Water & Oceans

"An estimated 500,000 people live in thousands of colonias along the Texas-Mexico border. Largely built between the 1950s and 1980s, these communities have been promised water — but it has never come."

"Maria Martínez constantly calculates how much water is left in the 2,000-gallon tank that sits outside her home near El Paso.

When there’s less than 600 gallons, it’s time to place an order. A few loads of laundry and dirty dishes will use every last drop.

"Daily tides stoked with increasingly warmer water ate a hole taller than the Washington Monument at the bottom of one of Greenland’s major glaciers in the last couple years, accelerating the retreat of a crucial part of the glacier, a new study found."

"Offshore wind energy critics often cite the risk of collision with birds as an argument against the use of wind power. But a new study conducted by European energy company Vattenfall shows that offshore wind turbines at one UK wind farm are much less dangerous to birds than previously thought, a step towards debunking common claims that turbines are a major contributor to bird mortality."

"ANN’S GROVE, Guyana — Villagers in this tiny coastal community lined up on the soggy grass, leaned into the microphone and shared their grievances as someone in the crowd yelled, “Speak the truth!”"

"A fire burned for a third day on Sunday at Shell Plc's chemical plant in the Houston suburb of Deer Park, Texas, a company spokesperson said."

"A change in weather conditions has helped firefighters fight the wildfires that have forced thousands of Albertans to flee their homes this past week, officials from the Alberta Emergency Management Agency and Alberta Wildfire said Sunday."

"The sucker-mouthed marine lamprey has been dismissed as grotesque and a threat to sport fish. But fisheries managers in New England and the Pacific Northwest are recognizing the ecological importance of lampreys in their native waters and are stepping up efforts to help them recover."

"Whales seem to find food by sniffing for a chemical cue. Scientists are hoping to turn this into an early warning system to help save the imperiled species."

"A California tribe has signed agreements with state and federal agencies to work together on efforts to return endangered Chinook salmon to their traditional spawning areas upstream of Shasta Dam, a deal that could advance the long-standing goal of tribal leaders to reintroduce fish that were transplanted from California to New Zealand more than a century ago and still thrive there."

"On a daily basis, water managers in cities across the state move from crisis to crisis hoping to keep the water flowing to residents."