Water Availability and Use
USGS Ground Water Data for the Nation. U.S. Geological Survey web site.Updated November 2011.
USGS Surface Water Data for the Nation. U.S. Geological Survey web site. Updated November 2011.
Water Use in the United States. A 2011 U.S. Geological Survey report on water use in 2005. The report breaks down total water use -- estimated at 410 million gallons per day -- by state and county, by water soruce and water use.
Water use in Minnesota. A Minnesota Department of Natural Resources web site that includes data analysis and a link to a spreadsheet showing permitted water use on a well-by-well basis from 1988 through 2010.
Minnesota Water Sustainability Framework. Published January 2011 by the University of Minnesota Water Resources Center in response to a directive from the Legislature.
Statewide Conservation and Presevation Plan. Published November 2008 by the University of Minnesota Institute on the Environment and the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources. Click here.
Minnesota Nonpoint Source Management Program Plan. Published in 2008 by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.
Minnesota Report Card on Environmental Literacy. Published December 2008 by the College of St. Catherine and the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Results of the third survey since 2001 of what Minnesotans know, and think they know, about the environment.
Evaluation Report: The Legacy Amendment. A program evaluation of Minnesota's 2008 Legacy Amendment that amended the state Constitution to protect, enhance and restore water and the environment. Published November 2011.
Clean Water Grants for Nonpoint Source Protection and Restoration by the Board of Water and Soil Resources. An evaluation by the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy of grants made in 2007-2010 by the BWSR board.
Water Quality
Nitrate in the Mississippi River and Its Tributaries, 1980 to 2008: Are We Making Progress? Research by the U.S. Geological Survey examining three decades of water testing up and down the Mississippi. Published in August 2011.
Revisiting the Minnesota River Assessment Project. A Minnesota Pollution Control Agency report on a survey of biological indicators for the health of fish and invertebrates in the river and its tributaries after three decades of effort to make the river fishable and swimmable. Published in May 2011.
Urban Storm Water Management in the United States. Published October 2008 by the National Research Council.
Arsenic, Uranium and Other Trace Elements, a Potential Concern in Private Drinking Wells. A U.S. Geological Survey report on research finding that arsenic and other trace elements contaminate 20 percent of private drinking wells in levels of potential health concern. Published August 2011.
Water and Agriculture
Excess Nitrogen in the U.S. Environment: Trends, Risks, and Solutions. Published January 2012 the Ecological Society of America.
Assement of the Effects of Conservation Practices on Cultivated Cropland in the Upper Mississipp River Basin. Published June 2010 by the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service.
Nitrogen in Agricultural Systems: Implications for Conservation Policy. Published September 2011.
Water Implications of Biofuels Production in the United States.Published October 2007 by the National Research Council.
Losing Ground. An Environmental Working Group report on soil erosion. Published April 2011.
Big Chicken. A Pew Environment Group report on water pollution related to the production of broiler chickens in the U.S. Published in July 2011.
Climate Change
Climate Change 2007 Synthesis Report.Published November 2007 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
