"We just have not kept up with water supply and water infrastructure like we should have. And it's decades in the making," said Peter Zanoni, the city manager since 2019.
A 'workable system' of transit and shipowner confidence in the security of the transiting vessels is essential. This includes availability of insurance for transiting vessels, facilitating commercial trade financing, and sustained outbound vessel transits through the Strait of Hormuz.
The thinktank warned on Monday that surging gas, electricity and petrol prices had fundamentally altered the outlook for living standards in 2026. Before the Iran war erupted in late February, working-age households were tracking towards modest income growth of 0.9 per cent. That figure has now swung to a projected decline of 0.6 per cent, a turnaround worth £480 per household.
Shipping costs have increased by more than 10 percent in the past month due to the US-Israel war on Iran. The 60-day waiver for the Jones Act aimed to lower energy costs but has had little impact on oil prices, which continue to rise amid the ongoing conflict.
Three supertankers laden with oil have passed through the Strait of Hormuz amid the fragile truce between the United States and Iran, according to shipping data. Iran's blockade of the strait has disrupted global energy supplies and sent oil prices soaring since the start of the US and Israel's war on Iran.
The reopening of Hormuz is critical to the world's oil trade because its closure has resulted in the loss of millions of barrels of supply to global markets. A resumption would alleviate pressure on increasingly tight physical markets everywhere.
Under the current ceasefire, fewer than 15 ships per day are permitted to transit the Strait of Hormuz. This movement is strictly contingent upon Iran's approval and the enforcement of a specific protocol.
After 40 days of fighting, the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire, with negotiations expected to begin in Islamabad. One key point in Iran's proposal is allowing shipping to resume through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been closed since the war began, causing global oil prices to soar.
The war has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important oil route, since the end of February and cut exports from OPEC+ members Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait and Iraq.