drinking water

Growing Number of Bangladeshis Flee Rising Waters

Growing Number of Bangladeshis Flee Rising Waters

By Kieran Cooke As another monsoon season begins, huge numbers of homeless Bangladeshis are once again bracing themselves against the onslaught of floods and the sight of large chunks of land being devoured by rising water levels. Bangladesh, on the Bay of Bengal, is low-lying and crisscrossed by a web of rivers: two thirds of […]

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    How Trump’s EPA Is Moving to Undo Fracking Wastewater Protections

    How Trump’s EPA Is Moving to Undo Fracking Wastewater Protections

    By Sharon Kelly Back in 2008, residents of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and surrounding areas received a notice in the mail advising them to drink bottled water instead of tap water—a move that U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) internal memos at the time described as “one of the largest failures in U.S. history to supply clean drinking […]

    Fluorinated Chemicals Taint Water at Scores of Military Bases, Neighboring Communities: DOD Discloses Locations for First Time

    Fluorinated Chemicals Taint Water at Scores of Military Bases, Neighboring Communities: DOD Discloses Locations for First Time

    The Defense Department has for the first time disclosed the locations of military installations where tap water or groundwater on or off base is contaminated with highly toxic fluorinated chemicals. But the list is incomplete, naming only locations where water is polluted above the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “safe” level for tap water, which […]

    8 Ways to Protect Yourself From Lead-Contaminated Water

    8 Ways to Protect Yourself From Lead-Contaminated Water

    By Courtney Lindwall Health experts agree that there is no safe level of exposure to lead. Often making its way into our drinking water supply after leaching from old pipes, the heavy metal can cause serious and irreversible damage to the body—affecting the nervous system, fertility and cognitive ability, among other functions. Through the Safe […]

    Earth Day Founder Calls for End to Plastic Pollution

    Earth Day Founder Calls for End to Plastic Pollution

    By Erik Hoffner Denis Hayes was the principal national organizer of the first Earth Day in 1970, and he took the event to the international stage in 1990. He is board chair of the international Earth Day Network, and president of the Bullitt Foundation. Earth Day 2018 is slated for April 22 and focuses on […]

    Fluorinated Chemical Pollution Crisis Spreads

    Fluorinated Chemical Pollution Crisis Spreads

    Two decades after pollution from highly toxic fluorinated chemicals was first reported in American communities and drinking water, the number of known contamination sites is growing rapidly, with no end in sight. The latest update of an interactive map by Environmental Working Group (EWG) and the Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute at Northeastern University […]

    Fear and Fury in Michigan Town Where Air Force Contaminated Water

    Fear and Fury in Michigan Town Where Air Force Contaminated Water

    By Brett Walton Anthony Spaniola knew something was off with his town’s water. He read accounts in the Detroit Free Press and attended community meetings hosted by state health and environment agencies. Until last summer Spaniola was concerned but didn’t think the situation was out of control. Then he saw foam on Van Etten Lake. […]