Sunday, March 18, 2012
Chicago and the Gulf Dead Zone: NRDC Lawsuits Address Downstream Damage The popular legend is that Chicago’s jazz tradition arose from a migration of musicians from New Orleans up the Mississippi River in the 19th century.  It seems Chicago is now returning scat to New Orleans back down the Mississippi, but I don’t mean the vocal kind.   The Chicago area’s sewage has been found to be the biggest single contributor to the “Dead Zone” that has emerged in the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi River – an area larger than the State of Connecticut where the oxygen levels in the water are so law that it can’t support life.  The sewage contains phosphorus, a pollutant that acts like turbo-charged fertilizer fueling the growth of oxygen-depleting algae in the Dead Zone and elsewhere. - Read more in Ann Alexander’s Switchboard blog. photo: NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory

Chicago and the Gulf Dead Zone: NRDC Lawsuits Address Downstream Damage

The popular legend is that Chicago’s jazz tradition arose from a migration of musicians from New Orleans up the Mississippi River in the 19th century.  It seems Chicago is now returning scat to New Orleans back down the Mississippi, but I don’t mean the vocal kind.  

The Chicago area’s sewage has been found to be the biggest single contributor to the “Dead Zone” that has emerged in the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi River – an area larger than the State of Connecticut where the oxygen levels in the water are so law that it can’t support life.  The sewage contains phosphorus, a pollutant that acts like turbo-charged fertilizer fueling the growth of oxygen-depleting algae in the Dead Zone and elsewhere. - Read more in Ann Alexander’s Switchboard blog.

photo: NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory

Posted at 3:05 PM 80 notes Tags: nrdc dead zone chicago gulf of mexico mississippi river sewage phosphorus pollution water pollution illinois

Notes

  1. gwenmcgregor reblogged this from rhamphotheca
  2. wozziebear reblogged this from nrdc
  3. wolfrhamhart reblogged this from nrdc and added:
    it wouldn’t take too much...fix problems like this. Quit dumping
  4. afeincreep reblogged this from climateadaptation
  5. jmdj reblogged this from tank-commander and added:
    Wow… Apparently Chicago is a shitty place to live.
  6. exactlyashley reblogged this from rhamphotheca
  7. tank-commander reblogged this from climateadaptation
  8. silas216 reblogged this from nrdc
  9. callmechilton reblogged this from climateadaptation
  10. inkednurse reblogged this from climateadaptation
  11. twistytree reblogged this from climateadaptation
  12. dugganbaker reblogged this from nrdc
  13. tamaraleach reblogged this from climateadaptation
  14. onceuponatoke reblogged this from rhamphotheca
  15. mil0o reblogged this from climateadaptation
  16. photovoltaicsheep reblogged this from climateadaptation
  17. ohajihaji reblogged this from climateadaptation
  18. baniak reblogged this from climateadaptation
  19. coincidenciaharmonica reblogged this from climateadaptation
  20. 2noame reblogged this from climateadaptation and added:
    Chicago and the Gulf Dead Zone: NRDC Lawsuits Address Downstream Damage The popular legend is that Chicago’s jazz...
  21. chachamaricha reblogged this from rhamphotheca
  22. jadkirk reblogged this from climateadaptation
  23. gvdr reblogged this from project-argus
  24. topazwoods reblogged this from project-argus
  25. thurmansnotebook reblogged this from climateadaptation
  26. realpurposeandurgentadolescence reblogged this from dignified-and-old
  27. oceanofrandomness reblogged this from climateadaptation
  28. hippiehearts reblogged this from climateadaptation
  29. dignified-and-old reblogged this from project-argus
  30. raymondradioactive reblogged this from project-argus
  31. project-argus reblogged this from climateadaptation