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The lower Minnesota River as it looks today. View from the Betsey Northrup, 8/22/05. Click on pic to go to tour album. |
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A volunteer collects water samples from a lake, using a tool called a
Secchi disk to gauge transparency. For more information, click on photo above to go to the MPCA site. Photo courtesy of the MPCA. |
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This green goo is algae, which grows thanks to phosphorus discharges from homes, fields, and treatment plants. Photo courtesy of the MPCA. |
Cleaner water and the Clean Water Act
What water resource legislation looms at the capitol?
By Mike Tibbetts, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
The Lower Minnesota River Watershed District, Terry Schwalbe, and his staff did a wonderful job of setting the river tour up. As a representative of the MPCA, I was very pleased with the turnout and impressed with the many individuals and organizations who have an interest in preserving and enhancing the Minnesota River.
As you may know, this was not always the case. When I started at the MPCA in October 1976, I worked in the Water Quality Program to take water samples of various water ways in the state. Back then, there was little interest in the Minnesota River. I vividly recall that we had many sampling locations on the Minnesota River. In those days, the water quality was really bad and the river was suffering. Since that time, the River has recovered significantly. It's better but there is still more to do.
The MPCA needs to have organizations like the LMRWD working on water quality issues to really make things happen on the local level.
What we can do now is to lobby our legislators to pass the Clean Water Legacy bill. The bill would put into place a law that's needed if we are really are serious about improving all of Minnesota's impaired waters. Currently, only 14% of Minnesota lakes and 8% of our streams are being monitored, so we really don’t know how many might be impaired and what we have to do, seriously, to begin cleaning them up. (See “Environmental Benefits.”)
While the Clean Water Legacy bill, introduced in the 2005 legislative session, did not pass, there is a lot of legislative support for it, due in part to how the bill was developed through a very comprehensive stakeholder involvement process and a focus on cleaning up impaired waters. (See “The Clean Water Legacy Act.”)
However, some policy makers did not like the proposed funding mechanism or how the funding was to be collected. No compromise could be reached and the bill faltered. (See “Fees: Q & A.”)
The MPCA with the help of many interested parties is planning to bring this important bill back to the 2006 secession, and we hope that this time it will be passed.