A data-gathering sensor attached to the American Queen steamboat will give scientists and cities a better understanding of water quality along the entire length of the Mississippi River, officials said Monday.

U.S. Geological Survey and Army Corps of Engineers officials, a group of Mississippi River city mayors and the operators of the American Queen gathered to show off the new equipment on the steam-driven vessel in Memphis. The stately steamboat is the first private vessel to carry a sensor that gathers data to help preserve and restore ecosystems, and to buoy economies of cities and towns up and down the heavily traveled commercial waterway.
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