Search
The Mississippi River - Headwaters Watershed consists of 1.26 million acres (1,961 square miles) and contains the headwaters of the Mississippi River at Lake Itasca in Itasca State Park. The watershed includes parts of Becker, Beltrami, Cass, Clearwater, Hubbard and Itasca counties.
Located in south-central Minnesota, the Le Sueur River flows 111 miles through a gently rolling landscape, most of it farmland, until it cuts down through high bluffs to the Blue Earth River.
The Blue Earth River begins in northern Iowa and meets with the West Branch Blue Earth River in Faribault County. The watershed includes parts of eight counties in southern Minnesota and four in northern Iowa.
One of 12 major watersheds of the Minnesota River Basin, the Watonwan River Watershed covers 878 square miles in south-central Minnesota.
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.
The MPCA is working to address environmental concerns at the closed Freeway Landfill, to prevent the buried waste from affecting drinking water and the nearby Minnesota River.
The Clearwater River Watershed drains an area of 886,600 acres in the Red River of the North basin. The river flows to the northwest and southwest, eventually emptying into Red Lake River near Red Lake Falls.
The Vermilion River Watershed, located within northern St. Louis County, covers 662,427 acres, or 1,035 square miles.
The Mississippi River - Sartell Watershed covers approximately 652,800 acres (1,020 sq. miles) in the central part of the Upper Mississippi River Basin. The watershed includes parts of Benton, Crow Wing, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Stearns, and Todd counties.
The Cedar River Watershed in Minnesota encompasses 454,029 acres in Mower, Freeborn, Dodge, and Steele counties. This watershed covers prime agricultural land with many streams and drainage ditches flowing into the river.
The discharges in summer 2024 happened during the construction of the MnDOT truck facility in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
Minnesota has a growing salty water problem that threatens its freshwater fish and other aquatic life. Chloride from both de-icing salt and water softener salt gets into lakes and streams, and…
Significant restoration work by organizations in the area have made the south branch of the Buffalo River a water-quality success story.
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.
The MPCA regulates the design, construction, and operation of treatment facilities for municipal and industrial wastewater in Minnesota.
The MPCA's regulatory, cleanup, and monitoring programs create and maintain spatial data that serve our environmental protection work and can be shared with partners and researchers.
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.
The South Fork Crow River Watershed covers 818,428 acres. It is located in south-central Minnesota and encompasses parts of Kandiyohi, Renville, Meeker, McLeod, Sibley, Wright, Carver, and Hennepin counties.
The MPCA monitors water quality in rivers and streams is several different ways around the state.
The Red River of the North - Grand Marais Creek Watershed covers 298,264 acres and is part of the Red River Basin in northwestern Minnesota and southeastern North Dakota.