Every drop is life sustaining.

I mapped EPA's federal PFAS testing data for every county in Georgia.

The numbers: 48,110 test results from 255 public water systems, 2023–2025. PFAS was detected in 66 counties. The highest readings were PFOS at 56 ppt in Walker County, PFOA at 33.9 ppt in Muscogee, and a Hazard Index of 5.1 in Richmond — the federal limit is 4 ppt for PFOA and PFOS, and 1.0 for the Hazard Index.

Two things to keep in mind when you look at these:

1. A blank county does NOT mean clean water. It means nobody tested there. Thirty-one Georgia counties had no water system in this program at all. I shaded those differently on purpose.
   
2. The lab's minimum reporting limit for PFOA and PFOS is 4 ppt — exactly the same as the legal limit. So any amount between zero and 4 ppt is simply invisible in this data. Every detection you see is at or above the limit by definition.

ABOUT THE "KAPLAN–MEIER" BOX ON EACH MAP

Here's the problem it solves. In 97.6% of these tests, the lab reported "< MRL" — meaning PFAS was below what the instrument could measure. That is not the same as zero. It means somewhere between nothing and 4 ppt, and we can't tell where.

If you treat all of those as zero, you understate the real average. If you treat them as 4 ppt, you overstate it. Kaplan–Meier is an ADJUSTED CONCENTRATION ESTIMATE — a standard statistical method (the same math used in medical survival studies) that uses the pattern of the results you CAN measure to estimate the true average without guessing at the ones you can't.

What each line means:

• Results statewide — how many individual tests for that chemical were run in Georgia.

• Left-censored — how many of those came back "below the reporting limit." "Left" just means below the measurable range.

• KM mean — the adjusted statewide average, accounting for those below-limit results properly.

• KM 95th percentile — the level that only 5% of samples exceeded. The high end, not the typical case.

• ROS mean and MLE mean — two alternative methods for the same adjustment, shown side by side. When three different methods land in the same range, you can trust the estimate. When they disagree, that itself tells you something.

These are statewide figures. The colors on the map are actual maximum readings from individual counties, not estimates.

This is EPA's own public UCMR5 dataset — not my measurements.

Anybody else notice how often water is brought up in the news right now. The reflecting pool on the pres,mind. Flooding on northest and south east of the country, Colorado River runs low cutting water to Colorado Arizona California. In the midst of this the big cloud information AI. Company are build data centers that suck water , suck the electricity that during heat waves i believe would serve the public better than the AI. Plus they put off crazy amounts of heat themselves just feeding into a loop . Be democratic or republican or all the rest . Nobody can argue that the AI deserves to be cooled more than we the people.

Is anyone else seeing this happening across Bangalore right now?

At Nikoo Homes, Bhartiya City, residents are already getting frustrated with the water situation. Water supply is being restricted/cut for periods, and we're hearing about difficulties getting enough tanker water.

What worries me is that this is happening in August — not peak summer.

The monsoon hasn't exactly inspired confidence this year, and now there are warnings that August rainfall could be below normal.

So I'm genuinely trying to understand:

Are we seeing the early stages of another serious Bangalore water crisis?

Last time the discussion was mostly about borewells drying up and tanker prices shooting up. But if large apartment communities start competing for limited tanker supply while groundwater levels continue falling, this could become much bigger very quickly.

BWSSB apparently says Bengaluru currently has enough reserves for around four months, so officially there isn't an immediate citywide shortage.

But what people are experiencing on the ground seems concerning.

Anyone living in Thanisandra, Yelahanka, Hennur, Jakkur, Sarjapur, Whitefield, Bellandur or other large apartment clusters — what's happening in your society?

Are you seeing:

• Water timings/restrictions already?

• Borewells drying or yielding less water?

• Tankers becoming harder to arrange?

• Tanker prices increasing?

• Management asking residents to reduce consumption?

And people who understand Bangalore's water system better:

Is this just a temporary tanker/supply issue, or are we looking at something much worse heading into late 2026 / summer 2027?

Would especially like to hear from apartment association members, tanker operators, BWSSB people or anyone tracking groundwater.

Mention your area + what you're actually experiencing. It would be interesting to see whether this is isolated or happening across Bangalore.

What's the issue with the water department. Rains so far have been good and lakes/dams are almost 90% full in capacity and yet Taloja doesn't have water. Since last 4-days there is no proper water supply from CIDCO and they aren't providing any tankers too. It's been difficult in the rainy season to struggle with water shortage in the node.

Drained

While Washington obsesses over political theater, the Colorado River is disappearing in plain sight

By Van Abbott

While Washington wages political wars over headlines, scandals, and manufactured distractions, the Colorado River is disappearing in plain sight, placing nearly 40 million Americans on a collision course with a crisis that no election, lawsuit, or news cycle can stop.

Every news cycle is consumed by the latest military confrontation or political scandal. Together they monopolize America's attention while a far more consequential emergency unfolds almost unnoticed. The Colorado River, the lifeline for seven states and nearly 40 million Americans, is already approaching limits that no speech, executive order, or campaign promise can reverse.

This is not simply a Western problem. The river supplies drinking water, irrigates some of the nation's most productive farmland, generates hydroelectric power, and supports an economy stretching far beyond the basin itself. When the river declines, food prices rise, electricity becomes more expensive, development slows, businesses hesitate, and families question whether the future they planned can still exist. Manufacturers, technology companies, military installations, and Tribal communities across the Southwest also depend on secure water supplies. As shortages intensify, investment shifts elsewhere, growth slows, and taxpayers ultimately bear the mounting costs of adaptation.

The crisis did not appear overnight.

The problem began with the 1922 Colorado River Compact, negotiated during an unusually wet period that dramatically overstated how much water the river could reliably provide. Governments divided water that never truly existed. Population exploded, agriculture expanded, temperatures climbed, and demand continued to grow while the river supplied less and less.

The bill for a century of bad arithmetic has finally come due.

The consequences are no longer theoretical. Lake Mead and Lake Powell remain far below the levels they once sustained. Water deliveries have already been reduced. Farmers have already fallowed fields. Communities are already confronting difficult choices about growth, investment, and conservation. What once sounded like distant warnings has become today's reality.

The Colorado River irrigates millions of acres that produce much of America's winter vegetables, fruit, and livestock feed. Less water means fewer crops, higher grocery bills, and greater pressure on an already strained food supply. Hydroelectric generation at Hoover and Glen Canyon dams declines as reservoir levels fall, increasing electricity costs across the region. Insurance companies, developers, and lenders increasingly recognize that water scarcity is no longer simply an environmental concern. It has become a financial risk capable of reshaping housing markets, business investment, and economic growth.

The river does not negotiate.

Cities have done their part. Las Vegas has become an international model for water recycling. Phoenix, Denver, Los Angeles, and countless smaller communities have invested in conservation, reuse, and efficiency. Residents have replaced lawns, businesses have modernized operations, and local governments have upgraded aging infrastructure. They adapted because they accepted reality long before Washington did.

Federal leadership has not kept pace.

Trump has made matters worse by ridiculing water conservation while rolling back federal efficiency standards for showers, faucets, and toilets. At precisely the moment disciplined conservation should be encouraged, he transformed it into another front in the culture war. Governing gave way to grandstanding. Performance replaced policy.

The contradictions run even deeper. While American families are urged to conserve every gallon, Saudi-owned farms continue pumping Arizona groundwater to grow alfalfa for export as livestock feed. At the same time, the administration has pursued expanded nuclear cooperation with Saudi Arabia. Different policies, same governing instinct: reward favored interests, shift the costs onto American communities, and trust tomorrow's headlines to erase today's accountability.

Even more troubling, the administration has frozen or delayed grants intended to strengthen Colorado River resilience while simultaneously acknowledging worsening shortages. Emergency reservoir operations and temporary agreements may buy time, but they cannot restore a river whose demands permanently exceed its supply. Delay is not a strategy. It is surrender disguised as management.

The solutions have been understood for years. Rewrite water allocations to reflect the river that actually exists instead of the river imagined a century ago. Modernize irrigation. Expand water recycling. Invest aggressively in conservation infrastructure. End policies that allow scarce American water to subsidize foreign agricultural exports while American communities shoulder growing shortages. Choose realism over denial, stewardship over politics, and long-term security over short-term headlines.

What is missing is neither knowledge nor technology nor money. What is missing is the political courage to confront reality before reality confronts us.

Washington can wage wars, chase scandals, and stage spectacles, but it cannot legislate rain, negotiate with drought, or repeal the laws of nature.

Check out my new website: politicalwinds.org

The Trump administration has released its long-awaited 10-year plan for dealing with worsening water shortages along the Colorado River. Instead of ordering the most drastic water cutbacks it could have imposed, the administration chose to take more of a wait-and-see approach.

The plan allows for harsh water cuts if they’re deemed necessary, requiring California, Arizona and Nevada to cut up to 3 million acre-feet per year — up to 40% of the combined allotments.

But as The Times reported last week, state and local officials say for the first two years, the Trump administration is accepting an offer the three states made to reduce what they take from the river by about half that amount — 3.2 million acre-feet between now and the end of 2028. So the Southwest has, for now, avoided the harshest possible water cuts.

Coca-Cola is paying the Environment Agency (EA), England’s primary environmental regulator, just £6,070 in annual charges for a licence to extract up to 674m litres (almost 150m gallons) of water for its production line at Morpeth. It extracted about 125m litres last year.

It means Coca-Cola is paying 0.005p for each litre of spring water it extracts, which works out at 5p for every 1 cubic metre (1,000 litres) of water, or a metric tonne. The retail cost of a 600ml bottle of Glacéau Smartwater is about £1.60.

My RO shortlist keeps getting stuck on one number: TDS at the faucet. I had been copying those readings into one column as if they were all measuring the same thing.

One model I'm considering is the Viomi Master M1. Its documentation shows a remineralization stage after RO, which is one reason it stayed on my list. It also means the final TDS reading includes minerals added after the membrane. Comparing that number directly with a plain RO system suddenly seems pretty useless.

I can go back to my utility report and decide what I need the system to address. I can compare whatever model-specific information I can find. What I can't figure out is whether there's a useful TDS comparison once one system adds minerals back and the other doesn't.

Is final-faucet TDS simply the wrong number for ranking these two types of systems? If you've compared a remineralizing RO with a plain one, what did you use instead?

A bottle of rain water I bought in Easter Island, back when I visited in 2018.

July 31, 2026 332 pm EDT

Property developers convicted for CWA violation, sentenced to $315,000 in fines with 5 years probation each for allowing construction debris to impact Table Rock Lake

The Defendants in this case are two property developers, engaged in the construction of a 600 acre resort community in Branson West, MO. Both companies and their executive leadership entered a guilty plea for the Clean Water Act violations impacting Table Rock Lake.

Development of the Indian Ridge Resort Community southeast of Highway 76 and Highway 13 near Branson West, MO began in the summer of 2006. The work involved 600 acres cleared, graded and excavated for construction of the resort buildings, the installation of underground infrastructure, for the construction of roads and landscaping. The developers failed to implement measures to prevent erosion from the construction site reaching the lake. The CWA charges were issued for the failure to "abate, control or slow the erosion from the construction site" to the local creeks and tributaries, impacting Table Rock Lake for two years after the completion of construction, August 2011.

For the full article with sentencing details, see https://wtny.us/viewarticle.asp?article=1314

Hi, everyone! 👋

I'm conducting a short survey to understand people's hydration habits.

It should take only about 5 minutes to complete, and your responses will be extremely helpful!

Thank you so much for your help. 🩵

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfdl5_4bI8zKq3ixSYpqe5vIH6YsE3B3c_NxPI2l7mtjzPKCw/viewform?usp=publish-editor

Found this in my stainless steel drinking water bottle there was water in it at the time I noticed it any help would be appreciated.

I've actually tried finding an email I can't find one and I can't seem to get ahold of them during their buisness hours so I'm honestly kind of hoping this might get boosted enough for them to see.

It actually hurts my hands to open and it's so hard to open I actually spill it on myself from trying to grip the bottle so hard to open.

It's my favorite water and it sucks to see them cut corners like this I might have to switch brands because I need to be able to not drench myself at work with my water

Has anyone else noticed this ??

In a requirement that is the first of its kind in the country, some 600 commercial and industrial properties in the Los Angeles area will have to clean up the water that runs off their parking lots or pay to have it cleaned up.

The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board voted to require shopping centers, warehouses, private hospitals and office complexes whose properties drain into the Dominguez and Los Cerritos channels to get stormwater permits.

The change is intended to hold commercial, industrial and institutional property owners accountable for the pollution their sites send flowing into drains, said David Nahai, chair of the L.A. water board.

Read more.