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Kohlman Lake, one of 27 bodies of water to come off the impaired waters list this year, did so with substantial help from the Clean Water Fund.
A project to address high levels of suspended sediment in the Minnesota River and the South Metro portion of the Mississippi River.
The MPCA monitors and assesses lakes around the state to determine if they meet water quality standards.
Sediment is composed of loose particles of sand, clay, silt, and other substances. Sediment flows into Minnesota lakes, rivers, and streams via runoff in both urban and rural areas.
Streams of the Upper St. Croix Watershed are among the most biologically intact, healthy, and resilient of watersheds in Minnesota.
Throughout her life, Jen Widmer has felt a deep connection to wetlands. As a child, she played broomball on the ice of a wetland near her home. She once attempted swimming in the wetland but was…
A series of new culverts in Lake County reconnect brook trout habitat and provide resilience to climate change for area roads.
Lake of the Woods is a big lake with a big problem caused by one of nature’s smallest organisms: algae. Scientists from the MPCA and the Science Museum are working together to understand why.
The Little Sioux River Watershed covers more than 1.8 million acres in southwestern Minnesota. Its small prairie streams flow through the southern portions of Nobles and Jackson counties and into Iowa.
Sandy and Jay Boss Febbo shared their story as part of We Are Water MN, a traveling exhibit and community engagement program that explores Minnesotans’ relationships with water.
One indicator of impairment that puts a stream on the Impaired Waters List is its macroinvertebrate population. Here's how that works.
The Minnesota River - Headwaters Watershed covers 487,015 acres in the Prairie Parkland ecoregion of southwestern Minnesota. Portions of Traverse, Big Stone, Swift, Lac qui Parle, Stevens, and Chippewa counties drain the watershed.
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…
The MPCA is authorized to develop numeric water quality criteria that apply specifically to a water body or region where the pollutant is found, using data from that water body or region.
The Upper Iowa River is a 156-mile-long tributary of the Mississippi River that rises in Mower County in southeastern Minnesota near the Iowa border. It then flows south through three Iowa counties before flowing into the Mississippi. It drains nearly 641,000 acres (1,005 square miles).
Two small creeks in the Nemadji River watershed are cleaner, and some fish have returned, after restoration work that the MPCA took part in.
Minnesota rivers are shrinking in the drought; some have their lowest flows in decades. What will be the long term effects?
First of a series of MPCA staff profiles. Kevin Stroom conducts research on streams and has published a report about Straight River.
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,…
Keep It Clean focuses on the growing problem of garbage and human waste left on the ice by anglers and other visitors during ice fishing season.