What's in our Water

According to EPA's most recent Toxic Release inventory (TRI) National Analysis, 4.5 million pounds of toxic chemicals were dumped into the Pearl River in 2019. The vast majority of this toxic waste came in the form of nitrates from 3 poultry processing companies, Tyson Foods, Sanderson Farms and Peco Foods.  ​The amount of TRI pollutants entering the Pearl River watershed has increased 47% since Pearl Riverkeeper began tracking the reports in 2015.  The Tyson Farms plant in Carthage is ranked #1 for permitted releases to water in all of Mississippi. 

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• ​Under federal law, industries must self-report each year how many pounds of each toxic chemical they released to the air, water and land.  That data is available to the public via the Toxics Release Inventory database. "The TRI tracks the management of certain toxic chemicals that may pose a threat to human health and the environment."
• The discharge of these chemicals is legally authorized by each state through the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permitting process.  Mississippi and Louisiana Departments of Environmental Quality test their waterways, designate the waterway sections as "attaining their designated use" or as "impaired" and make Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) discharge determinations.  The TMDL is then used as the basis for discharge permit authorizations.​
• Each year, Pearl Riverkeeper analyzes the data for the Pearl River watershed and publishes the information on our website.  The more you know, the better advocate you can be for our waterways. 

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​Louisiana ranks 4th out of 56 states/territories nationwide based on total releases per square mile (rank 1 = highest releases). Mississippi ranks 12th out of 56.  The TRI is easily searchable by state, county, city or zip code: https://www.epa.gov/trinationalanalysis/where-you-live.  

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