Water

MEP Water Cluster Contacts:

Trevor Russell, Friends of the Mississippi River, trussell@fmr.org

Water Cluster Organizations: (*denotes non-MEP member)

Minnesota’s waters used to be clean: safe to drink, healthy for fish, wonderful to swim in.

Today, 4 out of 10 of our water bodies are impaired. Increasing numbers of Minnesotans struggle to afford clean drinking water due to groundwater contamination. If we don’t change our trajectory, tomorrow will be even worse.

But, we have a vision, we know what we need to do, and we have a plan for getting there.

The Goal: Minnesota will Achieve 100% clean, safe, and affordable water by 2050.

All Minnesota waters should meet basic health standards — our rivers, lakes and groundwater should be healthy and all our drinking water should be 100% safe to drink.

We can invest in programs that are win-wins for our water, soil, farmers, and climate.

  • We should continue support for traditional investments in water infrastructure upgrades, land conservation, and the Clean Water Fund created by voters via the Legacy Amendment.
  • The Forever Green Initiative based at the University of Minnesota is developing crops that protect our waters. This program is developing crops, like Kernza and field pennycress, that keep living cover on our land all year round, absorbing fertilizer pollution that can make people sick when it enters the groundwater. These crops also store carbon dioxide, hold together healthy soil, and are increasingly finding opportunities to make profits for farmers. We should provide this program with more funding to reach its full potential.

More info about the Forever Green Initiative’s next generation crops:


RESOURCES

2019 MEP Briefing Book

MEP 2019 From Field to Faucet Report

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