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Water biodiversity is on the brink, with dire consequences for the region known for the zebra and wildebeest migration, says WWFFish are being driven to extinction in the Mara River basin, putting the livelihoods of more than a million people in Kenya and Tanzania in jeopardy, according to WWF.A report by the wildlife NGO details how farming, deforestation, mining, illegal fishing and invasive species...

The Guapinol community, on the country’s north coast, has become militarized in an effort to defend the river that supplies itGabriela Sorto has not seen or spoken to her father in six months, since the Honduran government’s draconian Covid-19 measures banned most travel and prison visits.Porfirio Sorto Cedillo, a 48-year-old builder and farm worker, is one of eight protesters held in pretrial detention since...

More than a hundred people have been forced to evacuate after leaks put a dam at risk of ‘catastrophic failure’More than 100 people have been told to evacuate homes over fears a leaking dam south of Geelong could burst.Victoria’s State Emergency Service has been working through the night to empty a 180-megalitre dam in Torquay after leaks were identified, putting the structure at risk...

Communities around Houston are potentially contaminatedNaegleria fowleri enters body through nose, travels to brainTexas officials have warned residents of some communities near Houston to stop using tap water because it might be tainted with a deadly brain-eating microbe.The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality warned the Brazosport Water Authority late on Friday of the potential contamination of its water supply by naegleria fowleri. Continue reading...

The basin has faced challenges throughout history but the system designed to protect it does not factor in a changing climateThis is part of a series of essays by Australian writers responding to the challenges of 2020One hundred and fifty years ago Ludwig Becker, a member of the Burke and Wills expedition, did a sketch of the Menindee pub, which sits between the Darling...

Access to clean, safe drinking water across the Pacific is the lowest of any region in the world, raising fears for the rapid spread of coronavirus Papua New Guinea’s battle against a climbing rate of Covid-19 infections is being hampered by the most basic of shortages – access to clean water –public health experts have warned.Case numbers have jumped from just 11 cases two...

Aboriginal people hold less than 1% of all water licences, a form of dispossession that needs urgent redress, researchers sayAboriginal people hold less than 1% of all water licences in Australia, a form of economic and cultural dispossession that needs urgent redress, according to a major study of water rights in the Murray-Darling Basin.Researchers from Griffith University found Aboriginal water entitlements in the New...

Acidic runoff from abandoned Urals mine puts spotlight on hazardous industrial wasteRussian prosecutors are inspecting a facility supposed to treat acid runoff from an abandoned Urals mine after videos emerged of streams running orange.Drone footage uploaded last week by an Instagram travel blogger showed a bright-orange landscape near the disused copper-sulphide mine close to the village of Lyovikha. Continue reading...

Untreated effluent flowed into waterways for more than 1.5m hours, data showsEngland’s privatised water firms paid £57bn in dividends since 1991Water companies in England discharged raw sewage into rivers on more than 200,000 occasions last year, according to data obtained by the Guardian.The analysis reveals untreated human waste was released into streams and rivers for more than 1.5m hours in 2019. Continue reading...

When it comes to water infrastructure, America’s challenges resemble those of a developing country. It’s time for that to changeHow can it be that in the midst of a pandemic, children living in the richest country in world history are being poisoned by tap water? For decades, our government has put corporate profits ahead of guaranteeing its people the right to clean water. We...

Exclusive: analysis of US cities shows emergency on affordability of running water amid Covid-19 pandemicHelp us test water quality across the US: is your water safe enough?From the Guardian US editor: is it too much to ask for Americans to have access to clean water in 2020?Millions of ordinary Americans are facing rising and unaffordable bills for running water, and risk being disconnected or...

The Guardian – in partnership with Consumer Reports and others – is launching a one-year series of investigations highlighting the US water crisisAlmost exactly 10 years ago, on 28 July 2010, the United Nations declared water a human right under international law. And not just any water, but clean water – and sufficient water for “drinking, personal sanitation, washing of clothes, food preparation, personal...

Report calls for urgent action to tackle developing countries’ reliance on bottled waterFocusing on improving the water supply in developing nations could be a powerful way to fight the scourge of plastic waste in the oceans, experts have said, highlighting that the issue has received little attention.People in developing countries, and many middle-income countries, often rely on plastic bottles of water as their piped...

Cholera has largely been beaten in the west, but it still kills tens of thousands of people in poorer countries every year. As we search for a cure for coronavirus, we have to make sure it will be available to everyone, not just to those in wealthy nations. By Neil SinghWe log in every day at 7.45am. One by one, we join an array...

Despite Egypt’s fears of ‘hydro hegemony’ and concerns it will worsen water shortages in Sudan, Ethiopia’s controversial dam project is close to fruitionFrom his office in central Khartoum, Ahmed al-Mufti prepares every day for what he believes is the water war to come.This conviction led Mufti, a prominent human rights lawyer and water expert, to quit the Sudanese delegation that is negotiating Nile water...

On World Water Day, the UN says conservation is a ‘virtuous circle’ in the fight against global heatingUsing water more efficiently in everything from daily life to agriculture and industry would help reduce planet-warming emissions and curb climate change – a potential benefit that has yet to be widely recognised.In a report issued on World Water Day on Sunday, UN agencies said global warming...

With the cruise ships gone and the souvenir stalls closed, the coronavirus lockdown has transformed La Serenissima’s waterwaysLook down into the waters of the Venice canals today and there is a surprising sight – not just a clear view of the sandy bed, but shoals of tiny fish, scuttling crabs and multicoloured plant-life.“The water is blue and clear,” said Gloria Beggiato, who owns the...

A duo in India have been spurred into action to fix pipes to conserve the water supply in KolkataThere is light drizzle as Vijay Aggarwal and Ajay Mittal manoeuvre their two-wheelers through the labyrinthine alleyways of Kolkata’s Tiljala road slum. Early Sunday morning, the neighbourhood is teeming with activity – women sit on their haunches washing clothes and utensils; half-soaped children scurry in and...