Source of Philadelphia’s drinking water sees salt line pushed closer to city by drought and sea level rise

Summary

Saltwater is creeping up the Delaware River, threatening the drinking water supply for 14 million people, including Philadelphia, due to drought and rising sea levels.

The salt line, typically near Wilmington, Delaware, is now 20 miles farther north, approaching Philadelphia’s water intakes.

Officials are countering this by releasing reservoir water to push the salt front downstream, but long-term concerns persist as climate change exacerbates droughts and sea level rise.

The situation highlights the need for conservation and further study to protect water resources in the region.

  • Allonzee@lemmy.world
    14·
    1 day ago

    The situation highlights the need for conservation and further study to protect water resources in the region.

    At this point I just roll my eyes and chuckle at the lip service paid to our species’ determined mass-suicide in the name of short term private profit.

    Our species refuses to so much as consider winding down our maximum growth/metastasis global economy in favor of finding equilibrium with our only habitat, so at best we’ll make civilization impossible and at worst we’ll make any human survival at any level impossible.

  • jeffw@lemmy.worldM
    9·
    1 day ago

    We never had 0 inches of precipitation in October in Philly since record keeping began. Not only did we do that, but we didn’t get any rain until last week