Blog

Iowa acts on ag pollution

August 16, 2013

Iowans – some Iowans, anyway – are taking very seriously the water pollution caused by many modern farming practices. The Iowa Board of Regents this month approved creation of an … Read more

Fracking linked to arsenic

August 14, 2013

Read a Pro Publica interview, published in MINNPOST, about researchers at the University of Texas at Arlington who tested water in wells near natural gas fracking sites in Texas. They … Read more

A shallow lakes workshop

August 14, 2013

What: The Nature of Lakes—A Shallow Perspective When: Tuesday, Aug. 20, 7 to 8 p.m. Where: St. Louis Park Public Library, 3240 Library Lane St. Louis Park For: All interested … Read more

Decades of irrigation depleting High Plains aquifer

August 8, 2013

Irrigation, which transformed agriculture in Kansas into a much more profitable industry decades ago, now is starting to exhaust the groundwater that fed the change. Read, or listen to, a … Read more

Nitrogen flush headed for Gulf

August 8, 2013

Last summer’s drought in the big parts of the Midwest stunted crops and left lots of nitrogen fertilizer – much of which normally would have been taken up by plants … Read more

Poll backs closing locks

August 7, 2013

Sixty-three percent of Minnesota voters are concerned about Asian carp spreading into state rivers and lakes, according to a new public opinion poll commissioned by a coalition of groups fighting … Read more

Mercury taints wildlife refuge

August 6, 2013

Water in the restored wetlands of the Glacial Ridge National Wildlife Refuge near Crookston, Minn., has extraordinarily high levels of toxic methylmercury, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey research … Read more

Plastic pollutes Great Lakes

July 30, 2013

Millions of tiny plastic particles – some so small they only can be viewed through a microscope – have been found floating in the Great Lakes. Some are suspected of … Read more

Wells vs. lakes in Wisconsin

July 25, 2013

Wisconsin is embroiled in a controversy pitting irrigators and other owners of high-capacity wells against shore land owners and other users of declining lakes and streams in the state’s Central … Read more

'Streamer' maps Mississippi watershed

July 22, 2013

Where does Hawk Creek, southwest of Willmar, end up?  How about Cherry Creek, north of St. Peter? Or Goose Creek, near Albert Lea? You can probably guess. They all end … Read more