Water & Oceans

Steps necessary to improve security at tens of thousands of US drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater facilities have become a little more definitive with the release Dec. 14, 2006, of a draft set of voluntary guidelines. (

The Gulf waters off of Louisiana aren't the only US area burdened by a "dead zone." There are similar, smaller areas with short- or long-term oxygen depletion off the shores of 20 states, as well as Canada and Mexico.

For many reporters, eco wine can be an intensely local story. While not every state has vineyards, viticulture has spread way beyond California in recent decades.

On Dec. 2, the US Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could decide whether the Clean Water Act (CWA) allows EPA to weigh costs and benefits when determining the best technology available for the cooling water intake structures at existing power plants.

Two new studies have shed light on some of the primary culprits in the degradation of the Gulf of Mexico and the Mississippi River.

Three reports being released by the National Academies' National Research Council have strong environmental links. Reports concern water, biofuels and ongoing conflicts between national security and the open flow of scientific information.

In 2005, at least 3,600 facilities violated their water discharge permits more than 24,000 times, according to a US Public Interest Research Group report released Oct. 11, 2007.

The US Navy seeks comments on its proposed rules for using sonar for its Atlantic Fleet training exercises

USGS report documents occurrence of nearly 270 contaminants in U.S. surface water and treated drinking water supplies for nine water systems.

The last vestiges of the dam-building era continue. But the era of the dam removers is well under way, as communities try to improve river habitat, restore fish migrations, or remove hazardous dams that are crumbling or no longer serve a useful purpose (though dam removal can also have potentially adverse consequences, such as the release of toxic sediments, or reductions in species that had adapted to the dam environment). In 2008, about 60 dams were removed, according to the advocacy group American Rivers. That adds substantially to the more than 300 dams that have been removed since 1999, and about 790 dams removed in the last 100 years, according to the group's tally.