Mississippi River

The city of Kimmswick was depending on a port recently opened to riverboats to boost its economy, but with Mississippi River water levels near record lows, few of the boats are stopping there.

Barges are moving along the Mississippi River much more slowly and with lighter loads as they try to get corn and soybean harvest to ports.

People have lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries for millennia, but levee systems built in response to past disasters aren't designed for the newest risk: increased rainfall caused by climate change.

The Nature Conservancy is receiving a $30 million pledge from Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation to sustain freshwater systems around the world. Conservancy leaders say the money will help support rivers threatened by climate change and pollution.

The 11th annual Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative meeting comes at a critical moment when a changing climate is ratcheting stress on the nation's largest river network.

The potential project could bring the city’s first marina to the north St. Louis riverfront. It would also add a hotel, waterpark and indoor trampoline park to a 70-acre plot of land north of Interstate 270, just within city limits.

Federal and state agencies spend millions of dollars every year to keep destructive invasive carp out of the Great Lakes. Meanwhile, at least 25 destructive species — like water fleas and bloody red shrimp — are inching closer to the Mississippi River Basin.

Las agencias federales y estatales gastan millones de dólares cada año para mantener las carpas invasoras destructivas fuera de los Grandes Lagos. Mientras tanto, al menos 25 especies destructivas, como pulgas de agua y camarones rojos sangrientos, se están acercando poco a poco a la cuenca del río Mississippi.

The invasive fish species known as Asian carp now goes by “copi,” in an effort to get more of them out of Midwestern waterways and onto the dinner table.

Lake sturgeon are ancient creatures that have survived cataclysmic events over millions of years. But scientists worry they might not survive us.