USGS Identifies Top Gulf ‘Dead Zone’ Polluting Watersheds
WASHINGTON, April 1, 2009 – For the first time, the U.S.
Geological Survey has identified the top 150 polluting
watersheds in the Mississippi River Basin that cause the annual
8,000 square-mile “Dead Zone” in the Gulf of Mexico. Based on
the USGS report released today, members of the Mississippi River
Water Quality Collaborative urge the Environmental Protection
Agency, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and state policy
makers to use the report to solve water quality problems both
within the states and downstream in the Gulf. In January of
2008, USGS identified commercial fertilizers and animal manure
from farmland in 9* states as the cause of over 70 percent of
the Dead Zone pollution. Evidence is mounting that the mandated
push to increase corn production – one of the most fertilizer
intensive crops – for ethanol exacerbates water quality problems
within the states and in the Gulf. This year, the USGS
identifies and ranks watersheds in the Basin by