Mississippi River Water Quality and the Clean Water Act

Mississippi River Water Quality and the Clean Water Act

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2008-02-08

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 0309177812

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The Mississippi River is, in many ways, the nation's best known and most important river system. Mississippi River water quality is of paramount importance for sustaining the many uses of the river including drinking water, recreational and commercial activities, and support for the river's ecosystems and the environmental goods and services they provide. The Clean Water Act, passed by Congress in 1972, is the cornerstone of surface water quality protection in the United States, employing regulatory and nonregulatory measures designed to reduce direct pollutant discharges into waterways. The Clean Water Act has reduced much pollution in the Mississippi River from "point sources" such as industries and water treatment plants, but problems stemming from urban runoff, agriculture, and other "non-point sources" have proven more difficult to address. This book concludes that too little coordination among the 10 states along the river has left the Mississippi River an "orphan" from a water quality monitoring and assessment perspective. Stronger leadership from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is needed to address these problems. Specifically, the EPA should establish a water quality data-sharing system for the length of the river, and work with the states to establish and achieve water quality standards. The Mississippi River corridor states also should be more proactive and cooperative in their water quality programs. For this effort, the EPA and the Mississippi River states should draw upon the lengthy experience of federal-interstate cooperation in managing water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.


The Missouri River Ecosystem

The Missouri River Ecosystem

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2002-07-22

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 0309170036

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The Missouri River Ecosystem: Exploring the Prospects for Recovery resulted from a study conducted at the request of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The nation's longest river, the Missouri River and its floodplain ecosystem experienced substantial environmental and hydrologic changes during the twentieth century. The context of Missouri River dam and reservoir system management is marked by sharp differences between stakeholders regarding the river's proper management regime. The management agencies have been challenged to determine the appropriate balance between these competing interests. This Water Science and Technology Board report reviews the ecological state of the river and floodplain ecosystem, scientific research of the ecosystem, and the prospects for implementing an adaptive management approach, all with a view toward helping move beyond ongoing scientific and other differences. The report notes that continued ecological degradation of the ecosystem is certain unless some portion of pre-settlement river flows and processes were restored. The report also includes recommendations to enhance scientific knowledge through carefully planned and monitored river management actions and the enactment of a Missouri River Protection and Recovery Act.


Streams to the River, River to the Sea

Streams to the River, River to the Sea

Author: Scott O'Dell

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published: 1986

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 9780395404300

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A young Indian woman, accompanied by her infant and her cruel husband, experiences joy and heartbreak when she joins the Lewis and Clark expedition seeking a way to the Pacific.


Watershed Cairns

Watershed Cairns

Author: Libby Reuter

Publisher:

Published: 2020-10-26

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781735640600

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Since 2011, Watershed CairnsĀ® artists Libby Reuter and Joshua Rowan have collaborated to depict the bountiful land and water of the Mississippi River basin and to express the ways that we use or abuse these vital resources. They travel on roads near the rivers, stopping to place and photograph Reuter's sculptures, or cairns. Reuter's cairns are inspired by the rocks that hikers stack to mark a trail, or as a memorial. But, her material isn't rock. She assembles household glass from local thrift stores to make these fragile watershed markers. Each cairn is strategically positioned in some of the most compelling and unexpected sites along the great rivers. The locations are chosen to comment on the condition or history of the land and water at that place. The cairns also mark the watersheds metaphorically as fragile, beautiful, and deeply connected to everyday life. After Rowan photographs them, the location is recorded, and the cairns are removed and stored for later exhibits alongside the luminous large-scale, color photographs. Each image is identified by its physical address, its latitude and longitude, and details about the watershed at that location.