Mississippi River Water Resource News for the Week

The Northeast-Midwest Institute, in coordination with the Upper Mississippi River Basin Congressional Task Force and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, is sponsoring a Washington, DC briefing on existing and proposed Federal programs designed to conserve and restore water and natural resources in the Mississippi River Basin. Presenters from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Rock Island, District, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and US EPA Office of Water will discuss such issues as the Environmental Management Program, Mississippi River Healthy Watersheds Initiative, and EPA's proposed new $17 million funding targeted at Mississippi River Basin nonpoint source mitigation, with time set aside for questions and discussion.

The briefing will take place on April 15 from noon to 1:00 PM. The location will be in Room 1105; Longworth House Office Building; Independence Avenue at South Capitol Street. A light lunch will be provided.

If you plan to attend or have any questions please RSVP/contact Mark Gorman (mgorman@nemw.org or 202-464-4015).


The National Science Foundation (NSF) will host a symposium at the NSF facilities in Arlington, VA on the afternoon of Thursday, April 15, 2010 to discuss, among other recent research, the impacts of human activity on the Mississippi River and hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. Full details of the symposium can be found here.

On March 29, the Environmental Law and Policy Center, and the Mississippi River Collaborative released a new report, “Cultivating Clean Water,” that examines the effectiveness of state-based regulatory programs to control agricultural-associated water pollution, and that recommends related policy changes. The report authors conclude that a number of states have adopted regulations to control agricultural pollution; however, they note that all states studied fall short on enforcement and monitoring, often the result of limited funding and staff. The Environmental Law and Policy Center media release, along with a link to the full report can be found here.

The latest edition of Delta Dispatches, with the latest news from local and national environmental groups on efforts to restore Coastal Louisiana can be found here.