The environmental regulator has stepped in to stop water pollution from an underground coal mine damaging a World Heritage River. Can the mine deliver improvements and will the river recover?
Harmful chemicals in shampoo and other personal products can cause real harm once they’re washed down the drain.
Shutterstock
Dana Cordell, University of Technology Sydney; Dena Fam, University of Technology Sydney, and Nick Florin, University of Technology Sydney
Regulation can't keep up with the thousands of harmful chemicals that wash down our drains. Rather, companies should take responsibility for their products – before they hit the market.
Lee Blaney, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Ingredients from shampoo, sunscreens and other personal care products are turning up in water supplies. Some are toxic or cause hormonal damage to aquatic life, and could threaten human health.
Prairie potholes in South Dakota are important breeding and feeding areas for many types of birds. Under the Clean Water Rule, farmers cannot fill them in or discharge pollutants into them without a permit.
Laura Hubers, USFWS/Flickr
President Trump signed an executive order to roll back the 2015 Clean Water Rule. Two water experts explain why the rule alarms farmers and ranchers concerned about over-regulation.
The bad old days: Public and political support for the EPA was highest when environmental problems like air and water pollution were more obvious than current problems like climate change or endocrine disruptors.
U.S. National Archives
Low-income residents in Puerto Rico are fighting disposal of toxic coal ash in their communities. They're also campaigning to shift from coal energy – the source of the problem – to solar power.
Wastewater treatment systems around the world are hamstrung by outdated tests that don't identify a growing array of pathogens or identify the sources of pollutants.
Detail from a satellite photo of Lake Okeechobee’s algae bloom and the St. Lucie canal into which water was released. Rising water levels from heavy winter rains had water managers worried that water would breach the dike.
NASA
As Australia joins a New York summit to discuss the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it still faces questions over whether it is meeting water standards at home.
Harmful algal bloom caused by nutrient pollution, Assateague island National Seashore, MD.
Eric Vance, U.S. EPA/Flickr
Excess nutrients from farm fields cause widespread water pollution across the U.S. Bioreactors -- essentially, ditches filled with wood chips -- are emerging as a way to reduce nutrient pollution.
Mineral processing tailings are pumped into a storage facility. Are there still valuable commodities in this waste?
Identifying mine waste materials as economic resources will help support global demand for critical metals, boosting the mining industry during the downturn. All with environmental benefits.
Microbes living on corals are instrumental in keeping coral reefs healthy.
Reuters/David Gray
A new study provides insight into coral-dwelling microbial communities and how they react to pollution, overfishing, and climate change. What does it mean for the Great Barrier Reef?
A market that lets sugar cane farmers trade ‘nitrogen permits’ could help keep a cap on fertiliser use.
iStock
You've heard of cap-and-trade schemes for greenhouse gases. Perhaps we also need one to limit the amount of fertiliser runoff onto the Great Barrier Reef.
Climate change is warming Lake Tahoe and could alter its chemistry in harmful ways.
www.shutterstock.com
Lakes contain most of the fresh water on Earth's surface. Recent research at Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada mountains shows that climate change could alter lake chemistry, threatening these sources.
Fixing water pollution on the Great Barrier Reef will take a huge effort.
Reef image from www.shutterstock.com
In its first environmental case post-Scalia, the Supreme Court rebuffs farm and ranching interests that opposed the EPA's multistate plan to restore Chesapeake Bay using the Clean Water Act.
Lead can linger in bones.
X-ray via www.shutterstock.com.
Lead might not be in paint or gasoline anymore, but since it doesn't break down in the home or the environment it remains a problem throughout the U.S.
Pregnant women in three Australian cities are not told that lead exposure during pregnancy is linked to miscarriage and early delivery.
Flickr/Luca Montanari
Parents in three Australian states are being given misleading advice about the dangers of lead to babies and small children – including failing to warn pregnant women about miscarriage risks.
