Four Area Waters Added to Draft Impaired Waters List, One Stearns County Stream Proposed for Removal

(KNSI) – The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s draft 2026 Impaired Waters List proposes adding four lakes and streams in the St. Cloud area and removing one Stearns County stream.

Under the federal Clean Water Act, Minnesota assesses its lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands every two years and identifies those that fall short of water quality standards. Statewide, the MPCA is proposing 46 new impairments and the removal of 45, which the agency says is the most removals in a single two-year cycle since the program began in 1992.

In the immediate St. Cloud region, the proposed additions are spread across Stearns, Morrison, and Wright counties. Two of the new listings are in Stearns County and involve sulfate levels that exceed the standard protecting wild rice. The east bay of Clearwater Lake and a stretch of the North Fork Crow River from County Ditch 32 to Rice Lake are both proposed for impairment of their wild rice production use.

In Morrison County, Fish Trap Lake, in the Long Prairie River watershed, is proposed for listing because of mercury in fish tissue, which affects the lake’s aquatic consumption use. Mercury remains one of the most common impairments statewide.

In Wright County, an unnamed creek running from Rice Lake to the North Fork Crow River is proposed for listing because of E. coli bacteria above the level considered safe for aquatic recreation.

On the other side of the ledger, the MPCA is proposing to remove one area water from the list. An unnamed Stearns County creek that flows to the Sauk River was listed in 2008 for turbidity, a measure of how cloudy the water is from suspended sediment. New monitoring data show the stream now meets the turbidity standard, so the agency is recommending it be delisted for that pollutant.

No waters were proposed for addition to or removal from the list in Benton or Sherburne counties in this cycle, though both counties had several administrative changes to existing listings.

The draft list, the assessment manual, and revisions to the statewide mercury total maximum daily load are open for public comment through 11:59 p.m. on July 22nd. The MPCA is also holding a series of virtual public meetings on the list through the summer. After the comment period, the agency will send a final draft to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which makes the final decision on whether to approve the list.

Information on the list, the impairments, the public meetings, and how to comment is available by clicking here.

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