News

Hypoxia Task Force expands monitoring

The Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force which met in Des Moines is launching new efforts to expand monitoring of nutrient run-off in the Mississippi River watershed with the goal of reducing the amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus that get into the water and end up in the Gulf.

Chaired by the EPA and state of Iowa, the task force has launched the new Mississippi River Monitoring Collaborative, made up of federal and state agencies, that has already collected more than 650-thousand nutrient data records from a dozen states in the Mississippi River Basin.

They’ll use that data to determine where conservation practices and policies are working and where new nutrient reduction strategies are needed.

Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey, co-chair of the task force, says strong cooperation is needed as they work with cities, industries and farmers continue to reduce runoff which has contributed to the hypoxic, or “dead zone” of the Gulf of Mexico.