MPR compiles water quality stories...and a note from FMR to mindful readers

FMR Watershed Program Director Trevor Russell, pictured above in a photo by MPR's Judy Griesedieck above the polluted confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers, often provides water quality data and information to reporters to counter misleading industrial-ag "science."

Photo: MPR

Minnesota Public Radios Ground Level project, launched Tuesday, September 13th, highlights a number of water quality and landscape management stories from around the state. It is an impressive collection and effort.

Some articles include FMR's Watershed Program Director Trevor Russell, such as Measuring farm pollution: By the river or by the farm? by Jennifer Vogel, which addresses differing approaches to assessing water quality impairments in the Minnesota River basin. While we applaud the project and MPR's reporting and ongoing water quality coverage — and highly recommend FMR friends and members check out the suite of articles, we also wanted to take a moment to clarify a few points that are often missing in media coverage of agriculture-related water pollution.

Most importantly, readers should note that the research on urban vs. agricultural runoff concentrations cited in the piece linked to above and many other articles on the issue has not been subjected to meaningful peer review or fact-checking by runoff experts.

Also, when you read about comparisons of the concentration levels of pollutants from urban versus agricultural sources, it can appear that urban pollution is the primary water polluting culprit. However, that is not the case. It is essential to consider and compare the overall cumulative contributions. According to Minnesota Pollution Control Agency water-quality data, net agricultural (field) and drainage-related (stream bank and bluff) erosion represent the supermajority of all sediment pollution to the Metro Mississippi River. In total, urban sources account for about 4% of total river sediment in the Metro Mississippi River. ??Similarly, nitrogen/nitrate pollution (the primary factor in the Gulf Dead Zone) is primarily the result of agricultural fertilizers applied widely across Minnesotas landscape. While efforts have been made to reduce nitrogen pollution, a recent U.S. Geological Survey study shows that nitrate concentration in the Mississippi River from Minnesota and Wisconsin sources has increased 76% since 1980.