Can you drink the water in the Mississippi River?

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is working with a number of partners to get the water to fishable and swimmable conditions. (Thanks to the great work of public utilities, treated drinking water from the Mississippi is safe and delicious!)



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St. Paul — The Mississippi River remains a healthy, clean stream for much of the way down to about St. Cloud, the river's most pristine stretch on its 2,320-mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico.

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Many popular kinds of fish including bass, bream, crappie, freshwater drum, and small catfish (less that22 inches in length) are SAFE to eat. Farm-raised catfish are SAFE to eat.

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It might surprise you to know that the River Thames is considered one of the world's cleanest rivers running through a city.

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The first person on record to swim the entire Mississippi River was Martin Strel in 2002. Strel swam the entire River in 68 days.

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The deepest point on the Mississippi River is located near Algiers Point in New Orleans and is 200 feet in depth.

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The Mississippi River is one of the world's major river systems in size, habitat diversity and biological productivity. It is also one of the world's most important commercial waterways and one of North America's great migration routes for both birds and fishes.

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The Mississippi River This once pristine waterway is perhaps the most polluted in the United States. Part of the problem stems from agriculture. The Mississippi River traverses much of America's heartland, drawing no end of runoff from factory farms. Animal waste isn't the only problem.

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