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In Minnesota, handlers of oil and hazardous substances are required to prepare for potential spills and take steps to prevent them.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA)’s draft wastewater permit for the 3M facility at Cottage Grove adds new water quality protections for the Mississippi River and improves accountability through monitoring and reporting requirements. The draft permit is one of the most rigorous in state history and mandates the removal of certain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to levels below detection.
The MPCA completed 75 enforcement cases for water quality, air quality, waste, stormwater, and wastewater violations in the second half of 2024.
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.
MPCA's compliance and enforcement program tracks how well wastewater treatment facilities are complying with their permits and takes enforcement actions when necessary.
The MPCA's Petroleum Remediation Program addresses risks to people and the environment from contamination caused by leaking petroleum storage tanks.
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.
In Minnesota, about 18,000 regulated underground storage tanks (UST) are in use. State rules specify requirements for underground storage tanks (UST) that store petroleum or hazardous substances, and any piping or other structures that are part of the tank systems.
Clean Water Fund dollars come from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment that Minnesotans approved in 2008.
A training and certification program for evaluating aquatic life in Minnesota’s rivers and streams.
Dentists in Minnesota must meet federal and state requirements to limit the amount of mercury in their wastewater.
To reduce the pollution that causes climate change, Minnesota has set goals to cut our collective greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and track progress.
Two small creeks in the Nemadji River watershed are cleaner, and some fish have returned, after restoration work that the MPCA took part in.
Researchers collect samples of sediment from the bottom of Lake of the Woods in 2024. (Photo courtesy of St. Croix Watershed Research Station) After years of study…
The MPCA has announced 13 grant recipients that will receive a total of nearly $4.8 million for projects that will keep good food from going to waste in Minnesota while diverting usable food to people in need.
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 investigates sites where hazardous substances have been or could be released to identify risks and appropriate remediation plans.
While hundreds of fish kills occur in Minnesota every year, mostly in lakes and ponds, fish kills on trout streams in southeast Minnesota are much less common.
Documents and forms related to the identification and management of hazardous waste in Minnesota.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) sample and test fish in bodies of water where known pollution issues may be a concern for human health through fish consumption.