The Mississippi River system is in bad shape, according to a recent assessment. Overall, the river and its tributaries receive a grade of D+.
The assessment was a three-year effort by America’s Watershed Initiative, a consortium made up of environmental groups, businesses, universities, and government officials. It took into account the entire Mississippi River watershed, including the Ohio, Missouri, and Arkansas Rivers. Among the categories examined were ecosystems, including water quality, habitat, and wetland areas; flood control and risk reduction, including the condition of levees and the number of people living within floodplains; recreational use; economy, including river-dependent employment; water supply; and transportation. Only one subcategory—infrastructure maintenance, falling under the transportation category—received an outright failing grade.
- BMP Case Studies
- Green Infrastructure
- Stormwater Program Management
- Advanced Research Topics
- Water-Quality Monitoring
- Industrial Stormwater Management
- Stormwater Management for Solid Waste Facilities
You can see a breakdown of the grades for the entire Mississippi River system and for the individual river basins here.
The consortium is recommending that industry and government increase investment in the river basin by $1 billion a year. It acknowledges, though, that because of the huge geographical area the river system covers and the many different sources of funding, public and private, it’s difficult to track just how much is invested.
The consortium’s report points out that, although water quality has improved since the Clean Water Act made it illegal to dump pollutants into the rivers, problems still exist, especially with excess nutrients and algae blooms. The group plans to issue another report card in five years.
Although there is no guarantee that anyone will act on them, report cards such as this have become a popular way to draw attention to large-scale infrastructure and environmental issues. (The American Society of Civil Engineers report card on US infrastructure is perhaps the best known; incidentally, the latest one in 2013 also gave an overall grade of D+ to the nation’s infrastructure as a whole.) How much effect do you think these reports have in galvanizing public concern and action?
StormCon Call for Papers Is Open
StormCon, the only North American event dedicated exclusively to stormwater and surface-water professionals, is seeking abstracts for presentation at StormCon 2016. The deadline for submitting abstracts is Wednesday, December 9.
The conference will be held in Indianapolis, IN, August 22–25, 2016. We are looking for abstracts in the following conference tracks:
- BMP Case Studies
- Green Infrastructure
- Stormwater Program Management
- Advanced Research Topics
- Water-Quality Monitoring
- Industrial Stormwater Management
- Stormwater Management for Solid Waste Facilities
For more information, including the complete call for papers and an online form for submitting your abstract, visit www.StormCon.com.
Upcoming Webinars From Forester University
October 21: “Maximizing Erosion Control With Proper Material Selection”
This free webinar takes place today. Click here for more information and registration.
November 11–December 18: “Sediment & Erosion Control for Roadway Projects” Master Class Series
Click here for more information and registration.
Janice Kaspersen
Janice Kaspersen is the former editor of Erosion Control and Stormwater magazines.
