Water & Oceans

"Unrelenting pressure, short staffing, low morale and internal management tensions have plagued a premier U.S. Geological Survey science lab in Colorado, auditors found in a withering evaluation made public today."

"Saik’uz and Stellat’en First Nations have been fighting for the health of the watershed for over a decade. A dam operated by Rio Tinto Alcan and regulated by the province continues to devastate sturgeon and salmon populations".

"EPA is set to unveil a new federal mandate requiring states to expand inspections of about 1,600 water systems to include cybersecurity threats, according to a senior administration official."

"The familiar ingredients of a warming world were in place: searing temperatures, hotter air holding more moisture, extreme weather getting wilder, melting glaciers, people living in harm’s way, and poverty. They combined in vulnerable Pakistan to create unrelenting rain and deadly flooding."

"The governor of Mississippi urged residents of Jackson, the state’s capital and largest city, not to drink the water there — if they still had access to it — warning that running water would soon be unavailable as the city’s long-struggling treatment plant failed."

"In many cities, no one knows where the lead pipes lie underground. That’s important because lead pipes contaminate drinking water. After the lead crisis in Flint, officials in Michigan accelerated efforts to locate their pipes, a first step toward removal."

"Greenland’s rapidly melting ice sheet will eventually raise global sea level by at least 10.6 inches (27 centimeters) -- more than twice as much as previously forecast — according to a study published Monday."

"Diplomats from around the world have failed to reach agreement on a United Nations treaty designed to protect marine life on the high seas, after a fifth round of talks ended in impasse."

"Dry weather in southwestern China has crippled huge hydroelectric dams, forcing cities to impose rolling blackouts and driving up the country’s use of coal."

"HONG KONG — Car assembly plants and electronics factories in southwestern China have closed for lack of power. Owners of electric cars are waiting overnight at charging stations to recharge their vehicles. Rivers are so low there that ships can no longer carry supplies.