Happy Earth Day! Wisconsin, of course, is where it all began, thanks to former U.S. senator Gaylord Nelson’s vision. As we here at the blog mulled over an appropriate topic for an Earth Day post, …
Water Quality, Hydrology & Nutrients
Road Salt Turns Deep Water into “Low-Sodium Soup”
Before the ice melts off these lakes here in Madison (we will get ice-off this year, right???), we thought we’d share a report from our senior research technician, Ted Bier, who you may have seen …
The Impact of Ag: More Than Half of U.S. Rivers in ‘Poor’ Condition
Last Tuesday, the United States’ Environmental Protection Agency released the results of a comprehensive study that measured the vital signs of 1.2 million miles of American rivers and streams. The prognosis wasn’t great. Measuring things …
Freshwater Estuaries: Exploring an Unusual Ecosystem
The Saint Louis River Estuary is a rare type of freshwater ecosystem that receives significant amounts of water from both the incoming rivers and Lake Superior. While estuaries are common along coastlines where rivers empty …
April 9th Event – Our Freshwater Future: Peril and Promise
Only 2.5% of all the water on earth is freshwater. 70% of that freshwater is frozen into glaciers and snowpacks in mountainous regions, leaving a tiny fraction of all water on earth available for every …
Weekly Science Seminar: Protecting & Promoting Wisconsin Water
Happy World Water Day! While we’ve got it pretty good in this country when it comes to clean and available water, getting to that point took a lot of political action, public pressure and well-crafted …
In This City, Everything Ends Up in the Lakes
We don’t want to start a fuss over here at the CFL blog, but the unmistakable beeping of a big yellow machine hard at work drew our attention outside this afternoon. It turns out that …
Small Dams Add Up to Major Pollution Control
When it comes to surface water pollution, people tend to think big. The focus is often on metropolitan sewer districts, large dairy operations, or sediment build-up behind giant dams. It turns out that small-scale dams …
“Water @ UW-Madison” Website Serves as Reservoir for University’s Water Research
MADISON – Water covers 70% of the earth’s surface, makes up the majority of our bodies, and its use, quality, and availability are some of the most critical issues facing our world today. Water is …
Ecosystems on the Brink – CFL in Scientific American
The October 2012 issue of Scientific American is out and it features a nice article on ecosystem regime shifts, CFL experimental workhorses Peter and Paul Lakes, and our director, Steve Carpenter. Ecosystems on the Brink …