The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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May 12, 2011

Our View: Minnesota River will be under microscope

The Free Press

— It appears environmental and agricultural interests are on a collision course on water quality and the degradation of the Minnesota River, the Mississippi River and Lake Pepin.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency recently released the most extensive study ever of river water quality and its sources of contamination. A significant amount of the blame was directed at runoff from agriculture.

We’re sure the report spreads some of the blame to cities and development and other sources of pollution, but agriculture will be clearly under the microscope from powerful interests that it has until now not really had to face.

The report concludes that the water quality of the Minnesota River and aquatic life has not improved much despite 20 years of effort that began with Gov. Arne Carlson standing in Sibley Park in Mankato declaring that the river will be cleaned up.

Indeed, there have been millions of dollars poured into cleaning up the river. Some argue with all the development along the river in the last 20 years, status quo on quality is a glass half-full kind of situation.

A federal program that paid farmers to plant buffer strips along rivers had success with more than 100,000 acres planted into permanent conservation land. But there is obviously more to be done.

Now, PCA and others are seeing the vast network of farm drainage as the culprit. Hundreds of miles of farm field ditches run into the Minnesota River. Unfortunately, those ditches are a bit of a necessary evil because they drain land and allow farmers to maximize their crop yields. Higher yields drive farmer income and profitability, so farmers are not eager to dismantle the drainage system.

The problem is further compounded by federal standards that require cleaner rivers but don’t give local units of government much power to change things. Ditch issues are settled at the county level, and many counties are also reluctant to impose rules that would impact farm profitability.

Still, there may be a day of reckoning and it may come sooner than later. There is widespread public awareness of degradation problems like those happening in Lake Pepin. Tons of silt are building up, and aquatic life is being affected.

There are river quality groups that include representatives of conservationists as well as farmers. They would be wise to get out in front on this issue to ensure whatever restrictions may come will be reasonable and done by spreading costs fairly.

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