State of the Minnesota River:
Summary of Surface Water Quality
Monitoring 2001


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The purpose of this State of the Minnesota River Report is to consolidate surface water quality monitoring information collected in the Minnesota River Basin for calendar years 2000 and 2001. This summary report assembles data collected by multiple agencies and organizations and presents the data in a fashion that allows for relative comparison between the mainstem Minnesota River sites as well as the major and minor tributaries in the Minnesota River Basin.

First published in March 2002, the State of the Minnesota River Report 2000 presented results for monitoring year 2000. In this report, 2001 data are presented and compared with much of the 2000 data, along with a few additions and some minor corrections. Data from mainstem and tributary monitoring sites in the Lower Minnesota River Watershed are also included in this 2001 report.

Preparation of this report is a joint venture of the Metropolitan Council Environmental Services (MCES), Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA), Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), and the Water Resources Center at Minnesota State University, Mankato. This report helps fulfill the overall mission of the Minnesota River Basin Data Center, which is to inventory, develop, retrieve, interpret and disseminate information on topics that impact the environment, economy and communities within the Minnesota River Basin. This mission was first articulated by the Minnesota River Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) in a series of recommendations to the MPCA, (MPCA, 1994a) and later by the Minnesota River Basin Joint Powers Board (MRBJPB). This report demonstrates that good coordination exists between state and local water quality monitoring agencies in the Minnesota River Basin.

The Minnesota River originates at the Minnesota-South Dakota border, flows for 335 miles through some of the richest agricultural land in Minnesota and joins the Mississippi River at Minneapolis/St. Paul. The river drains a basin of 16,770 square miles; 14,840 square miles in Minnesota, including all or parts of 37 counties; 1,610 square miles in South Dakota; and the remaining area in North Dakota and Iowa. Minnesota’s portion of the basin is intensively agriculture and represents 18.5% of the state’s land mass and 29% of its cultivated land. As the state’s largest tributary of the Mississippi River, its average volume increases the Mississippi’s flow by 57% and adds disproportionately to its pollutant load (MPCA, 1997).

The 1994 Minnesota River Assessment Project (MRAP), the most comprehensive study of water quality in the Minnesota River Basin, concluded that the Minnesota River is impaired by excessive nutrient and sediment concentrations (MPCA, 1994b). Since the publication of the MRAP report, several organizations throughout the Basin have taken responsibility for collecting additional data to better define tributary characteristics and learn more about how these tributaries affect the condition of the Minnesota River. In many parts of the Basin, this information is used to target implementation practices that reduce nonpoint source pollution, thereby improving the overall health of the Minnesota River. Local watershed projects are supported mainly by Clean Water Partnership grants administered by the MPCA. Much of the remaining data presented in this summary report are provided through monitoring programs of the MDA and MCES, with contributions from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) and the Minnesota State Climatology Office.

In recent years, there have been significant improvements in point source pollution control as well as continued adoption of conservation and best management practices within the Minnesota River Basin. With these changes has come an increasing expectation that the monitoring data being collected will or can be used not only to identify potential problem areas but also to quantify the impact of these changes on water quality. Recent publications have questioned the costs of implementation activities if the benefits cannot easily be quantified. As such, efforts like this to coordinate and standardize monitoring activities and information are becoming increasingly important to provide a scientifically defensible assessment of water quality responses to changes in land use, throughout the Basin.

This report is available on the Minnesota River Basin Data Center web site at http://mrbdc.mnsu.edu/ to allow wide access and an opportunity to review and comment on its content.

Contributors

Data included in this report were submitted and reviewed by representatives of several organizations including:

Chris Bonnick:  Barr Engineering
Kevin Kuehner, Scott MacLean, Steve Stauff:  Brown-Nicollet-Cottonwood Clean Water Project
Kylene Olson, Paul Wymar:  Chippewa River Watershed Project
Loren Engelby, Amanda Smith:  Hawk Creek Watershed Project
Scott Matteson:  High Island Creek Watershed Assessment Project
Becky Schlorf Von Holdt:  Martin County Environmental Services
Darren Newville:  Martin Soil and Water Conservation District
Mike Ahlf, Leigh Harrod, Kent Johnson, Heather Offerman, Tim Pattock:  Metropolitan Council Environmental Services
Marie Juenemann, Bill VanRyswyk:  Minnesota Department of Agriculture Monitoring and Assessment Program
Patrick Baskfield, Wade Gillingham, Bill Thompson, Lee Ganske, Tim Larson:  Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
Jim Doering, Kari Howey:  Redwood-Cottonwood Rivers Control Area
Bruce Johnson:  Watonwan River Clean Water Partnership Project
Cis Berg, Robert Finley:  Water Resources Center, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Terry Renken, Cindy Potz:  Yellow Medicine Watershed District

To submit comments or questions, please contact:

mrbdc home | State of the Minnesota River 2000

This page updated on April 11, 2003 .
Minnesota River Basin Data Center
Minnesota State University, Mankato
184 Trafton Science Center S, Mankato, MN 56001
Phone: (507)389-5492   FAX: (507)389-5493
Email: mrbdc@mnsu.edu