A long-time network of volunteers in southeast Minnesota has gathered important data about nitrates in their well water. Now the network is expanding to collect additional data, sustaining this effort to better understand our fragile karst landscape.

The Southeast Minnesota Domestic Well Network builds upon efforts to develop and implement the Volunteer Nitrate Monitoring Network as a sustainable means of obtaining long-term trend data for nitrate occurrence in private drinking water supply wells. From 2006-2012 the project team, including nine southeastern Minnesota counties and state agency staff, coordinated efforts to develop a low-cost groundwater monitoring network in Southeast Minnesota that relies on volunteers to sample their private drinking water supply wells and send the samples to their county representative for nitrate analysis.

This network was funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Water Section 319 program and MPCA’s Clean Water Partnership.

The Southeast Minnesota Water Resources Board completed six years of the project, which consisted of assembling a network of 675 domestic wells and enlisting well owners to sample their private drinking water wells. 

The project to date has focused on measuring nitrate in groundwater, but the project goals include sustaining the network as a tool for assessing long-term trends and as infrastructure for future groundwater sampling projects. Sustaining and capturing the full potential of the network can occur through the additional measurements of other analytes, such as major ions, trace metals, radionuclides, and pollutants. Data generated will be useful to agricultural chemical management, pollutant studies such as TMDLs, drinking water quality projects, and others. 

Stabilizing and sustaining the network preserves it for future use as other important study questions arise, and the network serves as a model for similar studies in other areas of Minnesota and beyond.

Jim Lundy has provided technical assistance and data analysis since the project’s beginning. At the June 17 BALMM meeting, he will discuss the transition to additional sampling and how it will lead to a better understanding of our groundwater resource in southeast Minnesota.

The City of Rochester’s current population is about 109,000 and is expected to grow considerably over the next 20 years. To meet the current needs of its citizens, businesses and industries, Rochester Public Utilities (RPU) withdraws about 5 billion gallons of groundwater per year from 32 municipal wells, primarily from within the St. Peter-Prairie du Chien and Jordan aquifers.

An adequate supply of high quality water is crucial to the economic and environmental health of the Rochester area. However, there are major gaps in the understanding of water sustainability and the impact of a changing and variable climate, for example long-term drought, and a growing population, on the water system.

RPU and Barr Engineering have been working to evaluate water sustainability in Rochester. The purpose of the evaluation is to assist RPU in better understanding the dynamics of groundwater withdrawals and recharge within the aquifers that provide the city’s water supply, and the impact of the demands placed on the resource. The goal is to understand what constitutes a sustainable, high quality municipal water supply for both the near-term and long-range future.

Todd Osweiler, RPU Environmental and Regulatory Affairs coordinator, will present information about this evaluation at the June 17 BALMM meeting.

An intensive look at waters across Minnesota has found several concerns, including high levels of nutrients, sediment and bacteria. These pollutants are all a concern in southeast Minnesota where BALMM and its members continue their work to identify and solve water quality problems.

The MPCA recently published a report, “Swimmable, Fishable, Fixable?” on general themes so far from the watershed approach, a systematic look at the health of lakes and streams. The agency published the report because it has reached the halfway point of examining half of Minnesota’s 81 major watersheds. So far, the watershed exam reveals the following themes:

In watersheds dominated by agricultural and urban land, half or less of the lakes fully support the standard for swimming because of phosphorus. Excess phosphorus is the main driver of harmful algae in lakes.

Watersheds that are heavily farmed tend to have high levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and suspended solids in their waters. These pollutants hurt aquatic life and recreational opportunities.

Bacteria levels in streams are also a problem. Watersheds where less than half the streams fully support swimming because of bacteria levels are generally in areas with a higher density of people and livestock — the developed and agricultural portions of the state.

The vast majority of streams and lakes examined — 97% of 490 stream sections and 95% of 1,214 lakes studied — contain fish tainted by mercury.

More lakes fully support the swimming standard in the more forested and wetland-rich areas of north-central and northern Minnesota. The same goes for streams in areas with lower populations and little animal agriculture.

The general pattern is that water quality is exceptionally good in the northeast part of the state and declines moving toward the southwest.

In a press conference releasing the report, MPCA Commissioner John Stine noted the long-term commitment needed to restore Minnesota waters. “We have seen many of these patterns developing over the last 20 years. With the comprehensive watershed information we are gathering, we are much closer to a diagnosis that can point us toward the changes that need to happen,” he said. “While the Legacy funds Minnesota citizens invested are helping us take steps forward, it’s clear that we can’t buy our way to healthy waters.”

Several media reported on the study, including:

Half of lakes and streams in southern Minnesota found too polluted for safe swimming, fishing in the StarTribune

Protecting local waters: Statewide report highlights both pollution, progress in the Winona Daily News

Greenspace: PCA report tracks watershed quality across the state in the Rochester Post-Bulletin

Monitoring crews from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency are beginning the eighth year of a 10-year effort to assess the condition of rivers, streams and lakes in Minnesota. This work is being funded by the Clean Water Fund from the constitutional amendment passed by voters in 2008.

This year’s monitoring will include the Mississippi-Reno and Mississippi-La Crescent watersheds and three others bordering the Mississippi River and Iowa in southeast Minnesota

Other teams will work in the Vermilion River, Cloquet River, Mississippi River-Grand Rapids, Roseau River, Lac Qui Parle River and Minnesota River Headwaters watersheds. The monitoring units will also work with Canadian researchers to conduct a survey of the Red River of the North mainstem, from its source at the confluence of the Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail Rivers in western Minnesota to its confluence with Lake Winnipeg in Canada.

The monitoring is designed to measure and evaluate the condition of rivers and streams by studying the biology including fish, aquatic invertebrates and plant life as well as habitat, flow and water chemistry. Examples of aquatic invertebrates include insect larvae, crayfish, snails, small clams, worms and leeches. Stream water chemistry is also monitored by MPCA and local partners to provide information about the quality of the water in which these fish and invertebrates live and the recreational suitability of the water.

Lake monitoring crews will sample the larger lakes in the same watersheds. The MPCA and local partners are committed to monitoring all lakes greater than 500 acres in size, and as many lakes over 100 acres as possible. The lake monitoring teams will focus on water clarity, nutrient concentrations and other water chemistry parameters to assess lakes for their ability to support recreational uses.

In addition to the watershed work, the monitoring crews will conduct a biological and habitat survey of 150 randomly-selected rivers and streams across Minnesota. This survey is part of a national survey of rivers and streams. The data collected from Minnesota will contribute to the national effort and at the same time provide critical information to help track long term changes in the condition of rivers and streams within Minnesota.

To see monitoring teams in action, you can watch short videos on fish sampling and invertebrate sampling on the MPCA’s biological monitoring web page. For more information about these monitoring program activities, visit the MPCA’s water quality condition monitoring web page.

The legacy of farmer Jim Frederick lives on this growing season. He was known as a leader who listened, a business man who knew his economics, and conservationist who practiced what he preached.

Jim was serving as chairperson of the Farmer Led Council in the Whitewater River watershed when he died in December 2014. The council was the first of its kind in Minnesota, an effort that took fortitude to get off the ground and running. With a knack for befriending people and organizing projects, Jim was the ideal person to lead the effort.

He was born in 1945 in Rochester, graduated from St. Charles High School, and attended the University of Minnesota Business School. He spent most of his career working at HCC in Mendota, Ill.

In 1998, Jim and his wife Rae moved back to St. Charles to his family farm where they grew corn, soybeans, alfalfa and beef cattle with conservation practices like crop rotation, grass waterways and fertilizer management. In fact, Jim was the first farmer in Olmsted County to receive certification in a volunteer water quality program with the Minnesota Dept. of Agriculture.

When the Farmer Led Council first was being organized, Jim noted that County Road 10 in Olmsted County was having some erosion issues due to highway construction work. He and Jerry Hildebrandt, conservationist at the time for the Whitewater Watershed Project, contacted the Olmsted County Highway Department and met with the county engineer. The three drove the entire reconstructed road, identifying areas that the county should fix.

"Jim’s rationale was that conservation responsibility does not rest only with the farmers. We all need to play a role," Jerry said. "Jim was not only able to explain to others what can be done in conservation farming, but he followed it himself. He did recognize that there are great challenges to farming this area, but much can be done to farm in a manner that improves the watershed."

Read the full tribute to Jim on the MPCA website.

The lakes and streams in southwest Minnesota made headlines this spring after the MPCA reported that few of the lakes and streams there were fully meeting swimmable and fishable standards. Behind the headlines are hundreds of projects on the front lines of restoring and protecting water quality. Local partners like watershed groups and SWCDs usually carry out these projects.

Every year the MPCA publishes a report on projects funded by the Clean Water Section 319 and Clean Water Partnership programs. The 2014 report was recently posted on the agency website. Project examples include:

• With the goal to reduce bacteria in the Rock River in southwest Minnesota, the Rock County SWCD worked with producers to calibrate manure application equipment, implement manure management plans, and attend educational events.
• In southeast Minnesota, several counties continued their efforts to help small feedlots reduce their runoff – and bacteria in it. The most recent project resulted in technical assistance to more than 25 producers, along with financial and technical help to fix runoff problems at 40 feedlots.
• In the metro area, the Shingle Creek Watershed Management Commission studied whether porous pavement would reduce stormwater pollution while holding up to city traffic in Robbinsdale. The results indicated that porous asphalt may be a useful de-icing substitute for road salt. In addition, the porous asphalt withstood three winters of snowplowing and freeze-thaw cycles with minimal impact. If built over a sand layer, the porous pavement section resulted in 100-percent removal of pollutants and runoff volume.

For more information, visit the Watershed Achievements Report webpage.

State nutrient reduction strategies and activities were on the agenda of the Mississippi River-Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force meeting May 20 in Columbus, Ohio. Twelve states in the Mississippi River basin have developed or are developing strategies with tailored methods for reducing nutrients in their state.

A nutrient stewardship panel included Michigan’s Green Agri-Business designation program, the Ohio AgriBusiness Association nutrient stewardship certification program, and Ohio’s nutrient applicator certification and training program. Partner activity highlights included: the Nature Conservancy nutrient loading strategy, Cedar Rapids Regional Conservation Partnership Program, and Dupont Pioneer sustainable agriculture systems.

The Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force was established in 1997 to reduce and control hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. It developed an action plan in 2008 and an annual operating plan in 2009 as a national strategy and roadmap to reduce hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico and improve water quality in the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin. Representing Minnesota on the task force and coordinating committee are MPCA assistant commissioner Rebecca Flood and Wayne Anderson.

About 50 women farm land owners attended Women Caring for the Land workshops to network and learn about soil conservation from experts at three field days, May 20-22 in Cold Spring, Melrose, and Buffalo. They learned ways to assess and improve the health of soils through cover crops, no-till and strip-till, and other conservation practices, and learned about resources and assistance in reaching conservation goals. According to a study in Iowa, nearly half of its farmland is owned by women. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that in 2012, 14 percent of the nation's 2.1 million farms had a female principal operator.

On a farm near Melrose, U of M Extension soil expert Jodi DeJong-Hughes hopped down into a soil pit to show healthy and degraded characteristics of soil. “Every soil pit I jump into it’s a very different story,” she says. Healthy soil has high organic matter and teems with microbes. “Tilling soil is like opening a big wound.”

Women Caring for the Land is facilitated by the Women, Food and Agriculture Network and Renewing the Countryside, and hosted by Stearns County SWCD, Buffalo NRCS, Minnesota Department of Agriculture, U of MN Extension, and Sustainable Farming Association. The workshops were made possible with support from USDA North Central region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education and the McKnight Foundation. Photo: Jodi DeJong-Hughes holds out a clump of healthy soil in Stearns County.