Protecting source water is critical to providing safe drinking water sources and protecting groundwater. In some states, Cooperative Extension is assisting communities with identification of source water protection areas and development of source water protection plans.

Minnesota

Upper Mississippi Source Water Protection Project. The Upper Mississippi Source Water Protection Project (UMRSWPP) was created to collaboratively develop and implement source water protection plans for many water suppliers on the Upper Mississippi River. This project follows the completion of a Clean Water Partnership Phase One Diagnostic Project involving the St. Cloud, St. Paul, and Minneapolis water suppliers, all of whom draw their public water supplies primarily or exclusively from the Mississippi River. Twenty-nine other communities along the Mississippi River that pump from shallow aquifers paralleling the river also participated in this Phase 1 project. Through this project, source water assessments were or soon will be completed for each of these communities. Source water plans are not required by the Safe Drinking Water Act, but are the logical extension of source water assessments. The UMRSWPP is a first attempt in Minnesota, and perhaps in the country, to implement source water protection at a watershed level among several water suppliers who share a common source water resource. As such, it represents a model approach for other water suppliers in Minnesota and around the country.