When people think about Minnesota and water, they think about lakes, rivers and streams,” says Bonnie Keeler (MS, ’07; PhD, ’13), director of the University of Minnesota’s Water Resources Center (WRC), one of 54 national institutes on water research.
The behind-the-scenes role of the WRC and its partners is a big reason why Minnesota is a national leader in water management.
The work of the WRC spans everything from safeguarding drinking water to tackling stormwater pollution in urban areas (more than 4,600 Minnesota stormwater professionals participated in WRC training just last year and all septic professionals in the state train with the University), and from supporting rural landowners in improving soil health and agricultural landscapes to safeguarding lakes and other aquatic ecosystems.
A pipeline to-pond approach
Hundreds of researchers at the University work on water issues, uncovering new and better ways to filter and clean water, respond to invasive species and manage and ensure the safety of water for the humans, plants and animals that rely on it.
Meanwhile, thousands of water management professionals across Minnesota implement new and evolving water management practices that develop from University research.
Water Resources Center projects implemented in Minnesota communities range from the Clean sweep program, which has helped communities across Minnesota to optimize how they're sweeping streets, to ongoing research studying whether fungus might offer a better filtration system to remove phosphorus and sediment from urban stormwater.
One recent example: around 20% of Minnesotans — 1.2 million people — rely on wells for drinking water, which means they are responsible not only for testing their own water sources, but understanding the results and taking action to address any risks.
Earlier this year, the WRC partnered with the Minnesota Department of Health to launch a Private Well Education Program. Trained educators hosted testing clinics in Clay and Crow Wing Counties where private well users received free drinking water test kits and community-centered education and interpretation delivered by staff with expertise in public health.
Replenishing the water workforce
In addition to providing ongoing certification and training to thousands of current water practitioners in Minnesota and around the nation, the University of Minnesota is stepping up to fill future workforce needs, and for students, that means job opportunities across a variety of fields ranging from law and policy to engineering, chemistry and conservation.
“In Minnesota, managing water resources will always be a robust job market,” she adds. “Nearly every municipality has a water treatment plant and is managing stormwater. Private wells and septic systems serve most of our rural residents. So if you want to live in a rural area, you can get a job in water. If you want to live in an urban area, you can get a job in water. And that's not going to change.”
Student opportunities in water work
Anu Li, who earned a PhD in May of 2026 through the Water Resources Science graduate program, is among those who will soon join the water workforce. As part of her dissertation work, Li received a WRC Watershed Innovations Grant, which supports undergraduate and graduate students interested in water research projects, to study the spread of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD).
Chronic wasting disease is a 100% fatal disease found in cervids, which include deer, elk and moose. CWD has been spreading rapidly across Minnesota and much of North America in the past few years (Register for an Aug. 12 webinar with Li to learn more).
“That was a really neat experience, looking into how infectious prions (the pathogen that causes CWD) might be moving through our streams or soil,” says Li, who used the controlled environment of the University’s St. Anthony Falls Laboratory for her study. “It’s spreading rapidly across North America right now, and the more the disease spreads, the more likely it is that it can become more compatible with other species. It's really important that we get the case count under control.”
Li received a bachelor's in chemical engineering and worked in a chemical engineering role in the private sector before returning to graduate school at the University of Minnesota to focus on water.
“Minnesota is pretty singular in a lot of its approaches to water research, and the value that folks here place on water,” says Li.
After graduation in May, Li began a one-year science and policy fellowship through Minnesota Sea Grant, housed at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Amelia Olsen also completed her degree in May, a master's in Earth and Environmental Sciences. She received WRC funding to study Manoomin (Ojibwe for wild rice), also known as Psiη in Dakota, which is in decline throughout the Great Lakes region.
Olsen investigated the impact of agricultural chemicals on Manoomin lakes in the Otter Tail River Watershed of west central Minnesota in support of the White Earth Nation in its stewardship of Manoomin and Manoomin habitat — part of the Kawe Gidaa-naanaagadawendaamin Manoomin/Psíŋ Tribal - University Research Collaboration.
“There's really not a lot of research that's been done on agricultural impacts on wild rice,” Olsen says. “So I think this is a necessary first step, to see what's in Manoomin lakes, and what that means in terms of best management practices.”
Like Li, Olsen also switched focus; in her case, from work in paleontology.
“I loved it, but I felt like there was no larger purpose that made it meaningful to me,” she says. “I wanted to work in something that directly helped groups of people that I could look to and be like, ‘This is why I'm doing this."
For her, that means water.
“When it comes to community-centered science, water rose immediately to the top of the list, because it's so crucial to both life and livelihood, and place. And specifically in Minnesota, everyone I've met has such a strong connection to the water that's around them.”