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Issues: Water

In Depth Articles

See the NRDC Policy Solutions section for more expert analysis of environmental issues. You may also wish to view the working materials in the NRDC Document Bank

Stormwater Strategies: Community Responses to Runoff Pollution
Report: A report documenting some of the most effective strategies being employed by communities around the country to control urban runoff pollution, which is among the top sources of water contamination today. The collection of 100 case studies is intended to serve as a guide for local decisionmakers, municipal officials, and environmental activists; it is also a resource for citizens concerned about the quality of their local environment. Also available: a CD ROM version that includes color photographs and new case studies on "low-impact development" solutions.
Testing the Waters 2008: A Guide to Water Quality at Vacation Beaches
Report: NRDC's annual survey of water quality and public notification at U.S. beaches finds that pollution caused the number of beach closings and advisories to hit their second-highest level in the 18-year history of the report. The number of 2007 closing and advisory days at ocean, bay, and Great Lakes beaches topped 20,000 for the third consecutive year, confirming that our nation's beaches continue to suffer from serious water pollution that puts swimmers at risk. This edition of Testing the Waters takes an especially close took at the nation's highest risk beaches -- those that are either very popular, very close to pollution sources or both. The 2008 survey is based on information reported for 2007.
Morro Bay-Cayucos Sewage Treatment Plant and Sea Otter Habitat
Fact Sheet: The threatened California sea otter numbers just 2,700 statewide. The Morro Bay/Cayucos sewage plant in California has dumped pollutants into the ocean for more than two decades -- directly into bay waters that are a hotspot for sea otter deaths. Although the construction time for the Morro Bay sewage plant upgrade to meet basic federal standards is less than two and a half years, plant officials do not intend to complete the project until March 2014. The plant's own documents show that a faster, more efficient upgrade is not only possible, but would be less expensive as well.
Rooftops to Rivers: Green Strategies for Controlling Stormwater and Combined Sewer Overflows
Report: This May 2006 report is a policy guide for decision makers looking to implement green stormwater strategies to stop water pollution at its source. It includes nine case studies of cities that have successfully used green infrastructure techniques to reduce runoff and combined sewer overflow (CSO) pollution to create a healthier urban environment.
EPA's Proposed Policy on Sewage Dumping During Wet Weather Conditions
Testimony: The proposed policy will worsen water quality, expose the public to greater risk of illness and death from waterborne pathogens and toxic chemicals, and adversely affect the economy.
Keeping Our Waters Clean: How Smaller Communities Can Prevent Toxic Runoff
Fact Sheet: Stormwater runoff is a leading source of coastal pollution in California, damaging the environment and threatening public health. NRDC developed a three-part strategy of prevention, monitoring and enforcement that can help smaller and midsized cities deal with this toxic stormwater runoff before it pollutes local waterways and puts public health at risk. This effective and straightforward plan has already been adopted, and once fully implemented, will successfully manage runoff in coastal communities along the Monterey Peninsula in California.
Pollution Unchecked: A Case Study of Greene County, Pennsylvania
Report: Southwestern Pennsylvania's Greene County suffers from serious air and water pollution, and cancer rates in this predominantly low-income Appalachian community are substantially higher than state and national averages. This December 2004 report details the results of NRDC's investigation into the county's pollution problems, and finds that despite the obvious health risks county residents face, state and federal officials have repeatedly allowed inadequate monitoring of air and water pollution and have made no significant effort to collect data on possible health effects linked to pollution in Greene County.
Swimming in Sewage
Report: This February 2004 report from NRDC and the Environmental Integrity Project describes the emerging environmental and public health crisis resulting from our nation's failure to effectively treat sewage, presents seven case studies from around the country that illustrate how exposure to sewage pollution has killed or seriously injured people and harmed local economies, and recommends solutions to America's sewage problem.
Clean Water at Risk: An Assessment of Bush Administration Water Protection Rollbacks
Report: An October 2002 NRDC report -- issued on the 30th anniversary of the passage of the Clean Water Act -- that assesses the impact this landmark environmental law has had on the safety and environmental health of the nation’s waterways and documents the Bush administration's sustained attack on clean water protections.
Out of the Gutter: Reducing Polluted Runoff in the District of Columbia
Report: Every time it rains, Washington, D.C. -- like most major cities -- is plagued by stormwater runoff, which has gravely contaminated the city's three major rivers (the Potomac, the Anacostia, and Rock Creek). To clean up the pollution, the city's Water and Sewer Authority is relying on conventional stormwater management practices, which are costly and outdated. In this July 2002 report, NRDC recommends instead that WASA adopt an approach called low-impact development, which would use "green" roofs, strategically placed beds of native plants, rain barrels, and other measures to soak up rain and prevent it from washing directly into waterways. NRDC is also urging the local government and WASA to restructure the city's flat stormwater fee, protect environmentally sensitive lands, restore the urban forest, and encourage water conservation and water reuse techniques.
Cesspools of Shame
Report: This July 2001 report from NRDC and the Clean Water Network documents how animal waste from factory farms threatens human health and our nation's rivers. Most factory farms store animal waste in open lagoons as large as several football fields. Lagoons routinely burst, sending millions of gallons of manure into waterways and spreading microbes that can cause gastroenteritis, fevers, kidney failure, and death. This report lists the track records of the largest polluters and recommends existing technology that is safer and more sustainable.
California's Contaminated Groundwater
Report: Despite the importance of groundwater to its population and economy -- and ample evidence of dangerous groundwater-contamination problems that will be expensive to address -- California does not effectively monitor or protect its groundwater supplies. This April 2001 report documents the lapses in the state's data gathering, monitoring, and protection of this vital resource, and makes recommendations for reforms.
Preventing Industrial Pollution at its Source
Report: A report detailing a project undertaken by NRDC, Dow Chemical, and a group of five community activists to reduce waste and emissions at Dow's Midland, Michigan, chemical manufacturing plant. The project, begun in late 1996 and completed in April 1999, aimed to achieve 35 percent reductions in pollution emission through pollution prevention -- manufacturing process improvements that decrease waste before it is generated. The project exceeded that goal, achieving emissions reductions of 43 percent.
America's Animal Factories: How States Fail to Prevent Pollution from Livestock Waste
Report: A report examining the environmental and health consequences of pollution from industrial livestock farms in 30 states, as well as the widely varying efforts to curtail it.
Another Cost of Sprawl: The Effects of Land Use on Wastewater Utility Costs
Report: A 1998 NRDC study that adds to the growing body of literature demonstrating that low-density sprawl development is costly, inefficient, and inequitable.