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Contaminants in the Upper Mississippi River: historic trends, responses to regulatory controls, and emerging concerns

  • UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER
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Abstract

We synthesized information on selected contaminants in the Upper Mississippi River, summarized regulatory measures enacted to reduce pollution, and described biotic and ecosystem responses to regulatory actions. Contamination of the river with mercury and lead rapidly followed settlement of the basin by European immigrants in the mid-1800s. Metal contamination peaked in the 1960s and has since decreased substantially. DDT, its degradation product DDE, and PCBs biomagnified to concentrations that adversely affected wildlife in upper trophic levels. National (U.S.A.) environmental regulations enacted from 1972 to 1991 reduced discharges of wastes from point sources, improved wastewater treatment, and reduced or banned the production or usage of certain chemicals, such as DDT, PCBs, and lead. Responses to these regulatory measures include reductions in ecosystem contamination, reductions in biotic exposure, and recovery of affected wildlife populations. Recovery from pollution has been slow, however, and we conclude that proactive approaches focusing on prevention are highly preferable to reactive approaches in management of toxic substances. Past successes in reducing point-source pollution, which is greatest near urban areas, do not extend to nonpoint-source pollution, given that the existing regulatory framework does not adequately address nonpoint sources. The river continues to receive hundreds of recently synthesized chemicals, and the behavior and effects of most of these compounds in aquatic ecosystems are largely unknown. Emerging contaminants and recently discovered mechanisms of adverse biological effects, such as endocrine disruption, pose continuing challenges to scientists and environmental managers concerned with the ecological health of this riverine ecosystem.

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Notes

  1. In 2006, the seven-county Twin Cities Metropolitan Area (Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota) had a human population of 2.8 million, the four-county Quad Cities Metropolitan Area (Bettendorf and Davenport, Iowa; Moline, East Moline, and Rock Island, Illinois) had a population of 377 thousand, and St. Louis (Missouri) had a population of about 2.8 million.

  2. A pool is the reach of the Upper Mississippi River between two consecutive navigation dams. The locks and dams are numbered from upstream to downstream, starting with lock and dam 1 (St. Paul, Minnesota) to lock and dam 26 (named Melvin-Price at Alton, Illinois). Each pool has the number of its downstream dam. For example, pool 8, near La Crosse, Wisconsin, is the reach between lock and dam 7 (at the upstream end) and lock and dam 8. For more information, see Fig. 1 in Sparks (this volume) and Table 1 in Theiling & Nestler (this volume).

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Acknowledgments

The lead author (JGW) was supported by the University of Wisconsin System Distinguished Professors Program and the UW-L Foundation during the preparation of this manuscript. We thank Bruce Monson, Laura Solem (Minnesota Pollution Control Agency), Candy Schrank (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources), and Patricia McCann (Minnesota Department of Health) for providing data and related information from their state fish-contaminant monitoring programs and thank Brian Stemper (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) for providing trend data on harvest of mink in the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife and Fish Refuge. Constructive comments on an earlier draft were provided by Steven Balogh, Thomas Custer, and Candy Schrank.

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    James G. Wiener & Mark B. Sandheinrich

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Correspondence to James G. Wiener.

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Guest editors: S. P. Romano & B. Ickes / Upper Mississippi River Research Synthesis: Forty Years of Ecological Research

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Wiener, J.G., Sandheinrich, M.B. Contaminants in the Upper Mississippi River: historic trends, responses to regulatory controls, and emerging concerns. Hydrobiologia 640, 49–70 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-009-0064-7

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