Study: Government must do better to protect Mississippi River

A report on the health of the Mississippi River was released on 16 October, 2007, by the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies: Mississippi River Water Quality and the Clean Water Act. The study reveals that the Mississippi Rivers poor water quality will continue to deteriorate until US farming policy more effectively protects soil and water, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) meets its mandate to enforce existing standards limiting nitrogen and phosphorous pollution.

More than 50 cities and 18 million Americans depend on the Mississippi and its tributaries for drinking water. For communities along its 2,300-mile course, the river is a vital economic, recreational, and natural resource. In 1998, the EPA called on all bordering states to adopt specific limits on nitrogen and phosphorous pollution entering the river; the EPA further warned the states that it would enact its own limits if the states had not complied by 2001. To date, however, each state along the Mississippi has virtually ignored the mandate and the federal government has not yet stepped in to enforce the law.

Because the Mississippi flows primarily between states, federal involvement is critical both to monitor water quality and to enforce pollution limits adopted by the EPA. The NRCs report states plainly that the the EPA has failed to use its mandatory and discretionary authorities under the Clean Water Act to ensure adequate interstate coordination and federal oversight of state water quality activities along the Mississippi River. The report declares that, as a result of limited interstate coordination, the Mississippi River is an ‘orphan, in terms of protection and oversight of water quality.

A central issue presented is the role that agricultural policies play in either preventing or enabling unnecessary run-off of fertilizers and pesticides: Numerical federal water quality criteria, and state water quality standards for nutrients, are essential precursors to reducing nutrient inputs to the river and achieving water quality objectives along the Mississippi River and for the northern Gulf of Mexico.

More information

• To read the report in summary or in full visit the National Academies page devoted to the report.
• Local coverage on Minnesota Public Radio
• Coverage in the Washington Post
• Editorial: Neglect on the Mississippi, Star Tribune, 21 October 2007