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River Watch program seeks $170,000 annual Clean Water Fund support to expand student monitoring in Red River Basin
Summary
Testimony before the committee outlined River Watch’s educational and water‑monitoring work across 30-plus schools in the Red River Basin and requested $170,000 per year from the Clean Water Fund; the committee laid the bill over for possible inclusion.
Senate File 1375, a request to fund the River Watch educational program in the Red River Basin, was heard by the Senate Committee on Environment, Climate and Legacy and laid over for possible inclusion.
Sponsor Senator Kopack presented the bill, which requests $170,000 per year from the Clean Water Fund to support River Watch. Testimony from teachers and students described hands‑on watershed science, resource management training, data collection and student development. Hunter Scow, a teacher at Norman County East School and a River Watch advisor, said student teams collect water‑quality data used by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to complement state surface‑water assessments in the Red River Basin. Student testifier Caitlin Duray, a tenth grader and River Watch member, described the program as a rare extracurricular opportunity in her small community that helped her develop community ties and an interest in science.
Chair and committee members praised the program’s hands‑on approach and noted its cross‑border participation with schools in North Dakota and Manitoba. The committee laid the bill over for possible inclusion; no vote was taken during the hearing.
