University of Wisconsin–Madison

Tag: Gulf of Mexico dead zone

Big River Keeps on Rollin’ – Study Finds Little Nitrate Retention in the Upper Mississippi

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A new study says that, despite dozens of locks and dams and backwater habitats that slow it’s flow, the Upper Mississippi River isn’t good at retaining the nitrates that run into its waters from intensively farmed states like Minnesota, Illinois and Iowa. Published July 12th in Environmental Research Letters, the study finds that only12.5% of …

Despite Changes in Climate, Land Use and Management Practices, Lakes Stay Surprisingly Static

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Over the last few decades, change has defined our environment in the United States. Agriculture intensified. Urban areas sprawled. The climate warmed. Intense rainstorms became more common. But, says a new study, while those kinds of changes usually result in poor water quality, lakes have mostly stayed the same. The authors of the article, published …