water pollution

Regulators want to know the risks that flawed welding or shifting ground could pose for more breaks on the Keystone, which has spilled repeatedly since 2011.

Scientists in Kansas and Iowa are working on a greener path forward. In the meantime, experts offer tips for public agencies and homeowners to use salt smarter.

Crews in north-central Kansas continue to remove oil from several miles of Mill Creek that are now blocked off from the rest of the creek. Contamination downstream is decreasing.

A Michigan scientist warns that dilbit can seem to disappear, only to turn up later. This mystery may have to do with how the oil binds to other particles in water.

Drone footage immediately following the spill showed the 588,000 gallons of oil turned Mill Creek black. Keystone pipeline owner TC Energy says the fly-zone is necessary for the "safety and security" of cleanup crews.

Canadian company TC Energy estimated that 14,000 barrels of oil spilled near the Kansas-Nebraska border.

There are few staff to monitor Nebraska’s vast swaths of farmland, thousands of cattle feedlots, large hog operations and chicken farms. And the agencies’ own regulations don’t give the staff many tools to combat malpractice.

A survey from Waterkeeper Alliance found chemicals known as PFAS were found in surface waters across the United States with particularly high concentrations found in some rivers in the Midwest.

For towns with only a few hundred residents, keeping tap water clean and safe can pose a crippling expense. The predicament is likely to become more common in western Kansas as farm chemicals seep into dwindling water supplies.

ZMDR LLC in Lone Jack, Missouri, was cited by the Department of Natural Resources for polluting a mile of nearby streams when septic tanks overflowed following a December rainstorm. A neighbor complained to the state that the creek near their house turned black and had a stench.