About the Mississippi River Basin Drought and Water Dashboard

This 2-page summary provides an overview of the Mississippi River Drought and Water Dashboard on drought.gov.

The Mississippi River provides drinking water for millions of Americans, supports hundreds of fish and bird species, and is one of the world’s most important commercial waterways, with an extensive transportation network moving food and other goods. 

When drought occurs in the Mississippi River Basin, it can have devastating impacts. The significant impacts of drought on the river itself and the surrounding valley were amplified as parts of the Lower Mississippi River hit historic low river levels in 2022 and 2023. This impacted navigation and hydropower operations, along with water supply, crop, pasture, and forestry losses. 

In response to requests from partners in the region after these events, NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) built a Mississippi River Basin Drought and Water Dashboard to support communications and decision-making across the Mississippi River Basin.

The Dashboard is the result of cross-agency collaboration between NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS), National Centers for Environmental Information, and National Weather Service; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the U.S. Coast Guard; the U.S. Geological Survey; and many state and local partners.