• Unique Ecology
• Water Supply Concerns
• Water Quality Issues
• Water Quantity Issues
• Basin Planning

Unique Ecology

The Red River Basin is a unique place. As the site of a former glacial lake and its drainage area, it contains some of the richest and flattest farmland in the world. Crops like sugar beets, wheat, and corn, and their associated food processing operations, bring millions of dollars into the local economy.

Lying mainly in the flat glacial lake plain on either side of the Red River, the croplands, food processing plants, and the cities and farmsteads that house basin residents are in constant danger of being flooded. At the edges of the glacial lake plain, the elevation sharply increases at the beach ridges left behind by the receding lake. The beach ridges are home to some of the last vestiges of native tallgrass prairie in the region, and a large source of commercial sand and gravel. Above these ridge lines, the uplands contain numerous prime recreational lakes in the southeast and extensive areas of peatlands and wetlands in the northeast.

Water Supply Concerns

The Red River Basin is often said to have two major water supply problems -- too much water (during the spring thaw and floods), and not enough water (during the dry days of late summer and fall).

In addition to issues of water quantity, residents are also concerned with the quality of their water. The large cities on the Red River draw their water from the river, and other cities rely on clean ground water for their supply. In recent focus groups, basin residents identified human health (along with economic productivity) as the most important environmental management issues. Clean water is essential for both healthy people and a healthy economy in the Red River Basin.

Water Quality Issues

The MPCA performed water quality assessments for selected rivers and lakes in the Red River Basin in 1996. River assessments based on monitoring of streams and surveys of resource managers showed significant water quality problems in the basin. Impairment of streams was found to be caused primarily by high levels of sediment and bacteria, and low levels of dissolved oxygen. Habitat alterations have also degraded Red River Basin streams.

While agriculture and food processing are the engines that drive much of the economy of the Basin, they and their accompanying drainage and urbanization are also often regarded as the primary sources of nonpoint- and point-source water pollution, and the cause of the loss of native prairie and wetlands in the basin. Concerns also exist that the quality and quantity of ground-water are being threatened by irrigation, landfills, failing septic systems, abandoned wells, and leaking underground storage tanks.

More information on causes of waterbody impairment and locations and status of assessed waterbodies is available at:

• water quality assessment

Water Quantity Issues

The Red River Basin has been extensively ditched and drained to increase farmland acreage and to remove water from farmlands to hasten their drying in the spring, thus lengthening the short growing season. The Red River Valley floods yearly to some extent as a result of the combination of:

• its flat topography,
• north-flowing meltwater backing-up against still frozen snow and ice farther north,
• high-precipitation events or seasons,
• small stream channels (relative to their drainage area) with limited holding capacity, and some would contend,
• accelerated drainage of farmland and urban centers.

Currently, on-going or repeated flooding plagues such areas as Lake Traverse at the southern tip of the basin, the City of Warren in the Snake River Watershed (Marshall County, Minnesota), the City of Devils Lake (Ramsey County, North Dakota), and the Roseau River Watershed (Minnesota and Manitoba). Numerous flood control measures such as dams, impoundments, wetland restorations, diversion channels, dikes, etc., are used throughout the basin in an attempt to prevent or at least soften the impact of flood events. While providing flood protection, many of these measures have greatly altered the hydrology of the basin. In spite of these efforts, extraordinary high levels of precipitation continue to cause severe flooding in the basin, as evidenced by the record flood of 1997. Communities suffering severe damage from that flood are removing residents and structures from the floodplain to give the rivers area to expand into during floods.

Each year, after the spring thaw has passed and the basin begins to dry out, lack of water can become a problem for crops, wastewater dischargers, and industrial and domestic water users. To promote growth and in case of future drought, the State of North Dakota is promoting the importation of Missouri River water into the Red River Basin through the Garrison Diversion Project to guarantee a supply of water. Concerns about the effects of the diversion include biota transfer, destabilization of the Sheyenne River's channel by increased flow volumes and durations, and the setting of a precedent that could potentially open up Midwest water resources to drier areas of the country.

The Need for "Whole Basin" Planning to Address Water Issues

The MPCA began to work with resource managers in the Red River Basin in late 1995 and early 1996 to develop a basin water plan for the Minnesota portion of the Basin. At the same time, over 200 water resource managers and users from all over the basin met at a Leaders' Summit in Grand Forks in February 1996 to discuss water management for the entire basin.

The group identified the pressing need for basin planning and consensus building to address issues of water quality and quantity in the Basin. The group resolved to form a whole-basin planning entity made up of government officials from all levels of government from each of the major jurisdictions in the basin, now known as the Red River Basin Board. This group will have a dual role of serving as a forum for consensus building on controversial issues, and of guiding the creation and implementation of a basin water plan.

The MPCA will work closely with the Red River Basin Board in developing the Minnesota portion of the basin water plan to ensure that these efforts complement and support each other.

The MPCA developed a Red River Basin Information Document in mid-1997 to serve as a resource tool for basin-planning efforts. The document is an inventory of relevant information on water quality and quantity in the Red River Basin. It is divided into four parts:

• The first two parts discuss the MPCA's approach to basin planning.
• The third part is a summary of information about the basin, including the MPCA water quality assessments, other data on water quality in the basin, a U.S. Geological Survey report summarizing the significant land and water features of the basin, watershed descriptions, information on pollution sources, information on sensitive habitats, and other supplementary information.
• The fourth part includes information on results of public opinion research, recent studies and projects, and local, state and federal agency initiatives.

The MPCA will be meeting with local representatives through 1998 to learn what the local priorities and goals are for water management in the basin and which specific watersheds and waterbodies should be focused on in addressing these priorities. Through 1999, the MPCA will be working with local units of government and other interested organizations and individuals to develop strategies to address these priorities and targeted resources. These elements taken together will comprise the Minnesota portion of the Red River Basin Water Plan, which should be completed in late 1999. Plan implementation will commence immediately on completion of the Basin Plan.

More Information

For questions about the Red River Basin information available on this page, contact Molly MacGregor at 218-846-0494.