Cookies help us run our site more efficiently.

By clicking “Accept”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. View our Privacy Policy for more information or to customize your cookie preferences.

Accept Deny

GoGreenNation news

Thames Water bidder says it is offering £1bn extra cash injection

News Feed
Monday, November 17, 2025

A bidder for Thames Water has said it would inject £1bn more into the struggling utility company than rival proposals if it gained control.John Reynolds, the chief executive of the independent water retailer Castle Water, said the current plans under discussion with creditors to rebuild Thames Water’s finances does not go far enough and does not properly address its environmental crisis.Castle Water would provide a cash injection of at least £1bn over current proposals, he told the Times.“No one wants a restructuring that does not stick. The negotiations are not heading anywhere,” he said.“You cannot compromise on the pollution problem. It has to be resolved and that means changing the way the company spends its money.”Thames Water, which supplies water to about 16 million people, has been on the verge of collapse for several years as it struggles under the weight of net debt of £17bn, built up over the decades since privatisation.Its lenders, led by a group of hedge funds including the combative US firms Elliott Investment Management and Silver Point Capital, have effectively taken over Britain’s biggest water company.Their turnaround plan includes writing off billions of pounds of debt, and proposals that mean Thames Water may not fully comply with rules on pollution of England’s waterways for as long as 15 years. Reynolds told the Times that there should be “zero tolerance” of serious pollution incidents.“There has to be investment upfront without which you cannot sort it out,” he said, adding that his plans would target the ageing Mogden sewage works in west London.The extra investment, he told the paper, could be freed up by the creditors taking a greater haircut on their liabilities and with an extra injection of equity investment.The alternative to a creditor-led turnaround plan is a special administration regime, under which the water company would come under temporary government control to impose debt write-offs and find a buyer.Reynolds, who is a former investment banker and turnaround specialist, said that talks between creditors and Ofwat, the industry regulator, to restructure Thames had stalled. However, a spokesperson for the creditor group, London & Valley Water, denied that talks were not progressing and said it still aimed to gain approval for its plan by Christmas.Castle Water is a relatively small company, backed by the property empire of the billionaire Pears family, and co-founded by the Conservative party treasurer, Graham Edwards. It bought Thames Water’s non-household water and sewerage retail business in 2016.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionLate last year, Castle Water reportedly offered to inject £4bn into Thames in return for a majority stake.A spokesperson for London & Valley Water said: “It is simply not true that discussions have stalled. Thames Water needs £5bn of urgent funding from committed and experienced new investors to deliver improved outcomes for its customers and employees. We are working hard to secure a solution as quickly as possible.“The London & Valley Water plan will invest £20.5bn over the next five years to fix the foundations, upgrade the network and reduce pollution so that Thames Water can once again be a reliable, resilient and responsible company for its 16 million customers.”A Thames Water spokesperson said: “Discussions between Thames Water Utilities Ltd’s senior creditors, the London & Valley Water consortium, Ofwat, and other regulators in relation to a potential market-led solution to the recapitalisation of the company are continuing.“TWUL remains focused on delivering a recapitalisation transaction which delivers for its customers and the environment as soon as practicable.”Ofwat was approached for comment.

Castle Water says restructuring plans do not go far enough and extra funds will help resolve pollution crisisBusiness live – latest updatesA bidder for Thames Water has said it would inject £1bn more into the struggling utility company than rival proposals if it gained control.John Reynolds, the chief executive of the independent water retailer Castle Water, said the current plans under discussion with creditors to rebuild Thames Water’s finances does not go far enough and does not properly address its environmental crisis. Continue reading...

A bidder for Thames Water has said it would inject £1bn more into the struggling utility company than rival proposals if it gained control.

John Reynolds, the chief executive of the independent water retailer Castle Water, said the current plans under discussion with creditors to rebuild Thames Water’s finances does not go far enough and does not properly address its environmental crisis.

Castle Water would provide a cash injection of at least £1bn over current proposals, he told the Times.

“No one wants a restructuring that does not stick. The negotiations are not heading anywhere,” he said.

“You cannot compromise on the pollution problem. It has to be resolved and that means changing the way the company spends its money.”

Thames Water, which supplies water to about 16 million people, has been on the verge of collapse for several years as it struggles under the weight of net debt of £17bn, built up over the decades since privatisation.

Its lenders, led by a group of hedge funds including the combative US firms Elliott Investment Management and Silver Point Capital, have effectively taken over Britain’s biggest water company.

Their turnaround plan includes writing off billions of pounds of debt, and proposals that mean Thames Water may not fully comply with rules on pollution of England’s waterways for as long as 15 years. Reynolds told the Times that there should be “zero tolerance” of serious pollution incidents.

“There has to be investment upfront without which you cannot sort it out,” he said, adding that his plans would target the ageing Mogden sewage works in west London.

The extra investment, he told the paper, could be freed up by the creditors taking a greater haircut on their liabilities and with an extra injection of equity investment.

The alternative to a creditor-led turnaround plan is a special administration regime, under which the water company would come under temporary government control to impose debt write-offs and find a buyer.

Reynolds, who is a former investment banker and turnaround specialist, said that talks between creditors and Ofwat, the industry regulator, to restructure Thames had stalled. However, a spokesperson for the creditor group, London & Valley Water, denied that talks were not progressing and said it still aimed to gain approval for its plan by Christmas.

Castle Water is a relatively small company, backed by the property empire of the billionaire Pears family, and co-founded by the Conservative party treasurer, Graham Edwards. It bought Thames Water’s non-household water and sewerage retail business in 2016.

skip past newsletter promotion

after newsletter promotion

Late last year, Castle Water reportedly offered to inject £4bn into Thames in return for a majority stake.

A spokesperson for London & Valley Water said: “It is simply not true that discussions have stalled. Thames Water needs £5bn of urgent funding from committed and experienced new investors to deliver improved outcomes for its customers and employees. We are working hard to secure a solution as quickly as possible.

“The London & Valley Water plan will invest £20.5bn over the next five years to fix the foundations, upgrade the network and reduce pollution so that Thames Water can once again be a reliable, resilient and responsible company for its 16 million customers.”

A Thames Water spokesperson said: “Discussions between Thames Water Utilities Ltd’s senior creditors, the London & Valley Water consortium, Ofwat, and other regulators in relation to a potential market-led solution to the recapitalisation of the company are continuing.

“TWUL remains focused on delivering a recapitalisation transaction which delivers for its customers and the environment as soon as practicable.”

Ofwat was approached for comment.

Read the full story here.
Photos courtesy of

Related News

The Dune of Dreams: Upstart League Baseball United Hosts Inaugural Game in Dubai With Its Own Rules

Baseball United has launched its inaugural season in Dubai, aiming to bring baseball to the Middle East

UD AL-BAYDA, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Emerging like a mirage in the desert outskirts of Dubai, a sight unfamiliar to those in the Middle East and Asia has risen up like a dream in the exact dimensions of the field at Yankee Stadium in New York.Now that it's built, though, one question remains: Will the fans come?That's the challenge for the inaugural season of Baseball United, a four-team, monthlong contest that will begin Friday at the new Barry Larkin Field, artificially turfed for the broiling sun of the United Arab Emirates and named for an investor who is a former Cincinnati Reds shortstop. The professional league seeks to draw on the sporting rivalry between India and Pakistan with two of its teams, as the Mumbai Cobras on Friday will face the Karachi Monarchs. Each team has Indian and Pakistani players seeking to break into the broadcast market saturated by soccer and cricket in this part of the world. And while having no big-name players from Major League Baseball, the league has created some of its own novel rules to speed up games and put more runs on the board — and potentially generate interest for U.S. fans as the regular season there has ended. “People here got to learn the rules anyway so we’re like if we get to start at a blank canvas then why don’t we introduce some new rules that we believe are going to excite them from the onset," Baseball United CEO and co-owner Kash Shaikh told The Associated Press. All the games in the season, which ends mid-December, will be played at Baseball United's stadium out in the reaches of Dubai's desert in an area known as Ud al-Bayda, some 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building. The stadium sits alongside The Sevens Stadium, which hosts an annual rugby sevens tournament known for hard-partying fans drinking alcohol and wearing costumes. As journalists met Baseball United officials on Thursday, two fighter jets and a military cargo plane came in for landings at the nearby Al Minhad Air Base, flying over a landfill. The field seats some 3,000 fans and will host games mostly at night, though the weather is starting to cool in the Emirates as the season changes. But environmental concerns have been kept in mind — Baseball United decided to go for an artificial field to avoid the challenge of using more than 45 million liters (12 million gallons) of water a year to maintain a natural grass field, said John P. Miedreich, a co-founder and executive vice president at the league. “We had to airlift clay in from the United States, airlift clay from Pakistan” for the pitcher's mound, he added.There will be four teams competing in the inaugural season. Joining the Cobras and the Monarchs will be the Arabia Wolves, Dubai's team, and the Mideast Falcons of Abu Dhabi.There are changes to the traditional game in Baseball United, putting a different spin on the game similar to how the Twenty20 format drastically sped up traditional cricket. The baseball league has introduced a golden “moneyball," which gives managers three chances in a game to use at bat to double the runs scored off a home run. Teams can call in “designated runners” three times during a game. And if a game is tied after nine innings, the teams face off in a home run derby to decide the winner. “It’s entertainment, and it’s exciting, and it’s helping get new fans and young fans more engaged in the game," Shaikh said. America's pastime has limited success Baseball in the Middle East has had mixed success, to put a positive spin on the ball. A group of American supporters launched the professional Israel Baseball League in 2007, comprised almost entirely of foreign players. However, it folded after just one season. Americans spread the game in prerevolution Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE over the decades, though it has been dwarfed by soccer. Saudi Arabia, through the Americans at its oil company Aramco, has sent teams to the Little League World Series in the past.But soccer remains a favorite in the Mideast, which hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Then there's cricket, which remains a passion in both India and Pakistan. The International Cricket Council, the world's governing body for the sport, has its headquarters in Dubai near the city's cricket stadium. Organizers know they have their work cut out for them. At one point during a news conference Thursday they went over baseball basics — home runs, organ music and where center field sits. “The most important part is the experience for fans to come out, eat a hot dog, see mascots running around, to see what baseball traditions that we all grew up with back home in the U.S. — and start to fall in love with the game because we know that once they start to learn those, they will become big fans," Shaikh said. Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

Water

Texas still needs a plan for its growing water supply issues, experts say

Panelists at The Texas Tribune Festival shared their opinions on what the state should do after voters approved a historic investment in water infrastructure.

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give us feedback. Voters just approved $20 billion to be spent on water supply, infrastructure and education over the next 20 years. That funding is just the beginning, however, and it will only go so far, panelists said during the “Running Out” session at The Texas Tribune Festival.  And in a state where water wars have been brewing, and will continue to do so, the next legislature to take over the Capitol in 2027 will need to come with ideas.  Proposition 4, which will allocate $20 billion to bolster the state’s water supply, was historic and incredible, said Vanessa Puig-Williams, senior director of climate resilient water systems at the Environmental Defense Fund. She wants to see the state support the science and data surrounding how groundwater works and implement best management practices.  “Despite the fact that it is this critical to Texas we don’t invest in managing it well and we don’t invest in understanding it very much at all,” Puig-Williams said. “We have good things some local groundwater districts are doing but I’m talking about the state of Texas.” That lack of understanding was highlighted when East Texans raised the alarm about a proposed groundwater project that would pump billions of gallons from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer.  The plan proposed by a Dallas-area businessman is completely legal, but it is based on laws established when Texans still relied on horses and buggies, state Rep. Gary VanDeaver, R-New Boston said in the panel. In most counties, the person with the biggest and fastest pump can pull as much water from an aquifer as they want, as long as it’s not done with malicious intent. Texas is at a point where it needs to seriously consider how to update the rule of capture because society has modernized, he added. People are no longer pulling water from the aquifers with a hand pump and two inch pipes.  “Modern technology and modern needs have outpaced the regulations that we have in place, the safeguards we have in place for that groundwater,” VanDeaver said. “In some ways we, in the legislature, are a little behind the times here and we’re having to catch up.” The best solutions to Texas’ water woes may not even be found below ground, said panelist Robert Mace, the executive director of the Meadows Center for Water and Environment. Conservation, reuse and desalination can go a long way. In Austin, for example, some buildings collect rainwater and air conditioning condensate. The city also has a project to collect water used in bathrooms, treat it and use it again in toilets and urinals. Texas could also be a leader in the space for desalination plants, which separate salt from water to make it drinkable, Mace said. These plants are expensive, but rainwater harvesting is too. And so is fixing leaky water infrastructure that wastes tens of billions of gallons each year.  “There is water that’s more expensive than that. It’s called no water,” Mace said. “And if you look at the economic benefit of water it is much greater than that cost.” Disclosure: Environmental Defense Fund and Meadows Center for Water & the Environment have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

Water
Business
Conservation

Montana Sued Over Law That Allows Water Wells for Low-Density, Rural Subdivisions Without Permits

A coalition of cities, agricultural interests and environmental groups is suing Montana over a decades-old law that housing developers have relied on to supply water to low-density residential subdivisions not connected to public water supplies

A broad coalition is suing the state of Montana over its interpretation of a decades-old law that housing developers have long relied on to supply water to low-density residential subdivisions outside public water supplies.At the center of the conflict are “exempt wells,” which earned that moniker shortly after Montana legislators passed a law in 1973 allowing just about anyone to drill a well and pump up to 10 acre-feet of groundwater from it per year without first demonstrating that nearby water users won’t see a decrease in their water supplies. An acre-foot of water is enough to serve two to three households for a year.According to a lawsuit filed Wednesday, approximately 141,000 wells have been drilled using the exempt well law since 1973. More than two-thirds of those wells were drilled to supply homes with drinking water or to water lawns or gardens.The six nonprofit groups and three individual water users argue that the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, which administers water rights, has authorized “unregulated groundwater development.” Reliable water supplies for those with the oldest water rights and “the integrity of Montana’s water resources” are at stake, the plaintiffs contend.The plaintiffs are asking the Lewis and Clark County District Court to block the state from continuing its “unabated” authorization of exempt wells, which have become developers’ preferred tool to facilitate development on large, rural lots. According to the lawsuit’s analysis of data compiled by Headwaters Economics, more than half of the residential development that happened in Montana between 2000 and 2021 occurred outside of incorporated municipalities.Efforts to revise the exempt well statute have fueled a series of “knock-down, drag-out” fights at the Montana Capitol, including a heated debate earlier this year on a proposal developed by a working group convened by the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation that hit an insurmountable groundswell of opposition before it could clear its first chamber.Housing developers argue the existing loophole offers builders a faster alternative to the state’s lengthy and uncertain permitting process. Developers and other permitting reform advocates say a smoother regulatory process to access what they deem is a small amount of water increases the pace and scale of construction, thereby easing Montana’s housing supply and affordability strains in a state where housing costs have skyrocketed. Opponents counter that hundreds of billions of gallons of water have been unconstitutionally appropriated using exempt wells, and the proliferation of new straws into Montana’s aquifers, paired with the septic systems that frequently accompany them, are drawing down critical water supplies and overloading them with nutrient pollution.The Montana League of Cities and Towns, which represents municipalities that rely on surface water or underground aquifers to meet the needs of homes and businesses served by public water supplies, is the lead plaintiff in the litigation. Other parties to the lawsuit include the Association of Gallatin Agricultural Irrigators, the Montana Farm Bureau Federation, Clark Fork Coalition, Montana Environmental Information Center and Trout Unlimited.In an emailed statement about the lawsuit, Clark Fork Coalition legal director Andrew Gorder argued that the state needs to change its permitting practices to uphold the 1972 Montana Constitution, which “recognized and confirmed” all of the “existing rights to the use of any waters.”“From rapid growth to ongoing drought, Montana’s water resources and water users are facing unprecedented challenges,” Gorder wrote. “The cumulative impact of over one hundred thousand exempt groundwater wells can no longer be ignored. We’re asking the court to conserve our limited water resources and ensure that the constitutional protections afforded to senior water rights, including instream flow rights, are preserved.”Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, along with groups like Clark Fork Coalition and Trout Unlimited, hold or lease instream flow rights to sustain sensitive fisheries during periods of drought like the ongoing one dropping many western Montana rivers to record-low levels.Plaintiff Kevin Chandler, a hydrogeologist who ranches outside of Absarokee, juxtaposed the process he and his wife, Katrin, went through to obtain and protect the water they use on their ranch with the process afforded to nearby developers of the 67-lot Crow Chief Meadows subdivision.“We did everything the law asked of us to protect our water and our neighbors’ water – collecting data, hiring experts, and working hand-in-hand with the state,” Chandler wrote in the statement. “It’s frustrating to see a subdivision using dozens of exempt wells get approved, when the same development proposing a single shared community well would have been denied. Those community systems are more efficient and safer, and their use can be measured and monitored. The current policy promotes poorly planned development and passes the hidden costs to future homeowners, counties and towns.”A spokesperson for the DNRC declined to comment on the lawsuit.The lawsuit presents four claims for relief, beginning with recognizing the constitutional protections afforded to senior water users and concluding with a constitutional provision protecting Montanans’ right to know what their government is doing and their right to participate in the operation of its agencies. The plaintiffs note that an interim legislative committee has been tasked with digging into the exempt well statute once again. But they don’t appear optimistic that the Legislature will reach a different result when it next convenes in 2027. Despite nearly two decades of studies identifying the consequences of exempt well development and repeated efforts to revise state laws, no meaningful change has occurred, according to the lawsuit.Four of the lawsuit’s plaintiffs — the Montana League of Cities and Towns, Clark Fork Coalition, Montana Farm Bureau Federation and Trout Unlimited — participated in the group that developed Senate Bill 358, which sought to close some of the state’s fastest-growing valleys to additional exempt wells but allow for increased groundwater development across the rest of the state as part of a compromise package. In April, the Montana Senate overwhelmingly rejected the measure.Kelly Lynch, executive director of the Montana League of Cities and Towns, said SB 358’s failure spurred her organization’s decision to move forward with the lawsuit.“We put our hearts and souls into that bill,” she said. “The fact that it failed — it was like, ‘OK, it’s time.’”Lynch added that other Western states have experienced similar pressures on their groundwater supplies and have responded by narrowing the groundwater withdrawal loophole. In those states, she said, the exempt well law is “extremely limited to those situations in which an exemption is truly necessary — not a development pattern that is subsidized by the exemption.”In that lawsuit, District Court Judge Michael McMahon sided with Upper Missouri Waterkeeper and a handful of landowners opposed to the 442-acre Horse Creek Hills subdivision. In his 2024 ruling, McMahon chastised the Department of Natural Resources and Conservation for “torturously misreading its own rules and ignoring Supreme Court precedent” on the cumulative impacts of exempt wells.Asked to respond to this round of litigation, Upper Missouri Waterkeeper Executive Director Guy Alsentzer wrote in an email to Montana Free Press that it’s an encouraging development that builds on the Horse Creek Hills litigation.“The pressure to develop land is unrelenting, and recent history demonstrates the Montana Legislature is plainly incapable of a constitutionally-sound approach to adequately regulating Montana’s water resources,” Alsentzer wrote. “Ideally, this case finishes the battle at-stake in Upper Missouri Waterkeeper v. Broadwater County (aka Horse Creek Hills), and before that in Clark Fork Coalition v. Tubbs: there is no free water for sprawl subdivision development in closed Montana river basins.”This story was originally published by Montana Free Press and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See – Oct. 2025

Water
Business
Government

Michigan environmental groups want EPA to test for microplastics in drinking water

Several Michigan environmental organizations are calling on Governor Gretchen Whitmer to sign a petition urging the EPA to begin nationwide monitoring of drinking water for microplastics, citing growing concern over their presence in the Great Lakes and potential risks to human health.

Several Michigan environmental organizations are calling on Governor Gretchen Whitmer to sign a petition urging the EPA to begin nationwide monitoring of drinking water for microplastics, citing growing concern over their presence in the Great Lakes and potential risks to human health.

Water
Health

Western US states fail to agree on plan to manage Colorado River before federal deadline

Stakeholders have spent months ironing out disagreements over how to distribute water from the sprawling basinState negotiators embroiled in an impasse over how to manage the imperiled Colorado River were unable to agree on a plan before a federally set deadline on Tuesday, thrusting deliberations deeper into uncertain territory.Stakeholders have spent months working to iron out contentious disagreements over how to distribute water from this sprawling basin – which supplies roughly 40 million people in seven states, 5.5m acres of farmland, dozens of tribes and parts of Mexico – as the resources grow increasingly scarce. Continue reading...

State negotiators embroiled in an impasse over how to manage the imperiled Colorado River were unable to agree on a plan before a federally set deadline on Tuesday, thrusting deliberations deeper into uncertain territory.Stakeholders have spent months working to iron out contentious disagreements over how to distribute water from this sprawling basin – which supplies roughly 40 million people in seven states, 5.5m acres of farmland, dozens of tribes and parts of Mexico – as the resources grow increasingly scarce.Long-term overuse and the rising toll from the climate crisis have served as a one-two punch that’s left the system in crisis.Enough progress was made to warrant an extension, according to a joint statement issued by federal officials and representatives from the seven western states. But the discussions – and the deadline set for them – were set to an urgent timeline; current guidelines are expiring and a new finalized agreement must be put in place by October 2026, the start of the 2027 water year.Time is running short to schedule several steps required to implement a plan, including public engagement and environmental analysis. Final details are due by February 2026.“There are external factors that make this deadline real,” said Anne Castle, a water policy expert and a former chair of the Upper Colorado River Commission. “It’s unfortunate for all the water users in the Colorado River Basin that the states have been unable to come to an agreement on the next set of operating guidelines for the river.”It’s unclear whether a new deadline has been set or how discussions will proceed. If negotiators are unable to create a plan, it’s still possible the federal government will step in, an outcome experts say could lead to litigation and more delays.“The urgency for the seven Colorado River Basin states to reach a consensus agreement has never been clearer,” said Scott Cameron, the Department of the Interior’s acting assistant secretary for water and science, in a statement issued in August, along with a 24-month federal study that highlighted the dire impacts left by unprecedented drought in the basin.“The health of the Colorado River system and the livelihoods that depend on it are relying on our ability to collaborate effectively and craft forward-thinking solutions that prioritize conservation, efficiency, and resilience,” he added.But since they were tasked by federal officials in June to come up with a broad plan by 11 November, the closed-door discussions have been wrought with tension. Key questions, including specifics on the terms of a new agreement, how to measure shortages and conservation efforts, and who would bear the brunt of the badly needed cuts, have stymied consensus. Upper basin states – Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico, were pinned against the lower basin – California, Arizona, and Nevada.“They had to reach an agreement that almost by definition is going to result in hardship to some of those water users,” said Castle. “That was the crux of the problem.”Water from the mighty 1,450-mile river that snakes through the western US has been used to raise thriving cities like Los Angeles, Phoenix and Las Vegas and turn arid desert landscapes into lush breadbaskets. Its flows grow thirsty crops, like alfalfa and hay, used as feed for livestock. Roughly 80% of the supply goes to agriculture.Overuse has totalled roughly 3.5m acre-ft a year – an amount equal to more than a quarter of the river’s annual average flow. One acre-foot, a unit of measurement denoting the amount that can cover a football field in one foot depth and is used for large quantities of water, equals roughly 326,000 gallons – enough to supply roughly three families for a year.The ecosystems on the banks of the river have paid a heavy price. Fourteen native fish species are endangered or threatened. The once-lush wetlands in Mexico’s river delta have been dry for decades. California’s Salton Sea, a saline lake fed by the river, has turned toxic by the drought.Meanwhile, spiking temperatures have baked moisture out of the basin. Shrinking mountain snowpacks offer less melt year after year as increased evaporation takes a greater share. The river has lost more than 10tn gallons of water in the last two decades alone. The two largest reservoirs are projected to reach historic lows in the next two years.“There’s not enough water to supply all the uses we have been making of it.” Castle said. She added that even without an agreement, users will still be forced to take cuts. “We know water use has to be reduced – and reduced substantially. The issue is how.”If it comes down to letting the Bureau of Reclamation decide – or worse, a judge, should the issues be litigated – Castle said the outcome will be worse for everybody. A compromise – one that comes quickly – is paramount.“They all have to hold hands to jump in the pool together.”

Water
Agriculture
Conservation

Suggested Viewing

Death and the Dragon

The drought and the lack of water supplies in the capital city of Iran (Tehran), is a horrendous problem nowadays. The lakes of Tehran's area are all dried, some of the farmers have got to irrigate their farms by a kind of drainage to produce adequate harvest. This documentary proves that these problems have historical reasons and background in the political history of Iran in the last century. In addition to this historical and scientific view, The director shows that the fear of drought and famine in Iran is one of the major issues in Persian mythologies and legends. Narration of the film uses a poetic language to combine a mythological story about drought with the historical realities according to this specific topic: There's a dreadful dragon in Persian mythology, who is immortal and responsible for drought. Water crisis in Tehran contemporary history is a major problem too; and a dry land is a sign of the return of the dragon.

Water
Culture
Government

Remnant

An experimental short film from Iran.

Experimental
Culture
Water

BlackWater

BlackWater is a documentary about protecting Florida Springs, focusing on the Ichetucknee River. The Florida Springs have been displaying a decline in quality and will continue to if we do not make a change. I encourage you to visit and experience the Florida Springs system, as it truly is a religious experience. Produced by Ethan Beckley, Annick Joseph, and Jiahui Shen.

Water
Conservation
Science

A Visit From Will Dilg

Steven Marking plays Will Dilg in an inspiring one-man movie entitled A Visit From Will Dilg. After suffering from the drowning death of his son in the early 1920”s, Dilg rose from the depths of depression to lead an extraordinary national crusade by forming the Izaak Walton League. Then, with the support of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of America they saved a 261 mile stretch of Mississippi River backwaters from drainage for agriculture by forming a great national preserve, The Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge.

Water
Land Use
Activism

Mayday Terranean

Mayday Terranean is a documentary film portraying the problems of the Mediterranean Sea as well as the beauty it still has to offer. Scientists, conservationists and activists from countries around the Mediterranean Sea talk about the topic, their relationship to ocean conservation and shed light on the story of this wonderful but endangered place.

Water
Pollution
Conservation

Join us to forge
a sustainable future

Our team is always growing.
Become a partner, volunteer, sponsor, or intern today.
Let us know how you would like to get involved!

CONTACT US

sign up for our mailing list to stay informed on the latest films and environmental headlines.

Subscribers receive a free day pass for streaming Cinema Verde.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.