As vast solar plants multiply, so does the scrap, set to reach 19m tonnes by 2050. But disposing of the waste often falls to informal traders who risk injury when dismantling broken panels Under the scorching sun, a sea of solar panels gleams in the semi-arid landscape. Pavagada, 100 miles north of Bengaluru in southern India, is the world’s third-largest solar power plant, with 25m panels across a huge 50 sq km site, and a capacity of 2,050MW of clean energy. India has 11 similarly vast solar parks, and plans to install another 39 across 12 states by 2026, a commitment to a greener future ..read more

Polluted riversDonald Trump’s trialWomen walking aloneJohn Crace’s returnA better Britain Wendy Bradley’s suggestion for giving water company directors a tipple from the waters of their constituency is great (Letters, 10 April). The Green party got there first. Since last September, we’ve been offering Tory MPs a bottle of Chateau Sewage, drawn from their constituencies. Photos available. Strangely, MPs seem less keen to send those pictures around than more intimate ones. If anyone would like to offer bottles, labels can be downloaded from the campaigns committee website. Charles Harris Green ..read more

Supreme court ruling left more than 90% of state’s surface waters with no pollution protections, since they don’t run continuously New Mexico’s rivers, which include the Rio Grande, Gila, San Juan and Pecos, are America’s most threatened waterways, according to a new report. This is largely due to a 2023 US supreme court decision that left more than 90% of the state’s surface waters without federal protections from industrial pollution, according to state officials. “Virtually all the rivers in New Mexico are losing clean water protections,” said Matt Rice, the south-west regional director of ..read more

When Joy and Jo Banner founded the Descendants Project in 2020, they didn’t expect to be defending their hometown first When twin sisters Joy and Jo Banner founded their non-profit, the Descendants Project, in 2020, their goal was to protect the Black-founded “freetowns” in Louisiana’s river parishes. Like the Banners’ hometown of Wallace, many of the Black communities that abut the lower Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans were founded after emancipation by people who’d once been enslaved. Today, decades of disinvestment have left freetowns vulnerable to predatory developmen ..read more

Rules celebrated for reducing exposures, but experts say it’s not enough and will lead to ‘an endless game of Whac-a-Mole’ Strong new limits for some PFAS compounds in drinking water set by the US Environmental Protection Agency this week are being celebrated for how far they go in reducing exposures to the dangerous chemicals. But public health advocates say the rules merely represent a first step that is limited in its impact on the broader PFAS crisis because they do not directly prevent more pollution or force the chemical industry to pay for cleanup ..read more

Jakarta hopes the industry is the ticket to becoming a developed nation. But there are fears the toll on the environment – and people’s lives – will be too high Standing chest-deep in the Molucca Sea, just outside the billowing smokestacks of the world’s largest nickel industry, Upin adjusts his mask and dives. Members of his people, the Bajau, have been known to stay underwater for more than 10 minutes but Upin resurfaces shortly. He hauls a rugged disc of metal over the side of his dugout canoe. “Since the factories arrived, there has barely been any fish to catch,” he says and grimaces towa ..read more

Wendy Bradley suggests a grand water downing ceremony presided over by the king for Thames Water and others. Plus a letter from Pete Lavender Marina Hyde’s article does not go far enough (Look at the Thames and know the time for metaphors is over: our politics is drowning in effluent, 2 April). I have a modest proposal for improving water quality. Today, every board member of every water company should be put on notice that, three years from now, the king will institute a new ceremony. With pomp and lots of guardsmen, the board members will be escorted on to a boat on the major river in their ..read more

Thames Water owes hundreds of millions of pounds in debt, and the UK government is concerned about its potential collapse. Helena Horton reports Thames Water, the UK’s biggest water company, which services 16 million people across the south of England, is facing criticism over its management. Kemble, the parent company of Thames Water, told its creditors last week that it had defaulted on its debt. Amid fears that the company will collapse, the government is considering options for next steps ..read more

Environmental Protection Agency finalizes rule to strengthen protections for communities living near industrial sites More than 200 of the US’s chemical plants will be mandated to reduce toxic emissions linked to cancer to and better protect communities from hazardous pollution, the Biden administration announced on Tuesday. The long-awaited rule finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will strengthen protections for communities living near industrial sites, especially along the Gulf coast ..read more

Australia, the US and UK say they are ‘considering cooperation’ with Tokyo on defence projects. Follow today’s headlines live Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast A search will resume this morning for a woman who went missing while bushwalking at Belmore Falls in New South Wales. Just after 1pm on Sunday, emergency services were called to Belmore Falls near Robertson after reports a woman had slipped and fallen down a cliff. An extensive search was initiated, but the 20-year-old was not located and the search was suspended at dusk. We’ve got large multina ..read more