Gulf Nutrients and Nutrient Impacts

Communicating Science: Gulf of Mexico Alliance Environmental Education Network

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Mississippi River Basin and Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia

Image of Mississippi watershed from the cover of the Gulf Hypoxia Action Plan 2008
[Image courtesy of the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force]

The Mississippi River Basin is the largest watershed in North America, draining 41% of the continental United States and discharging into the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Aquatic ecosystems, and national and local economies, depend on healthy, oxygen-rich Gulf waters, which can be negatively impacted by excess nutrients (eutrophication). In 1997, a coalition of federal, state, and tribal agencies established the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force to understand the causes and effects of eutrophication in the Gulf of Mexico and to coordinate activities to help reduce the area of oxygen-depleted water in the Gulf, also known as the hypoxic zone.

The 2008 Action Plan, released on June 16, 2008, describes a national strategy to reduce, mitigate, and control hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico and improve water quality in the Mississippi River Basin.

Nutrients and Nutrient Impacts

[Image courtesy of the Mississippi River / Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force]

The Gulf of Mexico Alliance (GOMA) Nutrients and Nutrient Impacts Priority Issue Team is working to develop ways to lower the amount of excess nutrients being carried into the estuaries and waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

The Governors' Action Plan II states that, "The determination of healthy levels of nutrients is an important step toward reducing their impact, and providing vital management tools. Establishing nutrient criteria for coastal waters and estuaries could improve their quality and productivity, but the challenge is to eliminate only the excess nutrients while maintaining adequate levels to ensure ecosystem productivity. The Alliance is providing a collaborative approach to build and evaluate tools needed to reduce excess nutrients and restore coastal waters that have been negatively impacted by nutrients."

For more information, visit GOMA's Nutrients and Nutrient Impacts priority issue page.

Resources on Nutrients and Nutrient Impacts

Below are additional resources and information from the NBII Catalog regarding nutrients and their impacts on the Gulf of Mexico. To limit the results, enter your state in the search box below.

Resources on Nutrients and Nutrient Impacts

Showing 22 Results

Assessment of Water Quality, Benthic Invertebrates, and Periphyton in the Threemile Creek Basin, Mobile, Alabama, 1999-2003
Description: "The U.S. Geological Survey conducted a 4-year investigation of water quality and aquatic-community structure in Threemile Creek, an urban stream that drains residential areas in Mobile, Alabama. Water-quality samples were collected between March 2000 and September 2003 at four sites on Threemile Creek, and between March 2000 and October 2001 at two tributary sites that drain heavily urbanized areas in the watershed. Stream samples were analyzed for major ions, nutrients, fecal-indicator bacteria, and selected organic wastewater compounds. Continuous measurements of dissolved-oxygen concentrations, water temperature, specific conductance, and turbidity were recorded at three sites on Threemile Creek during 1999–2003. Aquatic-community structure was evaluated by conducting one survey of the benthic invertebrate community and multiple surveys of the algal community (periphyton). Benthic invertebrate samples were collected in July 2000 at four sites on Threemile Creek; periphyton samples were collected at four sites on Threemile Creek and the two tributary sites during 2000 –2003. The occurrence and distribution of chemical constituents in the water column provided an initial assessment of water quality in the streams; the structure of the benthic invertebrate and algal communities provided an indication of the cumulative effects of water quality on the aquatic biota. Information contained in this report can be used by planners and resource managers in the evaluation of proposed total maximum daily loads and other restoration efforts that may be implemented on Threemile Creek."
Resource Type: Case Studies, Checklists and Identification Guides, Issue Overviews, Management Plans and Reports
Resource Format: PDF
Publisher: U.S. Geological Survey