Report Card Shows Need For Infrastructure Improvements Along Upper Mississippi

A study of the Mississippi River watershed suggests it could use some updated infrastructure.

America’s Watershed Initiative has published a report card for the five basins of the Mississippi River. While the Upper Mississippi River Basin had one of the best overall grades, the basin faces major problems from aging infrastructure along the river.

The report card evaluated each basin based on indicators like ecosystems and economy. The Upper Mississippi River Basin received a C overall, but failed in the infrastructure maintenance category.

Executive Director Dru Buntin of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association said maintenance issues stem from a lack of investment in river infrastructure, including the system of locks and dams that make navigation along the Mississippi possible.

“There’s a real lack of appreciation of the importance of this system to our economy, to our use of the rivers as a recreational resources, all of those things,” he said.

Buntin said almost every basin of the Mississippi is in desperate need of infrastructure upgrades, with most the system dating back to the 1930s and ’40s.