The Stormwater Report

One of the greatest threats to the health of the Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral system spanning more than 337,000 km2 (130,000 mi2), is the appetite of a reef-eating starfish measuring roughly 30 cm (12 in.) in length. Although the crown-of-thorns starfish is native to the Great Barrier Reef, it responds similarly to […]

More than 40,000 different varieties of rice are grown on every continent (except Antarctica), making rice one of the world’s best-loved food crops. And according to new findings from U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers, rice crops also have a secondary function: They keep pesticides and other contaminants out of vulnerable waterways.   The problem […]

University of Illinois scientist tests bioreactors that filter nutrient runoff, reduce hypoxic zones Dead zones — those regions that can be found in the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, and even the Gulf of Mexico — are a serious problem for U.S. waterways. These hypoxic zones, the result of excess nitrogen and phosphorus run off, can […]

The Government of India and the World Bank recently signed a US$ 178.5 million credit for the Neeranchal National Watershed Project to provide farms and rural, rain fed areas in India with access to global best practices in watershed management. The project is anticipated to directly benefit at least two million people in nine states […]

For the first time in 35 years, the Canadian province of Saskatchewan adopted new agriculture drainage regulations. The new regulations, announced Sept. 1, represent the first phase of an agricultural water management strategy that will bring all drainage within the province into compliance during the next 10 years. The new regulations will address flooding, water […]

Animal feeding operations have measurable effects on stream water quality in many agricultural watersheds in the North Carolina Coastal Plain, according to a report released June 23 by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The report, “Surface-Water Quality in Agricultural Watersheds of the North Carolina Coastal Plain Associated with Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations,” was the result of […]