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“Family values” has been a durable campaign strategy for decades, but rarely has been seen in the context of a healthy environment. This must change. A healthy environment is a family value. Specifically, all families need an ample supply of safe water and clean, breathable air. Families and children in every Minnesota Zip code deserve these benefits.
The need for a safe water supply has become a prominent issue in Minnesota. The good news is that the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) reported that 98% of Minnesota’s city water systems meet all water quality standards in 2023. The bad news is that our drinking water infrastructure is getting old and needs replacement. The American Society of Civil Engineering gave Minnesota’s drinking water infrastructure a lackluster C- rating in 2022. This means that much of our water infrastructure — our underground pipes and treatment systems — needs rebuilding. This will be expensive, and smaller cities will be least able to incur the cost and will need state support.
Contamination of our water, especially for the groundwater that provides 75% of our drinking water is a growing problem in much of Minnesota. Several contaminants, including nitrate, arsenic and PFAS, are especially problematic. Nitrate originates from agricultural fertilizers and manure and threatens water quality in both private and public wells located near croplands or animal feedlots. In contrast, arsenic is a natural, geologic contaminant (but no less harmful) that exceeds safety standards in about 10% of sampled private wells located throughout the state, according to MDH. Finally, water supplies in 14 east-metro communities have been contaminated by PFAS originating from a 3M plant.
Remediation of contaminated groundwater is expensive. Cleaning up the PFAS problem alone will cost $700 million, to be paid by 3M. A few cities have been compelled to add nitrate removal units to their water systems, greatly adding to the cost of supplying water. Families throughout Minnesota with private wells contaminated by arsenic or nitrate might spend several thousand dollars to install and maintain under-sink filters. Alternatively, homeowners might choose to drill new wells, attempting to find an uncontaminated aquifer at greater depth, also an expensive proposition.
Another eye-opener is that our groundwater supply, which we have historically taken for granted, is no longer assured. In the metro region, this has been most visible with the drawdown of White Bear Lake, which was discovered (by a U.S. Geological Survey study) to be caused by the groundwater pumping from nearby wells. The Department of National Resources (DNR) also has identified 20 groundwater “areas of concern” throughout the state. The influential Minnesota Groundwater Association has called for modernizing Minnesota’s groundwater laws, which were written 35 years ago.
Families also suffer from air pollution. Air quality has greatly improved since the passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970, but air pollution is still a serious problem. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) reported that air pollution in 2015 “played a role” in 8-10% of all deaths in the Twin Cities, Duluth, Rochester and St. Cloud. The statewide impact is much larger, because air pollution also occurs outside these cities. Air pollution is especially a problem for the 516,200 Minnesotans with asthma and the 207,400 mostly older Minnesotans with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Many of us have a family member or a friend with one of these conditions.
