ADDRESS THE LARGER ISSUES RELATED TO WATER QUALITY
Recent attention has singled out farm practices as the primary contributor to water quality issues in Minnesota. Minnesota farmers have a vested interest in protecting the environment and the water near their farms, which is important for their drinking water, livestock and crops.
The impacts to water, however, are much larger than just farmers and include chemical run-off from homeowners and golf courses, water impacts from manufacturing and power plants, failing septic and sewer systems and road salt run-off from roads/highways, among other water quality challenges.
We urge legislators to support a “macro strategy” that helps address all issues of water quality – business, homeowners and farmers; rural and in the urban areas.
To assist farmers with implementing additional measures to protect water quality, we urge the prioritization of state investments toward more cost-share and technical assistance at the local level for individual site solutions.
In addition, many rural communities struggle to ensure water compliance with aging wastewater treatment plants and we urge support for state assistance targeted to smaller cities that do not have the tax capacity to finance improvements to failing water treatment systems.