MembersSuccess Stories
From Minnesota and Wisconsin to Louisiana and Mississippi, individual HTF states and federal agencies, as well as their partners, have undertaken a variety of successful projects and programs to reduce nutrient loads in order to improve water quality in the MARB and reduce the size of the Gulf hypoxic zone. A sample of these “success stories” is presented here geographically. The stories were developed for the Hypoxia Task Force Annual Reports. Access the full reports here.
Click on the map or the list below to explore these stories and learn more about the efforts being taken to reduce hypoxia throughout the Mississippi/Atchafalaya Basin.
EPA also maintains a website describing success stories where Clean Water Act section 319 grants provided funding for projects that reduced nonpoint source pollution (including nitrogen and phosphorus) to waterbodies nationwide. Learn more about these successful efforts that can ultimately help reduce the size of the hypoxic zone.
Note: The following links open in a popup window.
Arkansas
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Louisiana
- Environmental Leadership Program Pollution Prevention Award for Nutrient Reduction
- Industrial Nutrient Discharge Reductions
- Marathon Received Louisiana Environmental Leadership Program Special Recognition Award
- Mollicy Farms 16,000 Acres of Restored Bottomland Hardwood Overflow Swamp (and Nutrient Filter)
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
- “Boots on the Ground”—NRCS in Missouri Employs Strategic Watershed Action Teams to Accelerate Implementation of Missouri’s MRBI Projects
- EPA Region 7 Partners with State of Missouri in Support of Missouri’s MRBI Projects
- The GENERATIONS Program
- Missouri Awarded Funding to Implement the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative
- Missouri Develops Programs for Hypoxia
Ohio
Wisconsin
Basin-wide
- Bioreactor Reduces Nitrate Discharge to Downstream Ecosystems (USDA ARS)
- EPA Awards $3.7 Million in Water Quality Trading Funding (EPA)
- Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watershed Initiative (USDA)
- NOAA Awards $2.4 Million to Refine Management Strategies in the Gulf (NOAA)
- NOAA Expands Monitoring of Gulf Hypoxic Zone (NOAA)
- NRCS’ Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI): Examples of Projects in Hypoxia Task Force States (USDA)
- Scientific Basis for Hypoxic Zone Management (NOAA)
- Stakeholder Collaboration Leads to Completion of Hypoxia Monitoring Implementation Plan (NOAA)
- Steele Bayou Watershed Project: A 20-year Record of Nutrient Reduction in a Flood Control/Sediment Reduction Project in the Mississippi Delta (USACE)