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Water bosses could be jailed if they cover up sewage dumping under new law

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Wednesday, September 4, 2024

Water bosses in England and Wales could be jailed for up to two years if they cover up sewage dumping, under legislation proposed by the Labour government.At the moment, CEOs of water companies face fines for failing to comply with investigations by the Environment Agency (EA) and the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), but there have been just three such fines since privatisation three decades ago.Civil servants at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) told journalists on Wednesday that they planned to tighten compliance rules to force companies to hand over sewage data quickly, and that the maximum sentence for covering up this information or failing to release it would be two years.Ministers also plan to pass legislation that would force water companies to pay the EA and DWI’s enforcement costs if they are under investigation. The EA has found it hard to inspect polluters owing to funding cuts, so ministers hope this would provide the money to increase the number of prosecutions. Defra has been looking for savings after the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, asked it for £1bn in spending reductions.The new legislation being introduced to parliament on Thursday will also give the regulators powers to ban bonuses for water company CEOs who fail to meet environmental and consumer standards, and if their company is not financially resilient. Journalists were briefed that these environmental standards had not yet been decided by the regulator, Ofwat.Last year, Liv Garfield of Severn Trent took a £584,000 bonus despite her company having been fined £2m for dumping sewage, and the firm scored highly on the EA’s environment rankings despite taking this human waste spillage into account.The environment secretary, Steve Reed, said: “Under this government, water executives will no longer line their own pockets whilst pumping out this filth. If they refuse to comply, they could end up in the dock and face prison time.“This bill is a major step forward in our wider reform to fix the broken water system. We will outline further legislation to fundamentally transform how the water industry is run and speed up the delivery of upgrades to our sewage infrastructure to clean up our waterways for good.”Campaigners and experts said the announcement did not go far enough, and that the whole system needed to change as it had “failed”.The sewage campaigner and former Undertones frontman Feargal Sharkey said he was still planning to march on parliament next month because he viewed the measures as inadequate.He said: “I have called for a mass protest for a coalition of the concerned to ensure clean, healthy rivers. We need transformational information and action. I see none of that before me. We will still be marching on 26 October to demand clean rivers and strong action.”skip past newsletter promotionThe planet's most important stories. Get all the week's environment news - the good, the bad and the essentialPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionGuy Linley-Adams, a solicitor for the WildFish charity, said the government was not using existing powers to force the regulators to crack down on polluting water companies.For example, he said that without any new legislation, ministers could remove the “growth duty” from regulators, which prioritises economic growth over the environment.He said: “If the new government really means what it says, that it will not tolerate poor performance across the water sector, then it can start now by issuing new and unambiguous policy steers to Ofwat and the EA right now that force a much tougher financial and environmental regulatory approach, one that prioritises investment in the environment.“The government should also disapply the regulators’ code and the statutory growth duty that currently shackle both the EA and Ofwat’s regulation of the water companies.“And they should direct the EA to stop using soft-touch enforcement undertakings for water company offending and always prosecute water companies aggressively for causing pollution. None of the above requires new law. It can all be done right now.”Charles Watson, the chair and founder of the campaign group River Action, said: “If the secretary of state believes that the few one-off actions announced today, such as curtailing bosses’ bonuses – however appealing they may sound – are going to fix the underlying causes of our poisoned waterways, then he needs to think again.“Only a comprehensive and holistic review focusing on all sources of pollution and that delivers a transformational action plan, with tangible targets and milestones, can reform our failed regulatory system and end the daily polluting of our rivers, lakes and seas.”The Tories claimed that Labour were “attempting to pass off measures implemented under the Conservatives” as their own, pointing to a ban on bonuses for water company bosses whose companies commit serious breaches as an example.The shadow environment minister, Robbie Moore, said: “It was the Conservatives that introduced 100% monitoring for storm overflows and set out a plan to transform our infrastructure to ensure safer, cleaner waters.”

CEOs in England and Wales could face two years in prison under proposals to force firms to supply data quicklyWater bosses in England and Wales could be jailed for up to two years if they cover up sewage dumping, under legislation proposed by the Labour government.At the moment, CEOs of water companies face fines for failing to comply with investigations by the Environment Agency (EA) and the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), but there have been just three such fines since privatisation three decades ago. Continue reading...

Water bosses in England and Wales could be jailed for up to two years if they cover up sewage dumping, under legislation proposed by the Labour government.

At the moment, CEOs of water companies face fines for failing to comply with investigations by the Environment Agency (EA) and the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), but there have been just three such fines since privatisation three decades ago.

Civil servants at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) told journalists on Wednesday that they planned to tighten compliance rules to force companies to hand over sewage data quickly, and that the maximum sentence for covering up this information or failing to release it would be two years.

Ministers also plan to pass legislation that would force water companies to pay the EA and DWI’s enforcement costs if they are under investigation. The EA has found it hard to inspect polluters owing to funding cuts, so ministers hope this would provide the money to increase the number of prosecutions. Defra has been looking for savings after the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, asked it for £1bn in spending reductions.

The new legislation being introduced to parliament on Thursday will also give the regulators powers to ban bonuses for water company CEOs who fail to meet environmental and consumer standards, and if their company is not financially resilient. Journalists were briefed that these environmental standards had not yet been decided by the regulator, Ofwat.

Last year, Liv Garfield of Severn Trent took a £584,000 bonus despite her company having been fined £2m for dumping sewage, and the firm scored highly on the EA’s environment rankings despite taking this human waste spillage into account.

The environment secretary, Steve Reed, said: “Under this government, water executives will no longer line their own pockets whilst pumping out this filth. If they refuse to comply, they could end up in the dock and face prison time.

“This bill is a major step forward in our wider reform to fix the broken water system. We will outline further legislation to fundamentally transform how the water industry is run and speed up the delivery of upgrades to our sewage infrastructure to clean up our waterways for good.”

Campaigners and experts said the announcement did not go far enough, and that the whole system needed to change as it had “failed”.

The sewage campaigner and former Undertones frontman Feargal Sharkey said he was still planning to march on parliament next month because he viewed the measures as inadequate.

He said: “I have called for a mass protest for a coalition of the concerned to ensure clean, healthy rivers. We need transformational information and action. I see none of that before me. We will still be marching on 26 October to demand clean rivers and strong action.”

skip past newsletter promotion

after newsletter promotion

Guy Linley-Adams, a solicitor for the WildFish charity, said the government was not using existing powers to force the regulators to crack down on polluting water companies.

For example, he said that without any new legislation, ministers could remove the “growth duty” from regulators, which prioritises economic growth over the environment.

He said: “If the new government really means what it says, that it will not tolerate poor performance across the water sector, then it can start now by issuing new and unambiguous policy steers to Ofwat and the EA right now that force a much tougher financial and environmental regulatory approach, one that prioritises investment in the environment.

“The government should also disapply the regulators’ code and the statutory growth duty that currently shackle both the EA and Ofwat’s regulation of the water companies.

“And they should direct the EA to stop using soft-touch enforcement undertakings for water company offending and always prosecute water companies aggressively for causing pollution. None of the above requires new law. It can all be done right now.”

Charles Watson, the chair and founder of the campaign group River Action, said: “If the secretary of state believes that the few one-off actions announced today, such as curtailing bosses’ bonuses – however appealing they may sound – are going to fix the underlying causes of our poisoned waterways, then he needs to think again.

“Only a comprehensive and holistic review focusing on all sources of pollution and that delivers a transformational action plan, with tangible targets and milestones, can reform our failed regulatory system and end the daily polluting of our rivers, lakes and seas.”

The Tories claimed that Labour were “attempting to pass off measures implemented under the Conservatives” as their own, pointing to a ban on bonuses for water company bosses whose companies commit serious breaches as an example.

The shadow environment minister, Robbie Moore, said: “It was the Conservatives that introduced 100% monitoring for storm overflows and set out a plan to transform our infrastructure to ensure safer, cleaner waters.”

Read the full story here.
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Whales are getting tangled in lines and ropes off the California coast in record numbers

A NOAA report shows that more whales were killed in US waters this year by entanglements than any prior year.

The number of whales getting tangled up in fishing nets, line, buoys and other miscellaneous rope off the coasts of the United States hit a record high in 2024, with California taking the ignominious lead.According to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, there were 95 confirmed entangled whales in U.S. waters last year. Eighty-seven were live animals, while reports for eight came in after the animals had died.On average, 71 whales are reported entangled each year. There were 64 in 2023.More than 70% of the reports were from the coastal waters off California, Alaska, Hawaii and Massachusetts. California accounted for 25% in 2024, most in the San Francisco and Monterey bay areas.Humpback whales were hardest hit, accounting for 77 of the cases. Other whale species include North Pacific gray whales, the North Atlantic right whale, minke, sperm, fin and bowhead whales.Entanglements are just one of many threats facing whales worldwide. Earlier this year, 21 gray whales died in Bay Area waters, mostly after getting struck by ships. The animals are increasingly stressed from changes in food availability, shipping traffic, noise pollution, waste discharge, disease and plastic debris, and their ability to avoid and survive these impediments is diminishing. Since 2007, more than 920 humpback whales have been maimed or killed by long line ropes that commercial crabbers use to haul up cages from the sea floor. The report notes that about half the incidents are directly tied to commercial and recreational fishing lines. The remaining 49 also involved line and buoys but in circumstances that could not be traced back to a specific fishery. The report comes after years of government and conservation group efforts with the commercial fishing industry to increase awareness and encourage different fishing technologies — such as pop-up fishing gear, which uses a remote controlled pop-up balloon device to bring cages to the surface, rather than relying on lines.It also comes as funding for NOAA is threatened and Congress is considering draft legislation that would weaken the Marine Mammal Protection Act, one of the country’s foundational environmental laws, signed by President Nixon in 1972.“This report paints a clear picture: our current safeguards are not enough,” said Gib Brogan, campaign director for Oceana, an ocean advocacy group, in a statement. He said things are likely to get worse if NOAA’s funding is cut and the Marine Mammal Protection Act is eroded. “These findings underscore an urgent need for coordinated action,” said Kathi George, the Sausalito-based Marine Mammal Center’s director of cetacean conservation in a statement. “Together, we can apply the best available science to reduce the risk of entanglement, through strategies like supporting fisher-led initiatives, improving detection and response efforts, and enhancing reporting and data sharing.”

Water
Animals
Food

Portland State researchers hope project will reduce mega earthquake damage

The researchers are working on a soil treatment that focuses on activating microbes to reduce groundwater saturation levels – they believe it could become a cost-effective, long-lasting solution to reduce earthquake-caused liquefaction.

If and when a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake hits the Portland region, soil liquefaction could dramatically worsen the damage, leading buildings to tilt, roads to buckle and utility lines to rupture. Especially susceptible are sandy and silty soils – like those by the Willamette River where aging tanks store fuels including gasoline, diesel and biofuel. Intense shaking during an earthquake could cause those soils to behave more like a liquid than a solid, leading the tanks to crack, collapse, spill and explode. But Portland State University researchers say soil microbes could help prevent the destruction. The researchers are working on a soil treatment that focuses on activating microbes to reduce groundwater saturation levels – and they believe it could become a cost-effective, long-lasting solution to reduce earthquake risk in their own city and across the region. “We recognized that it would be an opportunity to test it in Portland to see if it could be applied in areas like the CEI Hub,” said Diane Moug, one of the lead researchers of the PSU microbial treatment study and an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the school.The treatment is one of several new soil-based solutions being developed to prevent or reduce liquefaction – but, unlike traditional soil improvement methods, the microbe technique is based in nature and doesn’t entail invasive procedures such as injecting cement into the ground or repeatedly dropping large weights to compact the soil, said Ellen Rathje, a professor of geotechnical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. “This area of research is a very hot topic right now,” said Rathje, who is also president of the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, a nonprofit for experts working to reduce earthquake risks. “There’s promise in the bio-inspired techniques because there are very limited approaches you can use for sites that have already been developed. And they’re inspired by naturally occurring processes, so they’re certainly good from a sustainability perspective.”Dubbed microbially induced desaturation, the method being tested by PSU entails injecting the layers of soil that lie beneath the surface with a mixture containing calcium acetate and calcium nitrate. And then waiting. The mixture acts as a food source for naturally occurring soil microbes, stimulating their growth, said Arash Khosravifar, the co-leader of the PSU project and an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the school.The microbes produce large amounts of nitrogen gas and carbon dioxide – a chemical reaction called denitrification. Those nitrogen gas bubbles, in turn, fill the tiny spaces between soil particles, reducing the soil’s saturation and making it more resistant to liquefaction, Khosravifar said. In the event of an earthquake, the trapped gas bubbles act like shock absorbers, dampening water pressure buildup in the soil during intense shaking, he said. Scientists believe Oregon is overdue for the Big One, a mega earthquake that will occur just off the Oregon coast along the Cascadia Subduction Zone where the Juan de Fuca Plate pushes beneath the North American Plate – and its shaking will devastate Portland. The last major Cascadia Subduction Zone quake happened in 1700 and there’s about a 37% chance that one of 7.1 magnitude or larger will occur in the next 50 years, according to the Oregon Department of Emergency Management. The state and city of Portland have mapped liquefaction risks, finding they’re among the highest along the Columbia and Willamette rivers, including the Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub where hundreds of fuel-filled tanks sit atop a six-mile stretch of unstable soils. Three years ago, following years of research and community pressure over the earthquake-related risks of spills and explosions at the hub, the Legislature mandated that tank owners develop plans to reduce seismic risks. “The state set a very high standard of seismic resilience, but they don’t dictate how a facility has to reach that. Soil-based solutions could be one of many options for these companies,” said John Wasiutynski, sustainability director with Multnomah County, which in 2022 published a study showing a liquefaction-related spill at the Portland hub would be similar to the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the country’s largest oil spill to date.Inspired by the study, Portland researchers learned about the microbial method from colleagues at Arizona State University. Other researchers have also launched similar field work, including in Japan and Italy. From lab to fieldLab tests, which use small soil samples and mechanical shakers to simulate earthquakes, have shown that stimulating the growth of microbes and reducing soil saturation even by a few percentage points can significantly reduce liquefaction, Portland researchers said. Khosravifar, Moug and their collaborators are now aiming to prove the method can eliminate liquefaction in the real world, where soil conditions and scale are more complex – as is stimulating earthquakes. Enter the T-Rex, a massive truck outfitted with a mobile shaker that makes artificial earthquakes. The truck, which Portland researchers borrowed from the University of Texas at Austin, got its name from a scene in “Jurassic Park” where the pounding steps of a Tyrannosaurus rex create ripples in a water glass. The T-Rex truck pounds the ground and causes it to shake. The T-rex, a field shaker truck borrowed from the University of Texas at Austin, produces a small earthquake by shaking the ground. In September 2025, Portland State University researchers simulated earthquakes in the field to see if their microbe-focused soil treatment method can prevent the soil liquefying during a mega earthquake.courtesy of Portland State UniversityIn 2019, researchers conducted initial field tests at two sites, one in Northeast Portland near the Columbia River and another in Northwest Portland near the energy hub on the Willamette. They successfully pumped the treatment into fine-grained silt soils at the sites and showed that it desaturated the soils, according to a paper published in 2022 in the Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering.They have monitored the Northeast Portland site for six years and have found the treatment is effective for up to five years, Khosravifar said. Throughout August, they retreated the soil at the site, applying the solution to the subsurface soil through a central injection well. Two weeks ago, they installed a giant screw into the ground. The T-rex sat on top of the screw and shook the pile vertically, transferring the shaking energy down into the soil. What they found: The T-rex generated an earthquake – but while mighty, it wasn’t strong enough in deeper soil, Khosravifar said. The researchers are now working on how to increase the shaking intensity, he said, up to a point where the shaking will at least partially liquify the untreated soil and researchers can see the impacts of the treatment in areas injected with the chemicals. “One of the things that remains to be answered is, how much can we really mitigate liquefaction risk? Are we completely eliminating that risk or is it partial?” Khosravifar said. Challenges, drawbacksThe treatment comes with some risks. While the chemicals are benign to humans – calcium nitrate is widely applied to crops as a fertilizer and calcium acetate is a food-grade material used as a preservative in foods and a binder in pharmaceutical pills – the denitrification process, if incomplete, can leave behind nitrates or intermediate compounds like nitrite, nitric oxide or nitrous oxide, Khosravifar said. Nitrous oxide is a potent greenhouse gas. And nitrates or its compounds can contaminate drinking water. Research has linked high nitrate consumption over long periods to cancers, miscarriages and thyroid issues. It is especially dangerous to infants who can develop “blue baby syndrome,” which can be fatal. The formation of gas bubbles in the soil also can reduce porosity and conductivity of soil, potentially affecting water flow. It’s why the soil treatment requires specialized instruments to closely monitor the chemical reaction and nitrate and nitrite levels in groundwater, Khosravifar said. Sensors are embedded in the soil down to 20 feet to give researchers an idea of how the nutrients are moving in soil and whether the chemical reaction is complete. If the method is widely adopted, contractors performing the treatment would be required to use such sensors for long-term monitoring, he said. Other methodsStill, the microbe stimulation method could be a better option when compared to other soil treatments, the researchers said. Some entail injecting bacteria into soil rather than working with existing ones. One of the methods often uses urea, which produces ammonia, a toxic chemical that can damage water quality and is hard to remove.A more established soil improvement approach, known as permeating grouting, calls for injecting microfine cement into the cracks and fissures in liquefaction-prone soils – but it’s emission-intensive, uses a lot of water and is a lot more expensive. Mechanical compaction, another widely used soil treatment method, involves physically packing the soil down tightly so it’s stronger and less likely to shift or collapse during an earthquake.Portland General Electric, for example, used a method that mixed cement into the soil to create stiff, strong columns underground across the Harborton Substation, a major electrical substation in Northwest Portland just west of the energy hub. The project was completed during a rebuild of the substation in 2020 to address soils prone to liquefaction and cost about $40 million, said PGE spokesperson Amber Weyers. The main challenge with such methods is that they require access to the soil. For soils with existing structures or buildings – such as those under the fuel-filled tanks at Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub by the Willamette – there is no good solution. In those cases, PSU’s microbially induced desaturation method may prove the only one feasible, the researchers said.It’s also about a quarter of the cost of many of the other liquefaction prevention solutions, Khosravifar said. For areas occupied by a fuel tank, for example, the nitrate treatment’s initial application would cost $170,000, including the cost of installing wells, he said. Though the chemicals would have to be reapplied every five years, subsequent applications would cost a fifth of the initial expense or about $34,000 every five years, Khosravifar said. Still, the soil treatment is unlikely to be used by homeowners, given that over time it would cost a lot more than the house itself, Khosravifar said. That’s still a fraction of the cost for permeating grouting, which can cost five times as much, or more than $600,000, he said. Moug and Khosravifar said they would like to collaborate with one of the fuel storage companies housed at the Portland energy hub to test and monitor another patch of soil – to better understand how soil and water behave at the hub itself. “We’re not ready to fully implement this solution yet, but it would be a logical next step to test it on site,” Moug said. If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Water
Chemicals
Energy

Waterproof walking shoe sale: Hoka Transport GTX available at $139.99

If you’re looking for walking shoes that won’t get soaking wet when the rain hits next week, Hoka has its Transport GTX walking shoe on sale for $139.99 (for men and women) in certain colorways, and most sizes are still available.

If you’re looking for walking shoes that won’t get soaking wet when the rain hits next week, Hoka has its Transport GTX walking shoe on sale for $139.99 (for men and women) in certain colorways, and most sizes are still available. Built for city walkers and commuters, the Transport GTX features a GORE-TEX Invisible Fit lining that keeps water out while allowing foot breathability. That combination makes the Hoka Transport GTX one of the most useful walking shoes you can buy right now. The shoe’s upper is made from Cordura, a type of tough nylon fabric that’s built to handle scuffs and scrapes. In practice, that means the shoe can brush against curbs, bike pedals, or subway steps without showing wear as quickly as softer materials. A Vibram EcoStep outsole provides grip on slick pavement, while the 35% sugarcane EVA midsole cushions each step with a lighter environmental footprint. At a little over six pounds per pair, the Transport GTX feels stable without weighing you down.Some practical details: The quick-toggle lace system makes it easy to slip these on, cinch them tight, and head out the door without fumbling — a real plus for commuters who are rushing in the morning. Standard laces are included too, if you prefer a traditional tie. Reflective accents circle the shoe, which means drivers and cyclists are more likely to see you on early walks or evening commutes.What buyers talk about most is the Transport’s waterproofing. Several say they’ve walked through downpours or stood in puddles for blocks and finished the day with dry socks — the kind of detail that makes a difference when you’re caught in a sudden storm on the way to work. Despite mostly positive reviews, some users report the shoe’s upper feels stiff initially and that the toe box is narrower than typical Hoka models, but many also say the break-in period is short and manageable.At $139.99, the Transport GTX delivers waterproof protection and everyday comfort at a rare discount. Most sizes are still in stock now, but they’re moving quickly. Pick up a pair before they sell out. If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

Water

Amid a data center boom, California lawmakers pass a bill to track water use

The AI-driven data center boom is adding strain on the West's water. New legislation in California would require data centers to report how much water they use.

Companies that run data centers are facing increasing scrutiny for guzzling water in the dry western U.S. as artificial intelligence fuels a boom in the industry. California legislators passed a bill this month that would require the facilities to report their projected water use before they begin operating and thereafter certify how much they use annually. The bill is now awaiting Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature.“Data centers are popping up all over the place,” said Assemblymember Diane Papan (D-San Mateo), the bill’s author. “And they demand so much water.”The large buildings packed with equipment typically use water to cool their servers and interiors.The International Energy Agency said in a recent report that a 100-megawatt data center in the U.S. can consume approximately 500,000 gallons of water per day. But it said innovations in cooling systems can significantly reduce that.The California legislation requires companies to submit water information for both new and existing facilities.“It’s very important that localities be able to plan for what’s next, whether that’s building more housing or building data centers, and data centers happen to be incredibly thirsty,” said Papan, who chairs the Assembly Water, Parks and Wildlife Committee.Much of the nation’s data center construction boom is taking place in arid states, including California, Arizona and Texas, where strains on water have been mounting amid dry conditions and rising temperatures. The ongoing water shortage on the Colorado River, where reservoirs are approaching critically low levels, is expected to force additional reductions in water use in the Southwest in the coming years.A key goal is to prevent problems, Papan said, “so that we don’t end up with a data center without sufficient water, and we don’t end up with a community that has a data center that takes too much water away from the community.”Assembly Bill 93 was opposed by business groups including the Data Center Coalition. Newsom has until Oct. 12 to sign or veto it.In a report released this week, researchers with the nonprofit group Ceres analyzed current and projected water use for data centers in the Phoenix area, where, as of May, there were 75 of the facilities and 49 more planned. It found that water for cooling, as well as water consumption linked to electricity generation, is expected to dramatically increase in the coming years as more facilities come online.The group projected that cooling water alone in the area could increase to more than 3.7 billion gallons per year, enough to supply a city of about 80,000 people for nearly two years — a change they said could increase water stress in a region that is already grappling with scarcity. “This needs to become a consideration in those areas,” said Kirsten James, senior director of Ceres’ water program. “If companies and their shareholders do not address these sustainability risks, then that could leave them open for financial loss, and so they really need to be proactive.” Experts say California has more than 300 data centers, with many more planned.Some major tech companies already disclose their data centers’ water use in other parts of the country, so it makes sense for the state to collect this information, especially since California is known for both leading on innovation and for having long droughts, said Shaolei Ren, an associate professor at UC Riverside who studies data centers’ use of resources. “We ask California residents to switch to artificial turf and display ‘water conservation’ stickers in public places, yet data center water use remains hidden,” Ren said. “Disclosure doesn’t hurt the industry or add costs; it simply helps us track and manage a vital resource more responsibly as we build the next generation of data centers.”Inside data centers, servers generate heat as they run, and are typically cooled by systems that circulate either liquid or air through them. Many data center buildings have industrial-scale cooling towers where water evaporates and helps cool the interior environment.Some use much less water than others. Facilities with closed-loop dry coolers may use virtually no water on-site, while those that rely on evaporative cooling are more water-intensive, Ren said.Notably, the types of systems that require little water are generally more energy-intensive and costlier, Ren said.The rise of artificial intelligence as well as growing investments in cloud computing are driving the data center construction boom. While some companies don’t report their water use, others do.Google, for example, listed water data for three dozen data centers around the world in its latest annual environmental report, saying a single site can use anywhere from nearly zero water to more than 3 million gallons per day, depending on its cooling design and size.It said some of its more water-intensive centers, including two in Iowa and Oklahoma, require five to six times as much water as an average golf course, while various other facilities use less than a typical golf course. None of the data centers the company listed are in California.Google said it is focused on “advancing responsible water use,” and that last year, 72% of its water “came from sources at low risk of water depletion or scarcity.” Michael Kiparsky, director of the Wheeler Water Institute at the UC Berkeley School of Law, said requiring data on water use is a good first step, but local officials may not know what to do with that number alone.For example, he said, it won’t let them know if there is a more conserving option, or another location with more water available.

Water
Business
Energy

Dodging New York traffic: hundreds of humpback whaless on a collision course with ships

Humpbacks are thriving in the warm waters off the coast of Manhattan but maritime restrictions have not kept paceIt is the beginning of August and a crowd is gathered on the deck of the American Princess cruise boat waiting for one thing – and they are not disappointed. Suddenly, a juvenile humpback whale, known as NYC0318 in local records, bursts through the surface of the water, engulfing thousands of small, oily fish.For those onboard the 29-metre (95ft) vessel, the scene is a thrill to watch, in part because it is taking place not far out at sea but just off the coast of Manhattan, New York. Among the tourists watching is Chris St Lawrence, a naturalist and the communications director of Gotham Whale, a volunteer-run marine research organisation in the city. He is not just looking out for the whales, he is watching for danger around them. Continue reading...

It is the beginning of August and a crowd is gathered on the deck of the American Princess cruise boat waiting for one thing – and they are not disappointed. Suddenly, a juvenile humpback whale, known as NYC0318 in local records, bursts through the surface of the water, engulfing thousands of small, oily fish.For those onboard the 29-metre (95ft) vessel, the scene is a thrill to watch, in part because it is taking place not far out at sea but just off the coast of Manhattan, New York. Among the tourists watching is Chris St Lawrence, a naturalist and the communications director of Gotham Whale, a volunteer-run marine research organisation in the city. He is not just looking out for the whales, he is watching for danger around them.“When they’re feeding, they can get really distracted, and they don’t care about boats,” he says.Chris St Lawrence of Gotham Whale, which tracks whales and other marine mammals off New York and New Jersey. Photograph: Lauren Owens LambertWhen Gotham Whale began tracking humpbacks in 2012, its NYC humpback catalogue contained just five individuals. Today, it includes 470 whales – mostly transient juveniles such as NYC0318 drawn by the rich feeding opportunities of the New York Bight. But with the hunt for such bounty comes a growing problem.What was once a marine highway connecting southern breeding grounds to northern feeding areas has, since 2010, become a regular foraging destination, putting humpbacks on a collision course with maritime traffic.Cargo vessels, tankers, cruise ships, fishing boats and recreational craft all cross humpback feeding grounds in the New York Bight – an area roughly the size of Switzerland, stretching from southern New Jersey to eastern Long Island and offshore to the Hudson Canyon, a deep submarine valley.Danielle Brown, research director at Gotham Whale, says: “I don’t think people realise they are out there, and these shipping companies certainly don’t expect to see them.”Lesley Thorne, a marine scientist at Stony Brook University on Long Island, says several factors are converging dangerously: recovering humpback populations, potential climate-related shifts in their food, and whales venturing into shipping corridors to feed. “It is this perfect storm of events,” she says.Since the end of commercial whaling, humpbacks have become a conservation success story. In 2016, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) delisted the whales in New York waters (considered as part of the West Indies population) under the Endangered Species Act.But that same year, large whale strandings along the US east coast began to rise, prompting Noaa to declare an Unusual Mortality Event in 2017 that remains open today.Where whales once just passed through the waters off New York, they are increasingly venturing into the busy shipping lanes to feed. Photograph: Chris St Lawrence/gothamwhale.orgThorne’s 2024 research found vessel strikes to be the main cause, although fishing gear entanglements played a part.The New York Bight hosts an extraordinary array of endangered whales: blue, fin, sei, sperm and North Atlantic right whales. In 2024, researchers documented critically endangered North Atlantic right whales near Hudson Canyon, close to busy shipping lanes.In May that year, a cruise ship arrived at a New York port with a dead endangered sei whale draped on its bow. The common draw is food, but humpback feeding behaviour compounds the risk.The combination of surface feeding and shallow waters likely makes them more vulnerable to vessel strikesLesley Thorne, Stony Brook University“We see surface aggregations of menhaden [herring-like fish] that are really close to shore, and we have almost exclusively juvenile whales feeding in these really nearshore waters, as shallow as 15ft [5 metres] of water,” says Thorne. “The combination of surface feeding and shallow waters likely makes them more vulnerable to vessel strikes.”Gotham Whale’s research documents the toll, showing whales with vessel strike scars and deep propeller wounds. One case this year involved a healthy humpback observed one day bearing fresh strike injuries only days later in the same area.As one of the world’s fastest-warming ocean regions, changing conditions may be drawing more whales closer to shore to feed.The endangered sei whale that was found dead on the bow of a cruise ship arriving in New York last year. Photograph: Atlantic Marine Conservation SocietyJanet Coit, who was Noaa’s assistant administrator for fisheries under the Biden administration, says: “The scientists out of our Northeast Fisheries Science Center were clear that warming waters are affecting the productivity of the ocean and bringing more whales in closer to shore, which is causing greater interactions with vessels and more vessel strikes.”The remedy – to reroute vessels or slow them down – is clear but not easily achieved. “With three shipping lanes into New York, there is no opportunity to reroute vessels,” says Samantha Rosen, a spokesperson for the New York State environmental conservation department.Studies show that reducing ship speeds to 10 knots (12mph) decreases strike likelihood and lethality. Currently, vessels 20 metres or longer must travel no faster than 10 knots from January to May in seasonal management areas, including around major ports. However, in January 2025, the Noaa withdrew proposed vessel speed rule expansions that would have better protected large whales year-round by expanding protections to larger areas, longer time periods and smaller vessels.The revisions, aimed at reducing risks to right whales, would also have helped other large whales, says Thorne. But resistance from mariners and lawmakers has hindered Noaa’s proposal, says Coit. Meanwhile, voluntary slowdowns triggered when whales are detected have limited effectiveness.The regulatory setback coincides with significant cuts to Noaa’s funding, staffing and climate research programmes since January.When the US enacted wildlife protection laws in the 1970s, Coit says there was a moral ethic around saving whales and conservation. “I’m concerned that this ethic is not underpinning our values any more,” she says.“If people want to save the whales, they are going to have to change their behaviour.”

Water
Climate
Food

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Water
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