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The MPCA has important roles in protecting and restoring waters in degraded conditions.
What is the blue-green scum that looks like spilled paint?In lakes that are over-enriched with phosphorus and nitrogen, algae tend to prosper and create algae blooms. Blue-green algae and one type in…
Water quality standards are frequently adopted statewide or by ecoregions. These standards can include large areas with different types of water, biological communities and natural water chemistries.
Across the state, water softeners contribute significantly to chloride pollution. Here’s how to make sure your water softener isn’t sending excess salt into the environment
Community wastewater treatment facilities and their operators play a critical role in maintaining a health community and preserving and protecting our waters.
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.
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.
MPCA seeks public comment on two draft industrial wastewater permits for U.S. Steel Corp.’s Keetac mining area and tailings basin in Keewatin, Minnesota. These permits will improve protections for wild rice waters and human health.
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.
Intense storms of late spring can wash soil and other pollutants into rivers. Producers can use several techniques to protect their soil and water quality.
Every two years, MPCA creates a list of impaired waters in the state that do not meet water quality standards.
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.
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 will analyze varying background sulfate levels across Minnesota, which could inform our implementation of the wild rice sulfate water quality standard.
In karst landscapes, the distinction between groundwater and surface water is blurry.
Central Bi-Products emitted higher levels of hydrogen sulfide than is allowed, causing odor complaints in the community of Long Prairie and resulting in a $3 million fine. Central Bi-Products has agreed to spend a minimum of $4.4 million on a supplemental environmental project that will improve its wastewater treatment.
Karst near Oxbow Park and Zollman Zoo, host of the We Are Water MN traveling exhibit. Phil George, who lives in rural Byron, Minnesota, has always felt a deep…
The time that Andy Vig spends along the Minnesota River near Hoċokata Ṫi, cultural center of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, serves as a reminder of where his water comes from and a…
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…
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.