When dangerous liquid wastes are pumped into deep wells, it's the Safe Drinking Water Act's Underground Injection Control program that aims to keep the practice safe. But does it work? Our weekly TipSheet looks beyond fracking to other kinds of injection wells, and shows how you can track stories on the practice in your state.
"Are the many hog and poultry farms of eastern North Carolina creating 'fields of filth,' as two groups of environmental activists put it last summer? And if they are, what happens when a hurricane comes along and dumps a foot and a half of water on them?"
"Oklahoma’s oil and gas regulator plans to shut some disposal wells and reduce the volume of others as its initial response to Sunday’s earthquake near the oil hub of Cushing."
EPA says a new non-native species of zooplankton has been found in the Great Lakes. Scientists suspect it may have come from ship ballast, and are not sure what effects, if any, it will have on ecosystems.
"Up to 10 million gallons of raw sewage spilled into Onondaga Lake after a 50-year-old pipe burst during 21 hours of straight rain in Syracuse, New York on October 21. The 42-inch diameter pipe broke south of the Inner Harbor along the Onondaga Lake shoreline."
"Wastewater treatment plants may be responsible for emitting up to 23 percent more greenhouse gas than previously thought because of fossil fuels in detergent-laden water from residential showers, household washing machines and industrial sites, new research shows."
"Beaches in the Southeastern U.S. took a tremendous beating last month from Hurricane Matthew. The U.S. Geological Survey has found that the storm washed over and damaged 15 percent of sand dunes on Florida's Atlantic Coast, 30 percent along Georgia's coastline and 42 percent of the dunes on South Carolina beaches."
"A steady increase in sea levels is pushing saltwater into U.S. wetlands, killing trees from Florida to as far north as New Jersey. But with sea level projected to rise by as much as six feet this century, the destruction of coastal forests is expected to become a worsening problem worldwide."
"California on Tuesday moved to ease water conservation rules for farmers in the northern and central parts of the state, a sign that a wet fall may portend an easing of the state's five-year drought."
"Hundreds of thousands of Kanawha Valley residents, businesses and workers will receive up to $151 million in compensation from West Virginia American Water Co. and Eastman Chemical Co. for the effects of the January 2014 water crisis, under related class-action settlements made public late Monday afternoon."
Advertisement 
