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MDA: Nitrate pollution in Southeast Minnesota groundwater is longstanding; solutions will take years
Summary
Minnesota Department of Agriculture officials told a Senate committee that elevated nitrate in parts of Southeast Minnesota stems from decades of land use and geology, and outlined monitoring, outreach and treatment work underway, including township programs, monitoring wells and private well reverse-osmosis installations.
Tom Peterson, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, told the Senate Agriculture and Rural Development Committee on March 5 that nitrate contamination in parts of Minnesota developed over decades and will take a long-term effort to address.
"It took decades to create the current nitrate conditions in Minnesota. It will take a concerted effort over many years to significantly improve our water resources," Peterson said, adding that Minnesota has taken significant actions and that the department is focused on expanding adoption of protective practices in high‑risk areas.
Margaret Wagner, manager of the fertilizer nonpoint section at MDA, described a mix of monitoring, regulatory and voluntary programs the agency is using in Southeast Minnesota. She said MDA combines the Nitrogen Fertilizer Management Plan with the Groundwater Protection Rule to provide a voluntary and regulatory framework and that monitoring informs outreach and prioritization.
Wagner said the department completed a township testing program in 2019 to characterize private‑well nitrate levels in vulnerable areas, is expanding long‑term regional monitoring in streams, springs and field edges, and has installed new wells and continuous nitrate telemetry in the Prairie du Chien and Galena aquifers in Southeast Minnesota. She also said MDA loans spectrophotometers for community nitrate clinics and has released outreach materials and a peer‑reviewed article in the Hydrogeology Journal summarizing the monitoring.
On regulatory steps, Wagner said the Groundwater Protection Rule, in effect since 2019, restricts autumn fertilizer applications in vulnerable ground‑water areas. In Southeast Minnesota, she said, the fall‑application restriction applies to about 1,100,000 acres each year beginning Sept. 1. The rule also triggers intensified local work in communities whose public water supplies exceed specified nitrate thresholds.
Wagner described MDA’s work with local advisory teams and a township outreach approach that begins as a voluntary, intensive engagement with producers. She said MDA is applying that township approach this spring in a Houston County township, supported in part by Clean Water Fund appropriations.
She also reported implementation and grant outcomes: MDA has exceeded 1,000,000 acres certified under the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program (MAWQCP) statewide; within an eight‑county Southeast region there are 277 MAWQCP farms covering about 221,000 acres. The department announced 90 soil‑health equipment grants statewide totaling about $2,790,000 and 27 grants in seven counties totaling about $815,000.
Wagner updated the committee on a private‑well nitrate mitigation appropriation of $2,800,000 from the prior session. MDA executed a joint powers agreement with Olmsted County and a Tap In Collaborative of eight counties to administer the program through the local Soil and Water Conservation Districts. She said the first 135 reverse‑osmosis systems have been installed for private wells with nitrate over 10 milligrams per liter and that post‑treatment monitoring shows an average of about 1.7 milligrams per liter at the tap.
Committee members asked about relationships with the University of Minnesota Extension, local Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and the program’s funding sources. Peterson and Wagner said MDA works closely with University of Minnesota researchers and Extension (including a recently funded university research scientist to update fertilizer BMPs), passes roughly half of its Clean Water Fund appropriations through local partners, and uses a mix of general fund, Clean Water Fund and other mechanisms. Peterson said the department has put $3,000,000 toward a network of about 70 new weather stations statewide to inform producers.
Peterson said MDA sees Minnesota as a national leader in addressing nitrate but reiterated that agricultural practice changes and groundwater improvements will be gradual.
Additional committee questions centered on program staffing, certification processes and the interplay between voluntary certification and the Groundwater Protection Rule. Wagner explained that MAWQCP is a comprehensive whole‑farm program while the Groundwater Protection Rule focuses on nitrogen management in vulnerable areas; the department leverages certification as a tool within rule implementation.
Committee Chair Putnam closed the item and opened the floor to the next agenda item.
