After some Olympic triathletes dropped out of competition due to illness, questions are being raised about poor water quality in the Seine River. River, lake and even ocean waters often get contaminated with E. coli and other bacteria after rain. Runoff from parking lots or lawns, gardens and fields can carry along oil and tar or bits and pieces of animal feces, Martin Doyle, Water Policy Program director at the Nicholas Institute, explained to The Washington Post.

As Florida counties eye already-conserved public lands to offset impacts to urban and suburban wetlands, a blog post from the Environmental Policy Innovation Center outlines arguments for putting offsets on public lands and presents counterarguments. The blog post also cites a 2020 Nicholas Institute report to detail safeguards that can be put in place when public lands have to be used for mitigation.

A peer-reviewed analysis led by Duke University researchers suggest municipal bond markets are mispricing climate and race risk at a large scale. Lead author Erika Smull, a 2022 Ph.D. graduate of the Nicholas School of the Environment, told ImpactAlpha the result is Black communities are less likely to be able to invest in climate resilience upgrades.

The U.S. municipal bond market does not consider physical climate risks when deciding where to invest, but it generally requires higher interest payments from predominantly Black communities seeking to borrow, according to a new analysis.

Roughly a quarter of households in Jackson, Miss., are challenged by unaffordable water services amid an ongoing water crisis. Lauren Patterson and Sophia Bryson explore trends driving water unaffordability in Jackson and other communities and discuss potential ways forward in an op-ed for The Clarion-Ledger.

In 787 communities served by the United States’ largest utilities, 17 percent of households (28.3 million people) spend more than one day each month working to pay for water services and sanitation services, according to a new analysis by researchers at Duke University.

Public agencies must modernize their water data infrastructure to get a more accurate picture of the water resources they manage. Ashley Ward discusses a new report on a program that addresses two main aspects of water data modernization: technology adoption and an organizational and cultural evolution in how data are managed, shared, and deployed for decision-making.

Martin Doyle spoke with Georgia Public Broadcasting about how President Jimmy Carter's move to preserve the Flint River in the 1970s changed the way federal dam projects are funded.

Over 50 percent of US dams were built before 1970. As they age, their safety liabilities increase and effectiveness decreases. A new federal financing program could help with dam rehabilitation—but maximizing the program’s potential calls for congressional action, argue Nicholas Institute expert Martin Doyle and coauthor John Ryan in a commentary at The Hill.

For decades, the Clean Water Act – passed this week in 1972 – has limited pollution in America’s waterways and set water quality standards across the country. Its passage required the work of activists paired with bipartisan support.

The recently merged Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and Duke University Energy Initiative benefited from the work of 55 dedicated student assistants during the 2021–2022 academic year.

The interdisciplinary crew of student assistants hailed from undergraduate and graduate degree programs across seven Duke schools. They brought diverse skillsets and perspectives to their roles, further developing their expertise by working on real-world projects advancing environmental progress.

States collectively have not committed $9.6 billion in available funding to invest in water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure, according to a new report from the Environmental Policy Innovation Center (EPIC) and the Water Policy Program at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions.

The idea of an Internet of Water was first conceived at the Aspen Institute Dialog Series on Water Data, and formalized in the 2017 report “The Internet of Water: Sharing and Integrating Water Data for Sustainability.” This concept built on earlier academic work in water science, as well the federal government’s Open Water Data Initiative (OWDI), which substantially improved access to federal water data sets.

Duke University experts will share insights about international climate policy with university students across the nation in a free virtual seminar series funded by the U.S. Department of State. The series is also open to the Duke community, including students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

A NOAA-led report released earlier this week finds seas could rise by up to a foot nationally by 2050 — triggering a “profound” increase in coastal flooding even in the absence of stronger storms and extreme rainfall. Martin Doyle spoke to Greenwire about the vision needed at the federal level to match the scale of the challenge.