SOLUTIONS PROPOSED FOR GULF OF MEXICO DEAD ZONE

A "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, believed to be caused by fertilizer
runoff,
is expanding and is now the size of New Jersey, according to a report at
the
recent annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of
Science. Every spring and summer, nitrogen from agricultural fertilizer
washes
down the Mississippi River and into the Gulf of Mexico, causing an algal
bloom
that uses much of the water's oxygen and renders the area so
oxygen-deprived
that most fish flee to healthier waters and bottom dwellers such as worms
and
starfish die.

Elimination of the dead zone could be helped by reducing use of fertilizers
by
20 percent and restoring wetlands in the Mississippi Valley. The
Mississippi
River drains about 40 percent of the United States and carries more than a
million tons of nitrogen, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Copies
of the
report, Evaluation of Economic Costs and Benefits of Methods for Reducing
Nutrient Loads to the Gulf of Mexico, CENR Report of Topic Six by Otto
Doering,
et. al., can be requested by e-mail from [log in to unmask]

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