Water & Oceans

"Security analysts in London and Baghdad say control of rivers and dams has become a major tactical weapon for ISIS""

"Protesters gathered to illegally dredge for gold on Tuesday in an Idaho river where such mining is banned, in an open challenge to the U.S. government's authority to regulate public waters and lands in Western states, an organizer said."

"FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The manatee's 47-year run as an endangered species may soon come to an end, as the federal government assesses whether the tubby marine mammal can look forward to a brighter future."

"Plastic seems to be disappearing from the world's oceans, and scientists are not sure why."

"The polar vortex came with a silver lining: Water levels are up on the Great Lakes this summer, providing welcome news to boaters, beach-goers and cottagers who have become increasingly nervous about changing shorelines."

"Frustrated beachgoers this summer will finally have a remedy against anyone who blocks public access to California's shoreline."

"Plastic junk is floating widely on the world's oceans, but there's less of it than expected, a study says."

"Officials in California are asking people to use less water because of the severe drought. But about a million people in the state live in homes without the best means of water-use management: meters."

Joe Rubin reports for NPR's Morning Edition June 26, 2014.

"Scientists are predicting that the Chesapeake Bay's oxygen-starved "dead zone" will be slightly larger than average this summer."

"The size of the annual summer "dead zone" of low-oxygen water in the Gulf of Mexico along Louisiana's coast will cover between 4,633 and 5,708 miles, about the size of the state of Connecticut, according to a Tuesday forecast announced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration."