Welcome to the Rochester office of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The agency’s municipal wastewater unit is based here along with the southeast Minnesota watershed unit. Rochester staff work on a variety of programs and projects, which are listed on the left and below.
Map to Rochester office
MPCA Rochester office
18 Wood Lake Drive SE
Rochester, MN 55904
Phone: 507-285-7343
Toll-Free: 800-657-3864
Fax: 507-280-5513
MPCA Southeast Region and Staff Directory
Directions:
- From Highway 63 in southeast Rochester, take the 40th Street exit.
- If coming from the south, the exit turns into Wood Lake Drive at the stoplight. Go forward through the intersection and the MPCA building will be on your right after the curve.
- If coming from the north, at the exit stoplight, turn left onto 40th Street. At the next stoplight, turn left onto Wood Lake Drive. Follow the drive to the MPCA building on your right.
Note: The MPCA shares a building with the Minnesota Department of Health.
Parking is free.
Minnesota Duty Officer: 800-422-0798
You must call the duty officer for natural disasters, hazardous material incidents, petroleum spills, pipeline breaks or leaks, release of substances to the air, wastewater bypasses, and spills of manure, food products or other substances and pollutants.
Regional watershed projects
Water pollution cleanup
Watershed partners
Watershed districts
Watershed projects
- Cannon River Watershed Partnership
- Root River Watershed Project
- Whitewater River Watershed Project
- Zumbro River Watershed Partnership
Watershed resources
- Southeastern Minnesota Watershed Resources Center-Winona State University
- Southeastern Minnesota Water Resources Board
Local government units
MPCA staff members work with several local agencies and government units, including cities and township officers. For more information about cities and townships, go to:
- Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities
- League of Minnesota Cities
- Minnesota Association of Townships
- Minnesota Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts
Regional links
The varying landscape of southeast Minnesota all drains to the mighty Mississippi, shown here in Winona. MPCA staff work to protect and improve water and land resources in the southeast region.
Karst topography. Minnesota’s southeastern limestone country is a beautiful area of farms, rolling hills, hollows, caves, and dramatic bluffs and valley.
These same characteristics make southeastern Minnesota water resources most challenging to protect. Petroleum and other chemicals released from underground storage can quickly move into ground water supplies. Manure released from agricultural spills can cause fish kills many miles from the release point. Chemicals used on the landscape can reappear at unexpected times and in unexpected locations.
The MPCA works with several partners to protect this unique area of Minnesota.
State Parks and Bike Trails. Southeastern Minnesota has several state parks and bike trails, including Whitewater State Park, the Mystery Cave at Forestville State Park, Bluffland Trail and Blazing Star Trail. For more information, go to the Department of Natural Resources website.
Environmental links
- Agricultural Utilization Research Institute
- Board of Water and Soil Resources
- Dept. of Agriculture
- Dept. of Health
- Dept. of Natural Resources
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources
- Environmental News Network
- Environmental Quality Board (Minnesota Planning Agency)
- Minnesota Association of Watershed Districts
- Minnesota Environmental Fund
- Natural Resources Conservation Service
- Sharing Environmental Education Knowledge
- University of Minnesota Extension
- Living on Earth - National Public Radio's Environmental News Show
- Earth View - Live satellite image of the Earth