Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative

A sea of trash in McKellar Lake.

A new effort will gauge just how much plastic pollution is flowing into the Mississippi River.

The Mississippi River Plastic Pollution Initiative launched Wednesday by the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative (MRCTI), a coalition of mayors from cities along the Mississippi River.

For the plastic project, the MRCTI will rely upon thousands of citizen scientists to collect data. Data collection will span the river in three locations, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; St. Louis, Missouri; and St. Paul, Minnesota, through April 2021.

Trash floating in McKellar Lake in 2014.

In 2018, state legislators and mayors from all 10 states along the Mississippi River committed to reducing plastic waste in the Mississippi River Valley. Data collected through April will support the goal. The snapshot of the plastic pollution along the river will serve as a baseline to gauge the success of the project to reduce plastic pollution.

“As one of the world’s most vital waterways, it is incumbent on us to pilot efforts that will help ensure major rivers stop contributing to the plastic pollution of our oceans,” said Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome. “Mississippi River mayors are taking action by mobilizing local communities and working with key partners to deal with single-use plastic pollution to protect our planet and people.”

Mayors from cities up and down the Mississippi River pushed a $7.8 billion infrastructure plan in Washington Thursday as near-record floodwaters rise on those muddy banks.

Twenty mayors with the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative (MRCTI) met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers working on a massive infrastructure bill. The mayors laid out their plan to reinforce the “essential natural and built infrastructure of the Mississippi River” corridor as the river swelled.

Southern Illinois registered its third-highest flood level and Vidalia, Louisiana, is about to tie for its second-highest water level, according to Lionel Johnson, mayor of St. Gabriel, Louisiana.
[pullquote-1] “The National Weather Service hydrologic outlook for our entire corridor predicts considerable risk for significant flooding into the spring,” Johnson said. “We must act. We are in D.C. urging serious proposals to address the vulnerabilities we see on the ground.”

Facebook- Mike Lawhead

The Mississippi River at 38 feet on February 24th.

To fight those vulnerabilities, the group says it needs $7.8 billion to fix bridges, roads, wetlands, ports, and more along the 2,300-mile river. To fund it, the MRCTI hopes lawmakers will establish a revolving loan fund to “help communities address several hazards including droughts, intense heat, wild fires, and significant storms.”

“We’re not going to solve our problems with grants,” said Frank Klipsch, mayor of Davenport, Iowa. “One of the largest infrastructure grant programs in the federal budget is the BUILD Grant program.

“The entire award history of the BUILD program would not even meet one fourth of the investment needed to bring the nation’s inland waterway system up to a state of good repair let alone all surface transportation needs of roads, rail, transit, and ports.”