Contact: Stephen Mikkelson, 218-316-3887
Brainerd, Minn. -- Monitoring crews are beginning the third year of a 10-year effort to assess the condition of rivers, streams and lakes in Minnesota. This work is funded by the Clean Water Fund, passed by the voters as part of the Constitutional Amendment in 2008 and allocated by the Legislature.
The majority of the monitoring activities will focus on watersheds. There are 81 major watersheds in Minnesota. Each watershed is comprised of a network of largely interconnected streams, lakes and wetlands. The intent of this monitoring effort is to develop a complete picture of the conditions of the various water body types within each watershed.
The monitoring in rivers and streams will be carried out primarily by two biological monitoring units. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s (MPCA) biological monitoring staff is divided into a north team located in Brainerd and a south team in St. Paul. This summer, the north team will work in the watersheds of the Big Fork River, Crow Wing River and the Bois de Sioux/Mustinka Rivers. The south team will work in the watersheds of the Minnesota River near Granite Falls, and the Mississippi River near Winona, and the Twin Cities.
In addition to the work in these watersheds, crews will be sampling 150 sites picked at random to determine the state-wide condition of streams, and condition trends over time. The MPCA will also finish sampling on 116 Minnesota River basin sites originally sampled in the early 1990s to see if the biological condition has improved.
The stream monitoring is designed to measure and evaluate the condition of rivers and streams by studying their biology including fish, aquatic invertebrates and plant life, as well as habitat and water chemistry. Examples of aquatic invertebrates include insect larvae, crayfish, snails, small clams, worms and leeches.
Stream water chemistry is monitored to provide information about the quality of the water in which these fish and invertebrates are living.
Lake monitoring crews will sample more than 50 lakes in the same watersheds. The lake monitoring teams will focus on nutrient concentrations and other water chemistry parameters to assess lakes for their ability to support recreational uses.
In addition to the MPCA crews, several local partners will assist with stream and lake monitoring, funded by MPCA grants, in these watersheds.
There are certain expectations for what the biology and water chemistry should look like at a given sampling location. If actual samples differ significantly from those expectations, the sampling location could be considered impaired. If that happens, the MPCA would look more closely at what could be causing impairments and find ways to correct the problem.
In addition to these watershed activities, other MPCA monitoring teams will track water quality trends at major rivers, and work with the Department of Natural Resources to establish permanent flow and water quality sampling stations at the outlets of most major watersheds in Minnesota. The MPCA also relies on a large contingent of volunteers and local partners statewide to collect water quality data on lakes and streams, which is used to assess water quality.
For more information about the MPCA’s condition monitoring program activities, visit www.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/water/water-monitoring-and-reporting/water-quality-and-pollutants/water-quality-condition-monitoring/water-quality-condition-monitoring.html.
