The Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Hypoxia Task Force is launching efforts to monitor reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus throughout the watershed. Chaired by the EPA and State of Iowa – the task force has established the Mississippi River Monitoring Collaborative – comprised of federal and state agencies – to assess progress of reducing the amount of nutrients entering local waterways and the Gulf of Mexico. That team already has collected more than 670-thousand nutrient data records from 12 states – which will be used to evaluate how conservation practices and policies are working and if new or enhanced nutrient reduction strategies need to be established.

Task Force Co-Chair and EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Nancy Stoner says farmers, ranchers and other land managers are investing in conservation projects on their lands in the Mississippi River Basin. By working together with the Task Force – Stoner says they will help give critical insight into the progress of conservation projects and help improve activities on the ground and in the water. USDA is a member of the task force and is preparing to update its technical standard for water quality monitoring to measure the amount of nutrients coming from farm fields. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture and Task Force Co-Chair Bill Northey says it is important to have strong cooperation and teamwork to monitor the progress being made as cities, industries and farmers work to make changes and address water quality concerns.