The Mississippi River basin got an overall grade of D+ in a report card from America’s Watershed Initiative, which looked at six areas – flood control, transportation, water supply, economy, recreation and ecosystems. The lowest mark, a D-, was for transportation, said St Louis Public Radio. Heath Kelsey of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science says that up to 97 percent of the locks and dams on the river are in good condition, but the remainder are in failing or near-failing condition. “We need to be very concerned about that because the system is very interdependent and one failed lock can have cascading effects throughout the rest of the system,” Kelsey told St Louis Public Radio.
Some 31 states have land in the Mississippi River basin. At the meeting where the report card was released, St Louis Mayor Francis Slay said the federal government should provide more funding for infrastructure on the river. America’s Watershed Initiative says it consulted hundreds of experts and stakeholders in assembling the report card. A team will develop a three-year plan for improving the score on the report card.
The “America’s Watershed Report Card” is available here.