"As the debate over the merits of Marcellus Shale development reaches a crescendo, an Ithaca researcher has culled a list of 270 files documenting wastewater spills, well contamination, explosions, methane migration and ecological damage related to gas production in the state since 1979."

"Federal officials said Wednesday they have given marching orders to Maryland and other states that drain into the Chesapeake Bay to come up with detailed plans for reducing pollution plaguing the estuary, warning that states face development shutdowns or other as-yet unstated consequences if the water fails to get cleaner."

"Hundreds of gasoline spills, which contain carcinogens like benzene, are reported each year in Nassau and Suffolk counties. Countless others go unreported or unnoticed. Cleaning them up can run into the millions and take decades to complete."

California lawmakers ended months of negotiations with final agreement on a historic water package. The legislation now goes to Governer Schwarzenegger, and an $11.1-billion bond measure goes before the voters.

"A huge fire has been blazing at an oil rig in the Timor Sea since Sunday, after an attempt by the oil company to kill a leaking well. The West Atlas rig is located directly above the Montara well head platfrom, which has been leaking oil and gas since August 21."

"Iowa's outdated sewage treatment plants regularly dump excess pollution into rivers and streams that provide drinking water for up to 900,000 people and recreation for many more, a Des Moines Register analysis of state records shows."

"The two rivers that converge at Marietta [OH] are among the 10 most polluted in the country, according to a new environmental report."

"Republicans roll out their own version of a water bill, as state legislators are being held up mostly by obscure water policy details and regional self-interests."

"Bowing to intense public pressure, the Chesapeake Energy Corporation says it will not drill for natural gas within the upstate New York watershed, an environmentally sensitive region that supplies unfiltered water to nine million people."

"Ontario's environment ministry has given its blessing to a massive, controversial $550 million sewage line -- known as the "Big Pipe" -- that will open the door to billions of dollars worth of new development in the eastern GTA. However, years after construction started on the project in York Region, politicians are embroiled in in-fighting, as the remainder of the pipeline proposed to run through Pickering faces opposition from residents."

"The Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday that it would overhaul enforcement of the Clean Water Act, as lawmakers sharply criticized the agency's decade-long lapses in punishing polluters."

"Canada's major waterways have suffered significant alterations in their natural flows, a WWF-Canada report contends."

"A proposed coal-fired power plant in Surry County (Va.) would add 'significant and harmful' amounts of mercury and other pollutants to the Chesapeake Bay and several river systems in coastal Virginia already suffering from excessive mercury levels, a study released Wednesday concludes."

"More than 100,000 people in northern Iraq have abandoned their homes since 2005 because of water stress, after drought and over-extraction of groundwater caused the collapse of an ancient water system, UNESCO said on Tuesday."

"In a sign that a deal addressing California's longstanding water supply problems may be near, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger convened a special session of the Legislature on Monday to revisit a package of water bills."