Miscellaneous Water Resources Information

Image rivers, lakes, and stream gages

This page contains links to other useful water resources information. GIS data referenced include the locations of water quality and biological monitoring stations, stream gages, discharges to surface water, and water withdrawals. Federal, state, and regional monitoring sites are included.

Links are also provided to web mapping applications that display surface water GIS layers and related gaging and monitoring results. These include the MPCA's Environmental Data Access applications for surface water and the Environmental Protection Agency's EnviroMapper for Water.

'General' links go to topical background information from the DNR and the MPCA, and text-based queries of databases such as EPA's STORET (Water Quality) database, the USGS's National Water Information System, and the Environmental Information Management System maintained by the Metropolitan Council.

Categories

Hydrography: GIS data and web mapping applications

General: General text background information, web-based text searches of significant water databases

Hydrography

Name	Source*	Geographic Area	Scale	Time Period	Data Type
Name	Description
PCA Environmental Data Access (EDA)	PCA	Statewide	Various	Current	Vector GIS, Text, Web application
PCA Environmental Data Access (EDA)	Water Quality Data Query and mapping site - includes searches of Surface Water Monitoring Sites and Data, and Surface Water Conditions (Assessment Reporting to U.S. EPA).
MN Department of Agriculture - surface water quality monitoring stations	MDA	Statewide	1:5,000	2007	Vector GIS
	The Minnesota Department of Agriculture is charged with periodically collecting and analyzing water samples from selected locations throughout the state to determine the identity, concentration, and frequency of detections of agricultural chemicals in Minnesota's ground and surface water resources. This file contains the locations of MDA's historical and current surface water monitoring stations.
Water use - Water Appropriations Permit Program	DNR Waters	Statewide	Various	2006	Vector GIS, Table, GIF
Water use - Water Appropriations Permit Program	This constitutes the main data page for the Water Appropriations Permit Program. It contains water use and appropriation graphs, maps and tables along with a compressed (.zip) GIS file of water appropriation installation locations. This file includes both surface water and ground water appropriations.
Environmental Information Management System (EIMS)	Met Council - MCES	Twin Cities Metro Area	N/A	various	Web Application, Text
Environmental Information Management System (EIMS)	The Environmental Information Management System (EIMS) was created by Met Council Environmental Services to provide information for environmental planning and decision-making for the Twin Cities seven-county metropolitan area. It includes data on rivers and streams, lakes, industrial activity, wastewater treatment and climate. Monitoring stations and monitoring results are included in the application.
MCES Surface Water Monitoring Sites	Met Council - MCES	Twin Cities Metro Area primarily	N/A	2005	Vector GIS
MCES Surface Water Monitoring Sites	This webpage contains point locations for each of the Metropolitan Council Environmental Services' lake, stream, and river quality and quantity monitoring sites. Some of these sites are outside of the Twin Cities seven-county metropolitan area: Minnesota River watershed near Mankato and along the Mississippi River south from the Twin Cities to Lake Pepin.
MCES Rain Gage Sites	Met Council - MCES	Twin Cities Metro Area primarily	N/A	2007	Vector GIS
MCES Rain Gage Sites	File contains point locations for each of the Metropolitan Council Environmental Services' rain gage sites (existing and previous). Some of these sites are outside of the Twin Cities seven-county metropolitan area: Minnesota River watershed near Mankato and along the Mississippi River south from the Twin Cities to Lake Pepin.
Volunteer Stream Monitoring Partnership Sites	Met Council - MCES	Twin Cities Metro Area	N/A	2003	Vector GIS
Volunteer Stream Monitoring Partnership Sites	File contains point locations for each of the Volunteer Stream Monitoring Partnership's monitoring sites within the Twin Cities seven-county metropolitan area.
WATERS	EPA	Nationwide	Various	various	Web application
WATERS	The Watershed Assessment, Tracking and Environmental Results System. A web-based GIS application that dynamically displays information about bodies of water in the U.S. The application can be used to view environmental information from the national level down to community level (within one mile), and provides the ability to pan, zoom, label and print maps. Text reports are also available for selected waterbodies of interest.

General

Name	Source*	Geographic Area	Scale	Time Period	Data Type
Name	Description
Key Water Information Catalogue	BWSR, Met Council, MDA, MDH, DNR, PCA	Statewide	Various	Current	Text
Key Water Information Catalogue	This catalogue provides easy access to key water information and data from six Minnesota state agencies. The page is not designed to be a comprehensive listing of Minnesota water information links, but a listing of main or key web pages of water information.
DNR Water Resources Data	DNR Waters	Statewide	Various	Current	Text
DNR Water Resources Data	This is the main DNR webpage to water resource data and information. It includes links to groundwater wells, mapping and monitoring, water use and appropriation, stream flow, lake level and climate data.
Climatology Working Group	DNR Waters, U of M Dept. of Soil, Water and Climate	Statewide	Various	Current	Text
Climatology Working Group	The Climatology Working Group is a partnership between DNR Waters and University of Minnesota's Department of Soil, Water and Climate. This website offers historical and current climate data for Minnesota.
Ask Waters	EPA	Nationwide	N/A	2006	Text, Web Application
Ask Waters	This web application enables the user to query water quality information from EPA's WATERS (Watershed Assessment, Tracking & Environmental ResultS) portal to provide data from several independent and unconnected databases.
Water Quality Portal	EPA	Nationwide	Various	Current	Text
Water Quality Portal	The EPA's Water Quality Portal (WQP) integrates publicly available water-quality data from the USGS, the EPA, and over 400 state, federal, tribal, and local agencies. Users can query and retrieve monitoring data from this site.
EQuIS Data Submittal to PCA	PCA, EPA	Statewide	N/A	Current	Text
EQuIS Data Submittal to PCA	This page has links and information that describe the process for water quality data submittals to the PCA's Environmental Quality Information System.
USGS - Water Data for Minnesota (NWISWeb)	USGS Water Resource Office of Minnesota	Statewide	Various	Current	Text
USGS - Water Data for Minnesota (NWISWeb)	This site provides web-based access to streamflow (stream gaging), lake level, and water quality data at USGS monitoring sites in Minnesota, including access to real-time data for selected sites.
Metropolitan Council Environmental Services (MCES)	Met Council	Twin Cities Metro Area	Various	2006	Text
Metropolitan Council Environmental Services (MCES)	This is the main webpage for the Metropolitan Council's Water Quality Program which monitors rivers, streams, lakes and wastewater treatment in the Twin Cities seven-county metropolitan area.

*Source abbreviations:

BWSR = Board of Water and Soil Resources
DNR = Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (may be followed by the division name, e.g. "Waters" for "Division of Waters")
EPA = United States Environmental Protection Agency
LMIC = Minnesota Land Management Information Center (now MnGeo)
Met Council = Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities Metro Area
MCES = Metropolitan Council Environmental Services
MDA = Minnesota Department of Agriculture
MDH = Minnesota Department of Health
PCA = Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
U of M = University of Minnesota (may be followed by department name, e.g. "Dept. of Soil, Water and Climate")
USGS = United States Geological Survey (may be followed by office name, e.g. "Water Resource Office of Minnesota")