Troubled Water: Mississippi River Story Summary

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Fred Clark 03 April 2013 Contemporary Environmental Issues Write-up/Video Troubled Water: Mississippi River Story The mighty Mississippi curves and flows through much of America’s central heartland and southern states. Starting its journey in northern Minnesota, this vast river meanders itself south into the delta region of America’s central southern states, before exiting into the Gulf of Mexico. Because of its vast size and location, it’s the largest drainage system in America. Nearly all of North America's central states, and a few Canadian provinces, can thank this American river for its expansive watershed and the benefits it returns. Sadly, the Mississippi’s history as America’s great river is being replaced with America’s great drainage ditch. The use and abuse of this river highway has resulted in substantial environmental damage over the years and this is the concern expressed in the video “Troubled Water: Mississippi River Story.”…show more content…
We hear from aquatic ecologists and fisherman as they describe the water’s in the “dead zone” and the lifeless animal life surrounding this area. Nancy Rabalais, an aquatic ecologist, explains exactly why these waters are so dead. All of the fertilizers used in agriculture from Minnesota on down to Louisiana, are concentrated and dumped into this area where the algae multiply due to the high nitrogen and phosphates. This creates an algae bloom that inadvertently lowers the oxygen in the water through its die-off. With low levels of oxygen, marine life can’t survive, and this impacts people that depend on the gulf for their

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