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Wild rice is an important part of the biological community in many Minnesota lakes, streams, and wetlands, and a cultural resource to many, particularly members of the Dakota and Ojibwe Tribal Nations in Minnesota.

MPCA seeks public comment on two draft industrial wastewater permits for U.S. Steel Corp.’s Keetac mining area and tailings basin in Keewatin, Minnesota. These permits will improve protections for wild rice waters and human health.

The Wild Rice River begins its course at Mud Lake in Minnesota's Clearwater County, and flows largely to the west through Norman and Mahnomen counties.

The MPCA will analyze varying background sulfate levels across Minnesota, which could inform our implementation of the wild rice sulfate water quality standard.

Under the federal Clean Water Act, states must designate beneficial uses for all waters and develop water quality standards to protect each use.

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.

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.

Minnesota rules allow for specific uses (called beneficial uses) of certain materials that otherwise would be classified as solid waste.

The MPCA is developing a sulfate multi-discharger variance (MDV) for wastewater facilities that are currently unable to meet the state water quality standard for sulfate.

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.

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.

Organizations that want to reuse materials in ways not classified as standing beneficial uses must apply to the MPCA for a case specific beneficial use.

Minnesota rules identify 16 standing beneficial uses for which waste generators or end users can simply follow the applicable rules without contacting the MPCA.

Minnesota has revised state water quality standards to incorporate a tiered aquatic life use (TALU) framework for rivers and streams.

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

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.

We Are Water MN travels to Leech Lake, where Raining White works to protect and restore manoomin, or wild rice.

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 uses the Environmental Quality Information System (EQuIS) to store water quality data from more than 17,000 Minnesota sampling locations.

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