Global Rundown
- Leaders in Corpus Christi, Texas, voted to cancel the construction of a desalination plant, as industrial use and drought threaten widespread water shortages.
- Nearly two million people in eastern Pakistan have been forced to evacuate their homes as rivers continue to swell from extreme rains and dam releases.
- Officials in Iowa’s largest county rescinded $400,000 intended to promote the results of a study that linked agricultural runoff with watershed pollution.
- Local Water Done Well, a policy initiative bringing sweeping water reforms to New Zealand, is now in action after final legislation was passed into law.
- A massive wetland in Kurdistan has officially run dry as a result of drought and over-irrigation.
The Lead
The Corpus Christi City Council voted last week to cancel the construction of a desalination plant that would have turned seawater into fresh water for use by the oil and gas facilities, refineries, and chemical plants operating in the coastal Texas city, Inside Climate News reports.
More than a decade in the making, the project began with an initial $50 million investment from the city — just under a third of its total cost of $160 million, estimated in 2019 — and was slated to open in 2023. But as the plant’s expected cost swelled to $1.2 billion and progress stalled, companies began “consuming municipal water, while a seven-year drought in the area helped dry up the city’s main reservoirs to near-emergency levels.” If alternative water sources for industrial users are not soon identified, Corpus Christi officials point to December 2026 as when a potential Level One Water Emergency may occur. In such a scenario, the city will be within 180 days of its Western Reservoir water supply falling completely empty…