100 Intelligence Briefs

The Geological Survey of Sweden, SGU, has expanded its warning for low groundwater levels in southeast Sweden. In addition to Gotland, Skåne, Blekinge and Kronoberg, Kalmar and Jönköping counties are now also at risk of water shortage. At the same time, measurements from the Swedish Meteorological a

By Emily Payne, Inside Climate News This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News (hyperlink to the original story), a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. Julie Zahringer hears a common refrain at her

By Qingshi Tu, Loretta Li, and Raul de Leon Rabago When people think about wildfires, they usually think about flames, smoke and evacuations. However, for many communities, some of the […]

Disappearing lakes are one of the most disturbing symptoms of global climate change - from Central Asia to Africa and South America, entire bodies of water are shrinking, leaving behind dust, salinity and health risks for millions of people. One of the most dramatic examples is the Aral Sea. A recen

UBS analysts say drought conditions across the US agricultural belt are the worst for March since records began in 1895 — and among the three driest months of any kind on record, behind only the 1934 Dust Bowl. With winter wheat crops already stressed and Mississippi River levels sharply down, a sec

Kazakhstan is no longer framing its water shortage as an environmental issue — it is framing it as a ceiling on GDP. With a projected 50% shortfall by 2040, conveyance losses of up to 60%, and nearly half of river inflow originating upstream in other countries, the case offers sharp lessons for any

Droughts and heatwaves are particularly severe when they occur simultaneously. A new study shows that the frequency of such extreme weather events will increase fivefold by the end of this century. The negative consequences will be felt especially by residents of poor countries in the tropical zone.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), FBI, CISA, NSA, Department of Energy, and US Cyber Command published a joint advisory, confirming that Iranian-affiliated advanced persistent threat (APT...

Communities sound the alarm on data centres using local water and energy supplies to cool their operations.

Urban growth is filling in the buffers around utility corridors. Upstream land conversion is raising treatment costs. Legacy site liabilities are repricing under tighter regulatory timelines. Land-related risk is already inside most water utility budgets — it just hasn't been labeled that way. This

A source of life, an all-powerful element and a key part of the purification process – water is deeply rooted in traditional beliefs and constitutes the most universal sacred element in human history. This spiritual symbolism, however, does not protect it from the mundane problem of dangerous pollut

Parts of Lincolnshire, London and Surrey face worst supply problems as experts warn over climate change, population growth and poor infrastructure

The AWWA report projects that the average annual bill for drinking water could rise from $429 in 2025 to $969 by 2050, an increase of 126%. The AWWA report projects that the average annual bill for drinking water could rise from $429 in 2025 to $969 by 2050

As winter lingers and audiences look for gripping new television, Channel 4’s latest docudrama, Dirty Business, has burst onto the scene, turning the spotlight…

Qatar operates desalination plants producing 538 million gallons per day. Bahrain depends on desalination for 85% of its drinking water. Kuwait for 90%. Gulf states have invested $53.4 billion in the infrastructure since 2006. Then, in March 2026, war targeted those plants. Iranian drones struck Bah

Gabriela Cowperthwaite's award-winning documentary follows investigative journalists uncovering how sovereign powers, corporations, and mercenary groups are racing to control the world's food and water supplies. For water operators managing canals, reservoirs, and irrigation infrastructure, the mess

As water scarcity accelerates across global fashion supply chains, sustainability claims are colliding with a much harsher reality on the ground - and translating into measurable business continuity risk.

The Southern Plains states get a severe drought about once a decade, but long-lasting droughts lately have been leaving farms, rangeland and water sources with too little time to recover.

Since the beginning of 2026, Spain has been hit by seven major storms. This train of storms is trapped between two high‑pressure systems and therefore continues to discharge rainfall over the same region. That is why this is called an ‘Atmospheric River’. According to Juanma Moreno, president of the

Copper prices hit record highs above $13,000/tonne. For utilities facing EPA lead pipe mandates, operational excellence—not bigger budgets—determines survival

With another federal deadline only weeks away and record-low snowfall further drying out the watershed, seven Western states face the prospect of litigation over the dwindling Colorado River. Arizona has established a $1 million legal fund while Colorado promises to bring 'the best lawyer'—all as th

By 2030, global water demand is set to outpace supply by 40%. This isn't a distant crisis; it's unfolding now. Falling reservoir levels and rising populations are forcing utilities to look beyond...

Why systematic operational protocols will determine which utilities survive the coming agricultural water transition 70-80% of global freshwater used by agriculture 8-24% projected decline in global c…

By Julian Cribb; Jan 11, 2026 Published on Substack The rivers that are the lifeblood of the planet and of human civilisation are dying. Worldwide, the evidence is unequivocal, massive, unchallengeable. Humans are hastening to destroy their main source of food, drink, nature and community, as fast a

As 85% of the US and 71% of Canadian farmland face drought conditions, water utilities across North America must shift from reactive crisis management to proactive operational protocols. This guide examines drought types, economic impacts exceeding $367 billion in the US alone, and Alberta's landmar

The integration of IT and OT systems has unlocked significant benefits — from enhanced operational visibility to smarter decision-making — and reflects years of hard work and commitment to innovation. This progress is a foundation for the next phase: strengthening defenses in a rapidly changing thre

The planet’s water reserves are overstretched and polluted, pushing the warming world into a dangerous condition of “water bankruptcy,” argues a new UN University report. This is not an alarm bell for the future, the report states. Bankruptcy is present today. For water, the world is living beyond i

Examining the interconnected failures of soil management and water contamination worldwide

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi welcomed a letter from US President Donald Trump on Saturday offering to relaunch American mediation in the long-running dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), reaffirming Cairo’s commitment to cooperation while stressing that the Nile is the

Lee County's beach contamination reveals a global water quality monitoring crisis: culture-based testing takes 24-48 hours while contamination events last <24 hours. New qPCR methods reduce detection to 4 hours, yet adoption remains limited. Research shows systematic operational protocols prevent ex

Elevated nitrate levels in the Des Moines and Raccoon rivers prompted Central Iowa Water Works to start up its nitrate removal system this month. A network of water quality sensors shows a similar uptick in other streams and rivers across state.

By K.R. Callaway; Inside Climate News December 30, 2025 This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, non-partisan news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for their newsletter here. Seeking peace and quiet amid hectic careers, Sandy Wynn-Ste

Tehran faces evacuation as Iran's water crisis triggers mass protests. Reservoirs at 13% capacity show the catastrophic cost of prioritizing infrastructure over operations.

Humanity is paying an ever higher price for runaway climate change. Among the largest natural disasters of 2025, the most dramatic were triggered by extreme weather events. According to preliminary estimates by the Reuters agency, their economic costs exceed 100 billion dollars. Human suffering cann

Satellites confirm accelerated melting of Himalayan glaciers, jeopardizing vital rivers such as the Indus, Ganges, and Mekong, and the water security of billions.

When Sophisticated Infrastructure Meets Systematic Neglect: The Permian Basin's $2.5 Million Lessons for Water Utilities When Sophisticated Infrastructure Meets Systematic Neglect: The Permian Basin's…

When we think about water and civilization collapse, we imagine cities running out of drinking water—people dying of thirst, communities fleeing in search of water sources. But history tells a different story. Ancient Mesopotamia and the Maya didn't collapse because their populations couldn't find w

In utility boardrooms across the sector, "Artificial Intelligence" has become the mandatory buzzword of every strategic planning session. We are promised that AI will predict pipe bursts before they...

Imane Lechheb Saturday 13 December 2025 - 09:46 On the second day of the Atlantic Dialogues in Rabat, African officials convened in a panel about “Securing Water and Food for a Sustainable Africa” and…

The decision of Pakistan to bring up the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) by India at the Indo-Pacific Ministerial Forum Roundtable in Brussels signifies a diplomatic escalation and a strategic move to internationalize a dispute that has great implications for the stability of the whole r

Amazon has come to the state’s eastern farmland, worsening a water pollution problem that’s been linked to cancer and miscarriages

By Ken Sansone & Kyla Tengdin Disbursements from the landmark Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) Products Liability Litigation settlements with 3M and DuPont began this past summer for eligible water systems that submitted claims documentation on time. For many systems, awards from these settlements w

When people hear about a government shutdown, they usually think of closed national parks, furloughed federal workers, or political gridlock in Washington. But one of the less obvious yet critical areas affected is water treatment and infrastructure.

Amazonas currently has consumption levels below the national average, but increasing urbanization could raise demand in the coming years.

The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) has issued an urgent call for action to address a growing skills crisis across the UK water sector. Its new report, Your Future...

Warming water may have an outsized impact on the legendary lake, which has been protected for decades.

By Li Li (李黎), Penn State (The Conversation) - When you think about heat waves, you might picture sweltering cities, …

Ignore the tap at your peril: when water stalls, economies, ecosystems, and political truces unravel in hours. Chennai’s 2019 blackout proved that a single

Saskatchewan is updating its flood risk planning rules to help municipalities grow safely and sustainably. The provincial government announced Tuesday it will adopt a 1-in-200-year flood elevation standard under The Planning and Development Act, 2007, aligning Saskatchewan’s rules with national floo

Egyptian Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hani Sewilam warned Ethiopia against its continued unilateral action in managing the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), as such actions pose a direct threat to Egypt's water security.

Brokers can help D&O clients navigate rising climate litigation

Relevant Insights: By addressing meaningful topics or problems, it remains relevant and valuable to a diverse readership. The Islamic Republic faces its most severe water shortage in a century as dams…

As Typhoon Wipha weakens, its immediate impacts, such as flooding in parts of the North, are gradually receding. However, experts are sounding the alarm over more serious challenges ahead, including flash floods, water shortages, and a potential drought crisis in 2026.

"We need it." Coca-Cola under fire over bottling plant operations during local crisis: 'The companies take too much' first appeared on The Cool Down.

On July 25, we observe World Drowning Prevention Day, established by the United Nations to highlight the tragic consequences of water-related accidents and promote prevention strategies. Unfortunately, drowning is not only an issue affecting reckless holidaymakers – it is also the tragic fate of peo

Forest fires can drastically degrade water quality, with consequences not only for people, but also for entire ecosystems. A new study by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulderdocumented 538 watersheds in the Western United States, of which 245 were affected by fires and 293 were a contro

River of the Anthropocene Could the Mekong River define SE Asia’s future? By Jonathan Zhao With reporting and photographs by J. Carl Ganter The Tonle Sap River is roughly 100 kilometers long, starting…

Last Saturday, a colossal Chinese hydropower project began on the Tibetan Plateau, aiming to transform the renewable energy market. The world's largest dam will be constructed on the Yarlung Tsangpo River and is expected to generate 300 billion kWh annually. However, the idea has sparked internation

Despite disinfection, water in swimming pools can still provide an environment conducive to the growth of dangerous microorganisms. In the UK, swimming pools have repeatedly been identified as sources of parasitic and bacterial infections. What are the risks associated with using swimming pools, inc

A combination of sewage overflows and coastal winds could be sending billions of airborne microplastic particles into the world's coastal towns and cities, a new study published in the journal ...

On Saturday, northeastern Spain once again came under the influence of a cold drop, an intense weather phenomenon known as DANA. Violent downpours over Catalonia led to a transportation blockade in Barcelona, and serious flooding occurred in nearby towns.

Urban water bodies – rivers, lakes and oceans – are in trouble globally. Large sewage volumes damage the open environment, and new chemicals and pharmaceutical compounds don’t break down on their own...

June 2025 Marks Third Warmest June on Record Globally, Following 2023 and 2024. Record High-Intensity Marine Heatwaves Impact 62% of the Mediterranean Sea

Image: Vocus A breakthrough in satellite technology could help utilities meet new infrastructure security requirements. Vocus has unveiled a new ‘private highway’ over Starlink, which bypasses the internet entirely, enabling water utilities, […]

Underwater noise - an invisible threat that can have a real impact on marine life. In an era of rapid development of offshore wind farms and offshore infrastructure, noise modeling is becoming not only a legal requirement, but also a key tool for environmental protection. Find out how modern tools s

Water on credit - this is not a scenario from a science-fiction movie, but a daily reality for millions of residents of the Afghan capital. According to experts from UNICEF, the aquifers here are in danger of being completely depleted by 2030. Kabul could become a model example of the socioeconomic

The progressive intensification of droughts is steadily increasing their social, economic and ecological costs. According to the Global Drought Outlook, published by the Organisation for Economic Co-...

Azerbaijan has issued a serious warning on the deteriorating state of the Caspian Sea and the Kura River, urging neighboring countries to unite in a coordinated and immediate effort to prevent a regional ecological disaster. Speaking at the Astana International Forum (AIF2025), Mukhtar Babayev, Azer

As the summer intensifies, turning on a tap is no longer a mundane routine across India’s smaller cities1—it has become a moment of uncertainty. In some neighbourhoods, water flows regularly, even abundantly. In others, however, residents wait three to five days, adjust to midnight supply slots, or

Water - a key resource that determines life, economic development and environmental sustainability. Its availability in the face of ongoing climate change is becoming an increasing challenge - both in terms of quantity and quality. Poland, only seemingly abundant in water, has been struggling in rec

Flooding in coastal communities is happening far more often than previously thought, according to a new study from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill...

Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli recently unveiled plans to build a new city in the desert that will receive about 7 percent of the Nile River’s annual water quota, Azernews reports.

With engineers in high demand across all industries, partnering with a trusted engineering group is the key to overcoming skills shortages for water utilities. Image: miss irine/stock.adobe.comBehind all of Australia’s critical water infrastructure lies a team of expert engineers, but how can utilit

The rainfall reached a whopping 45 liters per square meter in parts of Mexico City on Monday night, prompting Mayor Clara Brugada to declare that the city “had not seen a storm of this magnitude since 2017.”

As the Colorado River shrinks due to drought and climate change, the negotiators must decide who will take less water — and they need to do so in the next few months.

Glaciers are the planet's frozen water banks. They sustain water supply, ecosystems and even cultural traditions. But many of these sprawling beds of ice are melting. Why does that matter?

The 120-mile Tijuana River flows from Baja California into the United States and discharges millions of gallons of wastewater — including sewage, industrial waste and runoff — into the Pacific Ocean...

In the Philippines and worldwide, private sector involvement in water services has only led to broken promises of better management, rising costs, and deteriorating services. The growing number of contract terminations and public takeovers shows growing resistance against profit-driven water managem

The rain that has fallen in recent days is not enough to reverse the dry start to the year and the further expected hot conditions in the coming weeks is likely to just exacerbate the situation, the Environment Agency says. Those who lived there were forced to leave when the village was flooded on S

The director of the South Florida Water Coalition writes that drought conditions during the dry season should make us think twice about lowering Lake Okeechobee water levels.

The Colorado River Basin's groundwater supplies are dwindling, thanks to a combination of both natural events and human pumping activities, a new study has found. The critical Western system has lost about 42 million acre-feet of water storage since 2003 — with 65 percent of those declines, or 28 mi

Flood maps play a critical role in helping Alberta’s communities prepare for flooding and respond more effectively when it happens by guiding land-use planning, supporting emergency preparedness, and protecting people, property and infrastructure. Alberta’s government has released new Bow and Elbow

A new analysis by the European Central Bank (ECB) warns that the euro area economy is increasingly vulnerable to environmental degradation, with water scarcity posing the most significant threat....

An AI model trained on large amounts of genetic data can now predict when bacteria will become antibiotic-resistant. The new study shows that antibiotic resistance is more easily transferred between genetically similar bacteria, and that this primarily occurs in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) a

In a report entitled “Europe’s waters: key challenges and EU solutions”, published on May 7, the European Parliament (EP) draws attention to the key issues concerning Europe’s scarcity, pollution and climate risks. For Cyprus this is quite timely. Water scarcity has become an extremely serious issue

Iraq's water reserves are at their lowest in 80 years after a dry rainy season, a government official said Sunday, as its share from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers shrinks. Water is a major issue in the country of 46 million people undergoing a serious environmental crisis because of climate change

Some studies on project around Lake Okeechobee waters have shown signs of efficacy in system designed to raise alerts on algae blooms.

The Springbank Off-Stream Reservoir (SR1) is now in operation, protecting lives, and critical infrastructure in southern Alberta from floods. In June 2013, southern Alberta experienced the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history, causing five deaths, displacing more than 80,000 Albertans and

A flood in Australia has caused massive damage in one of the country's most densely populated states. In just two days, rainfall over New South Wales reached volumes comparable to four months' worth of precipitation. The disaster has already claimed at least three lives and forced 50,000 people to e

Texas regulators are warning that wastewater from fracing in the biggest U.S. oil basin is causing a “widespread” increase in underground pressure — a development that risks hindering crude output and harming the environment.

In conversations about Israel – whether political, historical, or religious – one critical factor often goes unexamined: geography.

Savannah, Georgia, with its picturesque coastline, rich marshlands, and historic significance, is also a region of unique geological and hydrological challenges. Its location along the Atlantic coast places it in an area where coastal soil types—primarily sandy loam and clay—interact with high water

After visitors descend stairs winding 50 meters below ground, they emerge to an otherworldly sight -- a cavernous, dimly lit space with towering pillars reminiscent of a temple…

What if the answer to the world’s growing water crisis was hidden in the depths of the ocean? For decades, the idea of turning seawater into drinkable freshwater has been plagued by high costs, environmental concerns, and energy-intensive processes. But now, a new innovation called deep-sea reverse

The increasing frequency of once-in-a-decade agricultural and ecological drought has underscored the urgency of studying hydrological changes. A research team from the Department of Land Surveying...

Trump comments mark the first time a US president acknowledges a "water mafia": a connected network responsible for ecological catastrophes.

Leaders hope to treat groundwater and capture more rain as the water from one of the nation’s most iconic rivers becomes less reliable.

In April 2025, security researchers identified a sophisticated campaign targeting critical infrastructure networks worldwide through a previously unknown vulnerability in SAP NetWeaver Visual Composer. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-31324, allows unauthenticated attackers to upload malicious

Last week, the European Parliament overwhelmingly adopted a report containing recommendations for a European water resilience strategy. The report states that MEPs are calling on the EU to manage water resources more effectively in response to the increasing impacts of climate change. The European C

Recent research has unveiled a startling revelation regarding the complex interplay between viruses and harmful algal blooms (HABs), primarily caused by Microcystis aeruginosa. A team of environmental microbiologists, spearheaded by Dr. Jozef Nissimov from the University of Waterloo, has demonstrate