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: Albania, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, India, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kosovo, Mexico, Morocco, Nestle, Palestine, PFAS, Philippines, PublicWater, Right2Water, Sanitation, Serbia, Sudan, Turkey, Türkiye, US, WaterConflicts, WaterCrisis
A big change is on the horizon for festival-goers. Will Belgium follow France’s lead?
Free drinking water is available at large events in France. Not here, though. However, this could soon change.
French law requires all organisers of events with more than 300 attendees to install public drinking water fountains. There must be one fountain for every 300 visitors, and organisers may be fined for non-compliance. In Belgium, however, the provision of water points is left to the organisers’ discretion. However, the recent heatwave has reignited the debate on the need for legislation here, too.
Asia is warming at twice the global average: WMO report
Asia is warming at twice the global average: WMO reportAsia’s faster warming is fuelling more extreme weather and wreaking a heavy toll on the region’s economies, ecosystems and societies, the World Meteorological Organisation report says.
The year 2024 was the warmest year on record in Asia, with widespread and prolonged heatwaves, the World Meteorological Organisation’s (WMO) State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report states. In 2024, heatwaves gripped a record area of the ocean, the report said.
Palestinians walk long distances to fetch water and ration each drop. The heat is making it worse
For Rida Abu Hadayed, summer adds a new layer of misery to a daily struggle to survive in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.
With temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), daybreak begins with the cries of Hadayed’s seven children sweltering inside the displaced family’s cramped nylon tent. Outside, the humidity is unbearable.
The only way the 32-year-old mother can offer her children relief is by fanning them with a tray or bits of paper — whatever she can find. If she has water, she pours it over them, but that is an increasingly scarce resource.
Access to drinking water around the world: inequality
Although drinking water is a human right, for billions of people it remains a privilege.
Let’s explore the reasons behind this global disparity and how it can be addressed.
What is the current situation regarding access to drinking water worldwide?
Today, 2.2 billion people do not have access to clean water at home. Lack of sanitation, improper wastewater disposal and climate change are exacerbating this problem. In many regions of the world, water is contaminated, difficult to access, or distributed unfairly. According to Oxfam, over 800 children under the age of five die every day from diseases related to dirty water. Having safe access to water means having a chance at life, health and dignity, yet this is still denied to too many people.
Safe water is a human right
Safe water is a human rightUnited Nations Secretary-General António Guterres took to social media on June 30 to sound the alarm on the climate crisis. “Extreme heat is no longer a rare event — it has become the new normal,” Guterres said. “I’m experiencing it firsthand in Spain during the Financing for Development Conference. The planet is getting hotter & more dangerous — no country is immune. We need more ambitious #ClimateAction now.”
Philippines: Brian Poe champions water rights. A new era of sustainable water management
Philippines: Brian Poe champions water rights. A new era of sustainable water managementNewly elected FPJ Bayanihan party-list Rep. Brian Poe, a dedicated advocate for sustainable development and community welfare, has officially filed a bill seeking to establish a national framework for water resource management.
The measure also proposes the creation of a Department of Water Resources and Water Regulatory Commission.
Western Balkans face severe drought and water restrictions during heatwave
Western Balkans face severe drought and water restrictions during heatwaveThe Western Balkans is grappling with a severe drought following an intense heatwave.
The Western Balkans faces a severe drought after a heatwave hit the region, disrupting daily life and creating issues with agriculture and power.
Temperatures on Thursday in central Albania reached 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and meteorologists warned there would be scarce rain until September. Rivers are almost dry due to a lack of rainfall during winter and spring.
The Washington Post / Albania – Kosovo – Serbia – WaterCrisis
Ethiopia’s mega dam on the Nile ‘now complete’: PM
Ethiopia’s mega dam on the Nile ‘now complete’: PMAddis Ababa (AFP) – Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Thursday said a multi-billion-dollar mega-dam on the Blue Nile that has long worried neighbouring countries is complete and will be officially inaugurated in September.
The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), launched in 2011 with a $4-billion budget, is considered Africa’s largest hydroelectric project, stretching 1.8 kilometres (just over one mile) wide and 145 metres (475 feet) high.
Speaking in parliament, Abiy said Gerd “is now complete, and we are preparing for its official inauguration”.
France24 / Ethiopia – Egypt – Sudan – WaterConflicts
US: Spirit Lake Nation Will Not Have Drinkable Tap Water Until Mid August
US: Spirit Lake Nation Will Not Have Drinkable Tap Water Until Mid AugustThe Spirit Lake Nation will be without drinkable tap water until Aug. 22, tribal officials said.
Residents on the reservation have not had drinking tap water since May 27. This came about after testing at the tribe’s water treatment plant on May 13 and 20 detected increased levels of manganese. Officials had hoped to have drinkable tap water by June 11, but that was postponed to June 25.
According to a post on social media, the tribe’s water consumption advisory has now been extended “through the week of August 18-22, aligning with the expected implementation of a permanent treatment solution.
KNOX Radio / US – Right2Water
US: Violating California Residents’ Right to Water
US: Violating California Residents’ Right to WaterPeople in the nation’s richest strawberry-growing region have lacked safe drinking water for decades. A Biden administration grant promised them a clean, climate-resilient drinking water system. Trump took it away.
In December, the Biden administration awarded a $20 million Community Change grant designed to help disadvantaged communities address environmental and climate justice challenges to the nonprofit Community Water Center, founded 20 years ago to help underserved rural communities without access to clean drinking water. That grant, combined with funding from the state, would have finally provided safe drinking water to Trindade and thousands of others like him who had contaminated wells or were hooked up to failing public water systems in the low-income Pajaro, Sunny Mesa and Springfield communities.nBut the project barely had a chance to get off the ground.
Water is the black gold of tomorrow. Take responsibility: ‘Water is life, so don’t waste it.’
Water is the black gold of tomorrow. Take responsibility: ‘Water is life, so don’t waste it.’During this hot week, the media have repeatedly said that, given that climate change is progressing at a faster rate than the already pessimistic predictions of the past, the summers of recent years will most likely not be remembered as the hottest, but rather as the coolest, in the coming decades.
This brings to mind the Italian film Siccità (Drought), directed by Paolo Virzì. Despite its limitations, it effectively opened Italian cinema to the ecological crisis. Set in Rome, where it has not rained for three years, the population’s ‘real’ thirst subverts all social rules. The dramatic climate situation is intertwined with the conflict between social classes and between the suburbs and the city. The protagonists desperately seek a kind of redemption.
US: ‘Water brings life’. Plans to revive Tulare Lake take shape in the San Joaquin Valley
US: ‘Water brings life’. Plans to revive Tulare Lake take shape in the San Joaquin ValleySan Joaquin Valley tribal and community leaders want to restore part of Tulare Lake. Once the largest body of freshwater west of the Mississippi, the lake was drained more than a century ago for agriculture, and has reappeared only during floods.
Supporters say reviving the lake would ease flood dangers, provide wildlife habitat, offer recreational opportunities and restore ancestral waters for the Tachi Yokut Tribe.
A conceptual proposal for a 24,000-acre lake and wetlands hinges on getting funds to buy land from property owners including farming giant J.G. Boswell Co.
Bangladeshi village grapples with contaminated water flowing in from India
Bangladeshi village grapples with contaminated water flowing in from IndiaA transboundary canal carrying wastewater from upstream India has been impacting the agriculture and aquatic resources of a village in downstream Bangladesh for several decades.
According to data, the parameters of some essential components of the water, like ‘dissolved oxygen’ and ‘biochemical oxygen demand,’ exceed the tolerable limits of local aquatic species.
The Bangladeshi government has raised concerns regarding the water pollution with its Indian counterparts and is continuing discussions to solve the crisis as per the bilateral and multilateral agreements.
The government is also planning to set-up a wastewater treatment plant in the affected area to keep the water quality tolerable for agriculture, livestock use and aquatic species.
Mongabay / Bangladesh – India
Iraq reaches agreement with Turkey to increase water supplies amid worsening regional drought crisis
Iraq reaches agreement with Turkey to increase water supplies amid worsening regional drought crisisIraq has secured a pledge from Turkey to increase water discharges to 420 cubic metres per second in a bid to ease a worsening drought that has strained the country’s water resources and affected millions.
The agreement was announced on Tuesday following a visit by Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani and a delegation to Ankara, where Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan approved the move.The New Arab / Iraq – Turkey – Türkiye – WaterConflicts
US: ‘We thought we’d got the numbers wrong’. How a pristine lake came to have the highest levels of ‘forever chemicals’ on record
US: ‘We thought we’d got the numbers wrong’. How a pristine lake came to have the highest levels of ‘forever chemicals’ on recordHolloman Lake was a haven for wildlife and seemed an ideal campsite. But strange foam around the shoreline turned out to be more than just an oddity – and reveals the alarming way forever chemicals move through ecosystems.
The lake – created in 1965 as part of a system of wastewater catchment ponds for Holloman air force base – is an unlikely oasis. Other than small ponds created for livestock it is the only body of water for thousands of square kilometres in an otherwise stark landscape. However, Witt says there was always something slightly weird about the foam that would form around the edge. “But I only saw that stuff once I knew.”
The Guardian / US – PFAS
Morocco’s Water Crisis
Morocco’s Water CrisisThe Role of Bad Government Policy Decisions.
Despite being hailed for its ambitious agricultural policies and modern water infrastructure, Morocco is now facing one of the most alarming water crises in the MENA region. Ranked among the countries with the lowest water availability per person, the Kingdom is grappling with severe droughts, shrinking aquifers, and growing public unrest. But what’s behind this crisis?
A new policy brief by Mohamed Moutii, “Morocco’s Water Crisis: The Role of Bad Government Policy Decisions,” challenges the dominant narratives and offers a sharp critique of the Moroccan government’s handling of water resources. The brief shows that while climate change plays a role, it is misguided public policy, not nature alone, that has deepened Morocco’s water woes.
Mexico’s water deficit persists even after torrential summer rains
Mexico’s water deficit persists even after torrential summer rainsUS: The city contaminating almost 900,000 North Carolinians’ drinking water
US: The city contaminating almost 900,000 North Carolinians’ drinking waterIn North Carolina’s Chatham County, the beloved Haw and Deep Rivers converge to form the Cape Fear, the basin that people from Pittsboro to Wilmington rely on for their drinking water.
For years, many North Carolinians consumed that water unaware that polluters, including the city of Asheboro and plastics company StarPet, Inc., had been contaminating their drinking supply with 1,4-dioxane – a clear, odorless, industrial chemical linked to cancer and organ damage that can’t be removed by conventional water treatment.
Cheers! After 25 years, hundreds of Wabana residents are drinking water — right out of the tap
Cheers! After 25 years, hundreds of Wabana residents are drinking water — right out of the tapFor a quarter of a century, a boil water advisory has been in place for hundreds of Wabana residents on Bell Island. That’s changing and it’s being described as “a dream come true.” The CBC’s Madison Taylor reports.
Mexico: Residents of Acapulco block roads to protest lack of drinking water
Mexico: Residents of Acapulco block roads to protest lack of drinking waterResidents of the Progreso neighbourhood blocked the intersection between Michoacán and Durango avenues to protest the lack of drinking water in their homes.
At around 2 p.m., around 40 local residents blocked the intersection between the two roads, near the Spanish school, for half an hour.
They claimed that they had not had access to drinking water for over a month, which was affecting the elderly and children.
South Africa: Durban residents battle “sewage crisis”
South Africa: Durban residents battle “sewage crisis”The DA in KwaZulu-Natal is to take the eThekwini municipality to court.
The backlog caused by recent flooding and old sewerage pipes has residents of Mayville and Cato Crest in Durban jumping over foul-smelling streams of sewage.
GroundUp spoke to several residents who say they feel neglected by the eThekwini municipality. Sewage consistently overflows onto main roads. They have to jump over streams of sewage to get into the police station.
Ward councillor Warren Burne (DA) told GroundUp the underground sewerage system no longer meets the needs of the growing population.
France: Nestlé water scandal. Despite the announcement that microfiltration, deemed non-compliant, will be replaced, the historic Perrier factory remains under threat
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France: Nestlé water scandal. Despite the announcement that microfiltration, deemed non-compliant, will be replaced, the historic Perrier factory remains under threatDespite the announcement, the situation at the Vergèze site in the Gard region remains uncertain. Two new boreholes have been shut down, while the possibility of the iconic brand losing its natural mineral water status still looms large.
Historic 2023-2025 droughts killed people, devastated crops & trade routes across globe
Historic 2023-2025 droughts killed people, devastated crops & trade routes across globeProduction of rice, sugar, coffee hit hard in affected countries.
Some of the most widespread and damaging drought events in recorded history have taken place between 2023 and 2025, an United Nations-backed report launched on July 2, 2025 found.
These unprecedented droughts were fuelled by the hottest global temperatures ever recorded and have devastated critical regions across continents, with effects continuing into 2025.
Southern and eastern Africa, the Amazon Basin, southeast Asia, the Mediterranean, Panama and Mexico were the hardest-hit drought hotspots. These regions witnessed challenges ranging from deaths due to drought-linked hunger and famine, mass human displacement to water supply collapse, agricultural failures and energy blackouts.
Australia: Foul fatbergs on the rise in Perth’s sewers as wrong waste flushed
Sewer blockages caused by mounds of grease, oils and wet wipes called fatbergs have exploded in frequency in Perth, as authorities try to stop people putting foreign objects down sinks and toilets.
WA’s Water Corporation says it responded to 1,329 preventable wastewater blockages in the 2023-24 financial year — a significant increase on previous years.
