Future of Drinking Water 
Clean Water Fund

Current Project

Minnesota Drinking Water Action Plan

MDH is working with partners to develop a 10-year action plan to ensure that everyone, everywhere in Minnesota has equitable access to safe and sufficient drinking water.

We are currently incorporating feedback from the Fall review period and plan to have the updated plan posted in January 2025. You are welcome to review the draft plan linked below. 

• DRAFT Minnesota Drinking Water Action Plan (PDF)
• Summary information sheet: Minnesota Drinking Water Action Plan Overview (PDF)

About the Plan

The Minnesota Drinking Water Action Plan (the Plan) is a 10-year action plan to ensure that everyone, everywhere in Minnesota has equitable access to safe and sufficient drinking water.

• The Plan will serve every Minnesotan. Every person in Minnesota should be confident their drinking water is safe, regardless of where their water comes from or where they live.
• The Plan will be the State’s commitment to protect against existing and emerging threats that endanger safe drinking water.
• The Plan incorporates diverse expertise and feedback. Through partnership with University of Minnesota Water Resources Center, Freshwater Society, and Clean River Partners, the plan incorporates expertise and feedback from: water professionals; state, local, and tribal governments; researchers; and Minnesotans who drink water. We gathered feedback through community meetings, surveys, and discussions.
• The Plan builds on existing plans and reports. Minnesota has many plans related to water, but none that specifically focus on drinking water. This plan focuses on drinking water, builds on other water-related plans, and is a next step in carrying out recommendations from the 2020 The Future of Minnesota Drinking Water: A Framework for Managing Risk.

What's in the Plan?

The Plan outlines goals, strategies, actions, and key measures to address drinking water issues that affect all Minnesotans. The Plan also contains summaries of key policies, opportunities, challenges, and threats that shape our drinking water systems in Minnesota.

Drinking water is a complex, multifaceted topic that involves multiple sectors. Because of the wide range of topics that impact drinking water, the plan will have high-level goals and actions that span topics. For instance, it will not focus on individual contaminants, like arsenic or PFAS. Rather, it will identify strategies to manage the risk of emerging or legacy contaminants for which there is new health risk information.

Is our current drinking water governance effective, efficient and trustworthy?

To inform the development of the Drinking Water Action Plan, the University of Minnesota Water Resources Center conducted an assessment of the current governance of systems impacting drinking water in Minnesota. This assessment helps identify challenges and opportunities the Drinking Water Action Plan could address. This report summarizes the input received from focus group conversations and a survey with drinking water professionals based on an established set of criteria known as the Governance Assessment Framework: Lessons from Drinking Water Professionals: An Assessment of Drinking Water Governance in Minnesota.

Residents’ perspectives on drinking water

Another aspect of developing the Drinking Water Action Plan included contracting with partners at the University of Minnesota Water Resources Center, Freshwater, and Clean River Partners to carry out community meetings around the topic of drinking water. From November 2023 through January 2024, these partners hosted seven community meetings in Austin, Faribault, Lewiston, Little Falls, Northfield, St. Cloud, and the Twin Cities with 190 residents participating. During these meetings, participants provided feedback on their personal drinking water preferences, perceptions, and drinking water issues to address going forward. These meetings demonstrated that community engagement is crucial for understanding Minnesotans’ experiences with drinking water and help us understand Minnesotans’ values and expectations related to drinking water. Below are key takeaways:

1. Approximately two-thirds of participants supported the development of new state drinking water standards for Minnesota, which could be stricter than federal standards.
2. A majority of respondents expressed trust in their tap water. However, approximately 20% of survey participants expressed distrust in their tap water, with the most common concerns being contaminants, chemicals, and water hardness.
3. When doing statewide community engagement, it is imperative to collaborate with local partners who can reach specific communities and provide cultural context.
4. Emphasizing cultural sensitivity and awareness, respecting the distinct needs of tribal partners, attending to the diversity of languages spoken, and prioritizing communication accessibility are all vital practices when engaging community members.

We invite you access the full report on findings at State Drinking Water Action Plan.

About the Future of Drinking Water Initiative 

Equitable access to safe and sufficient drinking water is essential to healthy communities and a healthy economy. New challenges and existing inequities threaten this foundational resource.

The 2023 Minnesota Legislature provided Clean Water Fund dollars to Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) to “…develop public health policies and an action plan to address threats to safe drinking water, including development of a statewide plan for protecting drinking water…” (Minnesota Laws of 2023, chapter 40, article 2, section 7e). This work is called the Future of Drinking Water Initiative.

Previous projects

Eliminating Lead in Drinking Water

The 2017 Minnesota Legislature directed MDH to “conduct an analysis to determine the scope of the lead problem in Minnesota's water and the cost to eliminate lead exposure in drinking water.” In collaboration with the University of Minnesota, MDH assessed the scope of the lead problem by examining the two main sources of lead: lead service lines and indoor plumbing. The resulting report estimates costs for removing these two most significant sources of lead to be between $1.52 billion and $4.12 billion over 20 years. However, the benefit in IQ and increased productivity is easily two times the cost. This report supported the Minnesota Legislature’s provision of $240 million to remove and replace lead pipes across Minnesota, with the goal to complete the removal of all lead service lines by 2033. Read the report at Lead in Minnesota Water: Assessment of Eliminating Lead in Minnesota Drinking Water (PDF).

The Future of Minnesota Drinking Water: A Framework for Managing Risk

MDH contracted with the University of Minnesota Water Resources Center and Humphrey School of Public Affairs to assess threats and barriers to Minnesota's safe drinking water system and translate emerging science into protective public health policy and action. View the project report: The Future of Minnesota Drinking Water: A Framework for Managing Risk (PDF).

Organizational analysis of Community Public Water Supply (CPWS) Unit

The project was conducted in collaboration with Minnesota Management and Budget Management and Analysis (MAD) staff to examine possibilities to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the CPWS Unit in its ongoing work with community public water systems to help ensure safe and sufficient drinking water. This project was completed in April 2022 with numerous actionable outcomes including an updated CPWS Unit Work Plan, recommendations for staffing improvements, document management standards, and an internal Unit Communications Plan. The CPWS Unit has successfully implemented many of these actions.

COVID response in public water systems After Action Review

While deemed an After Action Review (AAR), this effort was inaugurated in the fall of 2020 as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic were still ongoing. The effort allowed for the Drinking Water Protection Section (DWP)—the section that works with public water systems—to document new processes, lessons learned, and plans for its work through the duration of the pandemic and subsequently. 
Through the course of 2021, DWP implemented numerous AAR recommendations, including in the areas of staff safety, return to work/office expectations, staff connections (e.g., check-in best practices, section-wide communication opportunities), building/re-building external partnerships, and use of technology to support new work settings. The AAR was completed with the engagement and assistance of Minnesota Management and Budget Management and Analysis (MAD) staff.

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