When I look at this map, I am reminded of the life blood that flows through my veins. In this case it is showing the life blood of all of us, the major River Basins in America. I was really impressed to learn that the largest River Basin of them all does not reside on the East Coast, nor the West Coast, not along the north border or the south, but strategically placed in the middle of the Country feeding, finally into the Mighty Mississippi River.

For me this answers a lot of questions, for starters, why is there a Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico. There really isn’t any magic to it, the reason there is a Dead Zone is due to a nutrient load which is VERY LARGE coming from the farm operations and WWTP’s and golf courses / lawns and others all along the way. It winds up being dumped into the Gulf of Mexico where it forms a large Algae Bloom that ends up reducing the oxygen level that fish and marine life need to live.

Now that wouldn’t be so bad if it was just a little thing, but it isn’t just a little thing. The Dead Zone in 2017 was reported to be the largest recorded since the mid 80’s at 8,776 sq. miles, or approx. the size of New Jersey. Clearly this cannot be allowed to continue.