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1 in 4 people globally still lack access to safe drinking water – WHO, UNICEF

Departmental update

Reading time: 3 min (828 words)

To mark World Water Week 2025, new report highlights persistent inequalities, with vulnerable communities left behind.

Despite progress over the last decade, billions of people around the world still lack access to essential water, sanitation, and hygiene services, putting them at risk of disease and deeper social exclusion.

A new report: Progress on Household Drinking Water and Sanitation 2000–2024: special focus on inequalities –launched by WHO and UNICEF during World Water Week 2025 – reveals that, while some progress has been made, major gaps persist. People living in low-income countries, fragile contexts, rural communities, children, and minority ethnic and indigenous groups face the greatest disparities.

Ten key facts from the report:

Despite gains since 2015, 1 in 4 – or 2.1 billion people globally – still lack access to safely managed drinking water*, including 106 million who drink directly from untreated surface sources.
3.4 billion people still lack safely managed sanitation, including 354 million who practice open defecation.
1.7 billion people still lack basic hygiene services at home, including 611 million without access to any facilities.
People in least developed countries are more than twice as likely as people in other countries to lack basic drinking water and sanitation services, and more than three times as likely to lack basic hygiene.
In fragile contexts**, safely managed drinking water coverage is 38 percentage points lower than in other countries, highlighting stark inequalities.
While there have been improvements for people living in rural areas, they still lag behind. Safely managed drinking water coverage rose from 50 per cent to 60 per cent between 2015 and 2024, and basic hygiene coverage from 52 per cent to 71 per cent. In contrast, drinking water and hygiene coverage in urban areas has stagnated.
Data from 70 countries show that while most women and adolescent girls have menstrual materials and a private place to change, many lack sufficient materials to change as often as needed.
Adolescent girls aged 15–19 are less likely than adult women to participate in activities during menstruation, such as school, work and social pastimes.
In most countries with available data, women and girls are primarily responsible for water collection, with many in sub-Saharan Africa and Central and Southern Asia spending more than 30 minutes per day collecting water.
As we approach the last five years of the Sustainable Development Goals period, achieving the 2030 targets for ending open defecation and universal access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene services will require acceleration, while universal coverage of safely managed services appears increasingly out of reach.

“Water, sanitation and hygiene are not privileges, they are basic human rights,” said Dr Ruediger Krech, Director a.i, Environment, Climate Change and Health, World Health Organization. “We must accelerate action, especially for the most marginalized communities, if we are to keep our promise to reach the Sustainable Development Goals.”

“When children lack access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene, their health, education, and futures are put at risk,” said Cecilia Scharp, UNICEF Director of WASH. “These inequalities are especially stark for girls, who often bear the burden of water collection and face additional barriers during menstruation. At the current pace, the promise of safe water and sanitation for every child is slipping further from reach – reminding us that we must act faster and more boldly to reach those who need it most.”

Notes for editors:

Download the full report

Multimedia material is available here

This latest update – produced by WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP) – provides new national, regional and global estimates for water, sanitation and hygiene services in households from 2000 until 2024. The report also includes expanded data on menstrual health for 70 countries, revealing challenges that affect women and girls across all income levels.

The report is being launched during World Water Week 24-28 August 2025, the leading annual conference on global water issues, and bringing together stakeholders from across sectors to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

____________________________

*JMP definition of ‘Safely managed drinking water and sanitation services’: Drinking water from sources located on premises, free from contamination and available when needed, and using hygienic toilets from which wastes are treated and disposed of safely.

**Fragile contexts: Fragility, according to the OECD, is the combination of exposure to risk and insufficient coping capacities of the state, system and/or communities to manage, absorb or mitigate those risks. It occurs in a spectrum of intensity across six dimensions: economic, environmental, human, political, security and societal.

About the JMP
The WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP) was established in 1990 and has been tracking global progress for 35 years. It is responsible for monitoring Sustainable Development Goal targets 1.4, 6.1 and 6.2, which call for universal access to safe water, sanitation, hygiene and the elimination of open defecation by 2030.

For more information, please contact:

WHO: mediainquiries@who.int
UNICEF: Iris Bano Romero | UNICEF New York | +1 9178048093 | ibano@unicef.org

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https://www.who.int/news/item/26-08-2025-1-in-4-people-globally-still-lack-access-to-safe-drinking-water—who–unicef?

MEDIA ADVISORY: DC Water To Launch Pure Water DC, A Major Initiative To Develop A Second Source Of Drinking Water

On November 19, DC Water will launch an ambitious effort – Pure Water DC – to reduce the District’s reliance on the Potomac River as its only water source. We’ll be hosting an event to outline our vision and strategy for resilience and host an expert panel to address one of the most critical challenges facing the nation’s capital.

Any disruption to the Potomac or Washington Aqueduct—whether from contamination, drought, or infrastructure failure—would have catastrophic consequences for public health, the economy, and national security.

Pure Water DC seeks to mitigate that risk through a comprehensive program to strengthen water supply resilience and explore a second source of water for the District. This initiative represents a major investment and a regional call to action, inviting collaboration among utilities, agencies, and stakeholders to secure a drought-proof future.

EVENT DETAILS

What:
Launch of Pure Water DC Program, unveiling the vision and strategy for water supply resilience, followed by an expert panel discussion.

When:
Wednesday, November 19, 2025
10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Where:
DC Water Headquarters
1385 Canal Street SE
Washington, DC 20003

Who:
DC Water leadership, regional water utilities, environmental agencies, and federal partners including:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
District Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE)
Water Environment Federation (WEF)
Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB)
WSSC Water
Greater Washington Board of Trade

Pure Water DC is DC Water’s commitment to lead the region toward a more resilient water future. The program will explore several options, including:

Safeguard our existing source and optimize the distribution system.
Add local storage and align with regional emergency storage efforts.
Explore advanced water reuse from Blue Plains as a drought-proof, cost-effective second source.

DC Water has committed $21 million over three years to fund studies, pilot projects, and public engagement, including the creation of the Pure Water DC Discovery Center at Blue Plains. This facility will test purification technologies, support regulatory research, and educate the public about water resilience.

The stakes are high: a major disruption could cost the region $15 billion in the first month alone.

Media should RSVP by Tuesday, November 18, at noon to Sherri Lewis at sherri.lewis@dcwater.com to attend and learn more about the new initiative, and next steps to create a more resilient water supply.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

https://www.dcwater.com/about-dc-water/media/news/media-advisory-dc-water-launch-pure-water-dc-major-initiative-develop?

“Day Zero” Could Hit One Major World City—and More Could Be at Risk

A historic drought in Iran could make its capital city Tehran reach “Day Zero” within two weeks, according to state media. Day Zero is the term signifying when the main source of drinking water runs dry and nothing comes out of faucets. As of November 6, one of the five dams that supplies Tehran was at only eight percent of its capacity, enough for two weeks.

The Siosepol Bridge in Isfahan, Iran. A historic drought across the country could make the city of Tehran reach “Day Zero” within about two weeks, according to the state media. | Credit: Seiiedali/Creative Commons

Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, reportedly said that if it doesn’t rain by late November, Tehran, a city of ten million people, will have to ration water. If there’s no rain after that, they will have to evacuate the city. Mismanagement and overexploitation of water resources as well as climate change are said to be the cause of the shortages.

The possibility of a Day Zero occurring in other parts of the world was the subject of a new study by researchers in South Korea. The authors write that regions along the Mediterranean Sea, parts of North America, and southern Africa could see shortages arriving as early as this or next decade, and they could last longer. Cape Town, South Africa, faced a complete shutdown of its water in 2018, which was avoided by severe restrictions like limiting people to just a few liters a day.

The authors say that solutions must come from policy makers prioritizing smart management and modernizing leaky infrastructure as well as from people using water more responsibly.

The study was published in the journal Nature Communications.

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https://h2oradio.org/this-week-in-water/a-major-world-city-could-run-out-of-water

Exclusive-Climate Fund Backs $6 Billion Jordan Water Project With Its Largest Deal

By Reuters

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People arrive to attend the Pledging Conference of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) for the First Replenishment in Paris, France, October 25, 2019. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

By Simon Jessop, Andrea Shalal and Suleiman Al-Khalidi

LONDON/AMMAN (Reuters) -The world’s largest multilateral climate fund has made its largest financial commitment to date to help build a $6 billion water desalination project in Jordan, its top executive said.

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The Green Climate Fund’s backing comes ahead of the COP30 event in Brazil in November and a decade after the Paris Agreement, which named the fund as a primary way to finance efforts to curb global warming.

“It will transform the country,” Mafalda Duarte told Reuters, adding that the commitment to Jordan’s Aqaba-Amman Water Desalination and Conveyance Project marked the fund’s “highest investment in a single project”.

A grant and loan totalling $295 million was approved at a board meeting in South Korea on Wednesday with the aim of drawing in financing from others, including the International Finance Corporation and private lenders.

ONE OF THE WORLD’S LARGEST DESALINATION PROJECTS

The desalination project, one of the largest in the world, will eventually directly serve nearly half the population of Jordan, which has the second-lowest water availability of any country on the planet.

That was slated to get worse, with a 4 degrees Celsius rise in temperatures and a 21% decrease in rainfall projected by the end of the century, leading to increased evaporation, reduced groundwater and more frequent droughts.

MORE: Places the U.S. Government Warns Not to Travel Right Now

Such a scenario has led Jordan’s leader to describe the Meridiam and SUEZ-led project as a strategic priority.

The U.S., which considers Jordan a key regional ally, has pledged $300 million in grants and $1 billion in loans for the project, Jordanian government officials told Reuters, while other countries in the region were expected to contribute.

“The project is a strategic project to desalinate and transport 300 million cubic meters of water every year to most parts of the kingdom,” Jordan’s Minister of Water and Irrigation, Raed Abu Soud, told Reuters.

24 PROJECTS UP FOR GCF BOARD MEETING APPROVAL

A senior official involved with the project said the GCF money would allow it to lower the cost of water by 10 cents a litre and help the government save $1 billion over its lifetime.

It would also allow the IFC to offer better loan terms, which will mean cheaper private sector financing, he added.

The project in Jordan is one of 24 up for discussion at the GCF board meeting. If all are approved, they would total $1.4 billion and mark the fund’s biggest ever financial disbursement.

The GCF this year moved to speed up its decision-making as part of a broader overhaul of the world’s multilateral financial system – and the COP30 talks will look at ways to do even more.

While MDBs were still not doing enough to mobilise private sector capital, their stakeholders needed to be realistic about how much risk they can take, Duarte said.

(Editing by Alexander Smith and Thomas Derpinghaus)

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https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2025-10-29/exclusive-climate-fund-backs-6-billion-jordan-water-project-with-its-largest-deal

Montana State Prison Pipe Leaks Create Crisis and Prompt Broad Water System Overhaul

Nearly a week after leaks cut off water for about 1,500 inmates at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, inmate Bryce Baltezar said it has created tension between guards and inmates

By Associated Press

Montana State Prison Pipe Leaks Create Crisis and Prompt Broad Water System Overhaul

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Nearly a week after leaks cut off water for about 1,500 inmates at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, inmate Bryce Baltezar said things at the facility are dystopian.

“As soon as you hit the door, it smells like (urine) smacking you right in the face,” Baltezar said in a phone interview with Montana Free Press on Tuesday. The smell of human waste, he continued, has become the new normal.

Is it ‘Zero Day’ for California Water?

Long before talk of climate change, California planned a system of canals and reservoirs to carry water to its dry areas. It’s no longer enough.

By The Conversation

Is it ‘Zero Day’ for California Water?

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FRESNO, CA - JULY 8: A portion (looking south) of the 152-mile Friant-Kern Canal, an aqueduct to convey water to augment agriculture irrigation on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley, is viewed on July 8, 2021, thirty minutes east of Fresno, California. Due to a lack of rain and snow in the Sierra Nevada during the past two years, California is experiencing one of the driest and hottest periods of weather in recorded history, forcing municipalities and farmers in the Central Valley to rethink their uses of water. As of this date, Governor Gavin Newsom declared a water "State of Emergency" for most state counties and has asked residents to reduce their use of water by 15%. (Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)

George Rose|Getty Images

A portion (looking south) of the 152-mile Friant-Kern Canal, an aqueduct to convey water to augment agriculture irrigation on the east side of the San Joaquin Valley, is viewed on July 8, 2021, thirty minutes east of Fresno, Calif.

By Lara B. Fowler

On Dec. 1, 2021, California triggered headlines heard around the world when officials announced how much water suppliers would be getting from the State Water Project. “California water districts to get 0% of requested supplies in an unprecedented decision,” one headline proclaimed. “No state water for California farms,” read another.

MORE: Solar Panels Over California’s Canals and Climate Payoff

The headlines suggested a comparison with the “Zero Day” announcement in Cape Town, South Africa, during a drought in 2018. That was the projected date when water would no longer be available at household taps without significant conservation. Cape Town avoided a water shutoff, barely.

While California’s announcement represents uncharted territory and is meant to promote water conservation in what is already a dry water year, there is more to the story.

California’s drought solution

California is a semi-arid state, so a dry year isn’t a surprise. But a recent state report observed that California is now in a dry pattern “interspersed with an occasional wet year.” The state suffered a three-year drought from 2007 to 2009, a five-year drought from 2012 to 2016, and now two dry years in a row; 2020 was the fifth-driest year on record, and 2021 was the second-driest.

Coming into the 2022 water year – which began Oct. 1 – the ground is dry, reservoirs are low and the prediction is for another dry year.

Over a century ago, well before climate change became evident, officials began planning ways to keep California’s growing cities and farms supplied with water. They developed a complex system of reservoirs and canals that funnel water from where it’s plentiful to where it’s needed.

Part of that system is the State Water Project.

First envisioned in 1919, the State Water Project delivers water from the relatively wetter and, at the time, less populated areas of Northern California to more populated and drier areas, mostly in Southern California. The State Water Project provides water for 27 million people and 750,000 acres of farmland, with about 70% for residential, municipal and industrial use and 30% for irrigation. There are 29 local water agencies – the state water contractors – that helped fund the State Water Project and in return receive water under a contract dating to the 1960s.

While the State Water Project is important to these local water agencies, it is usually not their only source of water. Nor is all water in California supplied through the State Water Project. Most water agencies have a portfolio of water supplies, which can include pumping groundwater.

What does 0% mean?

Originally, the State Water Project planned to deliver 4.2 million acre-feet of water each year. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, or enough water to cover a football field in water 1 foot deep. An average California household uses around one-half to 1 acre-foot of water per year for both indoor and outdoor use. However, contractors that distribute water from the State Water Project have historically received only part of their allocations; the long-term average is 60%, with recent years much lower.

Based on water conditions each year, the state Department of Water Resources makes an initial allocation by Dec. 1 to help these state water contractors plan. As the year progresses, the state can adjust the allocation based on additional rain or snow and the amount of water in storage reservoirs. In 2010, for example, the allocation started at 5% and was raised to 50% by June. In 2014, the allocation started at 5%, dropped to 0% and then finished at 5%.

This year is the lowest initial allocation on record. According to the state Department of Water Resources, “unprecedented drought conditions” and “reservoirs at or near historic lows” led to this year’s headline-producing 0% allocation.

READ: California Water Supply Looks Promising in 2020, State Officials Say

That’s 0% of each state water contractor’s allocation; however, the department committed to meet “unmet minimum health and safety needs.” In other words, if the contractors cannot find water from other sources, they could request up to 55 gallons per capita per day of water to “meet domestic supply, fire protection and sanitation needs.” That’s about two-thirds of what the average American uses.

The department is also prioritizing water for salinity control in the Sacramento Bay Delta area, water for endangered species, water to reserve in storage and water for additional supply allocations if the weather conditions improve.

Under the current plan, there will be no water from the State Water Project for roughly 10% of California’s irrigated land. As a result, both municipal and agricultural suppliers will be seeking to conserve water, looking elsewhere for water supplies, or not delivering water. None are easy solutions.

The problem with pumping groundwater

To weather previous droughts, many water suppliers relied on groundwater, which led to increased costs for wells, declines in groundwater levels, land subsidence and degraded water quality. California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act was enacted in 2014 to help address overpumping of groundwater, but it hasn’t turned these conditions around.

Those who can afford to dig deeper wells have done so, while others have no water as their wells have gone dry. During the 2012-2016 drought, the Public Policy Institute of California found that a majority of affected households that lost water access from their wells were in “small rural communities reliant on shallow wells – many of them communities of color.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom called on residents to voluntarily conserve 15% of their water during summer 2021. Statewide reductions were only 1.8% in July but jumped to 13.2% in October. This year’s snowpack, which acts as a natural reservoir, is far below normal.

Irrigators who depend on the federal Central Valley Project are facing similar drought conditions. Imports from the Colorado River system are also limited, as this basin is also facing its first-ever shortage declaration due to drought.

MORE: Western States Maintain Best Air Quality Levels

What’s next?

As someone who has worked in California and the Western U.S. on complex water issues, I am familiar with both drought and floods and the challenges they create. However, the widespread nature of this year’s drought – in California and beyond – makes the challenge even harder.

This “zero allocation” for California’s State Water Contractors is an unprecedented early warning, and likely a sign of what’s ahead.

A recent study warned that the snowpack in Western states like California may decline by up to 45% by 2050, with low- and no-snow years becoming increasingly common. Thirty-seven cities in California have already issued moratoriums on development because of water supply concerns.

If voluntary conservation does not work, enacting mandatory conservation measures like San Jose’s tough new drought rules may be needed. The state is now weighing emergency regulations on water use, and everyone is hoping for more precipitation.

Lara B. Fowler, Senior Lecturer in Law and Assistant Director for Outreach and Engagement, Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment, Penn State

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2021-12-10/california-faces-unprecedented-water-restrictions

The Federal Climate Information Website Will No Longer Be Updated

In June, the Trump administration announced that the government’s 15-year-old website, climate.gov, which was the primary source of information about climate change and science, would no longer be updated. Links to the old site redirect viewers to an address at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). As of 2021, the old website was receiving 900,000 visits per month and was a trusted source of information about the climate, according to NPR. The jobs of those who authored stories, created photos, and designed materials were eliminated.

Climate change effects include wildfire, ocean acidification, desertification, and coastal flooding caused by storms and sea level rise. | Credit: CalFire

However, as the Guardian reports, a group of climate communications experts is rebuilding the climate.gov content at climate.us through a new nonprofit. The organization will offer services about climate to others such as local governments that are trying to adapt to global warming. The website is in development, and the organization has a presence on social media accounts like BlueSky and Facebook.

According to Rebecca Lindsey, who was the managing editor of the government’s old site, the new entity includes several of her former federal colleagues, many of whom are grieving over losing not only a job but also a vocation. Lindsey added that there is a need for content that helps people develop climate literacy. Being outside of government gives the new group new opportunities to have fun by using platforms like TikTok.

The organization has launched a crowdfunding effort and hopes to get more permanent operating support from a foundation. Lindsey said that all of the climate information released prior to July 1 is still up on a government site, but you have to know where to look for it.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service is trying to rapidly hire 450 people, including some meteorologists to fill jobs that were cut by DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency. Hundreds of forecasters were cut at NOAA after Trump took office, and there were warnings that there could be dangerous consequences if weather predictions were slowed.

However, applicants for the new meteorologist positions are being asked how they would promote Trump’s agenda by identifying one or two of his executive orders that they find significant, and how they would implement them if hired. Some experts are alarmed that the ideology of a potential weather forecaster could be considered. One told the Associated Press that he questioned whether forecasts would be made better based upon someone’s ideology.

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The Polluted Tijuana River Is Polluting the Air in San Diego

Some people who reside in the southern portion of San Diego County, California, say it stinks to live there. Literally. For years, residents have complained that odors emanating from the polluted Tijuana River, which flows from Mexico into the U.S. toward the Pacific Ocean, are causing eye, nose and throat irritation, respiratory problems, fatigue, and headaches.

A new study shows that turbulence in polluted waters of the Tijuana River transfers contaminants to the air. In this photo, culverts at the Saturn Boulevard river crossing generate high turbulence, enhancing the transfer of toxic wastewater pollutants. The location was identified by members of the local community as a source of particularly strong odors. | Credit: Beatriz Klimeck / UC San Diego

Now, a new study from scientists at UC, San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography; UC, Riverside; San Diego State University; the National Science Foundation; and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) says the residents are not imagining things. The research found that the contaminated river is contaminating the air—releasing large quantities of the toxic gas hydrogen sulfide—commonly known as “sewer gas” because of its rotten egg smell.

In September 2024, the team had set up air quality monitors in San Diego’s Nestor community in the South Bay. One location was where water tumbles from a culvert, which as it falls, creates enough turbulence to send aerosolized particles of pollutants from the river into the air.

The scientists measured peak concentrations of hydrogen sulfide that were some 4,500 times what is typical for an urban area. In addition, they identified hundreds of other gases released into the air by the river and its ocean outflow, showing for the first time, a direct link between poor water quality and bad air quality—a connection lead investigator Kimberly Prather says had not been made before.

Untreated sewage and industrial waste have plagued the Tijuana River for decades, causing long-term closures of beaches. In July, the U.S. and Mexico signed a memorandum of understanding that requires both nations to expedite stormwater and sewage infrastructure projects on each side of the border.

Last week, EPA announced the completion of a ten-million-gallon-per-day expansion of the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant in San Diego, which could help mitigate the issue, but as inewsource reports, it’s unclear as to when it will be operating at its new capacity.

The paper was published in the journal Science.

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https://h2oradio.org

States With the Most Lead Drinking Water Pipes

Nearly a tenth of the nation’s drinking water service lines contain lead, new data shows.

By Chris Gilligan

States With the Most Lead Pipes

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A piece of old lead pipe is seen in 2016 in Chicago.

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In a first-of-its-kind report, the Environmental Protection Agency has released a comprehensive assessment on lead pipe infrastructure across the United States, revealing that an estimated total of 9.2 million lead pipes serviced American homes in 2021.

According to the report, lead service lines are estimated to make up over 9% of the entire national service line infrastructure, exposing much of America’s drinking water to lead contamination.

The EPA says there are no safe levels of lead in children’s blood, as lead exposure has been tied to an array of adverse health effects in children, including behavioral problems, lower IQ and slowed growth. In adults, lead exposure is linked with decreased cardiovascular health and kidney function, and lead exposure in pregnant women is linked to premature births.

The bulk of the nation’s lead pipe infrastructure is concentrated in a handful of states, including many of the Rust Belt states in the Great Lakes region. Florida has the most lead service lines in the country, with its 1.16 million lines accounting for 12.6% of the country’s total. Over 50% of the national service lines are concentrated in six states: Florida, Illinois (11.4%), Ohio (8.1%), Pennsylvania (7.5%), Texas (7.1%) and New York (5.4%).

Lead service lines are far less common west of the Mississippi River, with Texas as the lone exception. Notably, California’s service line infrastructure, which serves the largest state population over the third-largest area, has less than 13,500 lead service lines, or about 0.15% of the national total.

Federal law prohibits installing new lead plumbing because of its dangers to health. In 2021, the Biden Administration announced an aggressive plan to replace all lead service lines in the next decade as part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and earlier this year the EPA announced that $1.2 billion had already been distributed to 23 states to address that goal. But the costs associated with such an effort are significant. Over the next two decades, the EPA report estimates that $625 billion is needed to address the challenges with drinking water infrastructure.

[ EXPLORE: More on Public Water System Violations ]

Lead exposure does not impact all American demographics evenly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a study in 2021 indicating that non-Hispanic Black or African American children were at particular risk, as well as children living in areas with higher poverty rates.

Although the Safe Drinking Water Act, which was enacted 1974 and amended most recently in 1996, aims to ensure the public’s access to contaminant-free water, large-scale issues with drinking water distribution systems are still prevalent. Spikes in the rates of lead in children’s blood in 2015 sparked the start of a years-long water crisis in Flint, Michigan. The city of Jackson, Mississippi, which endured days with a full water outage last August and September, has ongoing projects to reduce elevated levels of lead in its water supply, and lead contamination has led to crises in Newark, New Jersey, Chicago and Washington, D.C., among other communities.

These are the states with the most lead pipes, according to the EPA:

Florida
Illinois
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Texas
New York
Tennessee
North Carolina
New Jersey
Wisconsin

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https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/states-with-the-most-lead-pipes

Questions Over Water Rights Could Halt Construction at Thacker Pass Lithium Mine

A dispute over water could jeopardize ongoing construction of what will eventually be the world’s largest lithium mine

By Associated Press

Questions Over Water Rights Could Halt Construction at Thacker Pass Lithium Mine

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A dispute over water could jeopardize ongoing construction of what will eventually be the world’s largest lithium mine.

Lithium Americas Corporation filed an emergency motion Monday seeking clarification about whether it needs to stop pumping water to its Thacker Pass lithium mining project in Northern Nevada.

Local rancher Edward Bartell has sued over the project, claiming the company’s water pumping will harm his cattle operation. Nevada’s state engineer had previously found that the company could move forward with its plans to pump water, but a judge partially reversed that finding. Then, last week, the state engineer issued a cease and desist letter to the Canada-based mining company.

In lieu of a legal clarification of the previous decision, Lithium Americas is asking for a limited stay — or temporary suspension — that would allow it to proceed with construction.

“The ruling never mentions … that pumping needs to be halted,” said Tim Crowley, vice president of government and external affairs at Lithium Americas. “We don’t think the judge intended that result.”

Thacker Pass is the largest known lithium resource and reserve in the world. The company needs about 200 acre-feet of water per year during construction, which will continue through 2027. An acre-foot of water is enough to cover roughly a football field with water 1 foot deep or to supply roughly two urban households with indoor and outdoor water needs for a year.

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Once in production, the company will require about 2,600 acre-feet of water per year.

If the emergency motion is denied, the company said in its filing that it will be “irreparably harmed,” as will the people who are, and plan to be, employed by the company. During construction, the company expects to employ close to 2,000 people.

“We need water to move forward with construction,” Crowley said, noting that construction has been at “full bore” on the $3 billion project since receiving its final investment decision in April, with plans to “go vertical with steel” as soon as August. Construction costs total more than $1 million per day.

Read: Passengers Flee Smoking Jet on Emergency Slide After Apparent Landing Gear Problem at Denver Airport

The company is asking for the court to issue its decision by July 7, as that’s when the state engineer expects compliance with the cease and desist letter. The company is also working on ways to secure water temporarily, Crowley said, although he declined to provide details.

READ: The 10 Oldest U.S. Presidents

“We are confident we are not going to have to stop construction,” he said.

Bartell, the rancher who filed the suit that led to the order for the company to stop pumping, told The Nevada Independent in a brief call that “obviously we’re going to challenge (the company’s emergency motion).”

Timeline

Thacker Pass is in a mountainous area northwest of Winnemucca; extraction companies have eyed Thacker Pass since the 1970s, when lithium was found at the site. In 2007, the company that is now Lithium Americas renewed exploration at the site, and in 2020, the company submitted its environmental impact statement to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

That same year, Lithium Americas filed an application seeking to move permitted water rights it had previously obtained in the Quinn River Valley closer to the mine site, which sits to the west of the valley.

Bartell protested, claiming the change application would conflict with his existing water rights.

The BLM approved permits for Thacker Pass in 2021 during the final days of President Donald Trump’s first administration, allowing the mining project to move forward, and ultimately, the state engineer granted Lithium America’s request to relocate its water rights, as long as it kept them within the Quinn River Valley.

Lithium Americas adapted to that limitation by constructing an 8-mile-long pipeline to move the water uphill from the valley to the mine site.

In March 2023, Bartell filed a petition for judicial review; the matter didn’t receive an oral hearing until February of this year.

On April 10, the Sixth Judicial District Court of Nevada issued an order reversing the state engineer’s decision on two of the five water rights claims brought forth in the matter, returning them to application status. In the ruling, the court pointed out that the state engineer’s determination that the company’s effects to Bartell’s water rights and cattle operation “is not rooted in scientific fact” because it had “assumed” — rather than scientifically determining — there was enough water in two of the five contested claims.

On April 28, the state engineer issued a letter to Lithium Americas alerting the company that permits for two wells had been returned to application status following the ruling. The state engineer asked the company for additional information that would help “develop a more thorough understanding of the water sources” related to the claims, including data such as flow measurements or pumping test data.

On June 4, staff from the Nevada Division of Water Resources (DWR) found during an investigation of Lithium America’s property that the company was still pumping water.

On June 17, DWR received a letter from Bartell containing photographs showing the company continued to pump water following the June 4 investigation. Meter readings on file with the division confirm that water was pumped from the well since the April ruling.

On June 20, DWR issued a letter to the company stating that “the State Engineer hereby directs LNC to immediately CEASE AND DESIST any further pumping from the Quinn #1 well. The State Engineer likewise hereby notifies LNC that it is prohibited from pumping water from any other well that is proposed as a point of diversion under the above-mentioned applications, including but not limited to the Quinn #2 well.”

Crowley confirmed to The Nevada Independent that the company continues to pump water from the wells while it comes up with an alternative.

“Our interpretation of the cease and desist order is we have 14 days to comply, and no one from the state has suggested that we’re wrong,” Crowley said.

Ongoing legal challenges

The cease and desist order is the latest in a line of legal challenges that has plagued the lithium project.

In 2021, a slew of environmental groups filed a joint lawsuit alleging the BLM violated various federal acts by approving the mine’s environmental impact statement and another suit filed by the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and other Indigenous people alleged the BLM violated the National Historic Preservation Act.

Bartell also sued, alleging the BLM violated the Endangered Species Act by failing to consider the mine’s effects on Lahontan cutthroat trout and other various environmental concerns.

The suit stood in apparent opposition to a suit he’d filed just two years earlier — not related to the mine — against a project aimed at preserving the trout. In that suit, he objected to the agency’s 2017 decision to allow the Nevada Department of Wildlife to apply rotenone, a type of fish poison, to eradicate non-native brook trout in a portion of Falls Canyon Creek in an effort to restore threatened Lahontan cutthroat trout.

The three suits were dismissed. In 2023, the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony and two other tribes filed a new suit alleging the BLM didn’t consult with them before the project and withheld historical information. That suit also was dismissed.

___

This story was originally published by The Nevada Independent and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/nevada/articles/2025-07-01/questions-over-water-rights-could-halt-construction-at-thacker-pass-lithium-mine

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