Minnesota is embarking on a comprehensive health assessment of its entire stretch of the Mississippi River, spanning its headwaters near Bemidji to the bluff country where it enters Iowa. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will dispatch teams to over 50 sites along the river, a meticulous endeavor that will take five months to complete and conclude in September. This unprecedented initiative marks the first time the state has assessed the entirety of its 650-mile stretch of the Mississippi in a single year.
Katrina Kessler, the agency’s commissioner, emphasized the significance of this rapid assessment, which will provide a comprehensive understanding of the Mississippi’s water quality. Kessler gathered the first water sample at Hidden Falls Regional Park in St. Paul, symbolizing the commencement of this vital project. The data gathered will serve as a roadmap for resource allocation for decades to come, she stated.
Traditionally, Minnesota’s Mississippi River monitoring has been conducted piecemeal, with water quality and aquatic life samples collected along limited stretches of the river in different years. This staggered approach, spanning nearly a decade, has resulted in disparate study conditions, limiting the comparability of data. The current study, by contrast, will provide a synchronized snapshot under consistent conditions.
Kessler noted that the changing water levels in the Mississippi, influenced by extreme weather events such as floods and droughts, significantly impact the river’s dynamics, including pollutant concentrations and the influx of agricultural runoff, pesticides, and erosion. The comprehensive study will enable a more precise understanding of the river’s health under various flow conditions.
Furthermore, this study will mark the state’s first comprehensive investigation of PFAS concentrations in the Mississippi River. Agency leaders declined to specify the project’s cost, which will be funded by the state’s Clean Water Fund, which allocates approximately $9 million annually for monitoring rivers and lakes.
A substantial portion of the Mississippi River has been classified as impaired for several years, primarily due to excessive nutrients, chemicals, and other pollutants that harm aquatic life and compromise water quality for swimming and fishing. Nutrient pollution from agricultural activities has been a persistent issue, contributing to the formation of a massive dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico where the Mississippi empties.
