The Stream, September 30: Indonesia Communities Struggle As They Are Displaced By Dams

The Global Rundown

A spate of dam-building in Indonesia is flooding out communities, and residents say they are receiving little compensation. A drought in Costa Rica is causing daily water outages for thousands of people, while dry conditions in Colombia are prompting the government to spend millions on drinking water deliveries and firefighting efforts. Doctors in Flint, Michigan, say they found more children with elevated levels of lead in their blood after the city switched its water supply, while a lawsuit in Idaho asks for more information about the government’s nuclear waste storage plans. A new plan to protect trout in the western United States goes into effect today, and an app from Twitter will allow users to watch this year’s Serengeti animal migration live.

“Sending rising waters to flood out people like ​pests​ is barbaric. Indonesia has the resources and know-how to resettle these people decently.”–Michael Cernea, a senior scholar at the​ Washington, D.C.-based ​Brookings Institution, on a string of new dams being built in Indonesia, where communities are being flooded and residents say they are still waiting for compensation from the government. (Bloomberg)

By The Numbers

700,000 people Number in Costa Rica who will experience daily water outages over the next nine months as drought conditions persist and the country enters its annual dry season. ICR News

$4.2 million Amount Colombia set aside to deliver drinking water and combat forest fires as the country endures an El Nino-linked drought. Colombia Reports

Science, Studies, And Reports

The percentage of young children living in Flint, Michigan, who have elevated levels of lead in their blood nearly doubled after the city switched its water source to the Flint River last year, according to research by local doctors who cautioned that the study does not prove causality. The findings are the latest in a string of water quality concerns the city has been confronting since it moved off Detroit’s water system. NPR

A new app from Twitter will allow users to view the massive animal migration from Serengeti National Park to the Maasai Mara reserve this year. The app will stream live video twice a day of animals moving across the landscape in their seasonal search for water. Guardian

On The Radar

A lawsuit in Idaho seeks to force the federal government to reveal more details about its plan to transport nuclear waste to the Idaho National Laboratory. A previous legal agreement banned similar shipments and asked for the removal of waste from the site to protect an aquifer used for drinking water. Reuters

A new plan to protect threatened bull trout in the western United States will take effect today amid criticism from environmental groups that it does not do enough. Warming water temperatures and lower water levels in western streams are putting added pressure on populations of the fish, according to scientists. Reuters

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