Officials roll out Gulf Hypoxia project Officials in the Corn
Belt have announced a new plan to slow a growing problem in the
Gulf of Mexico. The Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy, a project
by the Iowa Department of Agriculture, uses science and
technology to reduce particular nutrients that enter Iowa
waterways and lead down to the Gulf of Mexico. This plan is
unique in the fact that it integrates Iowa services to pinpoint
both point and nonpoint sources, being the first plan of its
kind to have such integration. “The Iowa strategy is the first
time stakeholders from both the point source community, such as
municipal wastewater treatment plants and industrial facilities,
and nonpoint sources, including farmers, have come together to
develop a comprehensive plan,” says Iowa Secretary of
agriculture Bill Northey. The Gulf hypoxia -- comprising a large
area of low oxygen that can’t sustain marine life -- is caused
by algae growth and increasing nutrient concentrations in the
water, the latter many see as an out