Minnesota Water Stories
In communities throughout Minnesota, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency staff along with other government agencies and citizen groups, are working to protect and restore our rivers, lakes and streams to ensure that our waters are safe for recreation and consumption, and support fish and wildlife ecosystems. Learn more about these efforts by exploring the stories below.
Featured story
Farmer reaps benefits from conservation
Maintaining that soil layer led him to a practice called zone tillage, which entails tilling and fertilizing the soil in one pass across the field. This one pass eliminates additional trips across the field to apply fertilizer or otherwise condition the soil. Since switching to zone tillage, Peterson has parked his stalk chopper and soil ripper. He is saving money on equipment and fuel costs.
Besides saving money, zone tillage benefits the soil. This type of tillage leaves the bulk of residue from the previous crop on the field while clearing that zone for planting the new crop. That residue helps boost soil health. It also helps keep soil in place during snowmelt and spring storms. Keeping the soil in place means keeping it out of streams and lakes where it can hurt water quality. Read more about this project.
Other water stories
Protection/restoration
Le Sueur River: Citizens look to heal a suffering river system
Clean Up the River Environment (CURE) and the Water Resources Center of Minnesota State University-Mankato are two organizations seeking citizens to lead the Le Sueur River Watershed project, which will include identifying areas for protection and restoration. Read more about this project.
Protecting farmland = protecting water quality
As seen from space, sediment clouded Lake Superior along its shoreline after heavy rains flushed dirt, bacteria and other pollutants into the lake June 19-20. In similar fashion, heavy rains can wash sediment into rivers in southern and western Minnesota. Read more about this story
Technology helps farmers protect water quality
New technology provides farmers with an arsenal of ways to keep nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen on fields and out of Minnesota’s lakes and streams. These nutrients can fuel algal blooms that hurt aquatic life and recreation. Read more about this story
"BALMM" a remedy for rivers
The Cannon River is healthier due to state and local efforts to fix small feedlots and improve sewage treatment in small towns in southeast Minnesota. The MPCA is now studying the fish and invertebrates in the watershed to remedy unhealthy streams and protect healthy ones. Read more about this project.
Chippewa River 10 Percent Project
In recent years many farmers have changed tillage and fertilizer practices for conservation and economic reasons. Still, in some sensitive areas, greater use of those practices would have a great impact on nearby water quality. In western Minnesota, the Chippewa River 10 Percent Project aims to achieve that by finding profitable ways to encourage farmers to increase the planting of grasses and other crops that do a better job of protecting water quality. Read more about this project.
Freeborn County ditches
Dennis Distad and Phil Tennis have spent the last 20 years working to protect water quality in Freeborn County. Through their efforts, every mile of the 350 miles of public ditches in the county will have grass strips that filter rain and snow melt running off farm fields. Read more about this project.
Sauk River watershed
Several organizations and citizens partner to restore Sauk River Watershed banks and shores. Read more about this protection and restoration project.- Shoreline restoration
Nancy Carver of Rice, Minn., has led by example by restoring her shoreline on Little Rock Lake to native flowers and grasses during the past two years. She is helping educate her neighbors on how to develop restoration plans for their shorelines. Helping nurse an impaired water back to health: One person can make a difference.
Monitoring/assessment
MPCA at work - taking the pulse of rivers
Jennifer Ender of the MPCA installs a temperature sensor in West Indian Creek in Wabasha County. This is part of the MPCA's monitoring work in the Zumbro River drainage area. Read more about this project.- Biological monitoring
MPCA biological monitoring crews complete a successful second field season to assess the condition of rivers, streams, and lakes in Minnesota. Read more about monitoring and assessment activities. 
Cannon River Watershed Partnership
Volunteer BJ Norman helps the Cannon River Watershed Partnership — and the MPCA — gauge the health of Belle Creek by measuring its clarity and other parameters. Norman has incorporated the monitoring into her walking routine, sometimes going alone and often bringing family along. Volunteer water monitors make a difference one reading at a time.
Implementation
On-farm research: Results that count for profits, water qualityDavid Legvold farms land near Northfield that drains to small creeks that feed the Cannon River and ultimately Lake Byllesby. He is studying fertilizer rates on his farm to identify the optimal amounts that yield profits for him without hurting waters downstream. “Many of my colleagues like to talk about yield. I’m thinking that’s less important. It’s more about not leaving dollars in the field, not about leaving bushels in the field,” Legvold says. Read more about this project.
Willmar's new wastewater treatment plant a vast improvement
With the start-up of Willmar’s new wastewater treatment plant, one of the largest sources of phosphorus is now being greatly reduced in the Minnesota River. The new plant went online in fall 2010, vastly reducing the amount of phosphorus, ammonia, bacteria, and particles entering Hawk Creek, a tributary of the Minnesota River. What’s more, it finished ahead of schedule and under budget. Read more about this project.
West Fork Des Moines River
Jan Voit, left, and Kelli Daberkow point out the location of the West Fork Des Moines River watershed in southwestern Minnesota. Jan is administrator of the Heron Lake Watershed District, a key local partner on the West Fork Des Moines River-Heron Lake Total Maximum Daily Load project. Kelli is a hydrologist and project manager in the MPCA-Marshall office. Read more about the West Fork Des Moines River.- Manure management
A New Ulm dairy farm manages manure and milkhouse waste to better protect the natural environment, including the Minnesota River nearby. Read more about this implementation project. 
Soil conservation
A Renville County farmer strategically planted in tree windbreaks, shelterbelts and prairie grass buffers to keep soil and nutrients on cropland. Read more about this implementation project.
