Transcript:

Corn fields in Iowa may be far away from oyster reefs in the Gulf of Mexico. But they’re connected by the Mississippi River and the pollution it carries.

On farms across the vast watershed, fertilizer runs off of fields into waterways that feed the Gulf.

Nitrogen from that fertilizer builds up in the water and causes algal blooms that deplete the oxygen available for oysters, fish, and other species.

Trotz: “The Gulf is known to have dead zones … because the dissolved oxygen levels are so low.”

Maya Trotz of the University of South Florida says the problem is increasingly urgent in the Gulf and elsewhere as climate change causes more extreme rain.

Trotz: “You have a lot of fertilizer runoff getting into your water bodies.”

So she and other researchers formed a group called BlueGAP to educate people about the problem and ways to solve it.

For example, by fine-tuning when and how they apply fertilizer, farmers can give plants what they need without excess.

And planting trees and grasses between fields and waterways can help reduce erosion and filter runoff. That can improve water quality both locally and hundreds of miles downstream.

Trotz: “The problem is big, but the problem is solvable.”

Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media