Lake Elmo wrestles with boat noise near Catholic retreat→

Kevin Giles, reporting for the Star Tribune:

“The Jesuit retreat grounds, and nearby Carmelite campuses for cloistered nuns and hermits, cover fully a third of the Lake Demontreville shoreline. “I think there is a great deal of respect and reverence for what happens there with the Jesuits and Carmelites among lake owners,” Zuleger said. Boaters unfamiliar with the situation confuse the retreat grounds with a park, trespassing for picnics and parties and leaving litter behind...”

In crowded shoreline areas, surface water ordinances regulated time of ome activities are becoming more common.

Flooding forces sewage to be diverted into Lake Michigan→

Michael Hawthorne, reporting for the Chicago Tribune:

“After several days of rain, an overnight deluge overwhelmed Chicago’s underground labyrinth of aging sewers and giant tunnels Thursday, forcing a noxious mix of sewage and stormwater into local waterways and Lake Michigan.”

The city's old sewer infrastructure can not handle the volume of water, so it ends up polluting lakes and rivers. Time to invest in the basics (e.g., waste management) instead of luxuries (e.g., big roads dominated by single-occupancy cars). 

South Milwaukee flushing untreated wastewater to Lake Michigan

Owners agree to stop dumping ash from Great Lakes' last coal-fired ferry→

Ron Meador, reporting for Minnpost:

“After years of pretending to explore alternative fuels, while investing heavily in congressional intercession, operators of the last coal-fired passenger vessel on the Great Lakes agreed on Friday to stop dumping mercury-laden coal ash into Lake Michigan.”

Finally.

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.