The Stream, January 28, 2025: Greenland’s Lakes Emitting Carbon; Surprising Optimism for World’s Largest Hydropower Project in DRC

Inga 1 and 2 dams on the Congo River were built in the 1970s and 1980s. Grand Inga would be much larger. Photo courtesy of Flickr/Creative Commons user Radio Okapi

YOUR GLOBAL RUNDOWN

Thousands of lakes in West Greenland, as a result of abnormally warm and wet autumns, have had their microbial diversity disappear in the past several years while shifting from carbon sinks to sources.
A new federal complaint alleges that a Chemours chemical factory — the dramatized antagonist in the film “Dark Waters” — is polluting the Ohio River with high levels of toxic PFAS.
Warm and wet conditions have left Moscow without snow and ice for much of the winter, fundamentally altering both plant life and cultural activities.
Amidst political and water-related unrest in Democratic Republic of Congo, the World Bank’s confidence in the world’s largest hydropower project comes as a surprise.

— Christian Thorsberg, Interim Stream Editor

Fresh: From the Great Lakes Region

3M Settlement to Fund Outdoor Water Projects: In 2018, the Minnesota-based chemical manufacturer 3M was ordered to pay a $850 million settlement for its contamination of regional groundwater with PFAS “forever chemicals.” While roughly $700 million “was designated for providing safe drinking water to residents in east metro communities affected by PFAS pollution,” another $20 million has been set aside for outdoor recreation, water enhancement, and habitat protection projects, Minnesota Public Radio reports. The state Department of Natural Resources will publish a call for project proposals in early February, and seek to award grant money later this year.

Bridge Michigan, Circle of Blue, Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television, Michigan Public and The Narwhal work together to report on the most pressing threats to the Great Lakes region’s water. This independent journalism is supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation. Find all the work here.

Life on the frontlines of Ontario’s critical mineral boom — The Narwhal
What furor over drab Gaylord land says about Michigan’s energy transition — Bridge Michigan
I Speak for the Fish: Why do mudpuppies matter? — Great Lakes Now
Research finds some Great Lakes water birds negatively impacted by legacy pollution — Michigan Public

The Lead

The Grand Inga Dam — the world’s largest hydropower project, estimated to cost $80 billion — might just be the World Bank’s riskiest bet yet.

For decades, investors and developers have been enticed by Inga’s energy potential. With nearly unparalleled scale, the project aims to provide electricity for many of the 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa currently in need, BBC reports. But shaky governance, a chance of environmental catastrophe, and uncertain financials — Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the world’s poorest countries — have kept the project in limbo for years. Once projected to open in 2018 on the Congo River, the dam has yet to see construction begin.

Complicating matters further is the country’s rocky relationship with freshwater infrastructure and management. In DRC’s eastern regions, gold, cobalt, and coltan mines — lucrative yet polluting and extractive enterprises — have been focal points of an ongoing conflict with Rwandan-backed M23 rebels. According to BBC, more than 400,000 people have been displaced already this year as deadly fighting has escalated between the two armies. Just this week, tensions were amplified as M23 troops invaded and claimed the large city of Goma. Located on the shores of Lake Kivu — where existing dams, pollution, and explosive potential are present threats to the two countries’ water security — Goma is also a strategic material stronghold. Now in control, M23 is in a position to seize east DRC’s natural resources and mining operations, taxes from which have already funded its operations.

While the proposed Grand Inga site is hundreds of miles away, there is concern over the country’s leadership and stability. Such is the surprise that the World Bank has seemingly reversed its skepticism and seems poised to invest in the dam’s future, in a major way.

Recent WaterNews from Circle of Blue

Opinion: Halt the Oil Flow Across Straits of Mackinac — Civic opposition and litigation aims to end Line 5 operation.
World Economic Forum Appoints Circle of Blue Managing Director to its Global Future Council on the Future of the Energy Nexus — J. Carl Ganter Honored In Davos

This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers

7,486

Lakes researchers estimate are in West Greenland, where a series of warmer and wetter autumns is wreaking havoc on freshwater bodies, Popular Science reports. Researchers have found that nearly all these lakes, over the past several years, have changed from crystal clear to muddy brown — a symptom of increases in algae, methane, and metals, and a decrease in bacterial diversity and photosynthesis. The physical and chemical changes are a direct result of a warming Arctic, as permafrost melts and washes the materials previously held in the soil into waterways. A similar phenomenon has been occurring in Alaska. Crucially, the lakes in West Greenland are now emitting four times as much carbon in the summertime as they were in prior years, while absorbing less. It was announced earlier this year that one-third of the Arctic tundra is now a carbon source, rather than a sink.

The percentage — three out of 12 — of snowdrop species that have already begun to bloom in Moscow this January, as mild weather and precipitation falling as rain, rather than snow, continues, Reuters reports. Typically, the flowers begin to bloom in April. The abnormally warm and wet winter has impacted culture, cancelling skiing and opportunities to skate on frozen rivers and lakes. On the Epiphany holiday — during which some people will cut holes in ice to dip into frigid rivers — officials had to restrict traditional practice because the ice in many places was too thin.

On the Radar

The 50,000 residents of Parkersburg, West Virginia — a community which sits on the shores of the Ohio River — are no stranger to contamination. The nearby Chemours chemical plant, previously owned by DuPont, was the subject of a regulatory scandal which began some three decades ago, the events of which were dramatized in the feature film “Dark Waters.” For polluting the community with toxic chemicals, DuPont was ordered to pay about $700 million, the Guardian reports. This week, a new lawsuit alleges that since 2023, the plant has been discharging levels of PFAS much higher than its current permit allows, thus polluting the Ohio River and Parkersburg’s waterways. When ordered by the Environmental Protection Agency to correct this, the suit alleges, the plant did not.

49th State Focus: In Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Low Snowpack and Heavy Rains Mark Unseasonal Winter Weather

More Rain Than Snow In Y-K Delta: Much of Alaska has experienced a warmer, milder winter so far this season. This trend has made an impact in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, where precipitation — well above normal levels — has fallen as rain instead of snow, Alaska Public Media reports. It has been more than a decade, climate experts say, since a similar pattern has been observed in the region. Looking ahead, the consequences of low snowpack may be two-fold: while the risk of spring flooding could decrease if there is less snow to melt, a dry spring could also spur a higher likelihood of wildfire.

Christian Thorsberg

Christian Thorsberg is an environmental writer from Chicago. He is passionate about climate and cultural phenomena that often appear slow or invisible, and he examines these themes in his journalism, poetry, and fiction.