The Stream, March 4, 2025: Gaza’s Waste Piles Up, Polluting Its Waters; Wildfires Hit Japan After Historically Dry February

Murray-Darling watershed. Photo J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue

YOUR GLOBAL RUNDOWN

• A historically dry Australian summer has left thousands of residents dependent upon water deliveries, which are taking weeks or months to arrive amid high demand.
• Without any operating landfills, the accumulation of waste in Gaza is wreaking havoc on freshwater sources and human health.
• A new law in the United Kingdom aims to hold private water companies accountable for their ongoing pollution of the country’s streams, rivers, and lakes.
• After northeastern Japan received barely any February rainfall, workers act to contain the country’s largest wildfire in decades. 

— Christian Thorsberg, Interim Stream Editor

Fresh: From the Great Lakes Region

Federal Firings: Eight employees at NOAA’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab — including the entire science communications team — were among the hundreds of NOAA staff fired late last week by the Department of Government Efficiency. The lab’s former employees are particularly worried how these staff cuts will impact drinking water intake managers, who rely on the lab’s work and communications to make decisions about freshwater treatment, Michigan Public reports. Also fired last week were two Midwest Climate Hub scientists, who helped farmers in Wisconsin adapt to changing climate regimes, Wisconsin Public Radio reports. 

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.

• B.C. ranchers say fracking-induced earthquakes hurt cattle — The Narwhal
• After losing in court, Michigan township tries again to block ‘green’ cemetery — Bridge Michigan
• Latest Minnesota PFAS bill allegedly shifts power, sparks controversy — Great Lakes Now
• Layoffs at Chicago EPA office have implications for Michigan — Michigan Public

The Lead

When January came to an end, it marked some of the driest 12 consecutive months on record for many parts of South Australia as the country reckons with the sweeping effects of low rainfall and heat, Australian Broadcasting Company reports. In many regions, streamflows remain low, soil moisture is deficient, and, as of December, “many water storages in south-eastern states were 10 to 50 percent lower than the same time last year,” according to the country’s Bureau of Meteorology. In the Adelaide Hills region of South Australia, it hasn’t been this dry since 2006. 

Thousands of residents are running out of water, or have already run out. Unable to wash their hands, shower, or flush their toilets, they are waiting “weeks” for water delivery services, the Guardian reports. Even those who own and have historically used rain barrels to supplement their water supply are watching their taps run dry, as January’s rainfall was 83 percent below the 1961 to 1990 average. Last year, the state government reopened a local desalination plant, which produces 300 million liters of water each day. 

Earlier in the summer, the federal government announced an $18 million drought package for affected farmers, who are “meeting with bank managers to work out how to get through the year ahead, as stock prices fall and the hay runs out,” the Guardian reports. “Some are suffering from anxiety as they try to cope.”

Recent WaterNews from Circle of Blue

• Opinion: Trump’s Attack on Science Drowns Common Sense — Blocking research funds challenges president’s promise of a “proud, prosperous, and free” nation.
• Republican Attack on Science Targets Water Research that Benefits All — National Science Foundation grants have been reviewed for ideological influence.

This Week’s Top Water Stories, Told In Numbers

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The number of temporary waste dumps operating, as of May 2024, in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reports. More than 60 percent of the strip’s buildings have been destroyed, and three main landfills were closed by the Israel Defense Forces. The loss of infrastructure has meant that the estimated 2,000 tons of waste generated each day are allocated into makeshift piles, which even before the war stacked 35 meters high in some locations and faced overcrowding. With nowhere else to put waste, surface waters have become riddled with disease and subsurface water reserves are growing more polluted. The spread of leachate from landfills into groundwater “is considered to be the most significant risk for the natural environment and human health,” as it damages plant roots, contaminates grazing lands, and reduces crop yields as it flows. Communities living near this rotting trash endure unbearable smells, a lack of potable water, and health risks. 

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Inches of rain which fell on the northeastern Japanese city of Ofunato all February, Al Jazeera reports. Now, more than 2,000 wildland firefighters are working to contain a nearby blaze which has already consumed roughly 5,200 acres of land and damaged at least 84 buildings. It is Japan’s largest wildfire since 1992. 

On the Radar

A new law in the United Kingdom aims to help address the country’s water pollution crisis by, among other measures, banning the payment of bonuses to water executives who break the law. The Water (Special Measures) Act 2025, which received Royal Assent in late February, aims to enforce accountability by increasing the presence of independent monitoring at discharge sites and making this data “publicly available within an hour of sewage spills occurring.” England’s water companies will also be required to publish yearly Pollution Incident Reduction Plans, which lawmakers hope will increase transparency to both the government and public. 

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.