Entire Mississippi River within Minnesota borders to be sampled as part of new initiative

Kelsey Christensen and Krystal Frasier KSTP

State leaders to discuss new water quality initiative

This comes after the so-called forever chemicals were found in 17 cities.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has announced it will start monitoring the entire Mississippi River that is within the state’s borders in one season as part of a new initiative to monitor water quality.

According to the agency, samples of both water and aquatic life will be done at more than 50 locations between Bemidji and the Iowa border. Previously, the MPCA says it gathered samples from designated stretches of the river but hasn’t ever sampled the entire river in one monitoring season.

In addition, the agency says it will also screen samples taken from the river for PFAS contamination for the first time ever in 2024 in an effort to identify and stop sources of the chemicals.

This comes just days after the agency found “forever chemicals” spreading through drinking water in the Twin Cities metro. Chemicals were found in 22 water systems in 17 cities, with a lot of the contamination being linked to 3M.

While 3M is paying billions of dollars to help clean up the chemicals, the MPCA adds it looks like chemicals will spread in the next decades from the St. Croix River, drift toward Woodbury and Afton, Lake Elmo and Maplewood.

The Minnesota Well Owners Association says filters can be installed right under your kitchen sink. Experts say the best kind of filter is granulated active charcoal, which is about the size of a water softener.

“So, this would go on your water system before it goes to any of your faucets, sinks, showers or anything like that, so it’s treated as it comes into the house, not as it’s being used,” said Dave Schulenberg, the Executive Director for the Minnesota Water Well Association.

The agency adds that the data collected throughout 2024 will be used to direct funding and other resources for river clean-up in an effort to improve water quality within the state and also downstream.