Matt Rota

New Report Reveals Most States Failing to Manage Nitrogen & Phosphorus PollutionThe Mississippi River Collaborative (MRC) today released a report that implores the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take specific actions to regulate excess nitrogen and phosphorus pollution in state waters along the Mississippi River because those 10 states haven’t achieved any significant pollution …

Mississippi River Collaborative Calls on EPA to Reduce Mississippi River Pollution Read More »

For years, Tampa Bay communities have lived with a polluted Bay. Because of aging infrastructure, poor decisions, climate change and extreme weather events, sewage frequently flows directly into our water and onto our beaches.Take action now to stop the sewage crisis!Most recently, Hurricane Hermine overwhelmed the sewage systems of St. Petersburg, Tampa and Clearwater, resulting …

Tampa Bay Deserves a Voice! Read More »

In response to the sewage overflows in St. Petersburg, FL, a draft Consent Order [pdf] has been released by St. Petersburg and Florida Dept. of Environmental Protection. Proposed improvements in the draft include:Increasing the capacity of the Southwest Reclamation Facility (cost $21.7 M)Construct two additional injection wells for disposal of treated sewage cost ($12.2 M)Albert …

St. Petersburg Sewage Update Read More »

Due to massive rainfalls earlier this month during Hurricane Hermine, St. Petersburg sewage treatment systems began discharging partially treated sewage, comingled with rain water, into Tampa Bay. This has resulted in over 111 million gallons of sewer overflows in the Bay.While this obviously constitutes a failure in St. Petersburg infrastructure and a threat to public …

St. Petersburg – 20 Days of Sewage Read More »

Tackling the Dead Zone isn’t an easy task. About 40% of the continental United States drains into the Mississippi River, and regretfully with all that water comes a lot of nitrogen and phosphorus pollution. This is the pollution that causes the Gulf Dead Zone. With such a large drainage area it is a constant struggle …

Chicago Sewage and the Dead Zone Read More »

Rivers like the Tchefucncte, Tangipahoa, and Bayou Cane that flow into Lake Pontchartrain hold a special place in the hearts of those that boat, canoe, kayak, swim and fish in them. Regretfully, the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality has proposed weakening the pollution standards that apply to these rivers, some of which are designated as …

Protect Lake Pontchartrain’s Rivers Read More »

The annual Dead Zone research cruise aboard the R/V Pelican started on Tuesday. So far it seems like they are seeing relatively calm seas and predictions of another large Dead Zone. We very well might see a large Dead Zone, as the Mississippi River is at record levels, which means tons of Dead Zone-causing nitrogen …

Follow the Dead Zone Researchers in the Gulf! Read More »

Scientists recently released their predictions of the size of this year’s Gulf Dead Zone. They predict that the Dead Zone will be approximately 5,500 square miles, or the size of Connecticut. This is approximately the size of last year’s Dead Zone (5,052 mi2) and almost three times the goal of the Dead Zone Task Force.The …

Dead Zone forecasted to be “average,” and that’s not good. Read More »

Big Dead Zone news out of Iowa. The Des Moines Water Works has decided to move forward with a lawsuit against three Iowa Counties for the pollution they are dumping into Des Moines’ drinking water. This is the same pollution that causes the Gulf Dead Zone. Here is a statement from the Mississippi River Collaborative:Tuesday’s …

Des Moines to Sue Over Dead Zone-Causing Pollution Read More »

If there is one thing that the Corps of Engineers loves to do is continue resurrecting projects that have been shown unnecessary or environmentally harmful. Maybe that is a little uncharitable, as the Corps does do a lot of great work, but it is frustrating to see that a project that we and our partners …

Third Time the Charm for a New Lock in New Orleans’ Industrial Canal? Read More »