USGS Identifies Top Gulf ‘Dead Zone’ Polluting Watersheds
Taken from http://www.ewg.org/news-release/Top-Gulf-Dead-Zone-Polluting-Watersheds/040109
USGS Identifies Top Gulf ‘Dead Zone’ Polluting Watersheds
Groups: Government Must Focus Resources on High Priority Areas
WASHINGTON,
April 1, 2009 – For the first time, the U.S. Geological Survey has
identified the top 150 polluting watersheds in the Mississippi River
Basin that cause the annual 8,000 square-mile “Dead Zone” in the Gulf
of Mexico. Based on the USGS report released today, members of the
Mississippi River Water Quality Collaborative urge the Environmental
Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and state policy
makers to use the report to solve water quality problems both within
the states and downstream in the Gulf.
In January of 2008, USGS identified commercial fertilizers and
animal manure from farmland in 9* states as the cause of over 70
percent of the Dead Zone pollution. Evidence is mounting that the
mandated push to increase corn production – one of the most fertilizer
intensive crops – for ethanol exacerbates water quality problems within
the states and in the Gulf. This year, the USGS identifies and ranks
watersheds in the Basin by the amount of pollution that gets to the
Gulf.
“Currently, federal Farm Bill conservation dollars are not targeted
to where the pollution is generated. This new report should help states
focus their pollution reduction efforts in the top ranked watersheds
and on the most cost-effective practices,” said Michelle Perez, Senior
Agriculture Analyst for the Environmental Working Group. “A targeted
approach to farm conservation programs will help demonstrate to
taxpayers that states are trying to use their resources wisely and get
the biggest bang for the buck.”
“This report demonstrates that pollution doesn’t respect state
boundaries,” said Matt Rota, Water Resources Program Director for the
Gulf Restoration Network. “Many of the top-polluting river and stream
basins occupy multiple states. Downstream states like Louisiana and
Mississippi are counting on a multi-state effort to address the Dead
Zone. This study will hopefully help states and the U.S. Department of
Agriculture to increase and target farm conservation funding to help
reduce the Dead Zone, which is a major national environmental problem.”
“States that have watersheds listed in this report now have a better
sense of where action can be taken to reduce their contribution to the
Dead Zone while also reducing pollution to their local waters, ” said
Susan Heathcote, Water Program Director for the Iowa Environmental
Council. “The Environmental Protection Agency needs to take the lead to
focus federal resources to solve both local water quality problems and
the national Dead Zone in the Gulf.”
The USGS report, Incorporating Uncertainty into the Ranking of
SPARROW Model Nutrient Yields from the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River
Basin Watersheds” is available online at http://water.usgs.gov/nawqa/sparrow/nutrient_yields/index.html
The Mississippi River Water Quality Collaborative is a partnership
of environmental organizations and legal centers from states bordering
the Mississippi River as well as regional and national groups working
on issues affecting the Mississippi River and its tributaries. The
Collaborative harnesses the resources and expertise of its diverse
organizations to comprehensively reduce pollution entering the
Mississippi River as well as the Gulf of Mexico.
*The 9 states contributing over 70 percent of the dead zone-causing
nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants are: Illinois, Iowa, Indiana,
Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, and Mississippi.
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EWG is a nonprofit research organization based in Washington, DC
that uses the power of information to protect human health and the
environment. The group’s public lands analysis can be found at www.ewg.org.
