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Under the federal Clean Water Act, states must designate beneficial uses for all waters and develop water quality standards to protect each use.

The MPCA plans to amend Minnesota Rules chapter 7050, which establishes beneficial uses and water quality standards to protect those uses, and designates where the uses occur in waters of the state.

The MPCA proposes to adopt the U.S. EPA's 2013 national recommended water quality criteria for ammonia as its Class 2 ammonia water quality standards for the protection of aquatic life.

Implementing water quality standards come with tangible costs and benefits. Costs such as taxes to residents, regulated parties, and communities help achieve benefits such as increased property values, tourism, and protecting human health.

Planned amendments to Minn. Rules ch. 7050 affect the Class 1 beneficial use, which protects waters (both surface and groundwater) used as a source for domestic consumption.

The MPCA has important roles in protecting and restoring waters in degraded conditions.

Every two years, MPCA creates a list of impaired waters in the state that do not meet water quality standards.

State agencies, counties, municipalities, nonprofit organizations, and many others are engaged in protecting Minnesota lakes.

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.

Water quality trades that have been arranged in Minnesota illustrate many opportunities to enhance pollution reduction efforts while offering flexibility and cost savings to regulated municipalities and industries.

Protecting and restoring water quality is one of the MPCA's core areas of focus.

Waterways in the northeastern part of the state are generally in better condition than those in the southern, central, and western regions.

The MPCA 401 certification fills a unique niche in protecting water quality by applying state water quality standards to projects.

The MPCA monitors and assesses lakes around the state to determine if they meet water quality standards.

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.

The Root River starts as a drainage ditch in Mower County, then winds 81 miles from intensely farmed areas through more wooded, rolling terrain, and finally empties into the Mississippi River south of La Crosse, Wisconsin.

From the days when raw sewage flowed into rivers and lakes, Minnesota’s water bodies have come a long way. However, there is still work to be done in the restoration and protection of our waters.

The MPCA studies, monitors, and regulates numerous water pollutants to protect human health and the environment. At the state level, three agencies share the monitoring and control of pollutants:the…

The MPCA will analyze varying background sulfate levels across Minnesota, which could inform our implementation of the wild rice sulfate water quality standard.

The Clean Water Act established the framework for creating water quality standards and continues to help us protect Minnesota's prized lakes and rivers.