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Articles on Water pollution

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The cut flowers could pay for themselves and even turn a profit. Margi Rentis

Flowers grown floating on polluted waterways can help clean up nutrient runoff and turn a profit

Phosphorus and nitrogen contribute to water pollution and cause harmful algal blooms. New research shows how mats of floating flower beds can take advantage of these nutrients while cleaning the water.
Cities should be planned around existing natural resources. Stephen Appiah Takyi

Ghana: Kumasi city’s unplanned boom is destroying two rivers – sewage, heavy metals and chemical pollution detected

The inability of city authorities to enforce land-use regulations has allowed people to carry out ecologically unfriendly activities along the water bodies.
A school of grunts on a sunken World War II German submarine in the Atlantic Ocean off North Carolina. Karen Doody/Stocktrek Images via Getty Images

Shipwrecks teem with underwater life, from microbes to sharks

When ships sink, they add artificial structures to the seafloor that can quickly become diverse, ecologically important underwater communities.
Residents queue for water after municipal supply became contaminated with cholera. Felix Dlangamandla/Daily Maverick/Gallo Images via Getty Images

Water crisis in South Africa: damning report finds 46% contamination, 67% of treatment works near to breaking down

This year’s Blue Drop Audit report of water quality in South Africa has found that 46% of water supply systems are contaminated and over two thirds of wastewater treatment plants are close to failure.
One symptom of arsenic poisoning is the growth of plaques on the skin called arsenical keratosis. Anita Ghosh/REACH via Flickr

Arsenic contamination of food and water is a global public health concern – researchers are studying how it causes cancer

Millions of people worldwide are exposed via soil and water to arsenic, whether naturally occurring or related to pollution. Chronic exposure is linked to the formation of cancer stem cells.
Many ecologically important wetlands, like these in Kulm, N.D., lack surface connections to navigable waterways. USFWS Mountain-Prairie/Flickr

The Supreme Court just shriveled federal protection for wetlands, leaving many of these valuable ecosystems at risk

In Sackett v. EPA, a suit filed by two homeowners who filled in wetlands on their property, the Supreme Court has drastically narrowed the definition of which wetlands qualify for federal protection.
A highway loops around a tailings pond at the Syncrude facility in Fort McMurray, Alta. The proximity of such toxic wastewater ponds to nature threatens its biodiversity. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

As Alberta’s oilsands continue leaking toxic wastewater, aquatic wildlife face new risks

As toxic water continues to spill from tailings ponds across mining developments, decades of scientific research provides evidence of how wildlife will be affected.

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