Protecting Rivers & Your Clean Water
Missouri River Water Wars Continue As Drought Persists
Jessie Thomas-Blate, Coordinator, Most Endangered Rivers
January 30, 2013 | Climate Change, Floods & Floodplains, Most Endangered Rivers
Remember back in good old 2011, when the Missouri River flooded like crazy and everyone wondered if it would ever stop? Boy did it stop in 2012! The flood has been nearly forgotten with the massive drought conditions across the Midwest. In 2012, American Rivers listed the Missouri River as one of America’s Most Endangered Rivers®. It truly continues to be endangered.
Read more »Climate – Back in the Conversation?
Fay Augustyn, Conservation Associate
January 29, 2013 | Climate Change
Is climate change finally back in the conversation? Last week climate was a key theme in many political conversations within the Administration and on the Hill. In President Obama’s inauguration speech, climate was front and center.
Read more »Romping with the Otters
Sandra Adams, Senior Vice President of Advancement
January 29, 2013 | Discover Rivers
We have had great response to our first-ever Adopt-an-Otter campaign—thank you for making this project a big success.
Read more »Shampoo, Soap, and Toothpaste: The New Water Pollution?
Stacey Detwiler, Associate, Conservation & Government Relations
January 28, 2013 | Stormwater & Sewage, Urban Rivers
Last week, a study from the University of Minnesota found that increasing amounts of triclosan, an anti-microbial ingredient used in soaps, toothpastes, and even some over-the-counter drugs, were present in lakes across Minnesota. Researchers studied sediment cores from the bottoms of eight different lakes and found that levels of triclosan and its byproducts increased after its release into the market in the 1970s. When people use shampoo, toothpaste, or soap that contains triclosan, it gets washed into drains and to our wastewater infrastructure.
Read more »Clean Water Rules Provide for Safe Whitewater Boating
Liz G. Deardorff, Director, Clean Water Program Pennsylvania
January 24, 2013 | Urban Rivers, Water Pollution, Stormwater & Sewage
I started whitewater canoeing 35 years ago. I’ve paddled hundreds of rivers over thousands of trips. I can only recall abandoning a planned trip for two reasons, OK three— once I had to carry my boat out in pieces once after shredding it in a rock sieve. The other two: insurmountable wind conditions for my strength and pollution. This story is about pollution. The other stories can be saved for the camp fire.
Read more »Clean Water Supplies Through Green Infrastructure
Katherine Baer, Senior Director, Clean Water and Water Supply Programs
January 21, 2013 | Water Supply, Urban Rivers, Stormwater & Sewage
Here, where I live in North Carolina, our drinking water comes from streams and rivers, like Cane Creek, and Bolin Creek, right near our house flows into Lake Jordan, a regional water supply. And this is true for many of us – the majority of Americans get their drinking water from surface water, including streams and rivers, and so keeping our rivers clean and flowing is critical for reliable supplies.
Read more »Update On Clean Water At The Supreme Court
Katherine Baer, Senior Director, Clean Water and Water Supply Programs
January 18, 2013 | Stormwater & Sewage, Water Pollution, Urban Rivers
Just last week, the Supreme Court issued their decision on the Clean Water Act case, Los Angeles County Flood Control District v. Natural Resources Defense Council. The Court reversed and remanded the decision of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals (which had earlier ruled in favor of NRDC). As I wrote previously, this case had the unique quality of coming before the Supreme Court with the petitioner and respondents in agreement on the threshold issue, of whether the movement of water between “improved” and “unimproved” portions of a single waterway constitutes a discharge under the CWA.
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