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_~`-'~ O°o~D n O r m~=~ ~~Om z~m~ cQ1i,~m~ .,z~ N rn in m It r? ~`~ Angie Becker Kudelka, RIVER WATCH DIRECTOR, RIVERS COUNCIL OF MINNESOTA x of 0 L7 m c~ N rn ~ 3 C ~I r~ lI N H 3 Z to N -li r-i VTY "a -i n-l ~ ~ N n zo-+r-o o r- ~ ~ a e-i L7 N -! tJ7 I~ N ~ w- o w ~i 3 ~D 3 ~ ~ N Z h r-f -_ ~ tr~f- -r-~_,t MINNESOTA ASSOCIATION elcome to the first edition of "Minnesota Water Watchers." You are receiving this newsletter, devel- oped by the Minnesota Lakes Association (MLA) and the Rivers Council of Minnesota (RCM), because you care about rivers and lakes in Minnesota and the role citizens have in man- agement of these surface water resources. Contained within these pages, we plan to offer specific resources to improve or expand citizen volunteer monitoring programs, education on various monitoring topics, current and upcom- ing events, and celebration of citizen volunteers by sharing their stories. So, let's start with the reason this newsletter has been developed. The other day I was asked, "Given that we are all so busy these days, why do citizens spend their time monitor- ingwater?" Good question, why monitor? Monitoring is a tool that helps us understand more about the rivers and lakes that we use. By making careful observations and measurements of the water important to us, we start to build a base of information about the condi- tion of these water bodies. -1 Minnesota is lucky to have a wealth of citizen resources: people that care about the environment and the quality of our state's lakes and rivers. Since the 1970s, citizens have been actively monitoring surface water. In the spring of 2002, the Minnesota legislature passed a bill that encourages citizen water monitoring (Minnesota Statutes 115.06, subd.4.). This law takes an important step towards identifying the role that water resource management needs to play in both citizen and state agenry purview of information. It directs the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) to encourage ambient water quality monitoring by citizens and provide technical assistance to citizen and local group water quality monitoring efforts. The MPCA is encouraged to integrate citizen monitoring data into their water quality assessments and. programs, provided that the data meets agency quality assurance and quality control protocols. In May 2004, the MPCA also submitted a monitoring strategy to the Environmental Protection Agenry that explained what the state was doing to understand and assess the quality of our waters and promoted the use of a citizen constituenry to help monitor Minnesota's surface waters. So Why Monitor? Basic water resource needs are not met by government alone. We still have some very basic water resource needs that aren't currently being met. According to the MPCAs 2004 Surface Water Monitoring Legislative Fact Sheet, only 8 percent of Minnesota's 92,000 miles of streams and 14 percent of its 11,900 lakes have been assessed for meeting water quality standards. Citizens may not know if our waters are fully safe for drinking, swimming, or eating the fish we catch. Inadequate investment in assessing the health of lakes and streams prevents state agencies, local govern- ments and citizens from finding problems and evaluating solutions. This means that decisions are often made without enough information. Local, state and federal resources are expended on structures and practices to improve water quality without fully knowing how well those actions work. Perhaps most importantly, citizens and visitors of Minnesota are kept uninformed about the waterways they care about and rely on. MINNESOTA WATER WATCHERS NEWSLETTER WINTER 2004