The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "water" ...
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Fishy Business
Boston Globe reporters Jenn Abelson and Beth Daley captured the attention of consumers across the nation with their 2011 “Fishy Business” series, which revealed widespread mislabeling of seafood at restaurants. DNA testing commissioned by the Globe showed diners frequently – and unwittingly -- overpaid for less desirable species. In 2012, the Globe produced two more “Fishy Business” installments to expand and follow up on the initial investigation. First, Abelson spent several months examining how fish processors add water to seafood to increase profits. The Globe hired an independent lab to conduct an analysis of 43 fish samples collected from supermarkets across Massachusetts. The results, presented in a multimedia package in September 2012, showed consumers often pay for excess water when they buy scallops and frozen fish. About 1 in 5 of the samples weighed less than what was stated on packages. The testing also showed 66 percent of the fish from one supplier had too much ice. The Globe also wanted to verify restaurants and wholesalers had changed their ways following the newspaper’s 2011 investigation and resulting calls for reform. Daley and Abelson returned to 58 restaurants that served the wrong fish in 2011 to collect new samples. DNA tests showed 76 percent did not match what restaurants advertised on their menus. The resulting third installment of “Fishy Business,” published in December 2012, detailed these findings. In addition, Abelson and Daley explained how accountability is lost in the fish supply chain by investigating a major wholesaler that provided mislabeled fish to some of the region’s best-known restaurants.
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Dirty Deeds
It may be the biggest inside job in Louisiana history: vast expanses of oil and gas-rich land and water bottoms, owned by the state, but handed over to some of Louisiana’s most powerful politicians. The “scheme” uncovered by our investigative team dates back to the 1930s and has generated over a billion adjusted dollars during that time. This comprehensive multi-platform series not only sparked an investigation by Louisiana’s Attorney General, but also informed viewers that this shocking 80 year old deal is still costing an already cash-strapped state tens of millions of dollars each year.
Tags: Politicians; oil; gas; governors
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Plunder in the Pacific
"Plunder in the Pacific," an eight-country investigation, revealed how Asian, European and Latin American fleets have devastated what was once one of the world’s great fish stocks. Jack mackerel in the South Pacific has decreased from around 30 million tons to less than three tons in just two decades. We found that national interests and geopolitical rivalry for six years blocked efforts to ratify a regional fisheries management organization that could impose binding regulations to rescue jack mackerel from further collapse. Bound only by voluntary restrictions, fleets competed in what amounted to a free-for-all in no man’s water.
Tags: Pacific; ocean resources; fisheries
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Poison in the Water
“Poison in the Water” is a WNCN investigation that exposes how state government failed to warn families that the water they were drinking could be killing them. Through six weeks of research and digging through hundreds of FOIA documents, WNCN uncovered the source of the contamination in a Wake Forest, N.C. community and revealed state regulators ignored their own evidence of the danger. “Poison in the Water” held the powerful accountable and sparked calls for state legislative change. As a result, national groundwater advocate, Erin Brockovich, visited the Wake Forest families.
Tags: water safety; government; water contamination; groundwater
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A Hole at the Bottom of the Sea
The book tells how the government and BP responded to an emergency unlike anything encountered before in the history of petroleum engineering: a blowout in imle-deep water. The book chronicles the 87-day effort to cap the Macondo well after the explosion on the drilling rig Deepwater Horizon.
Tags: Deepwater Horizon; BP; oil rig; drilling; Macondo well
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ACWWA
The investigation found that Arapahoe County water officials contracted to pay the top-dollar price of $153 million for water. There were numerous red flags and inherent problems with the deal.
Tags: water; Arapahoe County; ACWWA
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Radioactive Waste Leaking into Ground Water
The Asbury Park Press found that millions of gallons of radioactive water have leaked from nuclear power plants in the U.S. since the 1970s, threatening water supplies in New Jersey and other states. But the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has never fined a violator. The Press also found that major leaks have increased in recent years, nearly all nuclear power plants have leaked radioactive titrium, most plants hvae had more than one titrium leak, and esseentially all plants have leaked or spilled radioactive material.
Tags: radioactive waste; power plant; U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
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MSD
Corruption in the Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District. The MSD oversees sewer treatment, storm water management and Ohio river flood control for the several hundred thousand people who live in Louisville and Jefferson County, Kentucky. Throughout the investigation, The Courier-Journal discovered that MSD board members owned companies that they were doing business with the agency they served, excessive bonuses to top officials, and a secret $140,000 lawsuit with an HR chief when he threatened a whisteblower lawsuit.
Tags: Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District; MSD; Jefferson County; Kentucky
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What Trinity Toll Road Backers Didn't Tell Us
In 2007, Dallas voters rendered a judgement on the largest public works project in city history, casting ballots in a referendum that had become a surprisingly close, all-in-battle between grassroots activists and the Dallas business and cultural establishment. The question- should the city's multi-billion plan to transform Dallas' long-neglected riverfront into a massive series of parks, forests, white-water rapids, and other natural wonders be built, as planned, with a $2 billion high-speed toll road running right through it?
Tags: Dallas; 2007; Toll Road; Grassroots Activist
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A Matter of Risk: Radiation, Drinking Water and Deception
You probably use it every day. And you probably think it's relatively safe. But imagine if your home's tap water was actually: making the plumbing so radioactive it could set off a Geiger counter, releasing a dangerous gas whenever you took a shower or ran a dishwasher, exposing you to a 1 in 400 chance of cancer just by regularly drinking it. And imagine if the people who were supposed to protect you from this situation not only knew about it and failed to do much of anything, but instead spent decades covering it up. That's exactly what the KHOU I-team discovered to be the case for half a million and more Texas consumers during its 12-month investigation into the quality of the state's drinking water.
Tags: tap water; radioactive; cancer; drinking water