After improper disposal of 1,4-dioxane at a manufacturing plant outside of Ann Arbor, MI a three square mile groundwater plume has slowly spread throughout Scio Township and Western Ann Arbor. Almost 40-years after its discovery this harmful chemical has closed over 100 residential wells and threatens drinking water infrastructure in Ann Arbor and surrounding areas.
Residents of Mount Vernon, New York, predominantly from minority backgrounds, have suffered for decades under a failing wastewater infrastructure that is now being addressed with a significant $150 million investment plan. Chronic sewage backups have created a perpetual state of environmental injustice, adversely impacting the health and quality of life of the community. This long-awaited intervention, championed by Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard, represents a pivotal move towards restoring public health, environmental quality, and social equity in Mount Vernon.
Detroit is undertaking a $40 million stormwater management endeavor in the Far West neighborhood and Rouge Park. The project includes the creation of two new detention basins and major sewer system upgrades aimed at reducing flood risk for 1,200 homes, minimizing the number of CSO events in the Rouge River, improving local water quality, and enhancing recreational spaces.
Vietnam, particularly the region of Quang Nam, are located in an area extremely vulnerable to flooding events, which devastate the mostly agricultural region, and climate change has directly resulted in these flooding events getting worst in the past twenty years. Instead of addressing changes that could actually address the issue, however, the government has focused most of its effort on reforestation and forest management, despite lack of evidence that these actions are at all likely to help mitigate disastrous flooding events.
In order to alleviate the traffic pressure of the Bosphorus Canal, reduce the potential risks of ships loaded with dangerous materials, and promote the country’s economic development, Istanbul Canal will be built connecting Marama Sea and the Black Sea. However this project will cause insecurity for Russia, upset environmental stability, pollute freshwater resources and deplete land for people's living.
A new canal in Nicaragua will be built under the agreement of the Nicaragua government and Chinese businessman Wang Jing, with his company HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Company (HKND). The project is intended to lift the poor country out of poverty, just as what the Panama Canal has done to its residents, but its construction may ruin the ecosystem of Central America. Besides, there are more potential issues like political tensions, exaggerated construction speed and ambiguous finance etc
A mega dam is being built in Ethiopia along the Blue Nile River. The new hydroelectric power plant is expected to generate 5GW electricity, lifting the whole country out of poverty and symbolizing the national power. However, as the river is a shared resouce with 10 other countries, it undergoes huge dispute, especially with Egypt, and the tension is escavating.
In recent years, the Meramec River has been experiencing historic flooding that may be exacerbated by the Valley Park levee that was built by the Army Corps of Engineers and protects an affluent community. Nearby communities who are less fortunate, experience frequent flooding where homes are routinely lost and rebuilt at the expense of lack of flood management in the area and the nearby levee being built on outdated models.
In 2022, Power Construction Corporation of China (Powerchina) announced its plan to build a mega dam along Yarlung Tsangpo River (Brahmaputra River). The dam is estimated to have 3 times the power generation as the Three Gorges Dam but it also goes along with many conerns like damage to ecosystem, future flood potential and geopolitics conflicts etc.
The Kinzua Dam, built in 1965, serves the purpose of protecting the people of the greater Pittsburgh area from the flooding and pollution of the Allegany River. The construction of the dam sparked public controversy due to it flooding 10,000 acres of the Seneca Nation of Indian's Allegany Territory that is protected under a federal treaty. Legal battles ensued, pleas were made from the Seneca people, and even an alternative option to the Kinzua Dam was proposed but ultimately it's construction has resulted in the loss of indigenous homes and arising issues of upstream flooding from climate change.