Kansas Prairie Festival Celebrates Agriculture That Protects Soil, Water, and Communities
Wendell Berry’s Water Intelligence
At Glen Canyon Dam, Trump Administration Privileges Hydropower over Ecosystems
Trump’s ‘Lake America’ Name Change Disrupts Cross-Border Management and Overwrites Native History
Demon Corn
Situation: Colorado River Water Crisis
This American City Perfected Clean Water for Beer — Now It’s Fighting to Keep Cancer-Causing Nitrates Out of the Tap
HotSpots H2O: Scenes From an Overheating, Drying World
Despite Supreme Court Decision, Bayer Faces More Challenge Over Roundup
Toxic Terrain: How Journalism Helped Break Iowa’s Farm Pollution Acquiescence
Situation: Colorado River Water Crisis
Real-time intelligence platform delivers key data and information as Lake Powell and Lake Mead hit combined record-low water levels, putting at risk agriculture, industry, and a $1.4 trillion regional economy
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The Stream, September 29, 2026: A Hormone-Disrupting Herbicide Is Contaminating One-Fourth of Continental U.S. Rivers, Analysis Finds
● The herbicide atrazine has been found in concentrations exceeding safe levels in 25 percent of rivers in the continental United States.
● More than 100 people in India and Nepal have been killed in landslides and flooding.
● Settlers in the West Bank have been diverting natural spring water to create artificial pools, exacerbating Palestinian communities’ freshwater crises.
● A new analysis of a proposed gold mine in Alaska suggests that even a small spill could have “generational” consequences for freshwater and fish health.
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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, October 5, 2026: GAO Recommends Congress Require More At-Risk Homes to Have Flood Insurance
The Rundown And lastly, the Army Corps completes the first-ever assessment of PFAS in wild rice in northern Michigan. “We need to make sure we’ve got accurate information about power usage, water usage, setbacks, backup power, get rid of non-disclosure agreements. My legislation would require, not invite, but require that information to come forward and put a penalty in place, at a relatively small amount, if they don’t submit that.” – Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) speaking in the Senate about his data center accountability bill. The bill would require data center operators to report annually on water withdrawals or consumption,…
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The biggest international, state, and local policy news stories facing the Great Lakes region today.
Great Lakes States Face a Data Center Governance Gap
Opinion
Trump Moves to Open America’s Wildest Forests to the Bulldozer
Ethanol Was Marketed to Help Agriculture. But It Fouled Our Water and Injured Our Health.
Political Surprise in the Corn Belt
Solar, Wind, and E.V.s Rise from Shadow of Trump’s Iran War
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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.
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.
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…
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Illinois Fails to Pass Landmark Act Requiring ‘Responsible’ Data Center Energy and Water Use
QUALITY AND SUPPLY
Ohio Scraps Controversial Plan to Ease Data Center Wastewater Discharges
CLIMATE AND ECOSYSTEMS
Why Wildfire Experts Are So Worried About This Year’s Fire Season
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.
