The Stream, January 30: Stalled Political Talks Bad for Water in Gaza

Political disagreements between Hamas, the Palestinian Authority and Israeli officials have left a new wastewater treatment plant sitting idle, the Guardian reported. The plant is meant to improve water quality in an aquifer that supplies water to Gaza, where most citizens have to buy water from vendors and can pay as much as a third of their income to do so.

India
Delhi has been ranked as the world’s most polluted city, while India as a whole sits in 155th place on Yale University’s annual Environmental Performance Index, the Hindustan Times reported. India ranked 174th in air quality—highlighting that Delhi has worse particulate air pollution than Beijing—while it ranked 124th in the “water and sanitation” category and 87th in the “water resources” category.

Erratic rainfall and scarcer water supplies in northwestern India have led to sometimes violent confrontations between community members of different social castes, AlertNet reported. Lower castes are increasingly turning to water wells from which they have been banned because other water supplies are disappearing.

Extreme Weather
London and other communities in southern England experienced the wettest January on record, receiving 175.2 millimeters (6.9 inches) of rain—double the average amount, Bloomberg News reported. The rain has led to widespread flooding in the region, and the Environment Agency still has 32 flood warnings in place.

The Stream is a daily digest spotting global water trends. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.

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