Water Quality Monitoring on the Mississippi River - Sampling Equipment and Demonstration

The MWMO collects water quality samples from the Mississippi River to help establish baseline water quality data that can be used for the management of the river. In this video, our staff demonstrates the tools and methods they use to collect data and water quality samples on the Mississippi River.

[@cheerdiver]

Anyway we can find regular pH levels, and current levels due to Ohio river?

[@mississippiwmo]

It looks like the EPA is doing regular surface water sampling after the spill and the most recent data can be found here here: epa.ohio.gov/monitor-pollution/pollution-issues/east-palestine
The USGS National Water Dashboard is also a good resource:
dashboard.waterdata.usgs.gov/app/nwd/en/?region=lower48&aoi=default
If you click "Clear Layers," then under Water Quality choose "pH," this will display all the stations they have measuring pH.
Hope that helps. Thanks!

[@cheerdiver]

@@mississippiwmo Thank you much. The first site has a pdf, It's showing 11.5. Is that a calibration? near the bottom

[@kennydomino2134]

But did it pass or fail the test

[@mississippiwmo]

Good question! The part of the river that we monitor is currently listed as impaired for bacteria and phosphorus, and nearby parts (just to the south) are impaired for sediment. It's difficult to sum up the overall water quality of the river because it's constantly changing, and because different portions of the river face different challenges. Big picture, however, the river is much better today than it was 100 years ago, when we were literally dumping raw sewage into it. By investing in wastewater treatment plants and enacting regulations like the Clean Water Act, we've come a long way in restoring the river to a functioning ecosystem. There's still more work to do, and monitoring water quality provides us with the data we need to make effective, evidence-based policy choices.