Environmental Protection Agency water quality rules are contradictory and have the effect of allowing municipal dischargers in Montana an “escape clause” from compliance with state water-quality standards, ruled a U.S. federal court judge in Great Falls, Mont., on March 25.

The city of Detroit has shut off drinking water in all public schools after officials found high levels of lead and copper in samples from 16 out of 24 schools tested.

South Africa’s Cape Town—at nearly 4 million people, the country’s second-most populous city—could run out of water in the next three months if the current drought, the worst in 10 years, persists.

Working in the field to collect data water quality and the performance of water-treatment facilities, many engineers and field technicians still rely on pen and paper to capture readings.