"AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas voters have proved they are more than willing to spend big bucks on future water projects — but not on sports stadiums."

If you are a fly-fisher, you may go to Michigan's Au Sable River to get away from it all. But you can't get away from the pollution funded by secret money in American politics. NPR turns over some rocks.

"Lone Pine, Calif. -- Rancher John Lacey eyed a rising pasture where water once flowed when his great-grandfather settled in the Owens Valley to find gold. A century after Los Angeles diverted the Owens River, grass once suitable for feeding cows has long been replaced by desert shrubs."

"EDMONTON -- Geotechnical engineers remained at the Obed Mountain coal mine Sunday trying to determine how one billion litres of murky water leaked from a containment pond into the Athabasca River."

"SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The violet bottom-dwelling, prickle-backed spheres wriggling in the tank in Gretchen Hofmann’s lab aren’t really known for their speed. But these lowly sea urchins adapt so quickly they’re helping answer a question that’s key to understanding ocean acidification."

"As fossil-fuel emissions disrupt marine life, will evolution come to the rescue?"

"Look no further than the Carolina coast to see what kind of damage a coal-fired power plant can do to underground sources of drinking water."

"New Jersey may have been stronger than the storm, but the sea will prove stronger in the long run, scientists fear."

Flooding from Storm Sandy last year inspired urban designer Alexandros Washburn to devise new ways to protect his vulnerable home in Red Hook, Brooklyn -- and, he hopes, those of his neighbors.

"Much of the world is turning hotter and dryer these days, and it's opening new doors for a water-saving cereal that's been called 'the camel of crops': sorghum. In an odd twist, this old-fashioned crop even seems to be catching on among consumers who are looking for 'ancient grains' that have been relatively untouched by modern agriculture."

"HOBOKEN, N.J. -- Rising temperatures and shifting, capricious precipitation patterns are affecting where, when, and how much water fills America's rivers, lakes, and reservoirs, and how water is absorbed to replenish groundwater reserves – putting tremendous pressure on communities and businesses who compete for that water."