Tag - water

 
 

WATER

An underground sewer facility in Tokyo in June 2017
JAPAN
Sep 17, 2025
300 kilometers of Japan's sewers need rapid action
The nationwide survey of sewer pipes that have been in place for 30 years or more was conducted by visual inspections and using drones.
Workers at a site of a new Amazon data center that is under construction in western Sydney, Australia, on Sept. 5
BUSINESS / Tech
Sep 16, 2025
In Australia, a data center boom is built on vague water plans
Concerns have emerged that the sector's rapid growth will leave residents competing for the resource.
NASA says its satellite imagery shows the Earth is becoming drier — at least the parts where most people live.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 7, 2025
The Earth is drying out and we need to act urgently
Measurements from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites suggest the continents have been losing fresh water at an alarming rate since 2002.
The Lhasa River, a major tributary of the Yarlung Zangbo River, flows near the southern part of the Tibetan capital, Lhasa. China’s new megadam project could become a geopolitical and ecological time bomb. Getty Images
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 29, 2025
The global perils of China’s new ‘superdam’ project
One might have expected the revelation of China's huge dam project to set off alarm bells worldwide. Instead, the reaction has been muted.
Magret John (left) delivers a sack of plastic waste collected in her neighborhood to a Human Needs Project official at a collection point in the Kibera informal settlement of Nairobi on Aug. 11.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Aug 26, 2025
'Restoring dignity': Kenya slum exchange offers water for plastic
The Human Needs Project provides water and sanitation services in a part of Kenya where they are scarce and costly.
A pipeline to transport seawater, part of the facility for releasing treated radioactive water to sea from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in Fukushima Prefecture
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2025
Tepco ends third round of treated water release for fiscal 2025
Tepco said Monday that the power supplier has completed the third round of the fiscal 2025 release of treated water into the Pacific Ocean.
A man walks past a drilling machine damaged by protesters opposing the proposed 11,500 MW Siang Upper Multipurpose Dam Project, in Parong, Siang district, Arunachal Pradesh, India, on Aug. 1.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Aug 25, 2025
China's new mega-dam triggers fears of water war in India
Delhi estimates the Chinese dam will allow Beijing to divert as much as 40 billion cubic meters of water, or just over a third of what is received annually at a key border point.
Tanks of treated water at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant in February
JAPAN
Aug 3, 2025
Tepco wraps up latest round of treated water release in Fukushima
The discharge of the water was suspended due to a tsunami caused by a major earthquake near Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula last week.
Four male workers were confirmed dead after falling into a manhole in Gyoda, Saitama Prefecture, on Saturday morning, fire authorities said.
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2025
Four dead after falling into manhole in Saitama
The four, all in their 50s, fell into the manhole around 9:25 a.m. during a sewage pipe inspection.
In the village of Harie, private "kabata" springs are fed from natural groundwater for a unique take on sustainable living.
LIFE / Travel
Jul 26, 2025
How a single current keeps Shiga’s ‘village of water’ in concert
The quiet community less than an hour from Kyoto makes for a pleasant day trip away from the ancient capital’s crowds.
Water-related accidents across Japan rose to 1,535 in 2024 and involved 1,753 people — the highest number in a decade, according to the National Police Agency.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 24, 2025
Authorities warn of dangers surrounding water-related activities this summer
Ten people died and two remain missing following a string of water-related accidents over the long weekend.
Shoya Narita, a physical education teacher at Obu Minami Junior High School, gives a lecture about water safety in a classroom.
JAPAN / Regional voices: Chubu
Jul 22, 2025
Swimming lessons disappearing from Japan's public junior high schools
Aging pool facilities are prompting teachers to switch to giving classroom lectures on water safety.
Israeli settlers swim in the Ein Samiyah spring near the village of Kafr Malik, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, on July 15. The spring, which feeds the pumping station, is the main or backup water source for some 110,000 people, according to the Palestinian company that manages it — making it one of the most vital in the West Bank, where water is in chronic short supply.
WORLD
Jul 21, 2025
'No life without water': settler attacks threaten West Bank communities
Israeli settlers have been accused in several recent incidents of damaging, diverting or seizing control of vital Palestinian water sources.
Women and children arrange their containers as they line up at a standpipe, where incomplete water connections caused by USAID funding cuts to the NGO Mercy Corps have led to ongoing water shortages, in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, on June 16.
WORLD / Politics / FOCUS
Jul 20, 2025
Trump's funding cut stalls water projects, increasing risks for millions
The White House's decision to slash nearly all U.S. foreign aid projects has created new hazards for some of the people they were designed to benefit.
Emperor Naruhito delivers a keynote speech via video at the Seventh Special Thematic Session on Water and Disasters held at the U.N. headquarters in New York on Tuesday.
JAPAN
Jul 9, 2025
Emperor gives video speech at U.N. event on water and disasters
He urged people "to take new action" to tackle water-related issues around the world.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi steps off the plane upon his arrival at OFranjo Tudjmano airport in Zagreb, Croatia, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health / FOCUS
Jun 21, 2025
Modi's ambitious water plan fails to quench India's thirst
On paper, the water initiative is a success. But unconnected water tanks and broken taps point to a very different reality on the ground.
A hydroelectric dam near Shannan in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China in March 2025
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 10, 2025
Catastrophe on the roof of the world
As the source of 10 major rivers that sustain nearly 20% of the world’s population, the Plateau’s degradation threatens regional water security, food systems and biodiversity.
A seafood market in Beijing. China has agreed to lift a ban on Japanese seafood imports that has lasted for 21 months.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 30, 2025
China agrees to lift ban on Japanese seafood imports
The prohibition was imposed in response to the release of treated wastewater from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant into the ocean.
Afghans carry water canisters on the outskirts of Kabul on April 27.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
May 22, 2025
'Serious problem': Afghan capital losing race against water shortages
Kabul's crisis, driven by unruly and rapid urbanization, mismanagement over years of conflict, and climate change, forces residents to choose between food and water.
The Dinorwig Power Station is nestled in the mountains of Llanberis, U.K. The power station is hidden away in the North Wales mountains and has been drained down as part of a £1 billion refurbishment program to extend the life of the plant.
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
May 20, 2025
The U.K.’s clean power future relies on a 100-year-old technology
For years, water has rushed through Dinorwig’s subterranean tunnels to drive vast power turbines, but the channels currently lie empty — for the first time in four decades.

Longform

Sumadori Bar on Shibuya Ward's main Center Gai street targets young customers who prefer low-alcohol drinks or abstain altogether.
Rethinking that second drink: Japan’s Gen Z gets ‘sober curious’