Today: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Israel, Mexico, NatureRights, Palestine, Paraguay, Right2Water, SDG6, SouthAfrica, Spain, UK, UN, US, WASH, WaterCrisis, WorldWaterWeek
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.
South Africa: The human cost of SA’s water lifeline. Lesotho communities go to court
Communities affected by the Lesotho Highlands Water Project have brought a constitutional court case arguing that they were denied fair compensation for decades.
More than 3,000 people and 889 businesses are suing the Lesotho Highlands Development Authority over the dams project, claiming decades of unpaid or inadequate compensation for land taken since the 1980s.
Some families allegedly received as little as 78 cents per square metre for their land, with properties expropriated years before compensation was even calculated.
The applicants allege that community members who resisted were subjected to arrest, detention and torture, and that a promised community development fund was never established.
Record levels of glyphosate detected in the Paraná River, the highest ever recorded in South America.
A recent scientific study raised an alarm about glyphosate in the Paraná River. It revealed that the Las Conchas stream, a tributary in Entre Ríos, recorded the highest concentration of the substance measured in South America, with 5002 µg/kg in sediments.
In addition, bioassays showed a 100% fatality rate on tadpoles when using undiluted samples.
The study was conducted by the University Nacional del Litoral (UNL), Conicet, INTA, and INAL, and presented at the VIII International Congress on Socio-Environmental Health in Rosario.
Indigenous Peoples Focus at World Water Week
Led by Indigenous Peoples, this series of sessions, workshops, and a High-Level Panel demonstrates Indigenous expertise and water knowledge.
The theme for World Water Week 2025 is Water for Climate Action, highlighting the importance of water governance and water-related action in responding to climate change. Water is the medium through which the impacts of climate change are felt most strongly and actions that secure positive water outcomes—whether securing sources of water or improved use of water—are key to fostering climate resilience.
Unicef Event Briefing: Accelerating Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Innovations to Scale Impact
A UNICEF Sustainable WASH Innovation Hub event gathers global experts to galvanize game-changing impact for children through water and sanitation innovation.
From ready-to-use therapeutic food to long-life insecticidetreated bed nets, the world has shown that it knows how to scale innovation. But those global solutions needed huge demand, global resources and took time. To scale rapidly – as we did, for example, with COVID-19 vaccines – still greater drive is needed. A global water and sanitation crisis, climate change and international funding constraints mean we need to cultivate that same monumental energy now, a process that starts with the powerful partnerships, connections and common language created between WASH innovators and experts across private, public and development sectors.
Unicef (PDF) / WASH – UN
Deep Dive: Guatemala’s Manufactured Indigenous Water Crisis
Guatemala has more fresh water than most countries, but its Indigenous population lacks safe, reliable access.
A new Human Rights Watch report, “Without Water, We Are Nothing,” documented Guatemala’s severe water crisis and its disproportionate impact on Indigenous communities, particularly women and children. Despite having more freshwater per capita than most countries, Guatemala failed to provide safe, reliable access to water and sanitation, with 40% of the population lacking indoor running water. The report underscored how decades of structural discrimination, poverty, and government neglect — rooted in racist policies — left Indigenous people especially vulnerable.
US: What’s Contaminating Water Across All 50 States? Full List
Six contaminants found in drinking water across every U.S state exceeded legal guidelines set by the federal government, a study revealed.
In the 50,000 water systems surveyed in the study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) between 2021 and 2023, there were 324 contaminants found in drinking water—12 of which were found across all 50 states.
While in many states the contaminants were below the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s maximum contaminant level (MCL) guidelines, in some regions, the contaminants were higher, posing a risk to public health.
Mexico: Indigenous groups oppose Heineken’s brewery project
Mexico | Mayan communities and activists have condemned the construction of a Heineken brewery in Kanasin in the state of Yucatan and reject the alleged indigenous consultation that the company claims to have carried out for approval at the end of 2024. “We know nothing about this consultation,” declared the communities, which are part of the Assembly of Defenders of the Mayan Territory of Múuch’ Xíinbal, in June.
Brauwelt International / Mexico
Read also: Heineken’s Yucatán Plant Sparks Water Crisis Fears. Riviera Maya
In Gaza, a water crisis has been created by Israel.
As the war in the enclave continues unabated, the water system is collapsing, threatening lives both now and in the decades to come.
The taps are dry and drinking water is scarce. As the war enters its 21^(st) month, more than two million residents are facing a ‘man-made drought’, according to a UNICEF report on 20 June. This water crisis is linked to deliberate obstructions, targeted destruction, and the ongoing blockade rather than a record drought or this year’s extreme heat.
L’Orient-Le Jour (French, paywall) / Israel – Palestine – Right2Water
South Africa: AWSISA Welcomes Minister Majodina’s 2025/26 Water And Sanitation Budget Vote Speech
The Association of Water and Sanitation Institutions of South Africa (AWSISA) welcomes and fully supports the 2025/26 Budget Vote Speech delivered by the Minister of Water and Sanitation, Honourable Pemmy Majodina (MP), on July 9, 2025. The Minister’s speech demonstrates clear strategic intent, fiscal responsiveness, and a decisive focus on institutional reform, infrastructure investment, water quality assurance, and sector resilience.
AWSISA applauds the Minister’s commitment to restoring confidence in the public water system through governance strengthening, innovation partnerships, and sound financial management.
UNGA Adopts Six Themes for UN 2026 Water Conference
The UN General Assembly (UNGA) adopted six themes for the UN 2026 Water Conference, following which UN Member States and stakeholders proceeded to share expectations for preparations for the December 2026 meeting and beyond.
The high-level 2026 United Nations Water Conference will take place in the United Arab Emirates in December 2026, and will be co-hosted by Senegal and the UAE.!
As adopted on 9 July 2025, the six themes for the 2026 UN Water Conference are: Water for people; Water for prosperity; Water for planet; Water for cooperation; Water in multilateral processes; and Investments for water.
Following the adoption by consensus, speakers pointed to the need to connect the 2026 and 2028 UN Water Conferences and to feed into the discussions on the future of the 2030 Agenda, offered to serve as co-chairs for the dialogues, and discussed their priorities for the conference.
SDG Knowledge Hub / SDG6 – UN
‘I can’t drink the water’ – life next to a US data centre
When Beverly Morris retired in 2016, she thought she had found her dream home – a peaceful stretch of rural Georgia, surrounded by trees and quiet.
Today, it’s anything but.
Just 400 yards (366m) from her front porch in Mansfield, Georgia, sits a large, windowless building filled with servers, cables, and blinking lights.
It’s a data centre – one of many popping up across small-town America, and around the globe, to power everything from online banking to artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT.
“I can’t live in my home with half of my home functioning and no water,” Ms Morris says. “I can’t drink the water.”
Canada: First Nations call for Ontario Environment Minister to resign
Several dozen First Nations in Ontario are demanding the resignation of Todd McCarthy, the province’s Environment Minister, following a disagreement over a federal bill on the right to clean drinking water.
Last month, McCarthy and Alberta’s Environment Minister, Rebecca Schulz, wrote to the federal Environment Minister, Julie Dabrusin, asking her to abandon Bill C-61, which they claim would hinder project development and damage competitiveness.
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France: In Guadeloupe, water remains at the heart of the black market.
The water crisis is an ongoing issue in Guadeloupe. Between 60 and 70 per cent of the population lacks access to drinking water. Repeated cuts are mainly due to a lack of maintenance of the distribution network. In this context, a parallel system has developed that is completely illegal. ‘Profiteers’ sell water at 30 to 40 times the price. L’Œil du 20h investigated.
France: Petition to stop shitting in drinking water
We are entering a period of major upheaval due to climate change and the overexploitation of biodiversity. Droughts are becoming more frequent in Europe, while in some parts of the world, increasing aridity is already leading to humanitarian crises, population displacement and conflict. In France, the government is asking us to save water, yet golf courses and car washes continue to use it, and almost all of us continue to defecate in it, even though drinking water is already in short supply for many people.
We are asking Olivier Klein, Minister of Housing, to quickly implement existing solutions to enable everyone living in urban areas to stop defecating in drinking water:
Spain: In legal first, court rules pig farm megapollution breached residents’ human rights
The community looks forward to its reservoir becoming ‘a place of life again’, where residents can walk, swim and drink without fear.
A Spanish court has made a crucial ruling today regarding a landmark case on livestock megapollution in the region of Galicia.
In a legal first, Spanish citizens launched court action earlier this year against national and regional authorities over intensive pig-rearing.
The residents say the mismanagement of pollution from decades of industrial pig farming has made life in their community “unfeasible” – and is putting their health at risk.
Ecuador: Lake San Pablo is affirmed as a rights-bearing entity!
In a historic ruling for environmental justice in Ecuador, a constitutional judge has declared Lake San Pablo as a subject of rights.
The ruling calls for the urgent implementation of a comprehensive water restoration and treatment plan after it emerged that 68,000 litres of wastewater are being dumped into the lake daily.
The level of pollution is ‘alarming’, and according to the Ministry of the Environment, the lake could disappear in less than two years without immediate action.
UK: England’s reservoirs at lowest level for a decade as experts call for hosepipe bans
Levels even lower than in severe drought year of 2022, data shows, with water firms urged to ‘be proactive’.
England’s reservoirs are at their lowest levels for a decade, new data reveals, as experts urge water companies to immediately put hosepipe bans in place.
In June, reservoirs across the country were 76% full, which is below their level in the severe drought year of 2022 when they were at 77% capacity at this time in the summer.
Levels continue to drop dramatically as the hot weather has caused an increased demand for water and there has been very little rain to refill reservoirs.
US: Chemical maker DuPont agrees to $27M settlement in polluted water lawsuit in upstate New York
Chemical maker DuPont has agreed to a $27 million settlement to resolve a nearly decade-long lawsuit over the contamination of an upstate New York village’s water supply.
The deal was announced Wednesday by lawyers representing residents of Hoosick Falls, located northwest of Albany, just as the case was headed to trial in federal court this week.
The settlement brings the total recovered in the class action suit brought in 2016 to more than $90 million, lawyers for Rochester-based firm Faraci Lange said.
Ecuador: Chaos and queues due to water shortages in 210 neighbourhoods in southern Quito, with families calling for more water tankers.
On Friday, 11 July, residents of six parishes in southern Quito waited for water. They are calling on the municipality to increase the number of water tankers.
The residents of these 210 neighbourhoods are facing a complex situation due to a lack of drinking water, following a pipe burst in La Mica. On Friday, 11 July, everyone took to the streets and waited in long queues for the vital liquid.
The Municipality of Quito announced that it would distribute drinking water to the parishes of La Argelia, Turubamba, Quitumbe, Chillogallo, La Ecuatoriana and La Argelia with 30 tankers for the duration of the emergency. Repairing the pipe in the La Mica sector is expected to take around 12 days.
US: Agricultural pollution violates Iowans’ fundamental right to access clean water
We are on the cusp of a civil rights movement—a movement to protect citizens’ fundamental right to access clean water.
In the mid-1840s, our ancestors marveled at the “well-watered” rivers and creeks and the readily-available water supply.
But for the confluence of the abundant and clean waters of the Raccoon and Des Moines Rivers, the City of Des Moines and the nearby communities would likely never have amounted to anything. Instead, that resource allowed for the founding of a capital city and a robust economy.
Between 12 and 15 million Mexicans lack access to clean drinking water.
According to the National Council for Statistics and Geography (Coneval), this figure stands at between 12 and 15 million. The situation is exacerbated by the availability gap between different locations: while most of the population in large cities has a daily supply, rural areas receive water on a rotating basis. The states most affected are Sonora, Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango and Nuevo León.
Overexploitation of aquifers, population growth, pollution and climate change are all factors that exacerbate this situation, threatening the availability of water for human consumption, agriculture and industry. One of the key solutions to mitigating the water crisis in Mexico is therefore the efficient treatment of wastewater.
Africa: As Climate Heat Lowers Great Rivers, Migration Cartels Maximize Profits From Farmers on the Move
Earth Island Journal looks at how climate-induced extreme heat is hammering rural farmers, and also dramatically lowering water volumes in the Limpopo, one of Africa’s “Big Rivers.”As climate heat takes a toll on production, more impoverished rural farmers are displaced by new realities and choosing to pay criminal cartels so that they can be smuggled as undocumented migrants into South Africa, the wealthiest economy on the continent. For smuggling cartels, drier rivers are a gift; they make navigation quite easy.
