"A sprawling network of flood barricades erected in Iowa's second-largest city of Cedar Rapids largely succeeded in holding back water from the rain-swollen Cedar River, city officials said on Tuesday."

"A must-do bill to prevent the government from shutting down this weekend and to fund the fight against the Zika virus is stalled in the Senate, held up by bipartisan opposition as the clock ticks toward a Friday deadline."

"House lawmakers on Monday teed up debate on a major waterways bill, which is expected to draw Democratic opposition for not including emergency funding for lead-stricken communities such as Flint, Mich., or a provision related to the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund."

"Toxic algae that first turned up in the York River in 2007 hasn't merely taken hold — its bloom has exploded this summer in the Chesapeake Bay and beyond, expanding farther and lasting longer than scientists have ever seen before."

"The Congressional Black Caucus is berating GOP leaders for not including funding for Flint, Mich., in the latest government spending bill unveiled this week."

"Evacuations and curfews have been enacted in parts of Iowa and Wisconsin as flood threats from swollen rivers and creeks continue to cause panic."

"Montana reopened a stretch of the Yellowstone River to fishing and other recreational activities on Friday after a month-long closure prompted by the spread of a deadly aquatic parasite that killed thousands of whitefish and sapped the local economy."

"TYLER, Ala. — The hard clay soil in this rural Southern county has twice cursed Dorothy Rudolph. It is good for growing cotton and cucumbers, the crops she worked as a child and hated. And it is bad for burying things — in particular, septic tanks."

"The State Water Control Board unanimously approved a complex and expansive permit Thursday that will allow Dominion Virginia Power to drain millions of gallons of wastewater from the coal ash ponds at its Chesterfield Power Station, the largest fossil fuel plant in Virginia, then treat it and discharge it into the James River."

"Environmentalists are warning the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that its draft plan to continue allowing oil and gas companies to dump unlimited amounts of fracking chemicals and wastewater directly into the Gulf of Mexico is in violation of federal law."