Bigger, higher and stronger levees cannot save New Orleans from the worst floods and the city remains vulnerable to a repeat of Hurricane Katrina, the National Academy of Sciences said on Friday.
Rivers in some of the world's most populated regions are losing water, many because of climate change, researchers reported on Tuesday.
Affected rivers include the Yellow River in northern China, the Ganges in India, the Niger in West Africa, and the Colorado in the southwestern United States.
A suit by some property owners who lost heavily during the hurricane claims that the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet channel was flawed in its design and that the flaws intensified the flood damage.
Facing a lake covered by low-lying clouds, spiritual leader Arwa Viku burns leaves hoping that the smoke will carry his message, his voice mixing with the sound of waves lapping the grass-lined shore.
Here in mountainous central Colombia, Viku's Arhuaca Indian tribe is concerned that the country's water supply is being threatened by an expanding unregulated agricultural sector.
Soaring above the Mississippi River just east of downtown Minneapolis is one remarkable concrete job. There on Interstate 35W, the St Anthony Falls Bridge carries 10 lanes of traffic on box girders borne by massive arching piers, which are supported, in turn, by footings and deep pilings.
If the United States Supreme Court grants certiorari in a case between Mississippi and Tenessee, the court will have its first opportunity to determine if and how transboundary aquifers should be regulated. The applications of this case are far from surface level.
