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A new report released by the Environmental Working Group reveals that over 218 million people across the United States are being exposed to potentially unsafe concentrations of hexavalent chromium in their drinking water, a chemical compound known to be toxic and carcinogenic in even extremely low concentrations. Nation-wide testing by local water utilities was ordered by the EPA between 2013 and 2016, resulting in over three-quarters of the 62,386 samples taken testing positive for the hexavalent chromium contaminant. An interactive map illustrating EWG’s findings can be found here.
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A recent investigation conducted by the Guardian newspaper in the U.K. has found that 33 U.S. cities across 17 states have engaged in water testing practices that have the potential to conceal high levels of lead in drinking water, using similar methods that obscured contamination levels in Flint, Michigan. These methods were employed despite warnings made by regulators and experts, presumably as cost-saving measures. Many of the cities affected are major urban centers, including Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Detroit, Miami, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and Tampa, just to name a few examples.
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Bolivia has officially declared that their second-largest lake, Lake Poopó, has disappeared. While long-term water diversion for mining and agricultural use has been cited as a partial culprit, an El Niño-driven drought, along with the disappearance of the Andean glaciers that fed the lake, are being blamed for the lake’s disappearance.

While Lake Poopó’s size historically sees large fluctuations due to it’s relative shallowness, this is the first time it has essentially disappeared, now being at only 2% of it’s former maximum water level of 5 meters (16.4 feet). A recent study showed that the water the lake received in 2013 wasn’t enough to maintain it’s equilibrium, short by 161 billion liters (42.5 billion gallons).
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Long-term regional droughts are, unfortunately, a common occurrence on our little planet. Typically though, only droughts that are long-term in their duration are reported on, giving us the impression that the problem is relegated to particular geographies, and not generally widespread. However, a new study from the Netherlands has incorporated short-term droughts into the picture, revealing water scarcity as a much more widespread problem.
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