E2 Round-up: Water pollution on the rise, the growing threat of manure, and IPCC tries to recover

The water issue has been on the back burner in Congress, as lawmakers struggle instead on climate change and reducing greenhouse gases, an effort that itself has stalled.

But the Times story could recharge the debate. Western Republicans have already warned Democrats not to try to advance a bill designed to give federal regulators their old powers.

The Washington Post takes a look at one big source of water pollution: manure. 

“Animal manure, a byproduct as old as agriculture, has become an unlikely modern pollution problem,” the Post reports.

“Excess” manure releases air pollutants including methane, a greenhouse gas. And manure has helped to cause the 230 oxygen-deprived “dead zones” along the U.S. coast.

Meanwhile, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is developing a strategy to rebuild its tarnished reputation, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The U.N. climate panel announced over the weekend that it will hire independent experts to investigate how errors found their way to its seminal report on climate change.