Circle of Blue Reports
Spain’s Hog Haven Pollutes Catalonian Waters
In Burned Forests, the West’s Snowpack Is Melting Earlier
Watered Down: A Weakened Global Water Strategy
Three Great Lakes States at Greatest Risk as EPA Rolls Back Wetland Protections
Clean Water Is a Virtue in Helping Cities Be ‘Livable and Lovable’
The Next Deluge May Go Differently
New Collaboration Brings Real-Time Water Intelligence and Frontline Journalism to U.S. Communities
America’s Deadliest Waterborne Disease Is Not Letting Up
New Era of Confrontation Between Energy and Water Opens in Great Lakes
Traces of Old Farm Chemicals Contaminate Water Across the U.S.
What It Means For Water and Resources When Trump Budget Cuts Hit Home
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The Stream, December 16, 2025: In Brazilian Amazon, Riverbank Erosion on the Rise as Shipping Networks Expand
● Across hundreds of incidents of explosive weapons impacting water infrastructure from 2018 through 2024, a majority occurred in Palestine, Russia, and Ukraine.
● Record-breaking autumn rains in Death Valley National Park has prompted the re-emergence of an ephemeral waterbody known as Lake Manly.
● Storms and flash flooding killed dozens of people this weekend in Morocco and Bolivia, where recent drought and deforestation exacerbated the uncontrolled flow of water.
● The collapse of riverbanks in the Brazilian Amazon, a consequence of drought and boat traffic, is coinciding with the country’s expansion of shipping networks.
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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, December 15, 2025: House Passes Permitting Changes; EPA Delays Perchlorate Rule
● EPA delays proposed rule for perchlorate in drinking water until January 2026 due to the government shutdown.
● House Republicans pass bills to change Clean Water Act permitting.
● EPA and Army Corps will hold public meetings on their proposal to narrow the scope of the Clean Water Act.
● USGS tracks the inland, underground movement of saltwater in Florida’s Miami-Dade County.
● Two California Democrats introduce water storage bills for their state.
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The biggest international, state, and local policy news stories facing the Great Lakes region today.
Fresh, December 17, 2025: Ohio EPA Considers Fast-Tracking Water Discharge Permits for Data Centers
● U.S. representatives from Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Ohio have introduced legislation to improve the affordability of water infrastructure projects in low-income communities.
● The Ohio EPA is considering approving a new permit that would regulate discharge from data centers, while acknowledging that water quality may suffer.
● House Republicans in Michigan abruptly cancelled…
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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.
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 readingOPINION
Jane Goodall’s Legacy Included Protecting Clean Water
“America First” Puts Big Hurt on International Water Programs
Slashing Federal Budget Is Big Problem for State Environment Agencies
Launching a North American Water Dialogue
POLICY AND ECONOMICS
What’s going on in Wasaga Beach? Profit, piping plovers and an Ontario town’s complicated future
CLIMATE AND ECOSYSTEMS
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.