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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 Clean Water Act established the framework for creating water quality standards and continues to help us protect Minnesota's prized lakes and rivers.
Standard operating procedures (SOPs) reflect how agency staff and contracted partners complete agency-funded field activities.
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.
Clean Water Fund dollars come from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment that Minnesotans approved in 2008.
To protect human health and the environment, we need to limit the amount of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in our waters to safe levels. Safe levels means water can be used for drinking,…
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.
Every two years, MPCA creates a list of impaired waters in the state that do not meet water quality standards.
The MPCA uses the Environmental Quality Information System (EQuIS) to store water quality data from more than 17,000 Minnesota sampling locations.
State and federal permits and regulations that are designed to protect groundwater and surface water (lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands) apply to specific facilities and processes that could pose…
We Are Water next visits Ely April 24 through June 16.
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.
Waterways in the northeastern part of the state are generally in better condition than those in the southern, central, and western regions.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is planning amendments to rules governing water quality fees (Minn. R. ch. 7002 and 7083).
The triennial standards review offers every Minnesotan the opportunity to comment on essentially every water quality standard the agency defines to protect the waters that they drink, swim in, and fish from.
Minnesota has a growing salty water problem that threatens its freshwater fish and other aquatic life. Chloride from both de-icing salt and water softener salt gets into lakes and streams, and…
Hear Josh Krenz's story about protecting water in Minnesota at We Are Water MN, a traveling exhibit and community engagement program that explores Minnesotans’ relationships with water. You can visit the exhibit from March 2 through April 24 at the Sherburne History Center in Becker, Minn.
Removing Middle Lake from the impaired waters list required wrangling with a bottom feeder, the invasive carp.
Community wastewater treatment facilities and their operators play a critical role in maintaining a health community and preserving and protecting our waters.
Wild rice is an important part of the biological community in many Minnesota lakes, streams, and wetlands, and a cultural resource to many, particularly members of the Dakota and Ojibwe Tribal Nations in Minnesota.