This Week in Water

Tons of news this week, mostly bad. And mostly in the U.S. Let's get down to it:

Health Advisory: If you're one of the nearly half million people who live in or around Toledo, Ohio, DON'T USE THE WATER!

More Ohio news: Haliburton was hesitant to disclose the type and amounts of toxic fracking chemicals it spilled into the Ohio River on June 28. By the time it released the information some 70,000 fish had died and the drinking water for millions of residents was threatened.

Hydrofrackers spilled some 480 barrels of hydrochloric (HCL) acid in rural Oklahoma that could taint nearby creeks and water supplies.

A waterfront oil refinery in Delaware is asking taxpayers to pay to protect it from rising sea levels.

Who would've guessed? The 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is turning out to be much worse than people anticipated.

The depletion of the Ogllala Aquifer that stretches from Texas to South Dakota by human extraction—mainly for agriculture and energy use—threatens the bread basket of the U.S. and, potentially, the entire planet.

Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the U.S., is at an all-time record lowest level.

In a related story, NASA satellites have revealed a shocking loss of groundwater in the Colorado River Basin, challenging long-term water supplies for seven states. Purportedly, many areas are drier than during the Dust Bowl era.

Remember that chemical spill in West Virginia in January of this year? Well, the company that poisoned the water of some 300,000 residents sure got its comeuppance: It was fined $11,000. Freedom (Industries)!

Taxpayers will have to shoulder most of the $2 billion cleanup of pollution in the Everglades from South Florida's sugar industries.

Acidic seas are turning phytoplankton toxic. Why should that matter? Well, for one thing they produce up to 60% of the earth's oxygen.

Scientists still don't understand why numerous species of starfish along both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the U.S. are dying out.

Researchers have measured swells of up to 16 feet in the Arctic's Beaufort Sea north of Alaska in oceans that are typically frozen.

Is Kick'em Jenny, an enormous volcano some 6,000 feet beneath the Caribbean Sea where tectonic plates converge, a potential tsunami threat to the U.S.?

Will the world essentially run out of fresh water by 2040? It is not out of the question if current trends continue. Not only do fossil fuel facilities pollute the environment and increase global warming with their carbon emissions, they consume massive, untold amounts of water resources.

Water: the next gold rush? Many mega-national companies think it is and are maneuvering to control this vital resource.

As much as 60% of California is in record drought conditions.

California halts injections of fracking waste, warning that it may be contaminating aquifers. May be?

Is desalination of the Pacific Ocean a viable option for California in the face of its historic drought?

New climate models predict an Australian forever-drought.

New E.P.A. proposed rule: an attempt to keep small bodies of water clean for families and businesses or yet another overreaching intrusion by Big Gov't into private property?

The Water Resources Reform and Development Act of 2014: a much-needed upgrading of U.S. water and wastewater infrastructure or the nose of the privatization-of-water-systems camel into the tent?

"U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), U.S. Representative Grace Napolitano (D-CA) and U.S. Representative Peter DeFazio (D-OR) today introduced 'W21: Water in the 21st Century,' legislation that would help communities nationwide better prepare for the future by providing new incentives and investments to help residents, businesses and local water agencies to conserve, recycle and manage limited water supplies."