Is the Mississippi river clean enough to swim in?

Stretches of the Mississippi River within the park corridor exceed water quality standards for mercury, bacteria, sediment, PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyl), and nutrients. Unfortunately, these impairments can make the water unsuitable for fishing, swimming, and drinking.



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The Mississippi River and its tributaries carry excessively high levels of nutrients that cause a biological dead zone to form at the river mouth in the Gulf of Mexico. This dead zone is referred to as hypoxia, which means very low oxygen in the water.

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Yes, you can swim in the Twin Cities metro Mississippi River. However, you should use caution in impaired reaches of the river and avoid swimming anywhere in the river up to 48 hours after a major rain event (when bacteria levels can be highest).

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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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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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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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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 Gulf of Mexico dead zone is an area of hypoxic (link to USGS definition) (less than 2 ppm dissolved oxygen) waters at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Its area varies in size, but can cover up to 6,000-7,000 square miles.

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The Mississippi River is the primary river, and second-longest river, of the largest drainage basin in the United States. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it flows generally south for 2,340 miles to the Mississippi River Delta in the Gulf of Mexico.



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