Clean Water Fund dollars come from the Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment that Minnesotans approved in 2008. The amendment increased the sales and use tax rate by three-eighths of one percent on taxable sales from 2009 through 2034. Approximately 33% of the revenue goes into the Clean Water Fund to protect, enhance, and restore water quality in lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater. The funds are used for water management activities such as monitoring, watershed characterization and scientific study, planning, and on-the-ground restoration and protection activities.
The Clean Water Fund Interagency Coordination Team (ICT) was formed to coordinate the use of Clean Water Fund dollars for achieving the aims of Clean Water Land and Legacy Act. The ICT includes the seven state agencies involved in protecting water quality:
- Metropolitan Council
- Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources
- Minnesota Department of Agriculture
- Minnesota Department of Health
- Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
- Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
- Minnesota Public Facilities Authority
Protecting Minnesota from excess nitrate
In January 2026, the ICT subteam on drinking water and groundwater prepared a report that explains how state and regional government agencies are working together to reduce nitrate pollution in Minnesota waters through monitoring and actions.
Reporting on water quality goals
The Clean Water Legacy Act requires that the MPCA report on actions taken in Minnesota’s watersheds to meet water-quality goals and milestones. Significant updates are available by July each year, after state and federal agencies submit data from the previous calendar year.
MPCA activities funded for FY 2024-2025
The Minnesota Legislature appropriated $318.396 million from the Clean Water Fund to water resource activities for fiscal years 2024-2025. The MPCA received $48.375 million to do water quality protection work required by state and federal laws.
Water quality monitoring: $18.1 million
The agency will continue accelerated monitoring and assessment efforts from the previous funding cycle to characterize conditions of our water resources. Intensive watershed monitoring includes biological, chemical, and habitat monitoring in watersheds to assess the water conditions. Assessments determine if waters are impaired and serve as a basis for further analysis of watershed problems, protection options, and overall watershed planning efforts.
WRAPS and TMDL development: $12.7 million
The MPCA will continue to support local government through development of watershed restoration and protection strategies (WRAPS) that identify the sources of pollution and provide information to help local water planners prioritize and target solutions. WRAPS are developed with local partners to set strategies for impaired waters and unimpaired waters by setting reduction and protection goals and measures to guide state and local government implementation efforts.
Other activities
The funds also support:
- groundwater monitoring and assessment
- septic system work, including low-income grants
- nonpoint- and point-source implementation, including Great Lakes restoration, and wastewater and stormwater
- reducing use of road salt and water softener salt
Caring for our water
This new story map illustrates how programs supported by the Clean Water Fund fit together into a cohesive strategy to protect, enhance, and restore water quality for Minnesotans.
Clean Water Fund performance report
This report is published every two years and provides a high-level overview of Minnesota’s use Clean Water Fund dollars in restoring and protecting the quality of the state’s surface water, groundwater and drinking water.
Use the Legislative Reference Library to find earlier reports in this series.
Highlights of 2026 report
Water quality achievements between 2010 and 2025 as a result of water management activities supported by Minnesota’s Clean Water Fund:
- restored water quality in 125 lakes and streams, resulting in their delisting from Minnesota’s impaired waters list
- awarded $953 million to non-state agency partners for projects that test, protect, and restore Minnesota’s water resources
- saved over 250 million gallons of water per year with 21,000 water-efficient alternatives incentivized through city and township programs
- issued approximately 2,800 loans to landowners to prevent or solve water quality problems
- certified 1,511 farms through the state’s Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program representing nearly 1.04 million active acres
- increased pesticide testing capacity in the Minnesota Department of Agriculture laboratory, from approximately 19,700 results in 2009 to over 124,500 results in 2024
- partnered with more than 50 local partners on nitrate monitoring and reduction projects in vulnerable groundwater areas across the state
- engaged over 120,000 visitors with the We Are Water MN exhibit in 35 communities statewide since 2016; of those surveyed in 2023-2024, 86% indicated an increased awareness of threats to our water resources
- secured approximately 1,000 easements that protect 35,000 acres along riparian corridors and within wellhead protection areas
- repaired over 900 subsurface sewage treatment systems that posed threats to human health
- supported projects at 58 municipal wastewater treatment facilities, which reduced phosphorus discharges by over 324,000 pounds per year
- developed plans for over 800 of the 970 community water systems in Minnesota to protect drinking water sources, delineated Drinking Water Supply Management Areas (DWSMAs) for 100% of community water systems with vulnerable wells and awarded over 1,200 grants for local source water protection
- provided free nitrate testing to 32,000 well owners in areas vulnerable to nitrate contamination through the Township Testing Program
- coordinated with tribal governments on monitoring and assessment programs, strategy development for meeting water quality standards, detection of unregulated contaminants, and comprehensive planning
- enabled statewide testing for PFAS in drinking water, covering over 99% of Minnesotans that drink water from a community water system