More than 12,000 residents of St John Parish in Louisiana have been alerted to the disturbing news that their drinking water tested positive for a brain-eating amoeba. So far there are no current illnesses, and health officials have tried to calm nerves by explaining that “the amoeba can only be harmful if ingested through the nose.” Uh, so, yeah, go ahead and drink up.

+ The other water that Louisiana residents need to worry about is the rising ocean. The state is losing a football field of land every 48 minutes. ProPublica with an interactive report: Losing Ground.