Why is mississippi river muddy

They oscillate with the volume of water in the river, dropping during dry spells such as a drought. This year, after spring flooding, the river looks likely to carry more water than average. As farming has intensified, nitrates have also tainted wells in a Kansas town near the Missouri River, a key source of pollutants in the Mississippi.

Nitrates have been associated with birth defects, thyroid problems and cancer. Federal officials say water can be unsafe to drink at nitrate levels over 10 parts per million. Hiawatha officials struggled for years to clean up the water, urging pregnant women and infants not to drink it when nitrates spiked. Arkansas is the second-biggest poultry producer after Georgia. That has put more nitrates and other contaminants from chicken farms and slaughterhouses into waterways such as the Arkansas River, researchers say, which flows to the Mississippi.

Every summer, nutrients from the Mississippi pour into the Gulf, fueling algae blooms that starve the water of oxygen and kill sea life.

Heavy rainfall throughout the Mississippi River watershed this spring led to record-high river flows, boosting nitrate and phosphorus loads. Francis, the White, the Arkansas and the Big Black and other rivers when they are flooding.

For some reason the winning color is always the muddy color. And not just because of volume. This muddy truism comes from the original Big Muddy.

The true Big Muddy is the Missouri River. Its nickname is due to its rich silt laden waters which carry the sediments of the western and midwestern deserts, prairies and mountains. The power of mud is first expressed above St. Louis where the normally smaller Missouri joins the Upper Mississippi and together they flow downstream through St. Louis to Cairo as the Middle Mississippi. The Ohio normally carries twice the volume of the Mississippi. And yet its greenish waters become muddied by the Mississippi.

By Sagay Galindo. Published: Jan. Share on Facebook. Email This Link. Share on Twitter. Share on Pinterest. Share on LinkedIn. Related Content. Breakdown: Why the Mississippi River is brown. Most Read. Non-custodial mother of 4 Memphis children at center of Amber Alert in custody. Woman shoots year-old suspect in attempted carjacking. Latest News. Sunshine returns this afternoon, but a small shower chance returns Friday. Water quality data obtained during the summer months on the lower river indicate that often the Missouri River has water quality comparable to the Lake of the Ozarks, which has become a well recognized recreational icon.

However, it is worth pointing out that the majority of streams and rivers will see a pulse of pollutants right after a hard local rain. All the materials that accumulated since the last time it rained are often washed into the water during these times.

During a hard rain, older wastewater treatment facilities sometimes become overwhelmed, releasing poorly treated sewage into local waterways. It is useful to keep this dynamic in mind for any water-based recreation you may pursue. After a few days, much of this material is flushed out of the system and water quality typically improves.