Great Lakes (IL IN MI MN OH WI)

"CLINTON, Ill. -- Fly over Clinton and the 266-acre landfill south of town doesn't look much different than 44 other landfills in Illinois.

But beneath its surface of inoffensive trash, the kind you put at the curb each week, are 4 trillion gallons of water used every day for public use, industry and irrigation in 15 Central Illinois counties.

And if ever the two shall meet, there could be trouble for the 750,000 people who rely on the Mahomet Aquifer, especially if Area Disposal's landfill starts accepting PCBs, a certain type of hazardous waste.

"With spring having sprung, it will only be a matter of time before many area residents who have ash trees will find out if their trees will be added to the rapidly growing list of victims of the notorious emerald ash borer."

"COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An environmental group sued the Ohio Department of Natural Resources this week because the agency has not turned over public records related to a new program that allows oil and gas drilling at state parks."

Chicago's "sewer network, built and maintained by the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago, is a behemoth among urban wastewater collection systems. Girded by more than 109 miles of deep underground pipe, Chicago's massive 'Tunnel and Reservoir Plan' (TARP) ranks among the nation's largest public works projects, both in term of scale and cost, estimated at $3.58 billion."

"ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Minnesota Department of Health is taking a closer look at a variety of chemicals that make their way into the water supply. Federal and state regulators have already placed limits on many contaminants found in drinking water, among them lead and mercury. But health officials are turning their attention to other chemicals that are not widely known, including those in fragrances, prescription drugs and bug spray."

"Michigan’s environmental regulator will reinspect a shuttered plant that’s part of Jacksonville Jaguars owner Shad Khan’s auto parts empire following complaints that the chrome-plating site used a chemical that causes cancer."

"Intense rainfalls are getting bigger and more frequent, causing local governments, engineers and landowners to rethink whether sewer systems and other drainage features are up to their tasks."

"The average amount of ice covering the Great Lakes declined 71 percent over the past 40 winters, with Lake Superior ice down 79 percent, according to a report published by the American Meteorological Society.

'There was a significant downward trend in ice coverage from 1973 to the present for all of the lakes,' states the study appearing in the society’s Journal of Climate.