On October 16th, the National Academy of Sciences’ National Research Council, an independent organization chartered by Congress to advise the government on scientific issues, released a study on the water quality concerns of the Mississippi River Basin. The NRC study, which called on EPA to use its authority under the Clean Water Act to provide greater protection of the Mississippi River, was sponsored by the McKnight Foundation.

The study concluded that not enough is being done to monitor and protect the Mississippi River particularly on nonpoint source pollution from nutrients andsediments that enter the river and its tributaries through runoff coming from agricultural facilities and other sources.