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water contamination

Reporters Keerti Gopal (left) and Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco interview a Chicago resident at his home, which has a water service line made of lead. Credit: Anthony Vazquez/Chicago Sun-Times

How We Mapped Chicago’s Lead Pipe Problem and What We Learned

By Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco, Keerti Gopal, Peter Aldhous, Clayton Aldern, Amy Qin

Colton Wyatt shows off a lead water testing kit at his home in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood. Credit: Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times

Lead Pipes Are Everywhere in Chicago. Here’s How to Protect Yourself

By Sophia Kalakailo, City Bureau

The Des Moines River flows through downtown Ottumwa, Iowa. Credit: Matt McClain/The Washington Post via Getty Images

The Battle Over Polluted Water Beneath an Iowa Coal Ash Landfill

By Anika Jane Beamer

Downstream of Brenntag’s Durham plant, lead has been detected in the sediment of a creek that flows through Burton Park. Credit: Lisa Sorg/Inside Climate News

An Environmental Justice Test Case for Trump’s EPA: A Creek That Smells Like Death

By Lisa Sorg

With machete in hand, Isiah Cruz clears a patch of invasive common reed along the Passaic River’s edge. Credit: Anna Mattson/Inside Climate News

The Slow-Moving Fight to Clean New Jersey’s Most Contaminated River

By Anna Mattson

In the image, the sky is dramatically blue with interesting clouds above the manure and fields

Iowa Agriculture Runs on 110 Billion Pounds of Manure, at a Cost to Its Water

By Anika Jane Beamer

The community water system in Crest Hill, Ill., was one of 47 to receive a notice by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency warning of contaminated water. Credit: City of Crest Hill

Illinois Communities Grapple With ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Their Drinking Water

By Douglas J. Guth

A scrapper collects plumbing fixtures pulled out of the ground by the City of Flint’s lead line replacement crew on Aug. 12, 2021. Credit: Brittany Greeson/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Flint Completes Required Lead Pipe Replacements

By Carrie Klein

StarPet operates a 1.3 million-square-foot factory on 30 acres along Pineview Road in Asheboro, N.C. Credit: Lisa Sorg/Inside Climate News

N.C. Has Allowed a Likely Carcinogen Into Three Rivers Serving 900,000 People

By Lisa Sorg

An aerial view of the Cahaba River as it flows through central Alabama. Credit: Lee Hedgepeth/Inside Climate News

Alabama Environmental Groups Secure Rare Win in Fight to Update Water Toxicity Standards

By Dennis Pillion

A view of the Des Moines River as it flows through downtown Des Moines, Iowa. Credit: Clay Masters/Iowa Public Radio

Pollution, Not Drought, Prompts Lawn-Watering Ban in Des Moines

By Anika Jane Beamer

The Allegheny River and the Monongahela River join to form the Ohio River in downtown Pittsburgh. Credit: Nicolas DeSarno/Pexels

Should Pittsburgh’s Water Stay Public? Residents Will Get to Vote on It

By Carrie Klein

Workers cap an orphaned well near Oil City, La. on March 8, 2023. Credit: Cooper Neill for The Washington Post via Getty Images

Scientists Map Where Orphan Wells Pose Threats to Aquifers

By Martha Pskowski

Margo Denke, co-founder of the group Friends of Hondo Canyon, surveys a stretch of Commissioners Creek on her ranch in Bandera County, Texas. Credit: Dylan Baddour/Inside Climate News

In Booming Central Texas, Wastewater Is Polluting Rivers and Streams

By Dylan Baddour

Laurene Allen won the 2025 Goldman Environmental Prize for her activism with contaminated in her hometown of Merrimack, N.H. Credit: Goldman Environmental Prize

She Galvanized Her Community After a Company Contaminated It With ‘Forever Chemicals’

Interview by Steve Curwood, Living on Earth

Dry land is exposed on the banks of the Lake Oroville reservoir due to low water levels during the California drought emergency on May 25, 2021, in Oroville, Calif. Credit: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

New Poll Shows Americans View Water That’s Safe to Drink and Reliably Supplied as Top Issues

By Wyatt Myskow

A close-up photo of the mussel, shell open, is shown in the gloved hand of the biologist with water in the background

Elevated Levels of Radium Found in Western Pennsylvania’s Freshwater Mussels 

By Kiley Bense

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