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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 plans to amend Minnesota Rules chapter 7050, which establishes beneficial uses and water quality standards to protect those uses, and designates where the uses occur in waters of the state.

The MPCA proposes to adopt the U.S. EPA's 2013 national recommended water quality criteria for ammonia as its Class 2 ammonia water quality standards for the protection of aquatic life.

Planned amendments to Minn. Rules ch. 7050 affect the Class 1 beneficial use, which protects waters (both surface and groundwater) used as a source for domestic consumption.

Implementing water quality standards come with tangible costs and benefits. Costs such as taxes to residents, regulated parties, and communities help achieve benefits such as increased property values, tourism, and protecting human health.

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.

The MPCA has important roles in protecting and restoring waters in degraded conditions.

Protecting and restoring water quality is one of the MPCA's core areas of focus.

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.

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.

State agencies, counties, municipalities, nonprofit organizations, and many others are engaged in protecting Minnesota lakes.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is planning amendments to rules governing water quality fees (Minn. R. ch. 7002 and 7083).

A water quality variance is a temporary change in a state's water quality standard for a specific pollutant and its relevant criteria, allowing deviation from meeting a water quality-based effluent limit for a particular discharger.

The MPCA 401 certification fills a unique niche in protecting water quality by applying state water quality standards to projects.

Removing of an old dam and restoring a creek's curves are improving habitat and water quality in the Pomme de Terre River Watershed.

The MPCA monitors and assesses lakes around the state to determine if they meet water quality standards.

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.

Waterways in the northeastern part of the state are generally in better condition than those in the southern, central, and western regions.

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.

The MPCA administers programs that are governed by 45 chapters of rules. The MPCA periodically conducts a “housekeeping” rulemaking to make minor corrections and clarifications to the rules or to repeal rules that have become obsolete.