Mississippi River is first of state’s 5 largest rivers to be monitored by MPCA
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For release: Aug. 12, 2013
Contact: Stephen Mikkelson, 218-316-3887
Note to editors, news directors: MPCA sampling staff are available for interviews and photo/filming opportunities as they conduct monitoring activities in the field. Call Mike Feist at 651-587-1288 to make arrangements.
Mississippi River is first of state’s 5 largest rivers to be monitored by MPCA
Brainerd, Minn. -- The Mississippi is the first of Minnesota’s five largest rivers to be targeted by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) water quality monitoring effort.
MPCA monitoring crews are about half way through a 10-year effort to assess the condition of smaller rivers, streams and lakes throughout Minnesota’s 81 watersheds. The state’s largest rivers — the Mississippi, Minnesota, Rainy, Red and St. Croix — will be sampled over the next five years. During the 2013-14 monitoring seasons, the Mississippi River will be monitored from its headwaters in Itasca State Park down to St. Anthony Falls in Minneapolis.
To complement the smaller watershed monitoring, the large river monitoring will provide data to assess the aquatic life, aquatic recreation, and aquatic consumption designated uses in the main stems of these largest rivers.
As an example, the Mississippi River, from its headwaters to Minneapolis, has 15 smaller watersheds that flow into it. By combining the results of ongoing monitoring in these smaller watersheds with the results obtained by monitoring the Mississippi, the MPCA can obtain a more complete picture of the condition of our waterways, and help further identify potential problem areas.
This monitoring is designed to measure and evaluate the condition of rivers and streams by sampling fish, aquatic invertebrates, habitat, fish tissue, and water chemistry. Examples of aquatic invertebrates include insect larvae, crayfish, snails, small clams, worms and leeches. Stream water chemistry is monitored to provide information about the quality of the water in which these fish and invertebrates live. Fish tissue samples will be taken to update fish consumption advisories.
The sampling results will be compared to the appropriate MPCA standards. If samples do not meet those standards, the sampling location could be considered impaired. If that happens, the MPCA will look more closely at what could be causing the impairments and find ways to correct the problems.
To see monitoring teams in action, you can watch short videos on fish sampling and invertebrate sampling on the MPCA’s Biological monitoring webpage (http://www.pca.state.mn.us/sbiz8cc).
For more information about these monitoring program activities, visit the MPCA’s Water quality condition monitoring webpage (http://www.pca.state.mn.us/clyp906).
Broadcast version:
The Mississippi River will be the first of the state’s five largest rivers to be monitored for water quality as part of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s watershed monitoring program. The other large rivers that will be monitored in the coming years are the Minnesota, Rainy, Red, and St. Croix.
The large river monitoring will provide data to assess the aquatic life, aquatic recreation, and aquatic consumption designated uses in the main stems of these rivers. This large river monitoring will complement the M-P-C-A’s ongoing assessment of smaller streams, rivers, and lakes throughout Minnesota’s 81 major watersheds.
More information on this monitoring effort can be found on the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency's website.
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