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The MPCA has important roles in protecting and restoring waters in degraded conditions.
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 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.
The MPCA studies Minnesota's solid waste composition and processes to inform policy recommendations, legislative proposals, education and outreach messages, and waste reduction efforts.
The MPCA 401 certification fills a unique niche in protecting water quality by applying state water quality standards to projects.
Excess nitrate remains a long-term challenge to manage. In our lakes, rivers, and streams, it is toxic to fish and other aquatic life. In drinking water, it can pose a risk to human health,…
Protecting and restoring water quality is one of the MPCA's core areas of focus.
Standard operating procedures (SOPs) reflect how agency staff and contracted partners complete agency-funded field activities.
The MPCA works with city and county governments, watershed districts, consultants, and others on monitoring, protecting, and restoring water quality. This is a repository of guidance and technical resources for agency partners.
For more than 50 years, volunteers have gathered critically important water clarity data on Minnesota lakes and streams.
Clean Water Fund dollars come from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment that Minnesotans approved in 2008.
State agencies, counties, municipalities, nonprofit organizations, and many others are engaged in protecting Minnesota lakes.
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…
Under the federal Clean Water Act, states must designate beneficial uses for all waters and develop water quality standards to protect each use.
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.
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 Clean Water Act established the framework for creating water quality standards and continues to help us protect Minnesota's prized lakes and rivers.
In 2023, Minnesota saw more air quality alerts covering more days than ever before. Smoke from Canadian wildfires throughout the summer caused many of the alerts, though climate change is playing a growing role in Minnesota's air quality.
Removing of an old dam and restoring a creek's curves are improving habitat and water quality in the Pomme de Terre River Watershed.
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.