Lower Mississippi River Basin
Impaired Waters, TMDLs, and Water Quality
A water body is “impaired” if it does not meet one or more of the federal Clean Water Act’s water-quality standards. The Clean Water Act requires the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to identify and restore impaired waters.
The primary tool for addressing impaired waters is a pollution reduction plan called a Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL. A TMDL is the maximum amount of a pollutant a water body can receive without violating water quality standards. The TMDL process identifies all sources of the pollutant and allocates necessary reductions among the various sources. These reduction strategies form the basis of an implementation plan. Implementation begins once the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approves a completed TMDL.
Several water quality studies are currently underway in the Lower Mississippi River Basin and throughout the state. For more information about the statewide impaired waters program, including a list of project contacts, visit the MPCA Impaired Waters and Total Maximum Daily Loads in Minnesota's Waterways Web page.
TMDL projects underway in the Lower Mississippi River Basin
Several TMDL projects are currently underway and in various stages of completion in the Lower Mississippi River Basin. The projects highlighted below have additional information currently available. Information on the remaining projects is in development and will be posted to this site as soon as it becomes available.
- Lake Pepin Area TMDL: Turbidity and Excess Nutrients
- Lower Cannon River TMDL: Turbidity
- Public Notice (open for comment November 6, 2006 - December 6, 2006) Note: this link goes to the MPCA public notice page. Please scroll to the November 6, 2006, listings for the Lower Cannon River TMDL Turbidity public notice.
Fact Sheet- Draft TMDL Report (file size = 4 MB)
- Lower Mississippi River Basin TMDL: Regional Turbidity (Root River, Whitewater River and Garvin Brook)
- Vermillion River TMDL: Turbidity
TMDL projects completed in the Lower Mississippi River Basin
- Lower Mississippi River Basin TMDL: Regional Fecal Coliform
- Archived Documents for the Fecal Coliform TMDL Project: The EPA originally approved the Lower Mississippi River Basin TMDL in November 2002. The documents below were developed for the original report. The documents in the section above reflect subsequent revisions.
- Archived: Lower Mississippi River Basin — Fecal Coliform Final TMDL Report (approved by the EPA on November 13, 2002). (file size=2.2 MB)
- Archived: October 25, 2002, Submittal Letter to the U.S. EPA for the Fecal Coliform TMDL in the Lower Mississippi River Basin
- Archived: November 13, 2002, U.S. EPA Approval Letter on the Fecal Coliform Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) in the Lower Mississippi River Basin
- Archived: Implementation Plan - The Implementation Plan describes how the source-reduction targets of the Regional Fecal Coliform TMDL will be achieved for the most significant human and animal sources of fecal coliform.
- Archived: U.S. District Court Ruling on TMDL Challenge: June 2005
- Archived Documents for the Fecal Coliform TMDL Project: The EPA originally approved the Lower Mississippi River Basin TMDL in November 2002. The documents below were developed for the original report. The documents in the section above reflect subsequent revisions.
Contact us
For additional information about the Lower Mississippi River Basin, contact Basin Manager, Shaina Keseley at 507-206-2622.
