A new study indicates that water arriving at Ash Meadows in Death Valley is completing a 15,000-year journey, flowing slowly underground from what is now the Nevada Test Site.

An innovative bicycle-powered water pump, created by a student in the UK, has proved a huge success and is now in regular production in Guatemala, transforming the lives of rural residents.

May 24 -- One of the nation's largest paper recyclers has reached an agreement with certain stockholders that will allow the company to emerge from bankruptcy court protection in the coming weeks.

Existing technology can produce biodiesel fuel from municipal sewage sludge that is within a few cents a gallon of being competitive with conventional diesel refined from petroleum, according to a new article. Sludge is the solid material left behind from the treatment of sewage at waste-water treatment plants.

In the first study of its kind, researchers have tracked a plume of polluted groundwater from a septic system to one of Northern California's top recreational beaches. The researchers say their findings could be an important step toward improving waste water management in coastal communities throughout the United States.

May 18 -- A new study commissioned by plastic container trade groups reports including recycled PET resin in packaging reduces the environmental footprint of packaging, in terms of required production energy and greenhouse gas emissions.

People who live in urban areas where particulate air pollution is high tend to have higher blood pressure than those who live in less polluted areas, according to researchers from Germany.

A new study suggests expanding community recycling programs beyond newspapers, beverage containers, and other traditional trash to include an unlikely new potential treasure: Cigarette butts. Terming this tiny trash "one of the most ubiquitous forms of garbage in the world," the study describes discovery of a way to reuse the remains of cigarettes to prevent steel corrosion that costs oil producers millions of dollars annually.

May 11 - Two scrap companies in Florida have forged a new ferrous metal agreement.

Algae -- already being eyed for biofuel production -- could be put to use right away to remove nitrogen and phosphorus in livestock manure runoff, according to an agricultural scientist.

Plant roots enmeshed in layers of discarded materials inside upright pipes can purify dirty water from a washing machine, making it fit for growing vegetables and flushing toilets, according to horticulturists.

A water feature found in the Maya city of Palenque, Mexico, is the earliest known example of engineered water pressure in the New World, according to a collaboration between an archaeologist and a hydrologist. However, how the Maya used the pressurized water is still unknown.