algae
Latest News

Toxic Algae Contaminates Toledo’s Water

TOLEDO, Ohio, August 3, 2014 (ENS) – More than 400,000 residents of Toledo, Ohio’s fourth largest city, are without water following the detection of the toxin Microcystin in the public water system, caused by an algal bloom in the area. […]

bathers
Latest News

Water Clean at Most European Bathing Sites, Worries Remain

BRUSSELS, Belgium, May 30, 2014 (ENS) – The water at 95 percent of Europe’s beaches, rivers and lakes was clean enough to protect the health of people using them for bathing in 2013, but bathing water ratings do not consider litter, pollution and other dangers to the natural environment. […]

Klamath River
Latest News

Klamath River Basin Pact Ends Decades of Water Wars

KLAMATH FALLS, Oregon, April 18, 2014 (ENS) – An agreement that settles decades of conflict over water in the Upper Klamath River Basin was signed today by officials from the federal government, the states of Oregon and California, tribal authorities and water users. […]

stream
Latest News

Draft Rule Clarifies Protection for U.S. Streams, Wetlands

WASHINGTON, DC, March 25, 2014 (ENS) – The U.S. EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today jointly released a draft rule to clarify protection for streams and wetlands under the Clean Water Act. Most seasonal and rain-dependent streams are protected, as are wetlands near rivers and streams. […]

sockeye
Land Use/Forests

EPA Acts to Protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay Fishery From Mining

WASHINGTON, DC, February 28, 2014 (ENS) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today began a process under the Clean Water Act to identify options that would protect the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery in Bristol Bay, Alaska from the potentially destructive impacts of the proposed Pebble Mine. […]

pipeline
Energy

Nebraska Judge Voids Governor’s Right to Set Keystone XL Route

LINCOLN, Nebraska, February 21, 2014 (ENS) – A Nebraska judge on Wednesday declared unconstitutional a state law that had allowed Governor Dave Heineman to approve the route the Keystone XL pipeline would take through Nebraska on its way from the Alberta tar sands across the Canada-U.S. border to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast. […]

fields
Air/Climate

California Lawmakers Offer $687 Million Drought Relief Bill

SACRAMENTO, California, February 20, 2014 (ENS) – With California suffering its worst water shortage crisis in modern history, state elected officials Wednesday announced new legislation that would provide $687.4 million to help communities deal with the devastating dry conditions and fund increases to local water supplies. […]

sampling
Latest News

West Virginia’s Water Nightmare Closes Schools

CHARLESTON, West Virginia, February 7, 2014 (ENS) – Crude MCHM, one of two chemicals that leaked into West Virginia’s Elk River last month, was detected in the water supply of George Washington High School this morning, according to Kanawha-Charleston Health Department officials, weeks after the water was declared safe to use. […]

wetland
Latest News

Eco-Conscious Agriculture Key to Healthy Wetlands

GLAND, Switzerland, February 3, 2014 (ENS) – Greater collaboration among the agriculture, water and wetlands sectors around the world is needed to ensure healthy wetlands, the top official at the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands said on Sunday, World Wetlands Day, celebrated each year on February 2. […]

Steiner, Slewa
Land Use/Forests

UN to Help Iraq With Environmental Restoration

BAGHDAD, Iraq, January 26, 2014 (ENS) – To restore Iraq’s deteriorating environment, the Government of Iraq has signed a landmark cooperation agreement with the UN Environment Programme to speed environmental recovery and support peace-building. […]

Central Valley
Land Use/Forests

California Governor Declares Drought Emergency

SAN FRANCISCO, California, January 17, 2014 (ENS) – With California facing water shortfalls in the driest year in recorded state history, and drinking water supplies at risk in many California communities, Governor Jerry Brown today proclaimed a State of Emergency and directed state officials to prepare for these drought conditions. […]

grain
Food

India’s Dangerous ‘Food Bubble’

By Lester R. Brown
WASHINGTON, DC, December 4, 2013 (ENS) – India is now the world’s third-largest grain producer after China and the United States, due to the adoption of higher-yielding crop varieties and the spread of irrigation. But the water that irrigates three-fifths of India’s grain harvest comes from wells that are starting to go dry. […]

Hoboken
Latest News

Analysis: Waterworld USA: Climate Harming Regional Waters

HOBOKEN, New Jersey, October 29, 2013 (ENS) – Rising temperatures and shifting, capricious precipitation patterns are affecting where, when, and how much water fills America’s rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, and how water is absorbed to replenish groundwater reserves – putting tremendous pressure on communities and businesses who compete for that water. […]

Bloede Dam
Latest News

Dam Removals Open Northeast Rivers to Fish, Recreation

WASHINGTON, DC, August 22, 2013 (ENS) – A dam that has blocked Maryland’s Patapsco River for nearly 100 years will be removed shortly, utilizing a $3.57 million grant awarded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Restoration Center to the nonprofit organization American Rivers. […]

algae
Land Use/Forests

Florida Waters Alive With Toxic Algae, Toxic Politics

STUART, Florida, August 21, 2013 (ENS) – Environmental groups rallied today ahead of a Florida State Senate Select Committee public meeting, demanding that government act to stop toxic algae slimes that are sickening people and killing dolphins, manatees, birds and fish in two areas of the state. […]