Spring and Upper Prior Lake TMDL Implementation Plan

The Federal Clean Water Act requires states to adopt water quality standards to protect the nation's waters. These standards define how much of a pollutant can be in a surface or ground water while still allowing it to meet its designated uses, such as for drinking water, fishing, swimming, irrigation, or industrial purposes. Many of Minnesota's water resources do not currently meet their designated uses because of pollution problems from a combination of point and non-point sources. For each pollutant that causes a water body to fail to meet the state water quality standards, the Federal Clean Water Act requires that the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) conduct a total maximum daily load (TMDL) study. A TMDL study identifies both point and non-point sources of each pollutant that is causing a water quality impairment. Water quality sampling and computer modeling determine the pollutant reductions needed, for each pollutant source, to enable the water quality standard to be met.