New Concerns About Plastic Pollution in Great Lakes ‘Garbage Patch’→

Lisa Borre, reporting for National Geographic, Water Currents:

“Although scientists have studied plastic pollution in the oceans since NOAA researchers discovered the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” in 1988, a team of scientists is conducting the first-of-its-kind research on the open water of the Great Lakes. One of the team members presented preliminary results of a study on the topic at meeting of the American Chemical Society.”

Was George Carlin's facetious remark that humans exist to create plastic correct?

Drug Pollution Stressing our Streams→

From the Science Blog:

“Pharmaceuticals commonly found in the environment are disrupting streams, with unknown impacts on aquatic life and water quality. So reports a new Ecological Applications paper, which highlights the ecological cost of pharmaceutical waste and the need for more research into environmental impacts.”

Again, why are we discharging our waste into our rivers?

About a third of US rivers contaminated with agricultural runoff→

Scott K. Johnson, reporting for Ars Technica:

“A new survey of streams and rivers, performed by the EPA, provides a greater sense of the scale of the challenge. While industrial pollution, like mercury, remains a concern, agricultural runoff, in the form of sediment and fertilizers, is now far more widespread.”

This use of land as large unintended consequences.