Hypoxia and Medicine

Is the 'dead zone' at the mouth of many rivers as the Mississippi delta because of the salt load?

From the tons and tons of salt being used on our icy roads, as well as all the waste treatment plants along the way?

Public Comments

1. That's part of it. It is also the fertilizer runoff from all the farmland that feeds into the Mississippi. In some quantities and locations it causes dead zones, in others, you get overgrowth of algae from eutrophication.
2. It is called that due to the lack of oxygen in the water. This is from a variety of sources but aerobic bacteria in waste treatment plants can use up a lot of oxygen from the water they discharge. The salt used on roads is not good but it has little to do with oxygen in the water. Fertilizers have more effect on oxygen depletion. The condition is bad as you have noted.