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ST. LOUIS (AP) – The nation’s rivers remain stubbornly contaminated with nutrients that contaminate drinking water and threaten aquatic life in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a recently released Environmental Protection Agency assessment. It is said that this creates a huge dead zone.
This is a difficult problem that is concentrated in agricultural areas that feed into the Mississippi River. The bureau’s study found that more than half of the watershed’s miles of rivers and streams were in poor condition for nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers flowing into waterways. Federal and state officials have struggled for decades to control farm runoff, the No. 1 source of nutrient pollution, which is typically unregulated by the federal government.
The problem is expected to become more difficult to control as climate change creates more intense storms and rain in the Midwest and South. These heavy rains flood farmland and suck up commercial fertilizers, carrying them into nearby rivers.
“I’m really concerned that we’re clearly falling short of the goals we’ve set for ourselves,” said Olivia Dorothy, director of river restoration for the conservation group American Rivers.
This assessment is based on samples collected in 2018 and 2019, allowing experts to compare river conditions from previous sampling rounds, even though different sampling locations were used. Masu. Although it will take years for the agency to compile the results and release the report, it will be the most comprehensive assessment of the health of the nation’s rivers and rivers. Phosphorus levels decreased slightly, but nitrogen levels remained about the same.
About half of all river miles were found to be in poor conditions for snails, earthworms, beetles, and other benthic species, which are important indicators of a river’s biological health. Approximately one-third were rated as having poor conditions for fish based on species diversity.
“Controlling pollution is a big job. It’s a tough job,” said Tom Wall, director of EPA’s Division of Watershed Restoration, Assessment, and Protection. “Despite the tremendous pressure on our waterways, the situation is not getting worse. And we want to see further progress.”
Water pollution from factories and industries is typically regulated by the federal government. Wall said the Biden administration recently proposed tighter regulations for meat and poultry processing plants to reduce pollution.
When nutrient pollution enters the Gulf of Mexico, it promotes the growth of oxygen-consuming bacteria. The result is a so-called “dead zone,” a vast area where survival is difficult or impossible for marine animals and whose area ranges from the size of Rhode Island to the size of New Jersey, said oceanography and wetlands professor Nancy Labara. It is said to vary by state. She will study at Louisiana State University.
This affects the productivity of commercial fisheries and marine life in general, but nutrient pollution also takes its toll upstream. Too much nitrate in drinking water can affect the transport of oxygen through the blood and cause health problems such as headaches, nausea, and abdominal pain. It can particularly affect infants and can cause “blue baby syndrome,” where the skin becomes bluish in color.
The EPA created a hypoxic task force in the late 1990s to reduce nutrient pollution and reduce dead zones, but it relies on voluntary efforts to reduce farm runoff and has not been able to significantly reduce dead zones. Not yet.
Ann Schechinger, Midwest director of the Environmental Working Group, said new regulations are needed, not voluntary efforts. He said the Biden administration has done a lot of work to improve drinking water, but not enough to reduce agricultural runoff.
Ways to prevent runoff include building buffers between farmland and waterways, creating new wetlands to filter pollutants, and reducing fertilization.
This is a politically thorny issue, with major agricultural states in the Midwest in particular heavily involved. Many of these states cite voluntary conservation programs as evidence they are addressing the problem, but the EPA’s new data shows little progress.
Minnesota is one of the few states with so-called “buffer laws” that require plants to be planted along rivers, streams and public drainages. However, because groundwater and surface water are closely linked in many regions of the Upper Midwest, nutrient contamination eventually percolates underground through farmland and eventually bypasses those buffers. It could end up in the river, said Gregory Klinger, who works in Olmsted County, Minnesota. Soil and Water Conservation District.
Emphasis should also be placed on preventing excessive fertilization. About 30% of farmers still use more fertilizer on their fields than recommended, said Brad Carlson, a University of Minnesota extension educator who communicates with farmers about nutrient contamination. problem.
Martin Larsen, a farmer and conservation engineer in southeastern Minnesota, said he and other farmers are interested in practices that reduce nutrient pollution. He split the typical corn and soybean rotation into oats and medium red clover. The latter is a type of plant that can naturally increase nitrogen levels in the soil. He’s been able to get by with about half as much fertilizer with a corn crop followed by clover compared to a corn-corn rotation.
Growing oats and red clover as cover crops also improves the soil. But Larsen said it’s difficult for many farmers to grow because they think they’ll get a quick return on what they grow. According to 2017 data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, only 5.1% of harvested farmland is planted with cover crops.
Larsen said more needs to be done to encourage better practices because the regulations are so unpopular. Examples, he said, could include companies changing the mix of feed they use for animals and giving farmers the opportunity to grow crops that use less fertilizer. Or there are government programs that increase subsidies for things like cover crops.
He said many farmers in his region recognize the need to do things differently. “But we also feel very trapped in the system,” he says.
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Walling reported from Chicago.
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Follow Melina Walling on X: @Melina Walling.
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The Associated Press receives support for coverage of water and environmental policy from the Walton Family Foundation. AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environment coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment.
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