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When Great Lakes Water Is ‘Public’ And When It Isn’t

Scott Gordon Science Friday
Public water utilities serve industrial customers all the time—Racine currently has about 40—yet Wisconsin is confronting the inherent tension of fueling a private for-profit operation with a water resource that is protected as a public trust and governed at state and regional levels.

A Huge Mining Conglomerate Wanted to Poison This Country’s Water. After a Long Fight, They’ve Finally Lost.

Pedro Cabezas Foreign Policy in Focus
The new law is aimed at protecting the Central American nation’s environment and natural resources. Approved on March 29 with the support of 69 lawmakers from multiple parties (out of a total of 84), the law blocks all exploration, extraction, and processing of metals, whether in open pits or underground. It also prohibits the use of toxic chemicals like cyanide and mercury.

In American Towns, Private Profits From Public Works

Danielle Ivory, Ben Protess, Griff Palmer The New York Times
Private equity firms like K.K.R. have already presented themselves as a willing partner, and Bayonne provides an important case study. Its arrangement is one of a handful of deals across the country in the last few years in which private equity firms have managed public water systems. While these deals are a small corner of private equity’s sprawling interests, they represent the leading edge of the industry’s profound expansion into public services.

Lead Level Disaster - Thousands of Areas Are Worse Than Flint

M.B. Pell and Joshua Schneyer Reuters
Off the Charts -- The thousands of U.S. locales where lead poisoning is worse than in Flint. A Reuters examination of lead testing results across the country found almost 3,000 areas with poisoning rates far higher than in the tainted Michigan city. Yet many of these lead hotspots are receiving little attention or funding.

We’re (Not) Running Out of Water – A Better Way to Measure Water Scarcity

Kate Brauman The Conversation
Managing water to meet current and future demand is critical. Biophysical indicators, such as the ones we looked at, can’t tell us where a water shortage is stressful to society or ecosystems, but a good biophysical indicator can help us make useful comparisons, target interventions, evaluate risk and look globally to find management models that might work at home.

Tidbits - June 2, 2016 - Reader Comments: Paul Krugman; Clinton Might Not Be...; Prisoners Sue Prisons; Shostakovich; Nestle Control Over Water; and more...

Portside
Reader Comments: Paul Krugman Was Wrong About the 1990s; Clinton Might Not Be the Nominee; Why It's Nearly Impossible for Prisoners to Sue Prisons - kudos from defense lawyers and prisoners; Why did Portside run the New Yorker piece on Donald Trump; If Shostakovich Were Alive - Why did Portside run the hatchet piece; Nestle Control Over Town's Water; Trump, Racism, Anti-Semitism and Catholic Universities; New York Studio Workers Need Your Support; and more...

How Montanans Stopped the Largest New Coal Mine in North America

Nick Engelfried Waging Nonviolence
The coming together of ordinary people — first in southeast Montana, then an ever-growing number of communities throughout the Northwest —to oppose the Otter Creek mine says much about how land defenders and climate activists are learning to fight back against the planet’s biggest energy companies. The roots of this recent victory go back more than 30 years.

Tidbits - April 2, 2015 - Mexican Farmworkers Strike; Death Penalty; Water Privatization; Elizabeth Warren; Cesar Chavez; and more

Portside
Reader Comments - Mexican Farmworkers Strike; Innocent Man on Death Row - Prosecutor Apologizes; Stealing Africa's Seeds; Fighting Water Privatization - Ireland and Mexico; Run Elizabeth, Run; Jews Who Speak Out Against Israeli Policies; Cesar Chavez, the UFW - Lessons for Today; Feminist Heroes for Children; Cuba Eradicates Syphilis; Billie Holiday and Ethel Rosenberg; Resources for Passover; To Better Understand Greece and Syriza; Announcements

100,000 Irish March Through Dublin to Protest Against Water Charges

The Guardian (UK)
In Ireland, with a population of 5 million, upwards of one hundred thousand took to the streets to protest the new charges for water. The Irish government's austerity measure has sparked widespread public anger, with Saturday's street protest the fourth since October.
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