One-quarter of freshwater fauna threatened with extinction

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | January 8th, 2025

Integrated irrigation and nitrogen optimization is a resource-efficient adaptation strategy for US maize and soybean production

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | January 8th, 2025

Climate change poses substantial challenges to agriculture and crop production, but the combined role of nitrogen and water inputs in adaptation has been largely overlook

Climate change poses substantial challenges to agriculture and crop production, but the combined role of nitrogen and water inputs in adaptation has been largely overlooked. Here, by developing regression models using US county-level data (2008–2020), we demonstrate that integrated optimization of irrigation and nitrogen inputs represents the most resource-efficient strategy to offset the climate-related yield losses. Under the 1.5 °C (3 °C) warming scenario, this approach involves increasing irrigation water withdrawals for maize by 62% (67%) and reducing it for soybean by 65% (58%), while increasing nitrogen inputs for maize by 4% (13%) and for soybean by 10% (130%) annually. This strategy reduces unsustainable irrigation water withdrawals by 73% (56%) for maize and 26% (28%) for soybean, enhancing water sustainability. Cost–benefit analysis indicates this optimization is cost-effective for over 80% of US maize and soybean productions, underscoring its critical role for climate change adaptation.

Associations between per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and county-level cancer incidence between 2016 and 2021 and incident cancer burden attributable to PFAS in drinking water in the United States

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | January 9th, 2025

A Framework for Permitting Innovation in the Wastewater Sector

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) | December 1st, 2024

Our research and this report have focused primarily on how the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting process implementing the Clean Water Ac

Our research and this report have focused primarily on how the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting process implementing the Clean Water Act works for municipal wastewater utilities. However, the issues and potential strategies to improve how the permitting process addresses innovation are also relevant for other water management sectors such as stormwater, drinking water, watershed, wetland, and industrial wastewater management, along with other permitting contexts.

Hydroclimate volatility on a warming Earth

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | January 9th, 2025

A ubiquitous tire rubber–derived chemical induces acute mortality in coho salmon

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) | December 3rd, 2020

High organofluorine concentrations in municipal wastewater affect downstream drinking water supplies for millions of Americans

National Academy of Sciences (NAS) | January 6th, 2025

The global threat of drying lands: Regional and global aridity trends and future projections

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification | December 9th, 2024

Most of the world’s land—more than three-quarters—has become permanently dryer in recent decades. A combined global area equal to half the size of Australia has tra

Most of the world’s land—more than three-quarters—has become permanently dryer in recent decades. A combined global area equal to half the size of Australia has transformed from humid lands to drylands with less rain for crops, pastures, nature and people. These stark statistics are among the many grim revelations from new analyses revealed in this groundbreaking report. For the first time, scientists within UNCCD Science-Policy Interface have clearly documented current and future drying trends and impacts that reveal a global, existential peril previously shrouded by a fog of scientific uncertainty. Its name is aridity—the climatic and enduring condition of too little life-supporting moisture—and its effects threaten the lives and livelihoods of billions across almost every region of the globe.

Large global-scale vegetation sensitivity to daily rainfall variability

Nature Portfolio (Springer Nature) | December 11th, 2024

Click here for a plain language summary from NASA.

Click here for a plain language summary from NASA.

Assessing Regional Strategies to Cope with Drought, Climate, and Environmental Flow Policy Impacts for a Sustainable Water Supply: A Case Study of the Bay Area

American Chemical Society (ACS) | December 27th, 2024