water pollution

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Scientists Are Worried About Ocean Damage From LA Fires

Hazardous ash could affect marine life, enter food chain

(Newser) - As crews work to remove potentially hundreds of thousands of tons of hazardous materials from the Los Angeles wildfires, researchers and officials are trying to understand how the fires on land have impacted the sea. The Palisades and Eaton fires scorched thousands of homes, businesses, cars, and electronics, turning everyday...

'It's Horrible,' Resident Says of Stream Turned Blood Red

Argentine agency suggests 'organic dye' is to blame

(Newser) - Residents of a suburb of Buenos Aires are waiting for answers about why a stream that flows through their neighborhood suddenly turned crimson red. Images and videos posted on social media show the change that occurred Thursday in the Sarandí stream on its way to an estuary, the Rio de...

That Pretty Starship Explosion? A Lot of Pollution

Experts say atmosphere, ocean likely to have suffered

(Newser) - The explosion of SpaceX's Starship didn't just cause damage to islands hit by falling debris. It also likely damaged the ocean and atmosphere, Space.com reports. The rocket's stainless-steel upper stage, which weighed 85 tons without propellant, broke up at an altitude of around 90 miles, according...

Wildfires May Have Contaminated LA's Water

'Chemicals can't be killed. You have to physically remove them from the water'

(Newser) - Fire crews are making progress against the Los Angeles-area wildfires, but residents are facing fresh challenges including potentially contaminated drinking water. Utilities have issued "Do Not Use" or "Do Not Drink" notices in areas affected by the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire, and experts say it could...

California Beach Town's Vexing Problem: Sewage
California Beach Town's
Vexing Problem: Sewage
longform

California Beach Town's Vexing Problem: Sewage

New Republic looks at the cross-border pollution affecting Imperial Beach

(Newser) - The "town awash in poop" is not a sought-after tourism slogan, but it's how the New Republic describes the California surf town of Imperial Beach near San Diego. The problem for residents is that the description is an apt one. The poop in question comes from across the...

This Is the Filthiest City in America
This Is the
Filthiest City
in America
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

This Is the Filthiest City in America

California's San Bernardino claims dubious honor, while Virginia's Lynchburg is the cleanest, according to LawnStarter

(Newser) - If cleanliness is next to godliness, a bunch of US cities need to find religion. LawnStarter took a look at more than 300 major US metropolitan areas to figure out which ones are sparkling clean and which ones need some tidying up, factoring in nearly two dozen metrics in four...

With Olympic Water Sports Looming, Bad News on Seine

River in Paris has levels of E. coli bacteria that are beyond limits determined to be safe for humans

(Newser) - Water in the Seine had unsafe elevated levels of E. coli less than two months before swimming competitions are scheduled to take place in it during the Paris Olympics, according to test results published Friday. Contamination levels in the first eight days of June, after persistent heavy rain in Paris,...

John Wayne Bobbitt Loses His Toes
John Wayne Bobbitt
Loses His Toes

John Wayne Bobbitt Loses His Toes

Man whose penis was cut off in 1993 says he's been impacted by Camp Lejeune water issue

(Newser) - John Wayne Bobbitt, whose penis was famously cut off by his now-ex-wife in 1993 (and later surgically reattached), reveals he had his toes amputated and has suffered other health problems due to the toxic water at North Carolina's Camp Lejeune , the military base where the former Marine spent time...

Supreme Court Limits EPA Power on Water Pollution

Majority sides with couple who sought to build home on wetlands in Idaho

(Newser) - The Supreme Court on Thursday made it harder for the federal government to police water pollution in a decision that strips protections from wetlands that are isolated from larger bodies of water, per the AP . It's the second decision in as many years in which a conservative majority of...

That's an Appliance Floating in This River

Sections of one Balkan river have become a floating garbage dump

(Newser) - Tons of waste dumped in poorly regulated riverside landfills or directly into waterways that flow across three countries end up turning a section of one Balkan river into a floating garbage dump. Bosnia's Drina River runs 215 miles from the mountains of northwestern Montenegro through Serbia and Bosnia. Some...

Ex-Michigan Governor Catches Big Break in Flint Case

Judge dismisses criminal charges against Rick Snyder, 8 years after water issues began

(Newser) - A judge dismissed criminal charges against former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder in the Flint water crisis, months after the state Supreme Court said indictments returned by a one-person grand jury were invalid. Snyder, a Republican who left office in 2019, had been charged with two misdemeanor counts of willful neglect...

This Whale Sucks In an Astounding Amount of Microplastics

Blue whales, as well as other baleens, are ingesting millions of the tiny particles daily

(Newser) - Baleen whales —which include blue whales and humpbacks—are a type of whale that uses special filters instead of teeth to collect and eat small prey like krill and fish. Now, in a research first, scientists examining the consumption habits of these marine mammals have found they're...

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...

Not the Loch Ness Monster in Detroit, but Something Else Amazing

What may be first river otter seen in 100 years in Detroit River shows water pollution is decreasing

(Newser) - "As a PhD student in marine ecology, Eric Ste Marie knew what he saw was rare." That sighting in the Detroit River last month, as described by WXYZ , is now making headlines, and it may be the first of its kind in a century. Ste Marie, a 27-year-old...

Awful-Smelling Foam Is Invading This City

Toxic foam from polluted river has become the bane of Mosquera, a suburb of Bogota, Colombia

(Newser) - Playing in foam is usually fun—think bubble baths when you were a kid. But in the streets of one suburb of Bogota, Colombia, residents flee toxic clouds of the stuff wafting over from a nearby polluted river, bringing an unpleasant odor and suspected to be the cause of a...

Amid War in Ukraine, a New Looming Concern

Contamination of nation's water, air, and soil could take years to assess and clean up, experts warn

(Newser) - Death and destruction isn't all that's been left in the wake of Russia's unrelenting war on Ukraine. Contamination of the nation's water, air, and soil are also now a concern, and it's an issue that could take years to remedy. Fires, explosions, building collapses, and...

Septic Systems, Climate Change, and a Looming Eco-Catastrophe

Millions of Americans can no longer take that flush for granted

(Newser) - For millions of American homeowners and their communities, the problem with septic systems is not just another seemingly distant threat due to climate change. It’s all happening right now; and, yes, it is projected to get worse. Per a detailed report by the Washington Post, rising sea and groundwater...

Blame for World's Plastic 'Deluge' Lands Squarely on US

We're the biggest contributor to the waste problem, per new NAS analysis commissioned by Congress

(Newser) - There's a "deluge" of plastic mucking up the Earth's oceans, with the United States serving as the biggest contributor to it. That's according to a new National Academy of Sciences report ordered by Congress that's imploring the US to come up with a plan to...

Manatees' Die-Off Continues in Florida
Manatee Record in Florida
Is a Grim One
UPDATED

Manatee Record in Florida Is a Grim One

Annual death toll for the marine creatures tops 1K, highest number since at least the '70s

(Newser) - Update: The manatee die-off continues in the Sunshine State, with a grim new record: For the first time, annual deaths of the marine mammal have exceeded 1,000. Per the AP , the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported on Wednesday that 1,003 manatees have died this year so...

That Foam Is Toxic. They Entered It Anyway

Hindus flocked to India's Yamuna River for a religious festival this week

(Newser) - It sounds innocuous enough: traveling to a tributary of India's Ganges to bathe as part of a Hindu ritual. But as CNN reports, some sections of the Yamuna River were far from ripe for bathing in this week. What's being described as white toxic foam currently cover portions...

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