Climate Talk

svalbard: people getting drinking water from a brewery now. short version

longyearbyen told not to drink tap water for about a year. manganese was 25 times the limit last september, then sulphate and nickel went over too.

suspected cause: permafrost thaw exposes shale with pyrite, pyrite + water + oxygen makes acid, acid pulls metals into the lake. not confirmed yet, sintef still studying.

and yes, residents collect purified water from the local brewery. 2026 everyone