Getting to the Root of Water Quality Issues:

Many water quality efforts are conducted on a watershed basis: all the land in a watershed drains to a particular body of water. Thinking in terms of watersheds allows people to zoom in and out on their environment to see the effects on water quality from what happens on the land.

Small watersheds drain into larger ones—for instance, Crystal Creek in Fillmore County, Minnesota, feeds East Willow Creek, which in turn empties into the South Branch, which is part of the Root River, a tributary of the Mississippi River. Each of those rivers and creeks is associated with a successively larger watershed that drains into it.

Explore the maps below to view creeks that feed into the Root River.

Water quality depends not only on what happens in a creek, stream or lake, but also what happens in the watershed around it. Pollutants blow in from hillsides and fields and flow in from tributaries and ditches. They bubble up from groundwater or slide in with runoff.

We protect our watersheds by managing both the land and the water within them and adopting practices that minimize the movement of contaminants into the water.

Tackling water quality challenges on a watershed basis allows people to zero in on a manageable area and focus their efforts on a specific body of water. It also makes clear where that water goes next.

Watershed by watershed, we can improve water quality on a landscape scale.

In this story map, we’ll use the Root River watershed as an example to explore a variety of common inland water quality challenges, as well as how science and cooperation combine to address them.

Why the Root River? The Root River watershed is home to innovative planning tools, thorough monitoring, and dedicated neighbors committed to improving and protecting water quality.

The Root River watershed in southeast Minnesota is one of the state’s biggest watersheds. It connects six counties, spans three very distinct landscapes, and is touched by farms, woodlands, and towns.

The farmers, conservation professionals, regulators, city planners, construction crews, gravel miners, volunteers, and more who call the Root River watershed home have teamed up to improve the quality of the water they all love—and need.

Many of the challenges faced in the Root River watershed are common in other watersheds, too. The 2018-2019 National Rivers and Streams Assessment (NRSA) found that excess nutrients, poor habitat, and sediments were common in the Upper Midwest ecological region, which includes the Root River watershed.

Nationwide, less than one-third of our rivers and streams have healthy biological communities, according to the NRSA, which is one of four national surveys implemented by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), states, tribes, and other partners.

The NRSA is part of USEPA’s National Aquatic Resource Survey (NARS) program.

NARS began in the early 2000s as a nationwide effort to measure water quality in America’s rivers, streams, lakes, and estuaries. It documents current conditions and tracks changes over time.

NARS is like a “report card” on the nation’s water quality.

 The latest data from the NRSA  were gathered in 2018-2019 and cover 1.2 million river miles across the United States.

Key data from the study include:

28% of US river and stream miles were rated "good" for benthic invertebrate scores and 35% "good" for fish community.

68% of river miles were rated "good" for in-stream fish habitat and 57% were "good" for riparian vegetation.

In addition, 57% of the country's river and stream miles rated "good" for streambed sediment levels.

However, nutrients are a problem in many rivers:  42% of the nation's river and stream miles were rated "poor" for phosphorus (an improvement over the 57% "poor" score in 2013-2014) and 44% scored "poor" for nitrogen (about equal to 2013-2014).

Though the Root River watershed has virtually no lakes, there’s plenty of nationwide data about lakes, too. NARS includes a National Lakes Assessment Report.

The University of Minnesota maintains water quality data on about 10,000 lakes across the state within its LakeBrowser. Explore the LakeBrowser below.

The Root River is a favorite site for kayaking, tubing, fishing, and more. Bicyclists ride riverside trails. Campers enjoy staying beside the river. Scenic towns draw locals and visitors alike to enjoy life along the river.

For generations, the Root River watershed has also been home to productive farms producing a wide range of products, from corn and soybeans to wheat, oats, milk, beef cattle, hogs, vegetables and more. Gravel and sand mining, timber harvest, hunting and fishing are also important parts of the economy.

The Root River begins in rural Mower County. Its 81-mile route passes through wooded land, farms and towns before emptying into the Mississippi near Hokah, Minnesota.

The Root River watershed is comprised of three types of landscape as it wanders from its headwaters to the Mississippi:

Glacial Till- a fairly flat landscape of rocks and sediments deposited by glaciers and farmed intensively;

Karst- rolling farmland over limestone carved by water to resemble Swiss cheese;

Bluffland Karst- a layer cake of soil, limestone karst, shale and sandstone marked by steep cliffs and eroded valleys.

The regulatory landscape is nearly as diverse. America's watersheds are covered by many laws, policies and programs that are administered by local, county, regional, state and federal entities.

In the Root River watershed, 13 local government units teamed up to create the Root River One Watershed, One Plan, a 10-year planning document aimed at better watershed management across 1.3 million acres in 6 counties. This was the first of its kind in Minnesota, which has expanded the process to other watersheds.

Watershed protection efforts also include the Root River Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy ( WRAPS ) and a Total Maximum Daily Load ( TMDL ) plan spearheaded by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, the  Field to Stream Partnership  led by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, and more.

Managing thousands, or millions, of acres is extremely complex. The Root River Field to Stream Partnership selected three small watersheds to gather insight on what is happening at a larger scale. "We selected three trees to better understand the entire forest," says Kevin Kuehner at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture.

Managing the watershed from the headwaters to its mouth, tapping into the talents and resources of Soil and Water Conservation Districts and county governments, and coordinating with stakeholders and state agencies allow Root River watershed planners to think holistically and seek synergies in their efforts to improve water quality.

Click on the video below to listen to Kevin Kuehner of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture describe the goals of the Field to Stream Partnership in the Root River watershed.

Along its path to the Mississippi, the Root River is exposed to a wide range of pollutants. As noted above, some of the streams in the Root River watershed have excess levels of nitrate, bacteria, and/or sediment that impair water quality.

Click through the slides to learn more about how stakeholders are helping protect and monitor pollution in the Root River watershed.

Best management practices, or BMPs, help landowners and managers reduce pollutant loads in areas like the Root River watershed. BMPs can range from structures that capture sediment to practices that reduce the chances of nutrient runoff.

BMPs are not a one-size-fits-all solution on the farm. Farmers often work closely with crop advisors and experts from their local Soil and Water Conservation District, Natural Resources Conservation Service office or state agency to implement practices that fit their operation, landscape, equipment, management style and budget.

Some popular BMPs in the Root River watershed include: Grade Stabilization Structures, Prairie Strips, No-Till/Reduced Tillage, Cover Crops, Woodlot Management, Buffers, and Grass Waterways.

Explore this map tour to see how people in the Root River watershed protect the quality of streams and ground water.

Watershed managers and scientists use a wide range of tools to understand the watershed and specific water quality issues, determine which conservation practices can have the greatest impact, and direct efforts to places where they can be most effective.

The Root River watershed is home to the unique Field to Stream Partnership. Since its founding in 2009, the Field to Stream Partnership has studied agricultural practices and water quality at dozens of sites throughout the watershed. The result is a remarkable water quality data set that reveals in great detail how much pollution enters the river and—just as important—when it happens, which can help farmers understand which conservation measures will work most effectively.

Kevin Kuehner at the Minnesota Department of Agriculture says the Field to Stream Partnership seeks answers to three key questions:

• How much runoff is coming off the landscape into surface waters?

• How effective are farmers' conservation practices?

• What are the long-term trends for conservation and water quality?

The Field to Stream Partnership seeks answers through thorough and frequent water quality measurements in three sub-watersheds within the Root River system. Teams sample at the edges of fields, in-stream, and from groundwater.

As of June 2022, more than 70% of the farmers in the Root River watershed adopted targeted conservation practices on their farms to help protect water quality.

Monitoring water quality in the Root River watershed has shown that such practices are working on area farms. “We’re not seeing as much soil runoff coming off these fields as most people would think,” says Fett. “Our farmers are doing a really good job.”

Partners in watershed programs in the Root River basin monitor for those key pollutants—sediment, nitrate and bacteria—as well as phosphorus, electrical conductivity (which indicates the concentration of dissolved ions in the water), pH changes, temperature (warm water can be bad for trout and other fish species) and more.

All this information helps guide water quality efforts and provide feedback on their effectiveness.

Watershed managers and scientists use a wide range of tools to understand the watershed, determine which conservation practices can have the greatest impact, and direct efforts to places they can be most effective.

The map below depicts soil types in color. Zooming in and clicking on the map brings up a wealth of information on slope, water table, soil depth, and hydrology from the  Soil Survey Geographic Database (SSURGO) —all vital details for assessing a site's suitability for various land uses or conservation practices. Zoom in and check it out!

Under the Field to Stream Partnership, hydrologists have also conducted  dye marker studies . Monitoring the movement of non-toxic dye introduced at the headwaters, they study the complex paths of water in the system, the time of travel above and below ground, and pathways for groundwater recharge—details that have been invisible until recently.

Data from grab samples, continuous long-term monitoring instruments, topographical maps, soil maps, and other tools provide layers of insight. All of this information helps guide water quality efforts and provide feedback on their effectiveness.

Explore the map tour below to see how people in the Root River watershed gather data to study water quality and monitor trends.

A wide range of people—including agricultural groups, local watershed councils, grassroots environmental groups, state and local regulators, colleges and universities, and more—take an active role in monitoring and protecting water quality. Here are two more that play pivotal roles in water quality.

Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) were established nationwide in response to the Dust Bowl disaster of the 1930s. Since then, they have been integral in helping reduce soil erosion not only on America's farms, but also on rangeland, construction sites and other sensitive areas.

SWCD staff provide technical advice, help connect landowners with programs that encourage conservation, partner with USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) colleagues to implement conservation practices, administer cost-share grants and loans, monitor water quality, and more.

The Soil and Water Conservation Districts in southeastern Minnesota are on the front lines of studying, monitoring and protecting the Root River watershed.

In many parts of the country, water quality monitoring and protection—including contributions to the U.S. EPA’s National Aquatic Resource Survey (NARS) data pool—is also actively conducted on sovereign land by Native American tribes’ environmental staffers.

Data collected through the Field to Stream Partnership are helping farmers, policy makers and watershed planners develop strategies to protect the Root River.

Kevin Kuehner of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture says the trends are favorable in the Root River watershed.

These successes point to the importance of having strong monitoring programs nationally, like the NARS program, and at the state, tribal and watershed scale.

Farmers continue implementing conservation practices with the help of dedicated staff people at local conservation district and NRCS offices. At Fillmore Soil and Water Conservation District, Nikki Wheeler points out that it's always a good time to adopt new practices.

Science, cooperation, and watershed-scale approaches are needed to tackle water quality challenges across the country.

Want to make your watershed a healthier place? Reach out to your neighbors. Contact your local soil and water conservation district to start exploring the possibilities. Consider becoming a  citizen scientist  or  volunteer water monitor . And explore the many ways you can  reduce pollution at home .

You can also learn more about water quality in your community with EPA's "How's My Waterway?" application. Enter your location below to explore information about your watershed.

To find out more about NARS,  click here .