Water

Water shortages and problems around Minnesota — and the country — have many wondering what is the true cost of clean and reliable water. This reporting is supported in part by The Water Main, a project of American Public Media.

January 30, 2014 4:37 AM

Skepticism apparent as state tries new approach to Bonanza Valley water

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources last night launched its third project to deal with water availability differently than in the past. We asked Dan Haugen, a reporter and writer in Sioux Falls, S.D., to check out how it went. Here’s his report. BELGRADE — Central Minnesota farmers and well owners listened with skepticism and Read more →

by Dave Peters

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January 27, 2014 7:33 PM

PolyMet environmental study inconclusive on water treatment, fueling confusion

Debate over the need for long-term water treatment has dominated public testimony surrounding PolyMet's proposed copper-nickel mine, but the agencies studying the plan didn't ask the one question seemingly everyone wants the answer to: How long exactly will that treatment be needed?

by Elizabeth Dunbar and Dan Kraker

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January 23, 2014 8:05 PM

DNR: New water data could alter PolyMet environmental study

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources said the current draft of the environmental impact statement for PolyMet's mine and processing facility estimated the nearby Partridge River's flow using data that differs from other, more recent data.

by Elizabeth Dunbar and Dan Kraker

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January 23, 2014 6:39 AM

Mining supporters dominate hearing on PolyMet proposal

Aurora, a small town of 1,600 on the northeastern edge of the Iron Range, is a hotbed of support for the proposal. Many residents once worked at LTV Steel, a nearby taconite plant that shut down in 2001, causing more than 1,000 employees to lose their jobs. PolyMet is proposing to reuse the shuttered plant.

by Elizabeth Dunbar and Dan Kraker

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January 22, 2014 3:02 AM

Rising groundwater demand in Bonanza Valley prompts new state approach

Groundwater demand in an area of central Minnesota has increased by 175 percent in the past 25 years — five times as much as the state average, according to the Department of Natural Resources. That’s a big reason the Bonanza Valley, an area that stretches from southern Douglas County to Paynesville in Stearns County, is Read more →

by Elizabeth Dunbar

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January 17, 2014 12:24 AM

PolyMet mine hearing in Duluth draws large, passionate crowd

The first public hearing on what could be Minnesota's first copper-nickel mine drew some 1,300 people to Duluth on Thursday to rally for jobs, ask questions and poke holes in the 2,200-page environmental study that must pass muster before the project can go forward.

by Elizabeth Dunbar and Dan Kraker

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January 16, 2014 4:00 AM

First PolyMet hearing tonight in Duluth, but do comments matter?

Department of Natural Resources officials said recently that they prefer substantive, technical comments on the environmental study rather than statements of support or opposition. So how important are the thousands of comments that have already been received?

by Elizabeth Dunbar

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January 15, 2014 9:00 AM

An argument to charge more for water

A resident in Woodbury pays 88 cents for 1,000 gallons of water. If he or she uses a lot of water, say, for sprinkling the lawn, the price goes up — to $1.88, then $2.88, then $3.88 and so on, says Klayton Eckles, Woodbury’s public works director. • Beneath the Surface: Minnesota’s Pending Groundwater Challenge Read more →

by Dave Peters

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January 15, 2014 4:08 AM

Meeting tonight for Park Rapids groundwater management area

Farmers, residents and others in the Park Rapids area are learning more tonight about a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources project to deal with, and possibly restrict, groundwater pumping.

by Elizabeth Dunbar

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January 15, 2014 12:41 AM

Is Minnesota prepared for a world where water scarcity is widespread?

Jedediah Purdy writes in the New Yorker about the politics of “no ones job” and how it is seen in the response to the chemical leak in West Virginia’s Elk River. Last Thursday an estimated seventy-five hundred gallons of MCMH, “a chemical used to remove impurities from coal, ran into the Elk from a one-inch…

by Michael Olson

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