News

As Minnesota constructs more impermeable buildings, streets, parking lots and other structures, our problems with stormwater pollution and flooding will increase. This column is about a sweepingly simple solution to reducing stormwater pollution that can also reduce street flooding.

Most of us tend to think the Land of 10,000 Lakes has an unlimited supply of water, but environmental experts say they’re cautious about the use of groundwater. Article cites WRC research.

by Denver Link

Minnesota’s state fish is threatened by an aquatic invasive species, potentially inducing public health concern. The beloved walleye holds significant cultural and economic importance in Minnesota, but zebra mussels cause large scale changes that impact the food web. Water Resources Science graduate student Denver Link seeks to understand how zebra mussels impact food sources for walleye populations in Minnesota lakes.

by Bailey Tangen and Anna Cates

Climate change is projected to change the timing, frequency, and severity of spring precipitation in Minnesota, and farmers might notice those changes first. Increases in number and quantity of rains are expected early in the growing season in southern Minnesota, where acres of corn and soybean dominate the landscape. Besides increasing the risk of water erosion in these fields, erratic rain patterns cause a lot of stress to farmers looking to plant corn and soybeans in May.

by Philip Margarit and Leslie Ludtke

The 1855 Treaty Territory overlaps partially with the Pineland Sands Aquifer System (Pineland Sands) in Central Minnesota. This region is important culturally, ecologically, and economically, including the headwaters of the Mississippi River and numerous trout streams, recreational lakes, and wild rice water bodies important to the Anishinaabe.