Search
A watershed is the area of land where all of the water that drains off of it goes into the same place — a river, stream or lake.
Surface water assessment grants (SWAG) provide local organizations and citizen volunteers with funds to complete the monitoring needed to meet assessment requirements on Minnesota lakes and streams. Assessment is usually the first step in protecting or restoring surface waters.
The MPCA uses the Environmental Quality Information System (EQuIS) to store water quality data from more than 17,000 Minnesota sampling locations.
Protecting and restoring water quality is one of the MPCA's core areas of focus.
The MPCA works with city and county governments, watershed districts, consultants, and others on monitoring, protecting, and restoring water quality. This is a repository of guidance and technical resources for agency partners.
The MPCA monitors and assesses lakes around the state to determine if they meet water quality standards.
The Duluth Urban Area Watershed is a focused geographic area designed to recognize the complexity and challenges in an urban center with a water-rich environment. It is defined by a series of small watersheds that are portions of three major watersheds.
Water quality trading is a market-based approach to the protection and restoration of surface waters, another tool to be used in conjunction with existing voluntary, regulatory, and financial assistance programs.
Removing of an old dam and restoring a creek's curves are improving habitat and water quality in the Pomme de Terre River Watershed.
The MPCA provides financial and technical assistance to local government and other water resource managers to address nonpoint-source water pollution.
The MPCA studies, monitors, and regulates water pollutants to protect human health and the environment. Minnesota water quality standards strives to protect water for use, measures health of waters, and guides limits on what regulated facilities can discharge to surface waters.
The Clean Water Council was created to advise the Legislature and the Governor on the administration and implementation of the 2006 Clean Water Legacy Act
Clean Water Fund dollars come from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment that Minnesotans approved in 2008.
The MPCA has important roles in protecting and restoring waters in degraded conditions.
Image Although Minnesota is rich in lakes and streams, Lake Superior is easily the most spectacular waterbody in Minnesota. Despite its immense size…
Within the three major watersheds that cover the Twin Cities area, there are 33 smaller watersheds managed by their own watershed district or watershed management organization.
MPCA sought proposals from qualified environmental contractors for a contract to support the agency's Watershed Division on statewide, basin-wide, water body, and watershed scale projects.
Ten TMDL projects undertaken in the Lower St. Croix River Watershed to address nutrient, biota, bacteria, and other impairments.
This long-term data gathering initiative helps track trends in water bodies around the state. The MPCA is grateful for every volunteer who has dedicated time to monitoring their favorite lake or stream.
A water quality variance is a temporary change in a state's water quality standard for a specific pollutant and its relevant criteria, allowing deviation from meeting a water quality-based effluent limit for a particular discharger.