By Morgan Passi and John McGill 2 October 2019 (CBC Radio) – Think of it as a cash and flow problem. Last month, city councillors in Harare, Zimbabwe shut off their main water plant, blaming a lack of foreign currency needed to import treatment chemicals. The water is back on now — after the national government stepped in. […]
By Farai Mutsaka 24 September 2019 HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) – Tempers flared on Tuesday as more than 2 million residents of Zimbabwe’s capital and surrounding towns found themselves without water after authorities shut down the main treatment plant, raising new fears about disease after a cholera outbreak while the economy crumbles even more. Officials in Harare have struggled to […]
By Ashraf Khan 7 September 2019 (AFP) – Swarms of flies are descending on Pakistan’s commercial capital in what residents say are record numbers this rainy season, adding to the misery of Karachi’s monsoon “hell”. Heavy rains have inundated the sprawling port city of nearly 20 million people for weeks, overwhelming shoddy drainage systems clogged […]
By Gisele Galoustian 15 July 2019 (FAU) – Coral reefs are considered one of the most threatened ecosystems on the planet and are dying at alarming rates around the world. Scientists attribute coral bleaching and ultimately massive coral death to a number of environmental stressors, in particular, warming water temperatures due to climate change. A […]
5 June 2019 (AFP) – The noxious air hanging over India’s towns and cities kills more than 100,000 children under five every year, a damning study published Wednesday for World Environment Day found. India has repeatedly failed to address environmental concerns. Last year a UN report found 14 of the world’s 15 most polluted cities […]
By Natasha Gilbert 26 May 2019 (The Guardian) — Hundreds of rivers around the world from the Thames to the Tigris are awash with dangerously high levels of antibiotics, the largest global study on the subject has found. Antibiotic pollution is one of the key routes by which bacteria are able develop resistance to the […]
By Nita Bhalla7 May 2019 NAIROBI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Aid workers were on Tuesday racing to contain a cholera outbreak in northern Mozambique after a powerful cyclone contaminated water sources and damaged health clinics. Cyclone Kenneth crashed into the province of Cabo Delgado on April 25, flattening entire villages and killing more than 40 […]
6 May 2019 (IPBES) – Nature is declining globally at rates unprecedented in human history — and the rate of species extinctions is accelerating, with grave impacts on people around the world now likely, warns a landmark new report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the summary of which was […]
By Faith Eherts and Adam Douty 2 February 2019 (AccuWeather) – Record-setting rainfall in recent days has led to widespread flooding, land slips, road closures and evacuations across Queensland. Flood dangers and travel disruptions will continue with little change expected in the coming week. In northern Queensland this past week, Cairns recorded a daily rainfall […]
By Mark D. Wilson 22 October 2018 (The Statesman) – Silt and debris from floodwaters have overwhelmed Austin’s ability to produce clean water, prompting an unprecedented citywide alert Monday that urged residents to avoid drinking tap water without boiling it first. By Monday evening, the situation led to a run on bottled water supplies at […]