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The Pomme de Terre River begins cool and clear in Otter Tail County, bordered by wooded hills and grassy meadows. It flows south through several lakes; as the river nears its mouth, it is bordered by eroding banks, becoming increasingly muddy before discharging into the Minnesota River at Marsh Lake.

James Wooton puts his scuba diving skills to work monitoring for aquatic invasive species in Otter Tail County lakes.

MPCA evaluates water quality by measuring and monitoring the health of fish, macroinvertebrates, and plants.

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 health of Minnesota's large rivers is a reflection of how well we are protecting overall water quality.

Sustained efforts by cities and water management organizations have restored water quality in two Dakota County lakes.

The Bois de Sioux River Watershed covers 718,685 acres, and includes the drainage basins of Lake Traverse and the Bois de Sioux River.

Dakota County is now hosting We Are Water MN, a traveling exhibit and community engagement program that explores Minnesotans’ relationships with water.

The Lower Big Sioux River Watershed covers nearly 2.2 million acres, mostly located in eastern South Dakota. A small portion lies in western parts of Lincoln, Pipestone, and Rock counties in southwestern Minnesota. There are several small to medium-sized tributaries.

Located in southeast Minnesota and northeast Iowa, the Upper Wapsipinicon Watershed lies within the Eastern Iowa and Minnesota Drift Plains portion of the Western Corn Belt Plains ecoregion.

Every two years, MPCA creates a list of impaired waters in the state that do not meet water quality standards.

This watershed is located in the southeastern tip of Minnesota, known for its scenic bluffs. More than 900,000 acres drain to the Mississippi River at Reno, Minn., but only 117,000 of those acres are in Minnesota.

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.

This TMDL addresses 39 stream and river reaches in the Lower Mississippi and Cedar River basins with excess levels of fecal coliform.

Pollutant and runoff maps and data for major watersheds; watershed monitoring and assessment reports.

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.

The Mississippi River - La Crescent Watershed drains 95 square miles in Houston and southeast Winona counties, an area defined by wooded bluffs and spring-fed cold-water streams that flow directly to the Mississippi River.

The MPCA recognized 236 wastewater facilities for outstanding operations in 2024.

Thanks to years of restoration efforts, the MPCA confirmed the Kabekona River meets water quality standards for recreation and proposed its removal from the 2026 impaired waters list.

The Minnesota Nutrient Reduction Strategy (NRS) compiles the latest science, research, and data and recommends the most effective strategies to reduce nutrients in our waters from both point and nonpoint sources.