Michigan Bottlers Still Get Free Water, Despite Governor’s Tough Talk
When Gretchen Whitmer campaigned for #Michigan governor in 2018, she took aim at Michigan’s bottled #water industry — and the state policy that gave it unfettered access to free water.
“#Groundwater temperature can influence a ecosystems, aquatic processes and water quality. If groundwater temperatures increase, then unfortunately many temperature sensitive groundwater dependent ecosystems may be threatened."
"In the oil fields north of Fort Stockton, #Texas, a large leak discovered at the beginning of December has joined a growing list of aging oil and gas wells in the area that have sat quietly for decades only to reawaken and spew toxic water."
“The worst thing about this one is that it’s toxic [and] radioactive #ProducedWater that is going into the #groundwater,” said Burch."
"The legacy of 3M chemical waste from former dumps, the underground PFAS plume has tainted drinking water supplies for years. Over the next 50 years, it is expected to reach new areas in Oakdale and Woodbury"
Dealing with PFAS, 3M's legacy... a very expensive one.
Opinion: Why the birthplace of the Western #Apache religion shouldn’t be destroyed by a #CopperMine
by Luke Goodrich
February 6, 2024·
"A federal court is poised to decide whether a #NativeAmerican#sacred site will be destroyed by a massive #copper#mine. Mining proponents claim that destroying the #SacredSite is necessary for the development of #GreenEnergy. That claim is both factually wrong and morally repugnant. And recent polling shows that the vast majority of Americans agree with what the constitution requires: #Native sacred sites deserve the same protection as all other houses of worship.
"Since before European contact, #WesternApache and other Native tribes have lived and honored their #Creator at #OakFlat, or 'Chi’chil Bildagoteel.' The site is the birthplace of Western Apache religion and the site of ancient religious ceremonies that cannot take place anywhere else. Because of its religious and cultural significance, Oak Flat is on the National Register of Historic Places and has been protected from mining and other destructive practices for decades.
"That changed in 2014, when several members of Congress, supported by #corporate#mining#lobbyists, slipped an amendment into a must-pass defense bill authorizing the transfer of Oak Flat to a foreign-owned mining giant. That company, #ResolutionCopper, announced plans to obliterate the sacred ground by swallowing it in a mining crater nearly two miles wide and 1,100-feet deep, ending Apache religious practices forever. That was no surprise given the company’s sordid history dealing with #IndigenousPeoples. The majority owner of Resolution Copper is #RioTinto (the world’s second largest mining company), which sparked international outrage in 2020 when it destroyed a 46,000-year-old rock shelter with some of the most significant #Aboriginal artifacts in all of #Australia.
"The Apache and their allies, represented by my firm, the #BecketFundForReligiousLiberty, have been fighting in court to ensure that such an atrocity won’t repeat itself at Oak Flat. After initial court rulings against the Apache, a full panel of 11 judges at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reheard their appeal last spring. A decision on whether the government can execute the land transfer is expected any day.
"Resolution Copper and its backers want the public to believe that building the mine is essential for developing #renewable energy. Extracting the copper beneath Oak Flat, they say, will help to build batteries necessary for powering #ElectricVehicles and thus fight #ClimateChange. In other words, we have to destroy Oak Flat in order to save the planet.
"These claims, however, are false — and they are specifically designed to obscure the physical and cultural destruction the project would wreak on the land.
"The mine will destroy the #environment, not save it. It is undisputed that the mine will swallow the ecologically diverse landscape of Oak Flat in a massive crater, decimating the local #ecosystem. It will also leave behind approximately 1.37 billion tons of '#tailings,' or #MiningWaste, which, according to the government’s own environmental assessment, will pollute the #groundwater and scar the landscape permanently. And the mine will consume vast quantities of water at the time it is most needed by drought-stricken towns and #farmers.
"Supporters of the mine are also at odds with the majority of Americans. According to this year’s Religious Freedom Index, an annual survey conducted by Becket, 74% of Americans believe that Native sacred sites on federal land should be protected from mining projects, even when the projects are purportedly pro-jobs and pro-environment.
"That conclusion is both sensible and humane. America can transition to renewable energy without blasting the cradle of Western Apache religion into oblivion. And it should. For too long, our nation has made excuses for taking advantage of #IndigenousPeople and their land. Indeed, our nation drove the Western Apache off Oak Flat and surrounding lands in the 1800s precisely to make way for #MiningInterests. It shouldn’t repeat that #injustice again.
"It is past time to protect Indigenous sacred sites from further destruction. Basic fairness and our constitutional commitment to religious freedom require no less. And, happily, most Americans agree."
The Council of Canadians has a petition relating to massive amounts of groundwater water to be extracted on Ontario by a bottle water company. A pledge, actually.
"Blue Triton Waters — the corporation that bought out #Nestlé’s North American bottled water business in 2021 — will take a total of more than 8 billion litres of groundwater from two wells in #Ontario over five years.
Permits issued by the Government of Ontario grant Triton enough groundwater to fill 14 billion more #plastic bottles. Laid end to end, those bottles would circle the globe 70 times.
This deeply unjust deal is just one among many across Canada that undermine our human right to water, and our global responsibility to reduce single-use plastics.
Sign the pledge today to boycott commercial bottled water."
Some of #groundwater depletion is on climate change, but often that comes on top of a long history of mismanagement.
"That, he told The Hill, was the biggest thing about his findings that surprised him: Given “clever, locally relevant interventions, with adequate scope and scale — we can make things better.”
“Groundwater depletion is not inevitable,” he said. "
Is there a way to find out how deep the #waterTable is on a given day in a given location?
For example, #weather apps/sites usually report the day's #precipitation accumulation and #forecast the next day's precipitation amount for each locale — and in a way that almost anyone can understand.
Is there an app or website for ordinary people to get that much time- and spatial- resolution on #groundwater levels in their area?
Where #Groundwater Levels Are Falling, & Rising, Worldwide
An investigation into nearly 1,700 aquifers across >40 countries found that groundwater levels in almost ½ have fallen since 2000. Only about 7% of the aquifers surveyed had groundwater levels that rose over that same time period.
The new study is one of the 1st to compile data from monitoring wells around the world to try & construct a global picture of #groundwater levels in fine detail.
The declines were most apparent in regions w/ dry climates & a lot of #land cultivated for #agriculture, including #California’s Central Valley & the High Plains region in the #UnitedStates. The researchers also found large areas of sharply falling groundwater in #Iran.
“Groundwater declines have consequences,” said Scott Jasechko, an assoc prof at the UC Santa Barbara’s Bren School of #EnvironmentalScience & Management, & the study’s lead author. “Those consequences can include causing #streams to leak, lands to sink, #seawater to contaminate coastal aquifers, & wells to run dry.”
…The research, published on Wed in the journal #Nature, confirms widespread #groundwater declines previously found w/satellites & models….
#Introduction : I'm a retired biologist living in coastal North Carolina (USA). I am a future resident of the Pacific Northwest. Here are some hashtags that might give you an idea of my interests.
Threat of massive drinking #WaterCrisis looms over American regions: ‘There will be parts of the U.S. that run out’
Story by Wes Stenzel, November 27, 2023
"A new study from The New York Times has revealed that substantial, consistent damage is being done to the #groundwater supply in the United States, which has massive negative implications for #agriculture, #DrinkingWater, construction, and more.
"What’s happening?
"In the past four decades, more than half of all American groundwater sites have been substantially depleted, as more water has been taken out than replenished naturally.
"Additionally, 40 percent of all locations have hit an all-time low.
"Pumping out groundwater disrupts layers of different substances below the Earth’s surface, as the ground can settle into the area where the water is taken out and take up space where it would ordinarily replenish.
"The New York Times sees a lack of regulation as one of the biggest issues regarding groundwater use. Additionally, The Times claims there is very little significant research and data tracking on a countrywide scale.
"Why is groundwater use important?
"Groundwater is essential to agriculture, and the depletion of the resource could fundamentally disrupt crop yields in the coming years in states such as Kansas, where the natural groundwater cannot support the agricultural industry anymore, according to The Times. Meanwhile, more arid states like California, Texas, and Utah are seeing widespread infrastructural damage to roads and the ground due to overpumping. Phoenix does not have enough groundwater in certain areas to construct new homes."