Issues: Water

• Drinking Water
• Water Pollution
• Water Conservation & Restoration

In Brief Articles

Restoring the San Joaquin River
News

In the 1940s, a giant dam nearly killed California's San Joaquin River and its legendary salmon run. A court ruling could bring the river back to life, restoring the salmon fishery, providing clean irrigation water for farms and improving drinking water quality for millions of Californians.

Florida Everglades
FAQ

Answers to questions including: What is the Everglades? What types of environmental threats does the region face? What's being done today to save the Everglades?

Nature along New York and New Jersey's Atlantic Coastlines
Photo Album

New York and New Jersey's Atlantic coastal lands and waters -- the most densely populated area in the United States -- is also home to a vital, varied and unique community of plants, birds, mammals, fish and many other creatures. See what's wild in the neighborhood with this month-by-month guide.

Alfalfa: The Thirstiest Crop
Fact Sheet

The West's antiquated water policies allow large corporate farms in arid California to grow too much water-hogging alfalfa. Read up on the details of the current situation's environmental and economic cost, and on NRDC's recommended solutions.

Land of Little Rivers: Fly Fishing in the Catskills
Photo Album

Fly fishing enthusiasts are among the most ardent advocates for clean and healthy rivers. These photos illustrate fly fishing on the rivers and streams of the Catskill mountains, including the still undammed Beaverkill River, one of the country's best known and most beloved trout streams.

Drinking Water Jeopardized in Arizona's Black Mesa Region
News

An underground aquifer that sustains two Native American tribes in Arizona's arid Black Mesa region is showing serious signs of decline after three decades of pumping by the Peabody Coal Company, which drains more than a billion gallons of water from the reservoir each year to transport coal.

Water Life: An Interview with Vernon Masayesva
Interview

In this conversation with NRDC, Hopi leader Vernon Masayesva reflects on Hopi tradition, groundwater depletion, and his own long battle with the Peabody Western Coal Company and the U.S. government to save the drinking water under his tribe's reservation on the Black Mesa plateau in Arizona.