Drain Tiling, the Hidden Accelerator of Water Pollution

What's behind the enormous dead zones in rivers, lakes and oceans? Pipes hidden where you least expect them are contaminating our primary waterways at alarming rates.

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

• Industrial agriculture is a primary source of water pollution and toxic algae growth that result in huge dead zones where all aquatic life is suffocated

• With the high levels of spring and summer rains seen in many parts of the Midwest this year, NOAA estimates the summer 2019 dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico will reach roughly 7,829 squar…