By Clay LePard
clepard@cbs4qc.com
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Water levels on the Mississippi River and neighboring wetlands remain low.
"There's always this battle between water and land," says Brian Ritter, facilitator for Nahant Marsh. "This year of course the land is winning but this is by far the lowest we've seen the marsh in modern times."
At Lock and Dam 15 in Rock Island, the river is 11 feet below flood level.
Ritter says that's not all a bad thing.
Plant life near the river and wetlands is flourishing, which means more food for some animals and more stable soil.
It doesn't end there; low water levels have helped kill off carp in the area
"That sounds maybe sad but for us it's a positive thing," Ritter adds. "We had an awful lot of carp in here from the last couple of floods and carp are really destructive."
Ritter says carp are destructive because they aren't native to the United States. They also dirty up the water because they love to shake up the soil at the bottom of the river and wetlands.
They'll be back though, Ritter says. Floods and major rainfall usually bring the carp back to the Quad Cities.
