Groundwater pollution from hexavalent chromium from Pacific Gas & Electric led to the "a $333-million-dollar, class-action settlement in 1996 -- one of the largest of all time -- and inspired the 2000 blockbuster movie bearing [Erin] Brockovich's name." Despite the settlement, PG&E has "done little to contain the plume of hexavalent chromium, which U.S. EPA deemed a likely carcinogen in a draft assessment last year."

"A human fecal bacterium kills coral, new research shows, and U.S. scientists say this is a warning to Florida and the Caribbean to protect prized reefs from sewage or face a threat to a key pillar of their tourism."

"The paper mill lnked to a substantial fish kill in the Pearl River system cautiously admitted responsibility Wednesday, as the trail of dead fish reached Lake Pontchartrain and a reservoir near Jackson, Miss., was opened in an attempt to flush the pollutants out.

"LAKE TAHOE, Calif. -- Today, for the first time since 1997, the governors of both California and Nevada attended the annual Lake Tahoe Summit, and they pledged their cooperation in returning clarity to the clouded waters of the famous lake."

"Fuel leaked from Enterprise Products Partners' natural gas liquids pipeline into the Missouri River in Iowa has dissipated or evaporated with little chance of recovery, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Tuesday."

The planned oil-drilling in the Chukchi Sea off Alaska's coast could bring spills harder to control than the Deepwater Horizon blowout. For centuries, native Inupiat have huted bowhead whales, bearded seals, walruses, and Caribou here. The Interior Department has approved exploration here by Shell, the company recently cited by the United Nations for decades of oil pollution in the Niger Delta.

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"Unwilling to fix leaky water mains in Crestwood, a south suburb known for its penny-pinching ways, village leaders secretly supplemented their supplies for more than two decades with a community well they knew was contaminated with cancer-causing chemicals."

"A report blasting Georgia’s environmental oversight of large livestock farms has raised concerns about potential contamination of Georgia waterways with chemicals from manure."

"NO wonder they are called conveniences. Flush toilets swirl human waste down the drain quickly and neatly. But the convenience comes with a rising price for all that follows the flush — a cost that is often paid by municipal water and sewage treatment systems.

Now some groups are rethinking the venerable technology of the flush toilet, particularly for regions that lack such systems or for places where waste water treatment plants, many of them aging, are overburdened by the demands of fast-growing populations.