Chicago, Illinois - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a $26 million cleanup will begin this month on Lake George Canal in the cities of East Chicago and Hammond, Indiana. The waterway is part of the Grand Calumet River Area of Concern on Lake Michigan, identified by the United States and Canada as one of 43 toxic hotspots in the Great Lakes basin.

Salida, Colorado - Mountain run-off starts every rafting season strong, but later when many rivers are running too low for recreational activities, the Arkansas River keeps flowing thanks to the Voluntary Flow Management Program (VFMP).

Sacramento, California - The San Joaquin River Restoration Program has released a Final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for a project to increase water deliveries, from 35 cubic feet per second to 55 cfs, to a California Department of Fish and Wildlife salmon conservation and research facility immediately downstream of Friant Dam, in Fresno County.

Emmett, Idaho - The Bureau of Reclamation is seeking comments on the revised Draft Environmental Assessment to help identify issues and concerns associated with the proposed construction of a third hydroelectric generating unit at Black Canyon Diversion Dam on the Payette River near Emmett, Idaho.

Sacramento, California - The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has confirmed the presence of New Zealand mudsnails in the low-flow section of the Feather River in Butte County, and is asking recreational users of the river to “clean, drain and dry” fishing and recreational gear and watercraft in order to help prevent the spread of these invasive snails.

Klamath Falls, Oregon - Bureau of Reclamation biologists found the largest number of juvenile Lost River and shortnose sucker fish since fish salvage operations began on the Klamath Project. Reclamation crews have been salvaging fish, including the endangered suckers, from area canals since the late 1990s. The efficiency of salvage efforts in the A Canal were dramatically improved after the A Canal headworks were reconstructed and a fish screen was installed in 2003.

Washington, DC - Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced that USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) will invest $30 million this year in 33 new projects and 40 existing projects to improve water quality in high priority watersheds the Mississippi River Basin. These projects reduce loss of nutrients and sediment to waters that eventually flow into the Gulf of Mexico.