Ten years of programs and projects have reduced nitrogen and phosphorus levels in the Mississippi River and improved the river’s health, according to the 2025 Minnesota Nutrient Reduction Strategy (Minnesota NRS).
“Water flowing out of Minnesota through the Mississippi River now carries a shrinking load of 32% less phosphorus and 6% less nitrogen to the Gulf, reflecting years of hard work,” said Glenn Skuta, watershed division director at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
Monitoring along other streams and rivers in Minnesota shows declining phosphorus concentrations in many locations or no change. Nitrogen has decreased at some sites, but other monitoring locations report rising concentrations or no change. Excess nutrients can trigger algae growth, lower oxygen levels, harm aquatic life, and threaten drinking water.
The 2025 Minnesota NRS calls for expanding proven programs and actions to meet the state’s 2040 water quality goals, citing evidence that existing efforts are working. To reach those goals the NRS calls for:
- Building on local watershed successes – Strengthen soil health programs, increase best management practices, and expand watershed-based training and support for NRS-tools.
- Expanding living cover – Increase long-term adoption of landscape and soil cover by expanding use of perennial crops, cover crops, grazing lands, and alternative crops across millions of acres, beginning with a new working group.
- Treating nutrients before they reach water – Reduce nitrogen and nitrate by upgrading wastewater treatment systems and treating rural and urban runoff and drainage by expanding water storage, buffers, bioreactors, wetlands, and drainage recycling.
- Tracking progress – Launch a statewide dashboard and expand tools such as the Best Management Practice Effects Estimator Tools (BEET) – BEET Tracker and BEET Planner – to support data-driven planning and accountability.
The 2025 strategy updates the original 2014 Minnesota NRS and reflects the latest science, research, and data. It recommends the most effective voluntary and regulatory strategies to further reduce nutrient pollution from point and non-point sources across the Mississippi River, Red River, and Lake Superior basins.
The strategy contains a detailed assessment of the status of nutrients in Minnesota waters, an update on the science of nutrient reductions, and data-based recommendations for addressing excess nutrients. More than 100 experts from state, federal, and local agencies, and the University of Minnesota collaborated for over two years to develop the 2025 Minnesota NRS.
The scientists came from the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Metropolitan Council, University of Minnesota, Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, Minnesota Department of Health, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Environmental Quality Board, and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The MPCA coordinates the Minnesota NRS and publishes it on its website.
The 2025 Minnesota NRS has chapters on:
- reducing nutrients in Minnesota lakes, streams, and groundwater
- reducing nutrient pollution in downstream waters
- managing nutrients in urban and rural lands and waters
- strengthening watershed-based planning under Minnesota’s Water Management Framework
- tracking and reporting progress statewide
In the coming years, the state plans to track progress through an online dashboard as a way to leverage its wealth of data and strengthen Minnesota’s nutrient reduction programs and practices.
The public can track progress by visiting the Minnesota NRS webpage and subscribing to the mailing list. The agency will announce future information sessions, training opportunities, and new research findings through email updates and website postings.
The 2025 Minnesota Nutrient Reduction Strategy is available on the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency web site.