Coalition for a Clean Minnesota River (CCMR)
www.newulmweb.com/ccmr

About the organization
We are the only Minnesota River, basin-wide, grass-roots organization with the river pollution clean-up and advocacy as our focus. Our membership consists of individuals, families, businesses, faith communities, philanthropic organizations, conservation and natural resource organizatons, and others. We provide opportunities as well as encourage people to act in their own unique way to help in the process of river watershed restoration.

Respondent: Scott Sparlin, executive director/coordinator

How important to you is the river or stream nearest your home, and why?
It is the reason our town exists. It has natural beauty and offers a number of gratifying activities to participate in for those who have taken the effort to introduce themselves to it and make themselves familiar with it. Today our town is examining how it can better utilize and promote the river's recreation and tourism aspects.

How can citizens find out about the condition of the river nearest their homes or communities?
It depends on how scientific they want their answers to be. For the lay person, a call to the CCMR office would help to explain conditions. Visiting the Minnesota River Basin Data Center could answer questions about it as well as the MPCA.

What can homeowners do to make their land and property more river friendly? What can farmers do? Business owners?
Rural homeowners need to make sure their septic system is operating properly if they are not on a sewage treatment system.

Farmers need to adopt best management practices and observe all existing enviromental protection laws.

Business owners need to act responsibly and take an active part in the community that they live in. In the case of a river community they should seek out organizations that are working on rivers and offer to participate in the capacity that they feel comfortable with. They also need to observe all existing environmental laws.

What are the most important actions citizens can take to help clean up Minnesota's rivers?
Become involved at the grass-roots level with a river organization. Especially those that use part of their resources to enact legislation designed to improve and protect water quality.

What are policymakers doing to enhance the current and future health of Minnesota's rivers? What should they be doing?
Policymakers are overwhelmed with the amount of work and responsibility that goes into management of our rivers. In this day of downsizing government, it is becoming more and more apparent that non-government organizations will have to pick up the slack and do things that government either is not good at or can't afford.

Elected officials have to realize that most of our rivers are connected to our lakes. If they go sour, so do our lakes. By looking after our watersheds in a responsible manner, they can address the pollution woes of many of our lakes and protect those precious lakes that define our state. Not to mention the billion dollar sport fishing and tourism industry that we have.

River policymakers must address diverse and often competing elements such as the environment, commerce, flood control, recreation, and land use—but from your point of view, what overarching values should guide how we use, treat, and manage rivers?
The health of the resource should be at top of the list. Everything else is somewhat moot without a relatively clean resource. Zoning laws can help to control urban sprawl. Environmental laws can sometimes be effective in cases of ill advised land use decisions.

I guess from my point of view we all need to treat the water in the river like it was flowing right past our doorstep. There is no better example of the golden rule than a river. What is someone else's water today is yours tomorrow. We all need to treat it as such. There is so much water in Minnesota that I sometimes think we are desensitized to it. We should realize how precious and valued it is all over the world.

How can we manage the conflict of private land use and the best management practices for our rivers?
By respecting the fact that the water is a public resource, even though the land it is coming from is private. When you infringe on the rights of the public, (such as pollute its water, or alter its flow), you have crossed the line of private usage and are no longer under that jurisdiction. Given that premise to make judgments on water usage it becomes easy to deal with on a case by case basis.

How important is the development of a land-use plan in the watersheds that feed our rivers? Do you have a land-use plan?
If land-use plans are devised with the protection of the river resource as its center piece, and if they are implementable, they are a great resource to help guide decisions. In most cases they just gather dust, because they inevitably cost money that counties don't have or are not willing to spend on that.

What programs are available—and are more needed—to educate and inform citizens, river users, river property owners, and policymakers about river issues?
There is a lot of information for the person willing to seek it out. That is the problem. There is not the level of endearment or concern for rivers that their is for our lakes. We have ingrained prejudices towards rivers that we brought with us from Europe where the rivers were used as sewers. I think there would be more concern if everyone knew that the water feeding their lakes is coming from all these rivers.

Much of what is needed to elevate our waterways to a higher plain will have to come from river cities. People living in those cities have a right to a pollution-free river. To get them "on board" you have to get them down to the water for an experience of some kind. One that is associated with fun and enjoyment. That is also a great opportunity to point out any problems that a river may have or is beginning to develop.

Education can help to motivate people, but in the end it is not what motivates people. Programs need to address what does motivate people in order to be successful. That is a multiple-front approach. Different strokes for different folks.

How does Mississippi River quality change as it flows from the headwaters to the Twin Cities and beyond? What is Minnesota's accountability to the states that have to treat, filter, and use the water after it leaves Minnesota?
We will find out our accountability when one or more of those states file a law suit and ask for millions of dollars in damages—which, by the way, might not be too far into the future, given the last farm bill.

The Minnesota River severely pollutes/degrades the water of the Mississippi, and we send it on to Lake Pepin. The people of that area should ask for some accountability upstream in the Minnesota River. Or at least get involved in the issues that directly affect them. To my knowledge, they have been relatively quiet in recent times about this issue.

How does air pollution affect our rivers?
Coal-fired power plants emit sulfur which makes Methylmercury out of plain mercury—which is available for human absorption and causes birth defects and heads directly to your brain. Plus, you should see all the tilled soil flying around south-central and southwestern Minnesota during the winter and spring. It's mind boggling. I wonder if that ends up in our waterways. The ditches are full of black snow, and it gets in every crack of your house, because it is so fine. Is that air pollution?

What joint efforts (other than testing) have begun statewide to improve the quality of our rivers for drinking and fishing?
The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Project. Lot's of studies and lot's of planning. Implementation costs $$$.

Further questions to consider?
1.) All water pollution is trackable to a source. Why do we have something called non-point source? I see lots of pipes coming off fields. Aren't they a point source? Why doesn't the law recognize them as such? Is this somthing that should be changed?

2.) If there has been relatively no drainage of wetlands recently, why has sales of drain tile reached an all-time high?

3.) Does environmental law recognize pattern tiling as a drainage improvement? Is there a law that regulates the tiling of private land?