By Aman Azhar for Inside Climate News.
Broadcast version by Will Walkey for Virginia News Connection reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration

A severe algae bloom clogged equipment at one of the treatment facilities providing drinking water in the Washington region, forcing officials to declare a boil-water advisory on the night of July 3-as thousands of visitors arrived to celebrate Independence Day.

The advisory was lifted the morning of July 4. But the incident was an ominous sign of how warming water temperatures caused by climate change can disrupt essential civic services.

The algal blooms caused a drop in water supply at the Dalecarlia Water Treatment Plant on the Maryland-D.C. border. All water treatment operations were switched to the McMillan Treatment Plant in Northwest D.C. to ensure adequate supply of water, the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority (DC Water) said in its July 3 advisory.

The disruption in water supplies affected the entire District of Columbia and parts of Arlington, Virginia, including the Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery and Reagan National Airport. Among the blooms' impact: increased turbidity, a measure of cloudiness in water.

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) operates the treatment plants located in D.C. and supplied by the Washington Aqueduct, which collects, treats and pumps drinking water for nearly 1 million customers in Washington, Arlington County and other areas in northern Virginia.

The algae intruded at a time when demand for water was particularly high due to the influx of visitors and possible firefighting activities related to the annual fireworks display on the National Mall.

"DC Water issued a precautionary boil water advisory to protect public health and safety due to a sharp reduction in the volume of water being supplied by the Army Corps of Engineers' Washington Aqueduct and due to the Aqueduct expressing concerns that they might be unable to comply with strict U.S. EPA water quality standards while simultaneously attempting to increase water supply volumes to levels adequate to meet DC Water's customer demands," said Sherri Lewis, senior manager of communications at DC Water, in emailed remarks. "The combined output of treated water from both of the Aqueduct's plants was insufficient to meet DC Water's water consumption demands."

Lewis said the week of the July 4th holiday has historically been one of DC Water's highest water demand days of the year.

Affected customers scrambled to stock up on bottled water supplies after the advisory was announced, quickly emptying out aisles in supermarkets and local stores.

"We had floating algae mats along the top of our sedimentation basin at our Dalecarlia Treatment Plant, which then washed into the filter building, clogging filters in the process," said Cynthia Mitchell, a public affairs specialist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The sedimentation portion of the water filtration process removes suspended particulates in water. In emailed comments to Inside Climate News, Mitchell said the situation at Dalecarlia led to a decrease in supply, while the McMillan Treatment Plant continued to operate under normal conditions.

"Our recent algae bloom was not a cyanobacterial harmful algae bloom-we had green algae which does not pose a risk to human health," Mitchell added.

The Environmental Protection Agency warns that "blooms of red tides, blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria can result in severe impacts on water quality, human health, aquatic ecosystems, and the economy."

In the case of the July 3 event, it was the sheer amount of algae that caused problems. The region's record-high temperatures are driving growth, and climate change is expected to worsen the situation, Mitchell said.

"Washington Aqueduct staff that have served for decades, including General Manager Rudy Chow with 40 years of experience in the water utility industry, agree the severity of algae blooms this summer is unprecedented," Mitchell said.

DC Water's Lewis said several other utilities that use the Potomac River as one of their water supply sources, such as Fairfax Water in Virginia and the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission in Maryland, encountered and successfully treated these same algal blooms.

Nitrogen, key fuel for algae, flows into water bodies from sewage overflows and runoff. Bill Dennison, a professor and vice president at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, said the Potomac River has historically had high levels of pollution from sewage but now agriculture and stormwater runoff is the biggest source of pollution in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

"Generally, both cyanobacteria and green algae form in the Potomac River," Dennison said. "Fortunately, green algae don't tend to be as toxic as cyanobacteria. But they're not a pleasant addition to the environment and can clog the waterways ... and produce bad taste in drinking water."

Climate change contributes a one-two punch. More rain instead of snow in the winter leads to extra pollution runoff earlier in the season, Dennison said. And warming temperatures allow algae to bloom earlier in the summer than before.

DC Water officials said they are reviewing their actions and communications to the public about the July 3 event to determine what can be improved.

Lewis said that unlike the majority of other public water utilities, DC Water does not have a second source of water and is fully dependent on the Aqueduct to supply its needs. "It is also extremely unusual for a water utility serving a large metropolitan city not to also have direct responsibility for water supply and water treatment. DC Water will be reviewing the Aqueduct's actions to determine if any changes are necessary to ensure proper notification steps are taken in a timely manner," she said.

While greater D.C. avoided major calamity with this algae bloom, other cities haven't been as lucky. In 2014, the water supply of Toledo, Ohio, had to be shut down because of a harmful algal bloom in Lake Erie, and the toxin associated with that algae could not be destroyed by boiling. Half a million people could not use water supplies for days. Agricultural runoff was later declared the cause of the ordeal.


Aman Azhar wrote this article for Inside Climate News.


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Faith-based climate activists with the nonprofit GreenFaith are organizing a series of vigils tied to the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, hoping to influence the new administration.

Hundreds gathered at vigils this past week in San Diego, San Francisco and cities around the country - and more are planned in Los Angeles and Riverside.

William Morris is a faith organizer with GreenFaith - and urged people to speak out in favor of policies that protect our water, air, soil, and wildlife.

"People of faith are guided by our morals, our conscience, our values," said Morris, "and that we have this obligation and responsibility to speak up about caring for the earth and policies that help protect it."

Find out more about the vigils at greenfaith.org.

The group is circulating a petition asking that the U.S. stay in the Paris Climate Accords, oppose new fossil-fuel projects and deforestation, and promote clean energy.

On the campaign trail, Trump promised to ramp up oil and gas drilling and roll back many of President Joe Biden's climate policies.

He also reportedly pressed oil-company executives to contribute a billion dollars to his campaign.

Morris encouraged people to organize their own public-facing protests going forward.

"It could be on street corners," said Morris. "It could be in community spaces, in front of city halls, or could be in houses of worship. We want people of faith around the country to be able to say that this doesn't line up with our values."

Morris added that, based on the actions of the first Trump administration, GreenFaith is concerned about increased mining, grazing and timber harvesting on public lands.

The group vows to fight any attempt to deregulate toxic chemicals or reduce protections for endangered species.

By María Ramos Pacheco for The Dallas Morning News.
Broadcast version by Freda Ross for Texas News Service reporting for the Solutions Journalism Network-Public News Service Collaboration

Anamelia Jaramillo has lived in Jubilee Park for almost 20 years and is concerned about the heat getting worse every summer.

She fears her air conditioning system failing because her husband has diabetes and can be vulnerable to extreme heat.

“I wish we didn’t have to have the A/C running all day long, but it is impossible to survive in the summer without it,” said Jaramillo, 54, after attending a Zumba class at Jubilee Park on Nov. 11.

In 2023, more than 20 people died in Dallas and Tarrant counties from heat-related illnesses as Texas saw record heat waves and triple-digit temperatures, according to the counties’ medical examiners. The lack of trees and green spaces, such as community gardens and parks, in an urban area contributes significantly to the “urban heat island effect,” as buildings, roads and other hard surfaces absorb and retain more heat.

Dallas’ District 7, where most of the neighborhoods participating in the South Dallas Greening Initiative are located, was ranked the third-highest priority for tree canopy, according to the Dallas Tree Equity Mapping Report published in 2022 by the Texas Trees Foundation.

Districts 4 and 6 ranked as the first and second highest priority for tree canopy, and the organization has been deploying some of their programs to plant more trees in these areas. Early this year, the Texas Trees Foundation released its plan to tackle the lack of trees in the Southwestern Medical District as part of its initiatives to combat the urban heat island effect.

Texas Trees, through the South Dallas Greening Initiative, also is working in the Jubilee neighborhood to address the area’s lack of trees to combat the extreme heat affecting residents’ health and quality of life. The nonprofit is providing thousands of trees to the almost 50,000 residents of Fair Park, Mill City, Queen City, Wheatley Place and adjacent neighborhoods over five years. Jubilee Park is just below Interstate 30 and north of Fair Park.

Chandler Stephens’ father, Calvin Stephens, has owned two vacant lots in South Dallas since the 1980s. The younger Stephens has been talking with Texas Trees about working together on his vision to create a community garden.

Stephens dreams of having a green space in every corner of South Dallas to improve residents’ quality of life.

“I can see [the initiative] as something that will prolong the community’s livelihood. Not only with addressing the urban heat island issue but just by providing greenery,” Stephens said. “Plants and our health is so linked to the health of the earth and the planet.”

The Dallas Comprehensive Environmental and Climate Action Plan established protocols for adapting to climate change challenges in 2020. It states that Dallas needs approximately 735,000 trees to reach a goal of 37% tree canopy cover and, specifically, mitigate the urban heat island effect.

Since its founding in 1982, Texas Trees has planted an estimated 1.5 million trees across the Dallas-Fort Worth region. In 2023, the Dallas-based nonprofit secured a $15 million grant from the Reduction Act through the U.S. Forest Service’s Urban and Community Forestry program for the South Dallas Greening Initiative.

The project, however, is part of a long-term solution to extreme heat, and many of Jubilee’s residents want to see more.

“I am in favor of the initiative and for them to plant more trees in the area, but we also need help with how to pay the electricity bills,” Jaramillo said.

In any community, including South Dallas, trees may not be at the top of each resident’s list of the needs they see for their community, said Elissa Izmailyan, chief strategy and operations officer with Texas Trees.

“We are showing up with a commitment to help and the ability to offer trees and urban forestry education but realize that we’re entering a landscape where there are a lot of other needs and priorities,” Izmailyan said.

“So first, we need to be sensitive to that broad range of priorities and capacities. Second, we need to think about how our offering intersects with other needs in a way that’s additive.”

The project will have several components beyond planting trees in the community, Izmailyan said.

The first phase has been to reach out to the community and work with nonprofits and organizations in South Dallas to establish a trusting relationship and understand the community’s needs and wants.

That’s where partnerships with local organizations come into play, as well as involvement with community leaders.

The Jubilee Park and Community Center is a nonprofit that works to restore equity and resources for the 3,000 residents of the Jubilee neighborhood. The community center has been around for almost 30 years and offers education, health, food access and after-school programs.

Emily Plauche, Texas Trees’ community greening manager, said the initiative includes an educational component that teaches residents about trees, their benefits, how to care for them, green jobs and other measures that can be taken to combat extreme heat.

“So there’s always going to be other needs or things that arise, too, and we can’t necessarily, with our money, purchase that. But we can help advocate and get the city involved and bring other people to the table who have some of these potential solutions,” Plauche said. “We are deeply committed to the well-being of the community.”

Texas Trees will work with some of the area’s schools to boost green spaces and tree planting on the campuses. The organization already runs a program across the city focusing on schools needing more canopy.

Marissa Castro Mikoy, president and chief executive officer at Jubilee Park, said that over the years Texas Trees has helped plant over 150 trees on their campus, and they can see the benefits to the community, from providing shade to beautifying the park.

Benefits of trees

In April, Dallas shared findings from a study that identified at least 10 neighborhoods as urban heat island spots. Some of these spots have less green space, and the temperature is 10 degrees hotter than in other parts of the city.

Trees can help reduce the urban heat island effect and improve people’s and the environment’s health in several ways.

They provide shade and block incoming solar radiation, lowering temperatures by several degrees. They also release water vapor, which can help cool temperatures. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, trees sequester carbon from the atmosphere in their wood and roots, absorb gases and provide a place for harmful air particles to land.

At the same time, according to the U.S. Forest Service, trees provide mental health benefits such as stress reduction, improved mood and a sense of well-being due to increased exposure to nature.

Cities across the country and the world have documented the long-term effects of planting trees strategically in urban areas.

In Chicago, according to studies, neighborhoods with higher tree canopy cover have experienced temperature reductions of up to 4.6 F to 6.8 F compared to areas with little or no tree canopy.

Similarly, in Medellin, Colombia, temperatures fell by 3.6 F in the first three years of their program installing green corridors, and officials expect a further decrease of 7.2 F to 9 F over the next few decades, even taking into account climate change, the Secretary of Environment of Medellin reported.

Limitations

Trees are one solution that can help residents in South Dallas combat extreme heat, but Castro Mikoy said the initiative needs to be combined with solutions to the area’s other problems.

Displacement, making ends meet and food insecurity are some issues facing South Dallas residents that make heat waves even more damaging for them.

Silvia Herrera, 48, a Jubilee resident, avoids turning on lights and household appliances during the day in the summer to keep her home cooler and reduce her electricity bills. She said her bill is around $500 in the peak summer months.

“You have to make decisions such as when you turn on the A/C and what things to avoid to spend less energy so the bill [electricity] is not too high because then I can’t pay for it,” Herrera said.

Planting trees and having the ecosystem to purchase, transport and maintain them can also be expensive. The South Dallas Greening Initiative was able to come to life because of the grant Texas Trees secured. Not all cities or organizations can afford this type of solution, which is a limitation to replicating this program everywhere.

Community First

Through the five-year plan, Brittani Hite, strategic director of Ethos Equity Consulting, which is working with Texas Trees on the initiative, said there should be no surprises for the residents.

The project is for the community and by the community, said Hite.

“We understand that the solutions are already within the community,” Hite said. “South Dallas residents know what they want. They know what they need, but because of environmental and ultimately systemic racism, unfortunately, we lack green spaces, trees and other basic necessities in our city’s Black and brown neighborhoods.”

From Hite’s perspective, the conversations among the Jubilee moms after Zumba classes to Stephen’s dream of having community gardens that work with the wants and needs of the South Dallas community, will have an impact on finding the right solution.


María Ramos Pacheco wrote this article for The Dallas Morning News.


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New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy is maintaining the state's clean-energy progress. In his final State of the State Address, Murphy thanked lawmakers for advancing the state's climate and clean-energy goals during his time in office. But he also called on them to codify the state's clean-energy standards into law this year.

Ed Potosnak, executive director of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, said this furthers the state's ability to meet its climate goals.

"The laws that exist on the books require New Jersey to get roughly 88% of its energy from clean sources: solar, wind, and nuclear. We're on track to meet those goals. What this call to action and the legislation will need to achieve is the last five years to get the remaining 12%," he explained.

The state has made these strides despite setbacks. In 2023, offshore wind developer Orsted canceled the Ocean Wind project, citing costs. Other offshore wind farms have been met with backlash over perceived impacts on wildlife and complaints of how they could ruin the state's coastline. However, offshore wind is projected to create more than 10,000 jobs by 2030.

The state has seen many severe climate-change impacts grow since 2012's Superstorm Sandy. These have caused an estimated $50 billion to $100 billion in damage between 1980 and 2024.

While moving to clean energy helps the state brace for these storms, Potosnak said fossil fuel companies are fighting to maintain the status quo.

"It doesn't take long for you to remember the TV ads that you've seen where some nice woman walks across the screen and says, 'Natural gas is clean energy,' when in fact natural gas causes pollution, asthma, cancer and heart disease," he continued.

However, the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump is promising to bolster the fossil fuel industry. Along with this, he's proposing to cut many climate-funding initiatives, including the Inflation Reduction Act.