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UK - man builds his own flood walls (BBC) -    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67888641 

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Global recognition of the importance of clean, potable water supplies, around the world. 

National Geographic Readers: Water! By Lisa M. Gerry.

 Cloud seeding produces rain by manipulating clouds. (Interesting Engineering) - https://interestingengineering.com/video/the-engineering-behind-cloud-seeding-the-art-of-creating-rain

The dramatic and inspiring story of ordinary women who fought against overwhelming odds for the health and safety of their families. In the late 1970s, residents of Love Canal in Niagara Falls, NY, discovered that their homes, schools, and playgrounds were built on top of a former chemical waste dump. Housewives activated to create a grassroots movement that galvanized the landmark Superfund Bill. https://www.pbs.org/video/poisoned-ground-the-tragedy-at-love-canal-pifecm/

Watch "Çoruh River, Deriner Dam (249 meters) water discharge (Türkiye - Artvin) Deriner Barajı su tahliyesi" on YouTube

Ephemeral streams - those which form only when precipitation occurs - can be pathways for excess water (i.e., flooding) and also movement of pollutants into rivers and watersheds. Learn more at this 2024 article from Science, by Brinkerhoff, et al. 

Watch how the Falkirk Wheel in Scotland moves vessels from the Forth & Clyde Canal to the Union Canal 35 metres above, on YouTube. 

Read April, 2024 article by the Associated Press at Security Week.

• UNDRR definition
• Natech Emergency Preparedness and Response - by Georgios Marios Karagiannis
• Natech Accidents poster - by the European Commission Joint Research Centre (via ResearchGate)
• With no running water, Asheville finds other ways to flush thousands of toilets - NPR

The NCCoE is in the initial phase of a project that demonstrates practical solutions for water and wastewater utilities of all sizes. The reference design will use commercially available products and services to address four WWS cybersecurity challenges: asset management, data integrity, remote access, and network segmentation. This project will result in a publicly available NIST Cybersecurity Practice Guide which will include a detailed implementation guide of the practical steps needed to implement a cybersecurity reference design that addresses these challenges. 

The National Acaademies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recommends a new definition of Probable Maximum Precipitation (PMP) and presents a vision for a methodology relevant for design, operation, and regulation of critical infrastructure. Free e-book version here.  

Over the last 20 years (through 2024), large floods were associated with up to 25 percent higher death rates from major mortality causes in the U.S. compared to normal conditions. A study in the journal Nature Medicine demonstrates the sweeping and hidden effects of floods — including floods unrelated to hurricanes, such as those due to heavy rain, snowmelt, or ice jams. 

New word learned - which in nautical terms is different from collision.  On March 26, 2024, the container ship M/V DALI allided with the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland. The resulting collapse blocked the main channel in the Port, bringing maritime traffic to a standstill. See the following:

• Response to the 2024 Francis Scott Key Bridge Incident - NOAA’s Office of Coast Survey
• Key Bridge Collapse: Unity of Effort - Domestic Preparedness Journal
• The Key Bridge Collapse - Through the Lens of Community Lifelines - Domestic Preparedness Journal

charity: water is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

100% of public donations go directly to fund clean water projects. 

• Charity: Water - website
• YouTube video from founder Scott Harrison
• Thirst - by Scott Harrison

• South Carolina and 'Managed Retreat' - from Inside Climate News
• Cleopatra’s birthplace sees ‘dramatic surge’ in building collapses as sea level rises, study shows - from CNN
• NJFloodMapper - from NJAdapt
• New Jersey’s Flood Indicator Tool - from NJ DEP

• Los Angeles Resevoir and its 'shade' balls - from The Smithsonian Magazine
• Mexico City - 'Day Zero' water crisis - October, 2024 update -  from Bloomberg News

National Academies report offers recommendations to transition the U.S. National Wastewater Surveillance System from its COVID pandemic-era use to a forward-looking system for public health. 

• States - including New Jersey - monitor other threats such as Influenza, RSV, H5N1, and MPox through direct and wastewater surveillance. 

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• National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2024. Compounding Disasters in Gulf Coast Communities, 2020–2021: Impacts, Findings, and Lessons Learned. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/27170.

• H.R. Moftakhari, G. Salvadori, A. AghaKouchak, B.F. Sanders, R.A. Matthew, Compounding effects of sea level rise and fluvial flooding. 2017.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. (PNAS) 114 (37) 9785-9790, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1620325114  

• Here's a water-related  threat term I missed in the book! Graupel. Precipitation info from the National Weather Service can be found here.

A guide to help health care facilities prepare for emergencies that disrupt their water supply. From the US CDC:

• English
• Spanish

The dam project, drafted in 2018 and based on a former military training site south of Prague, had been delayed by land negotiations. Local beavers built several dams, saving the government more than one million euros. - From Livia Albeck-Ripka of the New York Times  

• Considerations when replacing firefighting foams - using AFFF
• Using AFFFs vs FFFs

This report covers the history of a General Motors industrial plant in the 1930's eventually becoming a golf course - and the adverse impacts to waterways, a major river, soil contamination and more, along the way.  

• Visual Capitalist work - including infographics - by Chesca Kirkland, from 2023.
• Voronoi version (data updated through 2025)

• Residents' water taps shut off due to spreading toxic sludge: 'It just kind of kept growing'
• NJ Spotlight Article

This incident occurred over a navigable waterway.

• NOAA info
• NTSB info

Authorities and environmentalists in Zambia fear the long-term impact of an acid spill at a Chinese-owned mine that contaminated a major river and could potentially affect millions of people after signs of pollution were detected at least 100 kilometers (60 miles) downstream - from the Associated Press.

In some locations, raw water is withdrawn from rivers, via an intake structure with a bar rack (preventing larger objects)  and pumped to the Water Filtration Plant via raw water pump stations. During winter months, frazil ice crystals present in the river can adhere to the bar racks, bridge across adjacent bars, and restrict water from flowing to the raw water pump station wet wells.

The collapse happened in Ottawa early Wednesday morning (2/26/2025). Thankfully, no one was injured in the collapse, officials said.

•  https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/watch-6-story-parking-garage-collapses-under-heavy-snow-in-canada/vi-AA1zWdBt?ocid=socialshare

The Community Rating System (CRS) is a voluntary incentive program that recognizes and encourages community floodplain management practices that exceed the minimum requirements of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). Over 1,500 communities participate nationwide.

In CRS communities, flood insurance premium rates are discounted to reflect the reduced flood risk resulting from the community’s efforts that address the three goals of the program:

1. Reduce and avoid flood damage to insurable property
2. Strengthen and support the insurance aspects of the National Flood Insurance Program
3. Foster comprehensive floodplain management

Developing a  Program for Public Information for Credit under the  Community Rating System  of the  National Flood Insurance Program 

Stormsmart's "Developing CRS Programs for Public Information"

As a company that depends on and benefits from the water and as a company that operates globally, the Suntory Group believes it must contribute towards a sustainable society by taking an honest look at the world's water challenges. Based on their Basic Environmental Principle, they have formulated the Suntory Group Sustainable Water Philosophy to develop initiatives that contribute to solving water issues in each region of the world they operate in, and they are developing and promoting initiatives that are tailored to the conditions for water resources in each area of the world where they do business. 

All along the Southern California coastline from San Diego to Santa Barbara, hundreds of animals — sea lions, dolphins, seabirds — are washing up on the sand either dead or seriously ill. Coastal researchers and officials say it’s become a marine-life crisis that has overwhelmed rescue organizations, distressed beachgoers and hurt California’s ocean habitat. - New York Times

An ArcGIS story from Maham Khurshid - 2024 Climate Resilience Policy Intern at the  New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. 

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Visualize the frequency and cost of billion-dollar weather and climate events using the interactive time series.  NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) 

The World’s First Fish Doorbell in Utrecht, The Netherlands

In the heart of the city lies the beautiful Weerdsluis, a manually operated lock. When the lock gates are closed, fish are forced to wait, wasting valuable time and energy – making them easy prey for birds and predatory fish.

To help the fish, an underwater camera is installed at the lock. If fish appear on screen, you can press the doorbell! This alerts the lock keeper, who will open the lock when many fish are waiting.

https://visdeurbel.nl/en/

NREL researchers develop and host a range of water tools, data, and information to enable state-of-the-art design and analysis in marine energy, integrated water systems, and hydropower research.

https://www2.nrel.gov/water/data-tools

Also check out their additional marine energy data access and analysis tools.

As part of their advocacy efforts, every four years since 1998, the ASCE has prepared a comprehensive assessment of the nation’s major infrastructure systems in its Report Card for America’s Infrastructure. The Report Card assigns easily understandable letter grades for each category and uses a concise but replicable methodology to analyze all aspects of system performance. 

• Drinking Water
• Levees
• Dams
• Inland Waterways
• Stormwater
• Wastewater

Download the Executive Summary of the entire report

Download the Full Report

Americans rely on the supply of safe drinking water and wastewater treatment every hour of every day for personal use as well as for supporting other critical infrastructure sectors and the nation’s economy. The Water and Wastewater Sector depends on the digital world, leveraging technology for monitoring, operations and communicating with customers. Any disruption to a drinking water or wastewater system digital ecosystem could have significant impacts to the community its serves as well as to other critical infrastructure.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) developed a toolkit to highlight the most relevant CISA and EPA resources to protect against, and reduce impacts from, threats posed by malicious cyber actors looking to attack water and wastewater systems.