Water & Oceans

"Coastal habitats like reefs and marshes protect people from natural disasters—in the right locations."

"Tokyo Electric Power Co. has started taking measures to contain highly radioactive groundwater at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant, but its strategy is based on a theory that is disputed by industry experts."

"An extensive new study confirms a long-suspected link between crippling birth defects and the nitrate contamination that threatens drinking water for 250,000 people in the San Joaquin Valley."

"The area of ocean set aside as a nature preserve could double or triple in the coming days, depending on the outcome of a meeting in Germany. Representatives from 24 countries and the European Union are considering setting aside large portions of ocean around Antarctica as a protected area. And the deal may hinge on preserving some fishing rights."

"WASHINGTON -- Environmentalists on Monday filed a petition with the U.S. government requesting regulatory safeguards for 81 particularly vulnerable marine wildlife species, from corals to sharks."

"Japan's nuclear regulator says radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima power plant is probably leaking into the Pacific Ocean, a problem long suspected by experts but denied by the plant's operator."

"RICHMOND, Va. — Washington, D.C., and states within the Chesapeake Bay watershed are making progress to reduce pollution flowing into the hobbled estuary but none is on track to meet cleanup commitments set this year, an analysis by environmental groups concludes."

"The House this week is scheduled to take up a bill to fund the Department of Energy, the Army Corps of Engineers and related agencies that proposes steep spending cuts to clean energy and research programs."

"Hydrologist David Evetts drove north from his office in Boise, Idaho, to the former prospecting town of Elk City on May 2. Fifty miles down a dead-end mountain road, he stopped at a gray metal box on a bridge over the South Fork Clearwater River. Reaching inside, he turned off the satellite feed that once relayed the river's water-level measurements from stream gauge number 13337500 every 15 minutes."