Protecting Minnesota Water Quality
WaterLegacy has focused for over a decade on protecting clean water by supporting Tribal authority under the Clean Water Act, working to hold regulators accountable, and advocating to preserve and strengthen specific water quality standards to protect wild rice, aquatic life, and human health, and to restore waters impaired by pollution.
St. Louis River, Jay Cooke State Park. Photo by Bryan Hansel, www.bryanhansel.com
Defending the Clean Water Act
On January 5, 2026, WaterLegacy submitted a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers expressing opposition to proposed 2025 rule changes to constrict the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) that would be protected under the Clean Water Act.
The 2025 Proposed WOTUS Rule would sharply narrow Clean Water Act constraints on pollution, draining, and filling of wetlands and small streams. Millions of acres of wetlands and countless small streams would lose protection, leaving them vulnerable to contamination and destruction. If finalized, the proposed rule would dismantle decades of protections and put drinking water, wildlife habitat, human health, and ecosystems at risk in Minnesota and across the nation.
Tribal Clean Water Act Authority
Since 1987, federally recognized Tribes have had the right to apply for and obtain Treatment as a State authority under the Clean Water Act. WaterLegacy’s Advocacy Director and Counsel, in consultation with tribal staff, published a path-breaking article on tribal authority to veto or condition federal permits that affect water quality. WaterLegacy has supported tribal work to strengthen protection of Reservation waters.
Controlling Toxic Pollutants
WaterLegacy has worked to preserve and strengthen water quality standards that protect aquatic life and human health. WaterLegacy prevented the weakening of Minnesota standards for manganese, a pollutant in drinking water that causes harm to the brain, particularly in infants, children, and the elderly. We’ve worked to require mercury limits in permitting to protect human health. WaterLegacy has also worked with Minnesota and national scientists to develop and share research that supports the need to protect aquatic life from specific conductance pollution, a combination of salts and ions released in the mining process.