Water Quality

In the Once Heavily Polluted Chicago River, More Fish, a Giant Snapping Turtle and an Upcoming Swim

Kayaking on the river reveals signs of life that earlier had been stamped out. The city’s first open-water swim in nearly a century is planned there this month.

By Leigh Giangreco

Climate Change Worsens Half-Century of Drinking Water Problems for Maine Native Reservation

By Sydney Cromwell

Chicago Has a Huge Lead Pipe Problem—and We Mapped It

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

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

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

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

By Sophia Kalakailo, City Bureau

The Battle Over Polluted Water Beneath an Iowa Coal Ash Landfill

By Anika Jane Beamer

Navigating the Troubled Waters of Newtown Creek Means an Environmental Cleanup in Brooklyn and Queens That Will Cost At Least $3.3 Billion

By Jordan Gass-Pooré

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

By Lisa Sorg

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

By Anna Mattson

In Rural Puerto Rico, Water Systems Depend on Volunteers—and Threatened Federal Grants

By Sarah Mattalian

Capped Alabama Coal Ash Pond Still Polluting Groundwater 7 Years After Closure, Lawsuit Claims

By Dennis Pillion

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

By Anika Jane Beamer

Efforts to Reduce Toxic Algae in Lake Erie Appear to Be Making Progress. Now They Face State and Federal Cuts

By Theo Peck-Suzuki

Violating California Residents’ Right to Water

By Liza Gross

Flint Completes Required Lead Pipe Replacements

By Carrie Klein

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

By Lisa Sorg

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

By Anika Jane Beamer

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

By Carrie Klein

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

Interview by Steve Curwood, Living on Earth