Japan builds an 'ice wall' to fix leaks at Fukushima

Built by the central government at a cost of 35 billion yen, or some $320 million, the ice wall is intended to seal off the reactor buildings within a vast, rectangular-shaped barrier of man-made permafrost. If it becomes successfully operational as soon as this autumn, the frozen soil will act as a dam to block new groundwater from entering the buildings. It will also help stop leaks of radioactive water into the nearby Pacific Ocean, which have decreased significantly since the calamity but may be continuing .... http://www.nytimes.com

"Fukushima Has Now Contaminated 1/3 Of The Worlds Oceans"

The Pacific Ocean – in fact almost one-third of the Globe – is thought to have been contaminated from the leak out from the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), seeking to promote the peaceful use of Nuclear Power, in 2011 established with the Regional Cooperative Agreement (RCA) Member States, a joint IAEA Technical Cooperation (TC) project in the region of the Pacific Ocean. It was established after the Fukushima disaster when a tsunami caused by a major earthquake on 11 March 2011, disabled the power supply and cooling of three Fukushima Daiichi reactors, causing a nuclear accident. As a result a large quantity of radioactive material was admitted into the Pacific Ocean .... http://www.neonnettle.com

Michael Moore To Obama: Flint Will Riot ‘Soon’ If You Don’t #ArrestGovSnyder

Filmmaker Michael Moore has warned President Obama that riots will begin in the troubled Michigan city of Flint unless their poisoned water crisis is resolved.

His message ended with an ominous “The riots here, I’m certain, will begin sometime soon.”

The president will meet with residents and receive a briefing on federal efforts in the cleanup .... http://rinf.com

Erin Brockovich has a map of 10,000 US communities with poisoned water

Erin Brockovich has claimed she has made a map of 10,000 communities across the US whose populations are suffering due to a polluted and contaminated water supply like in Flint, Michigan.

The real-life lawyer, who was played by actress Julia Roberts in a film about Ms Brockovich's fight for the residents of Hinkley, California to receive clean drinking water, has written a blog post for Medium which details how the disaster of polluted water is lying in wait to be exposed across the US.

She said she has been able to write a list of affected towns and areas because she receives “hundreds of emails” from worried citizens every day .... http://www.independent.co.uk

Twisted: Coca-Cola funded study says that diet soda is healthier than water

If your best friend told you that drinking diet soda is healthier than drinking water, would you believe them? What about if a doctor said it?

According to a new study published in the International Journal of Obesity, low-energy sweetener consumption can help you reduce your energy intake and even lose weight. If this sounds like nonsense, that’s because it’s exactly that. Although it seems inconceivable, this Coca-Cola funded study is actually telling people who are possibly engaged in excruciating weight battles, that they should buy and drink more diet soda. Needless to say, this is nothing more than science twisted into a marketing campaign .... http://www.naturalnews.com

Brazil Seizes Funds of Company Responsible for Mining Disaster

A court in Brazil has confirmed the freezing of around US$78 million Thursday from the accounts of Samarco, the operator of an iron ore mine that sparked a major environmental disaster earlier this month.

The funds will be held by Brazil’s central bank and may be used to provide compensation to victims of the disaster, according to government officials close to the matter.

Samarco has already been hit with fines of over US$60 million since a dam at one of its facilities burst on Nov. 5, leading to the flooding of surrounded areas and the displacement of hundreds of residents. At least 12 people have been confirmed dead in connection with the disaster and there are mounting concerns of a long-term health crisis .... http://www.telesurtv.net

Saudi Wells Running Dry — of Water — Spell End of Desert Wheat

For decades, only a few features punctuated the vastness of the Saudi desert: oil wells, oases -- and wheat fields.

Despite torrid weather and virtually no rain, the world’s largest oil producer once grew so much of the grain that its exports could feed Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and Yemen. The circular wheat farms, half a mile across with a central sprinkler system, spread across the desert in the 1980s and 1990s, visible in spring to anyone overflying the Arabian peninsula as green spots amid a dun sea of sand.

The oilfields remain, but the last wheat farms have just disappeared to save the aquifers supplying them. For the first time, Saudi Arabia will rely almost completely on wheat imports in 2016, a reversal from its policy of self-sufficiency. It will become a full member of the club of Middle Eastern nations that, according to the commodity-trade adage, "sell hydrocarbons to buy carbohydrates." .... http://www.bloomberg.com

BP to pay nearly $21bn to settle world’s largest oil spill

The US government and BP have finalized a $20.8 billion deal to settle the energy giant’s 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill. BP plans to stretch its payment, described as the “biggest in US history,” over 15 years.

“This resolution is strong and fitting,” Attorney General Loretta Lynch said. “BP is receiving the punishment it deserves while also providing critical compensation to the damage to the Gulf region.”

The final agreement comes more than three months after the deal was first announced in July, but still needs to be approved by a federal court .... https://www.rt.com

Startling viral video shows lake drying up in drought-ridden California

A breathtaking timelapse of Folsom Lake in California shows the dramatic effects a four-year drought is having on water levels in the state.

"I've been collecting and assembling these since March of 2015 through August 2015 showing the effects of the drought in California is having on our reservoirs," Sacramento resident Ryan Griffith said in his Facebook post.

The most powerful images begin around 26 seconds into the 40-second video, as the water levels drop precipitously .... https://www.rt.com/usa

Fukushima disaster was preventable - new study

According to the research carried out by the University of Southern California, one of the main faults was the decision to install critical backup generators in low-lying areas, as this was the first place the 2011 tsunami would strike, following the massive earthquake.

Backup generators are a key part of any nuclear power plant – they are essential to cool the plant in the event of power loss, in order to prevent a reactor meltdown. These generators were the first to be affected by the disaster, which the author describes as “a cascade of industrial, regulatory and engineering failures.”

Unable to cool itself, the Fukushima Daiichi power plant’s reactors fell like dominos .... http://www.rt.com

EPA claims Colorado rivers are now cleared of contamination

Less than three weeks after the EPA spilled more than three million gallons of toxic sludge into the Animas River in Colorado during its “cleanup” of an abandoned gold mine, the agency announced that contamination levels were “trending toward pre-event conditions” and lifted restrictions on the use of water from the affected areas downstream.

Can the agency be trusted at this point, particularly after last week’s revelations regarding the agency’s foreknowledge of a possible spill and its failure to heed the warnings or create a contingency plan?

The EPA’s shoddy handling of the entire affair has drawn sharp criticism, including accusations of gross neglect and attempts to cover up the magnitude of the environmental damage. The planning of the operation and the subsequent response to the spill on the part of the agency borders on the criminal, yet the Obama administration has remained strangely silent in the wake of the disaster .... http://www.naturalnews.com

Tribes struggle with toxic spill as EPA is accused of deliberate disaster

While the agency has maintained that the release of toxic sludge from the Gold King mine was an accident, one retired geologist speculated the EPA might have been setting the area up for a disaster in order to get more federal funding.

“Based on my 47 years of experience as a professional geologist, it appears to me that the EPA is setting your town and the area up for a possible Superfund blitzkrieg,” Dave Taylor of Farmington wrote in a letter to the editors of the Silverton Standard, published July 30. The paper confirmed the letter’s authenticity in a blog post on August 12.

The EPA’s grand experiment to plug the Red & Bonita mine might seem to work at first, Taylor wrote, but he predicted the water would find a way out and “exfiltrate uncontrollably through connected abandoned shafts, drifts, raises, fractures, and possibly from talus on the hillsides.” .... http://www.rt.com/usa

Did The EPA Intentionally Poison Animas River To Secure SuperFund Money?

A week before The EPA disastrously leaked millions of gallons of toxic waste into The Animas River in Colorado, this letter to the editor was published in The Silverton Standard & The Miner local newspaper, authored by a retired geologist detailing verbatim, how EPA would foul the Animas River on purpose in order to secure superfund money .... http://www.zerohedge.com

Disaster Emergency Declared: Tons of toxins contaminate Animas River in Colorado

11.3 million litres of toxic mining sludge has leaked into the Animas River from a mine in southwest Colorado. The Navajo Nation and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper have declared emergencies over it.

Senior Associate, Environment Colorado Jeanne Bassset says the mine where the accident happened hasn't been in use for 92 years and it's having a devastating impact on local communities.

Hidden Ocean Found Underneath China's Largest Basin Is Larger Than Five Great Lakes Combined

Chinese scientists have discovered what could potentially be a massive hidden ocean underneath the Tarim basin in northwestern Xinjiang, China, the South China Morning Post reported. The basin is one of the driest places on Earth, but the amount of salt water hidden underneath could equal 10 times the amount of water found in all five of the Great Lakes located in the U.S.

Scientists have suspected that the water is a result from high, nearby mountains, and that melt water from those mountains had slipped beneath the basin. “This is a terrifying amount of water,” said professor Li Yan, who led the study at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography in Urumqi, the Xinjiang capital, the South China Morning Post reported. “Never before have people dared to imagine so much water under the sand. Our definition of desert may have to change.” .... http://www.ibtimes.com

California Drought Could Wipe Cities Off Map If Their Water Runs Out

The epicenter of California’s drought crisis is in the Central Valley, where there are growing fears the drought could wipe entire towns off of the map.

Wells are going dry, jobs are harder to come by and families are already moving, either to different states or even Mexico in search of work.

Before visiting Tulare County, a place where wells have gone dry and some people are living in third-world conditions, we went to a place deep in the Mojave Desert that offers a dire warning of what can happen when the water runs out .... http://sacramento.cbslocal.com

Motorbike that runs on WATER: 1 liter to travel 500km

A motorcycle able to travel up to 500 kilometres (310 miles) on a litre of water was trumpeted by creator Ricardo Azevedo in Sao Paulo.

And the Gods finally answer! Heavens open in California as freak July rainfall pounds the drought-stricken state, extinguishing wildfires and boosting water levels

For years, Californians have been praying for rain - and now this.

New rainfall records were set over the weekend in southern and central California as thunderstorms and heavy showers drenched the Golden State during what is usually its driest month.

The downpours were welcomed by many, following four straight years of drought. But for others they caused chaos by sweeping away roads, collapsing bridges, closing beaches and disrupting power supplies - leaving tens of thousands of people without electricity .... http://www.dailymail.co.uk