19th Century Pipes, 21st Century Problems

US water and sewer systems can’t cope with storms, heat and drought ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

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How are US water and sewar systems built over a century ago coping with the extreme weather that’s becoming more common with climate change? The short answer: not well. We also take a look today at how the Environmental Protection Agency in the US is making it harder for companies to measure the carbon footprint of their supply chains. And, some good news: UK hospitals are poised to get more money for air conditioning after a record hot summer. Subscribe to Bloomberg.com for unlimited access to all our coverage. Water Stress By Patrick Sisson This July, in the middle of the night during one of Southern California’s 2026 heat waves, a 36-inch utility pipe gave way beneath West Hollywood, sending 17 million gallons of water coursing past the nightclubs of the famed Sunset Strip and opening up a massive sinkhole that flooded nearby homes and garages. The size of the deluge made national headlines, but it was hardly unprecedented: There were at least five other significant water system leaks around Los Angeles that week, a spate of failures that brought scrutiny of the system’s advanced age. The Sunset water main that ruptured had been installed in 1916. Meanwhile, municipal water systems in at least a dozen US states, including Minnesota, Michigan and Georgia, reported a very different threat that month. They were targeted in cyberattacks — believed to be the work of Iranian hackers — that disrupted service in several cities, triggering boil-water advisories and fears of more malicious actions. In 2021, hackers gained control of a water system in Oldsmar, Florida, and tried to raise the level of sodium hydroxide — an ingredient in drain cleaner used to control water acidity — in a mass poisoning attempt. A broken water main in West Hollywood shut down a portion of Sunset Boulevard in July. Photographer: Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images The roughly 50,000 community water systems across the US typically operate underground and out of sight, drawing attention only when they aren’t working. But these vital utilities find themselves increasingly in the public eye as they race to upgrade infrastructure and avoid catastrophic failures exacerbated by more severe weather and other factors. “Climate problems make every other problem in the water sector worse,” said Scott Berry, senior advisor on policy and external affairs for the US Water Alliance. “Droughts, storms, flooding, heat waves, all of those things generally manifest as types of water stress. It affects different places in different ways, but affects everybody.” To keep pace with climate risks and make needed upgrades, Berry estimates that US water systems would need an additional $140 billion a year for the next 20 years. The US Environmental Protection Agency has a more modest, though still significant, estimated price tag: $625 billion over the same period. Researcher Zia Lyle of the University of North Carolina estimates that 67 million American utility customers are served by water utilities with high climate risk, and that more than a quarter of water systems face high financial and climate vulnerability. Read more Vulnerable customers 67 million The number of American utility customers served by water utilities with high climate risk, according to researcher Zia Lyle of the University of North Carolina Exacerbated risk “Climate problems make every other problem in the water sector worse,” Scott Berry, senior advisor on policy and external affairs for the US Water Alliance No Guidance By Zahra Hirji The Environmental Protection Agency has quietly removed multiple online resources for companies on how to measure the carbon footprint of their supply chains, called Scope 3 emissions. As the Trump administration aggressively rolls back rules and mandates to reduce pollution, it is also taking down climate change-related data, tools and other information from federal websites that experts say businesses, researchers and others have long relied on to better understand current and future environmental risks. “Instead of holding polluters accountable, the EPA under Trump has been focused on reversing and deleting efforts aimed at tackling greenhouse gas emissions,” Senator Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, told Bloomberg News. He said he’s introduced a bill that would require the agency to publish even more guidance than it had previously for companies to track their climate pollution. When asked about the website removals, EPA spokesperson Carolyn Holran said: “Corporate Climate Leadership is not a statutory obligation.” Since Trump took office, the agency web page titled “Scope 3 Inventory Guidance” has been taken down and so have multiple other online references to Scope 3 emissions, according to a Bloomberg News review of the current site and archived versions, including the official government snapshot from January 19, 2025, predating President Donald Trump’s second term. A 2021 EPA webinar titled “Working with Suppliers to Reduce Scope 3 Emissions” was also removed from a landing page for climate risk-related webinars and events. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) headquarters in Washington. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg This fits into a government-wide push to abandon the mandatory collection of corporate climate information. Last fall, the EPA proposed to effectively end its Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program that collects annual emissions from big industrial polluters, such as coal plants, oil refiners and chemical plants. In June, the US Securities and Exchange Commission proposed to rescind a rule requiring public companies to report both greenhouse gas emissions and climate-related business risks. Read more Zero Alex Honnold’s Next Challenge, Solar for All Climber Alex Honnold is best known as the star of Free Solo, an Oscar-winning documentary that followed his rope-free ascent of the 3,000-foot (1,000-meter) face of Yosemite’s El Capitan. But he has also established the Honnold Foundation to bring solar power to those who most need it. This week on Zero, Bloomberg’s Akshat Rathi asks Honnold how he gets big things done and why helping communities get clean energy has become his other passion in life.Listen now, and subscribe on Apple, Spotify or YouTube to get new episodes of Zero every Thursday. More from Green Medical staff prepare to receive a patient for a CT scan at The Royal Blackburn Teaching Hospital. Photographer: Hannah McKay/Reuters/Bloomberg via X03696 The UK government has agreed to allocate more money to ensuring the country’s hospitals can maintain safe temperatures after successive heat waves exposed what doctors described as “horrific” conditions. The government will set aside £32 million ($43.2 million) for air conditioning and cooling for hospitals in the UK’s National Health Service, according to a statement. The decision follows sustained complaints from medical staff, with multiple cases of nurses fainting and of doctors warning that patient safety was being compromised due to extreme heat. Read More: ‘Horrific’ Conditions Grip UK Hospitals Unprepared for Heat  Read more Green Strong El Niño Raises Drought Risk for Depleted Amazon Basin Brazil’s vast rainforest region experienced a severe drought during the last El Niño, leaving it more vulnerable to a recurrence.  Industries China Sets 70% EV Goal for New Car Sales in Five-Year Plan China has set a goal for 70% of new cars to be electric vehicles or hybrids by 2030 and for autonomous driving to be deployed at scale, in the latest five-year plan for the auto industry. Economics UK Grid Needs £70 Billion Upgrade as Consumers Face Higher Bills The UK needs as much as £70 billion ($94.5 billion) of investment in its power grid by early next decade, with delays to upgrading aging infrastructure threatening to add billions of pounds to customer bills. Photo finish The exposed bed of Brenets Lake, part of the Doubs River, on Aug. 11. Photographer: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP/Getty Images Last month tied July 2023 as the hottest month recorded worldwide, with temperatures 1.65C above preindustrial levels, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said Thursday. August 2026 was the first month since November 2025 to exceed 1.5C of global warming. Western Europe just completed its hottest summer on record, eclipsing a mark set in 2003. Read more 🎥 Attention all filmmakers! Working on a short documentary about climate change? Don’t miss your chance to submit it to the Bloomberg Green Docs film competition. Grand prize: $25,000. Submissions will be accepted through October 2, 2026. See official rules at bloomberg.com/greendocs. 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