Mississippi River Initiative

MISSION

There are 3 tiers of water quality monitoring. The MRBI project is aimed more toward a point source pollution perspective than nonpoint source pollution. MRBI is involved in Tier I and Tier II. Tier I is generally called “edge of field monitoring.” The sites selected are farmers who have commited to and began to implement best management practices such as “no-till farming” or “cover crops.” It is an attempt in determining whether the practices are making a difference on particular fields, rather than a large scale perspective such as an entire watershed. An example of Tier II monitoring would be Plunge Creek. There are three sites on Plunge Creek. So Tier II is monitoring a particular stream. Monitoring an entire watershed would be considered Tier III.