Water Quality

The statewide effort to clean up drinking water was prompted by a 2022 Missouri law, and more than $27 million has been set aside to fix the problems.

There is a growing effort around St. Louis to adopt new practices to reduce road salt during winter storms.

The St. Louis University team discovered microplastics in water and sediment in a cave that had been mostly closed to humans for 30 years.

In far south St. Louis County, workers are using huge machines to dig a $175 million tunnel. It’s part of a Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District project aimed at preventing sewers from overflowing. That could allow the district to treat all of the region's wastewater and protect the environment.

The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District has completed the drilling phase of the Jefferson Barracks Tunnel. The seven-foot-diameter pipe will run up to 220 feet underground and about three miles. The entire project is to be completed in 2026.

Nonpoint source pollution is the biggest threat to water quality today — but the Clean Water Act isn’t fully capable of tackling it, two Mizzou researchers say.

A cross-disciplinary study suggests the multiple laws and regulations designed to protect water aren’t working, and a new focus on drinking water can fix that.

The Natural Resources Defense Council estimates there are at least 330,000 lead pipes funneling tap water into Missouri homes and other buildings — the sixth-highest of any state in the nation.

Missouri American Water Director Timothy Ganz discusses how high demand for water impacts the Missouri River, immediate and long-term threats to the river and what it takes to produce clean drinking water from a waterway with such high turbidity levels.

St. Louis and EPA officials say the city’s water treatment system needs to be updated to continue to provide safe drinking water and withstand climate change. Leaders say they’ve identified more than $400 million worth of upgrades, including the removal of lead service lines that deliver water.