Minnesota's 2024 Impaired Waters List Approved by EPA
Summary
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency published its 2024 Impaired Waters List, approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in April 2024, fulfilling the biennial reporting requirement under Section 303(d) of the federal Clean Water Act. The list documents all state waters failing to meet water quality standards and designated beneficial uses, including impairments from mercury, nutrients, sediment, bacteria, and PFOS contamination. This inventory is used to establish total maximum daily load (TMDL) pollutant-reduction targets for restoring impaired waters.
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What changed
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency published its biennial 2024 Impaired Waters List, which was approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in April 2024. The list includes the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) list under Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act, an inventory of all impaired waters, delisted waters, and corrections from the 2022 list. The MPCA assessed major lakes and streams across all 80 of Minnesota's watersheds using intensive water quality monitoring data from agency staff and partner organizations.
Affected parties—including municipalities, agricultural operations, industrial facilities, and other pollutant sources—may face new or modified pollutant-reduction requirements as impaired waters are targeted for TMDL development. The list defines impairments across multiple categories: mercury limiting fish consumption, nutrient-driven algae growth, sediment clouding water, bacteria compromising swimming safety, unhealthy conditions for aquatic life, PFOS contamination in fish tissue, and sulfate impairments in wild-rice waters. Stakeholders should use the Impaired Waters Viewer (IWAV) tool to identify whether specific water bodies of interest are listed.
Archived snapshot
Apr 28, 2026GovPing captured this document from the original source. If the source has since changed or been removed, this is the text as it existed at that time.
As required by the federal Clean Water Act, the MPCA assesses all waters of the state and creates a list of impaired waters every two years. This list includes waters that fail to meet water quality standards and uphold that water body’s designated use.
The listings are based on intensive water quality monitoring of major lakes and streams in Minnesota’s 80 watersheds, along with data from partners. This list is used to set pollutant-reduction goals needed to restore impaired waters, called the total maximum daily load (TMDL).
Approved by U.S. EPA in April 2024, Minnesota's list includes the Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) list (303(d) list); 2024 Inventory of all impaired waters; delisted waters; changes and corrections from the 2022 list; Appendix A of the Statewide mercury TMDL.
- Minnesota's 2024 Impaired Waters List (wq-iw1-81) Approved by U.S. EPA - April 2024
- 2024 guidance manual for assessing the quality of Minnesota surface waters (wq-iw1-04m)
- Impaired waters viewer (IWAV)
- Responses to comments on the draft 2024 Impaired Waters List (wq-iw1-84) The guidance manual describes Minnesota's monitoring and assessment strategy, assessment tools, and the assessment process. This guidance defines the required data and information and lays out the criteria by which waterbodies are assessed to determine if beneficial uses are supported or impaired.
6896: GovDelivery - Minnesota's impaired waters list MNPCA_87
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Defining impaired waters
A body of water is considered “impaired” if it fails to meet one or more water quality standards. Minnesota water quality standards protect lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands by defining how much of a pollutant can be in the water before it is no longer drinkable, swimmable, fishable, or useable in other, designated ways (called “beneficial uses”). It is important to note that a water impaired for one designated use does not mean it cannot be used for other designated uses.
Impairments include:
- mercury levels that lead to limits on fish consumption
- nutrients that grow algae
- sediment that clouds water
- bacteria that can make water unsafe for swimming
- unhealthy conditions for fish and bugs
- PFOS found in fish tissue
- sulfate impairments that may hinder the biological production of wild rice The MPCA works with many partners to identify the sources of pollutants and stressors to aquatic life, and determine reductions in pollutants and other changes needed to restore waters to meet water quality standards.
Other information
MPCA uses this biennial narrative report to meet some of the reporting requirements under the federal Clean Water Act.
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