Da Lat, a popular hill resort town in Lam Dong Province, was severely flooded Thursday following a 30-minute downpour. The downtown area was under nearly a meter of water. The heavy rainfall caused many shops on both sides of Phan Dinh Phung and Nguyen Cong Tru streets to flood, making it difficult for people to evacuate in time and damaging furniture.

Experts believe that Da Lat floods regularly because of the massive amount of greenhouse gas emissions and rapid urbanization, which has taken away all the available green space.

The city's water security is under threat from an increase in pollutants, a lack of an up-to-date water distribution network, and salt intrusion.

Microplastic contamination has been reported for the first time in beef and pork, as well as in the blood of cows and pigs on farms.

Scientists at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam have found particles in three-quarters of meat and milk products tested, as well as every blood sample they took in a pilot study. 

The food products were found in every sample of animal pellet feed tested, indicating a potential contamination route.

According to the World Bank, 44 percent of plastic waste at surveyed sites is made up of take-away food and drinks.

The World Bank released a report this week that shows that the take-away related waste accounted for 43.6 percent in number and 35.1 percent in weight of the total plastic waste, followed by fisheries-related waste (32.6 percent in number and 30.6 percent in weight), and household-related waste (21.6 percent in number and 22.8 percent in weight).

Drinking water disinfected by chlorine while pregnant may increase the risk of having children with heart problems, cleft palate or major brain defects, according to a study published  in BioMed Central's open access journal Environmental Health.

Freshwater resources are critical to both human civilization and natural ecosystems, but UBC researchers have discovered that changes to ground vegetation can have as much of an impact on global water resources as climate change.

The study has recently been published in the Journal of Health Economics in an article titled: Lead in Drinking Water and Birth Outcomes: A Tale of Two Water Treatment Plants.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are known as "forever chemicals" because they can stay in the environment for a very long time. These chemicals have been linked to health problems, including cancer. Middle-aged women with higher blood concentrations of PFAS may be at risk for these health problems, according to new research published today in Hypertension, an American Heart Association journal.

The increased likelihood of catastrophic rains in the east due to climate change has been confirmed by a team of researchers.

Scientists have found that the heavy rains that caused catastrophic flooding in South Africa in mid-April were made twice as likely to occur by climate change.