(C) Minnesota Reformer
This story was originally published by Minnesota Reformer and is unaltered.
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State agencies could have protected Minnesota’s waters. They still can. [1]
['More From Author', 'February', 'Jean Wagenius']
Date: 2023-02-02
The failure of Minnesota’s state agencies to protect Minnesota’s drinking water is documented once again in “Agriculture pollutes underground drinking water in Minnesota. Well owners pay the price” by Madi McVan of Investigate Midwest, published by the Reformer on Jan. 17.
The story raises questions that deserve answers: Why do well owners, whose groundwater has been contaminated by someone else, have to pay to clean it up so it’s drinkable? What happened to “polluter pays”?
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is currently relying on voluntary efforts to prevent nitrogen pollution, such as providing incentives to those who are polluting our waters. But MPCA also has the power to create standards that are enforceable. MPCA could have already done this in two ways. First, they could have protected surface water from the toxic effects of nitrate on aquatic life. Second, when the extent of nitrogen contamination in groundwater/drinking water was understood, they could have protected groundwater directly. So far, they have failed to do either. They still should.
Aquatic life
In 2010, when the nitrogen problem in Minnesota’s surface waters was obvious and getting worse, the Legislature gave MPCA money to create a nitrogen standard to protect aquatic life. MPCA even anticipated it would be between 2 and 6 milligrams per liter. That was 13 years ago. MPCA told legislators it would take three years to complete the standard.
In 2013, MPCA published “Nitrogen in Minnesota’s Surface Waters,” which stated it was developing “water quality standards to protect aquatic life from the toxic effects of high nitrate concentrations … required under a 2010 Legislative directive.” The study determined that 73% of the nitrogen problem came from agriculture.
MPCA never even started a formal rule-making process to protect aquatic life, as required by law.
Drinking water
That same 2013 study showed that the nitrogen problem was not just from drainage at the surface. It revealed that a stunning 30% of the nitrogen was the result of nitrogen-contaminated groundwater under row crop agriculture flowing into surface waters. Approximately 75% of Minnesotans get their drinking water from groundwater.
Minnesota’s goal for groundwater is already in law. It says groundwater should be maintained in its natural condition, free from degradation. The MPCA could have implemented the state goal to prevent degradation of groundwater with an enforceable numeric standard that would have capped the amount of nitrogen permitted in groundwater. It didn’t.
In 2014, rather than creating standards to protect aquatic life and prevent groundwater degradation, state agencies created incentives for farmers to voluntarily reduce nitrogen pollution.
State agencies have spent over $1 billion of Clean Water Legacy money — taxpayer money — that, under our Constitution, is to be used “only” to “protect” and “restore” water quality and “to protect groundwater from degradation.” But the drinking water pollution remains.
So, Minnesota taxpayers are now also paying additional expenses, like providing nitrogen removal at water treatment plants, to clean up polluted groundwater to make it drinkable.
Today, there is significantly more nitrogen pollution in the Mississippi River, which drains much of the water from row crop agriculture, than there was in 2014. Many well owners don’t know that their drinking water source is contaminated or, if they do know, they don’t have the money to clean it up. (Agencies know where lands are vulnerable to groundwater pollution.)
MPCA’s David Wall claims they need decades to see if the incentives for farmers to reduce polluting nutrients like nitrogen will work. But we already know those incentives aren’t working. That is affirmed by the state’s own data: “Since 2010, nitrogen fertilizer sales have been fairly consistent at 775,000 tons per year with an increase to approximately 824,000 tons for 2020.” It is plainly wrong to ask Minnesotans who are drinking polluted water to continue to drink it for decades when there’s no indication the incentive plan is working.
Our state water laws are actually quite good. But state agencies have chosen to not use their authority to protect our waters. With little or no enforcement and no requirement to pay for nitrogen pollution, the agricultural chemical industry has no incentive to help farmers apply no more nitrogen than what their crops need. The result: state agencies are protecting the agricultural chemical industry, not Minnesotans who drink polluted water and not taxpayers who are footing bills that should not be theirs to pay.
The government’s first responsibility is keeping citizens safe. That includes making sure drinking water is safe. It’s time for Gov. Tim Walz to ensure his agencies are doing just that.
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[1] Url:
https://minnesotareformer.com/2023/02/02/state-agencies-could-have-protected-minnesotas-waters-they-still-can/
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