MONTICELLO, Minn. (AP) Groundwater containing low levels of radioactive material may have reached the edge of the Mississippi River, the energy company responsible for the leak from its nuclear power plant in Monticello, Minnesota, announced on Thursday.. Tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, has not been detected in the river water itself, Xcel Energy said in a statement. Lichtenberg, Erik, and Tony M. Penn. Overfertilization leads to one of the most typical types of agricultural runoff. The National Park Service has partnered with the Friends of the Mississippi River to answer these questions in the State of the River Report. There are fewer studies directly linking climate to the ecological responses but were increasingly seeing the connections. The company dumps highly toxic PFAS chemicals into the river. We use those data to inform how and where we target restoration. 1 Mississippi is proud to partner . We are working to provide information from our long-term data and monitoring to help our partners target protection of the backwater areas. Smith, Hendrick, and Rick Young. The national parks protect more than just outstanding waters. When Minneapolis eventually employed chlorine to disinfect and clean drinking water that was coming from the river, the number of infected fell. Your email address will not be published. Animals might consume some debris, such as plastic rings, or become tangled in it. The polluted water of the Mississippi River has caused the wildlife in the water to deteriorate. The 1972 Act aimed to make all U. S. waters fishable and swimmable by 1985. 21 Apr. The great waterway was shown to become filthier and filthier until 1980, when the effects brought about by the 1972 Clean Water Act (CWA) started to kick in. Learn how you can be a part of the solutionand use the Debris Tracker to document plastic litter in your own area. Roof, If you notice soil erosion from a construction. Lets take action to drastically reduce the pollution of these water bodies and strive to restore our polluted waters. Plastics fill oceans, pharmaceuticals are distributed in sewage and COVID-19 virus and other viruses spread in partially treated sewerage wastes from aging septic tanks, unconstrained wetland treatment systems with insufficient hydrologic controls and overloaded treatment systems. Before flowing into the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River, one of the greatest rivers in the world, borders Iowa and nine other states. Louisiana State University. Nonpoint Pollution of Surface Waters with Phosphorus and Nitrogen. Ecological Applications8.3 (1998): 559. How the upper Mississippi goes from pristine to polluted - Star Tribune For example, I recently wrote a paper on the winter season showing that over the last 25 years, warmer winters were associated with more chlorophyll, or algae, in the river. Because manure contains a lot of organic compounds, it is comparable to fertilizer. Rabalais, Nancy N., R. Eugene Turner, and Donald Scavia. Other questions:subscriberservices@theadvocate.com. The Clean Water Act (CWA) regulates both point source pollution directly and non-point source pollution through ambient water quality standards, yet regulating the latter is much more difficult and ineffective. His reconstructed record from a century's worth of river testing at St. Francisville, Plaquemine, New Orleans and Belle Chasse shows a clear and steady decline in bacteria, lead and other pollutants since the Clean Water Act was enacted in 1972. Xcel Energy says groundwater containing radioactive tritium may have reached the edge of the Mississippi River in Monticello, but at very low levels that dont pose a risk to human health or the environment. Plastic Pollution in the Mississippi River - Regional Cooperation for a Algal blooms such as the one pictured above thrive in nutrient rich water. . Animal manure needs to be stored at large farms to prevent it from harming the environment. MN A TMDL is a calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant a water body can receive. Now a new survey looking at more than a century of river chemistry reports brings the full value of the act into view like never before. JavaScript appears to be disabled on this computer. Chemicals in Farm Runoff Rattle States on the Mississippi Kathi Jo Jankowski Mississippi River Collaborative | Reduce Pollution Entering the It stretches all the way from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota down to the Gulf of Mexico. Television. The decomposition of algae consumes oxygen, depriving Gulf waters of sufficient quantities of dissolved oxygen and resulting in a dead zone where aquatic life is forced to either relocate or perish. However, agricultural runoff is the number onecontributorto the impairment of U. S. waterways. The Mississippi River starts at Lake Itasca clear and clean, and pretty much stays that way as it winds through northern Minnesota's forests and wetlands. Another substantial source of contamination for this river comes from industrial operations. Carpenter, S. R., N. F. Caraco, D. L. Correll, R. W. Howarth, A. N. Sharpley, and V. H. Smith. The Gulfs seafood industry suffers significant losses as a result of the low oxygen levels destruction of marine life and disruption of delicate ecosystems. And each year, people are injured or lose their lives in her waters. There was a problem saving your notification. Tristan Baurick: tbaurick@theadvocate.com; on Twitter:@tristanbaurick. Cleaning Up the Mississippi River. It is not good habitat for many of the fish that people like to fish for, like bluegill or perch. Great Lakes Network scientists use the parks for science and our science is used to help the parks. Non-Point Source Pollution is much harder to regulate. The concepts fell into a few large categories: Pipe Mississippi or Missouri River water to the eastern side of the Rockies or to Lake Powell on the Arizona-Utah border, bring icebergs in bags, on . Plastic Pollution in the Mississippi River - Regional Cooperation for a Transboundary Problem (pdf) (543.74 KB, May 2021) Article about plastic pollution in the Mississippi River Have any problems using the site? In 2013 we began collecting water samples from five locations in the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area (MISS). released Wednesday by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), is the first comprehensive look at the health of . Plastic waste and other litter travel through storm drains, tributaries, and rivers into the Mississippi River, making its way into the ocean. A portion of the Mississippi River inside the park corridor has water quality limits for nutrients, bacteria, silt, mercury, and PCBs that are exceeded. But with the help of the Federal . Sewage from New Orleans is still flowing into the Mississippi River. Long treated as a drain for. The Mississippi River, one of the world's largest waterways, is the sixth most endangered, due to pollution from farms, cities and habitat loss. We need to protect the act and all of its authorities, [and] we also need to start looking at expanding it to cover the emerging public safety threats as they relate to water.. How are bald eagles faring? Much of the nitrogen is converted into ammonium and later nitrates that plants use. Climate change has dried the West. Could a pipeline be the answer? Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center The water quality data he compiled were collected from four locations on the southern end of the Mississippi River at St. Francisville, Plaquemine, two locations in New Orleans and at Belle Chasse, Louisiana. Can I eat the fish I catch? My meeker mind thought the Mississippi River couldnt possibly be influenced by one single single thing, he said. The Mississippi River might seriously hurt a swimmer, kayaker, skier, and others even with a life jacket on. Barge on Upper Mississippi North of Lock and Dam No. 95 people each year died and 950 people were infected on average per year. Disease outbreaks like the typhoid outbreak in the late 1800s and early 1900s were brought on by the rivers pollution. From the polluted Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio that caught fire to the Mississippi River where sewage was dumped resulting in increases in lead and decreases in oxygen, rivers were environmentally hazardous until the passage of the U.S. Clean Water Act in 1972. Agricultural runoff adds nutrients like Nitrogen and Phosophorus to the water system causing it to become eutrophic (nutrient rich). Because of the partnerships that resulted to address those threats, we are well set up to work together to address the big one climate change. The USGS estimates that this smaller-than-average river discharge carried 90,500 metric tons of nitrate and 15,600 metric tons of phosphorus into the Gulf of Mexico in May alone. Samples are tested for over 260 different pollutants that are not necessarily persistent or do not bioaccumulate but have the potential to be toxic at high enough levels. In the lower Mississippi, lead concentrations are about 1,000 times lower than they were in 1979, according to water quality data Turner collected from the state Department of Environmental Quality testing locations in St. Francisville, Plaquemine and Belle Chasse. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. The fauna in the Mississippi River has declined as a result of the rivers dirty water. (Renee Jones Schneider/Star Tribune via AP, File), Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Is water pollution improving? Seen from above, the Mississippi River carries sediment into the Gulf of Mexico. Projections indicate that the Mississippi will lose much of its ice cover if current climate trends persist. Heavy metals and hazardous compounds are among the contaminants released by these facilities. The dead zone of low oxygen in the Gulf of Mexico in 2015 covered an area around the size of Connecticut or 6,500 square miles. The utility made a temporary fix but learned in March that hundreds more gallons of tritium-laced water leaked, leading to a dayslong shutdown to fix the pipe. In some regions, all of these Mississippi River contaminants may make the river hazardous not only for people but also for the plants and animals that live there. The pollution that has led to these conditions cannot be cleaned up overnight-it will take years and widespread coordination to develop and implement effective pollution-reduction plans, and possibly many more years until they are successful. The Hypoxia Task Force is a collaborative state/federal partnership co-led by EPA to address nutrient pollution in the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin and hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Other markers of the rivers health, such as oxygen and pH levels, have improved over the same period, according to Turners research. But by the time the river flows into. UNEP Terms of Use PrivacyReport Project Concern Report Scam Contact Us. The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the authors and do not represent official policy or position of the University of Wisconsin-Madison or the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts. Coastal Louisiana is home to numerous restoration initiatives, but many more are required as part of a holistic plan for the deltas future. Were putting plastic in our river in incredible amounts, and not just from that nurdle spill, Turner said. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. When algae die they sink to the bottom where bacterial composition takes place, a process that uses much of the Oxygen in the water, leading to asphyxiation and the death of marine life. What can we do about invasive carp? We have restored about 100,000 acres of habitat over the course of our program and we have one of the largest ecological datasets on a large river in the world, with over 25 years of data on fish, vegetation, and water quality data that help us understand the ecosystem. Transforming our food systems: Feeding the world while nourishing the planet, Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative (MRCTI), upper, middle and lower Mississippi River, Baton Rouge, LA; St. Louis, MO; St. Paul, MN, Learn how you can be a part of the solution. Xcel has been pumping out contaminated groundwater since a broken pipe at its Monticello nuclear plant leaked water containing tritium last November. The Mississippi River is one of the most iconic bodies of water in North America. of Trash From One of the Dirtiest Rivers in the US, Once Left For Dead, The Aral Sea Is Now Brimming With Life Thanks to Global Collaboration. Web. Water Quality in the Mississippi River - Mississippi National River (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate). In the U.S., natural water falls between 6.5 and 8.5 with 7.0 being neutral. As the number of cities grows so does the amount pavement. Nitrogen is the most common nutrient leading to eutrophication. Do I need to be concerned about bacteria in the river? The dredging of canals for improved access and increased areas of open water and higher rates of erosion. Another big source of contamination for the Mississippi River is sewage treatment facilities. Good GardeningA New Year: What Have You Got in the Ground? The zone occurs between the inner and mid-continental shelf in the northern Gulf of Mexico, beginning at the Mississippi River delta and extending westward to the . ScienceDaily. 111 E. Kellogg Blvd., Suite 105 But a new LSU studyshows that the lowest downriver reaches of the river have been getting cleaner since the 1970s, when Congress passed the Clean Water Act, a landmark piece of legislation considered one of the most powerful environmental laws in U.S. history. According to the United States Geological Survey, hypoxia (in the Gulf of Mexico) is believed to be caused primarily by excess nutrients delivered from the Mississippi River in combination with seasonal stratification of Gulf waters.. (Photo by Sam R. Sutton, The Times-Picayune), The rising waters of the Mississippi River push plastic bottles and other trash into an estuary frequented by herons and other wildlife. Of the waterways that have been listed as impaired by the EPA under the CWA, it has been found that Non-point source pollution is the biggest contributor causing the waterways to fail to meet regulatory standards. Learn more about their roles in this initiative. Its 1% of what it was before the 1980s, Turner said. This reduction in sulfate has also led to a restoring of a far-more normal pH level in the water of about 8.4. Our success depends on working closely with partners on projects of high importance in terms of habitat and the ecological and social benefits that they can provide.