Reports - WSTB

WSTB Reports

Nutrient Control Actions for Improving Water Quality in the Mississippi River Basin and Northern Gulf of Mexico (2008)

Press Release

For more than two decades, a large area of oxygen-depleted water -- often referred to as a "dead zone" -- has appeared each year in the Gulf of Mexico. The dead zone is the result of algal growth fueled by excess nutrients, especially nitrogen and phosphorus, which flow into the Gulf from the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers from various sources -- including agriculture, municipal water treatment works, industries, and urban runoff. At the request of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Research Council convened a committee to examine this problem and help EPA better meet nutrient and sediment reduction objectives. The committee's report identifies means for allocating reductions of nutrient discharges into streams and lakes. It also recommends that EPA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture jointly establish a Mississippi River Basin Nutrient Control Implementation Initiative, and a Mississippi River Basin Water Quality Center, to learn more about the effectiveness of various efforts to improve water quality.
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