"Congress on Friday sent President Barack Obama a bill that would significantly reduce exposures to lead in drinking water."

Water shortages in the Southwest may be postponed for a while after Mexico agreed to store some of the Colorado River water it is entitled to in U.S. reservoirs while it repairs canals and pipelines damaged in a recent earthquake.

"The Environmental Protection Agency is suggesting that water utilities nationwide test their drinking water for hexavalent chromium, a probable carcinogen, after an independent survey released earlier this week found the chemical in tap water drawn from 31 cities."

"The Obama administration is looking to the Cowboy State as a model for fracturing disclosure on federal lands in the West. Interior Department officials figure it would be hard to argue against an approach developed in petroleum-friendly Wyoming."

"An environmental group that analyzed the drinking water in 35 cities across the United States, including Bethesda and Washington, found that most contained hexavalent chromium, a probable carcinogen that was made famous by the film 'Erin Brockovich.'"

"A federal judge yesterday threw out a federal scientific study that forms the basis for protecting the delta smelt in California's sprawling Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta."

"New Jersey lawmakers, as part of a plan to control the flow of pollutants into the state’s waterways, today passed what’s being described as the nation’s toughest restrictions on fertilizer."

"The storms blew through Hampton Roads on a Thursday in August, and after the storms came runoff, lots of it, shooting off roofs and pavement into storm drains, and a week after the runoff came the red tide. At Ocean View in Norfolk, the waves were mahogany with pale-red caps, stained by a sudden growth spurt of algae."

"The latest research on the District's decade-long effort to reduce lead in its drinking water is likely to reverberate well beyond the city's borders and add a chapter to one of the more tortuous public health chronicles of the past century."

"A university scientist and the federal government say they have found persuasive evidence that oil from the massive Gulf of Mexico spill is settling on the ocean floor."

"States are taking the lead with studying levels of radon in drinking water and air even as federal regulators lag, as a coincidence of geology and population density leaves some more at risk than others of suffering from the naturally occurring radioactive [contaminant]."

"A nascent technology, tidal power is destined to remain a niche player in the United States' energy portfolio. But the low-carbon energy source has one advantage over wind and solar: It's as dependable as the moon's phases. Investors and public utilities are taking notice."

"A black sealant sprayed on parking lots, driveways and playgrounds turns out to be the largest contributor to the rise of a toxic pollutant in urban lakes and reservoirs across America, according to a new U.S. Geological Survey study."

"The water in almost 15,000 D.C. homes that received repairs during a massive effort to remove lead pipes may still be contaminated by dangerous levels of the metal, according to a report released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

"The Obama administration on Wednesday reversed its plans to expand offshore drilling along the Atlantic coast and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico in a retreat prompted by last summer's oil spill."