Miocene period fossil forest of Wataria found in Japan

Peer-Reviewed Publication

HOKKAIDO UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: A WELL-PRESERVED FOSSILIZED FOREST FROM THE LATE MIOCENE EPOCH WAS FOUND IN JAPAN, NEAR THE OTA BRIDGE ON THE KISO RIVER. (PHOTO: TOSHIHIRO YAMADA) view more 

CREDIT: TOSHIHIRO YAMADA

An exquisitely preserved fossil forest from Japan provides missing links and helps reconstruct a whole Eurasia plant from the late Miocene epoch.

Complete plant fossils are seldom found as a single piece, as wood, leaves, flowers, fruits, seeds, or pollen detach easily from plants. This results in leaves and trunks having separate scientific names. Putting together the different parts to reveal the complete plant is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Connecting these dots and reconstructing plants is important to establish their taxonomic identity—their place in the Tree of Life.

A research group led by Professor Toshihiro Yamada from the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Hokkaido University, found an exceptionally well-preserved fossil of a Wataria parvipora forest which was almost exclusively accompanied by fossils of Byttneriophyllum leaves. Their findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports.

In 1994, Kiso River (in Minokamo City, Gifu Prefecture) underwent a historic drought, in the process of which 400 in situ fossilized tree stumps surfaced. While most of the stumps have since been submerged, the team examined 137 stumps, of which 130 were identified as Wataria parvipora. “Wataria is a wood-fossil, recognized by its distinctive growth rings, abundant parenchyma rays and lack of resin canals. In the 2000m2 fossil site, these stumps accounted for 95% of the tree remains, indicating that we discovered a forest predominantly of this species,” says Yamada.

The team also found that the stumps were exclusively covered by a bed of one specific kind of leaf. Byttneriophyllum tiliifolium is a leaf-fossil species belonging to the mallow family (which includes cotton, cacao and durian). Fossils of this leaf were widely distributed throughout Eurasia during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs and the discovery of the Wataria fossil forest indicates that Byttneriophyllum tiliifolium are the leaves of Wataria.

“We found that 98% of the fossil-leaves found at the site belonged to Byttneriophyllum, strongly indicating that they were shed from the parent trees. We could see that the leaves were deposited paraautochthonously on the forest floor—they got fossilized where they fell,” Yamada elaborated.

Research by other groups has shown that the fossil fruit Banisteriaecarpum giganteum is related to Byttneriophyllum tiliifolium. Future research will focus on searching for Banisteriaecarpum giganteum in Japan, as this discovery would provide strong evidence that all three are part of the same species.

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JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-023-37211-z 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

An exceptionally well-preserved monodominant fossil forest of Wataria from the lower Miocene of Japan

Exposed riverbed from where the fossils were found. (Photo: Toshihiro Yamada)

CREDIT

Toshihiro Yamada

A fossil forest of Wataria was found in the Gifu Prefecture, on the bed of the Kiso River. Location of study site in Japan (Nishino et al., Scientific Reports, June 22, 2023)

Green area highlights the Mizunami group, a geological formation of which the Kani Basin, where the study site was located, is a part. (adapted from Nishino et al., Scientific Reports, June 22, 2023)

Wataria parvipora showing annual rings. It is one of the characteristics that helped the scientists in identifying the wood-fossil. (Nishino et al., Scientific Reports, June 22, 2023)

Surface view of the fossil leaf Byttneriophyllum tiliifolium which was found abundantly in the fossil forest, indicating a strong link to Wataria parvipora. (Nishino et al., Scientific Reports, June 22, 2023)

Line drawing of one of the Byttneriophyllum tiliifolium leaves found abundantly in the fossil forest. (Nishino et al., Scientific Reports, June 22, 2023)

CREDIT

Nishino et al., Scientific Reports, June 22, 2023

 

Renewable solar energy can help purify water, the environment

Chemists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated that water remediation can be powered in part — and perhaps even exclusively — by renewable energy sources.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

BECKMAN INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Using electrochemistry to separate different particles within a solution (also known as electrochemical separation) is an energy-efficient strategy for environmental and water remediation: the process of purifying contaminated water. But while electrochemistry uses less energy than other, similar methods, the electric energy is largely derived from nonrenewable sources like fossil fuels.

Chemists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated that water remediation can be powered in part — and perhaps even exclusively — by renewable energy sources. Through a semiconductor, their method integrates solar energy into an electrochemical separation process powered by a redox reaction, which manipulates ions’ electric charge to separate them from a solution like water.  

Using this system, the researchers successfully separated and removed dilute arsenate — a derivative of arsenic, which is a major waste component from steel and mining industries — from wastewater.

This work represents proof-of-concept for the applicability of such systems for wastewater treatment and environmental protection.

“Global electrical energy is still predominantly derived from nonrenewable, fossil-fuel-based sources, which raises questions about the long-term sustainability of electrochemical processes, including separations. Integrating solar power advances the sustainability of electrochemical separations in general, and its applications to water purification benefit the water sector as well,” said lead investigator Xiao Su, a researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering.

This work appears in the journal Small at https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202305275.

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JOURNAL

Small

DOI

10.1002/smll.202305275 

ARTICLE TITLE

Redox-Functionalized Semiconductor Interfaces for Photoelectrochemical Separations

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

20-Jul-2023

 

Biosurfactants might offer an environmentally friendly solution for tackling oil spills

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITAET STUTTGART

 

IMAGE: SAMPLING ON THE SHIP TO STUDY SEAWATER FROM THE NORTH SEA. THE SEAWATER IS FILLED INTO LARGE CANISTERS AND COOLED AND BROUGHT BACK TO THE LAB WHERE THE MICROCOSM EXPERIMENTS ARE CONDUCTED. view more 

CREDIT: SASKIA RUGHÖFT

Can biosurfactants increase microbiological oil degradation in North Sea seawater?  An international research team from the universities of Stuttgart und Tübingen, together with the China West Normal University and the University of Georgia, have been exploring this question and the results have revealed the potential for a more effective and environmentally friendly oil spill response.

Oil leaks into the oceans are estimated at approximately 1500 million liters annually worldwide. This leads to globally significant environmental pollution, as oil contains hazardous compounds such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons that can have toxic or mutagenic effects on organisms. Oil spills, particularly catastrophic ones resulting in the rapid release of large quantities of oil into the oceans, such as tanker accidents or incidents at oil drilling platforms like Deepwater Horizon in 2010, are especially devastating.

In such oil spill incidents, large quantities of chemical dispersants, ranging in the millions of liters depending on the amount of oil, are routinely applied to dissolve oil slicks, prevent oil from reaching coastlines, and enhance oil dispersion in the water. The hope is that microbial oil degradation will be enhanced as a result. This is because special microorganisms that are widespread in nature can feed on crude oil components and break them down into harmless substances. This special ability of microbes naturally cleans oil-contaminated areas.

"In a study from the USA published in 2015, we demonstrated that - contrary to expectation - chemical dispersants in deep-sea water from the Gulf of Mexico can slow down microbial oil degradation," says Prof. Sara Kleindienst, who worked at the University of Tübingen until 2022 and now works at the University of Stuttgart. “Since then, the topic has been at the center of controversial discussions, and there is still no simple answer to how oil spills can be combated more effectively,” emphasizes Prof. Sara Kleindienst.

In the search for more environmentally friendly methods for dealing with oil spills, biosurfactants could offer a promising alternative to chemical dispersants. Biosurfactants are produced by microorganisms and can increase the bioavailability of oil components. This can thus enhance microbial oil degradation, which is crucial for purification.

Experiments with seawater from the North Sea
An international research team led by environmental microbiologist Professor Sara Kleindienst, with geomicrobiologist Professor Andreas Kappler (University of Tübingen) and biogeochemist Professor Samantha Joye (University of Georgia), compared the effects of biosurfactants and chemical dispersants. In the laboratory at the University of Tübingen, the researchers simulated oil spill conditions. For their experiment, they took over 100 liters of surface water from the North Sea close to the island of Helgoland. The seawater was treated with either the biosurfactant rhamnolipid or a dispersant (either Corexit 9500 or Slickgone NS), both in the presence and absence of oil. The research team used radioactive markers to track the degradation of the oil by the microorganisms in detail. “Our investigations using radioactively labeled hydrocarbons or a radioactively labeled amino acid showed that the highest rates of microbial hydrocarbon oxidation and protein synthesis occurred in the oil microcosms treated with rhamnolipid,” says Prof. Lu Lu, who previously worked at the University of Tübingen and now works at the China West Normal University.

The impact on the composition of microbial communities also differed significantly between the approaches using biosurfactants compared to chemical dispersants. "This result suggests that the use of biosurfactants may stimulate different microbial oil degraders, both in terms of growth and activity, which in turn can affect the cleanup process after oil spills," says Prof. Lu Lu.

"Our findings suggest that biosurfactants have great potential for use in future oil spills in the North Sea or similar nutrient-rich ocean habitats," adds Prof. Sara Kleindienst. "A visionary continuation of our work would be the development of products based on biosurfactants that offer both effective and environmentally friendly approaches to combating oil spills."

Helgoland coastline in the German Bight, North Sea: Helgoland is characterized by a rich marine biodiversity that is vulnerable to pollution such as oil spills.

CREDIT

Saskia Rughöft

Microbial oil snow, see brown flake-like small structures, in microcosms with North Sea water. Microbial oil snow is a phenomenon in which microbial oil-degrading bacteria form solid aggregates in water. These aggregates look like snowflakes or snowballs, hence the name oil snow.

CREDIT

Lu Lu

DOI

10.1021/acsestwater.3c00048 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Rhamnolipid biosurfactants enhance microbial oil biodegradation in surface seawater from the North Sea

 

Technology-enabled water surveillance and control project earns grant

Grant and Award Announcement

VIRGINIA TECH

 

IMAGE: SUPPORTED THROUGH A THREE-YEAR SEED GRANT FROM FRALIN LIFE SCIENCES INSTITUTE, A GROUP OF 14 INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCHERS LED BY PETER VIKESLAND WILL DEVELOP WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS TO SURVEY MICROBIAL THREATS TO WATER QUALITY. view more 

CREDIT: PHOTO BY RYAN YOUNG FOR VIRGINIA TECH.

Peter Vikesland believes high-tech tools could help increase the flow of quality water in an equitable manner.

Atop a new wave of support from the Fralin Life Sciences Institute, Vikesland, the Nick Prillaman Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is leading a research team in creating wireless sensor networks to survey microbial threats to water quality and to enable operational control and provide real-world feedback for public transparency. The project, Technology-enabled Water Surveillance and Control, reflects the “one water” concept that views water quality as important to our society, economy, and environment and requires an integrated approach to policy planning and implementation.

Data collected by Vikesland’s team also could lead to the development of a new research center at Virginia Tech.

“Multiple converging trends support the need for a center focused on distributed ‘one water’ sensing,” said Vikesland. “These include national tragedies, such as the lead contamination of drinking water in Flint, Michigan; increasing pathogen impairment of surface waters; and wastewater driven dissemination of antibiotic resistance.”

Vikesland’s research team is one of two to receive the institute’s first program/center planning grant, which will provide three years of funding to help proposal developments for other prestigious, federally funded multimillion dollar grants. Michelle Theus, professor of molecular and cellular neurobiology, will lead the second group receiving funding on a neurotrauma research project. 

“I am enthused by the scientific diversity and potential for impact the two recently funded projects have to offer,” said Robin McCarley, executive director of the institute. “The myriad questions that may be answered by the team Vikesland leads are vital to the life sciences community, and the possible outcomes have huge societal ramifications.”

One recent example of successful water monitoring is wastewater-based surveillance. And though it has recently proven to be a useful tool to quantify the spread of viral pathogens, such as the COVID-19 virus, and antibiotic resistance within communities, its implementation hasn’t always been smooth sailing.

“Wastewater-based surveillance, and other forms of ‘one water’ surveillance, allow for the nonintrusive collection of information at multiple scales (e.g., community manhole, individual buildings) to inform timely and efficient public health responses,” said Vikesland. “However, a looming challenge is these surveillance programs have arisen rapidly — often without full consideration of societal implications.”

Vikesland said previous studies have failed to consider the social, political, and economic criteria necessary for network deployment and decision-making and resulted in some public pushback

“We contend that surveillance programs, no matter their scale, must be developed within a framework that considers not only their scientific engineering and data analytic dimensions, but also policy drivers, equity, economics, ethics, and the potentially conflicting needs and perspectives of all potential stakeholders,” Vikesland said.

Because the team is cognizant that this project is multifaceted and will involve and affect many stakeholders, its members are bringing a transdisciplinary approach to the work. The team includes more than a dozen Virginia Tech faculty spanning multiple colleges and academic disciplines. 

“The old cliche that the social dimensions of complex socio-ecological challenges are an afterthought at best among engineers and physical scientists could not be further from the truth when it comes to this group,” said Todd Schenk, associate professor of public and international affairs. "I think that this initiative is all the stronger because there is a shared attentiveness to integrating human dimensions, the social sciences, and what it takes to conduct work that will have public policy and wider societal impacts."

Other members of the faculty research team and their roles:

• Alasdair Cohen, assistant professor of environmental epidemiology in the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, will lead analyses and statistical modeling of water-related markers and health outcome data as well as support rural setting studies.

• Harpreet Dhillon, professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering and associate director at Wireless@VT Research Group, will direct development of wireless communication platforms.

• Marc Edwards, University Distinguished Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, will co-direct measurements of chemical parameters across “one water” systems.

• Julia Gohlke, associate professor of environmental health in the population health sciences department, will lead studies examining health outcomes associated with flood events and provide methodological and data processing support for studies of human health outcomes.

• Stanley Grant, professor of civil and environmental engineering and co-director of the Occoquan Watershed Monitoring Lab, will coordinate research projects, as well as contribute to data collection and modeling studies and stakeholder interactions.

• Lenwood Heath, professor of computer science, will develop algorithms for locating sensors and designing networks for optimal benefit.

• Korine Kolivras, professor of geography in the College of Natural Resources and Environment, will conduct geographic analyses of social, ecological, and human health measurements.

• Leigh-Anne Krometis, associate professor of biological systems engineering, will develop and lead projects examining implementation in rural and resource-limited settings.

• Amy Pruden, University Distinguished Professor and W. Thomas Price Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, is an expert in detecting, tracking, and mitigating antibiotic resistance in water and will co-direct microbiological analyses.

• Megan Rippy, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering stationed at the Occoquan Watershed Monitoring Lab, will assess social, ecological, and hydrological drivers of water security.

• Todd Schenk, associate professor of urban affairs and planning in the School of Public and International Affairs and Global Change Center affiliate, will support stakeholder engagement and integration and consideration of public policies in water and related domains.

• Liqing Zhang, professor of computer science, will develop bioinformatic tools for data processing and analysis as well as develop machine-learning models for prediction and anomaly detection.

• Wei Zhou, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, will develop and lead projects to advance field deployable sensor technologies for real-time multimodal monitoring of analyses.

Long-term changes in waves and storm surges have not impacted global coastlines

Changes in ocean wave and storm conditions have not caused long-term impacts on sandy coastlines in the past 30 years, a new study has found.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

Changes in ocean wave and storm conditions have not caused long-term impacts on sandy coastlines in the past 30 years, a new study has found.

Published today in Scientific Reports, the study draws on data from 30 years of global satellite and model studies to investigate whether changes in ocean wave conditions will have an impact on the stability of coastal environments.

The compounding effect of climate change driven variations in waves, storm surge and sea level rise is projected to lead to shoreline position change along most of the world’s sandy coasts.

A team of researchers, led by University of Melbourne PhD candidate Mandana Ganavati and Professor Ian Young, together with colleagues from IHE Delft Institute for Water Education and Deltares of the Netherlands, looked at the changes in shoreline position over the past 30 years globally. These changes in shoreline position were compared to changes in wave and storm surge properties along the same coastlines.

“Although many shorelines around the world are dynamic, responding to wave and storm surge events, these changes tend to be short to medium term. However, we saw no evidence in the last 30 years or so of data that the long-term changes in waves and storm surge are directly causing long-term recession of coastlines.” said Professor Young.

Ms Ganavati said it is commonly inferred that climate change-induced increases in wind speeds and the ocean waves are impacting global shorelines.

“Changes in mean sea level due to global warming are expected to result in recession of our coastlines, in many places threatening homes, infrastructure and ecosystems. However, in a global sense, the magnitude of the observed changes in waves and storm surge over the last 30 years appears too small to have a measurable impact.

“Variations in the supply of sediment from rivers, longshore gradients in sediment transport and human management of coastlines are likely to have had a bigger impact on changing shoreline position than changes in wave and storm surge climate over the last 30 years.” Ms Ganavati said.

Climate change and mean sea level rise is projected to result in widespread coastal recession along sandy coasts through the twenty-first century, potentially disrupting lives and leading to massive socioeconomic losses. This study found the available datasets do not show clear linkages between long-term shoreline change and changes in waves and storm surge over the past three decades.

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JOURNAL

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-023-38729-y 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Meta-analysis

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

An assessment of whether long-term global changes in waves and storm surges have impacted global coastlines

Subseasonal transition of sea-ice anomalies in the Barents–Kara Sea in winter modulated by the “warm Arctic–cold Eurasia” pattern

Peer-Reviewed Publication

INSTITUTE OF ATMOSPHERIC PHYSICS, CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

 

IMAGE: THE ARCTIC WARMING AND SEA ICE MELTING view more 

CREDIT: JEAN-CHRISTOPHE ANDRE

The “warm Arctic–cold Eurasia” is one of the most significant patterns of winter climate system changes in the mid-high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. In winter 2020/21, this large-scale pattern underwent a significant and intense subseasonal reversal between the early and late winter. At the same time, the sea-ice anomalies in the Barents–Kara Sea changed from being significantly negative in early winter to positive in late winter. For the slow-varying process of winter sea ice, the rapid freezing or melting of sea ice in winter is worthy of attention.

 

New findings from the team of Professor Zhicong Yin at Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology reveal the close relationship between, and key mechanism of, the subseasonal variation of Barents–Kara sea-ice anomalies in winter and the “warm Arctic–cold Eurasia” pattern. Furthermore, a more comprehensive schematic of the subseasonal reversal of the air–ice system in the Arctic–Eurasia region was depicted, which together contribute to a better understanding and predictability of extreme climate at mid-low latitudes.

 

WACE [the “warm Arctic–cold Eurasia” pattern] is a phenomenon whereby the large-scale temperature gradient weakens, which can lead to an adjustment of atmospheric baroclinicity. Driven by such remarkable high-latitude atmospheric pattern reversals, an associated subseasonal transition of the sea-ice anomaly also occurs in the BKS [Barents–Kara Sea]. Under a warm Arctic and enhanced Ural high, abnormal downward turbulent heat flux and increased downward infrared radiation in the BKS are conducive to sea ice melting. The surface southerly wind drives the sea ice to drift from the thin to perennial ice area and further enlarges the open ocean surface. The opposite mechanism occurs in the opposite phase of WACE, causing positive BKS sea-ice anomalies. When WACE reverses on the subseasonal scale, the above mechanisms occur in early and late winter, respectively, resulting in a significant subseasonal transition of BKS sea-ice anomalies.

 

More importantly, in the last decade, with a more frequent reversal of WACE, the subseasonal transition between early winter and late winter in BKS sea ice has enhanced. WACE and the BKS sea ice show consistent trend changes and correspond to the intensity of subseasonal variation. In the context of global warming, the trend changes of “Arctic warming–Eurasian cooling” and Arctic sea ice are still uncertain, whose prediction faces huge challenges. Whether subseasonal variation in BKS sea ice will continue to be as strong as that shown in the last decade under different warming scenarios in the future is worthy of further investigation, thus revealing the role of global warming in extreme events.

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JOURNAL

Atmospheric and Oceanic Science Letters

DOI

10.1016/j.aosl.2023.100392 

ARTICLE TITLE

Subseasonal transition of Barents–Kara sea-ice anomalies in winter related to the reversed warm Arctic–cold Eurasia pattern

The Privatization of Water Is a Scam

BY PREM SIKKA

07.22.2023

British water companies have loaded up with debt while pumping sewage into waterways, raising bills and delivering huge profits to shareholders. This can only end by the government taking water back from these corporations.

An aerial view shows the Thames Water Long Reach water treatment facility on the banks of the Thames estuary in Dartford, east of London, on March 3, 2023. (Ben Stansall / AFP via Getty Images)

The neoliberal obsession with privatizing essential industries and services is haunting the UK. Profiteering by gas, oil, railways, mail, and other entities is the root cause of the current high inflation and misery for millions. The water industry has been hoisted by its own profiteering, and Thames Water, England’s largest water and sewage business, is teetering on the edge.

The seeds of destruction were sown by the 1989 privatization. The government sold water entities in England and Wales for a meagre £6.1 billion. In the absence of parallel water and sewage pipes, competition isn’t possible, and companies have captive customers.

The industry has adopted the classic private equity business model. Its key elements are high prices, low investment, and financial engineering to extract high returns. Instead of shareholders making long-term investment through equity, the business model uses debt because interest payments qualify for tax relief — effectively a public subsidy. This reduces the cost of capital and increases returns to shareholders, but also increases vulnerability to interest rate hikes.
Minimum Investment, Maximum Profits

Since 1989, water charges have increased by 40 percent in real terms. Companies seem to have a profit margin of 38 percent, a very high percentage for a no-competition, low-risk business whose raw material virtually falls out of thin air.

Some 2.4 billion liters of water are lost every day to leaks due to poor infrastructure. Despite the population growing by nearly ten million, no new reservoirs have been built. Water companies are required to provide clean water but have actually increased contamination by dumping sewage into rivers. Unplugged leaks and sewage dumping increase profits, dividends, and performance-related executive pay.

A report from the House of Lords estimated that the industry needs between £240 billion and £260 billion of new investment by 2050, compared to £56 billion suggested by the government. However, the industry has been focused on cash extraction. It has paid out £72 billion in dividends since privatization and is expected to pay another £15 billion by 2030. It has debts of around £60 billion. Of each £1 paid to the industry, 38p is earmarked as profit. Out of this 20p services debt, 15p is taken by dividends and 3p for things such as tax.

The focus on investment and efficiency has been low. The industry assumed that it could carry on borrowing at low cost forever. Household bills are inflated to cover the cost of borrowing, which would not be necessary if the regulator, the Water Services Regulation Authority (Ofwat), had insisted on prudent practices.

There is the usual story of regulatory capture or at least cognitive alignment. Around two-thirds of England’s biggest water companies employ key executives who previously worked at Ofwat. Six of England’s nine water and sewerage companies have hired directors of corporate strategy or heads of regulation who previously worked at Ofwat.

For years, red flags have been publicly raised about financial engineering at water companies. In 2018, Ofwat suggested that “gearing” or the debt ratio at water companies should not exceed 60 percent (there is a complex calculation), but companies have resisted that.

Years of regulatory indulgence have been given visibility by the crisis at Thames Water. Thames loses around 630 million liters of water a day in leaks and routinely dumps tons of raw sewage in rivers. Since 2010, it has been sanctioned ninety-two times for failures and has been fined £163 million. Over the last three years, the salary of its recently resigned chief executive doubled.

Since privatization, it has paid £7.2 billion in dividends and has debts of £14.3 billion secured against £17.9 billion of regulated operating assets. In common with other water companies, it has used index-linked bonds for its borrowing, meaning that interest payments rise as general rates of interest increase.

Thames is partly owned by state entities from China and Abu Dhabi, and Ofwat seems to have had no success in securing prudent conduct from its foreign shareholders. Thames Water has a debt ratio of around 80 percent, against the Ofwat recommendation of 60 percent. Auditors PricewaterhouseCoopers routinely gave the company a clean bill of health even though it lacked financial resilience. As the Bank of England increased interest rates, Thames found that it could not make the minimalist required investment and service its debt.

The distress at Thames Water is due to the failure of privatization, profiteering, financial engineering, and customer exploitation. Auditors have been silent. The City of London didn’t care much, and Ofwat has done little to check predatory practices. Interestingly, Cathryn Ross, the current joint chief executive of Thames, is a former head of Ofwat. Its director of regulatory policy and investigations and director of regulatory strategy and innovation are also former Ofwat executives.
Ending the Scandal

There is public clamor for the renationalization of water. However, the Conservative government is unlikely to do that. In 2020, during his campaign to become leader of the Labour Party, Keir Starmer promised to bring the water industry into public ownership but has since reneged. Leaked emails suggest that Labour leadership and water companies have secretly been discussing the possibility of forming “social purpose” companies that would stay in private hands but give greater weight to the needs of customers, staff, and the environment.

Section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 requires company directors to have regard for the interests of “employees,” ‘‘customers,” and “the community and the environment” in making decisions. Water company directors have shown little regard for that duty. The woolly concept of “social purpose” is unlikely to curb rapacious practices.

The toxic influence of shareholders and the dash for maximum returns needs to be checked by public ownership and customer empowerment. Water company shares would be practically worthless if environmental and customer protection standards were to be rigorously enforced. In the event of default, secured creditors are unlikely to get much, and the government can buy the assets cheaply. The cost can be funded by issuing public bonds to local people with the inducement that in addition to interest payments, bondholders will get discounts on their water bills. In addition, customers should be empowered to vote on executive pay. That will ensure that executives face public scrutiny and will not be rewarded for abusive practices.

CONTRIBUTOR
Prem Sikka is an emeritus professor of accounting at the University of Essex and the University of Sheffield, a Labour member of the House of Lords, and a contributing editor at Left Food Forward.

P3 PUBLIC PENSIONS FUND PRIVATIZATION

OMERS THE ONTARIO MUNICIPAL EMPOYEES PENSION FUND OWNS 30% OF THAMES WATER 

The surge of labor strikes as workers demand fairness and change

Why we're seeing a rise in labor strikes and worker solidarity.

Photo by: Brynn Anderson / AP

By: Lauren Magarino, Rodney Young
Jul 22, 2023

From entertainment to service industries to unhappy graduate-student workers, U.S. employees across various professions and skill sets are walking off the job in 2023.

Their demands are unique to their respective jobs, but economists say they share a common goal.

"Wages have not improved, at least not substantially. So, in a sense, this is long overdue," said Dr. Anthony Carnevale.

Carnevale is a research professor and director of Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce.

He says there’s a reason for the hopefully temporary employee exodus: A movement now being dubbed "Hot Labor Summer," where people in various professions are pushing for better pay amid rising costs and record profits for many businesses.

"Employers have held the upper hand for a long time; the way economists say it, which is what my training is, capital is becoming more and more power labor less and less powerful," said Carnevale.

Potentially next to join the growing chorus of unhappy U.S. workers are hundreds of thousands of UPS workers.

UPS and its unionized drivers have until July 31st to reach a new labor agreement and avert a strike.

A strike that could deal a devastating blow to not only the company but the U.S. economy.

SEE MORE: Job market continues to add jobs but shows signs of cooling

One major U.S. consulting firm is putting the cost of a 10-day UPS strike on the U.S. economy at a whopping $7 billion.

"All of a sudden, you're talking about sectors like national defense and aerospace production being very affected. You are talking about companies; you know, farmers are gonna be getting around to go into, you know, harvest season. Well, guess how a lot of these parts get shipped from central distribution centers to, you know, forward dealers that fix farm equipment? They get shipped by parcel," said Jason Miller of Michigan State University’s Broad College of Business.

According to Dr. Carnevale, a significant factor contributing to labor strikes across the workforce is the waning influence of unions.

"They lost their power largely because of globalization, technology, and the decline of manufacturing," said Carnevale.

With film and TV production currently at a standstill and the threat of a global supply chain crisis that could rival that of the COVID pandemic, Will fed-up workers come out on top and have their demands met?

"I think in most cases they're going to get most of what they want. American employers can't afford the shift in wealth between workers and management," said Carnevale.

‘We’ve legalized, strategized, now it’s time to pulverize,’ says Teamsters union president ahead of looming UPS strike

By Isabel Rosales, Jaide Timm-Garcia and Raja Razek, CNN
Published : Sat July 22, 2023

Teamsters president Sean O'Brien speaking at a rally with UPS workers before their national contract negotiations on April 2, 2023, in Charlestown, Massachusetts.Matthew J. Lee/Boston Globe/Getty Images
New YorkCNN —

Ahead of a looming UPS nationwide strike, Teamsters union President Sean O’Brien said during a rally speech in Atlanta Saturday, “We’ve legalized, strategized, now it’s time to pulverize.”

UPS pilots vow to not cross strike picket lines

Speaking with CNN’s Isabel Rosales, O’Brien said 95% of the contract has been negotiated, and “now we’re down to economics, and UPS knows they need to pay our members, especially the part-timers.”

A UPS spokesperson has said part-timers receive the same benefits as full-time workers. However, they do make less than full-time employees who make, on average, $95,000 a year, as CNN previously reported. Part-timers start by earning $16.20 an hour and are eligible for a higher hourly rate after 30 days. On average, part-time workers make $20 an hour, according to the spokesperson.




UPS workers hold placards at a rally held by the Teamsters Union on July 19, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.

Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images

When asked what happens if a deal is not reached by July 31, O’Brien said they would withhold their labor on August 1 at 12:01 a.m.

“UPS represents our members that deliver goods and services that deliver 7% of gross national product,” O’Brien added. “So, the [UPS] supply chain solutions will take a huge hit.”

According to O’Brien, a strike would be felt both domestically and internationally. He claims “because the pilots union that represents the pilots for UPS have committed to us that they will not turn a wheel if the teamsters go on strike.”

Part-time package handler Elizabeth Laster told CNN Saturday she’s willing to go without pay if the strike takes place. After working at UPS for seven years she said she feels like the company is making millions of dollars while she struggles to survive and provide for her three sons.

UPS and Teamsters to meet next week ahead of looming strike

“The packages don’t move unless we move them … we’re the ones that are making all that money and we don’t see it. How is that fair?”

Laster said the company has “already gotten our blood, our sweat and our tears … just give us what we’ve worked for.”