The Mississippi River is the largest watershed in North America. It has a major affect on the millions of people that come in to contact with it every day; more than 50 cities rely on the River for their daily water supply. As the Mississippi River flows through the heart of America, it picks up thousands of pounds of fertilizer and empties it into the Gulf of Mexico. Many people living along the Gulf’s coastline rely on the fish and other sea life living the Gulf.
With the excess fertilizer in the water, algae is able to grow very rapidly, causing an algal bloom. When the algae dies, it sinks to the bottom of the Gulf, using up all available oxygen. If the fish are near the edge of the Dead Zone they are able to swim to oxygenation water, but since it is so large, this is not the case for many fish. Shellfish are not able to swim, and most of them simply die.
The Dead Zone is measured every year by a team of scientists and it is getting worse; in 2011 the Dead Zone was found to be about four times larger than they originally thought! They measured the Dead Zone to be 6,765 square miles, the size of New Jersey. The photo (upper left) is showing the Dead Zone from space! Can you imagine being a tiny shrimp caught in the middle of the green zone? Clearly, this is causing an incredibly negative impact on the fishing industry along the Gulf of Mexico.
A simple way to help reduce the size of the Dead Zone is to reduce the amount of fertilizers you use in your lawn or garden. Be sparing and never fertilize before a rain. If too much fertilizer is put down, or if there’s immediate rainfall, the fertilizer will run off into the nearest river or stream and end up in the Mississippi without even getting use by your plants. Together our small actions make a big difference. After all, we are one nation, and 1 Mississippi.