“Chinese scientists have warned that rising temperatures are draining wetlands at the head of the the country’s two longest rivers, choking their flow and imperilling water supplies to hundreds of millions of people.” Please click the link to continue reading story.

Environment Washington released a report stating that many industrial and municipal facilities are dumping more pollution than allowed by the Clean Water Act into Washington rivers, lakes and Puget Sound.

Beijing’s rowing and conoeing venues for the 2008 Olympics are running dry. As a result, water is being diverted from a willow-lined river northeast of Beijing to replenish them.

A scientific study showed that over one third of freshwater fishes in Europe are endangered and may face extinction due to overfishing, pollution and dams causing dried up rivers.

Biologists are studying chum salmons in the Skagit River to help assist hydroelectric dams serving power to Seattle homes determine when to release water during spawning season.

Last year China dumped a record 30.5 billion tonnes of sewage and industrial waste into the Yangtze river.

The Duwamish waterway in Seattle is so polluted that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared it as a Superfund site six years ago. Despite the $70 million spent on restoration efforts, some speculate that the cleanup will cost another $200 million.

The Don, a 38km river running from the Oak Ridges Moraine to Lake Ontario, is Ontario’s dirtiest and one of the worst in Canada. Environment Canada gave the Don a water quality score of 34.8 out of 100.

CTV Ottawa

Environment Canada is launching its own investigation into a massive spill that dumped nearly one million cubic metres of sewage into the Ottawa River over a period of 15 days in the summer of 2006.

CBC News

The federal government is willing to contribute a third of the cost of upgrading Ottawa’s sewage system so it no longer dumps raw sewage into the Ottawa River during storms, said Environment Minister John Baird.