Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Media contact: Forrest Peterson, 320-214-3789 Technical contact: Larry Gunderson, 651-297-3825 Toll-free: 1-800-657-3864 St. Paul, Minn. -- Many people familiar with the Minnesota River are clear about one thing: Often the water is as clear as mud. Equally murky will be how to get everyone working together to do something about it. Like the Minnesota River Basin itself, the effort will be large, complex and needs help from everyone living and working in it. For years agencies, organizations and individuals have worked to improve the water quality in the Minnesota River. The effort is now being rejuvenated by the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) provision in the federal Clean Water Act. It requires states to assess all lakes and streams, make a list of those impaired by various forms of pollution and work on restoring them to acceptable standards. "The rich soil of the Minnesota River Basin makes this one of the most productive agricultural regions in the nation if not world," says Larry Gunderson, Minnesota River Basin coordinator for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA). "But each year the river carries away tons of soil along with fertilizers, wastewater and other pollutants. This is not only a loss of valuable resources, but a detriment to water quality." In Redwood Falls on Tuesday, June 21, the MPCA hosted the first meeting of stakeholders in a five-year turbidity TMDL project in the Minnesota River Basin. They represented a wide range of groups including agriculture, cities, business and industry, public agencies and citizen organizations. Turbidity is caused by high amounts of particles in the water, primarily sediment and algae. It is recognized as an indicator of water quality -- the greater the turbidity the greater the pollution. Pollutants causing turbidity in the Minnesota River include sediment, bacteria, toxics and algae-producing nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. A TMDL is the maximum amount of a particular pollutant that a water body can have and still meet the water quality standard. Where water bodies exceed the standard, a project must be developed that leads to achieving the standard. Public participation plays a major role in developing and implementing the TMDL project. The Minnesota River Basin TMDL project area begins near Lac Qui Parle in western Minnesota and ends at the city of Jordan near the Twin Cities metropolitan area. As the river flows west-to-east through the 17,000-square-mile basin, its water quality becomes increasingly affected by many smaller, nonpoint sources of pollution such as stormwater runoff, and larger, point source discharges from wastewater treatment facilities. Sediment may erode from stream banks, carried in runoff from fields or enter through unprotected tile intakes. Drainage systems contribute to high peak flows that may accelerate bank erosion. Bare soil on cultivated fields can be carried into waterways by wind erosion. Nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus in the river come from natural sources, land use practices and discharges from wastewater treatment facilities. The Minnesota River contributes about 80 to 90 percent of the sediment that ends up in Lake Pepin. At current sedimentation rates, the upper portion of Lake Pepin will fill in within 100 years and the lower portion will disappear within 340 years compared to natural rates that would fill the lake in 3,000 to 4,000 years. On the Web, learn more about Minnesota's impaired waters and TMDLs at hhref="/water/tmdl/ and the Minnesota River Basin at hhref="/water/basins/mnriver.