Forecasting, risk plans and effective drainage systems can mitigate the impact of severe floods.
Photo by Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP via Getty Images.
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Two decades of drought have reduced the river’s flow by one-third compared to historical averages. The Biden administration is considering mandatory cuts to some states’ water allocations.
Establishing the financial worth of a river’s fish is complicated when many people don’t sell the fish they catch.
Tang Chhin Sothy/AFP via Getty Images
Putting a dollar value on nature has staunch opponents who say it’s morally wrong, but without it, building dams and other infrastructure can run roughshod over vital ecosystems.
Fires are often set to clear land near roads in the Amazon.
Johannes Myburgh / AFP via Getty Images
Nearly 95% of deforestation in the Amazon occurs within 3.5 miles of a road or near a river. Brazil’s plans to ramp up exports may be on a collision course with the forest.
The white ‘bathtub ring’ around Lake Powell, which is roughly 110 feet high, shows the former high water mark.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
Lake Powell’s existential crisis is a unique opportunity to save a treasured landscape.
Heavy rain from a series of atmospheric rivers flooded large parts of California from late December 2022 into early January 2023.
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The sheer number of Chinese-funded dams pose a substantial risk to biodiversity. And yet, environmental regulation of these projects has serious flaws.
In our land of drought and flooding rains, better water management should feature in every federal budget. The new budget delivers it – but not everyone is happy.
The flooding wiped out farms in Kogi and other affected states.
Sodiq Adelakun/AFP via Getty Images
Climate change will increase the frequency of both floods and droughts in Pakistan. To address these challenges, enhancing infrastructure, building dams and educating the public are necessary.
The twaite shad by Edward Robinson, 1802.
Old Images/Alamy Stock Photo
With decades of images and data from the same locations, these satellites can show changes over time, including deforestation, changes in waterways and how loss of trees corresponds to urban heat.
Vamsi Ganti, University of California, Santa Barbara
Millions of people around the world live on river deltas and are vulnerable when those rivers shift direction. A new study shows why and where these events, called avulsions, happen.
Lake Powell’s water level has been falling amid a two-decade drought. The white ‘bathtub ring’ on the canyon walls marks the decline.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
When Indigenous peoples lose their river flow to dams, satellite programs like Landsat – which is celebrating its 50th anniversary – can help them fight for their resources.
Wetlands created by beavers, like this one in Amherst, Massachusetts, store floodwaters and provide habitat for animals and birds.
Christine Hatch
A draft plan for Sydney’s water supplies includes expanding desalination and potentially adding highly treated sewage to drinking water. All options must be on the table as the climate warms.