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EPA awards grant supporting research and education for the Missouri River

Release Date: 2/19/2003
Contact Information:
Jody Ostendorf (303) 312-7814,

Release Date: 2/19/2003
Contact Information:
Bonnie Lavelle (303) 312-6579

Denver -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces today the award of a $500,000 grant to the University of South Dakota to support the water quality assessment, public outreach, and educational activities of the Missouri River Institute over the next three years.

The University of South Dakota established the Missouri River Institute in 1999 to develop and promote scholarly research, education, and public awareness of natural and cultural resources of the Missouri River basin.

Over the next three years, EPA=s $500,000 grant will support the Institute’s intensive water quality monitoring and assessment of the 59 mile reach of the Missouri River from Gavins Point Dam to Ponca State Park in Nebraska, just north of Sioux City, Iowa. This reach was designated by Congress as the Missouri National Recreational River.

EPA=s grant will allow the Missouri River Institute to conduct a focused and much more intensive monitoring of the Missouri National Recreational River. Ongoing studies of the Missouri River, by nature of their large scale design, include collection of a limited number of samples from limited sampling sites.

In addition, the grant will assist the Institute in the development of academic programs on important environmental issues associated with the Missouri River basin and the development of an active public outreach program to promote awareness of the effects of water pollution on the resources of the Missouri River.

The Missouri River Institute will continue to offer the Annual Missouri River Research Symposium and the Missouri River Special Lecture Series to the University of South Dakota.

The Missouri River is a national resource, flowing from Montana southward for 2,500 miles before it empties into the Mississippi River just north of St. Louis, Missouri. The river’s basin covers 524,200 square miles within ten states.

This grant is part of EPA’s continuing efforts to work with communities, states, tribes, and other stakeholders to make the Missouri River a source of clean water for the people who rely on it and a healthy home for native plants and animals.