The Gulf Of Mexico’s ‘Dead Zone’ Would Take 30 Years To Reverse – If It Can Be Reversed At All

Industrial fertilizer runoff flowing into the Gulf of Mexico from the Mississippi River is largely responsible for the dead zone, scientists say.

By Nadia HamdanApril 16, 2018 9:30 amEnergy & Environment, KUT, Partner Organizations, Texas Newsroom

Gabriel Cristóver Pérez/KUT

A view of a fishing pier in Port Aransas

From KUT:

An oxygen-deprived “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico would take decades to reverse, according to a study from the University of Waterloo in Canada.

The so-called dead zones form when water doesn’t have enough oxygen for fish and other marine life to survive, which researchers attribute to agricultural runoff along the Mississippi River – namely industrial fertilizers – that makes its way into the Gulf.

Released last month, the study says, even if farmers were to completely stop the flow of runoff right now, it would take at least 30 years to dissipate.

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