The Stream, June 28: U.S. Supreme Court Awards Win To Florida In Ongoing Water Dispute with Georgia

The Global Rundown

The U.S. Supreme Court sides with Florida in an ongoing water-sharing battle with Georgia. Pakistan plants millions of trees to help combat deforestation caused by river depletion and heavy logging. Warmer waters dramatically cut Alaska’s annual salmon harvest. A new lawsuit claims that the Flint water crisis was especially detrimental for jail inmates. Local residents fight to stop the expansion of a coal plant in Bali, Indonesia, which they claim has dirtied air the area’s water and air.

“My catch is totally different to what it was before the power plant began operating.” –Iputu Gede Astawa, a Balinese fisherman, in reference to the impact of the Celukan Bawang power plant, which opened in 2015. Residents claim that the plant has devastated the local fish population, polluted air and water, and damaged crops. As a result, three residents, along with Greenpeace, are taking legal action against a proposed expansion of the plant. Reuters

Latest WaterNews from Circle of Blue

Announcing MISSION.4 – Redefining how powerful narratives and technology come together to tell the world’s most important stories about the competition between water, food, and energy in a changing climate.

What’s Up With Water – June 25, 2018 – “What’s Up With Water” condenses the need-to-know news on the world’s water into a weekly snapshot. Coverage this week includes: PFAS contamination in the U.S., severe monsoon rains in South Asia, and India’s worsening water crisis.

HotSpots H2O, June 25: Boko Haram Impedes Water Access In Northeast Nigeria As Lake Chad Shrinks – Boko Haram militants have terrorized northeast Nigeria for the past nine years. The violence has exacerbated severe water scarcity in the region, which relies on the drying Lake Chad.

By The Numbers

300 million Number of trees planted in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in recent years as part of the government’s “Billion Tree Tsunami” project. Forest preservation allowed another 730 million trees to grow, bringing the total number of trees to over 1 billion. The project was initiated after river depletion and logging wiped out large amounts of the country’s forests. Al Jazeera

32,000 Total commercial harvest of this year’s Copper River salmon run in Alaska, compared to pre-season predictions of 1.2 million and an annual average of 1.4 million. Biologists are attributing the massive shortfall to above-average water temperatures. Reuters

Science, Studies, And Reports

A new federal lawsuit alleges that the Flint water crisis was especially harmful to prisoners in the city’s Genesee County Jail. The suit, which was filed on behalf of more than 90 former inmates, claims that the prisoners were forced to drink Flint’s lead-tainted tap water even after officials became aware of the contamination. The Detroit Free Press

In context: Circle of Blue’s coverage of the Flint water crisis.

On The Radar

In a narrow ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Florida in an ongoing water-sharing dispute between Florida and Georgia over the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers. Florida argues that limiting Georgia’s use of these rivers will allow more water to flow to the downstream Apalachicola River, and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico. A special master appointed to hear the lawsuit recommended that the court side with Georgia in the matter, but the court instead ruled that further review of Florida’s argument was needed. The New York Times

Kayla Ritter

Kayla Ritter is a recent graduate of Michigan State University, where she studied International Relations and Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. She is currently based in Manton, Michigan. Kayla enjoys running, writing, and traveling. Contact Kayla Ritter