Current Priorities
Ensuring clean, safe drinking water
Nitrogen-based fertilizers are used by farmers to increase crop yields and are a vital component of a successful farming operation. However, high levels of nitrates in drinking water can lead to dangerous and sometimes deadly health effects. In the early 2000s, when high nitrate levels began showing up in wells across Minnesota, communities around the state wanted to protect their drinking water from nitrate pollution, but solutions were expensive.
Drinking water high in nitrates has been linked to different types of cancer, elevated heart rates, and a potentially fatal condition known as blue baby syndrome, in which infants are deprived of oxygen. In 2007, as nitrate levels were reaching the state's health risk limit, the city of Hastings spent $3.5 million to install a denitrification system.
The Groundwater Protection Rule reduces nitrate levels in vulnerable drinking water supply areas.
The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) realized the need for action and in 2018 created the Groundwater Protection Rule. The Rule focused on reducing high nitrate levels within the state’s vulnerable Drinking Water Supply Management Areas. The MDA had been gathering input and listening to concerns from farmers since the 1990s. Updating the Groundwater Protection Rule limited the use of nitrogen fertilizer on some farm fields while balancing the needs of farmers with the needs of all Minnesotans. The Rule’s biggest influence was in having farmers in vulnerable locations switch from fall fertilizer application of nitrogen to spring application. The goal was to stop over-application and nitrogen leaching.
The Groundwater Protection Rule positively impacts water resources and saves farmers money by limiting fertilizer over-use.
Despite the carefully considered process of drafting this rule, the drastic need for action, and Minnesotans’ overwhelming desire for safe and clean drinking water, some lawmakers threatened to undermine this rule and the efforts to protect our groundwater resources, introducing bills to prevent the MDA from adopting the Rule.
Together with several other organizations, Conservation Minnesota worked in opposition to these bills with digital campaigns, written comments, testimony at public hearings, and support from our field team. Minnesotans from across the state expressed their opinions to the MDA about the proposed Groundwater Protection Rule.
Minnesotans’ voices were heard and Governor Dayton vetoed all bills unsupportive of the Groundwater Protection Rule. The Rule went into effect in June of 2019. Today, Minnesotans can view the MDA’s Vulnerable Groundwater Area Map, which shows the areas of Minnesota most susceptible to nitrate contamination in drinking water.
