Honeybees in Canada collect pollution particles as they forage, providing a natural, efficient way to track environmental contaminants.

You will no doubt have seen the shocking statistics in the news showing the state of our rivers following many years of ongoing pollution...

DEC directors Jason Olds and Jean McCabe updated a legislative subcommittee on Feb. 19 about cruise-ship monitoring using EPA Method 9, inspection practices (twice-yearly boardings), a tiered per-voyage fee structure and a record year of observations in 2025; McCabe said penalties since FY2018 totaled $495,187.

The new instrument, called TEMPO, captures hourly snapshots of the pollutants swirling in the daytime atmosphere over North America—“chemical weather” reports that are helpful to public health researchers and government officials

Dr. Eric Lewandowski presented fish-sampling results from seven Finger Lakes, reporting persistent PFAS (notably PFOS/PFOA), evidence of trophic magnification, and that Seneca Lake shows elevated PFOS concentrations compared with other lakes; he urged more sampling, isotope analysis and risk assessment.

Heal the Bay presented 20 years of monitoring showing chronic bacteria problems at the Santa Monica Pier, with monthly averages above state safety limits since mid‑2020. The task force has completed field sampling and expects DNA source‑identification results by the end of the month to guide repairs or bird‑exclusion work.

The commission heard that backup diesel and natural-gas generators used to meet 99.999% uptime can emit locomotive-level pollution and that Sunnyvale currently lacks local air-quality monitors to track those emissions, which are exacerbated by frequent inversion layers in the Bay Area.

A University of South Florida researcher told the commission that atmospheric deposition may be an important source of microplastics to Tampa Bay, reporting an average deposition near one monitoring site of ~50,000 microplastics/m^2/day and a hurricane-related peak of about 95,000/m^2/day; she recommended standardized monitoring and a working group.

University of South Florida researchers told the Environmental Protection Commission that a multi-year study of Hillsborough and McKay Bay found elevated levels of PFAS and other contaminants in sediments and recreationally caught fish, identified likely source areas near MacDill and a firefighting-foam site, and outlined further sampling and risk-assessment steps.

The Littleton City Council on Dec. 16 approved Ordinance 27-2025 renewing four farm leases that allow South Platte Renew to continue land-applying treated biosolids to farm ground east of the metro area. City staff and South Platte Renew presented testing data and a PFAS study plan; the leases raise average per-acre rent to $21.43.

San Diego State University researchers reported that fluorescence-based in-situ sensors (Manta 3) and bench-top analyzers (AquaLog), supplemented by near-surface hyperspectral cameras and satellite radar, can act as proxies for sewage and bacterial contamination; calibration, turbidity correction and field validation remain necessary.

Research identifies high PFAS concentrations at three stable urban sites from 2023 to 2024.

The Senate subcommittee voted to report SB 138 to the full committee after testimony from utilities, environmental groups and industry on using EPA Method 1633a to test for PFAS in industrial wastewater and protect drinking‑water and biosolids pathways.