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Cheese in the desert: Why mega-dairies are piping water onto Oregon’s shrub-steppe

Despite being home to four of Oregon’s seven Critical Groundwater Areas, the Lower Umatilla Basin has become a magnet for mega-dairies such as Meenderinck Dairy, which began operations here in 2012. Critics contend mega-dairies are attracted to Oregon’s lax regulations compared with neighboring states. Oregon doesn’t regulate air pollution from dairies, for example, even though dairy emissions contribute to climate change and exacerbate haze in the nearby Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. Photo by NASHCO

An environmental coalition is lobbying for a moratorium on mega-dairies, which have proliferated in a water-challenged area of northeastern Oregon

H2OFAIL

South Africa’s rivers of sewage: More than half of SA’s treatment works are failing

Post author By Steve Kretzmann, Nompumelelo Mtsweni, Peter Luhanga, Nombulelo Damba
Media Outlet Daily Maverick
Post date April 26, 2021

Some rural California residents doubt they’ll ever get clean water

A street in the Kern County community of El Adobe, California.

The tiny town of El Adobe exemplifies the state’s struggles with contaminated water and aging infrastructure.

Toxic Cyanobacteria Choke Water Systems Around California’s Clear Lake

Cyanobacteria blooms on Clear Lake in June 2020 resembled whorls of green and white paint. Photo courtesy of Micah Swann

Toxic blooms are a public health risk and increase water treatment costs.

California Tribes Call Out Degradation of Clear Lake

Formed some 2 million years ago at the intersection of three geologic faults, Clear Lake is a natural marvel, considered the oldest lake in North America. It is also the site of severe blooms of toxic cyanobacteria from June through November that obscure the water and are a risk to health and safety. Photo Brett Walton/Circle of Blue

A monitoring program tracks toxic cyanobacteria and influences change.

The Central California Town That Keeps Sinking

The Cross Creek Levee in Corcoran, CA was rebuilt in 2017 after having sunk seven feet since 1983. The levee is now at least twice the size of the previous one and protects the town from flood water coming from the south and west.

The very ground upon which Corcoran, Calif., was built has been slowly but steadily collapsing, a situation caused primarily not by nature but agriculture.

H2OFAIL

Water, water everywhere… but not a drop to drink

Post author By Sechaba Mokhethi, Pascalinah Kabi
Post date March 31, 2021

Lindiwe Hloaele, aged 21, in the middle of her journey home to Thabaneng village, mounting a rocky slope with 25 litres of water on her head. She gets her water from an unprotected well located next to Katse Dam that shows in the background.

Disease stalks villages, as Lesotho sells water to South Africa

H2OFAIL

“Waterpreneurs” cash in on government failure to deliver clean water to islanders

Post author By Festus Iyorah
Post date March 31, 2021

NIGERIA, Lagos State, Sagbo Kodji, March 2021. Musa washes his face with some of the well water he's fetched and kept to settle, It's his routine to wash his face and feet every morning.

Struggle for water a daily reality for impoverished Nigerian island residents

H2OFAIL

Water crisis ravages City of Kings

Post author By Brezhnev Malaba
Post date December 13, 2020

Women carry the burden of collecting water for households

H2OFAIL

Grape crop brings in millions, but farm workers live a harsh life

Post author By Sonja Smith
Post date December 13, 2020

Vineyards well watered, while people struggle for water