Combatting Agricultural Pollution: Michigan’s New Manure Management Rules
The World Economic Forum Water Systems Map
Water is not a single issue—it is a system of systems. From rainfall to rivers, infrastructure to policy, local use to global consequences, every part is connected.
This map reveals how water flows through everything. By seeing the whole system, we can better understand where risks emerge, where solutions intersect, and why informed decisions about water matter everywhere.
Circle of Blue Reports
National AI Boom Hits Home as Demand for Power Surges
Momentous Court Decisions Near For Line 5 Oil Pipeline
Spain’s Hog Haven Pollutes Catalonian Waters
In Burned Forests, the West’s Snowpack Is Melting Earlier
Watered Down: A Weakened Global Water Strategy
Three Great Lakes States at Greatest Risk as EPA Rolls Back Wetland Protections
Clean Water Is a Virtue in Helping Cities Be ‘Livable and Lovable’
The Next Deluge May Go Differently
New Collaboration Brings Real-Time Water Intelligence and Frontline Journalism to U.S. Communities
America’s Deadliest Waterborne Disease Is Not Letting Up
New Era of Confrontation Between Energy and Water Opens in Great Lakes
opinion
Traces of Old Farm Chemicals Contaminate Water Across the U.S.
Jane Goodall’s Legacy Included Protecting Clean Water
“America First” Puts Big Hurt on International Water Programs
Slashing Federal Budget Is Big Problem for State Environment Agencies
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The Stream, January 13, 2026: Water Scarcity among Major Global ‘Political Risks’ for 2026, Report Warns
● An annual report projecting key political pressure points for 2026 lists cross-boundary water disputes as a growing global concern.
● After heavy rains forced hundreds of evacuations across Albania, the country’s prime minister cited widespread plastic pollution for worsening the effects of flooding.
● For the first time in 25 years, no region in California is facing drought or dry conditions.
● Brazil’s major soy producers are withdrawing from an agreement to source the crop only from non-deforested lands, sparking concerns for the Amazon rainforest and waters.
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Federal Water Tap is a weekly digest spotting trends in U.S. government water policy. Get it delivered to your inbox every Monday.
Federal Water Tap, January 12, 2026: Reclamation Acknowledges that a Stopgap Colorado River Deal Might Be Necessary
● Reclamation’s draft Colorado River report floats the idea of a short-term agreement while states continue to negotiate water cuts and reservoir operating plans.
● House spending bill maintains water infrastructure funding but cuts EPA budget.
● President Trump pulls the U.S. out of international environmental organizations.
● White House finalizes a rule to let agencies determine the extent of their environmental reviews under NEPA.
● EPA publishes a national “sewershed” map.
● House Republicans fail to reverse Trump veto of a Colorado water project.
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The biggest international, state, and local policy news stories facing the Great Lakes region today.
Fresh, January 14, 2026: Alarms Raised in Indiana as State Senate Considers Major Upheaval to Environment Department
● A bill seeking to overhaul the scope of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management passed out of committee this week on a 5-3 party-line vote.
● Legislation proposed in Wisconsin would require data centers to source 70 percent of their energy from renewable sources in order to qualify for tax breaks.
● A…
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Brett Walton’s 2020 investigation uncovered a hidden danger beneath U.S. coasts: rising groundwater threatening homes, infrastructure, and public health. Now, that reporting is helping shape action in Washington. The bipartisan Groundwater Rise and Infrastructure Preparedness Act would task the U.S. Geological Survey with mapping groundwater rise through 2100 and recommending solutions to protect communities before it’s too late. Read the story below.
The Mekong River
In the heart of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the muddy flow of the Mekong River is a lifeline—for fishermen, farmers, families. But this ancient river system is being pushed to the edge.
Matt Black Honored with MacArthur Fellowship
Photojournalists speak of their “duty to see” — their commitment to capture decisive moments that stir empathy, reveal truth, and inspire hope.
We congratulate Matt Black, a Circle of Blue contributing photographer, for being one of the 22 MacArthur Foundation Fellowship honorees this year. Matt received the $800,000 award that is attached to the famous Genius Grant for “chronicling the impacts of inequality and hardship on people and places.”
Circle of Blue identified Matt’s exquisite and influential photography more than a decade ago and featured his striking images of California’s Central Valley for our award-winning multimedia Choke Point: Index project. Photographs for that project were featured in “The Dry Land” photo spread published by the New Yorker magazine. The New York Times also noted Black’s photographs of the Central Valley drought.
We celebrate Matt for sharing our mission to see clearly, tell deeply, and connect the world through water.
The Blue Planet: Quarterly Report
A World on Fire Is a Water Risk
The world is awash in flames. Nearly 22 million acres in Canada have burned this year, the second highest annual total for the country in the last four decades. The European Union is experiencing its worst fire year in the last two decades. Much of the damage has occurred in Portugal, where three times more acres have burned than average. In July, large fires…
Keep readingPOLICY AND ECONOMICS
What It Means For Water and Resources When Trump Budget Cuts Hit Home
QUALITY AND SUPPLY
Michigan’s Other Water Crisis: PFAS’s Prevalence in Private Wells
CLIMATE AND ECOSYSTEMS
Make America Polluted Again Starts in Iowa
The Drying American West
At Phoenix’s Far Edge, a Housing Boom Grasps for Water
HotSpots H2O
Snowfall in Hindu Kush Himalaya In Steep Decline
In response to critically low snow cover in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, and the potential for serious water shortages in downstream communities, experts from the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) have called for immediate action…
The Blue Economy
Water Determines Great Lakes Region’s Economic Future
A Great Lakes News Collaborative series on the relationship between the region’s economy and its most abundant natural resource: water.
This multi-part series revisits a vision set forth a decade ago by Great Lakes leaders to reshape the region’s economy around the stewardship of its most vital asset—water. Through original reporting across the Great Lakes basin, the GLNC newsrooms assess the current state of the “blue economy” and how it has evolved over the past ten years.