Fixing Dead Zones

Solutions to help the environment don’t come without cost and effort. The best solution is prevention but when the U.S. has a dead zone the size of Rode Island. It is no longer possible to just provide reduction and prevention. In order to fix the problem we will have to look at the main cause. This cause is the excessive distribution of nitrogen run off, off of the Ohio River valley and the Mississippi basin north of St. Louis. This run off then creates a hypoxic, or oxygen-depleted, state known as a dead zone which is slowly growing which each passing year if nothing is done. Making it difficult for shrimp and fish to live.

Some of the solutions that would help to reduce the dead zone would be erosion protection; Or the prevention of farm land and sole washing into the river basins. By installing buffers near streams to prevent runoff, or restoring wetlands along the river. We can help slowly reducing the effect of the dead zone on the regain. There is only one problem with this solution it cost money a lot of it, and the only way to get finding is to bring awareness of the need for such funding. The estimated cost just to reduce the nitrogen 20 percent is somewhere in the means of $20 billion to 30 billion dollars. With our current economical state it is vary difficult to come up with that thru federal funding or otherwise. 

What needs to be done is for everyone to pitch in and do a little and as we do a little, then that little slowly turns into a lot. But to get there we have to be aware of the problem. This blog is meant to help us gain that awareness. So please post your comment or thoughts below and tell us how you feel.

Source : http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/06/despite_promises_to_fix_it_the.html