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River Towns Band Together to Protect the Mississippi

go-iowa.com

More than two dozen mayors from Mississippi River cities and towns gathered in Dubuque this week to talk about clean water and climate change. They are finding a unified voice to address issues important to communities from Bemidji, Minn., to the Gulf of Mexico.

Dubuque Mayor Roy Buol is co-chair of the three-and-a-half year old effort called the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative.

The project includes a strong push to reduce nutrient levels in the massive waterway.

Buol says Dubuque already has a 10-to-15 million-dollar plan to do just that.

“It is imperative that we become smarter about the critical nature of clean water and water systems globally," he says. "So our cities can actually function, in the words of one water researcher, like urban kidneys for the river.”

Buol will be part of the delegation of Mississippi River mayors who will attend the U.N. Convention on Climate Change to be held in Paris in December.