water. pollution
Newsletter
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Floodwater exposure carries hidden health risks beyond drowning
Even shallow floodwaters can carry a dangerous mix of sewage, chemicals, and pathogens that pose immediate and lingering health threats.
In short:
- Floodwaters often contain sewage, pesticides, petroleum, and infectious bacteria and viruses, increasing the risk of gastrointestinal, respiratory, and skin diseases.
- Open wounds and mucous membranes are potential entry points for infection, and submerged hazards like debris and power lines can cause injury or electrocution.
- After floods recede, mold, contaminated drinking water, and mosquito-breeding sites create ongoing risks, especially for vulnerable populations.
Key quote:
“Imagine that somebody had sprayed your entire neighborhood with raw sewage.”
— Dr. Mark Morocco, professor of emergency medicine, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
Why this matters:
Climate change is increasing both the frequency and intensity of severe storms, pushing more water into streets, homes, and bodies — along with whatever toxins and waste that water picks up along the way. Mold, contaminated water supplies, and breeding grounds for disease-carrying insects pose special risks for children, older adults, and people with chronic illness. And because flooding disproportionately affects low-income communities and people of color—who are more likely to live in high-risk areas and have fewer resources for cleanup—these health impacts deepen environmental and social inequities.
Read more: New poll shows Americans bracing for more dangerous weather events
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Colorado’s alpine wetlands are quietly contaminating drinking water with toxic mercury
Mercury pollution drifting from Asia and sulfate runoff driven by climate change are triggering the formation of a dangerous neurotoxin in Colorado’s mountain wetlands, potentially threatening water supplies for millions.
In short:
- Subalpine wetlands in Colorado are producing methylmercury, a toxic form of mercury that bioaccumulates and can harm both wildlife and humans, especially those consuming fish.
- This process occurs when inorganic mercury, sulfate, and organic carbon meet in low-oxygen wetland soils, conditions now increasingly common due to global mercury emissions and warming-driven runoff.
- Researchers found higher concentrations of methylmercury at wetland outlets than inlets, indicating that these mountain systems are acting as a source of the contaminant to downstream drinking water supplies.
Why this matters:
Methylmercury is one of the most toxic forms of mercury, linked to developmental and neurological disorders in humans and reproductive failure in wildlife. It builds up in food chains and poses risks even at low concentrations. Colorado’s alpine wetlands, long viewed as pristine, are now functioning as chemical reactors due to global mercury fallout and sulfate-laced runoff unleashed by melting mountain ice. The result is a new and largely invisible threat to downstream communities that rely on mountain water sources. Public health officials, regulators, and water managers should take note.
Learn more: Mercury levels in northern Minnesota fish keep rising despite emission cuts
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Wildfires now threaten drinking water systems across the Western U.S.
A chlorine gas leak during the Grand Canyon's Dragon Bravo Fire forced firefighters to retreat and exposed the growing danger wildfires pose to public water systems across the American West.
In short:
- The Dragon Bravo Fire damaged the Grand Canyon’s only water system, including a treatment facility and pipes, triggering contamination risks and water shortages for firefighting and public use.
- Similar incidents have occurred in California, Oregon, Colorado, and Los Angeles in recent years, where fires melted plastic pipes, introduced chemicals like benzene into water systems, and caused hydrants to run dry.
- Many water systems were built decades ago without today’s fire risks in mind and now face growing threats from aging infrastructure, hazardous chemical storage, limited staffing, and climate-driven megafires.
Why this matters:
Wildfires are increasingly a threat to clean drinking water. From the Grand Canyon to California’s suburbs, fires have melted pipes, compromised treatment facilities, and released hazardous chemicals into water systems. These systems, often decades old and built for different conditions, weren’t designed to withstand megafires fueled by climate change. When water pressure drops or treatment facilities burn, firefighters can’t do their jobs, and communities lose access to safe water. The problem is especially dire for small, rural, and tribal systems that lack backup infrastructure. As wildfire seasons grow longer and more intense, these overlapping risks expose a fragile lifeline — one that millions of people rely on every day for drinking, sanitation, and survival.
Learn more: Wildfires leave lasting scars on water supplies by spreading contaminants for years
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Oil drilling and water scarcity push Iraq’s famed wetlands to collapse
Iraq’s southern marshes, once among the world’s richest wetland ecosystems, are vanishing as oil extraction and drought deplete water sources and disrupt life for local communities.
Azhar Al-Rubaie, Sara Manisera and Daniela Sala report for The Guardian.
In short:
- Iraq’s Mesopotamian marshes, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site, are drying up as water is diverted to oil fields like Halfaya and Majnoon, where extraction methods consume vast amounts of freshwater.
- PetroChina and other oil firms pump tens of thousands of cubic meters of water daily from the Tigris to support oil drilling, while upstream dams in Turkey, Iran, and northern Iraq further choke water flow to the wetlands.
- Pollution from oil operations has poisoned fish, collapsed local agriculture, and forced families into poverty or employment with the same industry damaging their environment, sparking recent waves of protest.
Key quote:
“This economy is literally killing people.”
— Majid al-Saadi, director of the agriculture department in Maysan province
Why this matters:
The Mesopotamian marshes, once a cradle of civilization, now face a man-made collapse fueled by climate change, political neglect, and industrial water use. These wetlands once provided drinking water, food, and livelihoods for thousands, while sustaining a unique ecosystem. Today, oil drilling is pulling freshwater away from the region, leaving behind cracked earth and chemical-laced canals. This transformation is not only displacing families and collapsing local economies — it is also accelerating desertification and biodiversity loss. With Iraq’s government prioritizing fossil fuel revenues over wetland protection, and international oil firms largely unaccountable, the region is becoming a flashpoint where environmental degradation, public health risks, and social unrest converge.
Learn more: Podcast: Climate change forces Iraq’s farmers to abandon ancestral land amid extreme heat and water scarcity
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Credit: Chalo Gallardo/Unsplash
Governors Island transforms from military base to climate innovation hub
What was once a military outpost, Governors Island in New York City is now a lively incubator for climate solutions, from seaweed farming to oyster restoration and urban composting.
In short:
- Governors Island, now a public climate solutions hub, engages innovators in developing sustainable ideas.
- Seaweed City, a project on the island, uses kelp to help purify water and promote marine biodiversity.
- The Billion Oyster Project, one of the island’s key initiatives, has restored over 150 million oysters to New York Harbor.
Key quote:
“It’s remarkable how the default solutions for improving the city’s waterways are often energy-intensive, engineered, and not conducive to marine life. By contrast, seaweed restoration supports biodiversity in a natural and sustainable way.”
— Shanjana Mahmud, co-executive director of Seaweed City
Why this matters:
Governors Island has found a new life as a beacon for climate innovation, bringing sustainability front and center in New York Harbor. Now home to projects like Seaweed City and the Billion Oyster Project, as well as a hotspot for urban composting and green initiatives, the island has become a living lab for climate solutions. As climate change puts increasing pressure on coastal cities, this transformation to environmental incubator is a hopeful glimpse of what urban spaces could become — dynamic, regenerative hubs driving solutions for a more sustainable future.
Read more: We must adapt to climate change. Can we do it in ways that solve other problems too?
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Credit: Tashka/BigStock Photo ID: 169069691
Laguna Pueblo continues to suffer with legacy uranium waste, despite expanded federal compensation program
Decades of uranium mining at Laguna Pueblo left lasting contamination and health crises, even as a new law finally promises compensation to post-1971 workers.
In short:
- The Jackpile Mine, once the world’s largest open-pit uranium mine, remains a toxic Superfund site, with contaminated water and soil still affecting local people, animals, and agriculture.
- New Mexico uranium workers exposed after 1971 are now eligible for a one-time $100,000 payment under the expanded Radiation Exposure and Compensation Act (RECA), but the application process is not yet open and is surrounded by confusion.
- Advocacy groups warn that the physical and social fallout — illness, environmental damage, and the risk of renewed mining — continues to affect the Pueblo community, highlighting gaps in accountability and safety measures.
Key quote:
"I get calls every week: Somebody passed away. Cancer. These horrible diseases that are not even qualified diseases for RECA compensation. We’ve had a lot of our young people die of cancer. They’re in their twenties and thirties."
— Lorretta Anderson, co-founder, Southwest Uranium Miners Coalition Post-71
Why this matters:
Children playing near old tailings, farmers tending fields laced with radioactive remnants, and families drinking contaminated water and living with chronic illnesses all carry the invisible cost of an industry that boomed and then went bust. Jackpile left a legacy of contaminated water, soil, and serious health problems that the community continues to wrestle with today. Laguna Pueblo’s struggle is a stark reminder that some environmental and health crises don’t end when the last miner walks away — they linger for generations, quietly shaping lives and landscapes.
Now, with demand for nuclear power accelerating, the uranium industry has come knocking again in many impacted communities, promising that new technologies will guard against the health and environmental devastation of past mining eras. For those still dealing with legacy mining waste, the industry's promises ring hollow.
Read more:
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Trump administration faces global backlash over deep-sea mining push
The Trump administration’s plan to unilaterally mine battery metals from the deep ocean floor has drawn strong criticism at recent United Nations talks, with U.S. allies siding with China against the move.
In short:
- President Trump’s April executive order directed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to fast-track permits for deep-sea mining, including in international waters, using a decades-old U.S. law not recognized by most other nations.
- At UN negotiations in Jamaica last month, multiple countries — including U.S. allies — condemned the plan as illegal and warned it violates the principle that the international seabed is the shared heritage of humanity.
- Legal and scientific experts question both the economic viability of deep-sea mining and its environmental impacts, while leading EV and tech companies have pledged not to use seabed-sourced minerals without a global agreement.
Key quote:
“The ocean is not there to affirm the leadership of a single country at the expense of all others and the multilateral process.”
— Olivier Poivre d’Arvor, France’s special envoy of the president for the ocean and poles
Why this matters:
Mining the deep ocean for metals poses major risks to fragile ecosystems that science has only begun to understand. These seabed habitats — home to slow-growing corals, unique microorganisms, and species found nowhere else — could take centuries to recover from disturbance, if they recover at all. The push to extract cobalt, nickel, and other metals used in batteries pits clean-energy demands against ocean conservation. International rules were designed to protect shared resources like the high seas, and efforts to bypass those frameworks raise both environmental and geopolitical concerns.
Learn more: Costa Rica pushes global ocean protections and deep sea mining moratorium
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