• Urban green infrastructure such as rain water reuse, green roofs, porous pavement, or any stormwater best management practice (BMP)
• Buffers: purchase of native seeds and vegetation
• Septic system upgrades and replacements
• Technical assistance, outreach, and education
• Equipment such as conservation tillage equipment
• Any nonpoint source BMP
• Feedlot upgrades and replacement  

Project sponsors can use the loans to implement projects directly or to set up a loan fund for landowners and other stakeholders. Government entities may apply to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) at any time.

See the program webpage for more information, or contact: 

• Cindy Penny, 651-757-2099 or cynthia.penny@state.mn.us
• Kurt Soular, 651-757-2748 or kurtis.soular@state.mn.us 

What do corn dogs and water softener settings have in common? You will find both at the Minnesota State Fair this year. One of the water exhibits at Eco Experience focuses on how people can set their water softeners to use less water and less salt, meaning less chloride passing through wastewater treatment facilities to lakes and streams.

Eco Experience is a building filled with hands-on activities, demonstrations and resources, open daily at the State Fair through Sept. 3 from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Other water exhibits this year include:

• A “sink slide,” where children and adults can learn why it is important to keep things like pharmaceuticals, household hazardous waste, dyes, fragrances, and microbeads out of the drain.
• A close look at bugs that live in lakes and streams and what they can tell us about the health of Minnesota waters.
• A visual display by Great Lakes Aquarium about how climate change can affect Lake Superior.
• Recommendations for maintaining septic systems.
• Twin Cities residents can sign up to adopt a storm drain.

Also popular at Eco Experience is the Water Bar, where fair-goers can taste water from around Minnesota.

A partnership between the Minnesota State Fair, the MPCA, and more than 150 organizations and businesses across the state, the Eco Experience has become the second most visited exhibit at the fair. The Eco Experience is the largest environmental event of its kind, nationally, in the last two decades. Since 2006, more than 3.5 million visitors have attended the 25,000-square-foot exhibit to learn more about clean air and water, saving energy, climate change, recycling, healthy local food, gardening, transportation, green building and remodeling, and other ways to lead more eco-friendly lives.

Related media coverage:

• Lake Superior makes a splash at Minnesota State Fair on Duluth TV Station KBJR
• Find GreenStep Cities at the MN State Fair Eco Experience Building on the League of Minnesota Cities blog

Implementing voluntary land use management practices would reduce water pollution in the Lower Red River Watershed according to two draft studies by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) and local watershed partners. The MPCA invites comments on the studies through Sept. 12.

Local partners include the Kittson, Marshall, and Roseau Soil and Water Conservation Districts and the Two Rivers, Joe River, and Middle-Snake-Tamarac Rivers Watershed Districts.

Excessive levels of bacteria, sediment, a pesticide called chlorpyrifos, and chloride, along with stressors causing poor fish and aquatic insect communities, contribute to impairments in this northwest Minnesota watershed. The stressors that negatively impact some fish and aquatic insect communities include barriers to fish passage, altered stream flows, lack of physical habitat, high levels of suspended sediment, and low dissolved oxygen.

The reports also recommend implementation of practices to protect waters currently in good condition.

People have made extensive changes to promote water drainage in order to facilitate crop production. These changes include straightening streams and installing drainage ditches. The changes have also resulted in negative impacts to water quality, stream habitat, and fish and aquatic insect communities.  Water-based recreation is impaired at times by excessive bacteria levels.

To bring about significant water quality improvement, the studies recommend widespread changes in land use and agricultural practices. These voluntary actions, coupled with increased public understanding and support, need to occur because the vast majority of land is privately owned and used for agriculture. While landowners in the Lower Red River Watershed have long been engaged in good land stewardship practices, the MPCA and its partners recommend they continue to build upon best management practices known to improve water quality.

Open for comment are the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) study and the Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategies (WRAPS) report. They are companion documents that quantify pollutant levels, identify pollution sources, propose ways to return water quality to an acceptable level and describe protection strategies to ensure continued high quality water resources.

The draft Lower Red River of the North TMDL and WRAPS reports recommend restoring stream reaches to more natural meandering; creating water impoundments, which can reduce flooding, support stream flow, and improve water quality; taking highly erodible areas out of production; and adding buffers, cover crops and perennial vegetation.

Comments on the draft reports should be sent to Danielle Kvasager, 714 Lake Avenue, Suite 220, Detroit Lakes, Minnesota 56501; or by email, danielle.kvasager@state.mn.us. For more information, call her at 218-846-8117. Comments must be received by 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 12.

Written comments must include a statement of your interest in the report (specify which report, WRAPS or TMDL), a statement of the action you wish the MPCA to take, including specific references to sections of the draft report you believe should be changed, and specific reasons for your position.

If a lake draw-down project works as intended, Diamond Lake in Kandiyohi County east of Willmar could see a return of some water quality lustre. Instead of draining nutrient-rich water into Diamond Lake, a chain of three nearby shallow lakes will have a draw-down intended to improve their water quality and habitat, and flow reversed away from Diamond. While less than half of Diamond Lake's watershed, the three nearby lakes contribute about 75 percent of the phosphorus load to Diamond.

On Aug. 22 state and local partners behind the project and guests toured the Hubbard, Wheeler, and Schultz lakes management project. It started in 2010 with Ducks Unlimited and Middle Fork Crow River Watershed District. Working with the DNR and local landowners, the project received Outdoor Heritage Funds complemented by funds from the MFCRWD and DU. Three water control structures are installed between the lakes, and a large subsurface pipe provides outflow. Total cost was nearly $800,000. The lakes are expected to reach full draw-down this winter. It will help remove rough fish and improve aquatic plants. Natural recharge will begin next spring. According to the DNR it is the first draw-down project to involve a chain of lakes. Photo: Tour members peer down the access to the subsurface pipe where flow from the three lakes enters a county ditch.