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The Air We Breathe report looks at public health and air quality data to gauge how air pollution is affecting our health in Minnesota.
The MPCA has important roles in protecting and restoring waters in degraded conditions.
The Lake Superior - North Watershed covers over 1 million acres in the Northern Lakes and Forest ecoregion.
The Two Rivers Watershed is part of the Red River Basin in northwestern Minnesota. Two Rivers actually consists of three branches: the North, Middle, and South Branch.
The Big Fork River Watershed covers more than 1.3 million acres that include some of the state’s most pristine wilderness. The river flows north 165 miles from Dora Lake (45 miles northeast of Bemidji in north-central Itasca County) to the Rainy River, which forms the Minnesota-Canada border.
The MPCA fines American Crystal Sugar in Moorhead $16,000 for wastewater violations.
Minnesota’s Continuous Nitrate Sensor Network generates publicly available water quality data on nitrate levels in our surface water.
The Shell Rock River begins at Albert Lea Lake in Freeborn County in south-central Minnesota, a few miles from the Iowa border. It flows 113 miles into Iowa, where it enters the Cedar River. In Minnesota, the Shell Rock drains 246 square miles (160,000 acres), all in Freeborn County.
MPCA investigation determined that construction sediment was discharged into the Blue Earth River and a county ditch.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's Emergency Response Program (ERP) oversees the cleanup of all types of spills and environmental emergencies.
Contact the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency by phone or online form. This page includes office locations and options to requests for assistance or report emergencies.
Financing for wastewater and stormwater projects is available for public entities.
Unauthorized releases of untreated wastewater in October 2024 and January and February 2025, as well as failure to notify the Minnesota Duty Officer in a timely manner.
During a residential construction project in Franklin Township in 2024, Capstone Homes and Arnt Construction failed to properly manage construction stormwater activities.
Green Plains Fairmont, LLC paid $14,175 for an ethanol spill that lasted four days and contaminated groundwater.
Whether they are called sloughs, swamps, bogs, or potholes, these are all wetlands and they provide many environmental benefits and contribute to watershed health. Though Minnesota has lost almost half of its wetland acreage over time, the quality of the remaining wetlands is good overall.
The MPCA Brownfield Program is a fee-for-service program that provides assistance to promote the investigation, cleanup, and redevelopment of property that is contaminated with petroleum and hazardous substances.
Starting Jan. 1, 2025, the first prohibitions of products containing intentionally added PFAS took effect in Minnesota.
Tailings basin piping leaked wastewater and about 11,500 cubic feet of tailings materials over nearly half an acre, including a nearby wetland in May 2023 due to inadequate operation and maintenance of the tailings basin pipeline at the company’s facility in Virginia, Minn.
Farmers Grain, LLC, a grain elevator in Thief River Falls, paid $18,120 in fines for pumping contaminated water from their property into the city of Thief River Falls stormwater system.