water

As the 'water tower of Asia' dries out, villagers learn to recharge their springs

4:15pm October 02, 2023

by Namrata Kolachalam

In the Himalayan foothills, water is getting harder to come by. Villagers in one region of northern India are learning how to recharge the groundwater-fed springs they depend on.

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The waters of the Ha' Kamwe' hot springs are healing and sacred, says Ivan Bender, the caretaker of the Cholla Canyon Ranch, which belongs to the Hualapai Tribe. Less than a hundred yards away, an Australian mining company called Arizona Lithium has been exploring for lithium.

The U.S. needs minerals for green tech. Will Western mines have enough water?

2:42pm September 26, 2023

by Julia Simon

As the U.S. plans new mines for copper, lithium and other metals to use in green technologies, mining projects in the West could threaten scarce water supplies.

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A view of the Pakistani territory of Baltistan from the heights of the mountain above the village of Chunda. The patches of white in the foreground are snow and water. The patches of silver in the distance are clouds that shroud the peaks of most mountains in Baltistan. The territory boasts towering peaks, including K2, the world's second highest mountain.

A glacier baby is born: Mating glaciers to replace water lost to climate change

10:06pm September 03, 2023

by Diaa Hadid

Residents of Pakistan's Himalayan region turn to science and folklore, with backing from the U.N. They're erecting ice towers, harvesting avalanches and performing an ancient glacier ritual.

A two decade-long drought on the Colorado River is drying up reservoirs. Droughts there and in California are bringing new scrutiny to the way Western states decide whose water allotment gets cut back.

Environment

A racist past and hotter future are testing Western water like never before

5:11am July 11, 2023

by Lauren Sommer

In Western states, the older a water claim, the more secure it is during a drought. Tribes have long been excluded from that system and now, they're pushing for change.

Environment

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Utility Commission has approved water and sewer rate increases

2:37pm May 19, 2023

by David Ford

The Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Utility Commission recently approved water and sewer rate hikes beginning in July. The move comes following an independent rate study

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Water pours out of Lake Oroville in Northern California in March. Reservoirs levels plummeted over the last three years, but now have more water than they can hold.

Environment

3 reasons why California's drought isn't really over, despite all the rain

5:05am March 23, 2023

by Lauren Sommer

California has been deluged by storms this winter, but fixing the state's severe drought will take more than rain. The state had deeper problems in how it uses water.

Aquatic plants and debris are exposed by the falling water levels at the Kakhovka Reservoir. Researchers say that the draining of the reservoir by Russian forces are but one example of the war's effect on Ukraine's water supply.

A shrinking reservoir signals Ukraine and Russia are waging a dangerous water war

7:30am March 22, 2023

Russia is using a dam it controls to release water from Ukraine's massive Kakhovka Reservoir. It's one of dozens of cases where the war is limiting access to safe water.

Dropping water levels in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine have exposed fishing nets and roots of aquatic plants along the shoreline of the Dnipro river.

Russia is draining a massive Ukrainian reservoir, endangering a nuclear plant

12:44pm February 10, 2023

Satellite data show water levels plummeting at the Kakhovka Reservoir. The reservoir supplies drinking water, irrigates vast tracts of farmland, and cools Europe's largest nuclear plant.

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Floodwaters cover a property along River Rd. in Monterey County, Calif., as the Salinas River overflows its banks on Jan. 13, 2023.

National

The winter storms in California will boost water allocations for the state's cities

5:08am January 27, 2023

by The Associated Press

Weeks of rainfall in California won't end a severe drought, but it will provide public water agencies serving 27 million people with much more water than the suppliers had been previously told.

The fountain is frozen as temperatures hovered in the mid 20s at Jacob Schoen & Son Funeral Home in New Orleans on Dec. 24, 2022.

National

A deep freeze is breaking pipes and creating a water crisis across the South

2:26am December 28, 2022

by The Associated Press

The problems stemming from burst water pipes were happening in large, troubled water systems such as Jackson, Miss., where residents were required over Christmas to boil water.