wastewater

Communities in Ecuador Fight Back Against Palm Oil

Communities in Ecuador Fight Back Against Palm Oil

By Alejandro Pérez, translated by Romina Castagnino Fifteen years ago, Martha Valencia relied on the nearby river for water and for food. But then oil palm crops arrived in the area and polluted the river, say Martha and her neighbors. The community took the oil palm grower to court, which ultimately resulted in a ruling […]

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    How Cape Town Avoided a Water Crisis at the Eleventh Hour

    How Cape Town Avoided a Water Crisis at the Eleventh Hour

    By Charlotte Edmond Cape Town’s water crisis got so bad last year that there were competitions to see who could wash their shirts the least. Restaurants and businesses were encouraging people not to flush after going to the toilet. The city was just 90 days away from turning off the taps. WWF – SA A […]

    Pipeline Leaks 63,840 Gallons of Produced Water in North Dakota

    Pipeline Leaks 63,840 Gallons of Produced Water in North Dakota

    A pipeline released 63,840 gallons (1,520 barrels) of produced water that contaminated rangeland in Dunn County, North Dakota, the Bismarck Tribune reported, citing officials with the North Dakota Department of Health. Produced water is a byproduct of oil and gas extraction, and can contain drilling chemicals if fracking was used. The pipeline is part of […]

    Injecting Wastewater Underground Can Cause Earthquakes Up to 10 Kilometers Away

    Injecting Wastewater Underground Can Cause Earthquakes Up to 10 Kilometers Away

    By Emily Brodsky Earthquakes in the central and eastern U.S. have increased dramatically in the last decade as a result of human activities. Enhanced oil recovery techniques, including dewatering and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have made accessible large quantities of oil and gas previously trapped underground, but often result in a glut of contaminated wastewater […]

    Contact Lenses Add to Earth’s Microplastic Crisis

    Contact Lenses Add to Earth’s Microplastic Crisis

    Contact lenses may appear harmlessly soft and small, but a big chunk of American users are improperly disposing their used lenses and adding to the planet’s microplastic problem, Arizona State University researchers found. In a survey of 409 wearers, about 1 in 5 responded that they flushed their used lenses down the toilet or sink […]

    Fracking Wastewater Spikes 1,440% in Half Decade

    Fracking Wastewater Spikes 1,440% in Half Decade

    By Sharon Kelly Between 2011 and 2016, fracked oil and gas wells in the U.S. pumped out record-breaking amounts of wastewater, which is laced with toxic and radioactive materials, a new Duke University study concludes. The amount of wastewater from fracking rose 1,440 percent during that period. Over the same time, the total amount of […]