakistan: ‘Water scarcity eroding agricultural capacity’
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has called for immediate and sustained efforts to protect land and natural resources for future generations.
In her message on the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, the CM warned that the unchecked effects of climate change, deforestation and growing water scarcity are rapidly eroding agricultural capacity and degrading soil fertility across Punjab. “Drought is not just a layer of sand, it is the signal of a looming environmental crisis,” she said.
Underscoring her government’s commitment to environmental protection, the CM announced that the Punjab government has allocated special funds in the 2025-26 budget for geotagging water-stressed areas.
Read Tribune / Tags: Pakistan – WaterCrisis
US: Millions in Pennsylvania May Be Drinking Contaminated Water
Millions of people in Pennsylvania may be drinking water contaminated with forever chemicals.
This is the conclusion of a study from the Pennsylvania State University, which sampled water from 167 private wells across the state looking for so-called ‘forever chemicals.’
These manmade chemicals—properly known as per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)—get their nickname from how they don’t break down easily either in the environment, or in the body, risking a dangerous build up.
The team found that 65 percent of the wells they tested had detectable levels of PFAS—with 18 percent exceeding the maximum contaminant levels for drinking water set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Read Newsweek / Tags: US – PFAS
South Africa: These families have no toilets, but sewage from other people’s toilets flows past their homes
Riverside informal settlement is built on a floodplain, says City of Cape Town, so services can’t be provided.
At the edge of the neat pavements and duplex homes of Pioneer Valley estate in Parklands North in Cape Town, fetid sewage flows into the neighbouring Riverside informal settlement.
Meanwhile, families in the settlement relieve themselves in the bush.
Riverside, established during the Covid lockdown in 2020, has no water, electricity, or refuse collection. Residents say the City of Cape Town’s drones often fly over the area and officers conduct foot patrols, but nothing has been done about persistent sewage flows.
Read GroundUp / Tags: SouthAfrica – Sanitation
US: EPA Proposes Increase in Water-Intensive Biofuels Mandate
The EPA is proposing changes to the biofuels mandate that would result in increases in U.S. corn and soybean production for energy consumption.
By artificially raising demand for those commodities, the mandate has led to increased water use in the water-stressed High Plains and contributed to wetland losses in the Upper Midwest.
The proposal is for a 7.5 percent increase in total renewable fuel production volumes in 2026, more than doubling the percent increase from 2024 to 2025. Biomass-based diesel would increase by nearly 33 percent. The EPA also wants to decrease the value of imports used as feedstocks, which would boost domestic production.
In its regulatory analysis, the EPA acknowledges that because of an increase in corn and soybean production “there will likely be some increased irrigation pressure on water resources.”
Read Circle of Blue / Tags: US
In South Sudan clean water is a pathway to stability
A Presidential Compact leads to a 13-fold budget increase for water and sanitation in the world’s youngest nation.
When South Sudan achieved its independence in 2011 after years of armed conflict, its leaders recognized water and sanitation as critical building blocks for the nation’s future. That conviction was written into the country’s Transitional Constitution and first development plan, positioning access to these basic services as drivers for peace and stability.
More than a decade later, that early conviction is being put to the test. Approximately 59 percent of the South Sudanese population lacks access to safe drinking water, while only 42 percent have access to “basic sanitation” – facilities that safely dispose of human waste.
Read The Water Diplomat / Tags: SouthSudan
