Legacy Amendment would help clean up impaired waters

A new list of officially impaired Minnesota waters — lakes and rivers that fail to meet Clean Water standards — underscores the need for the Clean Water, Land and Legacy amendment on the November statewide ballot.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency announced July 1 that the federal government had approved the states 2008 Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) list of polluted lakes and stream segments. The list, which is updated every two years, has 1,475 impairments on 336 rivers and 510 lakes. There are 150 new listings for river reaches and 147 new listings for lakes.

The list identifies all the impaired water bodies for which a TMDL study is required. The TMDL List is a subset of the overall Inventory of Impaired Waters, which includes waters that need a clean-up plan as noted above and those for which plans have already been developed and approved by the EPA. The total number of impairments on the inventory is 2,575.

Only a small fraction of Minnesotas lakes and streams have been assessed so far for impairments. About 40 percent of the waters the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has monitored and assessed dont meet water-quality standards.

The Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment would guarantee about $100 million in additional annual funding for water cleanup. Much of the money would be used to monitor, assess, and clean up Minnesotas impaired waters.