The Stream, October 11: North Dakota Oil Spill Encourages Water Worries

A spill of more than 20,000 barrels of crude oil into a North Dakota field is fueling concerns about the environmental costs of the state’s energy boom, Reuters reported. Though officials say that this spill was not near rivers or streams and that it does not pose an immediate threat to groundwater, activists opposed to the oil pipelines may use it as an example of the danger to water resources.

India Cyclone
An extremely powerful cyclone is making its way toward India, spurring evacuations and worries that water and electricity supplies may be cut by the storm, Reuters reported. Cyclone Phailin has been compared to Hurricane Katrina, which caused 1,800 deaths and $US 75 billion in damages when it hit the United States in 2005.

Agriculture and Technology
A newly developed micro water sensor that can be inserted into soil and even plant stems could help farmers to better regulate their water use, Phys.org reported. By knowing how much water is in a specific area of soil, farmers can apply irrigation more accurately.

Health
Louisiana has recommended that some public water utilities use higher levels of a chlorine disinfectant to treat their water supplies after finding a deadly “brain eating” amoeba in a second water system, NBC News reported. Higher levels of chlorine have been shown to kill the amoeba.

Codi Kozacek

A news correspondent for Circle of Blue based out of Hawaii. She writes The Stream, Circle of Blue’s daily digest of international water news trends. Her interests include food security, ecology and the Great Lakes.
Contact Codi Kozacek