DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A task force established by the
Environmental Protection Agency to curtail farmland pollution that flows
into the Mississippi River said Wednesday it has reached an agreement
to work with 12 universities on the problem.
The Mississippi
River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Task Force will work with Purdue
University in Indiana, University of Illinois, University of Arkansas,
University of Kentucky, Mississippi State University and Ohio State
University. Others include University of Tennessee, University of
Missouri, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, Iowa State
University and Louisiana State University.
States already
collaborate with their local universities on local water quality
research and agricultural programs, but there hasn’t been a formal
process for sharing research and ideas across the 12 states in the task
force, the EPA said in a statement.
This agreement "will encourage
university research into nutrient reduction strategies, will help
communicate water quality messages and will encourage more involvement
in voluntary science-based nutrient reduction efforts," said Iowa
Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey, a co-chairman of the task force.
The
task force is a partnership of five federal agencies, tribes, and
environmental quality, agricultural, and conservation agencies from 12
states from which water flows into the Mississippi River. It’s working
to address nutrient pollution and the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico,
an area the size of Connecticut that’s largely devoid of marine life.
High levels of nitrates and phosphorous, largely the result of runoff of
fertilizer and livestock manure applied to farmland, lead to excessive
plant and algae growth that depletes oxygen to a level inadequate to
support aquatic life.
In 2008, the task force set a goal of
reducing the dead zone to less than 2,000 square miles — still larger
than Rhode Island — by 2015. The EPA said the agreement announced
Wednesday brings additional expertise to develop farm runoff reduction
strategies.
The agency said nutrient pollution is one of America’s
most widespread, costly and challenging environmental problems. More
than 100,000 miles of rivers and streams, close to 2.5 million acres of
lakes, reservoirs and ponds, and more than 800 square miles of bays and
estuaries in the United States have poor water quality because of
nutrient pollution, the EPA said.