Rivers of the ‘Dammed,’ Rising from the Grave

By Megan Ewald, NOAA Office of Response and Restoration

Oil spills, hazardous waste, and ship groundings hex America’s oceans and rivers every year. Pollution drives people away from beaches, leaving them silent as a boneyard. NOAA looks for ways to bring waterways back to life. To do this, NOAA and our partners often look for opportunities to remove or bypass barriers for fish passage such as dams, faulty culverts, or grates. This is the sordid tale of six dammed rivers, where pollution settlements provided the opportunity for waters across America to rise from the grave.

Puerto Rico Teenagers take Post-Maria Water Safety into their Own Hands

By Jenny Kamin, Grist

Water activist Steve Tamar expected just a dozen students to show up to his citizen-science training at Maricao High School in western Puerto Rico this past October. Instead, the sweltering hot auditorium was packed with teenagers looking to help test the island’s water.

Clean water: One of the First Casualties of Partisan Attacks to Roll Back Regulations

By Shiney Varghese, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy

Then the question is: who is interested in the repeal of laws that protect our environment? Who wants corporations to continue their pollution? Certainly not local communities who use the local waters.

Deep Trouble Down in the Ground

By Gene Logsdon, The Contrary Farmer

I have a hunch that Des Moines will win and farmers are going to have to help cities pay for cleaner water. Maybe that’s fair. And if farm size keeps going up, who is going to protest if a 50,000 acre executive farmer has to pay.