This One’s for the Dead Heads

It’s time to release this year’s dead zone predictions… and it ain’t pretty. The hypoxic zone in Gulf of Mexico is expected to stretch 5,827 square miles this year. That’s about the size of Connecticut. Excess nitrogen and phosphorous in agricultural runoff drains into the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River, causing harmful algal bloom that suck all the oxygen out of the water, creating a toxic marine environment. It’s your annual reminder that current nutrient management in the Mississippi River is leaving much to be desired (yet we do know a good resource for interstate nutrient strategies if you’re interested). Unfortunately, the Clean Water Act classifies agricultural runoff from drain tiles and ditches as nonpoint source pollution, meaning it is not subject to water quality regulations. So, the bulk of federal and state efforts to address nutrient pollution in the Mississippi River Basin comes in the form of conservation funding and monitoring rather than enforceable limits. However, that funding has barely made a ripple in terms of surface water quality. Gulf Hypoxia Task Force states have not achieved meaningful improvement in reducing base nitrogen and phosphorous loads, putting them woefully behind reduction targets set for 2025. In fact, phosphorous loads have actually increased by 22%.

Along Louisiana’s coast, impacts from the dead zone threaten the shrimping industry, not to mention the success of river diversions and flood control projects due to water quality impacts. At the top of the river, excess nitrogen runoff also causes nitrate contamination, posing a threat to drinking water sources, rivers and lakes used for recreation. In Minnesota, testing has found nitrate levels twice the limit of what the EPA considers safe under drinking water standards. Minnesota lawmakers attempted to implement 0.40 cent per ton tax on nitrogen that would have allotted revenue dedicated to help municipalities with groundwater contamination. Though unsuccessful, it’s worth considering new approaches since our current system isn’t doing the trick.

Unfortunately, agricultural practices that contribute to increased runoff are on the rise, as are sales of commercial fertilizers. The pipe system for drain tiles stretches across 50 million acres, mostly in the Midwest. This practice has also led to the loss of an estimated 100 million acres of wetlands. Recipients of USDA benefits are prohibited from converting wetlands into farmlands under the federal Farm Bill’s Swampbuster provision. And while it isn’t doing much to improve the wetlands loss problem, that Swampbuster provision is now facing a constitutional challenge in an Iowa lawsuit (brought to you by the lawyers who brought Sackett). Will the wetlands madness ever end?

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