Morganza Spillway may be opened next week to divert Mississippi River By Mark Schleifstein, The Times-Picayune4 May 2011The Corps of Engineers  may open the Morganza Spillway near Baton Rouge next week to divert massive amounts of Mississippi River water into the Atchafalaya Delta. It would mark the first time since 1973 that the diversion structure [...]

Environmental groups sue Chicago over its sewage By International Business Times4 May 2011Environmental groups on Tuesday sued the city of Chicago's water treatment authority, charging its sewage promotes algae growth that is choking Midwestern rivers and contributes to the Gulf of Mexico's "dead zone." The federal lawsuit demands Chicago's Metropolitan Water Reclamation District deal with frequent [...]

Floods Raise Runoff Concerns By JEFFREY BALL, The Wall Street Journal5 May 2011  Workers use a boat to recover supplies from a flooded grain elevator in Caruthersville, Mo., a farm town along the swollen Mississippi River.  The Ohio and Mississippi River levels were falling Wednesday at the site where engineers blasted holes in a Missouri [...]

Cleaning up Cedar Creek By Gailsburg Radio 14 WGIL30 April 2011A group of about 30 volunteers walked along the banks of Cedar Creek in Galesburg Saturday to pick up trash.  The clean up is organized each year by the Galesburg Area Chamber of Commerce and Knox County Soil and Water Conservation District.  Specialist Kara Downin [...]

Agriculture tied to gulf 'dead zone' By UPI.com28 April 2011CHAMPAIGN, Ill., April 28 (UPI) -- The spring rains drenching the U.S. Midwest may lead to an eventual environmental problem of oxygen "dead zones" in the Gulf of Mexico, researchers say. Researchers at the University of Illinois and Cornell University warn that phosphorus and nitrate pollution [...]