Additional Resources

The 12 Hypoxia Task Force (HTF) member states, federal agencies, tribal representatives, and their partners have undertaken a variety of projects and programs to restore and protect the waters of the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin through implementation of nutrient and sediment reduction actions to improve water quality and protect public health and aquatic life. The other states and tribal lands within the MARB are implementing similar programs.

This mobile application provides information about the condition of local waters based on data that states, federal, tribal, local agencies and others have provided to the US Environmental Protection Agency. Water quality information is displayed on three scales: community, state, and national. The app allows the user to check on the environmental status of their local waterway including safety for recreational use.

Nutrient pollution occurs when excess nitrogen and phosphorus from agriculture, storm and wastewater facilities, use of fossil fuels, and daily domestic activities enter our waterways. Learn about the causes of nutrient pollution and what the federal government and the states are doing to reduce nutrient pollution in our nation's waterbodies.

This USGS 2021 study describes where in the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin excess nitrogen and phosphorus nutrients originate and identifies the relative importance of different nutrient sources throughout the MARB.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration monitors the largest dead zone in the United States, which forms every spring in the northern Gulf. NOAA's research has helped the Hypoxia Task Force set goals and prioritize actions to reduce the size of the annual dead zone.