As the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico continues to expand, environmental groups are suing the EPA to curb pollution of the Mississippi River from pollution such as fertilizers and pesticides, which are blamed to be the ultimate source of the dead zone that is presently the size of Massachusetts. While Mississippi states monitor the water quality standards of the river, the Mississippi River extends from the Rocky Mountains to the state of New York, and sources of runoff such as nitrogen and phosphate, two of the largest contributors to "dead zones," are neither being regulated nor monitored to the extent that they need to be. While the EPA has stated in the past that the monitoring of the wastewater treatment standards in regards to the Mississippi River would not be the most effective way to "address the significant water problems facing our nation," they have yet to respond to the current petition to update wastewater standards. If standards are not modified, then the extent of the pollution which enters the Mississippi River will only continue to worsen, thereby increasing the size and intensity of the dead zone in the south.
Watch and learn more about the dead zone associated with the Mississippi River at minute 1:30 here!
Wow! This article really spurred me to look more into dead zones. The following link takes you to the NASA website with a global map of dead zones! http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=44677
ReplyDeleteAfter reading a little bit more on this topic it made me think of the 'great pacific garbage patch', which is also being produced and contributed to by man and expanding greatly due to garbage, chemicals sludge and large amounts of plastic culminating in one area from the North Pacific Gyre current patterns. I wonder why something such as the garbage patch or the growing dead zones, are treated as if the damage they cause may not in fact greatly impact our future environmental conditions in a detrimental way.
ReplyDelete