As a Colorado Aquifer Runs Low, Dangerous Heavy Metals Threaten Rural Communities’ Drinking Water
Circle of Blue Reports
Proposed Michigan Bill Would Tie State Wetland Protections to a Recently Narrowed Federal Standard
Glen Canyon Dam Faces Its Existential Moment
Senate Overturns Ban On Mining Near Boundary Waters Wilderness
Stalled Farm Bill, Slashed Grants Undercut Farmers’ Water Protection Efforts
U.S. Government Orders Emergency Actions to Protect Glen Canyon Dam
War Threatens the Gulf’s Water Lifeline
States Challenge Right to Protest Damage to Water, Land, Environment
Executive Order Puts Oldest Polluting Coal Plants Back in Action
‘We’re harvesting the sun’: A huge solar project grows in California
As the West’s Scant Snowpack Melts, Coloradans Brace for a Lean Water Year
EPA Reversal Opens the Door to More Mercury Pollution
opinion
Great Lakes Lawmakers Push Back Against Federal Environmental Rollbacks
Jolted by Climate Change, Youth Perch with Strength and Vision
Chris Jones Campaigns to Clean Up Iowa’s Water
Trump Is Desperate to End Era of Land, Water, Wildlife Protections
The World Economic Forum Water Systems Map
Water is a system of systems. From rainfall to rivers, infrastructure to policy, local use to global consequences, every part is connected. This interactive map reveals how water flows through everything, particularly a nexus of water, food and energy. It reveals where risks emerge, where solutions intersect, and why informed decisions about water matter everywhere. Curated by Circle of Blue with the World Economic Forum.
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The Stream, May 12, 2026: Syria’s Water Systems Under Duress as Flood Follows Famine
● On the heels of record-setting drought, heavy rains and dam failures have inundated farmland and homes in northern Syria.
● Water reserves in Athens’ largest reservoir tripled from October to April, bringing a temporary reprieve to the water-strapped capital.
● Residents in Utah continue to oppose a 40,000-acre data center development proposing to divert water from near the Great Salt Lake for use on-site.
● Southern Iraq’s historic wetlands have returned after a five-year absence, with winter rains flooding roughly one-third of the habitat’s former domain.
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Federal Water Tap is a weekly digest spotting trends in U.S. government water policy. Get it delivered to your inbox every Monday.
Federal Water Tap, May 11, 2026: Record-Low Lake Powell Runoff, NOAA Forecasts
The Rundown And lastly, the EPA plans to begin regulatory rollback of certain PFAS in drinking water soon. “We need drinking water rules that are legally defensible. We need drinking water regulations that are not susceptible to legal challenge because the explicit process in the Safe Drinking Water Act wasn’t followed. And so that is a huge concern.” – Jessica Kramer, head of the EPA Office of Water, speaking about the agency’s intention to scale back Biden-era federal rules for PFAS in drinking water, the Associated Press reports. For a year, the agency has signaled its plan to rescind rules…
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The biggest international, state, and local policy news stories facing the Great Lakes region today.
Great Lakes States Face a Data Center Governance Gap
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Brett Walton’s 2020 investigation uncovered a hidden danger beneath U.S. coasts: rising groundwater threatening homes, infrastructure, and public health. Now, that reporting is helping shape action in Washington. The bipartisan Groundwater Rise and Infrastructure Preparedness Act would task the U.S. Geological Survey with mapping groundwater rise through 2100 and recommending solutions to protect communities before it’s too late. Read the story below.
The Mekong River
In the heart of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the muddy flow of the Mekong River is a lifeline—for fishermen, farmers, families. But this ancient river system is being pushed to the edge.
Matt Black Honored with MacArthur Fellowship
Photojournalists speak of their “duty to see” — their commitment to capture decisive moments that stir empathy, reveal truth, and inspire hope.
We congratulate Matt Black, a Circle of Blue contributing photographer, for being one of the 22 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship honorees this year. Matt received the $800,000 award that is attached to the famous Genius Grant for “chronicling the impacts of inequality and hardship on people and places.”
Circle of Blue identified Matt’s exquisite and influential photography more than a decade ago and featured his striking images of California’s Central Valley for our award-winning multimedia Choke Point: Index project. Photographs for that project were featured in “The Dry Land” photo spread published by the New Yorker magazine. The New York Times also noted Black’s photographs of the Central Valley drought.
We celebrate Matt for sharing our mission to see clearly, tell deeply, and connect the world through water.
The Blue Planet: Quarterly Report
A World on Fire Is a Water Risk
The world is awash in flames. Nearly 22 million acres in Canada have burned this year, the second highest annual total for the country in the last four decades. The European Union is experiencing its worst fire year in the last two decades. Much of the damage has occurred in Portugal, where three times more acres have burned than average. In July, large fires…
Keep readingPOLICY AND ECONOMICS
QUALITY AND SUPPLY
CLIMATE AND ECOSYSTEMS
Global Collapse of Migratory Freshwater Fish Drives Calls for Transboundary Cooperation
The Drying American West
At Phoenix’s Far Edge, a Housing Boom Grasps for Water
HotSpots H2O
Snowfall in Hindu Kush Himalaya In Steep Decline
In response to critically low snow cover in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, and the potential for serious water shortages in downstream communities, experts from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) have called for immediate action…
The Blue Economy
Water Determines Great Lakes Region’s Economic Future
A Great Lakes News Collaborative series on the relationship between the region’s economy and its most abundant natural resource: water.
This multi-part series revisits a vision set forth a decade ago by Great Lakes leaders to reshape the region’s economy around the stewardship of its most vital asset—water. Through original reporting across the Great Lakes basin, the GLNC newsrooms assess the current state of the “blue economy” and how it has evolved over the past ten years.