Water & Oceans

"Pulses of melting linked to rainfall doubled in summer and tripled in winter, a new climate change study found. That's a problem for sea level rise."

"When a frozen snowflake falls on the Greenland Ice Sheet, it lands with a whisper and stays frozen, sometimes for months.

But raindrops splat down, making little craters and melting some of the adjacent snow crystals. Multiplied across thousands of square miles, they can trigger widespread melting and runoff, which can lead to more sea level rise.

"OLYMPIA, Wash. — A ban on single-use plastic bags passed the state Senate Tuesday, progress for an idea proposed in the Legislature as early as 2013."

"Elevated levels of lead have been found in schools across the US, alarming experts who say it is particularly harmful to children".

"Cleaning up and protecting U.S. drinking water from a class of toxic chemicals used in many household items could cost in the tens of billions of dollars nationally, including $2 billion for the Department of Defense alone, witnesses testified Wednesday before a House panel urging the federal government to move more quickly on the cleanup."

"In Richmond late last month, the James River flooded to more than 16 feet, its highest since 2010. The state health department closed sections to shellfish harvesting because floodwaters likely contained disease-causing bacteria and viruses."

"The cutting and disposal of a dozen mature trees into the Potomac River nearly two weeks ago at the Trump National Golf Course violated Loudoun County’s zoning ordinance, the county said, and could cost the organization at least $600."

"New Mexico on Tuesday sued the U.S. Air Force over groundwater contamination at two bases, saying the federal government has a responsibility to clean up plumes of toxic chemicals left behind by past military firefighting activities."

"As thousands of hydroelectric dams are planned worldwide, including 147 in the Amazon, a new study finds that the true socio-environmental and cultural costs of dams are rarely evaluated before construction. Were such factors counted into the lifetime cost of the dams, many would not be built."

"LANSING, MI — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is proposing $120 million in new general fund spending to improve drinking water infrastructure."