The once-pristine headwaters of the Mississippi River are being threatened by steady population growth, more intensive farming and the loss of thousands of acres of wetlands and forests, a trend that has prompted an ambitious new plan to protect the river by preserving natural land in its watershed.
The idea is to stem the rising flow of nitrates, phosphorus, road salt and other pollutants found each year in the upper reaches of the great river, which provides drinking water for nearly half Minnesota's population.
The Nature Conservancy and Ecolab Inc., one of the state's largest employers, outlined the plan Thursday, warning that the Mississippi could otherwise become as polluted and unusable as the Minnesota River and some of the other murkiest waterways in the state. They are asking the state and local municipalities to protect and restore 208,000 acres of natural land within the headwaters at a cost of up to $600 million.
The study acknowledges it's a hefty price but estimates that if those key areas alone could be preserved — a fraction of the 13 million acre basin — it would save property owners and cities in central Minnesota over $130 million annually in drinking-water treatment costs, replacement of contaminated wells, lost tourism spending and reduced property values for lakeshore homes and other real estate.
If nothing is done, the study argues, taxpayers will eventually be on the hook for another multibillion-dollar cleanup project, like the one now focused on the Minnesota River.
Prevention is the more reasonable and cost effective way of dealing with a problem that will only get worse, said Doug Baker, CEO of Ecolab.
"We have a chance not to make the same mistake twice," Baker said in an interview Wednesday.
During the four-year period 2008 to 2012, Minnesota lost wetlands at the highest rate in the country and cut down forests at a rate that was second only to Georgia, according to a study from the University of Wisconsin.
