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The water quality of the St. Clair River has improved markedly over the past three decades, according to a number of experts participating in "The Path to a Healthy River," a day-long seminar sponsored by the Binational Public Advisory Council for the St. Clair River Area of Concern, held in Sarnia in June. With such information presented, the question remains that shouldn't a cleaner, healthier St. Clair River ultimately lead to a cleaner, healthier Lake Erie?

More polluted water could get dumped into Lake Okeechobee to boost South Florida water supplies under a new proposal to roll back restrictions on "back-pumping."

A sudden bloom of blue-green algae that has the potential to release toxins harmful to people and dogs has turned portions of the lower Charles River a scummy green several weeks earlier than in previous years.

Warm weather combined with a large algae bloom in Southeast Alaska has scientists advising extra caution to recreational shellfish harvesters.

Lakes in the Bemidji area have really “greened-up” in the last week, with a significant algae bloom caused by warm water temperatures and unused fertility in the lakes.

VERMONT — Jeff Severson has spent much of the past 50 summers at his family’s Lake Champlain camp in West Addison. But it wasn’t until two weeks ago that the born-and-raised Vermonter had ever seen blooms of the potentially toxic cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, engulf his favorite swim and fishing spot.

GIBRALTAR ISLAND, Ohio -- Last summer, harmful algae covered a Long Island-sized area of water in Lake Erie, ramping up the cost of water treatment, sickening pets, and driving tourists away from beaches.

The Returns to Best Management Practices: Evidence from Early Proposals for Nutrient Trading in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed

If you’ve taken a ferry across Puget Sound recently, you may have wondered if someone dumped out cans of tomato soup in the water. Some have worried there's been an oil spill.

We have received reports from the SUNY ESF sampling crew of a large blue/green algal bloom in Oak Park Marina, a small one that occurred on Friday in Katlynn Marina and many possible bloom sightings reported on Saturday.

Due to blooms of the type of algae (Alexandrium) that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning, mussel oyster and clam harvesting was recently shut down along some sections of the Maine coast.

The eastern　United States just experienced the warmest spring on record, shattering previous highs.　　On land,　warm temperatures caused cherry and apple trees to bloom prematurely. In the Chesapeake Bay,　algae bloomed earlier than normal, fed by runoff pollution from last fall's major storms. (Photo of algal bloom by Chesapeake Bay Program)

Bill Satterfield, in his June 11 letter to the editor ("Urban waste, not chicken manure, is the bay's biggest threat") was right when he said "everyone has a role in protecting the Chesapeake Bay." What he forgot is that "everyone" includes both the agricultural and urban sectors. Instead of shifting blame from one polluter to the next, we should focus on addressing all the major contributors of pollution. Instead of focusing on which kid on the block is polluting more, we should focus on the glaring similarity between agricultural and urban sources: both contribute dangerous levels of nutrient, bacterial, and toxic pollution into our local waterways and the bay.

After weeks of negotiations, the U.S. Senate is expected to pass a farm bill this week that would stave off threats to funding for Chesapeake Bay cleanup. Meanwhile, a week after primaries in Virginia, advertising for a key senate race is ramping up in the Commonwealth. Alex Bolton, senior staff writer for The Hill newspaper, speaks with WAMU All Things Considered host Pat Brogan about these issues.

But this year, the largest oyster hatchery on the East Coast is on track to produce a record number of baby oysters - or spat. A tour of the University of Maryland's Horn Point Lab Oyster Hatchery in Cambridge shows the robust production.

West Virginia chicken farmer is suing the EPA to stop it from imposing wastewater rules on her farm as part of a multi-state effort to clean up Chesapeake Bay. Lois Alt, owner of Eight is Enough farms in the Old Fields section of Hardy County in the state's Eastern Panhandle, argues the EPA has overstepped its authority by ordering her to stop polluting streams and obtain discharge permits under the federal Clean Water Act.

Toll Brothers Inc. will pay a civil penalty of $741,000 to resolve alleged Clean Water Act violations at its construction sites, including sites located in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

The EPA Chesapeake Bay Program is reporting that dissolved oxygen levels in the Chesapeake Bay dropped last year to their lowest levels in four years, with 66 percent of the estuary failing to meet water quality standards for oxygen in the hot summer months.