The Mississippi River Collaborative (MRC) has released a report urging the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take actions to regulate excess nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in state waters along the Mississippi River because the 10 states along the river have not achieved significant pollution reductions on their own. MRC, a partnership of 13 environmental and legal groups, authored the report “Decades of Delay” to assess state-level progress to reduce the pollution that threatens drinking water and contributes to the “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico.
The report suggests six specific steps EPA can take to protect human health and water quality in the Mississippi River. Recommendations include setting numeric limits of allowable nitrogen and phosphorus in state waters, assessing water quality for nitrogen and phosphorus pollution that creates impaired waterways, and ensuring states develop nutrient reduction strategies with specific implementation plans and adequate funding.