Drought's silver lining: cleaner waters off Texas coast

The ruinous Midwest drought that dropped the Mississippi River to near record lows this month apparently has produced a cleaner Gulf of Mexico off the Texas coast.

The Gulf was plagued last year by one of its largest low-oxygen "dead zones," where fish and plants cannot survive, because of flood conditions. With less nutrient-rich farm runoff flowing down the river because of the dry spell, the zone is the smallest in years, said Steve DiMarco, a Texas A&M University scientist.

DiMarco, who recently finished a research cruise that covered 1,200 miles of the Gulf, said he found no areas of low-oxygen, or hypoxic, water off the Texas coast. The most severe areas were located off the coast of southeast Louisiana.

matthew.tresaugue@chron.com