About 100 individuals from government agencies and the agriculture industry got together in downtown St. Louis for the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force Spring Public Meeting on April 26. This was a perfect location with the Mississippi River just a block outside the meeting room and the Gateway Arch right next to the hotel.
The meeting got underway with opening remarks from Ellen Gilinsky, the Hypoxia Task Force Federal co-chair and senior policy advisor for the EPA's Office of Water. She spoke about how the task force has grown since she began working with the group in 2009. She mentioned that the early years centered mostly on putting the pieces together for the group, and now there are tangible accomplishments toward the overarching goal to reduce nutrient inputs to the Mississippi River Basin by 20 percent by the year 2025. In doing so, it's believed that the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico would begin to shrink, dissolved oxygen levels would rise, making it habitable for marine life.
Many different agencies gave presentations during the four-hour meeting. While many of the presentations were centered solely on crop production and its effect on water, there were a couple of presentations that were more in line with the golf industry. Those presentations were from the SERA-46 group, who were also meeting this week in St. Louis and The Nature Conservancy.
The SERA-46 group consists of faculty members of the 12 land-grant universities that conduct research for the task group. Rebecca Power, from the University of Wisconsin, gave the group a presentation based on three primary goals: strengthening networks, research and outreach and monitoring, calibration and validation of the current studies. Both of Rebecca's first two points seem to be well suited for conducting water quality research on golf courses and could be used to develop best management practices in the 12 states represented.
The Nature Conservancy presentation was given by North American Freshwater Director Michael Reuter. He spoke about some specific projects involving reconnecting the flood plains along the Atchafalaya River in Louisiana that they believe would significantly reduce the nutrient load in the watershed. Reuter went on to give some numerical information that speaks to the size of the problem in the Mississippi Basin. According to current U.S. Geological Survey, there are 1,475,000 metric tons of nutrients in the entire basin. If the group is going to reach its goal of a 20 percent reduction, 295,000 metric tons need to be removed from the river basin every year. That's a big number. Reuter also spoke about the need to communicate the work that is being done and has yet to be completed, as well as the importance of strengthening relationships with industry and the public.
The meeting was very informative. I enjoyed getting to meet new members of the team and visit with many of my state water regulators and members of the task force that live in my area. I came away with the feeling of the complexities and challenges that face a group like the task force. Take the time to investigate water issues in your own community and see if you can make the 20 percent reduction a reality before 2025.
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