How’s My Waterway?

By Riley Buley, Fillmore Soil and Water Conservation District, District Administrator

Fillmore SWCD gets asked regularly about the status of local waterways. What are the current impairments? What stream sections are improving and which ones are getting worse?

As it turns out, these questions on the status of local waterways are raised by communities nationwide. In response to these questions, the Environmental Protection Agency of the United States developed a website platform for the public to get up-to-date information about the conditions on their waterway. This platform is aptly called How’s My Waterway?

How’s My Waterway? functions by using local watershed data submitted by local, state, federal, and tribal agencies to provide information on the following:

• Water quality; 
• Swimming impairments;
• Fish consumption safety;
• Aquatic habitat quality; and
• Discharge information;

Users can search their address to check the status of their nearest waterbody. Here is an example search for the main address of Mystery Cave State Park:

A portion of the state park is located in the Forestville Creek Sub-Watershed (HUC 12) which is within the larger watershed of the South Branch Root River (HUC 10). Sections of Forestville Creek do have listing on the 303(d) impairment list, and has current impairments for turbidity, fecal coliforms, and nitrates. These ratings may affect area swimming (fecal coliforms) and aquatic life (turbidity), but there are no known impacts on fish consumption. A nitrate impairment was also reported in this area. In general, Forestville Creek had an overall watershed score of 0.61 out of 1, which is above average.

It is important to note that not all streams have impairments in Minnesota, and not all streams that are currently impaired stay that way.

Are you interested in learning more about the quality of the watershed that you live in? You can get started by searching for https://mywaterway.epa.gov/community and searching by address or zip code.