Water News for March 2026
Sea Levels Are Rising Faster than Predicted
Sea levels around the world have been underestimated due to inaccurate modelling, with research suggesting ocean levels are far higher than previously understood. The finding could significantly affect assessments of the future impacts of global heating and the effects on coastal settlements. The Guardian.
British Scientists Have Photographed Never Before Seen Sea Creatures
Read the full BBC report with stunning images. BBC.
Questionable Strategy to Reduce Ocean Warming by Dumping Chemical into the Sea
Boosting natural alkalinity using a chemical antacid should, in theory, encourage the ocean to absorb more carbon. Over a large surface area, and in combination with sharp emissions reductions, chemical treatment could prevent global temperatures exceeding 2C above preindustrial levels, while locally reducing ocean acidity, which is now higher than at any point in the past million years and poses a dire threat to marine life and fisheries. Full Details in the Guardian.
Suspended Ion Exchange
With relentless heat literally melting away its water reserves, Phoenix has embarked on an ambitious program of wastewater salvaging. Arizona 15.
Tree Emits Holy Water
Residents of Pune, in India, gathered in large numbers to worship a tree believed to be emitting holy water. City officials eventually discovered that the water was actually coming from a broken water pipe that ran beneath the tree. India Blooms.
Fluoride in Birmingham
Residents of Birmingham, Alabama were informed that their drinking water would no longer contain fluoride. Then came a twist: It turned out that their water utility had, without telling the public, actually stopped adding it years ago. John Matson, a spokesperson for Central Alabama Water, which serves Birmingham and its surrounding suburbs, confirmed to NBC News that two of the utility’s four water filtration plants had temporarily stopped fluoridating in 2023, and a third had stopped in March 2024. The changes were made under prior leadership, he said, when the utility had a different name. NBC News.
Plastic Water Bottles
The authors reviewed 141 scientific articles to gather information about the scope of microplastic ingestion and associated health outcomes. Their findings were striking.
Across dozens of studies, the authors found that the average person might ingest between 39,000 and 52,000 plastic particles each year, “with bottled water consumers ingesting up to 90,000 more particles than tap water consumers.”
The conclusion Sajedi was concerning.
“Drinking water from plastic bottles is fine in an emergency, but it is not something that should be used in daily life. People need to understand that the issue is not acute toxicity — it is chronic toxicity,” meaning the dangers are primarily from extended regular use of beverages in plastic bottles that can add up over time. Yahoo.
The “Drought Paradox” and the Colorado River Basin
A new study reveals that during hot, dry periods, plants in the Upper Colorado River Basin are tapping into deeper groundwater reserves, diverting water from rivers and reservoirs. River flows in the region have already dropped by about 35% in recent years, with projections suggesting a potential 40% decline by mid-century, posing significant challenges for water supply in the American West. Intensifying drought conditions, driven by rising global temperatures, are exacerbating the issue, leading to water shortages that could impact food production, increase wildfire danger, strain local economies, and threaten public health. Yahoo News.
High School Student Invented a Filter That Eliminates 96 Percent of Microplastics from Drinking Water
Virginia teenager Mia Heller’s filtration system harnesses the power of ferrofluid, a magnetic oil that binds to microplastics in flowing water. Smithsonian
Water Story of the Month: Discovery Explains why Water Acts so Strangely
Scientists have finally found a hidden “critical point” in supercooled water that explains why it behaves so strangely. At this point, two different liquid forms of water merge, triggering powerful fluctuations that affect water even at normal temperatures. The breakthrough was made possible by ultra-fast X-ray lasers that captured water before it froze. This discovery could reshape our understanding of water’s role in nature—and possibly even life itself.
Researchers at Stockholm University have used advanced x-ray lasers to uncover a long-suspected feature of water: a critical point that appears when water is deeply supercooled. This occurs at about -63 °C and 1000 atmosphere. Even under everyday conditions, this hidden point influences how water behaves, helping explain many of its unusual properties. The results were published in the journal Science.
Water is everywhere and essential for life, yet it does not act like most other liquids. Properties such as density, heat capacity, viscosity, and compressibility respond to temperature and pressure in ways that are opposite to what scientists see in typical substances.
In most materials, cooling causes them to contract and become denser. Based on this pattern, water should reach its highest density when it freezes. Instead, ice floats, and liquid water is actually most dense at 4 degrees C. That is why colder water remains below warmer water in lakes and oceans.
When water is cooled below 4 degrees, it begins expanding again. If pure water is cooled below 0 degrees (where crystallization happens slowly), this expansion continues and even accelerates as the temperature drops further. Other properties, including compressibility and heat capacity, also behave in increasingly unusual ways as the temperature decreases.
Many excellent articles appeared on the subject in March.
