Rampant fertilizer runoff from Midwest farm fields is choking the Gulf of Mexico.
The resulting ocean dead zone shows little sign of shrinking despite decades of effort.
What more can be done to stem the flow?
‘We should have a sense of urgency’ as farm drainage tile drives nutrient pollution
Agricultural drainage tile, a system used by farmers to increase crop yields, is a main contributor to excess nutrients in waterways.
Could the Mississippi River benefit from Chesapeake Bay’s strategy to improve water quality?
Sluggish progress on reducing nutrient runoff into the Bay marks an inconvenient truth, but offers lessons for others seeking to clean their watersheds.
Not just a Gulf problem: Mississippi River farm runoff pollutes upstream waters
Worsening local effects on health and recreation in states like Minnesota and Wisconsin are spurring action on problems that also cause the Gulf of Mexico’s chronic ‘dead zone.’
At the mouth of the Mississippi, Louisiana bears the burden of upstream runoff. Why doesn’t it push for solutions?
This summer’s ‘dead zone,’ a low-oxygen area where the river empties into the sea, could span 5,827 square miles across the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana has the power to call for change.
As conservation lags, so does progress in slashing Gulf’s ‘dead zone’
One year away from a federal deadline to reduce nutrient runoff into the Gulf of Mexico by 20%, increases in tile drainage, livestock and fertilizer use have made success unlikely.
