A Sustainable Solution for the Corn Belt By New York Times Op-Ed Contributing Writer Mark BittmanNovember 18, 2014 It’s hard to imagine maintaining the current food system without Iowa. Yet that state — symbolic of both the unparalleled richness of our continent’s agricultural potential and the mess we’ve made of it — has undergone a transformation [...]

Global warming likely worsening 'dead zone' in Gulf of Mexico, study finds By Associated PressNovember 10, 2014   Global warming is likely playing a bigger role than previously thought in dead zones in oceans, lakes and rivers around the world and it's only going to get worse, according to a new study. Dead zones occur [...]

Tracking the Nitrate Pulse to the Gulf of Mexico By Ethan Alpern, October 4, 2014Released: 11/4/2014 11:36:38 AM Contact Information: U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey Office of Communications and Publishing 12201 Sunrise Valley Dr, MS 119 Reston, VA 20192 Ethan Alpern   Phone: 703-648-4406  A new USGS report describes how advanced optical sensor technology is [...]

Corn Belt Pollution: Louisiana Shrimp and Oysters Pay the Price By meg wilcoxNovember 5, 2014  Luke Cibilch pulls up a load of oysters from the Gulf of Mexico. Though the dead zone occurs far offshore, agricultural wastes can also create smaller areas of hypoxia in the shallower coastal waters that can impact oysters. By Meg [...]

Lake Erie Grows More Susceptible to Harmful Algae, May Need Stricter Control Measures By By Nora MacalusoOctober 15, 2014 Great Lakes By Nora Macaluso Oct. 15 — Cyanobacteria in Lake Erie have become increasingly sensitive to phosphorus in recent years, making the lake more susceptible to large, harmful algae blooms, according to a study from the University of Michigan [...]

World Stands By As Algae and Dead Zones Ruin Water By Codi Kozacek - Circle of BlueSeptember 25, 2014Expensive research and cleanup efforts make little headway. Photo courtesy Greenpeace China via Flickr Creative Commons An algae bloom spreads across China’s Dianchi Lake in 2007. That same year, a bloom in Lake Taihu made the water undrinkable [...]

Iowa's strategy to reduce agricultural runoff of nitrogen and phosphorus By Daryll E. Ray and Hardwood D. Schaffer, Farm and Ranch Guide20 September 2014During the last week in August attention to the issue of water quality and the need to reduce the levels of nitrogen and phosphorus from entering U.S. waterways moved from Ohio and [...]

ECOVIEWS: What will our leaders do about Gulf's dead zone? By Whit Gibbons, Tuscaloosa News6 September 2014Off the Louisiana coastline, where the Mississippi River enters the Gulf, a story is unfolding that is scarier than any TV show about flesh-eating zombies. The area of more than 5,000 square miles, which extends into coastal waters from [...]

Iowa water assessment criticized By Donnelle Eller, The Des Moines Register5 September 2014  A new report says Iowa and other Midwestern states need to better monitor and assess efforts to reduce nutrient pollution that contributes to the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone. Twelve states have been charged with reducing nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus [...]

Solution not in sight for Gulf dead zone By Xerxes Wilson, TheCourier27 August 2014  The Mississippi River carries pollutants into the Gulf of Mexico, creating a dead zone off Louisiana's coast.  photo by Leslie Smith, Your Ocean Consulting, LLC In the 30 years scientists have mapped the Gulf of Mexico dead zone, it has grown [...]