Your tap water might be worse than you think. When used to treat drinking water, chlorine, the most common treatment in U.S. tap water, contains more toxic and carcinogenic byproducts that were previously unknown, according to a new study published in the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Sciences & Technology.
The wheels are still attached to the house trailer that Pamela Rush calls home, but the 49-year-old mother of two is trapped. A lifelong resident of Lowndes County, Alabama, she lives off disability checks, struggling to pay the bills on a ninth-grade education. It’s hard to attribute her situation to any one cause—she was born in one of the poorest counties in one of the poorest states and, like the rest of the county’s mostly African-American population, she wrestles with the legacy of slavery and systemized discrimination. Just down the road from her home are the sharecroppers’ quarters where she was born.
The Environmental Protection Agency is moving to regulate “forever chemicals” in drinking water, as recent studies have renewed concerns about the health impact of the substances that are found in most drinking water sources across the country. One recent study placed Miami near the top of a list of U.S. cities with high levels of contamination by the chemicals known as PFAS.
The flow of the Colorado River is dwindling due to the impacts of global heating, risking “severe water shortages” for the millions of people who rely upon one of America’s most storied waterways, researchers have found.
The largest water and sanitation sector gathering in Africa ended Thursday in Uganda with a call for governments to invest in climate-resilient water systems and irrigation to reduce vulnerability to climate change.
If you had to imagine what we will be obsessing over in 50 years, what would top your list? We put versions of that question to dozens of entrepreneurs, scientists, academics, and artists, including Richard Branson, Temple Grandin, Ian Bremmer, Ann Kim, and Bright Simons. From their 550 answers, some clear themes emerged. One such theme: water.
Sometime in the not-so-distant future, there will be wars over water. Water will fuel internal social and political disruptions within nations. These phenomena will not be isolated to desert countries, either. (The Times story begins in Malaysia, which is not exactly Chad.) And along with civil and political unrest will come flocking the profiteers, which will guarantee more of both.