The Mississippi River near Fridley is the section of the river that flows along the borders of Brooklyn Center, Brooklyn Park, Coon Rapids, and Fridley, then into Minneapolis. This area includes the farthest extent of the USACE's 9-Foot Channel Navigation Project on the Mississippi River, which ends at river mile 857.6. It is also part of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area. Several tributaries enter this section of the Mississippi River, such as Rice Creek. Several parks lie along this relatively urban stretch of the Mississippi River, including Anoka County Riverfront Regional Park, Islands of Peace Regional Park, and North Mississippi Regional Park. Mississippi River at Fridley, River Mile 862.8 was originally positioned to monitor the water quality of the river downstream from the Anoka Wastewater Treatment Facility, which was in operation until 1999.The Mississippi River is one of the world's largest rivers, flowing over 2,300 miles through the center of the United States. It begins at Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota and ends at the Gulf of Mexico, where pollutants carried by the river contribute to the Gulf's Dead Zone. Millions of people rely on the Mississippi River as a source of drinking water, and the river is also an important waterway for shipment of commodities. The Mississippi River watershed is the 4th largest in the world at about 1.2 million square miles. The section of the watershed in and upstream of the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area has a mix of several types of land including forests, wetlands, agriculture, and developed areas.