Water News for June 2025
40% of Glaciers Are Doomed
Almost 40% of glaciers in existence today are already doomed to melt due to climate-heating emissions from fossil fuels, a study has found. The loss will soar to 75% if global heating reaches the 2.7C rise for which the world is on track. The massive loss of glaciers would push up sea levels, endangering millions of people and driving mass migration. The Guardian.
Crypto Outbreak in Devon
BBC reported that in Devon a cryptosporidium outbreak, which contaminated the local water supply and lead to hospitalizations and more than 100 reported cases of illness, caused significant financial loss to the water supplier. BBC.
De Not Eat Warnings for Fish in Michigan
Amid evidence that PFAS is far more dangerous than previously thought, state officials have revised statewide guidelines for eating contaminated fish.
Michigan health officials have dramatically reduced the amount of PFAS-tainted fish they consider safe to eat, tripling the number of water bodies where anglers are warned against eating their catch.
Ninety-eight water bodies are now subject to “do not eat” advisories because fish are contaminated with the so-called “forever chemicals,” up from 33 last year. Hundreds more advisories suggest that Michiganders limit meals of certain fish species to anywhere from 16 servings a month to six a year.
Officials with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services announced the change Monday while publishing the annual Eat Safe Fish Guide, a document that identifies waterways where fish are contaminated with unsafe levels of toxic chemicals. Bridge Michigan
Diesel Spill in Baltimore
A leak of some 2000 gallons of diesel at Johns Hopkins Hospital in East Baltimore traveled through storm drains for more than a mile to the harbor. The impact on drinking water quality is still unclear. Newsweek
Salmonella Traced to Cucumbers Grown in Contaminated Irrigation Water
A salmonella outbreak tore through the country last spring and summer, infecting more than 550 people and sending 155 to the hospital.
The likely culprit wasn’t raw eggs or undercooked chicken but an innocuous salad staple: cucumbers.
One year later, cucumbers are once again making people sick — and federal officials say that one of the same Florida farms is once again involved. Forty-five people in 18 states recently contracted salmonella in an outbreak linked to cucumbers from Bedner Growers in Palm Beach County, setting off a widespread recall that has affected everything from California rolls sold at Target to banh mi sandwiches served at a North Carolina high school.
The Food and Drug Administration has yet to explain how the cucumbers linked to the current outbreak became contaminated; the investigation is ongoing. But last year, the agency found that Bedner Growers had used untreated canal water for irrigation — and that the water was contaminated with one of the salmonella strains that had made people sick.
Cucumbers and other fresh produce may be a surprising source of salmonella, which can cause diarrhea, stomach cramps and fever, as well as more serious health problems that can turn fatal. Heat from cooking can kill the bacteria, but fruits and vegetables that are eaten raw, like cucumbers, can be unsafe once they are contaminated. That means it’s particularly important to protect fresh produce from pathogens lurking in water used for irrigation or washing. NBC News.
Contaminated Water Blamed for Elephants’ Death
The unexplained deaths of hundreds of elephants near watering holes across the Okavango delta in May 2020 alarmed conservationists. Nearly five years later, scientists finally published a paper indicating what they believe to be the reason behind the deaths: toxic water caused by an algal bloom. The Guardian
National Hydration Day
National Hydration Day was June 23. As far as we can determine, not a single business or government office anywhere closed to honor the holiday.
The World’s Worst Case of PFAS Contamination
When residents in a small Swedish town discovered their drinking water contained extremely high levels of PFAS, they began blood testing. They had no idea what it would mean for their health and their children’s future. Read the Guardian report: Poison in the water: the town with the world’s worst case of forever chemicals contamination.
Water Treatment Employee Dies in Water Tank
In Ottawa County Ohio, a water treatment employee was found dead inside a water tank, prompting a boil advisory in multiple areas in the state.
According to WTOL, citing a report from the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office, authorities responded to the Ottawa County Regional Water Treatment Plant on Monday and discovered a night shift employee floating face down in a tank filled with water. WKRC – TV
Expectant Mothers Advised to Drink Filtered Water
Pregnant women have been advised to use water filters by experts who spoke to Newsweek after a study found levels of arsenic in water systems considered safe are impacting birth outcomes.
A national study led by researchers at Columbia University evaluated risks from 13,998 pregnancies across 35 cohort sites participating in the National Institutes of Health’s Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) program, and published its findings on the medical journal site JAMA Network last week.
The researchers discovered that prenatal exposure to arsenic was associated with a higher likelihood of babies being born preterm with lower birth weights, factors that they said are important “predictors of infant mortality and morbidity across the life span.”
This was the case even at the level of exposure the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently deems safe, 10 micrograms per liter, a regulation that was established in 2001 and has not been changed since. Newsweek. Full article.
