More than half of the large lakes and reservoirs on the planet have diminished since the early 1990s due to climate change and human diversion and consumption, an international team of researchers has found. The findings have implications for people who rely on their supply of freshwater for drinking, hydropower and agriculture. The researchers looked […]
Climate change is causing lakes to dry up, leading to a number of unfortunate circumstances. The latest? As the Great Salt Lake’s water levels continue to decline, it could cause a toxic dust cloud to form around Salt Lake City. The Great Salt Lake has decreased by two-thirds of its size since the 1980s, and […]
At more than two million years old and more than a mile above sea level, Lake Tahoe sits on the border of California and Nevada in the Northern Sierra Nevada mountains. The water is so pure that it isn’t even required to be filtered by water suppliers, the Tahoe Daily Tribune reported. Despite the remarkable […]
Over the weekend, boaters at Lake Mead came across a shocking discovery: a decaying barrel with decades-old human remains. The body is believed to be linked to a homicide in the 1980s but finally came to the surface as the lake’s water levels plummet. With ongoing droughts across the western U.S., more bodies are likely […]
Fifty years ago, the U.S. passed the Clean Water Act with the goal of ensuring “fishable, swimmable” water across the U.S. by 1983. Now, a new report from the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP) finds the country has fallen far short of that goal. In fact, about half of the nation’s lakes and rivers are too polluted for swimming, fishing or drinking.
Saltwater pollution of the world’s freshwater ecosystems caused by agriculture fertilizers, road de-icing salts, mining operations and climate change is on the rise, and the current water quality guidelines in North America and Europe aren’t stringent enough to prevent it. An international study conducted by scientists from Europe and North America found that freshwater lakes […]
The federal government is expected to declare a first-ever water shortage in the Colorado River basin by next year at the latest –some believe the call could come this summer. The declaration would implement mandatory water cuts in Lower Basin states, three of the seven in the Colorado River Compact, Newsweek and NPR reported. The […]
Climate change is contributing to falling oxygen levels in lakes across the world, according to a study published in the journal Nature Wednesday. Previous studies have shown falling oxygen levels in individual lakes, but this study is the first to look at so many lakes globally, as researchers gathered data from nearly 400 lakes in […]
By Ayesha Tandon New research shows that lake “stratification periods” – a seasonal separation of water into layers – will last longer in a warmer climate. These longer periods of stratification could have “far-reaching implications” for lake ecosystems, the paper says, and can drive toxic algal blooms, fish die-offs and increased methane emissions. The study, […]