Articles Tagged: Water Pollution

Understanding Natural vs. Problematic Foam in Streams, Channels, and Lakes If you spend enough time around streams, roadside ditches, or lakes, you will eventually notice patches of foam collecting along the edges or drifting in slow-moving water. For many people, the immediate assumption is that th…

For decades, the ideal suburban yard has been defined by a single image, a uniform carpet of bright green grass, edged with ornamental shrubs and kept pristine through fertilizers, pesticides, and frequent watering. It is neat, predictable, and widely accepted as a symbol of care and success. But fr…

Municipal governments are often viewed as stewards of water quality, yet many of their routine, necessary operations can unintentionally contribute pollutants to the stormwater system. Unlike wastewater, which is treated before discharge, stormwater typically flows untreated into nearby streams, riv…

Dry weather outfall screening is one of the most effective and defensible tools available to municipal stormwater programs for identifying illicit discharges. Under MS4 permit requirements associated with the Clean Water Act and the NPDES stormwater program, municipalities are required to implement …

Lake George in upstate New York is often called the “Queen of American Lakes” because of its exceptional clarity and scenic setting in the Adirondack Mountains. For generations, residents and visitors have prized its transparent waters, vibrant fisheries, and tourism economy. Yet in rece…

When crews encounter contaminated sediments during routine work, or when a concerned homeowner reports a suspicious odor or unusual discharge, the situation calls for immediate but steady action. Stormwater systems often collect materials from a wide range of sources, and although many sediments are…

Constructed wetlands are engineered systems that mimic the natural processes of a real wetland in order to treat stormwater, wastewater, or other polluted runoff. They are intentionally designed and built rather than formed through natural hydrology, but they function in much the same way. Water flo…

Wetlands are often described as the kidneys of the watershed because they filter, slow, and transform the water that passes through them in ways that protect downstream ecosystems. This comparison is more than a poetic metaphor. It captures the essential truth that wetlands perform quiet but powerfu…

Habitat disruption around drainage structures is often subtle at first, and many of the earliest signs tend to appear during ordinary field work rather than during formal environmental surveys. Because highway departments and public works crews encounter these locations regularly, they are in the be…

Harmful algal blooms have become one of the most pressing water quality problems in many regions, and their rise has been linked to a complicated blend of ecological, climatic, and human factors. In freshwater systems, these blooms are most often caused by cyanobacteria, commonly known as blue green…

The Salton Sea is one of California’s most unusual and tragic landscapes, a place shaped by accident, transformed by ambition, and ultimately pushed toward collapse by the very forces that sustained it for decades. Its story is a long arc of creation, prosperity, decline, and ongoing struggle,…

A brownfield is real property whose reuse or redevelopment is complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Congress added this definition to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), recognizing that l…