Blue-green algae appears in lakes all over the Midwest during the summers and can make both people and animals ill. Few states have routine testing programs to check for the toxic algae, but some local and volunteer groups are stepping in to fill that gap. LAKE WAWASEE, Ind. — Living on Lake Wawasee, Cindy Peterson
CENTRALIA, Ill. — It was supposed to be a fun weekend getaway to celebrate Mandi Miller’s 30th birthday. She and her husband, Austin Elkins, chose an Airbnb on Lake Centralia in Illinois that was dog-friendly, a must for the suburban St. Louis couple. Just moments after arriving on an unseasonably warm September day, their beloved
When it rains on a farm here in central Illinois, the water that runs off into local streams and rivers carries with it excess nutrients leftover from fertilizer. Those nutrients eventually flow into the Mississippi River and, ultimately, into the Gulf of Mexico. And while you can’t see them with the naked eye, those nutrients
Millions of rural residents across the Midwest are at risk of nitrate contamination in their drinking water, but they might not know it. Many rural residents get their drinking water from private wells, which are not regulated by state or federal governments. And if residents aren’t regularly testing their well water, they could be at
Amid a push from the Biden administration for U.S. agriculture to help slow climate change, a new study shows farmers in the Corn Belt are dropping the ball on adopting a climate-friendly practice. A mountain of research shows the benefits of planting cover crops — from sequestering carbon from the environment to keeping waterways
BROADLANDS — When it rains on Joe Rothermel’s central Illinois farm, most of the water drains into the nearby East Branch Embarras River. There, it begins a journey south through the Wabash, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. As it flows through more and more farmland, fertilizer runoff — which once nourished crops — compounds the water’s
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced this week that it will begin testing all community water supplies in the state for polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS—harmful chemicals found in firefighting foam, food packaging and household products that can leak into drinking water. This is the Illinois EPA’s first widespread sampling effort to monitor PFAS in
CHAMPAIGN – Nitrate levels in Illinois drinking water continue to be an environmental health issue and in some areas are increasing, according to a new report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG). The analysis gathered data on 10 largely agricultural states—including Illinois, Kansas and California—and found that many small, rural water systems have potentially unsafe
An Illinois environmental group is joining a coalition in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s rollback of certain water pollution regulations. The lawsuit argues that the Trump administration’s Navigable Waters Protection Rule would loosen protections put in place by the Clean Water Act—threatening water quality in wetlands and ephemeral streams. Champaign-based environmental group Prairie