Today: France, India, Israel, Italy, Malta, Pakistan, Palestine, Panama, PublicWater, Right2Water, UK, UN, US, WASH, WaterConflicts, Zimbabwe.
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.
Pakistan: Chronic Water Shortages Plague Pakistan’s Capital
Blaming India has made it easy for Pakistan to avoid the difficult work of providing water security to its population.
India and Pakistan continue to make headlines as they trade harsh words and threats about the fate of the Indus Waters Treaty. However, the origins of many of Pakistan’s water problems are much closer home.
Degraded infrastructure and mismanagement cause the country’s capital, Islamabad, and the adjacent city of Rawalpindi, whose surface water comes from watersheds entirely within Pakistan, to face persistent and worsening water shortages.
The Diplomat / India – Pakistan – WaterConflicts
Read also: Can India stop Pakistan’s river water — and will it spark a new war? The decades-old Indus Waters Treaty faces its gravest challenge as India suspends it, prompting Pakistan to warn of war. Al Jazeera
UK: Thames Water paid out bonuses using £3bn emergency loan, documents reveal
Debt-ridden company refuses to claw back nearly £2.5m paid just weeks before it paused retention payments plan.
Thames Water paid nearly £2.5m to senior managers from an emergency loan that was meant to be used to keep the failing utilities company afloat – and has refused to claw back the payments, newly released documents reveal.
The struggling water supplier paid bonuses totalling £2.46m to 21 managers on 30 April.
The managers are due to receive the same amount again in December, and a further £10.8m collectively next June, the chair of Thames Water, Sir Adrian Montague, said in a letter to the environment select committee.
Read also: Investors stripping cash from water firms ‘criminal’ says ex-Wessex Water chief. Campaigners and experts debated on whether utilities should be nationalised as ministers seek to ‘reset’ the failing sector. Independent.
GAZA: Siege on fuel could cut off supplies of clean water to about 44,000 children supported by Save the Children in matter of days
Fuel shortages in Gaza could cut off supplies of clean drinking water to about 44,000 children supported by Save the Children in a matter of days, increasing the risk of waterborne illnesses such as cholera, diarrhoea and dysentery, with these children only a small number of those impacted by fuel running out.
Save the Children relies on fuel to transport safe, clean water daily to over 50 communities across the Gaza Strip, including about 44,072 children. But fuel supplies have been entirely restricted from entering Gaza since Israeli authorities imposed a total siege on 2 March, putting the entire humanitarian response at risk of grinding to a halt.
WHO, UNICEF update country tracker on water, sanitation and hygiene in health-care facilities, showing progress across 107 countries
The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF have released an updated country progress tracker that shows how countries are advancing efforts to improve water, sanitation, hygiene (WASH) and waste services in health-care facilities. The tracker, now covering 107 countries – up from 75 two years ago – underpins global monitoring against the 2023 United Nations General Assembly Resolution on WASH, waste and electricity in health-care facilities.
The tracker provides the most comprehensive picture yet of how countries are taking forward the eight practical steps to improve WASH services in health facilities, from establishing national standards to developing costed roadmaps, strengthening health information systems and building workforce capacity.
Italy: A motion to defend public water management was presented by the centre-left civic coalition Casale Davvero!
The motion was presented to the city council in defence of public water.
‘Public water management,’ the motion reads, ‘has always promoted transparency, participation and responsibility in management, thanks to direct control by local institutions, especially after the aqueduct pollution in Casale in 1994 that had national significance.’
In recent years, however, privatisation has continued, resulting in price increases and a lack of attention to the needs of the population, despite the referendum that confirmed the principle of water as a common good.
France: Water crisis in Guadeloupe. The #BalanceTonSIAEAG association calls on elected officials
In response to the ‘unacceptable’ health situation, the #BalanceTonSIAEAG user association has sent an open letter to Guadeloupe’s elected officials, urging the State to intervene immediately.
Published on 9 July 2025, the letter alerts all Guadeloupean elected officials to the seriousness of the water crisis affecting the territory for many years. The signatories denounce recurring cuts, beach pollution and water unfit for consumption, describing the situation as ‘catastrophic’ for health and the environment.
Panama: Azuero’s water crisis. Residents have been without drinking water from the tap for more than a month, with no solutions in sight.
Despite efforts to stabilise the situation on the La Villa River, it is not yet possible to guarantee drinking water. Water treatment plants are operating at full capacity.
The crisis began on 27 May 2025 when the National Water and Sewerage Institute (Idaan) suspended the operation of four plants due to contamination in the La Villa and Estibaná rivers. Over a month on, thousands of residents still lack access to drinking water, causing growing uncertainty and distress.
US: The Ugly Politics of Jackson, Mississippi’s Ongoing Water Crisis
$600 million has been spent trying to salvage the city’s decrepit water system after it collapsed three years ago. Now the money is gone and the problems aren’t fixed—and residents fear they may permanently lose control of their water.
Three years ago, a man with white hair and a ruddy grin went around one neighborhood in Jackson, Mississippi, daring residents to drink the tap water. He’d buy you a drink, but only if you had a glass of water first. He’d buy your groceries, but first you had to take the case of bottled water out of your shopping cart. Residents of the capital city had been under a boil-water notice for weeks, and it had just been lifted: Distrust was still high, and the water was still brown. Not everyone took Ted Henifin up on the drink, but Jacksonians were more than willing to let this guy buy their groceries—even if it meant going back for the bottled water.
Malta: Most Would Choose Tap Water If Restaurants Offered It For Free
Would you drink tap water at a restaurant?
Nearly half of Maltese respondents say yes, and over 55% said they would be even more likely to choose it if it were free. That is one of several findings from a June 2025 study by Sagalytics, commissioned by the Association of Catering Establishments, which explored how people decide where and how to dine out in Malta.
The research, led by Prof. Vincent Marmarà on behalf of the Association for Catering Establishments and based on 500 interviews, captured a wide range of dining behaviours. It included 400 locals and 100 tourists. One major theme was filtered tap water, which appears to be gaining acceptance — especially if offered at no extra cost.
India: Why cities flood within hours of rain
As the case of Delhi illustrates, the mismanagement of stormwater drains is compounded by unplanned construction covering up spaces that would absorb rainwater.
When the monsoon arrived in Delhi last year, it brought welcome respite from the relentless heat. But for Rahish, this comfort was short-lived.
With just a short spell of rain, the street in front of his tailoring shop in South Delhi’s Tigri was waterlogged with about a foot of rainwater. It took around four hours for it to subside.
Zimbabwe: Harare Residents Slam Prepaid Meter Rollout As Threat to Basic Rights
Plans by the City of Harare to install prepaid water meters have triggered backlash from the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) which warns the initiative risks excluding low-income and marginalised communities from accessing safe clean water.
In a statement, CHRA slammed the move as an attempt to commercialise a basic human right without adequate public consultation or safety nets for the poor.
“Prepaid water meters effectively commercialize a basic human right, turning water into a privilege for those who can afford it. This move risks excluding the most vulnerable from accessing clean, safe water,” CHRA said.
London ‘super sewer’ boss awarded £600,000 pay rise despite £100m cost overrun
Critics question pay rise for Thames Tideway project boss, which is drawn from mandatory add-ons to water bills.
The chief executive of the London “super sewer” project has been awarded a £600,000 pay rise even as the firm revealed that the total cost had risen by £100m.
Andy Mitchell received pay of £2.5m for the year to March 2025, up from £1.9m the year before, according to accounts published by the Thames Tideway tunnel builder, Bazalgette Tunnel Limited.
