clean water

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Judge Freezes Clean Water Rule in 24 States

Opponents call the federal regulation a burden on farmers and ranchers

(Newser) - A federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked a federal rule in 24 states that is intended to protect thousands of small streams, wetlands, and other waterways throughout the nation. US District Judge Daniel L. Hovland in Bismarck, North Dakota, halted the regulations from the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers...

We're Closer Than Ever to Realizing Jimmy Carter's Dream

Only 13 cases of Guinea worm disease were reported in 2022

(Newser) - The planet got incrementally closer to eradicating Guinea worm disease last year. The Carter Center on Tuesday announced there were just 13 cases of the disease reported worldwide in 2022, down two from the year prior for a 13% drop (the initial count of 14 was later confirmed to be...

Offered Water From Polluted River, He Drank It 'Without Hesitation'

Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann ends up in hospital, though party denies it was from the water

(Newser) - In this week's "Regrets, I've Had a Few" files, an Indian politician trying to show how clean the waters of a local river were ended up in the hospital, though his party insists the two events aren't related. On Sunday, Bhagwant Mann, the chief minister of...

Plumbing Poverty Is Worsening: Research

More than 1M in US lack adequate bathrooms

(Newser) - When they need to go to a bathroom, more than 1 million people in the US have to turn to chamber pots, school showers, and public restrooms. Almost a half-million households don't have basic indoor plumbing, new research has found. The problem isn't just in poor places, the...

Pope: Safe Drinking Water Is a Human Right

It's 'shameful' that so many lack access to it, he says

(Newser) - Pope Francis has affirmed that access to clean water is a human right and that it's "enormously shameful" that millions of people get sick and die each year for lack of it, the AP reports. In a message to a water management conference Thursday, Francis lamented that war,...

Beer Brewed From Sewer Water? Maybe

Clean Water Services wants to see it happen in Portland

(Newser) - There's water being turned into wine and then there's this: A Portland company wants to turn sewage into water—and then have beer brewed from that water. Clean Water Services operates four metro-area wastewater treatment plants, and it's asked the state of Oregon for the green light...

The West Virginia Water Crisis Isn't a Fluke
The West Virginia Water Crisis Isn't a Fluke
OPINION
Jan 13, 2014 1:33 PM CST

The West Virginia Water Crisis Isn't a Fluke

Lax regulation puts much of America at risk, Angie Rosser argues

(Newser) - The West Virginia water crisis is almost over. Gov. Earl Tomblin today lifted the ban on tap water for some parts of the state, saying that officials wanted to bring the system back on slowly to avoid a flood of excessive demand. But environmental activist Angie Rosser at the Epoch ...

Big Find Under Kenya: Rhode Island-Sized Lake

It, along with 2nd aquifer, could supply country for 70 years

(Newser) - It's another kind of liquid gold: Technology typically used to find oil has instead led scientists to massive lakes, or aquifers, hundreds of feet beneath some of Kenya's driest land. UNESCO yesterday announced that five aquifers were identified and two have thus far been verified in the Turkana...

Japanese MP Takes Dare to Drink Fukushima Water

Gulp designed to prove it's safe

(Newser) - Under pressure from journalists to prove that decontaminated water from the Fukushima area is safe, Japanese lawmaker Yasuhiro Sonoda downed a glass of water taken from puddles underneath the reactors themselves during a news conference today, his hands visibly shaking as he did so, the BBC reports. But he did...

Prozac Killing Great Lakes' Bacteria

Scientists fear for ecosystems

(Newser) - E. coli and other microbes in the Great Lakes are dying off thanks to traces of Prozac in the water, scientists find—and that’s not necessarily good news. “Your immediate thought is, 'Well, that's good, because they're not supposed to be there anyways,” a...

Erin Brockovich Carcinogen Runs Rampant in US Tap Water

Industrial pollutant hexavalent chromium found in 31 of 35 cities surveyed

(Newser) - Those who thought Erin Brockovich was just a decent movie might want to check their drinking water: An environmental group has found the probable carcinogen featured in the film in the tap water of 31 of 35 US cities it analyzed—the first such study of hexavalent chromium to be...

Image Rehab: Appendix Is Good for Something After All

Long-neglected organ is far from useless, researchers say

(Newser) - The human appendix has been assumed to be useless since Charles Darwin first suggested it was a vestigial organ—an evolutionary remnant from the time when our predecessors ate leaves and other now-indigestible foods. But new research suggests the organ had a much more vital function, LiveScience reports. It stored...

Congress Mulls Tighter Offshore Drilling Rules

Natural-gas firms currently exempt from clean-water laws

(Newser) - A bill pushed by Dick Cheney 4 years ago freed natural-gas drillers from clean-water laws, but pollution concerns are driving congressional Democrats to rethink the matter, ProPublica reports. They’ve drafted legislation that would end the natural-gas exemption and require drillers to reveal the chemicals they use in their work,...

Timberlake to Scale Kilimanjaro for Charity

Star climbing African mountain to raise awareness of global water crisis

(Newser) - Justin Timberlake is taking on Mount Kilimanjaro in an effort to raise awareness about the world water crisis, Access Hollywood reports. The star—who has been training four times a week to boost his lung capacity for the week-long climb—will be joined by Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco and Ethiopian-born...

5 Drought-Stopping Inventions
 5 Drought-Stopping Inventions 
GLOSSIES
Dec 14, 2008 6:08 PM CST

5 Drought-Stopping Inventions

Creating more water is the answer with 1.8B facing extreme shortage by 2025

(Newser) - One UN study estimates 1.8 billion people will face extreme water shortage by 2025; the US government projects 36 states could face a similar fate by 2013. Doug Cantor, in Esquire, examines potential shortage solutions:
  • PlayPump: A pump attached to a children’s merry-go-round extracts water from the ground
...

15 Stories