Watershed Protection

Five things we learned from stream monitoring in 2023

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January 16, 2024

Three teams of volunteers pulled hundreds of samples from streams in 2023, detailing insects and crustaceans present — a key to analyzing stream health over time. Here are five takeaways from our work. Read more

EPA says state needs to clean up drinking water in SE Minnesota

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November 15, 2023

In response to a petition we signed last spring, the federal agency is requiring Minnesota to address the public health crisis created by nitrate pollution. Read more

Video: How the 'big brown spot' pollutes the Mississippi River

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October 16, 2023

When farm fields are bare, there’s nothing to stop soil, fertilizers and other farm chemicals from washing off into our rivers, lakes and streams. This "big brown spot" in the Midwest is by far the largest source of pollution to the Mississippi. Read more

Map of Midwest with brown over much of the area around the Mississippi River

Minnesota's drought contributes to drinking water crisis downriver

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October 10, 2023

In this Q&A, Matt Rota at Healthy Gulf in Louisiana talks with FMR about the saltwater intrusion in the Mississippi River threatening New Orleans' drinking water supply — and already impacting communities farther south. Read more

Army Corps boats construct a sill to prevent saltwater intrusion

Is Minnesota doing enough to protect our drinking water?

by Trevor Russell

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September 13, 2023

A recent headline in the Star Tribune said it all: 'Little action so far on plan to enlist farmers to clean up polluted groundwater in Minnesota.' How did we get here? And what do we do about it? Read more

Person holds a mason jar of clear water in a field of Kernza

Sackett case: How the Supreme Court ruling impacts the Mississippi River

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June 12, 2023

On May 25, the U.S. Supreme Court announced a decision that drastically narrows the scope of the Clean Water Act and represents one of the most far-reaching rollbacks to this decades-old law since its passage in 1972. Read more