The Energy Boom Is Coming for Great Lakes Water
Circle of Blue Reports
Jolted by Climate Change, Youth Perch with Strength and Vision
Western U.S. Cities Open Wallets in Quest for Water
Chris Jones Campaigns to Clean Up Iowa’s Water
An Obscure Provision In FEMA’s Program To Prevent Disaster Is Making Serious Flooding Worse
Planet Enters Era of ‘Global Water Bankruptcy,’ UN Report Says
Speaking of Water | Global Water Bankruptcy, a Conversation with Kaveh Madani
Combatting Agricultural Pollution: Michigan’s New Manure Management Rules
Trump Is Desperate to End Era of Land, Water, Wildlife Protections
Massive Energy Storage Project Eyed for Four Corners Region
opinion
Clean Water Is a Virtue in Helping Cities Be ‘Livable and Lovable’
Traces of Old Farm Chemicals Contaminate Water Across the U.S.
Jane Goodall’s Legacy Included Protecting Clean Water
“America First” Puts Big Hurt on International Water Programs
The World Economic Forum Water Systems Map
Water is a system of systems. From rainfall to rivers, infrastructure to policy, local use to global consequences, every part is connected. This interactive map reveals how water flows through everything, particularly a nexus of water, food and energy. It reveals where risks emerge, where solutions intersect, and why informed decisions about water matter everywhere. Curated by Circle of Blue with the World Economic Forum.
Global water news delivered twice a week.
Sign up for The Stream.
The Stream, February 10, 2026: Jordan, Perpetually Water-Stressed, Plans World’s Second-Largest Desalination Plant
● Jordan is spending $6 billion to build the world’s second-largest desalination plant, which will supply up to 40 percent of the country’s drinking water.
● Rainstorms that began as a welcome end to Morocco’s seven-year drought have failed to relent. More than 150,000 people have been displaced as flooding worsens.
● Record snowfall in coastal Japan has killed dozens of people, while officials brace for flooding as warm weather threatens rapid melting.
● Residents in Australia have filed a class-action lawsuit against one of the world’s largest gold mines for allegedly polluting their drinking water and…
Keep reading
Federal Water Tap is a weekly digest spotting trends in U.S. government water policy. Get it delivered to your inbox every Monday.
Federal Water Tap, February 9, 2026: U.S., Mexico Agree on Rio Grande Water Deliveries
● State Department announces deal with Mexico on predictable Rio Grande water deliveries.
● Army Corps publishes final environmental review for Line 5 oil pipeline tunnel, in the Great Lakes region.
● The Interior Department’s deadline for the seven Colorado River states to agree on water cuts is the end of this week but no deal is expected.
● NOAA forecasters discuss the dismal water supply outlook in the upper Colorado River, where total snow cover is currently the lowest in a quarter century.
● EPA extends deadlines for installing groundwater monitoring systems at certain coal ash pits.
Keep reading
The biggest international, state, and local policy news stories facing the Great Lakes region today.
Fresh, February 11, 2026: House Vote Slashes Lead Pipe Funding as Great Lakes Cities Face Decades-Long Replacement Backlog
● The U.S. House approved an appropriations bill that will cut $125 million in federal funding for replacing toxic lead service lines.
● Illinois is the first state to adopt rewilding as an official conservation strategy, with lawmakers hoping to expand wetland protections next.
● Democratic lawmakers in Ohio announced a collection of new…
Keep reading
About Us
Circle of Blue is one of the world’s premier water newsrooms, providing policymakers, business leaders, and everyday citizens with an independent source for data-driven water reporting and classic investigative journalism.
The world faces compounding crises.
Here is where you make a difference. With your tax-deductible donation, you have the power to put large gears in motion.
Water Podcasts
Speaking of Water
Featured interviews with water experts
Water Story Highlights
Audio highlights of featured water stories
Recent Videos
Follow us on social media
Learn about the future today
Brett Walton’s 2020 investigation uncovered a hidden danger beneath U.S. coasts: rising groundwater threatening homes, infrastructure, and public health. Now, that reporting is helping shape action in Washington. The bipartisan Groundwater Rise and Infrastructure Preparedness Act would task the U.S. Geological Survey with mapping groundwater rise through 2100 and recommending solutions to protect communities before it’s too late. Read the story below.
The Mekong River
In the heart of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the muddy flow of the Mekong River is a lifeline—for fishermen, farmers, families. But this ancient river system is being pushed to the edge.
Matt Black Honored with MacArthur Fellowship
Photojournalists speak of their “duty to see” — their commitment to capture decisive moments that stir empathy, reveal truth, and inspire hope.
We congratulate Matt Black, a Circle of Blue contributing photographer, for being one of the 22 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship honorees this year. Matt received the $800,000 award that is attached to the famous Genius Grant for “chronicling the impacts of inequality and hardship on people and places.”
Circle of Blue identified Matt’s exquisite and influential photography more than a decade ago and featured his striking images of California’s Central Valley for our award-winning multimedia Choke Point: Index project. Photographs for that project were featured in “The Dry Land” photo spread published by the New Yorker magazine. The New York Times also noted Black’s photographs of the Central Valley drought.
We celebrate Matt for sharing our mission to see clearly, tell deeply, and connect the world through water.
The Blue Planet: Quarterly Report
A World on Fire Is a Water Risk
The world is awash in flames. Nearly 22 million acres in Canada have burned this year, the second highest annual total for the country in the last four decades. The European Union is experiencing its worst fire year in the last two decades. Much of the damage has occurred in Portugal, where three times more acres have burned than average. In July, large fires…
Keep readingPOLICY AND ECONOMICS
Three Great Lakes States at Greatest Risk as EPA Rolls Back Wetland Protections
QUALITY AND SUPPLY
Michigan’s Other Water Crisis: PFAS’s Prevalence in Private Wells
Make America Polluted Again Starts in Iowa
The Drying American West
At Phoenix’s Far Edge, a Housing Boom Grasps for Water
HotSpots H2O
Snowfall in Hindu Kush Himalaya In Steep Decline
In response to critically low snow cover in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, and the potential for serious water shortages in downstream communities, experts from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) have called for immediate action…
The Blue Economy
Water Determines Great Lakes Region’s Economic Future
A Great Lakes News Collaborative series on the relationship between the region’s economy and its most abundant natural resource: water.
This multi-part series revisits a vision set forth a decade ago by Great Lakes leaders to reshape the region’s economy around the stewardship of its most vital asset—water. Through original reporting across the Great Lakes basin, the GLNC newsrooms assess the current state of the “blue economy” and how it has evolved over the past ten years.