All posts tagged: Rivers

Drought fears in central and southern England as dry April leaves rivers low | Drought

Drought fears in central and southern England as dry April leaves rivers low | Drought

Published by Jenni Sidey

One of the driest Aprils on record for central and southern England has left river levels below normal, raising fears of drought in some areas over the summer. The latest UK hydrological survey – which tracks river and groundwater levels – suggests central and southern England and eastern Scotland will experience notably low river flows over the next three months, raising concerns about water shortages if dry weather persists. Other parts of the UK, however, are likely to fare better with normal to above-normal river flows in the north-west and western Scotland. Rainfall in April was 23% less than average, according to Met Office figures. In parts of East Anglia and the south-east, rainfall was even less. In Shoeburyness in Essex, it was the driest April on record, with only 0.6mm of rain – just 2% of the monthly average. Cambridgeshire – one of the most water-stressed areas in the UK – and Bedfordshire received less than 5% of average rainfall. Met Office forecasts for the rest of May suggest it is likely to be …

L.A. City Council District 15 election guide: Tim McOsker vs. Jordan Rivers

L.A. City Council District 15 election guide: Tim McOsker vs. Jordan Rivers

Published by Sam Flores

p]:text-cms-story-body-color-text clearfix”> McOsker said Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe program has been effective in clearing homeless encampments and moving the residents inside. He supports reducing costs by doubling people up in rooms and cutting underutilized contracts. “It’s unsustainable as it is to spend this much, and I think everyone recognizes that,” he said. McOsker said he supports “no encampment” zones, per Municipal Code 41.18, around places like schools, day care centers, libraries and homeless shelters. It’s especially important to keep encampments away from shelters, he said, so people can get help without distractions nearby. “We really need to make that break and give folks an opportunity to put their lives together,” he said. Rivers equated the no-encampment zones to federal immigration operations in the city, arguing that they enable law enforcement to snatch people off the street without giving them a place to go. “Just moving homelessness doesn’t all of a sudden solve it,” he said. Instead, Rivers wants to establish “safe shelter” zones where people can get their needs met instead of being chased …

Five warning signs that rivers are polluted – even when they look clean

Five warning signs that rivers are polluted – even when they look clean

Published by skeptic

After months of relentlessly miserable weather for most of the UK, spring brings renewed enthusiasm for spending time outdoors hiking, wild swimming, paddling or on walks. Millions of people visit lakes and riversides every year. Yet with constant, and sadly necessary, reminders about sewage and water pollution, it’s not surprising that people are increasingly worried about whether the water they see is safe. Cocktails of contaminants created by sewage systems, agricultural pollutants and urban runoff are currently at the forefront of public, scientific and regulatory focus. Not one UK river was free from chemical contamination, and only 14% were classified as having “good ecological status” at the last assessment. In 2024 alone, raw and partially treated sewage was discharged in to watercourses for more than 3.6 million hours. With around 15,000 sites regularly discharging effluent, in addition to ongoing inputs from agriculture, transport and other industries, the 2025 results due to be published this year are not expected to show significant improvement. Given this, many people who spend time around rivers want to know how …

Removing plastic from EU rivers before it reaches the ocean

Removing plastic from EU rivers before it reaches the ocean

Published by skeptic

From drones and smart cameras to biodegradable packaging, EU-funded researchers are working to remove plastic from rivers before it ever reaches the sea. From his bedroom desk in the Belgian town of Dendermonde, Gert Everaert used to watch the river Scheldt flow past. Barges and small boats drifted by. Birds fished. But the river also carried something less picturesque – a steady stream of litter and plastic waste. “Cars would stop and people threw rubbish straight into the water,” he recalled. “All kinds of trash floated by. That always made me incredibly sad.” Today, Everaert is no longer just watching. As deputy research director at the Flanders Marine Institute, he now leads INSPIRE, a major EU-funded research initiative bringing together scientists and innovators from 13 EU countries, plus Serbia and Thailand. Their aim is ambitious but straightforward: stop plastic in rivers before it reaches the ocean – and prevent it from ever entering our waterways in the first place. The INSPIRE team is developing a wide range of new tools to help clean up Europe’s …

Researchers develop plant-based cleanup for harmful antibiotics found in rivers and fish

Researchers develop plant-based cleanup for harmful antibiotics found in rivers and fish

Published by Jenni Sidey

Antibiotics meant to heal are leaving a quiet trace in rivers, sediments, and even the fish people eat. A new study from researchers at the Center for Nuclear Energy in Agriculture at the University of São Paulo reveals how deep that trace runs, and how difficult it may be to erase. The research focused on the Piracicaba River, a major waterway in São Paulo state. The team tracked antibiotic residues across water, sediment, and fish. They also tested whether a floating plant, Salvinia auriculata, could help reduce contamination. The findings show a system under pressure. Antibiotics appear across the ecosystem, shift with the seasons, and move into living organisms in ways that are not always predictable. Percentages of EFX and CAP in water throughout the experiment. (CREDIT: Environmental Sciences Europe) Tracing Pollution Through a River System The researchers collected samples near the Santa Maria da Serra dam, close to the Barra Bonita reservoir. This area gathers pollutants from across the river basin. Sources include treated sewage, household waste, aquaculture, pig farming, and agricultural runoff. They …

‘All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea’ Doc Film Clip

‘All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea’ Doc Film Clip

Published by Daniella Wilson

British filmmaker Jeanie Finlay (Your Fat Friend, Seahorse, Orion: The Man Who Would Be King, The Great Hip Hop Hoax) has made a name for herself as a creator who gives a voice to the voiceless and tell cinematic stories about people who may not be commonly seen and heard on screens, big and small. Her new documentary, All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea, is no different. World premiering in the F:ACT competition of the 23rd edition of CPH:DOX, the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, on March 17, it takes audiences to her native Teesside in North East England to dive into a David and Goliath story of epic proportions. “Fisherman Stan Rennie has worked the same stretch of coastline, where the river meets the sea, for over 50 years; the trade has been in his family for centuries,” reads a synopsis for the doc. “So when a vast tide of poisoned crabs and lobsters washes ashore like a biblical plague in the wake of a new Brexit-fueled development along that same coastline, Stan’s world is turned upside-down overnight. …

Prehistoric ‘sea’ monster also lurked in rivers, data show

Prehistoric ‘sea’ monster also lurked in rivers, data show

Published by skeptic

Mosasaurs — a fearsome group of ancient predators — once ruled the seas. Now researchers have turned up a 66-million-year fossil tooth from one. And the big surprise: It came from a site that wasn’t part of the ocean. As such, this tooth is rewriting the aquatic reptile’s history. Some mosasaurs ruled the rivers, it suggests. The tooth came from a genus known as Prognathodontini (Prog-NAH-thow-don-TEE-nee). These enormous animals could span up to 11 meters (36 feet) — or about the length of a telephone pole. The lizard-like creatures showed up during the Late Cretaceous, some 100 million years ago. Then, like nearly all of their dinosaur cousins, mosasaurs went extinct when a massive asteroid hit Earth 66 million years ago. Explainer: The age of dinosaurs Ancient dinos roamed the land. Mosasaurs prowled the water. More closely related to lizards and snakes than dinos, these giants had shark-like tails and paddle-shaped fins. These helped them glide through water to surprise their prey. With powerful jaws, this lurking predator “could bite through big turtles, fishes and …

Editor in Chief Tina Rivers Ryan Departs Role at Artforum

Editor in Chief Tina Rivers Ryan Departs Role at Artforum

Published by Jenni Sidey

On Wednesday, Artforum announced that editor-in-chief Tina Rivers Ryan will depart from her role at the end of February. She will be replaced by the publication’s executive editor, Rachel Wetzler, and editor Daniel Wenger, who will now serve as co-editors. (The editor-in-chief title will no longer be used.) Ryan, a curator, critic, and specialist in digital art, joined the publication in 2024, after serving as a curator at the Buffalo AKG Art Museum for seven years. She also spent time at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a curatorial research assistant in the modern and contemporary art department. Related Articles Wetzler previously served as a senior editor at Art in America, before joining Artforum with the same title in January 2024. She was promoted to executive editor last year. Wenger, meanwhile, has spent time at the New Yorker, Medium, and Harper’s. “It’s been an immense honor to work alongside my colleagues at Artforum over the last two years,” Ryan said in a statement. “While I’ve contributed to the magazine for many years, having the opportunity …

The Green River flows ‘uphill.’ Geologists think they finally know why.

The Green River flows ‘uphill.’ Geologists think they finally know why.

Published by Jenni Sidey

Get the Popular Science daily newsletter💡 Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. The Green River doesn’t make a lot of sense at first glance. The Colorado River’s largest tributary flows through a nearly 2,300-foot-deep canyon inside of northeastern Utah’s Uinta mountain range. But at almost 2.5 miles high, the massive, 50-million-year-old rock formation hypothetically shouldn’t have even yielded to the nearby Green River, which itself began to form less than eight million years ago. After examining a combination of seismic imaging and data modeling scenarios, an international research team now believes they can explain this longtime mystery behind one of North America’s most prominent river systems. Water typically follows the path of least resistance. If a stream encounters an immovable object such as a large rock, fluid physics dictates that it simply follows both gravity and inertia towards an easier route forward. This isn’t to say that water isn’t powerful in its own ways. Some of the world’s largest canyons were carved by comparatively small currents over millions of years—but even …

NASA satellites help scientists observe how rivers carve the Earth

NASA satellites help scientists observe how rivers carve the Earth

Published by Jenni Sidey

A satellite built to measure Earth’s water has started answering a different kind of question. “What’s the shape of water?” Specifically, “How is water reshaping the ground beneath it?” NASA launched the Surface Water and Ocean Topography satellite, known as SWOT, in 2022. Its main job is to measure the height and spread of water across the planet. Now, Virginia Tech geoscientists say the same measurements can help you see rivers at work as builders and destroyers of landscapes. “We wanted to show how the satellite could be used in ways that it wasn’t primarily designed for,” said postdoctoral associate Molly Stroud, first author of a recent publication in the Geological Society of America Today. “How are rivers and streams moving sediment and shaping the Earth’s surface?” That question sits at the center of fluvial geomorphology, the field that studies how flowing water sculpts land. For years, this work often felt slow and local. Researchers might spend days measuring one reach of one river. They would map cross sections, estimate sediment movement, and try to …