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Phosphorus (P) recovery from sewage sludge (SS) offers a sustainable pathway to mitigate global P resource depletion and environmental pollution. This review conceptualizes the recovery process as two interlinked stages: P extraction (release) and P recovery (enrichment).

Per Julia Shumway’s recent article, it is great to see bipartisan support to begin addressing the problem of microplastics in our waterways. Here’s another pollution problem plaguing South Carolina beaches that deserves more attention from our congressional leaders: fecal contamination.

Scientists are seeing a worrying trend in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River. Across Canada, invisible and toxic forever chemicals are omnipresent, polluting the soil, air, water and our bodies.

Scientists at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography present a new tool the public can use to understand sewage contamination levels at beaches from Coronado to Playas de Tijuana as well as potential risks of swimmer illness.

A new water regulator will replace the powers of Ofwat, the Drinking Water Inspectorate and the Environment Agency to “reset” a sector tarnished by scandals over sewage spills and financial mismanagement, after a major review of the sector.

Water companies spilled raw sewage into England's rivers and seas for a record 3.6 million hours in 2024, according to Environment Agency figures. Limited amounts of sewage are allowed to be discharged during periods of excess rain, but environmental groups say the levels pose a threat to wildlife and risk swimmers' health.

In a groundbreaking development, researchers at RMIT University have unveiled an innovative technique that transforms wastewater into green hydrogen fuel, offering a sustainable solution to both energy production and environmental pollution.

Many of the nation’s wetlands are being filled with toxic Pfas “forever chemicals” as wastewater treatment plant effluent tainted with the compounds is increasingly used to restore swampland and other waters. The practice threatens wildlife, food and drinking water sources, environmental advocates warn.

Researchers have been examining the possibility that wind could be spreading microplastics and nanoplastics (MNP) from sewage spills into the air along coastlines.

In the aftermath of the sewage spill that began the night of July 18, 2024, the Lahontan Regional Water Quality Control Board conducted an investigation and confirmed that the spill was caused by a subcontractor, hired by Caltrans, who punctured a sewer main near Highway 28 in Carnelian Bay.

Researchers at Plymouth Marine Laboratory have now - in light of new research and understanding of the impact of microplastics on human health - called on the UK government for legislation forcing water companies to remove microplastics from their wastewater.

For decades, sewage sludge has been quietly spread across Britain’s farmland, marketed as a nutrient-rich fertiliser. But insiders and scientists warn that hidden within it is a mix of household and industrial chemicals such as Pfas (“forever chemicals”), pharmaceuticals, pesticides, hormone-damaging chemicals and microplastics, threatening the long-term health of the land.

Urban water bodies – rivers, lakes and oceans – are in trouble globally. Large sewage volumes damage the open environment, and new chemicals and pharmaceutical compounds don’t break down on their own. When they are released into the open environment, they build up in living tissues all along the food chain, bringing with them multiple health risks.

Inhaled microplastics and nanoplastics (MNPs) have shown bio-persistence in the body, with concerning implications for human health. Airborne MNPs primarily originate from terrestrial sources, but sea air may contribute when onshore ‘aerosolising’ winds coincide with high concentrations of MNPs in surface waters.

A California project can turn sewage into drinking water in less than an hour and could be a blueprint for other water-scarce regions

According to the data, 15 test sites across O‘ahu and Kaua‘i showed harmful bacteria levels that exceeded state health standards more than half of the times they were tested by Surfrider’s volunteer-based water-testing program, Blue Water Task Force (BWTF). Several of those failed to reach safe levels for human contact more than 80% of the time:

This airborne pathway highlights a largely overlooked source of atmospheric pollution, emphasizing the need to reassess health risks in coastal regions as global water contamination continues to escalate.

Researchers have found that pollutants in the Tijuana River, which carries raw sewage and industrial waste from Tijuana, are also turning up in the air along the coast near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Sewage mismanagement is a major contributor to water quality degradation. In 2015, the United Nations introduced Sustainable Development Goal 6.3, which aims to halve the proportion of untreated sewage discharges by 2030. Studies have shown that achieving SDG 6.3 can significantly reduce water pollution. However, rapid urbanization has led to a steady increase in domestic sewage discharges, creating significant challenges for the effective collection and treatment of domestic sewage.

In 2023, sewage plants in Maryland started to make a troubling discovery. Harmful “forever chemicals” were contaminating the state’s sewage, much of which is turned into fertilizer and spread on farmland.

Approximately 15,000 gallons of sewage spilled in the waters of Liberty Bay near Keyport Wednesday, causing the Kitsap Public Health District to issue a one-week no-contact advisory and a shellfish harvesting advisory for three weeks.

In DePue, Ill., sewage will keep backing up into people's basements when there's heavy rain. In Rising Sun, Md., a mobile home park that has already flooded six times will remain in harm's way. And in Kamiah, Idaho, houses won't get upgrades that would protect them from wildfires.

Residents and businesses say they’re frustrated after the Wailua Coco Palms sewer pump station failed last week, sending wastewater through their neighborhood. They said the station has been a problem for years with no permanent fix in sight.

The stench from the sewage sludge Bob Guenther’s neighbor used to fertilize crops was so strong that a county commissioner called out to look at the property ran to a nearby ditch to vomit.

The glass of water that Jennifer Campagne draws from her kitchen faucet looks clear and clean. But ever since she had her household well tested and found “forever chemicals” in it, she’s leery of using it, even to make coffee.

San Diego County communities have lamented public health impacts of sewage pollution in the watershed, which crosses from Mexico into California before flowing into the ocean.

A bill in the Legislature would protect the last 21 pristine watersheds in Texas. But for years, previous attempts have been defeated by powerful homebuilders.

A sewage leak at a Bronx bus depot is worse than previously reported and possibly leaking into surrounding groundwater, the Daily News has learned.

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday that Mexico must stop the flow of billions of gallons of sewage and toxic chemicals from Tijuana that has polluted the Pacific Ocean off neighboring Southern California, closing beaches and sickening Navy SEALs who train in the water.

Amid the sound of roosters crowing, horses neighing and the smell of raw sewage at a ranch in the Tijuana River Valley, officials announced today that the Tijuana River has been ranked number two on American Rivers’ list of America’s most endangered rivers of 2025, moving up from number nine last year.

So far in 2025, there have been approximately 130 sewage overflows and spills reported across Connecticut, with the largest dumping 300,000 gallons into the Connecticut River, according to state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection data.

A new report by Surfers Against Sewage reveals shocking UK-wide sewage discharge figures and unearths the missed targets in England that have led to more than quarter of adults considering not paying their water bill.

Three years ago, Desiree Greaver was on Back River at the sewage plant effluent pipe showing a Brew reporter what you get when you push a stick into the water and bring it back up – brownish-orange foamy glop that “looks like poop and smells like a porta potty.”

A woman who was left needing heart surgery after developing blood poisoning is one of hundreds to fall ill after swimming in the UK’s polluted waters as sewage spills reached a decade high last year.

CBS News compared census data with outfall locations and found lower income, minority communities are twice as likely to have sewage dumping into a river or creek. David Schecter reports for "Eye on America."

The agreement, reached under the Biden Administration, required the state’s Department of Public Health to improve sanitation efforts in Alabama’s Black Belt. It’s unclear what the termination will mean on the ground.

Tests ahead of Sunday’s race revealed E coli levels three times above the threshold for poor bathing water

A worryingly wide range of chemical pollutants has been found by researchers studying two of the UK’s south-coast harbours, raising concerns about the impact on wildlife and the human activities responsible for this contamination.

Scientists at the University of Stirling have developed a new method of monitoring the presence of pathogens in rivers polluted by wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs).

Authorities investigating mystery debris balls that recently closed beaches in Sydney and on the south coast have determined they likely originated from Sydney Water’s land-based sewage treatment network, the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority says.

Our latest Water Quality Report reveals that sewage is being dumped into our rivers and seas on a scale that defies belief—and the people who should be stopping it are cashing in instead. While private water companies handed £1.2 billion to shareholders, they also dumped 4.7 million hours of sewage into our waterways in 2024. That’s 592,478 spills in just one year.

Enough wastewater to fill more than two Olympic swimming pools emptied into northern Tampa Bay Wednesday after a mishap during maintenance at a Clearwater treatment plant. City officials told the Tampa Bay Times they had to divert an estimated 1.4 million gallons of partially treated wastewater into the bay after a settling tank designed to remove solids from water became overloaded.

Sewage spilled illegally into England's largest lake on a record number of days last year, an analysis of water company data by campaigners suggests. The analysis, which the BBC had exclusive access to, used United Utilities operational data to establish when the company was discharging sewage into Windermere when it should by law have been treating some of it.

Ranchers in Texas claim livestock was sickened by ‘forever chemicals’ in fertilizer made from sewage sludge. Now Synagro, a Goldman Sachs-backed firm, has lost a deal to manufacture there.

Raw sewage was discharged into rivers and coastal waters in England for almost 4m hours last year, with waterways that have the highest environmental protections subjected to days of pollution.

When Leslie Stewart moved to her home in a rural expanse of Lincoln County outside of Oklahoma City more than 20 years ago, she thought she’d found a slice of heaven. In a town of fewer than 700 people, her son could attend a good school and her acreage offered plenty of room to raise goats and let her dogs run.

Trump administration officials have been pressuring Mexican counterparts to reduce the flow of migrants and drugs over the border. Now they’re turning their attention to the flow of something more scatalogical. Sewage.

Beneath the gloomy seas off southern England, 400 million mussels encrust ropes hanging from buoys dotted over an area the size of the country's biggest airport.

El Paso Water broke ground on the first U.S. facility that will treat wastewater for direct re-use in a city water supply, using a four-step process to transform wastewater into clean, potable drinking water.

England’s most polluting water provider “isn’t good enough” at trying to stop sewage dumping, its boss has admitted to MPs. The chief executive of United Utilities defended her £1.4m pay packet, including a £420k bonus, despite the company behind historic spills in Lake Windermere having been found to have polluted more than any other in 2023.

Storm surges and sea-level rise damage sanitation systems and threaten ecosystems and human health. We need to take this risk seriously.

Levels of PFAS in sewage sludge used as fertilizer can pose risks that sometimes exceed safety thresholds “by several orders of magnitude,” the EPA said.

The District of Columbia on Friday filed a lawsuit against the federal government over pollution in the Anacostia River, arguing it has inflicted “catastrophic harm” on the mostly poor and minority communities living along the urban waterway.

US municipal wastewater facilities are major per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) sources known to affect drinking water quality. Among eight large wastewater treatment facilities with comparable treatment technologies and sizes to those serving 70% of the US population, we found that the six regulated PFAS in drinking water accounted for <10% of extractable organofluorine (EOF) in wastewater influent and effluent. Most (62 to 75%) of the EOF consisted of commonly prescribed fluorinated pharmaceuticals, and the maximum EOF removal efficiency was <25%. Results from a national wastewater dilution model suggest that wastewater PFAS discharges impair drinking water supplies for >20 million Americans, emphasizing the importance of reducing diverse PFAS sources entering wastewater.

Researchers found that chemicals, including PFAS, from pharmaceuticals are entering into wastewater — which can be used as drinking water during times of drought.

On the U.S.-Mexico border, the International Boundary and Water Commission has the unglamorous job of stopping sewage flows and negotiating water disputes. Commissioner Maria-Elena Giner has earned allies in long-standing border conflicts, a job that won’t get any easier under Trump.

Millions of gallons of water polluted by toxic sewage from Mexico still flows into San Diego County and the Pacific Ocean every day, but additional funding from Congress and increased pressure by local leaders is making a difference. Thousands of people have their fingers crossed. They’re hoping the decades-long sewage crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border will get better in 2025.

The year was marked by record-breaking weather events, lawsuits, a visit from the CDC and a sudden departure by the county chairperson

The agency obtained research from 3M in 2003 revealing that sewage sludge, the raw material for the fertilizer, carried toxic “forever chemicals.”

The agency obtained research from 3M in 2003 revealing that sewage sludge, the raw material for the fertilizer, carried toxic “forever chemicals.”

On the worst days, Tamara Kcehowski said, she has thrown up when the stench from Los Angeles’ nearby sewage plant overwhelms her El Segundo apartment. She said her dog, Maggie, has even retched alongside her.

For decades, a little-known company now owned by a Goldman Sachs fund has been making millions of dollars from the unlikely dregs of American life: sewage sludge.

Tony Coleman recognizes the signs all too well. A cow drools strings of saliva. Then it starts to limp, each step slower. Then it grows stiff. Then it’s quick. There’s nothing to be done. The cow dies.

Scientists at CSU have developed a system that uses visible light to decompose PFAS-type molecules. For now, the technique has only been tested in a laboratory environment. Getting it to work in drinking water, wastewater or soil will take more work, but shows promise.

The resolution is largely symbolic, calling on the White House, especially with a forthcoming change in administration, and other top government officials to fast-track more spending for solutions. Chula Vista officials are directed to “explore any and all options to improve conditions in the Tijuana River,” the proclamation reads.

From paddleboarding to paralysis – that’s what happened to a 15-year-old boy in Titusville. The victim is 18 years old now and learning how to walk again. After almost three years of fighting, Rock Timmins and his family had just settled a lawsuit with the City of Titusville.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday — but not for the reason you’d expect. The border crisis that drew the Democrat wasn’t immigration, but sewage. For nearly a century, billions of gallons of sewage have been pouring into Southern California from Mexico, making coastal communities near San Diego the victim of a crisis few people know about.

The expansion will double the capacity and along with improvements in Mexico, help minimize the sewage near the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday toured wastewater treatment facilities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, marking his first in-person visit to the sites undergoing critical upgrades to reduce rampant sewage polluting Tijuana and south San Diego County communities.

San Diego County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer Thursday submitted a request to the Environmental Protection Agency to look into the Tijuana River Valley for a possible Superfund designation.

Since October 2018, the United States section of the International Boundary and Water Commission has catalogued more than 200 billion gallons of toxic waste coming into the United States through the Tijuana River Valley

Densely populated areas such as northwestern India, northeastern China and southern and eastern Europe will bear the brunt of water mismanagement, according to the Global Commission on the Economics of Water.

Residents of Imperial Beach in southern San Diego County filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the operators of an international wastewater treatment plant — alleging that the site has failed to contain a cross-border crisis that has long contaminated their community.

The environmental fight that played out inside the Supreme Court on Wednesday was unusual in many ways: It featured poop, a whopping $11 billion bill, and one of the nation’s greenest cities — San Francisco — battling the Environmental Protection Agency over water pollution rules in a case that could reverberate beyond the Bay Area.

Four decades after privatization, calls to nationalize the water industry have swept across England and Wales amid sewage spills and rising household bills.

In 2023, Alabama settled a civil rights complaint alleging that the state was discriminating against Black residents by not providing adequate sewage treatment in a poor, rural county. A year later, slow progress is being made to close the gap.

A draft permit would allow the practice to continue of injecting wastewater into the ground close to the ocean. Those who testified at a recent hearing said it's destroying coral reefs.

Kitesurfers on Yorkshire's east coast say the water quality is so poor that "people are getting ill". Adrian Cooke uses Fraisthorpe and Bridlington beaches for the sport and believes sewage pollution has become a public health hazard. Yorkshire Water operates several overflow pipes along the coast and is legally permitted to discharge sewage into the North Sea during heavy rainfall.

Newcastle locals have urged the government to stop water companies pumping “disgusting” sewage into the Ouseburn river. Sewage pollution in the waterway – which runs from near the city’s airport to the Tyne – is a staggering 100 times higher than safe standards. Northumbrian Water control the sewage outfall pipes along the tributary.

Water companies have been ordered to return £158m to customers via lower bills next year after missing key targets on pollution and leaks. But most customers will only see their bills fall by less than £10.

Heavy rain from Helene caused more than a quarter million gallons of sewage to spill from Mecklenburg County’s wastewater treatment system and into the Catawba River basin.

Nearly 1.5 million gallons of untreated wastewater flowed throughout St. Petersburg neighborhoods as Hurricane Helene’s storm surge overwhelmed infrastructure. While sewage discharges occurred citywide, one culprit was responsible for 67% of the pollution

Using a porcelain toilet in ocean scenes, Fryer’s bold images have gained national attention, sparking conversation and even earning a spot on the British Photography Awards shortlist

The primary objective of this study was to assess the operational conditions of the municipal wastewater treatment system. This system comprises a wastewater treatment plant that employs the activated sludge process, along with wastewater stabilization ponds as the third stage of treatment.

High levels of antibiotics and other drugs have been found in water in the country’s most treasured and protected landscapes, raising concerns over antimicrobial resistance

For decades, American factories have been sending their wastewater to municipal sewage treatment plants across the country, which handle it along with the effluent from other industries, homes and businesses. At the other end of the process, the separated and dried-out solids are often delivered to farmers as free fertilizer. The land application of this “sewage sludge” has long been encouraged by environmental regulators as a way to deal with what would otherwise be a vexing waste disposal problem.

For the first time in more than a thousand days, San Diego County officials reopened some of the shoreline of Imperial Beach on Monday. But many locals say the move gives a misleading illusion of safety.

Waking up to long-overdue system upgrades, dozens of towns that were awarded federal ARPA dollars may see them ‘clawed back’ for lack of resources to complete paperwork.

India’s rapid urbanization has led to an increasing demand for efficient sewage treatment solutions. Traditional sewage treatment plants (STPs), though effective to some extent, have been facing numerous challenges that hinder their optimal performance.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published its first-ever guidance on antibiotic pollution from manufacturing. The new guidance on wastewater and solid waste management for antibiotic manufacturing sheds light on this important but neglected challenge ahead of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) High-Level Meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) taking place on 26 September 2024.

Imagine standing on the edge of a new frontier, where waste—something we often view as a problem—becomes the solution. We live in a world that needs innovation, where environmental challenges demand a sustainable approach, and where we need technologies that not only clean but also power our future.

Officials are warning people to stay out of Browns Ravine at Folsom Lake after a pipe leaked sewage into the water Sunday night. El Dorado Irrigation District spokesperson Jesse Saich said an old pipe on Green Valley Road, just west of Francisco Drive, started leaking at around 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Within 30 minutes, pump trucks were out there working to suck up as much sewage as possible, but Saich said some sewage water did flow into Folsom Lake.

Scientists clashed with government officials over the true toxicity of the air in the Tijuana River Valley. The public is left to decide what’s real.

Community concern in the North Bay is growing following the closure of a popular beach after human waste was discovered leaking from a nearby cliff.

Assateague State Park, Ocean City and other beaches along the Maryland coast have closed access to the ocean due to “a significant amount of medical waste washing onshore,” Maryland State Parks wrote on X Sunday afternoon.

For the third time in two decades the Environmental Protection Agency appeared in federal Appellate Court this week to defend its admittedly flawed approach to regulating the billions of pounds of manure running off into the nation’s waters from large industrial animal feeding operations. But unlike the previous Appellate Court cases in 2005 and 2011, when the plaintiffs were the major agricultural trade organizations seeking to weaken or eliminate agency regulations, this time the case was brought by 13 national and local environmental organizations arguing that after years of inaction EPA needs to drastically strengthen its oversight.

The air district's governing board also agreed to deploy air purifiers to impacted households in South County using federal grant dollars

As beach closures in the San Diego area stretch past 1,000 days due to raw sewage flows from Mexico, residents of Imperial Beach have filed a lawsuit against Veolia Water, accusing the engineering consultant—who also manages the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant on the U.S. side of the border for the International Boundary and Water Commission—of not doing enough to stop toxic sludge flows.

Karachi’s coastline is deteriorating due to plastic and sewage waste, putting marine life at serious risk.