Record-Low Rivers, EPA Rollbacks: Gleick on Water Crisis — SkimNews
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- Colorado River reservoirs have shrunk to their lowest levels since they were built, with the seven basin states now fighting over unprecedented shortages.
- Hungary's only nuclear power plant is on the verge of shutting down because the Danube River no longer has enough water to cool it.
- The Trump administration's EPA halted efforts to regulate new water pollutants and weakened existing rules put in place by both Democratic and Republican predecessors, Gleick says.
- The administration is pushing for billions of dollars in cuts to the National Science Foundation, US Geological Survey, and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
- Desalination plants in the Middle East have been bombed in the Iran conflict, toxic chemicals have been found in all English water bodies, and US municipal water systems are being hacked.
- Communities are mobilizing to block water-hungry datacenters amid the worst El Niño in recorded history and more water-related conflicts than at any time in recorded history.
Why it matters: The collision is concrete: the Colorado River's major reservoirs are at their lowest levels since construction, Hungary's sole nuclear plant is threatened by Danube lows, and the EPA is simultaneously weakening pollutant rules — meaning the infrastructure and policy backstop are eroding at the same moment the physical crisis intensifies for millions of users.
Ask SkimNews
