Swamp microbe has pollution-munching power

Sewage treatment may be an unglamorous job, but bacteria are happy to do it. Sewage plants rely on bacteria to remove environmental toxins from waste so that the processed water can be safely discharged into oceans and rivers.

When it rains, it pours—the effects of stormwater runoff

The lovely smell that follows a spring rain as you sit on your porch and enjoy the sound of drips pattering on the lawn is so loved that it has earned the distinct honor of its own word: "petrichor." Somewhat less romantic ...

No glaciers, no water?

The world's largest rivers begin in glaciated mountain regions. However, climate change may cause many glaciers to disappear. Will water become scarce?

So much depends on a tree guard

In a big city, trees, like people, like their space. In a new study, researchers at Columbia University found that street trees protected by guards that stopped passersby from trampling the surrounding soil absorbed runoff ...

Reducing phosphorus runoff

Throughout the United States, toxic algal blooms are wreaking havoc on bodies of water, causing pollution and having harmful effects on people, fish and marine mammals.

Farm runoff and the worsening algae plague

Harmful algae blooms have become a top water polluter, fueled by fertilizers washing into lakes, streams and oceans. Federal and state programs have spent billions of dollars on cost-sharing payments to farmers to help prevent ...

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