The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "aquifers" ...
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Natural Gas Drilling: Is New York Ready?
Much of New York City's drinking supply lies near the Marcellus Shale, an area that has become increasingly attractive to energy companies because of natural gas. Drilling in the area may not be safe for residents as chemicals may alter the purity of the water supply.
Tags: environmental contamination; mining; conservation; aquifer; hydrofracking;
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Running Dry
Douglas County is one of the fastest growing counties in the Denver area and one of the richest areas as well. In this report, investigations reveal that the water in the surrounding area is fast receding, contrary to predictions that the area has water supply to last 100 years. Officials predict an acute water shortage problem in the next 10-20 years. Homebuyers though are not being told of this situation and elected officials have not acted to the warnings signs.
Tags: Douglas County; water shortage; Colorado water shortage; water drawn from aquifers; Water Wise Council of Colorado
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Not Wet Enough: Even in the most unlikely places, local governments are grappling with demands for water that exceed existing supplies. And conservation isn't turnng out to be easy or cheap.
Many cities with blooming populations expect to suffer from a water shortage in the near future. This article explains how different city governments are preparing to deal with the issue.
Tags: American Water Works Association; AWWA; shortage; drought; groundwater; aquifers
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Florida's Water Crisis
The Orlando Sentinel published a 12-chapter series "of special reports focusing attention on what many experts see as the state's long-term water crisis." The most critical issues faced by Floridians include decreasing water supplies, more factors leading to lower water quality and scientific and political barriers to long-term solutions.
Tags: water; Florida; groundwater; drought; aquifers; rainfall; St. Johns River; wetlands; springs; wildlife; environment; lakes; septic-tank contamination; pollution; gas tanks; desalination plant
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Our Polluted Runoff
"Rainfall, snowmelt, or irrigation runoff moves across the land... [It] picks up... residues from the production of food, the manicuring of yards, the construction of roads and buildings... and transports these contaminants to the nearest stream, lake, estuary or aquifer," National Geographic reports. Our water sources are getting more and more polluted, and salvation lies in the hands of the average citizen not corporate polluters.
Tags: water; run off; nonpoint-source pollution; blue-baby syndrome; integrated pest management
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Boone Pickens wants to sell you his water
Texas Monthly looks at the risk of depleting the Ogallala Aquifer, "a vast underground reservoir that stretches from the High Plains of Texas all the way to the Dakotas" and the "largest single groundwater source in the United States." The story exposes the plan of Boone Pickens, a former "oil tycoon and a feared corporate raider," to pump up water from Ogallala and to sell it to "cities like San Antonio and El Paso that are running out of water." The reporter finds that the dangerous approach of treating water like a marketable commodity results from a Texas law, which allows a property owner to "pump as much as he wishes ... no matter if he dries up his own water and his neighbors' water along with it."
Tags: Roberts County; farming; irrigation; draught; Panhandle; population boom; groundwater; conservation; Rio Grande; rivers; springs
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The Lowdown on Lowry
In the 1960s, the City of Denver opened up an old Air Force bombing range as a landfill for "questionable wastes." The EPA estimates that between 1964 and 1980, about 140 million gallons of hazardous waster were dumped at the site." But other records might put that figure around 220 million gallons. This three-part article looks at the struggle behind the Lowry landfill, and the actions of the community, the regulators, and those responsible for the toxic mess and its cleanup.
Tags: Public Utility Commission; aquifer; EPA; Environmental Protection Agency; Superfund; Air Force; bombing range; landfill; hazardous waste; Syntex Chemicals
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Fragile
Florida Trend Magazine reports on the $8 billion restoration deal for the Everglades-" how it will work and how it could fall apart. . . Nearly 2 billion gallons of water that once flowed through the ecosystem each day are now diverted to the ocean or Gulf. The plan proposes to capture most of this water in more than 217,000 acres of reservoirs and wetlands-based treatment areas and 330 underground aquifer storage and recovery wells." The article details the politics, science, bureaucrats, interest groups, natural issues and the interested parties involved in the plan and how their actions could result in its success or failure
Tags: environment; Everglades; Everglades National Park; restoration; Water Resources Development Acts; U.S. Department of Interior; South Florida Management District; Everglades Forever Act
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Running Dry
Veteran journalist Jacques Leslie makes a case that at the current rate of population growth and natural resource depletion, civilization will soon exhaust its reservoirs of freshwater in lakes,basins, and underground aquifers.
Tags: Environment; ecology; water; natural resources; Leslie
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Hazard from Below: Abandoned Oil Wells in Texas
This three-part series examines the crumbling infrastructure of Texas' once-thriving oil and gas industry, detailing how government oversight and corporate welfare contributed to massive ecological devastation in the face of economic decline. "Over the last century, there have been between 700,000 and 1 million oil and gas wells drilled in Texas.... Abandoned, unplugged and leaking wells litter the state. If not properly plugged, they become perfect pathways for saltwater and other toxic fluids found deep underground to pollute groundwater aquifers..."
Tags: CAR pollution Railroad Commission; Natural Resources Conservation Commission; SEC; campaign contribution