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First-of-its-kind report gives Mississippi River near-failing grade

The Mississippi River is nearly failing. That’s according to the non-profit, the American Watershed Initiative, which gave the entire river a “D+...

The Mississippi River is nearly failing.

That's according to the non-profit, the American Watershed Initiative, which gave the entire river a "D+" and the part that includes the Quad City Area a "C."

During the Upper Mississippi River Conference at the RiverCenter on Thursday, October 15th, experts in the field say the report is the first of its kind for the U.S. and will be used as a tool for policymakers.

"This is the first step - to do an assessment to try to figure out what the real condition and situation is," said Bob Sinkler, the Director of Water Infrastructure for The Nature Conservancy's North America Freshwater Program. "Now that we understand that, where can we make some measurable changes and improvements in the system and how do we mobilize the resources? It’s clearly not all federal dollars. It’s clearly not all one government agency. It’s an integrated effort to address some of these issues."

The report focuses on six areas - recreation, ecosystems, flood control, transportation, water supply, and economy. To see the results for the Upper Mississippi River Basin - which stretches from Missouri to Minnesota and includes the Quad Cities Area - click here.

"There’s a lot of things we can do to address a lot of these things at the individual level, local government, regional, state, and even national - so it’s at all levels," added Karen Hagerty, with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Upper Mississippi River Restoration Program. "I think we have a lot of things in place that we can already use and it’s just concentrating on and staying dedicated to doing those things."

To highlight one area, the Upper Mississippi River Basin received a D- for "Infrastructure Condition" and an F for "Infrastructure Maintenance." This includes all of the Locks and Dams.

"It's just like the I-74 bridge," said Sinkler. "It was designed in the 1930s. It's time for it to be replaced. It's the same thing. Infrastructure built 80 years ago is not designed to last forever and we're just at the time when we need to make some decisions on where we go now."

The Mississippi River is an economic engine. According to the Upper Mississippi River Basin Association's recent economic report,  revenue generated by the upper river is estimated to be $253.2 billion, supporting 755,000 jobs.

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