Last February, when Elon Musk called the U.S. Agency for International Development “a criminal organization” that had outlived its usefulness, the full calamitous measure of closing the world’s most important human aid organization was not yet apparent overseas or in America. Seven months later it is brutally apparent. Across the planet a shameful retreat is […] The post “America First” Puts Big Hurt on International Water Programs appeared first on Circle of Blue.| Circle of Blue
By Fatima Syed, The Narwhal The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS; Michigan Public, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; and The Narwhal who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water. This independent journalism is supported […] The post What’s going on in Wasaga Beach? Profit, piping plovers and an ...| Circle of Blue
Every dollar that the federal government directs to state environment departments enables the Great Lakes and every other region to steward natural resources, yielding many times the value of the federal contribution. State environment departments make the case daily that they merit more financial support, not less. That is why Circle of Blue’s opinion desk […] The post Slashing Federal Budget Is Big Problem for State Environment Agencies appeared first on Circle of Blue.| Circle of Blue
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan; September 10, 2025 The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS; Michigan Public, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; and The Narwhal who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water. This independent journalism […] The post As mussels ravage Great Lakes whitefish, Lake Superio...| Circle of Blue
By Lisa John Rogers, Great Lakes Now; August 27, 2025 The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit PBS; Michigan Public, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; and The Narwhal who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water. […] The post Illinois Gov. Pritzker signs PFAS Reduction Act appeared first on Circle of Blue.| Circle of Blue
Restoring neglected waterways of the Southeast Side are major challenge. For 70 years, from 1900 to 1970, the Calumet River on Chicago’s Southeast Side provided the cooling water, waste disposal, and shipping channel for a dense collection of steel, chemical, and metals manufacturing plants matched in few other regions of the country. When the last […] The post Chicago Prepares Development Plan For Industrial Zone With Priority for Water and Wetland appeared first on Circle of Blue.| Circle of Blue
By Stefan Lovgren I first began covering the Mekong River in Southeast Asia almost two decades ago, encountering fish so immense they seemed almost mythical: giant freshwater stingrays weighing as much as a grand piano, and grizzly bear-size Mekong giant catfish. No other river on Earth harbors so many colossal fish. Their fates reveal something […] The post Can the Mekong, the World’s Most Productive River, Endure Relentless Strain? appeared first on Circle of Blue.| Circle of Blue
By Mitch Tobin, The Water Desk Every spring, high-country streams and rivers in the American West begin to swell with water as the region’s snowpack starts to dissipate. It’s easy to assume that the liquid flowing in these water bodies is just fresh meltwater emanating from the preceding winter’s snowpack. But a recent study of […]| Circle of Blue
Water for crops, but not for those who pick them — a tale as old as time for California’s farmworkers. But the latest threat to farmworkers and their water supply has nothing to do with the state’s notoriously polluted groundwater. It’s the fear of being deported by federal immigration authorities knocking down their doors. Maria, […]| Circle of Blue
Water for crops, but not for those who pick them — a tale as old as time for California’s farmworkers. But the latest threat to farmworkers and their water supply has nothing to do with the state’s notoriously polluted groundwater. It’s the fear of being deported by federal immigration authorities knocking down their doors. Maria, […] The post ICE Raids in California Block Farmworker Access to Clean Water appeared first on Circle of Blue.| Circle of Blue
By Duncan Wood In early August 2025, Mexican oil company Pemex made a quiet announcement with loud implications: the state-owned enterprise will focus on unconventional oil and gas fields, which ultimately means that President Sheinbaum is authorizing the use of hydraulic fracturing—better known as fracking. Under her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, fracking was all […] The post Mexico’s Fracking Reboot: A Critical First Step—but Only the Beginning appeared first on Circle...| Circle of Blue
In the last decade, the U.S. electric power sector turned away from coal to embrace wind turbines and solar panels, two energy generating sources that require little water for operations and cooling. Together with the installation of more water-efficient natural gas-fired power plants, the energy shift has been a net benefit for the country’s water […] The post Data Center Energy Demand Is Putting Pressure on U.S. Water Supplies appeared first on Circle of Blue.| Circle of Blue
By Duncan Wood Across North America, access to clean, reliable water remains strikingly unequal. While Canada holds 20% of the world’s freshwater resources, many communities in the United States and Mexico struggle with scarcity, contamination, and inadequate infrastructure. From drought-plagued Sonora and Nuevo León to depleted aquifers in Arizona and California, the continent’s water crisis […] The post Launching a North American Water Dialogue appeared first on Circle of Blue.| Circle of Blue
Learn about the dangers of cigarette butt pollution Great Lakes face and how it affects local wildlife and communities.| Circle of Blue
People are unprepared for smoke from forest fires worsened by intense drought and heat.| Circle of Blue
Era of megafires endangers water supplies in American West.| Circle of Blue
Uncover the realities of the Flagstaff Pipeline Fire and how it affects communities, wildlife, and the environment at large.| Circle of Blue
Explore the rising presence of blue-green algae in Ontario lakes and its implications for local ecosystems as temperatures rise.| Circle of Blue
Explore the quantum shift in Chicago’s economy as it transforms the former U.S. Steel South Works site into a sustainable future.| Circle of Blue
Explore the significance of irrigation in the Yakima-Tieton Irrigation Canal for sustaining valuable farmland and orchards in Washington.| Circle of Blue
Explore the hidden caches of fresh water and the emerging threats to this vital resource as the planet changes.| Circle of Blue
Explore how the Great Lakes shape livelihoods and economies with abundant fresh water and thriving industries.| Circle of Blue
Discover the implications of Trump's proposed cuts to infrastructure funding for drinking water and sewer systems.| Circle of Blue
Explore the Klamath River's transformation as salmon return home following the historic removal of four dams.| Circle of Blue
Explore the beauty of the Great Lakes, where breathtaking sand dunes meet the crystal-clear waters of Lake Michigan.| Circle of Blue